Russia

MOSCOW, March 18. /TASS/. Russia has decreased it holdings in US Treasury Securities to $13.180 bln in January from $13.216 bln in December last year, according to the Treasury International Capital (TIC) data for January 2019.

The share of long-term bonds accounted for $6.322 bln, short-term bonds - $6.858 bln.

Russia began to drastically reduce investments in the US national debt in the spring of 2018.

In April 2018, investments fell from $96 bln to $ 48.7 bln, and then in May to $ 14.9 bln.

MOSCOW, March 18. /TASS/. NASA's astronauts Michael Hopkins, Victor Glover and Kjell Lindgren have arrived at the Gagarin Space Training Center near Moscow for a series of training sessions.

"NASA’s astronauts will undergo a five-week course of instruction," the space training center said on its website.

Two of them - Hopkins and Glover - may become the first crew of the US spacecraft Crew Dragon (Crew-1) after the certification flight. Lindgren is being trained for a standby crew.

There will be three training sessions.

SIMFEROPOL, March 18. /TASS/. Russia will lift counter-restrictions if the European Union abolishes its sanctions, Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Monday at a meeting with Thierry Mariani, head of a delegation of French politicians and the President of the French-Russian Dialog Association.

SIMFEROPOL, March 18. /TASS/. Russian President Vladimir Putin has said he has arrived Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to the opening of the Central Mosque in Crimea.

"I’ve invited Turkish President Erdogan. He knows about that and, as far as I understand, he is very positive about this invitation. We’ll wait and see if he has the time and opportunity to arrive here," Putin said.

He recalled that Russia would be developing relations with Turkey and friends in other countries.

SIMFEROPOL, March 18. /TASS/. The aim of the terrorist attack in New Zealand against Muslims last week was to undermine the situation in the country and Russia will do everything possible to prevent such acts of terrorism on its territory, President Vladimir Putin said on Monday.

"We certainly condole over victims in New Zealand following this terrible terrorist act, which was definitely aimed to undermine the situation in the country," Putin said. "We will do everything possible to prevent such situations in our country."

MOSCOW, March 18./TASS/. Crimea will forever remain part of Russia, and economic sanctions, pressure or military threats targeting Russia are pointless, Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said on Monday.

"Five years ago a treaty was signed between Russia and the Republic of Crimea on its accession to Russia and the establishment of new entities within the Russian Federation. The residents of the peninsula made a landmark decision at the referendum - to become part of the Russian Federation, thus making a crucial choice," the prime minister said.

MOSCOW, March 18. /TASS/. Russia has deployed squadrons of Tu-22M3 bombers in Crimea in response to the deployment of NATO’s anti-missile shield in Romania in 2015, the head of the Russian Federation Council’s Committee for Defense and Security, Viktor Bondarev, told journalists on Monday.

MOSCOW, March 18. /TASS/. The Russian Foreign Ministry has expressed indignation at the Western sanctions imposed on Russian citizens over the Kerch Strait incident.

"An attempt was made once again to score political points by means of the November 2018 Kerch Strait incident provoked by Ukraine. The EU made an outrageous decision a few days ago, blacklisting a number of Russian citizens, including our border guards who took part in the operation to foil the Ukrainian provocation," the ministry said in a commentary posted on its website on Monday.

SIMFEROPOL, March 19. /TASS/. Members of a German delegation of public organizations are impressed by the changes over the past five years since Crimea’s reunification with Russia, Deputy Chairman of the Security and Politics Society Frank Porsh told a meeting with representatives of Crimea’s parliament, the State Council.

The delegation consisting of ten representatives of German pubic organizations arrived in Crimea on March 16 to learn about the region’s life. They hold meetings with the republic’s authorities and members of the public.

MOSCOW, March 19. /TASS/. Russian and Syrian inter-agency coordination headquarters believe that Syrian citizens won’t receive a dime out of the $400mln assistance allocated by Washington, they said in a joint statement released on Tuesday.

"Out of nearly $400mln earmarked by the US side for Syria’s assistance, the Syrian people won’t get a dime," chiefs of the Russian and Syrian coordination headquarters, Mikhail Mizintsev and Hussein Makhlouf, said in the statement.