Russia

MOSCOW, September 1. /TASS/: Rosoboronexport plans to sign contracts on exporting Russian planes, helicopters and air defense systems to the tune of several billion of dollars after the MAKS-2019 aerospace show, CEO of Russia’s arms exporter Alexander Mikheyev said on Sunday.

MOSCOW, August 31. /TASS/: Two people were killed when a small helicopter crashed into the Klyazma River outside Moscow on Saturday, the press service of the Moscow region emergencies department told TASS.

"One body was taken to the surface, the second victim is being recovered," the spokesperson said.

The helicopter had two people on board - the pilot and a passenger.

MOSCOW (Reuters) - The Russian military said the United States carried out air strikes in Syria’s Idlib de-escalation zone in breach of previous agreements, inflicting numerous casualties and endangering a ceasefire, Russian news agencies reported on Sunday.

TASS news agency, citing the Russian defense ministry, said the United States had forewarned neither Russia nor Turkey about the strikes. It added that Russian and Syrian warplanes had not carried out raids in the region recently.

MOSCOW, August 30. /TASS/: South Ossetia’s President Anatoly Bibilov on Friday ruled out the possibility of a military conflict over Georgia’s construction of a roadblock in the border area.

"There will be no military confrontation, which the Georgian side is seeking. Residents of the Uista village are in safety and are under the protection of border guards," he said.

MOSCOW, August 30. /TASS/: In a series of trials held on board the International Space Station (ISS) on Friday, Russia’s anthropomorphic robot Fedor successfully matched plug connectors to imitate operations done during a spacewalk.

"We began our training. I helped a cosmonaut, performing some technological manipulations, to pick up the right instrument. After that, I worked in the ‘avatar’ mode to match plug connectors, imitating the repair of cables on the station’s exterior surface," the robot said on his Twitter page on Friday.

MOSCOW, August 30. /TASS/: An investigation into the case of US citizen Paul Whelan, suspected of espionage in Russia, is de-facto over as the final indictment had already been filed, his lawyer Olga Karlova told TASS on Friday.

"The pretrial investigation will be officially declared over next week, but investigative measures are de-facto over. The final version of his indictment has been filed, under Article 276 (espionage), as was the case from the very beginning," she said.

MOSCOW, August 31. /TASS/: The final trials of the ExoMars-2020 project’s lander and rover will begin in March 2020, the launch is due on July 26, the deputy director general of Russia’s Lavochkin Research and Production Association, Kharun Karchayev, said.

MOSCOW, August 31. /TASS/: Russian military spacecraft Kosmos-2521, unofficially nicknamed the satellite inspector, has performed several new maneuvers since the beginning of 2019, the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) said in a statement.

According to NORAD, in January 2019 the satellite was in near-Earth orbit with parameters of 280 km per 285 km. In early February, the orbit of the spacecraft began to decrease gradually and by April 10 its minimum altitude was 227 km. Then the satellite was once again raised - in early June, it had an orbit of 247 for 282 km.

CHELYABINSK, August 31. /TASS/: Indian companies intend to increase the supply of Russian liquefied natural gas (LNG) in particular they are interested in buying gas from future Novatek projects - Arctic LNG-2 and Arctic LNG-3, Russia’s Minister of Energy Alexander Novak told TASS commenting on the results of the meeting with the Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas of India Dharmendra Pradhan.

MOSCOW, Aug 31 (NNN-AGENCIES) – Russia has announced a ceasefire in Syria’s rebel-held Idlib province from Saturday morning, offering respite to civilians who have endured a months-long campaign of bombardment that has killed hundreds.

An agreement was reached on “a unilateral ceasefire by Syrian government forces in the Idlib de-escalation zone, from 6am [0300 GMT] on August 31,” the Russian Reconciliation Centre for Syria said in a statement.