Russia

MOSCOW, January 17. /TASS/: Aggressive steps taken by a number of western states, primarily the United States, are playing a major destabilizing role in the world, Russian acting Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told a press conference outlining results of Russian diplomatic efforts in 2019.

According to him, the world "continues to be in turmoil." Aggressive polic

MOSCOW, January 17. /TASS/: UN Secretary-General’s Special Envoy for Syria Geir Pedersen will visit Russia next week, Acting Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Friday during a news conference on the outcomes of Russian diplomacy in 2019.

"Next week, we expect a visit from UN Secretary-General’s Special Envoy for Syria Geir Pedersen, who also plans to visit Damascus. I expect that these talks and his upcoming trips and contacts with the Syrian leadership will help us determine the further schedule of the [Syrian] Constitutional Committee," he said.

MOSCOW, January 17. /TASS/: In November 2019, Russia increased the volume of investments in US government securities compared to October by $794 mln to $11.491 bln, the US Treasury said on Friday.

Long-term bonds accounted for $ 2.979 bln, short-term - $ 8.512 bln.

The volume of investments by Russia in US government bonds has been increasing for the fourth month in a row.

In the spring of 2018, Russia began to sharply reduce investment in the US public debt. Thus, in April 2018 it decreased from $96 bln to $48.7 bln, and in May - to $14.9 bln.

MOSCOW, January 17. /TASS/: Decisions made by the Normandy Quartet summit in Paris should not remain a sheet of paper, contrary to what happened during the rule of Ukraine’s former president Pyotr Poroshenko, Russia’s acting Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told a news conference devoted to the performance of Russian diplomacy in 2019.

MOSCOW, January 17. /TASS/: Russia will take part in the international conference on Libya, which will be held in Berlin on January 19, as Acting Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told reporters at a news conference on the achievements of Russian diplomacy in 2019.

"We will take part in the conference, which will be held in Berlin on Sunday," he said.

As Sergey Lavrov commented, the commitment of rival parties in the Libyan conflict to truce is a step forward and preserving the ceasefire is strongly desirable.

MOSCOW, January 16. /TASS/: US President Donald Trump said that the Phase One agreement to settle bilateral trade disputes with China the US and China signed on Wednesday, is "one of the greatest deals ever made."

"One of the greatest trade deals ever made! Also good for China and our long term relationship. 250 Billion Dollars will be coming back to our Country, and we are now in a great position for a Phase Two start. There has never been anything like this in U.S. history! USMCA NEXT," he wrote on Twitter. USMCA stands for the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement.

MOSCOW, January 16. /TASS/: A SSJ-100 airplane of the Irkutsk-based air carrier Iraero made an emergency landing on a runway under construction in the Moscow Region’s Domodedovo Airport, the air carrier’s press service told TASS on Thursday.

SAMARA, January 16. /TASS/: The launch of a Russian rocket powered by methane is expected to cost half as much as the lift-off of a Soyuz-2 carrier, Progress Space Rocket Center CEO Dmitry Baranov said at a press conference in Samara on Thursday.

"The task is to make the rocket’s cost lower than the cost of a Soyuz-2. I can cautiously say the following: this should also apply to the launch service with the lift-off of this rocket. All this should be twice as cheap compared to the Soyuz-2. This is what we are seeking to achieve," Baranov stated.

MOSCOW, January 16. /TASS/: The Shvabe Holding Company (part of the state hi-tech corporation Rostec) has delivered a large batch of night-imaging monoculars to an African country, the Rostec press office reported on Thursday.

"The Shvabe Holding Company of Rostec State Corporation has exported a large batch of night vision monoculars in the interests of one of the countries on the African continent. The device is equipped with second-and third-generation electro-optic converters and also with infrared illumination," the press office said.

MOSCOW, January 16. /TASS/: Dmitry Medvedev as Deputy Chairman of Russia’s Security Council will remain Chairman of the United Russia political party, which he led during his tenure as Russian Prime Minister, Secretary of the party’s General Council Andrei Turchak told reporters after a meeting of the United Russia faction at the State Duma (lower house of parliament), which supported Mikhail Mishustin’s nomination for the position of prime minister.