Russia

MOSCOW, June 14. /TASS/: Many in foreign countries see that the world will be a worse and less safer place without strong and prosperous Russia, Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Sunday.

"There are people abroad who want to see Russia strong and prosperous and want this factor to be in place in global affairs," he said in an interview with the Vesti Nedely weekly news roundup on the Rossiya-1 television channel.

MOSCOW (Reuters) - President Vladimir Putin said on Sunday Russia was developing the means to counter other countries’ hypersonic weapons, local news agencies reported.

“It’s very likely that we will have means to combat hypersonic weapons by the time the world’s leading countries have such weapons,” the RIA news agency cited Putin as saying.

MOSCOW (AP) — Ukrainian authorities said Saturday they intercepted an attempt to offer a $6 million bribe in return for the dropping of a criminal investigation into the head of a natural gas company where the son of former U.S. Vice President Joe Biden once held a board seat.

At a news conference, during which officials displayed large bags of seized U.S. currency, Ukraine’s anti-corruption prosecutor Nazar Kholodnitsky said neither of the Bidens is connected to the bribe attempt.

MOSCOW, June 13. /TASS/: Russia will develop the most advanced structure of mega-science installations structure over 5-7 years, President of the Kurchatov Institute research center Mikhail Kovalchuk said.

Russia is currently creating a network of domestic mega-science installations, for example, a neutron reactor with the highest capacity in Gatchina and a unique synchrotron in the Moscow Region, Kovalchuk said.

MOSCOW, June 13. /TASS/: The coronavirus spread reached its peak in Russia on May 11 when the period of non-working days came to an end in the country, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Tatiana Golikova said at a news briefing on Saturday.

"Today it can already be said that beginning from March 17, i.e. the time when the epidemic actually started to develop in Russia, testing or the number of PCR tests increased by 139 times. And from the date, which is considered as the peak, May 11, 2020, the PCR testing increased by 5.6 times," the vice-premier said.

MOSCOW, June 13. /TASS/: One person died and three others were injured in an explosion of liquefied gas in a gas storage facility in Kazan, emergency services told TASS.

"Liquefied gas exploded at the Kazan cluster base of Gazprom Liquefied Gas, in an above-ground gas storage capacity of 100 cubic meters. As a result, one person died and three were injured," the source said.

After the explosion, a fire broke out with a risk of spreading to other containers.

MOSCOW, June 11. /TASS/: The discussion of extending the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF Treaty) should be revived, Spokeswoman for the Russian Foreign Ministry Maria Zakharova told a briefing Thursday.

"The issue of extending the effect of the INF Treaty as the only still operational bilateral instrument of nuclear arms control is becoming more and more pressing," she said. "Considering the importance of the INF Treaty, we are coming from the premise that the bilateral dialogue on this issue should be revived soon."

MOSCOW, June 12. /TASS/: The World Health Organization’s Representative to Russia, Melita Vujnovic, has said that the WHO has no questions about Russia’s COVID-19 mortality rates.

"The WHO by no means has any questions about Russia’s coronavirus-related mortality statistics. WHO Emergencies Program Executive Director Michael Ryan voiced a very general idea. He is not a statistics specialist and has no experience in this field. He merely expressed an opinion. But the WHO is of the opinion there can be no questions," Vujnovic said on the Business FM radio station.

MOSCOW, June 12. /TASS/: A second wave of the novel coronavirus pandemic in Russia is possible if new cases of the virus are imported in the country from abroad, Russian Health Minister Mikhail Murashko said on Thursday in an interview with the Rossiya-1 TV channel.

"Statistical data shows that repeat import [of the virus] is possible," he said. Besides, there are climate factors that could affect the epidemiological situation, the minister added.

MOSCOW, June 12. /TASS/: The United States Ambassador to Russia John Sullivan congratulated Russian citizens on behalf of US President Donald Trump and the American people on Russia Day, confirming Washington’s readiness to cooperate.