Russia

MOSCOW, May 23. /TASS/: US President Donald Trump’s administration could allow the 2010 New START (Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty) with Russia to expire, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov told Bolshaya Igra (Big Game) program on Channel One on Saturday.

"The Trump administration will allow the 2010 New START to expire," Ryabkov said.

The senior diplomat pointed to the role of the Republican Party. "The US Republican Party is spearheading the efforts on destroying the regimes and agreements in the arms control field."

MOSCOW, May 23. /TASS/: Moscow is considering various options of responding to Washington’s withdrawal from the Open Skies Treaty, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov said in an interview with Bolshaya Igra (Big Game) program on Channel One.

"We have delved into analyzing various options, we have a free stance, we are in no hurry," the senior diplomat said.

MOSCOW, May 23. /TASS/: Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a bill regarding an experiment on remote online vote in elections of all levels in Moscow. The law, published at the official legal information website Saturday, extends the experiment, initiated in September 2019 and makes it possible to vote remotely in elections of all levels that will take place in the capital in 2020 and 2021.

MOSCOW, May 23. /TASS/: In the past 24 hours, 3,190 coronavirus cases were registered in Moscow while 3,831 patients have recovered, coronavirus prevention operational headquarters announced Saturday.

Therefore, the recovery count exceeded the newly registered case count. The daily case growth rate increased to 2% versus 1.9% one day earlier.

A total of 47,413 people have recovered in Moscow so far.

In the past 24 hours, 67 people died; the total death toll in Moscow is 1,934 people.

MOSCOW, May 23. /TASS/: The UK, the US, Ukraine and Estonia ignored the UN Security Council meeting on situation in Crimea, which took place on May 21, Russian Permanent Mission to the United Nations announced on its website.

The meeting took place in accordance with the so-called Arria Formula, which makes it possible to invite representatives of non-governmental organizations to the meetings. The Mission reminded that Russia did not ignore the similar meeting on Crimea, organized by a number of the Western powers and Ukraine on March 6.

MOSCOW, May 23. /TASS/: Clinical testing of the coronavirus vaccine, developed by the Gamalei National Research Center for Epidemiology and Microbiology may begin in early June, the Center’s director Alexander Ginzburg told journalists Saturday.

MOSCOW, May 23. /TASS/: An unknown perpetrator has captured at least five hostages at the Alfa-Bank office on Zemlyanoy Val street in Moscow and threatens to blow up the building, an emergency services source told TASS.

"An unknown perpetrator captured five hostages at the Alfa-Bank office […] and threatens to blow up the building. There are at least five hostages in the building," the source said.

MOSCOW, May 22. /TASS/: The Soyuz-2.1b carrier rocket took off from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome Friday, carrying a Ministry of Defense spacecraft, the Ministry announced Friday.

"At 10:31 Moscow time, the Aerospace Forces’ Space Forces crew successfully completed launch of a Soyuz-2.1b middle class carrier rocket with a Ministry of Defense spacecraft from launch pad 4 of site 43 of the Plesetsk Cosmodrome," the Ministry reported.

MOSCOW, May 22. /TASS/: Unofficial testing of a coronavirus vaccine on volunteer employees of the Gamalei National Research Center for Epidemiology and Microbiology finished successfully and caused no side effects, the Center’s director Alexander Gintzburg told TASS Friday.

SIMFEROPOL, May 22. /TASS/: Chairperson of the Ukrainian community of Crimea Anastasiya Gridchina has called on the world community to protect the Russian-speaking population in Ukraine.

Gridchina addressed the UN Security Council at an informal video conference on Thursday organized by the Russian permanent mission. According to her, the discrimination of the Russian-speaking population is now especially noticeable at schools and kindergartens of Ukraine, where children are forced to communicate exclusively in the Ukrainian language.