SPUTNIK TOP STORY OF THE DAY
WASHINGTON, October 20 (Sputnik)
* The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) on Tuesday confirmed to Sputnik that it is conducting an authorized law enforcement activity at a real estate property in the US capital that is supposedly linked to Russian billionaire Oleg Deripaska.
* Shares of Russian aluminum giant Rusal fell 6% on the Moscow Exchange on the news of the FBI raid on Deripaska's house in the United States.
* The FBI has raided the homes of relatives of Deripaska in Washington and New York that are linked to US sanctions, the businessman's spokesperson told Sputnik.
* The Washington Post's article alleging that the searches in the houses of the relatives of Deripaska in the United States are connected with a criminal investigation is not true, the businessman's spokesperson told Sputnik.
* Russian President Vladimir Putin and Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi discussed preparations for the G20 summit and Afghanistan during their phone conversation on Tuesday, the Kremlin said.
* Draghi and Putin discussed the development in Afghanistan and preparations for the G20 summit in Rome, the Italian Council of Ministers said.
* The US condemns North Korea's latest test of a ballistic missile and believes the situation underscores the need for more diplomacy, White House spokesperson Jen Psaki said on Tuesday.
*�The United States condemns North Korea's latest ballistic missile launch and urges Pyongyang to stop provocative actions and to engage in diplomacy with Washington, the State Department said.
* The United Nations is concerned about the recent missile launches by North Korea, including reports of one missile being launched from a submarine into waters off Japan, UN spokesman Farhan Haq said.
INTERNATIONAL TALKS ON AFGHANISTAN
*�Members of the Extended Troika format on Afghanistan met in Moscow on Tuesday and discussed common threats and humanitarian assistance to Kabul, the Russian Foreign Ministry said.
* The Taliban movement (banned in Russia) hopes to continue cooperation with the new US special envoy for Afghanistan, Thomas West, who replaced Zalmay Khalilzad at this post, Afghan Foreign Ministry spokesman Abdul Kahar Balkhi said.
*�Russia expects that the dialogue on Afghanistan will continue after the Moscow format meeting on Wednesday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.
* France is not supporting Russia's request for mutual legal assistance in the case of Russian opposition figure Alexey Navalny and calls for open investigation, France's mission to the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) said.
* Germany's permanent representation to the OPCW has rejected all accusations of Russia in its note related to the Navalny case.
*�The United Kingdom is dissatisfied with Russia's response to 45 countries' questions related to the case of Navalny, submitted through the OPCW, and believes that Moscow evades responsibility for the alleged poisoning, the UK Permanent Representation to the OPCW said.