Russia

MOSCOW, Aug. 12 (Xinhua) -- A Russian Su-27 fighter jet was scrambled over the Black Sea on Wednesday to intercept two U.S. reconnaissance planes, the Russian Defense Ministry said.

"On August 12, Russian airspace control systems have detected two air targets approaching the Russian state border over the neutral waters of the Black Sea," the ministry's Zvezda broadcasting service said.

A Su-27 fighter of the Southern Military District was scrambled to intercept the targets, it said.

MOSCOW, August 12. /TASS/: Russia’s Aerospace Force will get the latest Su-57 fifth-generation fighter jets and Il-76MD-90A military transport planes by the end of the year, Aerospace Force Deputy Commander-in-Chief Lieutenant-General Sergei Dronov said on Wednesday.

MOSCOW, August 12. /TASS/: Foreign specialists’ criticism of the Russian vaccine against the novel coronavirus is groundless and should be attributed to competition, Health Minister Mikhail Murashko told a news briefing on Wednesday.

"Some foreign colleagues, who must have felt certain competition and competitive edges of Russia’s product, have been trying to express opinions that we find totally groundless," he said.

MOSCOW, August 12. /TASS/: Combat unmanned aerial vehicles, capable of striking enemy positions with high-precision projectiles, will enter service with Russia’s Aerospace Forces next year, Deputy Commander-in-Chief of Russia’s Aerospace Forces Lt. Gen. Sergei Dronov said.

"Next year, the troops will start receiving multi-purpose long-range unmanned aerial vehicles, capable not only of conducting aerial survey but also of striking enemy facilities with high-precision projectiles," Dronov said in an interview with the Krasnaya Zvezda newspaper.

MOSCOW, Aug 12 (NNN-Xinhua) — German and Russian foreign ministers rejected US sanctions threat against the Nord Stream 2 pipeline project.

“No state has the right to dictate Europe’s energy policy with threats, and this will not succeed,” German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas told reporters on Tuesday following a meeting with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov in Moscow.

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia said on Wednesday the first batch of its Covid-19 vaccine would be ready for some medics within two weeks and rejected as “groundless” safety concerns aired by some experts over Moscow’s rapid approval of the drug.

President Vladimir Putin said on Tuesday that Russia had become the first country to grant regulatory approval to a COVID-19 vaccine, after less than two months of human testing.

MOSCOW, August 11. /TASS/: Russia has received a request for the production of 1 bln doses of the COVID-19 vaccine produced by the Gamaleya Research Institute of Epidemiology and Microbiology from 20 states, head of the Russian Direct Investment Fund Kirill Dmitriev said during an online conference.

MOSCOW, August 11. /TASS/: Russia has responded to all inquiries from Germany regarding the murder in Berlin’s Tiergarten and would like to receive further explanations from the German side, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Tuesday following talks with his German counterpart Heiko Maas.

MOSCOW, August 11. /TASS/: There are all reasons to believe that the Nord Stream 2 project will be implemented shortly, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Tuesday.

"The participants of Nord Stream 2 company, including Russian, German and other participants, are set to finalize the project. As far as I understand there are reasons to believe that it will be done in the near future," he told a joint press conference with his German counterpart Heiko Maas on Tuesday.

MOSCOW, August 11. /TASS/: The world's first registered vaccine against the coronavirus infection which was developed in Russia was named Sputnik V, the official vaccine website launched on Tuesday said.

"In 1957, the successful launch of the first man-made satellite by the Soviet Union activated space research in the entire world. Thanks to this comparison, the vaccine received the name of Sputnik V," the website explains. It is noted that currently over 160 vaccines against the coronavirus are developed worldwide.