Russia

MOSCOW, March 1. /TASS/: Russia’s Defense Ministry has rejected a report that a Russian Su-24 jet was downed by a man-portable air-defense system in the sky over Idlib.

"The report citing militants’ Internet resources that the Russian Aerospace Defense Forces’ Su-24 was shot down from a man-portable air-defense system over the Idlib de-escalation zone is fake," the ministry said.

According to the defense ministry, Russia’s aircraft are fulfilling their mission as normal.

MOSCOW, March 1. /TASS/: Russia is doing its utmost to combat coronavirus and the situation is under control in general, Russian President Vladimir Putin told a meeting at Vnukovo airport’s government terminal on Sunday.

"Russia is making every effort to fight this dangerous disease, all necessary measures have been taken. I hope they will be effective," the Russian president said. "The situation is under control in general," he noted.

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and his Turkish counterpart Mevlut Chavushoglu agreed on the need to create a “favorable atmosphere” to improve working relations between their countries, the Russian foreign ministry said on Sunday.

“The ministers have declared in favor of the adoption of measures to create a favorable atmosphere that will facilitate the effectiveness of the dialogue on the implementation of agreements in support of the Syrian settlement and other issues on the agenda of Russian-Turkish relations,” the ministry said.

MOSCOW, February 29. /TASS/: The member states of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) welcome the international community’s efforts to settle the situation in Afghanistan, including the US-initiated talks with the Taliban militant group (outlawed in Russia), the CSTO said in a statement posted on the website of Russia’s Foreign Ministry on Saturday.

The document stresses that there is no alternative to settling the situation in Afghanistan by political and diplomatic means.

MOSCOW, January 29. /TASS/: The Russian Pantsir-S air defense missile system took down some 100 drones around the world over the course of its service, says Valery Slugin - the chief air defense designer KBP JSC, a division of Rostec’s High Precision Weapons JSC.

"About one hundred, maybe more," Slugin said in interview for TASS. "That includes Syria and other regions."

Slugin reminded that there are two Pantsir divisions deployed in Syria: the Russian one, located at Hmeimim airbase, and a Syrian one.

29 February 2020; AFP: Thousands rallied in central Moscow on Saturday to call on President Vladimir Putin not to stay in power indefinitely, in the first major protest by the Russian opposition since the Kremlin chief announced controversial plans to change the constitution.

The rally marked five years since the assassination of opposition politician Boris Nemtsov but its organisers also want the event to send a message to Putin after he proposed major constitutional changes.

MOSCOW, February 28. /TASS/: The Northern Fleet will soon receive the nuclear-powered submarine Knyaz Vladimir and the frigate Admiral Kasatonov, Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said at the ministry’s board meeting on Friday.

Overall, six warships and submarines are due to arrive for the Northern Fleet by the year-end, the defense chief said.

MOSCOW, February 28. /TASS/: The Northern Fleet continues trials of Russia’s latest hypersonic weapons, Defense Minister Army General Sergei Shoigu said on Friday.

"The trials of new armament, including hypersonic weapons, continue. All this will make it possible to qualitatively boost the combat potential of the Russian Navy’s Northern and other fleets," Shoigu told the ministry’s board meeting.

The ministry’s board meeting discussed, in particular, the fulfillment of the Northern Fleet’s plan of activity for 2019-2025.

MOSCOW, February 28. /TASS/: The Syrian Army has the right to suppress terrorists in the Idlib province and Moscow cannot prevent it from doing so, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Friday.

"The Syrian Army has every right to respond to repeated ceasefire violations in the Idlib zone and suppress terrorists. We cannot stop the Syrian Army from implementing the provisions of UN Security Council resolutions on the uncompromising fight against all forms of terrorism," Lavrov emphasized.

MOSCOW, February 28./TASS/: The Western nations should not repeat their own mistakes by banking on terrorists in order to achieve their geopolitical goals, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov warned at a news conference on Friday.

He criticized statements from Western representatives, who maintain that the terrorist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (one of the names of the Russia-banned Jabhat al-Nusra) is rehabilitating, ceasing to be extremist.