Russia

MOSCOW, September 27. /TASS/: Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov did not rule out that President Vladimir Putin may take part in a farewell service for France’s late President Jacques Chirac, although no final decision on this matter has been taken as of yet.

"If the president takes this decision, we will inform you," he told journalists on Friday. "The French colleagues are now discussing details of the service and so forth. So far, no clear procedure has been agreed, it will be done later in the day. The president will take a decision depending on that."

MOSCOW, September 27. /TASS/: Russia’s Supreme Court has turned down a petition to posthumously rehabilitate Vladimir Artsezo, a former deputy commander of the 57th Army of the Soviet Union, who during World War II defected to the invading enemy, and agreed to collaborate with the Nazis, eventually rising to the rank of major general in the Wehrmacht, the press-service for the Chief Military Prosecutor’s Office said on Friday.

MOSCOW, September 27. /TASS/: An independent review board has found a tweet published by Andrei Malosolov, a journalist and former head of the press service for the Russian Football Union (RFU), to be racist and offensive, the prosecution told Moscow’s Perovsky Court hearing the case against the reporter on Friday. The tweet was about ex-FC Spartak Moscow footballer Luiz Adriano.

MOSCOW, September 27. /TASS/: Russia’s latest Okhotnik (Hunter) heavy attack drone has performed its first flight with the most advanced Su-57 fighter jet, the Defense Ministry announced on Friday.

"The Okhotnik unmanned aerial vehicle has performed its first joint flight with a fifth-generation Su-57 plane," the ministry said.

MOSCOW, September 27. /TASS/: The Russian State Duma (lower house of parliament) Commission on Foreign Interference in Russia’s Internal Affairs has confirmed that the Deutsche Welle media outlet violated Russian law, head of the commission Vasily Piskarev stated on Friday.

MOSCOW, September 26. /TASS/: A Russian military satellite launched from the Plesetsk spaceport in north Russia on Thursday separated from the Fregat booster and entered the designated orbit, the Defense Ministry’s press office reported.

"The Fregat booster has successfully delivered the satellite into orbit in the interests of the Defense Ministry of Russia," the press office said in a statement.

KALININGRAD, September 26. /TASS/: The Baltic Fleet’s helicopter crews delivered rocket and bombing strikes against a notional enemy’s surface ships and fast-speed craft during drills in Russia’s westernmost Kaliningrad Region, the Fleet’s press office reported on Thursday.

MOSCOW, September 26. /TASS/: A Russian military satellite separated from the upper stage of the Soyuz-2.1b carrier rocket that blasted off from the Plesetsk spaceport in north Russia on Thursday, the press office of Russia’s Defense Ministry reported.

"The payload assembly of the Soyuz-2.1b medium carrier rocket comprising the Fregat booster and the satellite separated from the rocket’s third stage in the normal regime at the designated time - 10:55 a.m. Moscow time," the press office said.

MOSCOW, September 26. /TASS/: Moscow is preparing its response to the US failure to issue visas for some members of the Russian delegation to the UN General Assembly, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has told Channel 1.

"There will be a [response]. <...> We will prepare some measures. Don’t deprive us of a chance to make a surprise," Lavrov said in a statement, published on the Foreign Ministry’s website on Thursday.

MOSCOW, September 26. /TASS/: Moscow accuses Washington of violating the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty, and remains committed to the spirit and letter of the document, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Thursday.

"As far as NATO is concerned, we absolutely disagree with any accusations against Russia. The Russian side has not violated the letter and spirit of the INF Treaty, and on the contrary, it continues consistently accusing the US of violating the INF Treaty, and there are grounds for that," Peskov said.