Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak attends a session of the Russian Energy Week international forum in Moscow, Russia.
Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak said on Tuesday that the Iran-related sanctions, imposed by the United States against a ministry unit, were "baseless".
Last month the United States has moved to disrupt an Iranian-Russian network that it said had sent millions of barrels of oil to Syria and hundreds of millions of dollars to indirectly fund militant groups Hamas and Hezbollah.
Among various individuals and companies, it put under sanctions state-owned Russian company Promsyrioimport, a subsidiary of the Energy Ministry, which the U.S. Treasury alleges had facilitated shipments of Iranian oil to Syria.
A Russian-made Soyuz rocket blasted a three-man crew into orbit on Monday, beginning the first manned voyage to the International Space Station since a mission in October was aborted in midair because of a rocket malfunction.The Soyuz lifted off at 1131 GMT from Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, carrying Russian cosmonaut Oleg Kononenko, NASA astronaut Anne McClain and the Canadian Space Agency's David Saint-Jacques."We have confirmation of the spacecraft separation; Soyuz capsule and crew safely in orbit," NASA TV said online in its blow-by-blow commentary of the take-off.The launch was closely scrutinised because of the abortive mission to the ISS on Oct. 11, which ended two minutes after take-off when a rocket failure forced its two-man crew to perform an emergency landing.Video: American and Canadian astronauts and Russian cosmonaut launch to the International Space StationRussian investigators blamed that malfunction, which occurred as the first and second stages of a booster rocket separated, on a damaged sensor.The three-man crew appeared briefly before relatives and reporters on Monday morning, waving and blowing kisses as they left a hotel to board a bus on their way to prepare for the flight.The crew repeatedly denied being nervous about flying and insisted the fact that the two-man crew had safely returned to Earth despite the dramatic mishap had demonstrated the reliability of the rocket's safety mechanisms.Before take-off, an Orthodox priest at the launchpad on Sunday gave his blessing to the flight, splashing holy water from a brush and holding up a cross.The spacecraft is due to dock at the ISS at 1736 GMT on Monday.The new arrivals to the ISS will join the European Space Agency's Alexander Gerst, NASA's Serena Auñón-Chancellor and Russia's Sergey Prokopyev, who have been in orbit since June but are due to fly back to Earth on Dec. 20.Britain's MI6 spymaster cautions Russia: Do not meddle in the West
Russia launches first manned voyage to ISS since rocket accident
President Vladimir Putin said on Saturday that had no concrete figures on possible oil output cuts though Russia would continue with its contribution to reducing global output.Russia, one of the world's major crude producing nations, has been bargaining with OPEC's leader, Saudi Arabia, over the timing and volume of any reduction. OPEC and non-OPEC oil producers will hold a ministerial meeting Dec. 6-7. Putin warmly greets Saudi crown prince at G20 summitMerkel protege suggests blockade of Russian ships over Ukraine crisisUkraine's security service raids home of Russian-backed monastery head
Russia's Putin says no hard figures on possible oil output cuts
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan started talks with Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin on the sidelines of the G20 summit on Saturday. Prior to his closed-door meeting with Putin, Erdoğan also received Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.G20 to negotiate communique 'until last minute', yet to discuss climate changeEuropeans say G20 members agree to reform WTO in draft communiqueSaudi Crown Prince sidelined in G20 family photo
Turkish, Russian leaders meet in Argentina