Russia

20 July 2019; DW: Russian authorities detained several suspects after huge amounts of crude oil were found to be tainted. Roman Ruzhechko, the man charged with the alleged conspiracy, has sought refuge in Lithuania.

A Vilnius court ordered a three-month detention for Russian national Roman Ruzhechko, who had asked for political asylum in the country, Lithuanian authorities said on Friday.

MOSCOW, July 18. /TASS/: The world’s largest nuclear-powered submarine Dmitry Donskoi took part in the Russian Northern Fleet’s anti-submarine warfare drills, the Fleet’s press office reported on Thursday.

MOSCOW, July 19. /TASS/: The concentration of military forces in the Persian Gulf region is so high that the situation is fraught with an outbreak of conflict, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov told reporters on Friday commenting on Washington’s statements on destroying an Iranian drone.

MOSCOW, July 19. /TASS/: The crew of the NordWind Airlines Boeing 737 ordered passengers to evacuate due to a ‘strange smell’ in the cabin, the air carrier said in a statement on its website on Friday.

"At 00:45 Moscow time, strange smell was reported in the cabin as flight N4-477 SVO-EVN B738 (VPBSZ) was accelerating on the runway. The crew aborted the takeoff, left the runway, turned off the engines and organized the evacuation of passengers (162 adults, 11 children) using inflatable slides," the company said.

MOSCOW, July 17. /TASS/: Militants have shelled six settlements in the Syrian provinces of Hama, Latakia and Aleppo in the past day, Major General Alexey Bakin, chief of the Russian Center for reconciliation of the conflicting sides in Syria, told reporters on Wednesday.

"Over the past day militants shelled Saraf, Qalaat Marza and Djai Bahsa in the Latakia province; Hamamiyat and Harab al-Hizatio in the Hama province, as well as Sabikiyah in the Aleppo province," Bakin said.

SEVASTOPOL, July 18. /TASS/: Su-27 and Su-30 fighter jets from Russia’s Southern Military District practiced missile and bombing strikes against a notional enemy’s command posts and military hardware in drills at the Chauda training range in Crimea, the press office of Russia’s Black Sea Fleet reported on Thursday.

MOSCOW, July 18. /TASS/: Attempts to make European consumers buy American liquefied natural gas (LNG) run counter to the principles of market economy and democracy, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said in an interview with Germany’s Rheinische Post newspaper.

17 July 2019; MEMO: A Hamas delegation headed by Dr Musa Abu Marzouq yesterday met with Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Michael Bogdanov in Moscow.

Abu Marzouq briefed the Russian official on the political developments of the Palestinian issue including the US’ “deal of the century”, stressing that all Palestinian people reject it.

The senior Russian official confirmed that Moscow is interested in following up on the political developments in Palestine and the region.

MOSCOW, July 17. /TASS/: A foreign tanker which made a distress call after experiencing a technical malfunction in the Persian Gulf was towed by the Iranian navy to the country’s territorial waters, Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Abbas Mousavi said on Tuesday.

"Iranian sailors acted in strict compliance with international rules," the Al Mayadeen TV quoted the Iranian diplomat as saying.

According to him, the ship will stay on the territory of Iran until the technical issue on board is fixed.

MOSCOW, July 16. /TASS/: Russia’s Glonass satellite navigation system is protected against technical issues that earlier knocked down its European rival, Galileo, a spokesperson for Russia’s space corporation Roscosmos said on Tuesday.

"[The Glonass system] is certainly protected. In order to prevent such errors, rocket and space industry enterprises have a multiple-level checking systems for software. Besides, the ground-based control hub of the Glonass space system has automated control systems and reserve capacities," the source said.