Russia

MOSCOW, February 19. /TASS/: The oldest constitutional republic of San Marino has approved the use of the Russian Sputnik V vaccine against the coronavirus, according to a press release by the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF).

MOSCOW, February 19. /TASS/: Russia’s COVID-19 case tally grew by 13,433 in the past day to 4,139,031, the anti-coronavirus crisis center told reporters on Friday.

In relative terms, the growth rate reached 0.33%.

The lowest growth rates were registered in the Tuva Republic (0.01%), the Magadan Region, the Jewish Autonomous Region, the Chechen Republic and the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Region (0.1%).

SOCHI (Russia), Feb 19 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Representatives from Russia, Turkey and Iran ended a two-day meeting on ways to re-invigorate stalled talks on a new constitution for Syria by calling for a stop to foreign interference.

In a joint declaration, the representatives meeting in the Russian resort city of Sochi called on Israel, Iran’s arch-rival, to stop its attacks in Syria, which they said were a threat to regional security and stability and a violation of international law.

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Friday he hoped the United States and European Union would not impose fresh sanctions on Russia.

The administration of U.S. President Joe Biden is expected to name as early as Friday the companies it believes are helping build Russia’s Nord Stream 2 pipeline, five sources said, a move that could prompt sanctions on the nearly completed project.

SOCHI, February 18. /TASS/: UN Special Envoy for Syria Geir Pedersen plans to travel to Damascus on February 21 to hold consultations on the work of the Constitutional Committee, Russian Special Presidential Envoy for Syria Alexander Lavrentiev said in an interview with TASS.

"Mr. Pedersen will fly to Damascus on Sunday, where he will hold intense consultations," he said.

MOSCOW, February 18. /TASS/: Former head of Belgazprombank Viktor Babariko’s trial is Belarus’ domestic affair and Russia has no plans to interfere in it, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Thursday.

"It’s a Belarusian domestic affair," he pointed out. "It is a situation where we are not going to interfere in Belarus’ internal judicial affairs in any way," Peskov added.

MOSCOW, February 18. /TASS/: Russia has no plans to boycott the Munich Security Conference (MSC), Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Thursday.

MOSCOW, February 18. /TASS/: International clinical trials of the Sputnik Light single-dose vaccine have begun in the Russian capital, Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin wrote in a blog post on Thursday.

MOSCOW, February 18. /TASS/: The decision of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) on Alexey Navalny is an unacceptable attempt to interfere in Russia’s domestic judicial affairs, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.

"The decision is unlawful, it is a very serious attempt to interfere in Russia’s domestic judicial affairs, which, in our opinion, is unacceptable," the spokesman told reporters on Thursday.

MOSCOW (Reuters) - A Russian court on Thursday was expected to hand down a verdict in the trial of Anastasia Shevchenko, an anti-Kremlin activist whom state prosecutors want jailed for five years for carrying out activities on behalf of an “undesirable” group.

Shevchenko, 41, a mother of two in southern Russia’s Rostov-on-Don, was put under house arrest in early 2019 in what her supporters say is a politically motivated case to stop her activism and punish her for showing dissent publicly.