Russia

MOSCOW, January 24. /TASS/: The personnel of the Central Military District’s artillery large unit stationed in the Kemerovo Region in southwestern Siberia destroyed a notional enemy force from concealed fire positions at maximum ranges during drills, the District’s press office reported on Friday.

The troops were assigned the task to perform a 100 km forced march to get to the designated area at the required time, assume, camouflage and fortify their fire positions, the press office said in a statement.

MOSCOW, January 24. /TASS/: The crews of Caspian Flotilla ships employed the latest sonars to detect hostile underwater drones in the areas of the ships’ naval bases, the press office of Russia’s Southern Military District reported on Friday.

"The Flotilla’s minesweepers dropped robotized deep-water submersibles, after which the ships’ crews and sonar-operating teams were given the command for their search and detection," the press office said in a statement.

MOSCOW, January 24. /TASS/: The armored division of the Central Military District employed a new method of shielding the armor while on the move against drone strikes during the drills that ended in the Chelyabinsk Region in the Urals, the District’s press office reported on Friday.

Under the drills’ scenario, a notional enemy planned to employ strike drones to attack a column of the tank regiment making a march to the designated area.

MOSCOW, January 24. /TASS/: Russian citizens’ voting for or against the constitutional amendments proposed by President Vladimir Putin will be the determining factor, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Friday.

Responding to a question about whether the nationwide vote can take place before or after the president signs a relevant bill on the amendments, he said, "The order and schedule of this vote will be specified — they are actually being drafted now."

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia said on Thursday it had missed a United Nations deadline to repatriate North Korean workers due to what it called objective difficulties, but said it was scrupulously complying with U.N. sanctions on Pyongyang.

A 2017 U.N. Security Council resolution demanded that all countries send home all North Korean workers by Dec. 22 last year to stop them earning foreign currency for North Korea’s nuclear and ballistic missile programs.

MOSCOW, Jan. 24 (Xinhua) -- Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday signed decrees giving jobs in his administration to members of the former government.

Former Economic Development Minister Maxim Oreshkin and former Culture Minister Vladimir Medinsky were appointed as presidential aides, while former Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Kozak became a deputy head of administration.

Putin increased the number of deputy heads of administration to three from the previous two by a separate decree.

The former government, headed by Dmitry Medvedev, resigned on Jan. 15.

MOSCOW, January 23. /TASS/: The teams of Orlan-10 drones of Russia’s 201st military base reconnoitered notional militants’ camps during drills in the mountains of Tajikistan, the press office of Russia’s Central Military District reported on Thursday.

SEVASTOPOL, January 23. /TASS/: The crew of the Black Sea Fleet’s small missile ship Vyshny Volochyok held drills to practice employing the Kalibr-NK cruise missile system, the Fleet’s press office reported on Thursday.

"During the training exercise, the personnel of the missile and artillery combat unit of the small missile ship Vyshny Volochyok practiced the algorithm of operations to conduct electronic launches against a surface target," the press office said in a statement.

MOSCOW, January 23. /TASS/: Russia’s State Duma on Thursday adopted in the first reading Russian President Vladimir Putin’s bill on amendments to the Constitution envisaging, among other things, an expansion of the rights of parliament and the Constitutional Court, a ban prohibiting top officials from having other countries’ residence permits, a restriction on the number of presidential terms, priority of national legislation over international agreements and greater social responsibilities of the state.

MOSCOW, Jan 23 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Russian President Vladimir Putin appointed a new government, keeping key officials including the ministers of foreign affairs and defence.

The list of appointments released by the Kremlin showed Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu would be staying on in the government.

The government of Putin’s longtime ally Dmitry Medvedev resigned Wednesday last week , a few hours after the president announced a series of constitutional reforms.