Russia

Russia and Turkey have suspended joint patrols of the M4 highway in Syria for security reasons and will resume them once the situation there calms down, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said in comments published on Monday.

Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny told Russia on Monday to hand over the clothes he was wearing when he fell into a coma last month and accused Moscow of withholding an important piece of evidence in his case.

Greece extended by two weeks until Oct. 5 a rule requiring visitors from Russia to provide a negative COVID-19 test before entering the country, its civil aviation authority said on Monday.

Russia's transport police said on Monday their officers had questioned around 200 people as part of a pre-investigation probe into the case of leading Russian opposition figure Alexei Navalny, and that the probe was still under way.

By Gabrielle Tétrault-Farber, Andrey Ostroukh and Elena Fabrichnaya

Russia sees minimal chances of extending the New START treaty with the United States - their last major nuclear arms pact - as it does not accept conditions set out by Washington, Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov was quoted as saying on Monday.

Cancelled flights over the coronavirus-related restrictions have brought down the jet fuel prices, prompting the Russians to blend it with diesel for cars, which may lead to shortages of the fuel for planes and lower tax return, industry sources say.

Gas contributes only a fraction of Germany's energy consumption, and Russian gas only a fraction of that, so it is wrong to say that the Nord Stream 2 pipeline will make Germany dependent on Russian energy, Finance Minister Olaf Scholz said.

Russia on Monday reported 6,196 new coronavirus cases, the most recorded over 24 hours since July 18, pushing its national tally to 1,109,595, the fourth largest in the world.