Russia

MOSCOW (Reuters) - The New START nuclear arms control treaty between Russia and the United States is unlikely to be extended, Sergei Naryshkin, the head of Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service said on Friday, the TASS news agency reported.

The New START accord, which is due to expire in February 2021, is the last major nuclear arms control treaty between the world’s two biggest nuclear powers and limits the number of strategic nuclear warheads they can deploy.

KRASNOYARSK, November 14. /TASS/: Veteran Russian adventurer Fyodor Konyukhov plans to take off on a non-stop flight around the world on a Project Albatros solar-powered glider in 2020 or 2021, as the famed explorer told TASS.

"We are setting our sights on 2020 or 2021," Konyukov said.

The glider with a wingspan of 44 meters is currently under construction. Plans are in store to equip it with solar batteries so that a pilot can fly the glider in the daytime, while at night, the aerial vehicle will glide on its own.

MOSCOW, November 14. /TASS/: Investigators have completed the inquiry into the criminal case opened over a Boeing 737-500 passenger liner’s crash at Kazan airport in 2013, which claimed 50 lives, the press-service of the Investigative Committee told TASS.

"The criminal case has been handed over to the prosecutor’s office for the endorsement of the bill of indictment," the IC said.

MOSCOW, November 14. /TASS/: The Baltic Fleet may become the third naval force in Russia after the Black Sea and Pacific Fleets, for which shipbuilders will build a series of Project 636.3 stealth submarines armed with Kalibr cruise missiles, two sources in the shipbuilding industry told TASS on Thursday.

MOSCOW, November 14. /TASS/: Russia is holding leading positions in terms of crude oil exports to China and managed to boost supplies by 27.4% year-on-year in 2018, Russian Minister of Energy Alexander Novak said adding that the country is also a leader in export of electricity to China.

On Wednesday, Novak participated in a meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping, which was held at the venue of the BRICS summit.

MOSCOW, November 14. /TASS/: A three-time world Thai boxing champion, who led an association of Armenian sports federations, Ashot Bolyan, has been shot dead in Moscow, Russian investigators said on Thursday.

The 40-year-old former athlete was killed by an unknown attacker, who fired several shots, including into his head, as the man approached his car in southwestern Moscow.

MOSCOW, November 14. /TASS/: One person was killed and three injured on Thursday when a student opened fire at a college in Blagoveshchensk, a city in Russia’s Far Eastern Amur Region, the Amur Region department of the Russian interior ministry said.

The shooter committed suicide by turning the gun on himself.

MOSCOW, November 13. /TASS/: Sberbank will restart negotiations on the sale of its Ukrainian subsidiary after Kiev lifts sanctions, First Deputy CEO of the bank Lev Khasis told reporters on Wednesday.

"Following the introduction of Ukrainian sanctions against Sberbank, resumption of negotiations with anyone about [Ukrainian subsidiary] sale will be possible after the removal of Ukrainian sanctions," the banker said.

MOSCOW, November 13. /TASS/: Legal entities recognized as foreign agents will have to report to Russia’s Justice Ministry if they are bankrolled from abroad, Chairman of the Russian State Duma Committee for Information Policy, Information Technologies and Communications Leonid Levin told reporters on Wednesday.

MOSCOW, November 13. /TASS/: The Army Military and Technical Forum and the International Army Games will be held simultaneously in August 2020, Russian Defense Minister Army General Sergei Shoigu said at a meeting of the forum’s organizing committee on Wednesday.

"We will hold the sixth Army International Military and Technical Forum in August next year," he said, adding that the event would take place "simultaneously with the International Army Games."