Russia

MOSCOW, Sept. 17 (Xinhua) -- Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Andrey Rudenko stressed "the inadmissibility of any interference in the internal political processes" in Belarus during a phone talk Thursday with U.S. Ambassador to Russia John Sullivan.

Rudenko also emphasized the inadmissibility of "attempts to destabilize" the situation in Belarus and "impose unilateral mediation services from outside," the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

MOSCOW, September 17. /TASS/: The Palestinian problem remains acute despite normalizing ties between Israel and a number of Arab states, the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Thursday.

"Taking into account the ongoing progress in the process of normalizing relations between Israel and a number of Arab countries, we state that the Palestinian problem remains acute. It would be wrong to think that without its settlement it will be possible to achieve reliable stabilization of the Middle Eastern region," the Russian Foreign Ministry said.

MOSCOW, September 17. /TASS/: The Northern Fleet will get 179 weapon systems this year, Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said on Thursday.

"This year the fleet will receive 179 pieces of weapons," Shoigu said at the Defense Ministry’s board meeting. He recalled that the Northern Fleet had already been reinforced by the ballistic missile cruiser Knyaz Vladimir (of the project Borei), frigate The Admiral Kasatonov, fuel tanker The Akademik Pashin and hydrographic vessel The Nikolai Skosyrev.

MOSCOW, September 17. /TASS/: Russian MiG-31 fighter jet intercepted two US B-1B strategic bombers over the Bering Sea and escorted the planes until they turned away from the Russian border, the National Defense Control Center told journalists Thursday.

According to the military, on September 17, Russian radars detected two airborne targets, approaching the Russian border, over the neutral waters of the Bering Sea.

MOSCOW (Reuters) - The nerve agent used to poison Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny was detected on an empty water bottle from his hotel room in the Siberian city of Tomsk, suggesting he was poisoned there and not at the airport as first thought, his team said on Thursday.

ROSTON-ON-DON, September 16. /TASS/: Crews of S-400 missile air defense systems, deployed at the Russian military base in Abkhazia, conducted practice shooting at the Kapustin Yar proving ground in Russia’s Astrakhan Region, successfully hitting mock enemy targets, the Southern Military District's press service told journalists Wednesday.

MOSCOW, September 16. /TASS/: The visual aesthetics of Russian-made weapons and military equipment could be the reason why it was used in an ad, made by the Trump Make America Great Again Committee, Russia’s state corporation Rostec told TASS on Tuesday.

"Clearly, it was a blunder caused by the visual beauty of Russian weapons. Apparently, the designer was so impressed that he forget to check the manufacturing country. Nevertheless, he definitely has good taste and we hope that the punishment won’t be severe," Rostec said.

MOSCOW, September 16. /TASS/: Russian President Vladimir Putin sent a telegram to Yoshihido Suge, congratulating him with being elected as the new Prime Minister of Japan, Kremlin announced Wednesday.

"I would like to reiterate our readiness for a constructive interaction on pressing issues of bilateral and international agenda," the Russian leader said. "This, undoubtedly, would comply with the interests of people of Russia and Japan, and facilitate strengthening of stability and security in the Asian-Pacific region and the world in general."

MOSCOW, September 15. /TASS/: Chemical substances found through long-distance astronomical observation of Venus cannot conclusively prove there is life on the planet, Roscosmos Executive Director for Long-Term Programs and Science Alexander Bloshenko said.

"The discovery of chemical substances that can be considered chemical markers of vital functions in the atmosphere of Venus through long-distance astronomical monitoring cannot be seen as objective proof of life on the planet," Bloshenko said, quoted by the Roscosmos website.

MOSCOW, September 15. /TASS/: Multilateral agreements on nuclear weapons are impossible without factoring in the US missile defense system’s potential, Russian Security Council Secretary Nikolai Patrushev said during a video conference with his colleagues from other Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) countries Tuesday.

He named "deterioration of the situation in strategic stability, including the US consistent actions on complete dismantling of its legal basis."