Russia

MOSCOW, July 10. /TASS/: The Russian government will consider resuming international flights after July 15, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Tatyana Golikova said at a briefing on Friday.

"As for the date when we could restart international air travel, we suggest July 15, 2020 and we suppose that, based on the air authorities’ negotiating position, the Transport Ministry and the Federal Air Transport Agency will be informing the government of the Russian Federation about the negotiation," she said.

MOSCOW, July 11. /TASS/: Five people were injured in a gas explosion followed by a fire in a residential building in Nizhny Novgorod, press service of the city’s government administration told reporters on Saturday.

"Currently, five people have been injured in a gas explosion, three of them were slightly injured, doctors examined them on the spot, hospitalization was not required. Two more people, a man and a woman, were taken to a hospital. Their condition does not cause any concerns," the press service said.

MOSCOW, July 10. /TASS/: After withdrawing from the Treaty on Open Skies, the United States might persuade their allies to pull out, and then the treaty will collapse, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said in a televised interview on Friday.

"Having withdrawn from the Treaty, the United States is likely, due to their recent conduct, to try to lure some of their allies out. Should this happen, the treaty will certainly be doomed and will collapse," he said.

11 July 2020; MEMO: Russian President Vladimir Putin discussed the Libyan conflict in a video conference with the country’s Security Council on Friday, Anadolu Agency reports.

“The situation in Libya was discussed with an emphasis on the absence of alternative to a peaceful settlement in this country,” the Kremlin said in a statement on its official website following the meeting.

Libya has been torn by civil war since the ouster of late ruler Muammar Gaddafi in 2011.

MOSCOW, July 10 (Xinhua) -- Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday held an online conference with the country's Security Council, mainly to discuss developments in Ukraine and Libya, the Kremlin said in a statement.

In particular, disappointment was expressed due to a lack of dynamics to resolve the crisis in the southeast of Ukraine, the statement said.

The situation in Libya was touched upon with a focus on the lack of an alternative to a peaceful settlement in this country, it said.

MOSCOW, July 10. /TASS/: Heightened tensions between the United States and China do not meet Russia’s interests in any way, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Friday.

"I believe that it [standoff] in no way meets our interests, European Union interests or interests of other states," he said.

MOSCOW, July 10. /TASS/: Thirty foreign planes conducted air reconnaissance near Russian borders over the week, according to the infographics published in the Defense Ministry’s newspaper Krasnaya Zvezda on Friday.

"Thirty spy planes of foreign states conducted air reconnaissance along the borders of the Russian Federation and were tracked by Russian radar systems," the infographics says.

Moreover, two drones flew close to the Russian borders, according to the infographics.

MOSCOW, July 10. /TASS/: The Russian Defense Ministry and the Gamalei National Research Center for Epidemiology and Microbiology have started the final stage of clinical trials of a vaccine against the novel coronavirus, the ministry stated on Friday.

According to the Defense Ministry, "an in-ward treatment of the first group of volunteers, who were tested for the safety and tolerability of the vaccine, will end on July 15."

MOSCOW, July 10. /TASS/: The detention of Ivan Safronov, an advisor to the head of Russia’s Roscosmos space agency, is in no way linked to his professional activities, Russian Foreign Intelligence Service Director Sergei Naryshkin told reporters on Friday.

"I would like to highlight a few important things," he said in response to a question. "First, I highly appreciate the skills of Russian intelligence personnel. Second, the defendant’s detention and the charges brought against him are in no way linked to his professional activities," Naryshkin pointed out.

MOSCOW, July 10. /TASS/: In Russia, the number of COVID-19 infections grew over a day by 6,635 to a total of 713,936, the anti-coronavirus crisis center told journalists on Friday.

According to the crisis center, the daily growth of this indicator has not exceeded 0.9% for the past four days.