Russia

MOSCOW, February 20. /TASS/: Work on preparations for the Russian-Turkish-Iranian summit on the Syrian settlement process is in progress, while its date is yet to be agreed on, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.

"Indeed, negotiations on that score with the Iranian side have been held. Work on that summit is in progress. There is Russia’s consent for certain dates," he commented. "However, you do know that the three presidential schedules are yet to be agreed on. This coordination is not over yet. As soon as and if that is done, we will inform everyone."

MOSCOW, February 20. /TASS/: Tank crews of Russia’s 201st military base eliminated a notional enemy during drills in the mountains of Tajikistan, the press office of the Central Military District reported on Thursday.

"During the drills, the troops performed a 40-km march from their permanent base to the area of the Lyaur mountainous training range. The crews acted within their units to practice the tasks of positional defense, an offensive from the depth and organizing a tank ambush," the press office said in a statement.

MOSCOW, February 20. /TASS/: Russian President Vladimir Putin is grateful to Washington for providing data that enabled Russia to prevent a terrorist attack in late 2019, pledging that Moscow would help Washington fight against terrorism.

MOSCOW, February 20. /TASS/: A Soyuz-2.1a carrier rocket with a Meridian-M military communications satellite has blasted off from the Plesetsk spaceport, Russia’s Defense Ministry reported on Thursday.

"At 11:24 a.m. Moscow time on Thursday, February 20, a combat team of the Aerospace Force’s Space Troops successfully launched a Soyuz-2.1a medium carrier rocket with a Meridian-M satellite from launch pad No. 3 of site No. 43 at the Defense Ministry’s State Testing Cosmodrome (the Plesetsk spaceport in the Arkhangelsk Region)," the ministry said in a statement.

MOSCOW, February 20. / TASS /: The founder of the online retailer Wildberries Tatyana Bakalchuk topped the list of Russia's richest women, Forbes magazine said in a statement on Thursday.

According to the publication, her fortune reached $1.4 bln. Bakalchuk pushed off the permanent leader of the list of past years, Elena Baturin, the head of Inteco Management and widow of Moscow's former mayor Yuri Luzhkov, with the fortune of $ 1.2 bln.

MOSCOW, Feb 20 (NNN-AGENCIES) — President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday sacked Vladislav Surkov, one of his chief advisers and the architect of Russia’s Ukraine policy who was viewed among the country’s most powerful men. 

The dismissal of the 55-year-old Surkin was announced on the Kremlin website but there was no indication of what his new job would be. 

MOSCOW, February 19. /TASS/: Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) has detained seven members of the Tablighi Jamaat religious extremist organization (outlawed in Russia) in Moscow and the Moscow Region, the FSB press office reported on Wednesday.

"Jointly with the Interior Ministry of Russia, the FSB has foiled on the territory of Moscow and the Moscow Region the activity of a cell of the Tablighi Jamaat international religious extremist organization that consisted of natives of the Central Asian region," the press office said.

ST. PETERSBURG, February 19. /TASS/: The Kremlin has still not announced its stance on the draft amendments to the constitution, since the final ideas have not been outlined yet.

On February 18, amendments to the Russian Constitution were submitted to the State Duma’s Committee on State Building and Legislation. They stipulate that Russia’s president will execute the general leadership of the government as well as ensure civil peace and harmony throughout the country.

ST. PETERSBURG, February 19. /TASS/: Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov is not aware where former aide to the Russian president Vladislav Surkov will work but is certain that his talent and experience will be useful there.

"They [Russian President Vladimir Putin and Surkov] had a meeting, he [Surkov] was relieved of his position at his own request. There is no doubt that Surkov’s many years of experience and, without an exaggeration, talent will be put to good use," he told reporters Wednesday.

MOSCOW, February 19. /TASS/: A group of Russian military inspectors has visited a military facility of the Romanian Armed Forces in accordance with the 2011 Vienna Document on implementing confidence and security building measures, the Krasnaya Zvezda (Red Star) newspaper reported on Wednesday citing director of the National Nuclear Risk Reduction Center Sergey Ryzhkov.