Russia

MOSCOW, September 20. /TASS/: The Moscow City Court has changed the pre-trial restriction for actor Pavel Ustinov, who was previously charged with attacking a riot policeman during the August 3 unauthorized rally in Moscow, TASS reported from the courtroom.

MOSCOW, September 20. /TASS/: The claims made by the US that its weapons is brilliant are not supported by their use in the reality, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told a briefing on Friday.

MOSCOW, September 20. /TASS/: The attempts to revise the history of World War II are aimed at stripping Russia of its role as a guarantor of the post-war world order, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said in his article "World at a crossroads: The future system of international relations" published by "Russia in Global Affairs" magazine.

MOSCOW, September 20. /TASS/: Moscow considers US statements about the possibility of breaking down Kaliningrad’s air defense as irresponsible threats, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said at a briefing on Friday.

MOSCOW, September 19. /TASS/: Russia’s shipbuilders will lay the keels of 22 surface ships, submarines and supply vessels for the Russian Navy in 2020, two sources in the defense-industrial complex told TASS.

"Next year will see a record number of keel-laying ceremonies for ships, both combat and supply vessels, to be built for the Russian Navy. A total of 22 surface ships and boats, multirole nuclear-powered and diesel-electric submarines and supply vessels will begin to be built at shipyards across Russia, including Crimea," the source said.

MOSCOW, September 19. /TASS/: Moscow and Baghdad at the moment are not in talks over the possibility of Iraq's purchasing Russia’s air defense systems S-400 Triumf, Iraqi ambassador in Moscow Haidar Mansour Hadi told a news conference on the platform of the international discussion club Valdai on Thursday.

"We are not holding such talks. Not a single hint at that," Hadi said, adding that he has been asked this question at each public event.

MOSCOW, September 19. /TASS/: Crews of the Chinese Air Force flying Shenyang J-11 air superiority fighter jets, Xi'an JH-7 fighter-bombers and Xian H-6 strategic bombers will practice an attack on ground targets at a military testing range near the southern Urals city of Orenburg as part of the Tsentr-2019 exercis, the Russian Defense Ministry’s press service said on Thursday.

MOSCOW, September 19. /TASS/: Russia’s Roscosmos state corporation said in a presentation revealed on Wednesday it estimated the production costs of a methane-powered rocket at about 900 million rubles (about $14 million at the current exchange rate).

The presentation, unveiled by the corporation’s Director General Dmitry Rogozin while visiting the D.F. Ustinov Baltic State Technical University "Voenmeh" in St. Petersburg, puts production costs of a Soyuz-2.1b rocket currently used for space launches at about 1.3 billion rubles ($20.2 million).

MOSCOW, September 19. /TASS/: The refusal of Ukrainian representatives in the Contact Group to sign the Steinmeier formula runs counter to the previous agreements and confirms once again that proper preparations must be made before a summit of the Normandy Quartet (Russia, Ukraine, France and Germany) may take place, Russian Presidential Spokesman Dmitry Peskov told the media on Thursday.

MOSCOW, September 18. /TASS/: The main phase of the Russian-Belarussian exercise Union Shield 2019 has begun at the Mulino proving ground in the Nizhny Novgorod Region, as follows from a news release issued by the Western Military District.

The participating troops will practice cooperation in repelling superior enemy forces and mobile defense.

"Russian forces will carry out a counter-attack," the news release reads.