Russia

PERM, November 11. /TASS/: The Perm District Court has declared a woman from the city of Krasnokamsk in the Perm Region, who had starved her daughter to death, insane and shipped her off to a psychiatric hospital for compulsory treatment, TASS reported from the courtroom.

ST. PETERSBURG, November 10. /TASS/: An alleged victim of a lecturer of St. Petersburg State University and a historian, Anastasia Eshchenko was gunned down on November 7, a source close to investigation told TASS on Sunday.

"According to the preliminary information, the murder was committed on November 7. The suspect shot the young woman from a traumatic pistol and left the body in the room," the source said.

The murder apparently occurred after a quarrel, he noted.

MOSCOW, November 10. /TASS/: Applications from volunteers desirous of taking part in the 240-day SIRIUS isolation experience starting at the turn of 2020 will begin next week, chief project manager Mark Belakovsky told TASS.

"We have not yet formally announced a broad recruitment of volunteers and will inform the public about holding it [the experiment - TASS] next week," Belakovsky said.

MOSCOW, November 10. /TASS/: The Russian Ministry of Economic Development will submit to the government a looking-forward privatization plan in coming days, Deputy Minister Oksana Tarasenko told reporters on Saturday.

"We will submit a draft looking-forward [privatization] plan in the day ahead. In particular, we can present an extra list [of assets]. Nevertheless, we expect a meeting in the government at the level of the first deputy prime minister in charge of privatization," Tarasenko said.

ST. PETERSBURG, November 9. /TASS/: Divers engaged in searches for the remains of an alleged victim of Oleg Sokolov, a historian and battle reenactor detained in St. Petersburg on Saturday on suspicion of murder, found remains of another unknown person in the Moika River, the St. Petersburg Search and Rescue Service told TASS.

"Other remains were found but not of the girl searched for," the source said. Divers will continue searching on Sunday.

MOSCOW, November 10. /TASS/: Russian President Vladimir Putin is scheduled to hold three separate meetings on the sidelines of BRICS summit in Brazil, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov told TASS.

"Three separate meetings are scheduled," Peskov said, noting that the schedule was being worked out.

Putin is expected to meet with all participants in Brasilia, he added.

Earlier, the Kremlin spokesman told TASS that Putin could hold a separate meeting with Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro on the sidelines of BRICS summit.

VLADIVOSTOK, November 10. /TASS/: The final group of beluga whales remaining in captivity in Srednyaya Bay, in Russia’s Far East, has been released into the wild, the press service of the Pacific Research Institute for Fisheries and Oceanography (TINRO) told TASS on Sunday.

"The specialists have completed the release of the last batch of beluga whales," a spokesman said, noting that they have been freed into Uspenia Bay.

MOSCOW, November 8. /TASS/: Issues of nuclear disarmament and prevention of arms race in outer space were in focus of talks between Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov and UN Under-Secretary-General and High Representative for Disarmament Affair Izumi Nakamitsu, who is taking part in the Moscow Nonproliferation Conference, the Russian foreign ministry said on Friday.

MOSCOW, November 8. /TASS/: OPEC Secretary General Mohammad Barkindo held a meeting with Russia’s Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Kozak on Friday, according to a statement published on OPEC’s official Facebook account.

During the meeting, the two officials discussed the situation on the oil market and the future of the OPEC+ agreement.

"OPEC Secretary General, Mohammad Barkindo, received His Excellency Dmitry Kozak, Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian Federation at the OPEC Secretariat today," the statement said.

MOSCOW, November 9. /TASS/: Russia’s wheat production will amount to 74 mln tonnes in 2019-2020 agricultural year (June 2019 - July 2020), according to the estimate of the US Department of Agriculture. In September and October, it projected 72.5 mln tonnes. Wheat export projection has been raised to 34.5 mln tones from 34 mln tonnes in previous months.

The official grain harvest outlook of the Russian Agriculture Ministry for 2019 is 120 mln tonnes, including 78 mln tonnes of wheat. Previously the ministry projected grain harvest at 115-118 mln tonnes.