Russia

MOSCOW, August 15. /TASS/: Head of the N. F. Gamaleya Federal Research Center for Epidemiology and Microbiology Alexander Ginzburg hopes that Russians will get full access to the novel coronavirus vaccine developed by the center in about 9-12 months.

"It is important to understand when we will be able to meet the demand of the country. I hope that it will happen within 9-12 months," he told TASS.

MOSCOW, August 15. /TASS/: Volunteers taking part in the third stage of the clinical trials of the Russian COVID-19 vaccine developed by the N. F. Gamaleya Federal Research Center for Epidemiology and Microbiology will not be hospitalized, head of the center Alexander Ginzberg told TASS.

"Of course, the volunteers won’t be hospitalized beforehand. All of them will come and go from their homes," he said.

MOSCOW (Reuters) - About 2,000 people joined another march in the Russian far eastern city of Khabarovsk on Saturday in protest over President Vladimir Putin’s handling of a local political crisis.

Residents of Khabarovsk, around 6,110 km (3,800 miles) east of Moscow, were protesting for a sixth consecutive weekend against the detention of Sergei Furgal, the region’s popular governor.

Furgal was arrested on July 9 in connection with murder charges he denies. His supporters say the detention is politically motivated.

MOSCOW, Aug. 14 (Xinhua) -- Russian President Vladimir Putin proposed Friday holding an urgent online meeting of the heads of the five states that are permanent members of the UN Security Council (UNSC) with the participation of the leaders of Germany and Iran to discuss Iran and the Persian Gulf situation.

"Should the leaders agree in principle to have this conversation, we propose that the foreign ministries of the seven countries agree on a meeting agenda, make the necessary arrangements and schedule a video summit," Putin said in a statement.

MOSCOW, August 14. /TASS/: Russian radars tracked 46 foreign aircraft that conducted air reconnaissance near Russia’s state border in the past week, the Defense Ministry’s Krasnaya Zvezda newspaper reported on Friday.

The paper’s infographics show that 35 foreign spy planes and 11 drones conducted air reconnaissance along Russia’s state borders in the past week. All the flights by foreign spy aircraft were tracked by Russian radar stations. No violations of the Russian state border were allowed, the paper stressed.

PETROPAVLOVSK-KAMCHATSKY, August 14. /TASS/: Data on preclinical and clinical studies of a new Russian coronavirus vaccine will be made public in the coming days, Russian Health Minister Mikhail Murashko told reporters.

"Data on preclinical and clinical studies will be published in the coming days, possibly by Monday," he said.

MOSCOW, August 13 /TASS/: S7 has signed a contract with leasing company GECAS for supply of two Boeing 737-800BCF air freighters, the Russian air carrier said on Thursday. These are the first airplanes fully focused on freight transportation only in the airline fleet.

MOSCOW, August 13. /TASS/: Meeting with Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko is not scheduled on the agenda of Russia’s President Vladimir Putin, the Kremlin press service told TASS on Thursday.

"There is no such meeting in his schedule," the press service said.

MOSCOW, August 13. /TASS/: Protective properties of Russian vaccine against the coronavirus will be intact for at least two years after its administration, Director of the Gamaleya National Research Center for Epidemiology and Microbiology of the Russian Healthcare Ministry Alexander Gintsburg said.

"Effective period of the vaccine, its protective properties will last not during a short term, half a year - one year but for at least two years," he said in an interview with the 60 minutes show on the Russia-1 TV channel.

MOSCOW, August 13. /TASS/: Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova has dismissed as groundless attempts to find a "Russian connection" to the unrest in Belarus.

"We expect that professional cooperation by the investigative committees, prosecutor generals’ offices and other agencies of the two countries will help clear up the situation involving the detention of 33 Russian citizens as soon as possible. It is important to stress that the attempts to find a ‘Russian connection’ to the latest unrest in Belarus are groundless," Zakharova told a news briefing.