Russia

MOSCOW, April 30. /TASS/: Six multi-purpose medical centers to treat infectious diseases have been commissioned across Russia, the Defense Ministry told reporters on Thursday.

"The new buildings have been commissioned in Podolsk, Smolensk, Volgograd, Novosibirsk, Ussuriysk and Orenburg," the ministry said. These centers have been equipped with X-ray units, MRI scanners, ultrasound machines, anaesthesiology and endoscopy, as well as artificial lung ventilation systems.

MOSCOW, April 30. /TASS/: Russia’s Red Cross will purchase 31 lung ventilators and distribute them among Russian hospitals, RRC spokeswoman Valentina Perekhvatova told a TASS news conference on Thursday.

"With support from our partners we will soon purchase 31 lung ventilators, to be distributed among hospitals that need them the most. This will be done in cooperation with bodies of power concerned. In the first place, the Health Ministry," she said.

MOSCOW, April 30. /TASS/: The World Health Organization (WHO) noted the contribution of Russia’s Federal Service for Surveillance on Consumer Rights Protection and Human Wellbeing (Rospotrebnadzor) to the sanitary and epidemiological safety of the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) and the CIS member nations amid the coronavirus epidemic, the watchdog’s press service announced Thursday.

MOSCOW, April 30. /TASS/: The United States’ attempts to present itself as part of the Iran nuclear deal have no future, Russian Permanent Representative to International Organizations in Vienna Mikhail Ulyanov wrote on Twitter.

"The US attempts to present itself as ‘JCPOA participant’ have no future. It is like common sense mockery. Those who invented this idea gave bad advice to US authorities. Cynical approaches must have their own limits in order not to compromise the national policy to the worst extent," the tweet reads.

SEVASTOPOL, April 30. /TASS/: The personnel of the Black Sea Fleet’s army corps repelled an attack by notional saboteurs on a military hospital in Crimea during drills, the Fleet’s press office reported on Thursday.

"Under the drills’ scenario, a notional enemy attempted to penetrate the territory of a military hospital in order to seize it. After receiving an alarm signal, an alert unit of the Black Sea Fleet’s army corps promptly arrived at the scene where saboteurs had been detected," the press office said in a statement.

MOSCOW, April 30. /TASS/: The number of COVID-19 cases in Russia has risen by 7,099 over the past day to 106,498 in all regions, the anti-coronavirus crisis center reported on Thursday.

By now, 11,619 people have recovered and 1,073 have died, the crisis center said.

MOSCOW, April 29. /TASS/: Russia will create a space center for monitoring emergency situations in the country, and the state space corporation Roscosmos plans to allocate more than 7.5 bln rubles ($101.2 mln) to this aim, according to the government’s procurement website.

The space center will "ensure the overall monitoring of man-made and natural emergency situations in Russia and the space system on its basis," the document says. The construction works are due to be completed by November 15, 2025.

NOVO-OGAREVO, April 28. / TASS /: Russian President Vladimir Putin instructed to prepare a new package of urgent measures to support business and citizens in the near future, as well as to begin developing a nationwide plan for economic recovery in the aftermath of the epidemic, said he at a meeting in video conference with the heads of the regions on Tuesday.

"I instruct the government in the near future to develop a new, next package of urgent measures to support the economy and citizens," the President said.

KALININGRAD, April 28. /TASS/: The crews of the small anti-submarine warfare ships Urengoi and Kazanets struck air targets during drills in the Gulf of Finland, the Baltic Fleet’s press office reported on Tuesday.

"During the planned drills, the crews of the small anti-submarine ships Urengoi and Kazanets conducted artillery firings against air targets in the Gulf of Finland and practiced measures to thwart attacks by a notional enemy’s air attack weapons from various altitudes and directions," the press office said in a statement.

MOSCOW, April 24. /TASS/: Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed a law allowing foreigners to apply for Russian citizenship without renouncing their current one, the document was published on the official Internet portal for legal information on Friday.

To date foreign nationals are to submit a confirmatory note that they applied to renounce their current citizenship in native countries when seeking to obtain a Russian passport.

The law will enter into force 90 days after its official publication.