Russia

MOSCOW, May 16. /TASS/: Passenger transportation in rail transport is possible this fall - provided that the second wave of the pandemic does not come to Russia, Russia’s Deputy Minister of Transport Vladimir Tokarev told reporters on Saturday.

MOSCOW, May 16. /TASS/: It will be possible to talk about easing lockdown restrictions in Moscow in the middle of next week, Head of Moscow’s Department of Trade and Services Alexei Nemeryuk told the Ekho Moskvy (Echo of Moscow) radio station.

"We discuss that with the Federal Service for Surveillance on Consumer Rights Protection and Human Wellbeing (Rospotrebnadzor). They have some plans, of course, but still, it is probably premature to talk about easing restrictions until [May] 21-22," he said.

MOSCOW, May 16. /TASS/: The Russian State Space Corporation Roscosmos has invited the top officials of NASA to visit Russia to discuss a wide range of projects and is looking forward to a positive response, Russia’s space agency said citing its Deputy Director General for International Cooperation Sergey Savelyev.

MOSCOW, May 16. /TASS/: If it were not for well-developed fundamental science in Russia, there would be no modern types of weapons, Russian President Vladimir Putin said in an interview with Russian Journalist Pavel Zarubin for Moscow. Kremlin program, a fragment of which was published on Instagram.

"We would never have modern, high-tech types of weapons that no country in the world yet has - how could we have done this if there were no fundamental science, scientific schools, engineering personnel? That would be absolutely impossible," Putin said.

MOSCOW, May 15. /TASS/: The production of instruments for the Luna-26 orbital station will begin at the end of 2020, Director of the Space Research Institute within the Russian Academy of Sciences Anatoly Petrukovich told TASS on Friday.

"The production of the final types of instruments will begin somewhere at the end of this year," he said.

In February, work was completed to test the electric interfaces of devices for switching on/off, selecting and issuing commands and obtaining data, he said.

MOSCOW, May 15. /TASS/: The Russian Navy’s oceanographic research vessel Admiral Vladimirsky has left behind the Cape of Good Hope in South Africa and continues on its voyage in the waters of the Atlantic Ocean, Russian Navy Spokesman Captain 1st Rank Igor Dygalo said on Friday.

"The oceanographic research vessel Admiral Vladimirsky has passed the Cape of Good Hope and the traverse of Cape Town, rounded the southern cap of Africa and continues on its voyage in the Atlantic Ocean," Dygalo said.

MOSCOW, May 14. /TASS/: The newly elected Prime Minister of Iraq Mustafa al-Kadhimi handed over an invitation for Russian President Vladimir Putin to visit Baghdad through Russian Ambassador to Iraq Maksim Maksimov, Iraq’s INA news agency announced Thursday, citing the Prime Minister’s office.

"Al-Kadhimi hosted the Russian Ambassador to Iraq Maksim Maksimov, and the Ambassador handed over written congratulations from Russian President Vladimir Putin and Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin, which also included an invitation to visit Moscow," the PM’s office said in a statement.

MOSCOW, May 13. /TASS/: Washington’s unwillingness to support the idea of a protocol to the Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production and Stockpiling of Bacteriological (Biological) and Toxin Weapons in order to create a verification mechanism makes one wonder what goals the US seeks to achieve through its overseas biolabs, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told reporters on Wednesday.

MOSCOW, May 15. /TASS/: Moscow has no intention of hiding information about the country’s coronavirus death rate, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said in an interview with RBC on Friday.

"As for the coronavirus statistics, I can assure you that the Russian authorities would be the last to try to hide the truth," he pointed out. "This is no joke, it is about human lives and I think that it is outrageous to play with them. Just like it is outrageous to try to take advantage of the situation in order to tarnish a country’s image," Lavrov added.

MOSCOW, May 14 (Xinhua) -- Moscow considers the U.S. accusations against China of spreading COVID-19 groundless, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said Thursday.

"There is no reason to blame China for doing something untimely, wrong or inadequate during the entire period of the fight against COVID-19," Ryabkov said at a meeting of the Russian thinktank Valdai International Discussion Club.