Russia

MOSCOW, June 3. /TASS/: Russia’s latest Okhotnik (Hunter) stealth drone being developed by the Sukhoi Aircraft Company will be insured for more than 1.2 billion rubles (over $18 million), according to the information posted on the government’s procurement web portal on Wednesday.

Pursuant to the document, the Okhotnik stealth drone will be insured against its loss (total or constructive total loss), disappearance or damage as a result of an incident during the insurance period. The drone’s ground-based control post will be insured for another 145.2 million rubles ($2.1 million).

MOSCOW, June 3. /TASS/: Russian President Vladimir Putin does not plan to participate in a summit on the development of a coronavirus vaccine, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.

When asked if Putin had accepted British Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s invitation, Peskov said that Russia "is not expected to be represented at the highest level."

The Russian presidential spokesman redirected the question as to who would represent the country to the Ministry of Health.

MOSCOW, June 3. /TASS/: At least 9,300 protesters were detained by the US police since the protests began, Associated Press (AP) reported Wednesday, citing its own calculations.

The highest number of protesters were apprehended in Los Angeles — about 2,700 people, followed by New York, were about 1,500 people were detained. Several hundreds of protesters were detained in Texas’s Dallas and Houston each, as well as in Philadelphia (Pennsylvania).

MOSCOW, June 3. /TASS/: The number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Russia grew by 8,536 in the past 24 hours, 8,972 patients recovered, the anti-coronavirus crisis center said on Wednesday.

The number of recoveries exceeds the number of new cases for the second day in a row. The daily increase in the number of infected people in the country dropped from 2.1% to 2%.

A total of 432,277 coronavirus cases have been confirmed throughout the country so far, 195,957 people (more than 45%) have recovered.

MOSCOW, June 2 (Xinhua) -- Russia reserves the right to retaliate for nuclear attacks, according to a decree on the fundamentals of Russia's state policy of nuclear deterrence, which was signed by President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday.

"The Russian Federation reserves the right to launch a nuclear strike either in response to a similar attack or in the event of a threat to the existence of the state," the decree reads.

MOSCOW, June 2. /TASS/: Russian diplomatic missions in the US will help ensure the safety of Russian nationals if need arises over the riots that have swept the US, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Tuesday.

"There are diplomatic missions, foreign missions working in the US, and, of course, if [Russian] citizens will need any protection measures, they will be provided with those," Peskov told journalists.

MOSCOW, June 2. /TASS/: Russia's Safe Internet League detected over 9,000 coronavirus-related fake news stories in April and May, the organization said in a statement.

"The League has detected 9,052 fake news stories about the coronavirus since the beginning of April," the statement reads. "We also received more than 21,000 requests from people concerning the spread of misinformation," the statement quoted the organization’s head Yekaterina Mizulina as saying.

MOSCOW, June 2. /TASS/: A constitutional amendment that will allow incumbent Russian President Vladimir Putin seek reelection after his current term is over will serve as a buffer against the unexpected, leader of the A Just Russia party Sergei Mironov told reporters.

MOSCOW, June 2. /TASS/: Russia and Belarus seek to maintain dialogue amid the coronavirus pandemic, State Secretary of the Union State of Russia and Belarus Grigory Rapota told TASS.

"Life goes on and we need to solve the current tasks and think about the future," he pointed out.

MOSCOW, June 1. /TASS/: Russia may start exports of Avifavir, an anti-COVID-19 drug, after the domestic demand is satisfied, Chief Executive Officer of the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) Kirill Dmitriev and First Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Sergey Tsyb told an online conference on Monday.

"As Russia’s demand is satisfied, we suggest that exports may also be started. There are many requests from Middle Eastern countries, from Latin American countries. Russia may become an exporter of that drug," Dmitriev said.