Russia

MOSCOW, December 13. /TASS/: Firefighters have extinguished a blaze onboard Russia’s sole aircraft carrier Admiral Kuznetsov, which is under renovation in Murmansk, northwest Russia, a source in the emergencies services told TASS on Friday.

"At around 5 a.m. the fire was extinguished. The fire covered 500 square meters," the source said. The firefighters continue dropping water on the scene.

MOSCOW, December 12. /TASS/: Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov's talks with US President Donald Trump and US Secretary of State Michael Pompeo were pragmatic and constructive, Russian Foreign Ministry's official spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told Rossiya-1 TV channel.

MOSCOW, December 12. /TASS/: Russian Deputy Prime Minister Olga Golodets hopes that Russia will be allowed to host the 2023 IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship despite the sanctions by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) against Russian sports.

"We expect that we will keep the world championship in Russia," Golodets, who oversees sports and culture, told reporters at the World Hockey Forum in Moscow.

MOSCOW, December 12. /TASS/: Many accomplices in terrorist attacks committed in Russia are in hiding in European countries and Russia keeps pressing for their extradition, Russian Presidential Spokesman Dmitry Peskov told the media on Thursday.

MOSCOW, December 12. /TASS/: The Kremlin hopes that the expulsion of two German diplomats in retaliation for Berlin’s decision won’t become a negative factor for Russia’s relations with Germany.

"We expect and we hope that this [the expulsion of two staff members of the German Embassy from Russia] won’t become a negative factor for further cultivating and expanding our rather constructive dialogue with the Federal Republic of Germany," Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Thursday.

MOSCOW, December 12. /TASS/: Unidentified individuals reported that bombs had been planted in 13 district courts of Moscow on Thursday, the press service of the Moscow City Court told TASS.

"Unknown people reported that explosive devices had been planted in 13 Moscow courts by e-mail on Thursday morning. Evacuations have begun in these courts, and emergency services are going there to check the bomb threat information," the press service said.

KRASNODAR, December 12. /TASS/: Flight data recorders from the Mi-28 military helicopter that crashed in Russia’s Kranodar Region have been found, a military source informed TASS on Thursday.

"The flight data recorders have been found, they are intact. The commission is considering all versions, including technical malfunction and human error. It will be possible to get a complete picture of the aviation accident only after obtaining data from the flight data recorders," the source said.

MOSCOW, December 12. /TASS/: Three people were injured in a fire that broke out onboard Russian aircraft carrier Admiral Kuznetsov at a dock in Murmansk, northwest Russia, a source in the Emergencies Ministry told TASS on Thursday.

"Three people have been injured. All of them are receiving medical assistance," the source said.

Eight people have been rescued by the emergencies services and firefighters and one person has gone missing.

MOSCOW, December 12. /TASS/: Two employees of the German Embassy in Moscow must leave Russia within the next seven days and a note to this effect has been handed to German Ambassador Geza Andreas von Geyr, the Russian Foreign Ministry reported on Thursday.

"A strong protest has been lodged with the head of the German diplomatic mission over the German government’s ungrounded decision of December 4, 2019, to declare two staff members of the Russian Embassy in Berlin personae non gratae," the ministry said.

MOSCOW, December 11. /TASS/: A mistake made in a story about the MH-17 disaster over eastern Ukraine aired by Russia’s Channel 1 several years ago does not undermine trust in this government-run television broadcaster, Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Wednesday.

"It does not undermine [trust in the TV broadcaster]," he said, when asked if the Kremlin believed the mistake was harmful to Channel 1.