Russia

MOSCOW, February 16. /TASS/: Russia’s Energia Space Rocket Corporation has come back to the idea of sending a manned mission to the Moon with the help of four Angara-A5V rocket launches, a source in the domestic space industry told TASS on Tuesday.

"As part of the research work, the Energia Space Rocket Corporation is now working on the option of sending a manned mission to the Moon with the help of a four-launch flight scheme," the source said.

MOSCOW, February 16. /TASS/: Russia seeks a solution to the most complicated issues in its relations with the West through dialogue, while the European Union and the United States keep talking about sanctions with maniacal persistency, Russian Presidential Spokesman Dmitry Peskov told the media on Wednesday, when asked for a comment about the possibility of new restrictions against Moscow.

ST PETERSBURG/MOSCOW (Reuters) - A Russian court on Tuesday rejected an appeal by Yuri Dmitriev, a historian who exposed Stalin-era crimes, ordering him to be kept in jail to serve out a 13-year sentence that his supporters say was based on fabricated charges.

Dmitriev, 65, was found guilty in July of sexually abusing his adopted daughter, a charge he denied. His lawyer said they would now take their appeal against the sentence to Russia’s Supreme Court.

MOSCOW, February 15. /TASS/: Law enforcement officers did not detain anyone during rallies held on Sunday in support of Russian opposition figure Alexey Navalny because no laws were violated, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters Monday.

"We traditionally highly appreciate efficiency of law enforcement officers," the spokesman said when asked how the Kremlin views actions of the police at the Sunday rallies. "As for any measures, they are taken to deal with those who violate laws. Everything was calm yesterday," Peskov stressed.

ST. PETERSBURG, February 15. /TASS/: Brussels’ enabling crude violations of rights of Russian-speaking people and attacks on the Russian language and culture shows that the European Union is drifting away from everything linked to Russia, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Monday following talks with his Finnish counterpart Pekka Haavisto.

MOSCOW, February 15./TASS/: The World Health Organization reported 300,500 new coronavirus cases across the globe in the past 24 hours, which is the lowest figure in the past four months. The previous record low of 291,200 COVID-19 cases was recorded on October 7, 2020.

Europe once again is reporting the largest amount of new cases, accounting for more than half of the world’s new daily infections, with 122,500 incidences. North and South America saw 115,600 new cases.

TASS has set out to weigh the pace of the decline in various countries.

MOSCOW, February 15. /TASS/: Russia’s low-cost airline Pobeda will resume flights to Italy’s Bergamo starting March 26, the company said in its mailout to passengers.

"Pobeda is resuming flights to Milan (Bergamo). Moscow-Milan (Bergamo) flights will be performed from March 26, 2021, on Fridays," the company said.

MOSCOW, February 15. /TASS/: The Kremlin considers the offer made by Elon Musk, founder of SpaceX and Tesla, to talk to Putin on the Clubhouse social network interesting, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Monday. However, this offer should be considered in detail first, he added.

"We want to make sense of it first. Putin himself does not use social networks, he doesn’t have any personal accounts," the spokesman told reporters.

MOSCOW, Feb 15 (NNN-TASS) – Russia officially restores air services with Armenia and Azerbaijan, starting today, previously suspended due to the pandemic. The decision was officially announced by the Russian government on Feb 3.

Airlines of both republics now can carry out two flights per week from Moscow to Baku, and four times per week from Moscow to Yerevan. Russia’s Aeroflot announced its plans to carry out four flights per week to Yerevan, starting today (Feb 15), and two flights per week to Baku, starting Feb 17.

MOSCOW, February 14. /TASS/: Moscow plans to foster relations with Japan, but won’t take any steps that run counter to Russia’s Constitution, Russian President Vladimir Putin told a meeting with editors-in-chief of Russian media outlets, aired by the Rossiya-24 TV channel on Sunday.

"We want to develop ties with Japan and we will do this. But we won’t do anything that runs counter to the key law of the Russian Federation," the president said at a meeting broadcast in the Moscow. Kremlin. Putin TV program.