Russia

MOSCOW, October 9. /TASS/: Threats to impose sanctions on Russia over the incident involving Alexey Navalny are not surprising, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told reporters at a news conference on Friday.

MOSCOW, October 9. /TASS/: The Admiral Gorshkov frigate of the Russian Northern Fleet (Project 22350) will carry out three more test-launches of Russia’s advanced Tsirkon hypersonic missile by the end of the year, two sources in Russia’s defense ministry have told TASS.

"As part of the ongoing flight trials of the Tsirkon hypersonic missile, three more test launches will be carried out by the Admiral Gorshkov frigate. The nearest launch will take place in late October - early November," the source said.

MOSCOW, October 9. /TASS/: An increase in the number of coronavirus cases in Russia may require additional decisions by the government’s crisis center and regional authorities, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Friday. He did not specify though what steps could be taken.

"If the situation continues to deteriorate and the number of infected people continues to grow, of course, that will be an issue for consideration by the government’s crisis center and at the regional level. This will require some actions, some decisions, but which ones, I cannot say," he noted.

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko on Friday said it was necessary to hold elections of the all-Belarusian people’s assembly, as part of plans to amend the country’s constitution, the state-run Belta news agency reported.

Belarus has seen two months of protests since a contested Aug. 9 election, in which Lukashenko claimed a landslide victory. His opponents say it was rigged to hand him a sixth term in power.

MOSCOW, October 8. /TASS/: Russia is not planning to meddle in the US presidential election and wants it to be held in line with the law and confrontation in the US society to decrease, Russian Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) Head Sergei Naryshkin told TASS on Thursday.

MOSCOW, October 8. / TASS /: The Russian government is closely monitoring the situation on the concessional mortgage lending market and will work to prevent the appearance of the so-called mortgage bubbles, Russian Presidential Spokesperson Dmitry Peskov commented on the statement by Russia's Central Bank on Thursday.

"There is no doubt that the government is monitoring this very closely," Peskov said, answering a question about whether there are any fears in the presidential administration that mortgage benefits could overheat this market.

SEVASTOPOL, October 8. /TASS/: The Russian and Egyptian navies will hold joint drills in the Black Sea until the end of this year, the Black Sea Fleet’s press office reported on Thursday.

MOSCOW, October 8. /TASS/: The situation with the spread of the coronavirus infection in Russia has become more complicated, the incidence is growing in 60 Russian regions, Head of the Federal Service for Surveillance on Consumer Rights Protection and Human Wellbeing Anna Popova said in an interview to the Russia-1 TV channel.

MOSCOW, October 8. /TASS/: Head of the department of pulmonology of the Sechenov University, chief non-resident pulmonologist of Russia’s Healthcare Ministry Sergey Avdeyev considers the current restrictive measures for the prevention of the novel coronavirus infection insufficient since citizens continue to ignore the safety precautions, particularly in public places.

MOSCOW, October 8. /TASS/: Russia’s COVID-19 cases grew by 11,493 in the past day and the total case tally reached 1,260,112, the anti-coronavirus crisis center told reporters on Thursday.

According to its data, a 0.9% growth rate in the past five days was recorded.

Moscow confirmed 3,323 new COVID-19 cases versus 3,229 a day earlier. Another 461 cases were registered in St. Petersburg, 433 in the Moscow Region (the highest figure since June 25), 261 in the Rostov Region and 234 in the Nizhny Novgorod Region.