Russia

MOSCOW, January 3. /TASS/: Russian Presidential Envoy for the Middle East and Africa and Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov and Prime Minister of Libya’s Interim Government based in the east of the country, Abdullah al-Thani, have discussed the developments in that country over the phone, the Russian Foreign Ministry reported on Friday.

MOSCOW, January 3. /TASS/: The United States first carried out a missile strike against Baghdad airport and only then requested the UN Security Council’s assessment of the attack on the US Embassy in Iraq. This is the height of cynicism, Rusian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told the Rossiya 24 TV channel on Friday.

MOSCOW, January 1. /TASS/: The outgoing year of 2019 has brought many important scientific discoveries. Astronomers obtained the first images of the shadow cast by the event horizon of a supermassive black hole; genetic studies revealed what the ancient Denisovans (Denisova hominins) looked like; and Russian archaeologists discovered the burial site of four Scythian female warriors in the Middle Don basin. Below is TASS' outlook of the scientific prospects that we can look forward to for 2020.

MOSCOW, January 2. /TASS/: Russia’s oil exports reached 266.106 mln tonnes in 2019, which is 3.3% more than a year earlier, the Central Dispatching Department of Fuel Energy Complex reported.

In December 2019, exports dropped 5.2% to nearly 21.8 mln tonnes.

Russia’s oil supplies to non-CIS countries grew by 3.7% in 2019 to reach 248.5 mln tonnes, while deliveries to CIS countries dropped by 2.4% to 17.6 mln tonnes. Oil transit rose by 7.2% to 19.8 mln tonnes.

TULA, January 2. /TASS/: The Kulikovo Field museum preserve will for the first time publish all information at its disposal about weapons, armor fragments and personal artefacts found on the site of the Battle of Kulikovo. A catalogue of photographs, supplied with dates and detailed description, will be published on the occasion of the battle’s 640th anniversary, to be marked in 2020, the museum preserve’s deputy director for science, Andrei Naumov, told TASS on Wednesday.

MOSCOW, January 1. /TASS/: Russia’s aerospace forces will receive about 100 new and modernized aircraft in 2020, the Russian defense ministry said on Wednesday.

"In 2020, the Russian Aerospace Forces will receive about 100 new and modernized aircraft," the ministry said in a press statement.

MOSCOW, January 2. /TASS/: Russia’s Emergencies Ministry has drafted amendments to the federal law on the protection of the population and territories from natural and man-made emergencies to oblige civilian population to be evacuated from endangered areas. The bill was uploaded to the portal of regulatory and legal acts on Thursday.

In accordance with the proposed amendments civilians will be obliged to obey evacuation orders following an official announcement or at the demand of officials responsible for the evacuation operation.

SIMFEROPOL, January 2. /TASS/: Crimea’s Head Sergei Aksyonov has described the torchlight march to mark the 111th birth anniversary of leader of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN, outlawed in Russia) Stepan Bandera held in Kiev on January 1 as an insult to the memories of millions of victims of Nazism.

MOSCOW, January 1. /TASS/: Amendments to the law ‘On currency regulation and currency control’ relates to the liberalization of restrictions for international trade settlements, entered into force on January 1, 2020. The government of the Russian Federation spearheaded those amendments to legislation. Russian President Vladimir Putin signed the law in early August 2019.

MOSCOW, December 31. /TASS/: US President Donald Trump has marked "great and important coordination" between Russia and the United States, thanks to which Russian intelligence services managed to prevent terrorist attacks in Russia.

"President Putin of Russia called to thank me and the U.S. for informing them of a planned terrorist attack in the very beautiful city of Saint Petersburg, They were able to quickly apprehend the suspects with many lives being saved. Great and important coordination!" Trump wrote on Twitter.