Russia

MOSCOW, February 12. /TASS/: The US and European countries are not interested in good relations between Russia and Germany, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said in an interview with the Soloviev LIVE Youtube channel.

"I am confident that the Americans, just like other countries on the European continent, do not need good relations between us and Germany," he said. "The English do not need them, as a matter of fact, either, just like the West did not need a united Germany at the time."

MOSCOW, February 12. /TASS/: Russia is ready to cut ties with the EU if Brussels initiates it, but for its part, Moscow is calling for cooperation, the Russian Foreign Ministry told TASS on Friday.

"We are ready to cut ties if it happens on the initiative of the EU. For our part, we strongly call on the EU to establish equal and mutually respectful cooperation, which is what [Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov] said," the ministry noted.

MOSCOW, February 12. /TASS/: Russia should be ready for hostile acts from the European Union but would not want to sever ties with Brussels, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters Friday, commenting on the remarks by Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov who said that Moscow is ready cut ties with the EU if Brussels chooses to impose sanctions that endanger sensitive sectors of the Russian economy.

MOSCOW, February 11. /TASS/: Russia’s latest Udar robotic vehicle will be capable of moving on the battlefield autonomously and interacting with drones, Armament Cluster Industrial Director at the state tech corporation Rostec Bekkhan Ozdoyev told TASS on Thursday.

The operational prototype of the Udar robotic system has been developed by the Signal All-Russian Scientific Research Institute within High Precision Systems Company integrated into Rostec.

MOSCOW, February 11. /TASS/: Russia sees signals that the United States is open to launching the new stage of strategic dialogue and is ready to start an effort in this field, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov told a briefing on Thursday.

"We see signals that Washington is open to launching the new stage of strategic dialogue between our countries. Meanwhile, we are set to deal with the most challenging aspects of strategic sphere in the most decisive way. We plan to immediately launch this effort as soon as Washington is ready for it," Ryabkov said.

MOSCOW, February 11. /TASS/: The carrot and stick policy is not acceptable in Russia to stimulate people to get COVID-19 jabs, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters Thursday when asked if Moscow is considering specific measures to ramp up the pace of vaccination in the country.

"There can be no stick or carrot here. We just need to tell people that it is necessary to get the shot for their own health and safety," he said.

The Kremlin representative added, "mass media plays an enormous role in getting more people to receive vaccines."

MOSCOW, Feb 11 (NNN-TASS) — The British coronavirus strain will inevitably reach Russia in mid-spring, Yevgeny Timakov, chief physician of the Leader of Medicine medical center and specialist in infectious diseases and vaccines, said.

“The British strain will reach Russia sooner of later. It will be here, most likely, in mid-spring. So, if we ease coronavirus restrictions now, we will have another outbreak, which is undesirable.

KALININGRAD, February 10. /TASS/: The Yantar Shipyard on the Baltic coast (part of Russia’s United Shipbuilding Corporation) will repair the world’s largest air-cushion small amphibious assault ship Yevgeny Kocheshkov operational in the Baltic Fleet, Shipyard Spokesman Sergei Mikhailov told TASS on Wednesday.

"On February 9, the air-cushion small amphibious assault ship Yevgeny Kocheshkov docked at the Yantar Shipyard. The Shipyard’s specialists will inspect the ship and determine the required amount of repair works," the spokesman said.

MOSCOW, February 10. /TASS/: Moscow’s Basmanny Court has arrested head of the network of Alexey Navalny’s regional headquarters Leonid Volkov in absentia for calling on teenagers to take part in unlawful rallies, the court’s spokesperson Irina Sofinskaya told TASS.

She noted that the court had ruled to put Volkov into custody and to place him on an international wanted list. This measure of restraint will be enforced for two months since his detention on Russian territory or since his extradition to Russia, the spokesperson added.

MOSCOW, February 10. /TASS/: About 2,200,000 people in Russia have received the first dose of the Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine, Deputy Research Director at the Gamaleya Research Institute of Epidemiology and Microbiology Dmitry Logunov said at a roundtable hosted by the Moscow City Council on Wednesday.

"In total, about 2.2 mln people have received the first dose of the vaccine," he pointed out. "More than 1.7 million people have been given both doses. Among them, only about 300 people got infected," Logunov added.