Russia

27 Nov 2019; MEMO: Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov yesterday called on Syria’s Kurdish forces to abide by the Russia-Turkey agreement on its withdrawal from the safe zone.

“The leaders of the Syrian Kurds must follow the obligations related to the Russian-Turkish memorandum on north-eastern Syria,” Lavrov told reporters in the Russian capital of Moscow.

MOSCOW, November 26. /TASS/: Russia has no data that Turkey is planning to violate the Sochi memorandum on joint steps for ironing out the crisis in northeastern Syria as the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces coalition has claimed, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told reporters on Tuesday.

"Speaking on the implementation of the October 22 Russian-Turkish memorandum, we don’t have any information confirming that Turkey is going to violate it," Lavrov said.

SEVASTOPOL, November 26. /TASS/: The crews of the Black Sea Fleet’s Novorossiysk submarine trained to battle against the Kolpino submarine, which played the role of the ‘enemy’, the fleet’s press service said on Tuesday.

"The Novorossiysk submarine chased the hypothetical enemy’s submarine, the role of which was performed by the Kolpino submarine. During the training, the Novorossiysk crew had to detect and destroy the underwater target using the support of surface ships and marine aviation of the Black Sea Fleet," the press service reported.

MOSCOW, November 26. /TASS/: The US-led Western coalition carried out airstrikes on Monday on the local villages of Al-‘Amiriyah, Al-Burj, Al-Ra’i, and Tahrin, located near Al-Bab in northern Syria, Al-Masdar news portal has reported.

According to the report, the airstrikes were presumably delivered against the bases of the Islamic State terror group (outlawed in Russia). Al Mayadeen TV channel reports that the airstrikes targeted illegal oil refineries to the northeast of Aleppo (some 360 km from Damascus).

No casualties among civilians have been reported.

MOSCOW, November 26. /TASS/: Aeroflot plans to open new long-range international flights to India's Goa and Mumbai, China's Chengdu, Japan's Osaka and Singapore, Chief Executive Officer of the Russian flag carrier Vitaly Savelyev told TASS on Tuesday.

"The international route network will be complemented in 2020 by new long-range flights from Moscow to Mumbai, Goa, Chengdu, Osaka and Singapore," the top manager said.

There are no direct flights for the majority of these destinations at present.

MOSCOW, November 26. /TASS/: The Russian military demonstrated the latest Avangard missile system with the hypersonic boost-glide vehicle to the United States, Russia’s Defense Ministry reported on Tuesday.

"Under the Treaty on Measures for the Further Reduction and Limitation of Strategic Offensive Arms, a US inspection group was shown the Avangard missile system with the hypersonic boost-glide vehicle on the territory of Russia on November 24-26, 2019," the ministry said in a statement.

26 November 2019; AFP: Russia's anti-doping chief said Tuesday he expected the country to be barred from all sporting competition for four years, after a bombshell recommendation from the World Anti-Doping Agency that shocked Russian athletes.

WADA's Compliance Review Committee recommended the ban on Monday, accusing Moscow of falsifying laboratory data handed over to investigators.

MOSCOW, November 25. /TASS/: Proposals for mining the isotope Helium-3 (He-3) on the Moon to provide humanity with a clean and efficient form of energy make no sense for the time being and should be seen as far-fetched speculations, the executive director for research programs and science at Russia’s corporation Roscosmos, Alexander Bloshenko, has told TASS in an interview.

MOSCOW, November 25. /TASS/: The next trilateral technical meeting on the issue of gas transit via Ukraine is scheduled for November 29, Russian Deputy Energy Minister Anatoly Yanovsky told TASS on Monday, adding that the format of the meeting would be defined on Wednesday, November 27.

"[The meeting] is potentially planned for Friday, though it may be held differently — as a videoconference or face-to-face, which will be decided on Wednesday," he explained.

MOSCOW, November 25. /TASS/: MTS has announced the signing of a binding agreement to sell its Ukrainian subsidiary, VF Ukraine, to the largest Azerbaijani mobile operator Bakcell for $734 mln, Russia’s largest telecommunications operator said in a statement on Monday.

In accordance with the agreement, MTS’s wholly owned subsidiary Allegretto s.a.r.l. will sell its 100% stake in its Dutch subsidiary Preludium B.V. (the Netherlands), the sole shareholder of VF Ukraine, for $734 mln (including approximately $84 mln earn-out). The transfer of shares is expected shortly, MTS noted.