Russian stock indices in the red on Wednesday — market data

The yuan gained 0.257% to 11.19 rubles

MOSCOW, July 3. /TASS/. Russian stock indices ended the trading session on Wednesday with the downward trend, according to market data.

The ruble-denominated MOEX Russia Index edged down by 0.44% to 3,203.07 points. The dollar-denominated RTS Index dropped by 0.39% to 1,147.28 points.

The yuan gained 0.257% to 11.19 rubles.

Russian stock market indices rising on Friday — market data

The MOEX Russia Index gained 0.49% to 3,149.29 points, while the RTS Index had an uptick by 0.48% to 1,125.66 points

Five civilians killed as result of Ukraine’s attack on DPR during day

26 more were wounded

Slovakia’s PM says would have joined Orban on Moscow visit — AFP

Robert Fico addressed the nation for the first time after the May 15 attack

Russian combat aircraft destroying military targets over Black Sea — governor

Mikhail Razvozhayev urged city residents and guests to remain calm, observe security measures and stay in temporary shelters or safe places

Much is to be done to reach peace between Russia, Ukraine — Hungarian PM

The talks between Vladimir Putin and Viktor Orban lasted for two and a half hours and were also attended by the two countries’ foreign ministers and other members of delegations

EU rules out official communication with Russian president, top diplomat says

Josep Borrell emphasized that the fact that Hungary currently holds the rotating presidency of the Council of the EU does not entitle it to represent the union on the international stage

Russian stock market indices rising on Friday — market data

The MOEX Russia Index gained 0.49% to 3,149.29 points, while the RTS Index had an uptick by 0.48% to 1,125.66 points

Russia’s Battlegroup East wipes out roughly 120 Ukrainian troops in past day

"During active operations, the battlegroup's units foiled enemy attempts to strengthen their positions along the front line and reinforce strongholds by rotating troops as they improved their forward edge positions," Battlegroup Spokesman said

Bulgaria to propose Russia-Ukraine peace talks at NATO summit — PM

Dimitar Glavchev doubted that Bulgaria could expect a mediator’s status as both sides should be willing to accept this

Large group of Democratic donors call on Biden to end his reelection bid — WP

The authors of the letter said that a potential second term of the former president, Republican Donald Trump, posed "profound risks" to America

Hungarian PM leaves Moscow before rainstorm — diplomatic source

Orban held two-hour talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow

Press review: Putin takes meetings with world leaders and Biden donors run for the hills

Biden says is able to counter Putin, contain China

US President also said that he is the only persone, who can hold the North Atlantic Alliance together

Putin-Orban talks conclude after over 2.5 hours

The talks between Putin and Orban took place with the participation of delegations which included the top diplomats of both countries

US-made Patriot systems failed even to protect themselves — Russian general

In the course of the special military operation, Russian air defense systems confirmed their potential to repel strikes by all types of enemy air attack capabilities, Andrey Semyonov said

IAEA will ultimately say who shells Zaporozhye NPP — Russian diplomat

Mikhail Ulyanov said Russia is convinced that "sooner or later" evidence will emerge, and then the organization's secretariat will have to name the culprit

Press review: SCO summit ushers in new deals and zooming in on Russia-India ties

Tankman who hijacked Ukrainian tank gets Russian citizenship

Maxim Likhachev described it as a "long-awaited document"

Biden to hold bilateral meetings, including with Zelensky, on sidelines of NATO summit

Washington will host the NATO summit on July 9-11

Joint Armenian-US Eagle Partner drills to be held in Armenia July 15-24

The exercise will focus on stabilization tasks between conflicting parties during a peacekeeping mission

Lavrov hails Putin-Orban talks in Kremlin

The Russian president and the Hungarian prime minister held talks which lasted over two and a half hours

Nine airplanes routed to alternate airfields amid poor weather in Moscow Region

Specialists of the Air Transport Agency and the State Air Traffic Control Corporation intensified monitoring of air transport operations in Moscow

Pezeshkian wins Iranian presidential race — electoral body

Voter turnout reached 49.8%, the election official said

Pink Floyd founder Waters confesses now he has more respect for Putin — Daily Telegraph

Labour leader Keir Starmer takes office as UK prime minister

He is the third UK prime minister during the reign of Charles III who took the throne less than two years ago

Kiev gives no thought to ceasefire as pretext for martial law will disappear, says Putin

"Once they have to end martial law, they will have to hold elections, as the presidential election did not take place on schedule," the Russian president went on to say

Russian forces using drones to destroy Ukrainian army’s logistics — Ukrainian soldier

Russian troops destroy dozens of Ukrainian transport vehicles every day

Press review: Russia sees US behind Sevastopol attack and Serbian arms flowing to Kiev

Ukraine withdraws from CIS agreement on transit

Ukrainian authorities regularly announce the withdrawal from agreements made earlier with Russia, Belarus, and within the CIS framework

BRICS must balance expansion with continued effective cooperation — Russian diplomat

According to Sergey Ryabkov, Russia’s BRICS presidency "is focused on forming a new category of partner nations"

Reformist Pezeshkian leads in Iran’s presidential run-off — Reuters

The country’s Election Office will publish the outcome of the run-off presidential vote in the next few hours

Defense cooperation between India, Russia important partnership segment — MFA

Indian Foreign Secretary Vinay Kwatra added that the two countries and their defense ministries are always in contact on issues of defense partnership

Russian forces slowly advance in all areas of special operation — senior officer

Major General Apty Alaudinov said Akhmat units had spent about a month in the Kharkov area

CPC expects growth of oil shipments from Tengiz starting 2H 2025

Caspian Pipeline Consortium said in late May that it expected a decline in oil transportation by 7% in 2024, to around 65 mln tons, compared to prior requests for the year

Georgia’s Defense Ministry regrets its joint exercise with US postponed indefinitely

The document emphasizes that the Georgian-US exercises are beneficial for both countries

Voting at Iran’s runoff presidential election over election headquarters

Reformist candidate Masoud Pezeshkian and conservative contender Saeed Jalili are vying for the presidential office

David Lammy appointed as UK Foreign Secretary, John Healy as Defense Secretary

In 2020-2021, David Lammy served as the Shadow Secretary of State for Justice

Russia strikes Ukrainian military-industrial sites, oil refinery over past day — top brass

Russia’s Dnepr Battlegroup inflicted roughly 140 casualties on the Ukrainian army in its area of responsibility over the past day, the ministry reported

Shelling attack on disabled substation meant to prevent its restoration — activist

"Ukrainian troops hit the already ruined substation because they want to exclude the very possibility of resuming power supplies to Energodar," Alexander Malkevich said

Hamas rejects presence of foreign forces in Gaza

According to the statement, Hamas "will not tolerate any patronage or solutions imposed from outside"

US to announce steps to enhance Ukrainian air defenses at NATO summit — official

Washington will be looking "to announce significant enhancements for Ukraine's defense capabilities," high-profile US official specified

Russian-Chinese partnership amid US pressure is beneficial to whole world — Chinese expert

Zhou Weidi recalled that in recent years, Chinese-Russian trade and economic relations have continued to develop dynamically, maintaining a positive momentum

Change of Prime Minister in the UK does not arouse optimism in Moscow — Kremlin

According to Dmitry Peskov, the UK Labour Party is not "inclined to any kind of flexibility and are not inclined to be creative in normalizing the British-Russian bilateral relations"

Orban rejects EU leaders’ criticism of his visit to Moscow

Hungarian Prime Minister said that EU bureaucracy has done nothing to promote the normalization between the conflicting sides

Much-vaunted Patriots can’t even defend themselves

In the course of the special military operation, it was confirmed that Russian air defense systems have the potential to repel strikes by all types of enemy air attack capabilities

Russia strikes Ukrainian military-industrial, energy sites over week — top brass

The Ukrainian army lost roughly 13,525 troops in battles with Russian forces in all the frontline areas over the past week, according to the Defense Ministry’s latest data

Russia’s international reserves down $5.5 bln in June — Central Bank

Currency reserves lost $4.19 bln and totaled $418.972 bln as of the end of June

Russia intends to create single carbon neutrality instruments in SCO

Major efforts by Moscow are underway in this direction, Boris Titov said, adding that centers on certification and support of sustainable development standards work in the Central Bank and largest lenders

One third of all downed Ukrainian manned aircraft was destroyed by MANPADS — general

Andrey Semyonov added that crews of radar stations and anti-aircraft missile systems have been constantly adapting to new threats, improving the existing ways of countering air-borne enemy capabilities and developing new ones

Final consumption expenditures decline in GDP

The gross accumulation share moved up from 19.7% in the first quarter of 2023 to 21.4% of GDP in the first quarter of this year

Putin says discussed principles of Europe’s future security architecture with Orban

The talks between Vladimir Putin and Viktor Orban lasted for two and a half hours and were also attended by the two countries’ foreign ministers and other members of delegations

Ukraine’s 2014 coup was CIA’s political mistake — Putin

The Russian president noted that the US agency had achieved its goal of changing the government but failed to see what it would evolve into

Conservative Party suffers historic defeat, results of UK Parliament elections

On Friday morning, Keir Starmer should be received by King Charles III who will instruct him to form a new government

BRICS has potential to create new, more fair world order — South African leader

Cyril Ramaposa notes that BRICS unites about 40% of the world's population

Ukrainian S-300 missile launcher wiped out with Russia’s Iskander missile system

Motor vehicles and artillery personnel were also wiped out

Russia could resume relations with Tokyo if Japan rejects hostile policies — diplomat

According to Andrey Rudenko, "the way to the resumption of bilateral political dialogue and practical cooperation can only be opened by Japan's revision of its hostile course toward Russia, which should be supported by concrete steps"

Almost 70% of Chasov Yar liberated — lawmaker

There is concrete, there are concrete fortifications, as it is not a bare steppe, said Viktor Vodolatsky

Pentagon says iteration of US-Georgia military exercise postponed indefinitely

According to the the US Department of Defense, the decision was due to the Georgian government’s statements about the attempts of the United States and the West "to open a second front" against Russia to alleviate pressure on Ukraine

Conflict in Ukraine could be stopped if strong foundation for peace is created — Erdogan

According to the statement, the Turkish leader affirmed Ankara's intention to "continue to strive for peace"

Putin unlikely to congratulate Starmer on election win — Kremlin

Keir Starmer took over as head of cabinet following the parliamentary elections held on July 4

Syrian presidential advisor al-Shibl dies in hospital after car crash

The driver survived and has been detained

Putin meets with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban in Kremlin

On June 2, Viktor Orban visited Kiev as the leader of the European Council presidency nation, where he met with Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky

Maximal interest rate on ruble deposits grows to 16.09% in late June

The regulator said earlier that it would keep an eye on cases when the bank’s interest rate for ruble deposits is more than 2 percentage points higher than the average one for ten monitored banks

Over 120 foreign delegations visited Russia exhibition — official

"These were guests from the Commonwealth of Independent States, Asia, the Arab world, Europe, South America, and the US," Anastasia Zvyagina said

Russian mortar crew destroys another Bradley IFV near Avdeyevka

Russian servicemen also destroyed a recovery detachment that came to save the vehicle’s crew, the Defense Ministry said

Spanish player Badosa ousts Russian tennis star Kasatkina from 2024 Wimbledon

The Wimbledon tournament, the most prestigious out of the four Grand Slam tournaments, has been held annually in London since 1877

At least 27 people killed in Israeli strikes on Gaza Strip — Al Jazeera

The number of fatalities in the Israeli raid on Jenin in the West Bank has risen to seven, with the Israeli army invasions currently underway

DPR sends over 80,000 tons of grain to Turkey in six months

According to experts, the grain meets phytosanitary requirements

UK government shift to have no bearing on dialogue with Moscow — senior official

Lord Richard Balfe also emphasized that the West will have to "come to terms with the reality," admitting that Crimea and Donbass are now Russian constituencies

Bank of Russia sees complication of situation with cross-border payments

Elvira Nabiullina added that the business is adapting to the situation and the Central Bank is helping it in this aspect

SCO unites most major non-Western players — US expert

"The SCO summit in Astana is an expression not of an anti-Western bloc, but of a large and resilient neutral bloc that encompasses most major players in the non-Western world," he said

Top Hungarian diplomat says Orban's visit to Moscow to help resolve Ukraine crisis sooner

It was a very open discussion and I think it was helpful in terms of finding a solution to this war, Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto said

Two Russian Northern Fleet warships call at Venezuelan port

During the port call, the crews of the Russian ships will be given an opportunity to rest after the long-distance voyage and see local sights

Russian defense ministry reports losses among Russian troops during special operation

Konashenkov also said that several Russian soldiers have been taken prisoner

Serbia vows unwavering Russian support despite Western pressure — deputy PM

Aleksandar Vulin stressed that the republic will not agree to join anti-Russian sanctions

Hungary won’t respond to EU criticism about Orban’s trip to Moscow — foreign minister

European Council President Charles Michel and top EU diplomat Josep Borrell said that Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban had no EU mandate to negotiate with Russia

Press review: US, Russian defense chiefs touch base and new sheriff in town at NATO

Russia faces unprecedented air defense challenges during special op — general

The use of factory-made and improvised unmanned aerial vehicles, which are made with special composite materials to reduce their visibility and are capable of flying at extremely low altitudes, has become unprecedented, Andrey Semyonov said

Biden to drop out of election race, to be replaced by Harris, Trump thinks

The US presidential candidate said that it will be easier to compete against Harris whom he considers "pathetic"

Tires production in Russia may grow by 5% in 2024

"The annual capacity is about 70 mln units which almost fully cover the domestic market need in the car and truck tire segment," the statement reads

Russia uncertain if Ukraine would reciprocate with ceasefire — Putin

The Russian president said that Moscow ultimately "faced deception again as all agreements [involving the troops withdrawal], which had been reached in Istanbul, were thrown in the trash"

Third Patriot system arrives from Germany to Ukraine — ambassador

According to Martin Jaeger, the crew of the system had completed training in Germany

Intensity of provocations on Ukrainian border doesn’t decline — Belarusian military

Vladimir Kupriyanyuk said such actions not only pursue reconnaissance purposes, but also are part of attempts to get explosives and other capabilities into Belarus to support potential sabotage activities

Unaware of decline of its military industry US gets trapped in Ukraine — French historian

Emmanuel Todd believes that "one of Washington's goals is to prevent a rapprochement between Russia and Germany"

First manned launch to Russian Orbital Station scheduled to late 2028

The universal node module and the docking module are expected to be sent in 2028, while the base module is expected to be sent at the end of 2029 or in early 2030

Transformation of Russian economy is marathon with barriers — Central Bank chief

"We therefore need to estimate forces and understand how we work with constraints," Elvira Nabiullina added

Enemy probes Crimean defenses by launching decoy targets — Sevastopol governor

"The enemy is actively probing the peninsula's defense system now," Mikhail Razvozhayev said

US military destroys Houthi radar station in Yemen

They US military destroyed two Iranian-backed Houthi uncrewed surface vessels

Russia urges to end Ukraine conflict, not to put it on hold — Putin

According to the Russian leader, "this should not be merely a truce or a temporary ceasefire, nor some kind of pause that the Kiev regime could use to recover losses, regroup and get rearmed"

Improvement of Russia’s positions to push West to talks on Ukraine — UN envoy

Vasily Nebenzya does not believe that the potential election of Donald Trump as the next US president will cardinally change the American policy in this area

US official sees China-Russia ties posing long-term challenge to European security

US official said that theNATO’s summit communique would have "strong language" on China

France defeat Portugal to make it to UEFA semifinals on penalties

France will play vs Spain in Munich on July 9

As US allows hitting Russian regions, Ukraine goes on mass killing of civilians — diplomat

Rodion Miroshnik mentioned how a shell fell on a section of an apartment building, completely destroying it, in the Belgorod Region and how a long-range ATACMS missile hit a crowded beach in Sevastopol on June 23 in a terrorist attack

Major powers to arrange talks between Russia, Ukraine — Hungarian PM

Meanwhile, Viktor Orban pointed out that Hungary "would like to encourage the parties" to launch talks

Visit to Moscow fuels confidence in Paks NPP project - Hungary’s Foreign Minister

Everything is ready for the two new units of the Paks NPP to be commissioned at the start of the next decade

Putin says Orban came to Moscow also as president of EU Council

Hungary will hold the rotating presidency of the EU Council for the next six months

2024 Silk Way Rally boosts off in Russia’s Siberian city of Tomsk

The Russian sports minister added that this year up to 200 athletes and specialists from 13 countries would have to cover "a very complicated route"

Putin, Orban discuss Ukraine, resumption of broad dialogue

Russia and Hungary continue to cooperate based on the principles of pragmatism and mutual benefit in a number of areas, primarily in the energy sector

Ukraine uses ATACMS missiles against civilian targets as well — Russian general

Ukraine is using ATACMS missiles as well in an attempt to intimidate its people, Andrey Semyonov said

Spain earns win over Germany to advance to Euro 2024 quarterfinals

Spain has advanced to the semifinals of an UEFA Euro tournament for the second time in a row

Russia reduces gasoline supplies to friendly countries by 70% in July

The Ministry of Energy believes that the current production volumes of gasoline and diesel fuel are sufficient to fully meet the demand during the high season