Russia

MOSCOW, January 29. /TASS/: Russia’s Pantsyr-S anti-aircraft missile/gun system has received the latest hypersonic missile, Chief Designer for Air Defense Systems at the Shipunov Design Bureau of Instrument-Making (part of High Precision Systems Company within the state hi-tech corporation Rostec) Valery Slugin told TASS on Wednesday.

"There are two missiles that fight the entire range of targets. One is standard while the other has been developed recently and is hypersonic: it can develop a speed of Mach 5 and more," the chief designer said.

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.

MOSCOW, January 29. /TASS/: The Kremlin has no plans to interfere in the Russian Investigative Committee’s work in the case of Meduza news website reporter Ivan Golunov, Russian Presidential Spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.

MOSCOW, January 28. /TASS/: The armored division of Russia’s Central Military District eliminated a notional enemy jointly with reconnaissance squads during drills at a training range in the Chelyabinsk Region, the District’s press office reported on Tuesday.

Under the drills’ scenario, a tank regiment was advancing onto the enemy’s heavily echeloned defense, attacking its fortified fire positions of grenade launchers and heavy machine guns from the march and engaging its combat outposts and basic strike forces, the press office said in a statement.

MOSCOW, January 28. /TASS/: Moscow cannot comment on the so-called "deal of the century", Washington’s plan on regulating the Palestine-Israel conflict, as it is unaware of the document’s contents, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Tuesday.

"We cannot say anything until we become acquainted with its contents," he said, answering a corresponding question.

MOSCOW, January 28. /TASS/: Russia supports the actions by the Syrian army to eliminate terrorist provocations in the Idlib zone, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Tuesday.

"A ceasefire brokered by Russia and Turkey was declared in early January. Since then, the radicals entrenched in Idlib violated it dozens of times, attacking both civilian objects and Syrian army positions. Attempts to attack Russia’s Hmeymim airbase with drones also won’t stop," Lavrov said.

MOSCOW, January 28. /TASS/: Relations between Moscow and Kiev are far from improving despite some positive signs between the two countries’ leaders, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.

MOSCOW, Jan 28 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Russian tour operators have stopped selling package holidays to China due to the coronavirus outbreak there and are only bringing Russian tourists home, Dmitry Gorin, vice president of the Association of Russian Tour Operators, said. 

The move was taken at the recommendation of Rosturizm, Russia’s state tourism agency, he said, as the death toll from the new virus in China rose to 106 with more than 2,740 people infected.

MOSCOW, January 27. /TASS/: Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) has put its investigative actions on hold into a criminal case against Ukrainian sailors detained after the November 2018 Kerch Strait incident, Defense Attorney Nikolai Polozov, who represents the interests of the Ukrainian citizens repatriated to their native country, informed TASS.

"Today, the investigator announced the suspension of criminal proceedings in the criminal case of the Ukrainian sailors illegally crossing the state border," he said.

MOSCOW, January 27. /TASS/: Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov confirmed on Monday that Russian President Vladimir Putin had not received an invitation to attend commemorative events in Poland timed to the 75th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz concentration camp by the Red Army.

"No, Vladimir Putin was not invited," the Kremlin spokesman told reporters. He reminded that the Russian ambassador to Poland would represent the country at the events.