Russia & CIS

Armenia’s Investigative Committee reports that a junior sergeant has been charged as a suspect in the apparent suicide death of Levon Torosyan on May 6, 2018.

OPEC may decide to raise oil output as soon as June due to worries over Iranian and Venezuelan supply and after Washington raised concerns the oil rally was going too far, OPEC and oil industry sources familiar with the discussions told Reuters, APA reports.

Two trains were derailed after an accident in Pakistan's eastern city of Lahore on Tuesday afternoon, an official from the Pakistan Railways said, Xinhua reported.

An Iranian official on Tuesday said that his country had made all necessary preparations to resume production of highly-enriched uranium, APA reports quoting AA.

President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev has today signed an Order on the construction of a carpet weaving workshop in Goranboy region, AzerTag reports.

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev has signed an order on a number of measures to ensure the activity of the Food Safety Agency, Trend reports.

President Ilham Aliyev has signed a decree “On establishment of Agrarian Research Center under the Ministry of Agriculture of the Republic of Azerbaijan”.

The next stage of talks between Azerbaijan and the European Union on the new partnership agreement will be held in Baku on May 29-30, head of the Political Section, first adviser to the head of the EU Delegation to Azerbaijan Denis Daniilidis told APA.

Elizabeth II, Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, has congratulated President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev, Trend reports.

The whole absurdity of Armenian diplomacy becomes clear from the statements of spokesman for the Armenian Foreign Ministry Tigran Balayan.

President of Serbia Aleksandar Vucic has completed his official visit to Azerbaijan.

Russia will not be the only country to use the Crimean Bridge which President Putin is opening today, on May 15. Ukraine and European countries will be able to use the bridge for profitable transit to Asia, Senator Sergei Tsekov of the Republic of Crimea said. On May 15, Russian President Vladimir Putin takes part in the opening ceremony of the automotive section of the Crimean Bridge - a super 19-kilometre-long construction from mainland Russia to the Crimean Peninsula. The state contract for the construction of the bridge provided for the launch of the automotive section in December 2018, but the first stage of the project has been delivered six months ahead of the deadline. For motorists, car traffic on the bridge will be opened on May 16 at 05:30 MSK. Local residents - Crimeans and Kuban residents - will be the first to drive through it.Sergei Tsekov, Senator from the Republic of Crimea, a member of the Federation Council Committee on International Affairs, told Pravda.Ru that the bridge has established direct connection with Russia. "Crimea has now been linked to Russia. This gives us additional opportunities in economy, social sphere, logistics," the official said. Indeed, the construction of the bridge to the Crimea removes the transport blockade of the Crimea, which will be broken completely when the railway section of the bridge is launched in 2019. "This is a major event for the country after Russia's reunification with the Crimea," Sergei Tsekov said in an interview with Pravda.Ru.According to the senator, Russia has showed itself as a highly developed technological country having built the bridge. Russia used state-of-the-art technologies for the construction of support structures installed deep into the seafloor. This bridge is not only the longest one in Russia, but also in Europe.Sergei Tsekov is convinced that the bridge will be protected accordingly from saboteurs. A special service will be established to protect both the surface and the underwater elements of the bridge. "The bridge is important for both the Crimea and Russia. It is important for Ukraine, it is important for Europe, and I am confident that over time the bridge will be used by various economic structures of Ukraine to transport products to the territory of the Crimea. When the relationship between  Ukraine and Russia becomes normal - and it will become normal -  both the territory of the Crimea and the bridge itself will be used for the transit of goods from Ukraine and Europe to Asia. Therefore, the opening of the Crimean Bridge is a landmark event in the life of the European community," the official told Pravda.Ru. The construction of the Crimean Bridge, connecting the Crimea and Russia's Kuban region, began two years ago. The bridge is 19 kilometres long: 11.5 km on land and 7.5 km across the sea.  The bridge across the Kerch Strait consists of parallel road and railway sections. The bridge has four lanes, the maximum speed of movement is 120 kilometres per hour. The railway consists of two paths. The estimated speed of passenger trains along the bridge is 120 kilometres per hour, the speed for freight trains is 80 kilometres per hour.Lyuba LulkoPravda.Ru Read article on the Russian version of Pravda.Ru

Thousands of people protests in Istanbul against Israel's actions in Gaza, which killed more than 50 Palestinians, Haberturk reported.

An exhibition of roses will be held at the Central Botanical Garden of the Azerbaijani National Academy of Sciences (ANAS) on May 29-31, ANAS told on May 14.

The UN Security Council will hold an emergency meeting to address the violent clashes between Palestinian protestors and Israeli forces along the Gaza Strip's border with Israel, a Palestinian envoy said Monday, according Xinhua.

Israeli forces killed at least 52 Palestinians along the Gaza border, as demonstrators streamed to the frontier on the day the United States opened its embassy in Jerusalem, Reuters reports.

Heads of intelligence agencies of Russia and Turkey discussed in Istanbul cooperation in the fight against international terrorism, head of the press office of the Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) of Russia Sergei Ivanov told journalists, reports TASS.

Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov met with EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Federica Mogherini within his visit to Brussels, the press service of the Ministry told APA.

EurActiv news portal, an independent European media platform dealing with European news and European-centric topics, has published an article by Benjamin Fox headlined “Baku’s new silk road can connect Europe to the east”.

Currently Iran swaps about one million cubic meters of gas per day with Azerbaijan, Iran’s deputy oil minister Hamid Reza Araqi said.