Russia

MOSCOW, November 13. /TASS/: The role of Russian President Vladimir Putin in resolving the conflict in the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh was key, intense work that spanned many days preceded the settlement, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Friday in an interview with RT.

"This role was key," he noted. "Many, many days of hard work preceded the signing, sometimes even round-the-clock work, it was President Putin’s work."

13 Nov 2020; MEMO: Moscow has revealed a draft agreement with Khartoum on Wednesday that allows for establishing a naval logistics base on the Sudanese coast in the Red Sea.

The proposed naval base will be able to accommodate up to 300 soldiers and employees as stipulated in the agreement, in addition to ships equipped with nuclear gear "taking into account nuclear and environmental safety requirements", provided that no more than four ships would anchor simultaneously.

MOSCOW, November 12. /TASS/: About 12,000 infectious hospital beds in Moscow are occupied by patients with the novel coronavirus infection, Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said in an interview with the Russia-24 TV channel on Thursday.

"Over the last couple of weeks we went from 8,000 [hospital beds occupied] close to 12,000. That is, still during a week more [people] are admitted to hospitals than discharged. On some days it is different, it happens in different ways but still one has to evaluate not on a daily but on a weekly basis," the Mayor said.

MOSCOW, November 12. /TASS/: Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree on measures for maintaining peace in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict area that stipulates sending 1,960 peacekeepers and rotating them at least every six months, according to the information posted on the government’s legal information web portal on Thursday.

MOSCOW, November 12. /TASS/: US policy on Russia is unlikely to change if Joe Biden is elected president, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said in an interview with Russian and foreign media on Thursday.

"As for the Russian track, frankly speaking, our political scientists (and I agree with them in general) don’t expect any revolutionary changes [in the US foreign policy]," Lavrov said. "It’s not a very good idea to make any forecasts at this stage," he noted.

MOSCOW, November 12. /TASS/: Russia is introducing mirror-like sanctions against representatives of governing structures of Germany and France in the case of Russian opposition figure Alexey Navalny, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Thursday in an interview with Russian and foreign media about the current issues on the international agenda.

MOSCOW (Reuters) - The Armenian defence ministry declared a no-fly zone in Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh, except for military aircraft, Russia’s Interfax news agency reported on Thursday.

Thousands of protesters on Wednesday gathered in Armenia’s capital, Yerevan, demanding Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan step down over a ceasefire that secured territorial advances for Azerbaijan in Nagorno-Karabakh, the subject of six weeks of fighting.

MOSCOW, November 11. /TASS/: Russia’s Almaz-Antey defense manufacturer delivered the final regiment set of S-400 ‘Triumf’ medium-to long-range anti-aircraft missile systems this year, fulfilling its annual delivery plan ahead of schedule, the company said in a statement on Wednesday.

"Almaz-Antey Group delivered the next and final regiment set of S-400 ‘Triumf’ surface-to-air missile systems to the Defense Ministry this year ahead of schedule as part of its commitments under the defense procurement plan," the statement says.

MOSCOW, November 11. /TASS/: Russia’s coronavirus cases grew by 19,851 in the past day and for the first time since November 5 the daily case tally was less than 20,000, the anti-coronavirus crisis center reported on Wednesday.

Russia’s total COVID-19 case count rose to 1,836,960. The average growth rate dropped from 1.2% to 1.1%.

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Post-registration trials of Russia’s second COVID-19 vaccine, being developed by Siberia’s Vector institute, are expected to start on Nov. 15, Deputy Prime Minister Tatiana Golikova said in comments published on Wednesday.

Golikova said Russia was planning to produce 500,000 doses of its main Sputnik V vaccine in November, lower than a previous forecast of 800,000 doses given by trade and industry minister Denis Manturov.