Russia

MOSCOW (AP) — Russian opposition politician Alexei Navalny was placed on a ventilator in a hospital intensive care unit in Siberia after falling ill from suspected poisoning during a flight, his spokeswoman said Thursday morning.

The 44-year-old foe of Russia’s President Vladimir Putin felt unwell on a flight back to Moscow from Tomsk, a city in Siberia, Kira Yarmysh said on Twitter. “The plane made an emergency landing in Omsk. Alexei has a toxic poisoning,” Yarmysh tweeted.

MOSCOW, August 19. /TASS/: The refusal of the United States to participate in an online summit of the five permanent members of the UN Security Council, Germany and Iran aimed to discuss issues of implementation the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) on the Iranian nuclear program makes it impossible to hold it as envisioned and proposed by Russia, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters Wednesday.

"Indeed, the US rejection [of the idea] does not allow us to gather in this format as it was proposed from the start," he said, answering the corresponding question.

MOSCOW, August 19. /TASS/: Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has called on those putting forward proposals on mediation in Belarus to make these offers directly to the Belarusian leadership rather than "through the microphone."

MOSCOW, August 19. /TASS/: Russia is keeping a close eye on the developments in Mali and will give its assessment after analyzing the situation, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Wednesday.

"Now so far we are closely following the situation and studying the information coming from there. After we make the corresponding analysis, we will be able to give an assessment of the situation," Peskov said.

MOSCOW, August 19. /TASS/: Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko coordinates with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin his actions within the Union State and the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) at this stage, Lukashenko’s Spokesperson Natalya Eismont told the Rossiya 1 TV channel on Wednesday.

"Consultations between the Belarusian and Russian presidents are currently underway. The heads of state coordinate their actions, primarily within the framework of the existing agreements. These are both the Union State and the CSTO," she said.

MOSCOW, August 18. /TASS/: The Russian government has approved state corporation Rosatom’s voluntary contributions to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)’s Technical Cooperation Fund of up to 2 million euro annually, an August 14 government decree, published on Russia’s official legal information website, reads.

Rosatom was also tasked with coordination of technical cooperation with the IAEA and with overseeing the use of the said voluntary contributions.

MOSCOW, August 18. /TASS/: The Precision Instrument-Making Systems research and production corporation (part of the State Space Corporation Roscosmos) has signed a contract to place a non-request measuring station of the SM-Glonass satellite navigation system in the municipality of Colorado do Oeste (the state of Rondonia in Brazil), Roscosmos reported on Tuesday.

MURMANSK, August 18. /TASS/: The Northern Fleet’s marines held tactical drills on the Taimyr Peninsula for landing an amphibious assault force onto an unequipped shore to defend a vital industrial facility in the Arctic, the Fleet’s press office reported on Tuesday.

MOSCOW, August 18. /TASS/: India through its embassy in Moscow has established contact with the Russian developer of the Sputnik V vaccine against the novel coronavirus infection, The Indian Express daily reported on Tuesday citing the government sources.

"The Indian Mission is engaging separately with the Russian side through our embassy in Moscow. We are now awaiting the safety and efficacy data of this vaccine for Covid-19," the source specified.

MOSCOW, August 18. /TASS/: Russian President Vladimir Putin discussed the situation in Belarus with German Chancellor Angela Merkel in a telephone conversation initiated by Berlin, the Kremlin press service said in a statement on Tuesday.

"The parties thoroughly discussed the situation in Belarus following the presidential election," the statement reads. "Russia pointed out that foreign attempts to interfere in the country’s domestic affairs were unacceptable and could further escalate tensions," the Kremlin press service added.