Russia

Moscow, Jul 29 (AP/PTI) Russian officials on Wednesday rejected accusations that Moscow is spreading disinformation about the coronavirus pandemic in the US, slamming them as conspiracy theories and a persistent phobia.

US officials told The Associated Press on Tuesday that Russian intelligence services were using a trio of English-language websites to spread disinformation about the coronavirus pandemic, seeking to exploit a crisis that America is struggling to contain ahead of the presidential election in November.

MURMANSK, July 28. /TASS/: A naval group of Russia’s Northern Fleet practiced anti-sabotage measures in a roadstead off Kildin Island in the Barents Sea, the Fleet’s press office reported on Tuesday.

"Today, during the anchorage in an unsafe roadstead near Kildin Island in the Barents Sea, the ships’ crews practiced anti-submarine and anti-saboteur defense measures and grenade throwing," the press office said in a statement.

SEVASTOPOL, July 28. /TASS/: The crews of fighter jets of the Southern Military District’s composite air formation practiced an aerial battle and aerobatic maneuvers during drills, the Black Sea Fleet’s press office reported on Tuesday.

MOSCOW, July 28. /TASS/: An investigator offered former advisor to Roscosmos CEO and journalist Ivan Safronov, who is charged with high treason, to sign a plea bargain, but the defendant rejected the proposal, his lawyer Ivan Pavlov told TASS on Tuesday.

"The investigator offered him a deal under which he would plead guilty and get no more than two-thirds of the maximum sentence or 10 years. This was said back on July 13. Safronov rejected this offer," Pavlov said.

MOSCOW, July 28 (Xinhua) -- Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan spoke in favor of resolving the Armenia-Azerbaijan border tensions through peaceful means during a phone conversation Monday.

During the call at the initiative of the Turkish side, Putin stressed the importance of preventing any steps that could cause an escalation in the tensions, the Kremlin said in a press release.

Putin and Erdogan expressed their interest in coordinating efforts to achieve stabilization in the region, according to the Kremlin.

MOSCOW, July 27. /TASS/: Forest fires in Russia more than doubled in size in the past week, a forestry official told TASS on Monday.

"Forest fires more than doubled in size in one week. Siberia and the Far East are facing the most difficult situation," he pointed out.

MOSCOW, July 27. /TASS/: Russian Ministry for the Development of the Russian Far East will prepare proposals on cuts of taxes and insurance fees for investors that implement project on the Kuril Islands, Ministry press service told TASS

MOSCOW, July 27. /TASS/: Russia’s coronavirus cases rose by 5,635 COVID-19 in the past day, reaching 818,120, the anti-coronavirus crisis center told reporters on Monday.

According to the crisis center, the daily growth rate in the past six days did not exceed 0.7%.

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) said on Monday it had thwarted a planned militant attack in Moscow and shot dead an unnamed man it said was plotting a mass shooting in a crowded public place.

State TV channel Rossiya 24 showed a picture of the man, who the FSB said was from a Central Asian country, lying face down dead on the ground with a Kalashnikov assault rifle he had apparently been using nearby.

The FSB said he had opened fire on them when they had tried to arrest him on the outskirts of Moscow and that they had shot him dead.

GROZNY, July 24. /TASS/: Head of Russia’s Chechnya Ramzan Kadyrov has banned US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo from entering the region, he announced at a meeting in Grozny on Friday.

On July 20, the US State Department imposed visa sanctions against Kadyrov, his wife, and daughters.