Russia

MOSCOW, February 12. /TASS/: Ukraine should engage representatives of the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics (DPR and LPR) in negotiations over reinstating Ukraine’s control over the Russian-Ukrainian border section in Donbass, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters Wednesday, when asked if control over the Russian-Ukrainian border in Donbass can be passed over to Kiev in exchange for resuming water supply to Crimea from Ukraine.

MOSCOW, February 12. /TASS/: Turkey has sent additional troops to Syria, Sky News Arabia reported on Wednesday, citing sources.

According to the TV channel, Turkish troops crossed the Syrian border at dawn, heading for the western areas of the Aleppo province. Sky News Arabia added that Turkish troops were establishing an observation point on a road connecting the Atarib and Al-Jinah settlements.

MOSCOW, February 12. /TASS/: There can be no bargaining over Crimea, Russian Presidential Spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters, when asked if Moscow could return control over the Russian-Ukrainian border in Donbass to Kiev to make sure that Ukraine resumed water supplies to Crimea.

Peskov pointed out that Crimea was a Russian region where water was supplied in accordance with development programs. "If there are any initiatives concerning additional water supplies, perhaps commercial ones, they could be considered," the Kremlin spokesman added.

MOSCOW, February 12. /TASS/: Viktor Sviridov, a former head of the Russian Federal Penitentiary Service’s motor transport department has committed suicide in Moscow’s Chertanovsky Court after a judge handed down a guilty verdict in his case, the emergency services informed TASS.

"After the guilty verdict was handed down, Sviridov committed suicide. He died on the spot," TASS was told.

MOSCOW, Feb 12 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Russia discharged a Chinese national from hospital in the Siberian city of Chita on Wednesday after he recovered from a Covid-19 infection, local authorities said.

He was the second of Russia’s two confirmed cases of coronavirus to recover. The other victim, also a Chinese national, was said by authorities on Tuesday to have recovered and been released from quarantine in Siberia’s Tyumen region.

MOSCOW, February 10. /TASS/: Turkish servicemen did not take part in Monday’s joint patrol mission in Syria’s al-Hasakah governorate, which was conducted by the Russian military police unilaterally, Major General Yuri Borenkov, chief of the Russian Center for Reconciliation of the Opposing Parties in Syria, said on Monday.

MOSCOW, February 11. /TASS/: The head of Russia’s state-run space corporation Roscosmos, Dmitry Rogozin, plans to discuss cooperation in far space research with the US side in April, the space official said on his Twitter page on Monday.

"In the run-up to the manned mission in April, we plan to hold talks with US colleagues on cooperation in far space research," Rogozin wrote.

MOSCOW, February 11. /TASS/: Microsoft, a world-renowned US-based tech giant, published its annual country rating on the so-called Digital Civility Index (DCI). According to the paper, 79% of Russian nationals faced Internet harassment in 2019.

MOSCOW, February 11. /TASS/: Russia’s Transport Ministry estimates the losses national airlines suffer because of suspension of flights to China at 1.6 billion rubles ($25.2 mln), Deputy Transport Minister Alexander Yurchik told reporters on Tuesday.

"These are calculations by the Transport Ministry together with the airlines," he said, answering the question of whether the volume of compensation could really amount to 1.6 billion rubles.

MOSCOW, February 11. /TASS/: The Syrian government army has gained full control of the strategically important Damascus-Aleppo highway, the Al-Hadath TV channel informed. According to the channel, the Syrian military has cleared the outposts of militants located between the cities of Hama and Aleppo.

The 432-km highway connects Damascus with industrial zones in northern Syria and the economic capital of Aleppo.