Russia

MOSCOW, August 5. /TASS/: The provision of the Russian troops with new weapon systems must be raised to 70% by the end of the year, despite complexities caused by the coronavirus, Russia’s Defense Minister Army General Sergei Shoigu said on Wednesday.

"We must 100% fulfil the defense procurement plan and reach 70% for new weapons, while keeping a high level of the hardware’s serviceability," the defense minister said, summing up the results of Russia’s single military output acceptance day.

MOSCOW, August 5. /TASS/: TsNIITochMash (part of the state hi-tech corporation Rostec) has launched the production of the first batch of the latest 9mm Udav self-loading pistol, the Rostec press office reported on Wednesday.

MOSCOW, August 4. /TASS/: The Russian side does not discuss with Washington the possibility of trading Paul Whelan, an American convicted in Russia of espionage, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov stated on Tuesday.

"We are not having a dialogue with the US as regards trading Paul Whelan. It is not clear what the basis for the periodic revival of this subject is. Americans are aware of our proposals to resolve an issue of the return of the compatriots who were unjustly convicted with lengthy sentences, which is important to us," the senior diplomat stressed.

MOSCOW, August 4. /TASS/: Russia’s Oryol latest spacecraft will be able to fly to asteroids and Mars as part of an inter-planetary system, Oryol Chief Designer Igor Khamits said in an interview with the Russian Space magazine published by the federal space agency Roscosmos.

"The technical specifications do not stipulate a flight mission to asteroids. However, a flight can be carried out as part of an asteroid (inter-planetary) system, as well as a flight to Mars," he said.

MOSCOW, August 4. /TASS/: Russia is a proponent of preserving purely technical control of missile technologies, the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a commentary on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of Russia’s accession to the Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR).

MOSCOW, August 3. /TASS/: The Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) and the ChemRar Group of companies have begun supplying the Avifavir anti-coronavirus drug to South Africa, RDIF announced in a press release.

According to the press release, Chromis, a joint venture established by RDIF, Russia’s sovereign wealth fund, and ChemRar Group, announced the signing of a distribution agreement with South Africa’s 3Sixty Biopharmaceuticals, a subsidiary of 3Sixty Global Solutions Group, to deliver Avifavir, the first Russian anti-COVID drug, to South Africa.

MOSCOW, August 3. /TASS/: The Il-114-300 regional turboprop aircraft will make its first flight in September 2020, Chief Executive Officer of the United Aircraft Corporation (UAC) Yuri Slyusar said on Monday at the meeting with President Vladimir Putin.

"The aircraft [Il-114-300 - TASS] has already been assembled. The airplane undergoes ground tests and is preparing for the first flight. I believe in September, according to our plans, this aircraft will take off in the Moscow Region, in Zhukovsky," Slyusar said.

MOSCOW, August 3. /TASS/: Russia will initiate denunciation of the double tax agreement with Cyprus from August 3, the Russian Finance Ministry said on Monday.

"The Russian Finance Ministry starts the agreement denouncing procedure to fulfill the assignment of the Russian President on taxation of incomes in the form of dividends and interest paid from the territory of the Russian Federation to the Republic of Cyprus at the rate of 15%," the Ministry says.

The Russian Finance Ministry considered Cyprus’ proposals on amendments to tax laws as unfeasible, the Ministry said.

MOSCOW, August 2. /TASS/: Chief of Russia’s sanitary watchdog Anna Popova said on Sunday she is confident in the efficiency and safety of anti-coronavirus vaccines that are being developed in Russia.

"I have no doubts that the vaccine [against the novel coronavirus] that is to reach people will be absolutely safe and, of course, efficient," she said in an interview with the Vesti news program on the Rossiya-1 television channel.

MOSCOW, August 2. /TASS/: Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky and his predecessors should meet together to discuss the essence of the Minsk peace deal on settling the Ukrainian crisis, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova wrote on her Facebook page on Sunday.

The diplomat commented on a remark by Leonid Kravchuk, a former Ukrainian president and new head of Kiev’s delegation to the Contact Group for ironing out the crisis in Donbass, who said that he did not quite understand the essence of the special status of Donbass mentioned in the Minsk deal.