Russia

SARATOV, November 8. /TASS/: France may need expert help from Russia in the restoration of the Notre Dame cathedral after the April fire, French Ambassador to Russia Sylvie Bermann told TASS on Friday during her working visit to the Saratov region.

MOSCOW, November 8. /TASS/: Russian President Vladimir Putin determines the way of Russia’s development on his own, because this right was delegated to him by the country’s people who voted for him in the election, but the analytical approach made by French President Emmanuel Macron in describing likely scenarios of Russia’s development looks impressive to the Kremlin, Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov told the media on Friday.

MOSCOW, November 8. /TASS/: The medium altitude of the International Space Station’s (ISS) flight orbit has been raised by 800 meters with the help of the engines of the Progress MS-12 cargo spaceship docked to the station, a spokesman for the Central Research Institute of Machine-Building (TsNIImash) that is in charge of the Mission Control Center, told TASS on Friday.

MOSCOW, November 8. /TASS/: The United States is deliberately dragging its feet and is looking for an excuse to get rid of the New START Treaty, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said on Friday.

"We are very much concerned about the prospects for the New START Treaty, which will expire in February 2021," he stressed speaking at the Moscow Nonproliferation Conference. "This is the last of the bilateral tools in the sphere of control over our countries’ strategic offensive arms."

BOLSHOI KAMEN /Vladivostok/, November 8. /TASS/: The Project 1155 large anti-submarine warfare ship Marshal Shaposhnikov and the Project 949A Antey-class multipurpose nuclear-powered submarine Irkutsk currently undergoing their upgrade for Russia’s Pacific Fleet will be capable of using the latest Tsirkon hypersonic weapons, Deputy Defense Minister Alexei Krivoruchko said on Friday.

MOSCOW, November 8. /TASS/: The Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) has detained supporters of the international terrorist organization, the Islamic State (IS, outlawed in Russia), that had collected at least 10 million rubles ($157,000) for the terrorists, in the Dagestan Region, the FSB Center for Public Relations (CPR) told TASS.

MOSCOW, November 8. /TASS/: The bill on recognizing individuals as foreign agents, the first reading of which was approved by the Russian State Duma in January 2018, may be approved fully by the end of the year, Chairman of the Federation Council’s (upper house) Commission for the Protection of State Sovereignty and Prevention of Interference in Russia’s Internal Affairs Andrei Klimov told reporters on Friday.

MOSCOW, November 7. /TASS/: The Northern Fleet’s multipurpose nuclear-powered submarines Nizhny Novgorod and Pskov held an underwater duel with torpedo practice fire in drills, the Fleet’s press office reported on Thursday.

MOSCOW, November 7. /TASS/: Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova has dismissed the statements of the German media outlet Deutsche Welle (DW) claiming that a representative of its Moscow office has never met with the head of the Russian Foreign Ministry’s press center. The diplomat provided the details of the meeting in a post on Facebook on Thursday.

VILYUCHINSK /Kamchatka Region/, November 7. /TASS/: Russia’s Defense Ministry plans to place an order for the upgrade of three more Project 1234 missile corvettes for the Pacific Fleet to extend their service life by up to 16 years, Deputy Defense Minister Alexei Krivoruchko said during his visit to the North-Eastern Repair Center on Thursday.