Russia

MOSCOW, October 4. /TASS/: Russian cosmonauts Anatoly Ivanishin and Ivan Vagner, who are staying aboard the International Space Station (ISS), congratulated people of the Earth on the 63rd anniversary of Soviet Union's Sputnik-1 launch, which marked the beginning of the humanity’s space era.

MOSCOW, October 3. /TASS/: The number of coronavirus cases in Russia increased by 9,859 per day, which is the maximum figure since May 15. The total number of people infected in the country has reached 1,204,502, the operational headquarters to combat the spread of coronavirus told reporters on Saturday.

According to the headquarters, the daily growth rate was 0.8%.

MOSCOW, October 3. /TASS/: The Russian Embassy in Berlin received a refusal from the German Foreign Ministry on a request for consular access to blogger Alexey Navalny, the Russian Foreign Ministry said on Saturday.

"There are no answers to the questions asked by the Russian side through the political dialogue or through the diplomatic channels. The Russian Embassy in Berlin has received a refusal from the German Foreign Ministry for assistance in providing consular access to Navalny," the diplomatic department noted.

MOSCOW, October 3. /TASS/: Poisoning of water in the area of Khalaktyrsky beach in Russia’s Kamchatka region, according to preliminary data, was caused by oil products leak from a commercial tanker, which was eliminated. The ownership of the vessel has not yet been established, a source in the emergency services of the Far East region told TASS on Saturday.

02 Oct 2020; MEMO: Russian President Vladimir Putin and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan held a third phone call in six days since fighting broke out between Azerbaijan and ethnic Armenians over the territory of Nagorno-Karabakh, the Kremlin said on Friday, Reuters reported.

Putin and Pashinyan expressed serious concern about the involvement of what the Kremlin termed illegal armed groups from the Middle East in the fighting.

MOSCOW, Oct. 2 (Xinhua) -- Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and his Iranian counterpart Mohammad Javad Zarif in a telephone conversation on Friday expressed concern over the involvement of illegal armed groups in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

"Both sides expressed serious concern about the ongoing large-scale hostilities, as well as the involvement of illegal militants of armed groups from Syria and Libya in them," the statement read.

MOSCOW, October 2. /TASS/: Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Friday he is sure the problems that have emerged in Belarus after the presidential elections will soon be settled, the Kremlin press service said after his telephone conversation with his Belarusian counterpart, Alexander Lukashenko.

MOSCOW, October 2. /TASS/: The price of December Brent crude oil futures contract on London’s ICE fell by 4.79% to $38.97 per barrel on Friday. The last time Brent was traded below $39 per barrel on June 16, 2020.

By 13:33 Moscow time, Brent oil slightly slowed down its decline and was trading at $39.17 per barrel (-4.3%). At the same time, the price of WTI crude oil was at $37.31 per barrel (-4.36%).

MOSCOW, October 2. /TASS/: The number of COVID-19 infections in Russia over the past 24 hours increased by 9,412, bringing the total to 1,194,643, the anti-coronavirus crisis center told reporters on Friday.

The number of infections for the first time since June 1 has surpassed 9,000. According to the crisis center, the daily growth is at 0.8%.

MOSCOW, October 2. /TASS/: Introduction of a new lockdown due to the spread of the coronavirus in Russia is not being considered currently, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov told journalists on Friday.

"As far as I know, this is not being considered now, as far as I know, it is not discussed," the Kremlin representative said.