Russia

MOSCOW, October 3. /TASS/: Russia’s new generation MC-21-300 passenger liner has developed technical problems during a test flight near Zhukovsky, a source in emergency services told TASS.

"The plane developed technical problems with its hydraulic system. One of the landing gear legs failed to retract," the source said.

The MC-21 plane made a successful emergency landing at Zhukovsky airdrome near Moscow, the plane’s developer Irkut corporation has said. "The plane landed normally," Irkut said.

MOSCOW, October 3. /TASS/: A newly appointed US ambassador to Russia will be bound by the difficult relations between Russia and the USA, Director of the Institute for US and Canada Studies under the Russian Academy of Sciences Valery Garbuzov told TASS on Thursday.

"Due to the circumstances around the relations between our states, any ambassador’s hands will be tied," he said. "If the relations were unblocked, an ambassador would be able to show their worth."

MOSCOW, October 3. /TASS/: The dangerous situation in the Persian Gulf region, which is to a large extent the result of the United States’ decision to withdraw from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) on Iran’s nuclear program, increases the risk of a large-scale military conflict, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said in an interview with Arab media posted on the Russian Foreign Ministry’s website on Thursday.

SOCHI, October 2. /TASS/: Moscow welcomes the Ansar Allah (Houthi) movement’s readiness to declare a ceasefire in Yemen and enter talks on resolving the conflict, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said, addressing the 16th Annual Meeting of the Valdai International Discussion Club on Wednesday.

MOSCOW, October 2. /TASS/: Oil prices have returned to their earlier level after the spike caused by the drone attack again oil facilities of Saudi Arabia because there are no fundamental preconditions at the moment for the oil price increase, Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Wednesday at the meeting with OPEC Secretary General Mohammed Barkindo.

MOSCOW, October 2. /TASS/: The chairman of the State Duma’s International Affairs Committee, Leonid Slutsky, has described as the "voice of reason" the proposal of the Dutch parliamentarians to initiate a probe into the role of Ukraine in the MH17 flight disaster over Ukraine’s Donetsk Region in July 2014.

"In the MH17 disaster case the voice of reason has been heard at last: Dutch legislators demanded a probe into the role of Ukraine in the crash of the Malaysian Boeing. An impartial probe will turn all suspicion about Russia’s complicity to dust," Slutsky tweeted on Wednesday.

MOSCOW, October 2. /TASS/: Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky’s statements demonstrate that he seeks to disavow the signing of the Steinmeier formula but neither Russia nor Donbass will recognize a new law on a special status of certain areas in the Donetsk and Lugansk regions without the Contact Group’s approval, Russian Senator Alexei Pushkov said.

MOSCOW, October 2. /TASS/: Russia’s Energy Ministry expects the Nord Stream 2 project to be implemented in the applied variant despite the delay with Denmark’s issue of permit, Minister Alexander Novak said at a session of the Russian Energy Week on Wednesday.

MURMANSK, October 2. /TASS/: The Russian Northern Fleet’s missile cruiser Marshal Ustinov currently on its long-distance deployment to the Mediterranean Sea held a series of shipboard exercises, including air defense drills, the Fleet’s press office reported on Wednesday.

"The ship’s crew held air defense and anti-submarine warfare exercises, and also practiced the ship’s protection and defense during a sea transit," the press office said.

MOSCOW, October 2. /TASS/: Russia has not taken any destructive steps against the US, Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Wednesday.

"Russia has not taken a single destructive step with respect to the US. Not a single one. If you have a different opinion, then substantiate it and furnish some evidence," he said at the plenary session of the Russian Energy Week forum.

The Russian president has dismissed statements on Russia’s potential meddling in the US 2020 election as laughable.