Russia

CHEREPOVETS, February 4. /TASS/: Russian President Vladimir Putin did not propose amendments to the Russian constitution to prolong his stay in power, he said during a meeting with members of the public in Russia’s Cherepovets.

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov will visit Venezuela on Friday in a show of support for President Nicolas Maduro, a socialist who Washington wants out of power.

Russia has helped Maduro weather a political crisis as the United States has targeted Caracas with sanctions and, like dozens of other countries, recognizes opposition politician Juan Guaido as Venezuela’s legitimate interim leader.

MOSCOW, February 3. /TASS/: The Medplant company, a resident of the Moscow Special Economic Zone, has come up with a unique portable device that monitors a patient’s condition on an artificial ventilation. The device can be used both in medical facilities and in the field, says the Moscow Department of Investment and Industrial Policy.

MOSCOW, February 3. /TASS/: The Chinese side has not yet shared the new coronavirus strain with Russia, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Tatiana Golikova said on Monday.

"I would like to say that our specialists are working in this area. The Chinese side has not given us a possibility to use its data in what concerns the vaccine or the strain. So, we are working on this problem using available sources and what we have at the moment," she said.

MOSCOW, February 3. /TASS/: An invitation to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to visit Crimea is in force, Russian president’s press secretary Dmitry Peskov said on Monday.

MOSCOW, February 3. /TASS/: Turkish aircraft did not enter Syrian airspace to carry out airstrikes on the positions of Syrian government forces, the Russian Center for Reconciliation of the Opposing Sides in Syria (part of the Russian Defense Ministry) said in a statement on Monday.

"Turkish Air Force aircraft did not violate Syria’s borders, no airstrikes on the positions of Syrian troops have been recorded," the statement reads.

MOSCOW, February 3. /TASS/: All proposals on possible amendments to the Russian Constitution, including the one concerning a reference to God, will be considered by a working group that will eventually make a consolidated conclusion, Russian Presidential Spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.

MOSCOW, February 3. /TASS/: The deliveries of the armor based on the Armata combat platform to the troops for operational evaluation will begin this year, CEO of the Uralvagonzavod defense manufacturer Alexander Potapov said in an interview with Vedomosti newspaper published on Monday.

"In 2020, we will begin the deliveries for the operational evaluation of this armor. During the factory tests, all the vehicle’s stated characteristics were confirmed," the chief executive said.

MOSCOW, February 3. /TASS/: Moscow does not consider the US and Belarus rapidly becoming closer, the Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, commenting on the recent visit by US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to Minsk, where he held talks with Belarusian president Alexander Lukashenko.

"We hardly can talk about ultra-rapid convergence here," Peskov said.

He refused to provide further comments on the specific details of the negotiations.

MOSCOW, February 1. /TASS/: Delegates from 58 Russian regions have voted to form a new party For the Truth and elected the writer Zakhar Prilepin as its leader, TASS reported on Saturday.

"There is nothing surprising, much less inappropriate, in the fact that, of course, the Movement for the Truth needs an organization that will implement the things related to the constitution, to social, political and cultural life, as all these will be brought to life. For this purpose, we are setting up the party For the Truth," Prilepin said.