Russia

MOSCOW, August 29. /TASS/: The refusal of the representatives of the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) to observe the election in Belarus gives grounds to suspect that the position of the West regarding this process was prepared in advance. This opinion Russian President Vladimir Putin voiced in an interview with Sergey Brilev on the Russia-1 TV channel aired on Saturday.

MOSCOW, Aug. 28 (Xinhua) -- The Russian Foreign Ministry on Friday condemned the U.S. decision to blacklist Russian research institutes, recalling that Washington itself was carrying out suspicious research both in the United States and abroad.

"We consider the inclusion of three Russian research institutes in the U.S. restrictive lists to be blatant," Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said in a statement.

MOSCOW (AP) — The Russian navy conducted major war games near Alaska involving dozens of ships and aircraft, the military said Friday, the biggest such drills in the area since Soviet times.

Russia’s navy chief, Adm. Nikolai Yevmenov, said that more than 50 warships and about 40 aircraft were taking part in the exercise in the Bering Sea, which involved multiple practice missile launches.

“We are holding such massive drills there for the first time ever,” Yevmenov said in a statement released by the Russian Defense Ministry.

KUBINKA /Moscow Region/, August 28. /TASS/: Russia’s Defense Ministry is developing a helicopter type attack drone capable of participating in combat operations alongside crewed helicopter gunships, as follows from a presentation made by the Russian Armed Forces’ Central Research and Development Institute at the Army-2020 forum.

MOSCOW, August 28. /TASS/: Russia expels a senior diplomat working at the Norwegian Embassy. The diplomat must leave Russia in three days, the Russian Foreign Ministry informed on Friday.

MOSCOW, August 28. /TASS/: Russian President Vladimir Putin hopes that Russia’s backup law enforcement units will not be used in Belarus, and that the situation in Minsk will not deteriorate, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov informed reporters on Friday.

"It is important to understand, and the president has stressed this, that this is a backup unit, there is no need to use it. President Putin hopes that it will never be used. And we hope that Belarus will not face such an urgent situation," the spokesman stated.

Minsk, Aug 27 (AP) Russian President Vladimir Putin warned that he stands ready to send police to Belarus if protests there turn violent, but added in an interview broadcast Thursday that there is no such need now and voiced hope for stabilizing the situation in the neighbouring country.

Belarus' authoritarian president of 26 years, Alexander Lukashenko, is facing weeks of protests against his reelection to a sixth term in the August 9 vote, which the opposition says was rigged.

MOSCOW (Reuters) - The Kremlin regrets that Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has decided to step down, spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Friday, describing the working relations between Abe and President Vladimir Putin as ‘brilliant’.

Abe, Japan’s longest serving premier, announced earlier on Friday his intention to step down and said the decision was his alone.

MOSCOW, August 27. /TASS/: Publications in media outlets on the alleged negotiations on prisoner trade between Russia and US, including Paul Whelan, sentenced in Russia for espionage, are not consistent with reality, spokeswoman for Russia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Maria Zakharova said at a briefing on Thursday.

KUBINKA, August 27. /TASS/: Russian rocket engine companies initiated implementation of a project on the upgraded RD-191M engine for Angara launch vehicles, chief executive of the rocket motor developer Energomash Igor Arbuzov told TASS in an interview at the Army 2020 Forum.

"RD-191 engine upgrade activities have started. The RD-191M [engine] will appear on its basis for the Angara rockets line," Arbuzov said.

The project will continue until 2023, he added.