Russia

MOSCOW, July 7. /TASS/: Russia and the United States have established a regular dialogue on Afghanistan, which could have bothered certain political circles in Washington, Russian Security Council Secretary Nikolai Patrushev stated in an interview with the Argumenty i Fakty weekly, commenting on the publications about the alleged bounties on US servicemen that Moscow allegedly offered to Afghan militants.

Patrushev noted that the US administration repeatedly imposed sanctions against Russia "based on fake news."

MOSCOW, July 7. /TASS/: Russia has documented 6,368 cases of COVID-19, a disease caused by the novel coronavirus, in the past 24 hours, with the daily increase rate reaching a record low of 0.9%, the anti-coronavirus crisis center informed reporters on Tuesday.

In the past week, the increase rate has not surpassed 1%. In the past 12 days, under 7,000 cases of infection have been reported daily. The total number of those infected in Russia has reached 694,230.

MOSCOW, July 7, 2020 (BSS/TASS) – Volunteers, who tested a vaccine against the coronavirus two weeks ago at Burdenko military hospital, are feeling well and have not experienced any side effects, the Russian Defense Ministry said.

“Two weeks since the vaccination the second group of participants of coronavirus vaccine trials, conducted by the Russian Defense Ministry jointly with the Gamalei National Research Center for Epidemiology and Microbiology, are in stable good health, and there haven’t been any complications or side effects,” the ministry said.

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia will respond with reciprocal measures to British sanctions against 25 Russians, including the country’s top state investigator, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.

Britain imposed sanctions on 25 Russians and 20 Saudis on Monday as part of post-Brexit measures foreign minister Dominic Raab said were aimed at stopping the laundering of “blood money”.

MOSCOW, July 7 (Xinhua) -- Ivan Safronov, an advisor to the director general of the Russian state space corporation Roscosmos, has been detained on suspicion of committing high treason, Roscosmos said in a statement on Tuesday.

It said that the detention of Safronov is not related to his work at Roscosmos.

Roscosmos has been assisting the investigating authorities, the statement said, providing no further details. 

MOSCOW, July 6. /TASS/: The Federal Security Service (FSB) has apprehended members of a criminal drug-running network which organized supplies to 12 Russian regions. In all, the federal law enforcement agency seized the total of 55 kilos of narcotic substances, the FSB Public Relations Center informed TASS on Monday.

MOSCOW, July 6. /TASS/: A complaint about the use of the facial recognition video surveillance system was addressed to the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) in Strasbourg, the lawyers of the Agora human rights organization who prepared the document told TASS.

MOSCOW, July 6. /TASS/: The Russian Navy will receive about 40 ships and vessels of various classes in 2020, Navy Commander-in-Chief Admiral Nikolai Yevmenov said in an interview with the Defense Ministry’s newspaper Krasnaya Zvezda on Monday.

"Overall, about 40 ships and vessels of various classes will be accepted for service with the Russian Navy in 2020," the admiral said, stressing that this suggested the efficient implementation of the military shipbuilding program in Russia.

MOSCOW, July 6. /TASS/: Russia’s coronavirus cases rose by 6,611 to 687,862 in the past day, the anti-coronavirus crisis center said on Monday, adding that the country’s coronavirus growth rate had remained at or below 1% for a week.

Russia identified less than 7,000 new daily cases for the 11th day in a row.

Moscow has recorded the lowest coronavirus growth rate (0.3%). The rate stands at 0.5% in the Moscow, Ingushetia and North Ossetia regions, and at 0.6% in the Dagestan region.

MOSCOW (Reuters) - One of President Vladimir Putin’s relatives has been elected leader of a small Russian political party which he hopes will win seats in the national parliament at an election next year, the party’s website showed on Monday.

Roman Putin, son of Putin’s cousin Igor, was elected head of the People Against Corruption party at a congress on Sunday after becoming a member last month, it said.