Russia

MOSCOW, September 8. /TASS/: Damascus has lambasted US and Turkish patrolling of a planned security zone in northeastern Syria as aggression, the Syrian Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Sunday.

Damascus believes that "this step is aggression aimed at foot dragging the crisis in Syria," the statement said. The Syrian Foreign Ministry views these steps as "a flagrant violation of international law, sovereignty and territorial integrity of the country."

ST.PETERSBURG, September 8. /TASS/: The latest prisoner swap between Ukraine and Russia demonstrates that both countries are ready for resuming dialogue, Russia’s Federation Council (upper house) Speaker Valentina Matviyenko told reporters in St. Petersburg on Sunday.

YUZHNO-SAKHALINSK, September 8. /TASS/: Russia will supply S-400 missile systems to India in 18-19 months and New Delhi has made an advance payment, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Yuri Borisov said in an interview with "Moscow. Kremlin. Putin" program on Rossiya-1 TV channel.

"An advance payment [under the contract] has been made and everything will be supplied in strict compliance with the schedule. This is nearly 18-19 months," Borisov said, speaking about the timeframe of the contract with India.

MOSCOW, September 8. /TASS/: Russia has been unable so far to solve a number of vital problems in its relations with Japan and the Kremlin regrets about this, Russian Presidential Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said in an interview with "Moscow. Kremlin. Putin" program on Sunday.

"We regret to say that so far we have failed to solve a number of very important problems," Peskov said.

According to Peskov, the Kremlin views positively cooperation between Moscow and Tokyo in general. "Solutions to such vital issues can be only found based on mutual trust," he noted.

MOSCOW, September 7. /TASS/: Russian President Vladimir Putin hopes that stabilization in Moldova will create an opportunity for both countries to boost their relations.

"We are very delighted that the situation in Moldova has largely stabilized. There is an opportunity to use this relative stability for the development of the economy and our bilateral ties," Putin said at a meeting with Moldovan President Igor Dodon.

"We seldom see each other, but always with benefit," Putin added.

MOSCOW, September 8. /TASS/: First Deputy Chairman of Russia’s Central Election Commission Nikolai Bulayev said he expects a high voter turnout at the polls held across Russia on Sunday.

"This morning I was almost the first one to vote at my polling station, people there were in a good mood, there were many voters during the opening. I hope the voter turnout will be rather high," Bulayev told reporters.

The official voiced hope that the polls would be held calmly and without any provocations.

8 September 2019; AFP: Russians voted in local elections on Sunday that will test the popularity of President Vladimir Putin and his allies after a crackdown on opposition protests in Moscow.

Elections for municipal councils and regional governors took place across the country, but most attention was focused on Moscow, where tens of thousands took to the streets this summer after potential opposition candidates were barred from the vote.

MOSCOW, Sept 8 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Russians vote Sunday in local elections after weeks of opposition protests that led to the biggest police crackdown on dissent in nearly a decade.

Elections take place after Moscow and Kiev carried out a long-awaited swap of 70 prisoners on Saturday, a deal hailed as a first step towards ending five years of conflict after Moscow’s annexation of Crimea.

MOSCOW, September 7. /TASS/: The special aircraft of Rossiya flight unit Tu-204 carrying Russian citizens released within the prisoner swap has landed in Moscow’s Vnukovo Airport.

The aircraft landed in Vnukovo-2 at 1:26 p.m. Moscow time, TASS correspondent reports.

Also the special aircraft carrying Ukrainian citizens released within the prisoner swap landed at the Boryspil International Airport on Saturday.

MOSCOW, September 7. /TASS/: The state trials of Russia’s modernized air tanker, Il-78MD-90A, will be over in 2021, an aircraft industry source has told TASS.

"Last year, we finished building a test model of the air tanker, which is now undergoing the manufacturer’s flight tests. In 2021, we expect to complete state trials and receive the 01 status [giving the green light to the start of serial production]," the source said. "We are taking all measures to speed up the process."

At present, the aircraft has performed about a dozen out of 73 scheduled test flights.