Breaking News, 31st of October, 2018

Vasily Nebenzia, permanent Russian representative in the UN Security Council, announced, during another meeting of the council, that the EU and the US are responsible for the fact that the Ukrainian authorities do not comply with the Minsk agreements, TASS reports. “The EU and the US are telling us that the anti-Russian sanctions will be lifted when the Minsk agreements are implemented. But since the agreements are not being fulfilled by the current Kiev authorities — such position allows Ukraine to continue their sabotage of the Minsk agreements, since Russia will have to pay for such actions” — the diplomat said, adding that »Kiev enjoys it quite a bit”. Vasily Nebenzya stated that there are serious reasons to assume that Ukraine is related to the murder of Alexander Zakharchenko — the former head of the DPR.

The contract for the supply of S-400s to India was signed in rubles, ‘RIA NEWS’ reports with a reference to the statement of Yuri Borisov, the Deputy Prime Minister of Russia. On 23rd of October, Alexander Mikheyev, the head of the Rosoboronexport, said that India won’t pay in dollars to Russia for the S-400s. «We switched to the local currencies: Indian rupee and Russian ruble» — he said, while adding that the participation of Russian and Indian banks is being considered. Back in October of 2016, Vladimir Putin and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi made a deal on the supply of the S-400s. The contract was signed in early October. Five sets of S-400s will cost India $5.43 billions of dollars. India will be the third buyer of the S-400s right after China and Turkey.

Sergey Krikalev, the executive director of Ros-kosmos for the manned programs, reported that the cause of the crash of the ‘Soyuz-FG’ space-rocket, that happened on 11th of October, was an incorrectly working sensor that signals about the separation of the first and second stages of the space-rocket. “A couple of days ago, the emergency commission finished their work. The accident occurred due to abnormal separation of the first and second stages of the space-rocket. One of the side engines, during the separation, did not reach the desired distance, and thus it hit the fuel tank of the second stage engine. It led to the breaching of the fuel tank and the destruction of the first stage engine” — said Sergey Krikalev, TASS reports. According to him, the reason was «the incorrect work of the sensor that signals about the separation of the engines of the first and second stages». A number of actions is underway to ensure the safety of other flight operations.

The Russian Investigative Committee opened a criminal case after an explosion at the regional office building of the FSB in the city of Arkhangelsk, on articles »terrorist act» and »illegal possession of weapons», Interfax reports while citing a statement from the press service of the department. “According to the preliminary information, a 17-years-old local resident brought an improvised explosive device into the building. He died as a result of the explosion” — the FSB explained — »The person that entered the building pulled out an unknown object out of his bag, which, after some time, exploded in his hands. As a result — he received mortal wounds. 3 agents of the FSB received various injuries as well.»- the information center of the National Anti-Terrorism Committee reported.

Reporters of ANNA NEWS report from Syria: ISIS took advantage of the bad weather, which restricted the use of aircraft by the US, and conducted an offensive operation against ‘Syrian democratic forces’ in the south-eastern part of Deir ez-Zor province. They managed to push out the ‘Syrian democratic forces’ from their positions around Shefa region — they retreated to the strategic city of al-Sousse. As a result of the offensive operation — the terrorists took control over several dozens of settlements located near the borderline with Iraq. ISIS is currently attempting to cross the Baguz mountains in order to reach the desert, which leads to the Iraqi province of Al-Anbar.

Constantine Reztsov, specially for ANNA NEWS.