Russia

MOSCOW, March 3. /TASS/: There are no plans to organize a meeting of the Russian, German, French and Turkish leaders, Vladimir Putin, Angela Merkel, Emmanuel Macron and Recep Tayyip Erdogan, respectively, on March 6, Putin’s press secretary Dmitry Peskov said on Tuesday.

"No, such a meeting is not planned," he said, adding that "such a meeting has not been agreed."

MOSCOW, March 3. /TASS/: Iranian President Hassan Rouhani offered Russian President Vladimir Putin to hold the next summit in the Astana format in the Islamic Republic, Iran’s Ambassador to Russia Kazem Jalali said on Tuesday at the meeting with Chairman of the Federation Council's Foreign Affairs Committee Konstantin Kosachev.

"Several days ago, Presidents Rouhani and Putin talked over the phone. During the phone conversation, President Rouhani invited President Putin suggesting that the next summit in the Astana format in the near future should be held in Iran," Jalali said.

MOSCOW, March 3. /TASS/: Law enforcement agencies foiled 34 terrorist plots in Russia in 2019, First Deputy Chief of Staff of the National Anti-Terrorism Committee (NAC) Igor Kulyagin said on Tuesday.

"In 2019, thanks to preventive actions by law enforcement and security agencies 57 terrorism-related crimes were thwarted, including 34 terrorist attacks," Kulyagin said.

Last year, 32 gunmen, including nine chieftains, were eliminated in Russia during counter-terrorism operations, and 41 ringleaders, 241 militants and 606 terrorists’ accomplices were detained, he noted.

MOSCOW, March 3. /TASS/: All protestors who take part in street rallies must obey the rules of public demonstrations, or else the situation may deteriorate into riots and violence in the streets, Russian President Vladimir Putin told TASS in an interview for the project entitled "20 Questions with Vladimir Putin".

MOSCOW (Reuters) - The Kremlin told reporters on Tuesday it would not say whether Moscow was ready to make additional oil output cuts as part of the cooperation between OPEC and non-OPEC countries and said it was necessary to wait for their meeting later this week.

The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its partners known as OPEC+ will meet in Vienna on March 5-6 to discuss additional steps to support the oil market as the economic impact of the spread of the coronavirus risks hurting demand.

MOSCOW (Reuters) - The Kremlin on Tuesday rejected allegations by the United Nations that Russia may have committed war crimes in Syria last year, saying the U.N. investigators are in no position to know what is happening on the ground.

“We strongly reject these claims,” said Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov. “It’s obvious that one committee can not have reliable information of what is happening on the ground.”

MOSCOW (Reuters) - The Kremlin said on Tuesday Russia was hoping to minimize the risk of a direct clash with Turkey in Syria even though soldiers from both countries were in close proximity in Idlib region on different sides of a live conflict.

Moscow was commenting a day after Syrian government forces entered parts of a strategic rebel-held town called Saraqeb with Russia’s help. The Russian Defence Ministry said Russian military police had also entered Saraqeb.

MURMANSK, March 2. /TASS/: The large amphibious assault ship Alexander Otrakovsky held a mine-laying exercise at the Northern Fleet’s naval training ranges in the Motovskiy Bay of the Barents Sea, the Fleet’s press office reported on Monday.

"The mine-laying exercise has passed successfully. After accomplishing the combat training assignments for laying mines in the water area, the ship’s crew held anti-saboteur underwater defense during the anchorage in an unsafe roadstead and practiced ship damage control skills," the press office said in a statement.

MOSCOW, March 2. /TASS/: Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said that neither Russia nor Iran are his country’s targets in Syria.

"Turkey does not take aim at either Russia or Iran in Syria. We are only destroying the elements of the [Assad] regime," he said on Monday. Erdogan’s remarks were broadcast by NTV television.

The Turkish leader noted though that he "expects [other countries] to show respect" for Ankara’s stance, adding that the participation in combat operations in Syria was the will of the people rather than the leadership’s personal choice.

MOSCOW, March 2. /TASS/: Russia’s main medical commission has approved the basic and back-up crews of the next expedition to the International Space Station (ISS), the Cosmonaut Training Center said in a statement posted on its website on Monday.

"Following the commission’s meeting, Roscosmos cosmonauts Anatoly Ivanishin and Ivan Vagner (the basic crew of the ISS expedition 63) and also Sergei Ryzhikov and Andrei Babkin (the back-up crew) have been recognized as fit for a space flight based on their health condition," the statement reads.