Russia

MOSCOW, April 24. /TASS/. Part of the funds US provides ostensibly for aid to Syria in reality is used to fund the armed opposition and stage more provocations, including some involving chemical weapons, the chief of Russia’s National Defense Command Center, Colonel-General Mikhail Mizintsev told the 8th Moscow International Security Conference.

MOSCOW, April 24. /TASS/. Russia was producing 9.83 mln barrels of oil per day in March 2019 and lost 2.5% to Saudi Arabia, the state statistics service Rosstat reported on Wednesday.

Saudi Arabia was producing 10.09 mln barrels of oil per day in February 2019. According to statistics, total daily production of OPEC nations was 30.55 mln barrels in February 2019, including 4.63 mln barrels per day produced in Iraq (ranked second by oil production among OPEC members).

MOSCOW, April 24. /TASS/. Residents of the self-proclaimed Lugansk and Donetsk People’s Republics (LPR and DPR) can apply for Russian citizenship in the Rostov Region. Their applications will be considered within three months, the Russian Interior Ministry’s website informed on Wednesday. The ministry’s press service informed TASS that there is no need to renounce the Ukrainian citizenship in order to obtain the Russian one.

MOSCOW, April 25. /TASS/. The cooperation between Russia and China has become an important factor of stabilization amid West’s attempts to become the sole and uncontestable leader on the international arena, Russian President Vladimir Putin told China’s Renmin Ribao newspaper.

VLADIVOSTOK, April 25. /TASS/. Russian President Vladimir Putin talked about the issues that were discussed at his meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un. Starting the expanded negotiations, the Russian state leader called the previous part a thorough one. "We just had a thorough face-to-face conversation," the Russian leader said.

MOSCOW, April 25. /TASS/. Russian state-run oil company Rosneft is interested in organizing supplies of jet fuel from the Indian oil refinery in the city of Vadinar to the airports in the country, said the head of Rosneft-Aero, Kirill Molodenkov.

Rosneft Aero is a subsidiary of Rosneft, which sells jet fuel produced at 9 Rosneft refineries.

VLADIVOSTOK, April 25. /TASS/. At a special reception in honor of the North Korean leader, Kim Jong-un, Russian President Vladimir Putin pronounced a toast to stronger friendship and cooperation between the two countries.

MOSCOW, April 25. /TASS/. The Russian military police in Syria primarily deals with peacekeeping missions, Head of the Main Military Police Department at Russia’s Defense Ministry Lieutenant-General Vladimir Ivanovsky told TASS on the sidelines of the 8th Moscow International Security Conference on Thursday.

"First of all, this is peacekeeping activity," he stressed.

"This activity is linked with monitoring the ceasefire, providing for humanitarian actions, accompanying UN convoys and solving other tasks," the general specified.

MOSCOW, April 25. /TASS/. The ties between Russia and China are at their highest point in the entire 70-year history of diplomatic relations and will continue to develop steadily, Russian President Vladimir Putin told China’s Renmin Ribao newspaper ahead of his visit to the country.

VLADIVOSTOK, April 25. /TASS/. Russian President Vladimir Putin believes that the outcome of Ukraine’s presidential election is evidence of utter failure of President Pyotr Poroshenko’s policies.