
Russian officials said on Monday they will work towards freeing all orca and beluga whales from a notorious facility in the east of the country, after a visit by US-based marine mammal advocates.

International pressure is growing for the Russian government to release nearly 100 juvenile whales which have been kept in small pens in the far east for seven months. French marine scientist Jean-Michel Cousteau and other experts are meeting government officials in Moscow. They plan to visit the so-called whale jail near Nakhodka on Saturday.

The Kremlin press secretary has said he cannot understand a survey that shows that Russians struggle to afford new shoes. Dmitry Peskov was commenting on a report by state statistics agency Rosstat.

Russia's tall ships are to undertake a round-the-world trip to celebrate the 200th anniversary of Antarctica's discovery by the Bellingshausen-Lazarev expedition, according to official information from Moscow. In effect, 2020 marks the 200th anniversary of the discovery of Antarctica by the expedition led by Fabian Bellingshausen and Mikhail Lazarev. In honor of this event, plans are underway for the round-the-world sailing of the tall ships Pallada, Sedov and Krusenstern in 2019-2020.

U.S. President Donald Trump on Wednesday called on Russia to pull its troops from Venezuela and said that “all options” were open to make that happen. The arrival of two Russian air force planes outside Caracas on Saturday believed to be carrying nearly 100 Russian special forces and cyber-security personnel has escalated the political crisis in Venezuela.

United States president Donald Trump declared on Sunday that he had been “completely exonerated” after his campaign was cleared of colluding with Russia in the 2016 election, in a major boost for his re-election hopes.

Two Russian military planes landed in Venezuela's main airport on Saturday, reportedly carrying dozens of troops and large amounts of equipment. The planes were sent to “fulfill technical military contracts”, Russia's Sputnik news agency reported.

Thousands of people in Russia have protested against plans to introduce tighter restrictions on the internet. A mass rally in Moscow and similar demonstrations in two other cities were called after parliament backed the controversial bill last month.

The US government on Friday announced criminal charges against a top official in Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro's government for violating sanctions imposed two years ago, when the official was accused of drug trafficking.

The United States and Russia clashed on Friday over how to assist ailing Venezuela, with Moscow pledging new relief channelled through President Nicolas Maduro and Washington slapping sanctions over the blocking of US aid it tried to force through the border.