Russia

MOSOW, July 17. /TASS/: The trial against Chief Editor of the RIA Novosti Ukraine Kirill Vyshinsky is absurd, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said in an interview with the Argumenty i Fakty daily.

MOSCOW, July 16. /TASS/: Over 5,000 servicemen from 200 teams will take part in the 2019 International Army Games (ARMI-2019), the Russian Defense Ministry said on Tuesday.

"The 2019 Army Games will include 32 competitions on the territory of 10 countries (Russia, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Belarus, Iran, India, China, Kazakhstan, Mongolia and Uzbekistan). Over 5,000 servicemen from over 200 teams will take part in the games," the defense ministry said.

MOSCOW, July 16. /TASS/: The press service of the Russian Emergencies Ministry has confirmed that a light aircraft had fallen on a single-family house in a village in Chechnya.

"At 07:58 Moscow time, a report came that a light aircraft had fallen on a single-family house in the village of Novoshchedrinskaya in Chechnya’s Shelkovskoy District for an unknown reason, there was no fire. According to preliminary data, four people have been injured," the ministry said.

SEVASTOPOL, July 16. /TASS/: Ukraine’s threats to destroy the Crimean Bridge are unrealistic because its army’s capabilities are only enough to conduct military exercises against an imaginary enemy, Russian State Duma (lower house of parliament) deputy Dmitry Belik, who represents the Crimean city of Sevastopol, told TASS on Tuesday.

MOSCOW, July 15. /TASS/: Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) has detained two members of the Islamic State terrorist organization (outlawed in Russia) in the Rostov Region, the FSB Public Relations Center informed TASS.

MOSCOW, July 15. /TASS/: Russian Ombudswoman Tatyana Moskalkova will discuss the issues of mutual protection of citizens' rights and dialogue between human rights bodies with her Ukrainian counterpart Lyudmila Denisova, Moskalkova’s official website reported on Monday.

The announcement pointed out that the Russian Ombudswoman had arrived in Kiev on July 15 to support RIA Novosti Ukraine Editor-in-Chief Kirill Vyshinsky at his hearing.

MOSCOW, July 15. /TASS/: Tehran is reducing its commitments to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) in order to launch a diplomatic mechanism to save the nuclear deal, Spokesman for the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran Behrouz Kamalvandi said on Monday.

"We are taking these steps not out of stubbornness but in order to give a chance to diplomacy," he said, as cited by Iran’s Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA). According to Kamalvandi, "other participants in the deal should resume compliance."

MOSCOW, July 15. /TASS/: The Kremlin hopes journalist Kirill Vyshinsky who is facing high treason and illegal arms possession charges in Ukraine will be ultimately released, Russian president’s press secretary Dmitry Peskov said on Monday.

"We are keeping a close eye on the situation around Vyshinsky, on his court trial. We hope he will be released, better sooner than later," he told journalists.

MOSCOW, July 15. /TASS/: Armored units in the Nizhny Novgorod Region in the Volga area are holding drills at the Mulino practice range, using T-72B3 tanks, Grad multiple launch rocket systems and unmanned aerial vehicles, the press office of Russia’s Western Military District reported on Monday.

As part of the drills, the armored units went on alert and headed for the training range while practicing defense against air raids and attacks by subversion groups. The personnel will sharpen the skills of defensive and offensive operations and hold a gunnery exercise.

MOSCOW, July 15./TASS/: Moscow’s Lefortovo court has put under house arrest Sergey Meshcheryakov, a staffer of the Heat Exchange and Aerogas Dynamics Center at the Central Research Institute of Machine Building (TsNIImash), suspected of high treason, court sources told TASS on Monday.

"The Lefortovo district court of Moscow has chosen house arrest until September 3 as a pre-trial restraint for Meshcheryakov Sergey suspected of committing a crime under Article 275 of the Russian Criminal Code (High Treason)," a court representative said.