Russia

MOSCOW, November 23. /TASS/: The Kremlin regrets the United States’ walkout from the Treaty on Open Skies, because without the American side participating in it the document loses viability, Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov told the media on Monday.

"With the United States’ pullout the treaty will lose viability, of course," Peskov said. "We regret this. We believe that the treaty is an important means of building up mutual trust and keeping weapons under control," Peskov said about the US decision.

MOSCOW, November 22. /TASS/: Russia will seek firm guarantees that the remaining parties to the Treaty on Open Skies will meet their commitments in full, the Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Sunday in connection with the US withdrawal from the treaty.

MOSCOW, November 22. /TASS/: Russian President Vladimir Putin believes there are some problems in the US electoral system, but it’s up to Washington to change the old scheme, he said in an interview with "Moscow. Kremlin. Putin" TV program on Rossiya-1 TV channel.

NOVO-OGARYOVO, November 21. /TASS/: The coronavirus pandemic has triggered a systemic economic crisis, unprecedented since the Great Depression, Russian President Vladimir Putin said, addressing the G20 summit on Saturday.

"The scale of problems that mankind faced in 2020 is indeed unprecedented. The coronavirus pandemic, a global lockdown and suspended economic activities triggered a systemic economic crisis, the likes of which the world has not seen since the Great Depression," Putin pointed out.

MOSCOW, November 21. /TASS/: Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree extending certain special economic measures against countries that have imposed sanctions on the Russian Federation until December 31, 2021. The document was published on Saturday on the official website of legal information.

The government has been instructed to ensure the implementation of the decree and, if necessary, make proposals to change the period of validity of these counter-sanctions.

MOSCOW, November 21. /TASS/: Russia introduced a ban on entry into its territory for 25 representatives of the United Kingdom in connection with London’s sanctions on the so-called "Magnitsky case", official representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry Maria Zakharova said on Saturday.

"In response to unfriendly actions of the UK authorities and on the basis of the principle of reciprocity, the Russian side made a decision to impose personal sanctions against 25 UK representatives who are barred from entering the Russian Federation," the statement said.

MOSCOW, November 20. /TASS/: The Russian Armed Forces received 11% more armament and military hardware in 2020 than the previous year, Chief of Russia’s National Defense Control Center Colonel General Mikhail Mizintsev reported on Friday.

"In close inter-agency cooperation at the country’s shipyards, 35 submarines and surface ships were laid down, floated out and accepted for service in the Navy this year, which increased the share of the Navy’s advanced hardware by a third compared to 2019," the general stressed.

MOSCOW, November 20. /TASS/: Russian army specialists have created secure cyberspace with the help of the Portal system to discuss defense issues with state authorities, Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said on Friday.

"An information exchange with regions of the Russian Federation has been established through the Portal system. This has made it possible to create the first ever confidential single information space between various levels of state power," the defense chief said at an inter-agency scientific and practical conference.

MOSCOW, November 20. /TASS/: The number of confirmed COVID-19 infections in Russia over the past 24 hours has increased by 24,318, a record high nationwide since the beginning of the pandemic, according to the data of the anti-coronavirus crisis center published on Friday.

The previous record high of 23,610 detected daily cases was documented on Thursday.

In all, according to the crisis center, 2,039,926 people got infected in Russia.

STEPANAKERT, November 19. /TASS/: Russia’s peacekeepers have escorted the first convoy of Azerbaijan’s army from Shusha to the Nagorno-Karabakh village of Krasny Bazar, a TASS correspondent reported on Thursday.

A convoy of Azerbaijan’s Armed Forces consisted of three Kamaz trucks with personnel. According to the peacekeepers, the vehicles did not carry any weapons. Two Tigr armored vehicles escorted the convoy.