Russia

VLADIVOSTOK, October 9. /TASS/: The Nakhodka City Court ruled on Wednesday to place five more North Korean citizens into custody as suspected of attacking officers of the Russian Federal Security Service’s (FSB) Border Service for the Primorsky Region.

The court earlier detained 11 fishers who had attacked the border guards.

"Upon the investigators’ motion, the court ruled to place five North Korean fishers into custody for the period of the preliminary investigation as a measure of pre-trial restriction," a court official told TASS.

MOSCOW, October 9. /TASS/: The commandos of Russia’s Central Military District eliminated a notional enemy’s subversive groups in non-residential buildings during drills in the Samara Region in the Volga area, the District’s press office reported on Wednesday.

Under the drills’ scenario, reconnaissance squads detected the enemy force in abandoned buildings. The commandos were assigned the task of launching a swift raid on several such buildings and capturing the ringleaders of armed groups alive.

MOSCOW, October 9. /TASS/: Moscow has no reason to take steps not included in the UN Human Rights Council’s procedures in relation to China's alleged oppression of Muslims in the Xinjiang region, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told reporters following talks with Kazakh top diplomat Mukhtar Tleuberdi on Wednesday.

MOSCOW, October 9. /TASS/: US intelligence agencies could stage new provocations against Russian representatives after the incident with MP Inga Yumasheva, who was questioned at New York’s airport by the FBI, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.

MOSCOW, October 9. /TASS/: Kremlin has no comment on the inclusion of the Anti-Corruption Foundation, established by Russian opposition figure Alexey Navalny, on the list of non-profits recognized as foreign agents, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Wednesday. He added that the decision is up to the Russian Ministry of Justice.

"Kremlin has no opinion, Kremlin does not make these decisions, it falls under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Justice," he said in response to a request for comment on the decision.

MOSCOW, October 9. /TASS/: Russian President Vladimir Putin and former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi met in Sochi on Tuesday, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov told TASS.

"[The meeting was held] on Tuesday in the first half of the day," Peskov said.

MOSCOW, October 9. /TASS/: A Proton-M carrier rocket with a Breeze-M booster blasted off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan to deliver a European Eutelsat-5WB and a US MEV-1 satellite into orbit, according to an online broadcast on the website of Russia’s State Space Corporation Roscosmos.

The upper part of the Proton-M rocket with the booster and the two satellites is set to separate from the third stage 582.3 seconds (about ten minutes) after the liftoff.

MOSCOW, October 9. /TASS/: There is no political aspect to courts’ verdicts in cases related to the summer’s protest rallies, Russian Presidential Spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.

When asked if the Kremlin saw a political aspect to the verdicts, he answered in the negative. "You know, we don’t comment on them. There is and can be no political aspect," Peskov pointed out.

MOSCOW, Oct 9 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Russia rejected the idea of involving the United States in talks to help resolve the conflict between the Kiev government and pro-Russian separatists in Ukraine’s east.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said there was no support for the idea of Washington joining the Normandy Format talks to settle the conflict, which involves Russia, Ukraine, Germany and France.

A diplomatic breakthrough last week potentially opened the way for an international summit between the countries aimed at finding a way to end the fighting.

MOSCOW, October 8. /TASS/: The Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) will open its first foreign representative office in Saudi Arabia, according to the press release issued by the fund.