Russia

MOSCOW, September 14. /TASS/: Russian Defense Minister Army Gen. Sergei Shoigu awarded victory in the "Courage and Honor" nomination of the Russian Army-2019 festival to a serviceman who saved a senior officer in Syria and a pilot who landed a burning jet.

"We are now choosing the best in 54 military jobs. Many of those people have had a serious combat experience before climbing to this stage," the minister said during the award ceremony.

MOSCOW, September 14. /TASS/: The Interstate Aviation Committee, an air crash investigation authority for Russia and the Commonwealth of Independent States, has prepared an interim report about its investigation into last month’s belly-landing of an Airbus A-321 plane on a corn field near Moscow.

An IAC source told TASS that preliminary investigation confirmed the initial version of engine failure as a result of multiple bird strikes.

MOSCOW, September 14. /TASS/: During exercises in the Pacific Ocean, Russia’s Varyag missile cruiser used a Vulkan anti-ship cruise missile to strike a target at a distance of some 500 km, Pacific Fleet spokesman Nikolai Voskresensky told reporters on Saturday.

"The Pacific fleet flagship, the Order of Nakhimov Guards missile cruiser Varyag launched a cruise missile of the Vulkan system at a target ship at a distance of about 500 kilometers," he said. "According to live recording equipment data, the missile hit the target at the designated time."

MOSCOW, September 14. /TASS/: The world’s first-ever floating nuclear power plant "Akademik Lomonosov," which arrived to Russia’s northeasternmost region of Chukotka earlier this week, started mooring at its operating site in the city of Pevek, a regional government spokesperson told TASS on Saturday.

"According to latest reports, the station began the mooring procedure. It will be completed within two hours," the source said.

MOSCOW, September 14. /TASS/: Moscow regularly holds consultations with Washington on normalizing the work of Russia's overseas agencies in the United States, a source in the Russian Foreign Ministry told TASS on Saturday.

"Such expert consultations with the Americans are held regularly," the source said.

"Our dialogue regarding, among other things, normalization of conditions for functioning of Russian overseas agencies in the United States is practically constant," the source stressed.

MOSCOW, September 14. /TASS/: The number of injured in a head-on collision between a PAZ bus and a MAN truck in the Yaroslavl Region raised from 25 to 28 people, the press service of the region’s Interior Ministry told reporters on Saturday.

"Currently, as a result of the accident, seven people died and 28 were injured. Traffic police, the Emergency Situations Ministry and ambulance teams are working at the scene," the press service said.

MOSCOW (AP) — A negotiating team from the Taliban arrived Friday in Russia, a representative told The Associated Press, just days after U.S. President Donald Trump declared dead a deal with the insurgent group in Afghanistan.

Russian state news agency Tass cited the Taliban’s Qatar-based spokesman Suhail Shaheen as saying the delegation had held consultations with Zamir Kabulov, President Vladimir Putin’s envoy for Afghanistan. The visit was confirmed to the AP by a Taliban official who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to reporters.

13 Sep 2019; MEMO: Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has said the war in Syria has come to an end and the focus should now be on promoting a long-lasting settlement and providing humanitarian aid for civilians.

MOSCOW, September 13. /TASS/: Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov expects Russia’s diplomacy to be dynamic, thoroughly professional and ready to tackle challenges within 20-30 years.

"Dynamic, thoroughly professional, ready to respond in kind to challenges," he said in an interview with Trud newspaper when asked a respective question.

MOSCOW, September 13. /TASS/: Russian President Vladimir Putin will arrive in Ankara on Monday, September 16, to participate in a trilateral summit on Syria and hold bilateral meetings with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Iranian President Hassan Rouhani. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said at a briefing on Friday.