Russia

MOSCOW, October 15. /TASS/: The Yantar Shipyard on the Baltic coast will accept the world’s largest air-cushion amphibious assault ship Mordovia operational in the Baltic Fleet for repairs in early November, Shipyard spokesman Sergei Mikhailov told TASS on Tuesday.

"The ship will arrive at the Shipyard for repairs in late October - early November," the spokesman specified.

MOSCOW, October 15. /TASS/: The Russian Embassy in Minsk monitors the situation regarding the detention of Russian national Anna Bogacheva in the Belarusian capital, the Russian Foreign Ministry stated on Facebook. Bogacheva is provided with all the necessary support, the ministry added.

MOSCOW, October 15. /TASS/: The Black Sea Fleet’s submarines Krasnodar and Stary Oskol will wrap up their deployment as part of the Russian Navy’s permanent Mediterranean task force in early 2020, a source in the shipbuilding industry told TASS on Tuesday.

"The deployment of the two submarines in the Mediterranean Sea on a rotating basis will last until the beginning of 2020, after which they will sail to St. Petersburg for planned repairs at the Admiralty Shipyard," the press office said in a statement.

ZARINSK, October 15. /TASS/: The positive dynamics of the development of light industry, which the industry has shown over the past 5 years at a level of at least 5% per year, has been replaced by stagnation in 2019. The reason was the fall in consumer demand and stagnation in retail trade, Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade of Russia Viktor Evtukhov told reporters on Tuesday.

MOSCOW (Reuters) - The Kremlin’s envoy for Syria on Tuesday called Turkey’s military offensive in northeast Syria “unacceptable” and denied Ankara’s operation had been cleared by Moscow in advance, Russian news agencies reported.

Alexander Lavrentiev, Russian President Vladimir Putin’s envoy for Syria, was speaking to reporters in Abu Dhabi during an official visit there by Putin.

MOSCOW, October 14. /TASS/: The Russian strategic nuclear forces’ drills Thunder 2019 are defensive and are not aimed against other states, acting Head of the Defense Ministry’s Main Department for International Military Cooperation Major General Yevgeny Ilyin said at a news briefing for foreign attaches on Monday.

VLADIVOSTOK, October 14. /TASS/: Massive drills to repel the "enemy" assault force have started in the Primorsky and Sakhalin Regions. Up to 8,000 people are taking part in it, the press service of the Eastern Military District told reporters on Monday.

MOSCOW, October 14. /TASS/: Reports claiming that the Russian Aerospace Forces have targeted Syrian hospitals are a result of manipulations on the part of terrorists and British special services, Russian Defense Ministry Spokesman Igor Konashenkov informed on Monday.

MOSCOW, October 14. /TASS/: The Kremlin believes that the issue of returning Crimea to Ukraine won’t be up for discussion in any format, including at the Normandy Four summit, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Monday.

Peskov commented on Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky’s idea put forward last week during his press marathon in Kiev on discussing the Crimean issue at the Normandy Four (Russia, Ukraine, Germany and France) summit.

MOSCOW, October 13. /TASS/: Tehran should honor its commitments under the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) on the Iranian nuclear program, Russian President Vladimir Putin said in an interview with RT Arabic, Al Arabiya and Sky News Arabia TV channels on Sunday ahead of his visit to the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia.

"My opinion is that Iran should better be committed to the letter and spirit of this deal," the Russian president said.