Russia

MOSCOW, December 26. /TASS/: Foreign interference won’t help resolve the situation in Libya but efforts to facilitate the search for a solution are welcome, Russian Presidential Spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.

"As for the situation in Libya, it definitely causes much concern, and we, too, are concerned. We have repeatedly reiterated that Russia is interested in finding a peaceful solution to the Libyan crisis as soon as possible in order to end the bloodshed," the Kremlin spokesman pointed out.

MOSCOW, December 26. /TASS/: Russian President Vladimir Putin has introduced a bill to the State Duma, lower house of parliament, that decriminalizes punishment for violating the terms of repatriation of foreign currency earnings if the entrepreneur has not previously been subjected to administrative fines. The document has been registered in the State Duma database.

The initiative is aimed at further improvement of business climate in the country and reducing the risks of doing business, according to the explanatory note attached to the draft law.

MOSCOW, December 26. /TASS/: A 6.6-percent stake in Russia’s energy giant Gazprom was bought by a consortium of investors "at a good price," Gazprombank Head Andrey Akimov told reporters.

"Gazprom is happy and satisfied, the country received the money. [It] was bought by a consortium [of investors]. They are good investors, who believe in Gazprom’s future, there are Russians among them. At a good price," Akimov said when asked who had bought the stake.

"We [Gazprombank] also bought a small portion," he added.

MOSCOW, December 26. /TASS/: The first large-scale deliveries of the fifth-generation Su-57 fighter jet to Russia’s Aerospace Force will begin already next year, CEO of the state hi-tech corporation Rostec said in a material published by RBC media group on Thursday.

"Large-scale work awaits us in 2020 to stabilize the aircraft industry… The first large-scale deliveries of the fifth-generation Su-57 aircraft will begin. Of course, these are challenging tasks that will truly mobilize us," the chief executive said, commenting on the plans for the next year.

MOSCOW, December 26. /TASS/: Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev has signed a regulation approving a program of preparations for hosting the 2020 UEFA Euro Cup in Russia, earmarking more than 3.5 bln rubles ($56.7 mln), according to a document published on the cabinet’s website on Thursday.

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia can finish the construction of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline to Germany within a couple of months, Interfax cited Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak as saying.

President Vladimir Putin said Russia has a “pipe-laying vessel” to complete the construction of the Nord Stream 2, Kommersant daily reported citing unnamed sources on Thursday, following sanctions imposed by Washington.

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russian opposition politician Alexei Navalny was freed on Thursday after being briefly detained during a raid on the headquarters of his Anti-Corruption Foundation (FBK) in Moscow, his spokeswoman told Reuters.

The raid occurred a day after Navalny said that the forcible military conscription of one of his allies to a remote air base in the Arctic amounted to kidnapping and illegal imprisonment.

MOSCOW, Dec. 25 (Xinhua) -- Russian President Vladimir Putin called Wednesday increasing people's income the "number one goal."

"We all know that one of the main tasks is to increase the income level of citizens, especially those who earn the lowest level of income," Putin said at a meeting with the Russian government, according to an official transcript.

"In the last quarter of the year, even starting from the third, certain growth rates of personal incomes and real wages have been achieved and this trend needs to be maintained and strengthened," he said.

MOSCOW, December 25. /TASS/: Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov did not rule out that cooperation between Moscow and Minsk would be based on equal terms in the future. However, at the current stage of integration between the two countries, the issue at hand is the commercial aspect, he said.

MOSCOW, December 25. /TASS/: Russia is developing air defense systems based on new physical principles, Air Defense Force Chief Lieutenant-General Alexander Leonov said on Wednesday.

"Eventually, there are plans to arm air defense troops with systems based on new physical principles, which are currently being developed," the general said in an interview with the Defense Ministry’s Krasnaya Zvezda newspaper.