Russia

MOSCOW, April 28. / TASS /: About 38% of office employees believe that working from home is more effective, 58% of Russians adhere to the opposite opinion, according to the study done by Mail.Ru Group and ResearchMe, released on Tuesday.

"More than half (58%) said that office work was more efficient. Over a third (38%) of those polled said they could work productively from home," the study said.

MOSCOW, April 28. /TASS/: The international rating agency Moody’s expects that Russia’s national GDP will decline by 5.5% in 2020 but will grow by 2.2% in 2021, the agency said on Tuesday.

The rating agency lowered the outlook for Russian GDP growth to 0.5% on March 25 on the back of falling oil prices and the coronavirus pandemic.

Moody’s also revised real GDP outlooks for 2020 and 2021 downward for all members of the Group of Twenty.

Oil prices are expected to remain low, the rating agency forecasts.

MOSCOW, April 29. /TASS/: Several fighter jets of European countries have escorted two Russian Tu-160 bombers over the Baltic Sea, the Russian Defense Ministry told reporters on Wednesday.

"Two Tu-160 strategic bombers of Russia’s Aerospace Forces have performed their scheduled flight over neutral waters of the Baltic Sea. At some stages of the route the Russian planes were escorted by fighter jets F-18 of the Finnish Air Force, F-16 of the Danish Air Force, F-16 of Poland and Saab JAS 39 Gripen of Sweden’s Air Force," the ministry said.

28 April 2020; MEMO: Russian President Vladimir Putin has appointed Georgy Borisenko as the Federation’s ambassador to Egypt and Russian plenipotentiary to the League of Arab States, Russian News Agency (TASS) reported yesterday.

Borisenko was the director of the North America Department at the Russian Foreign Ministry.

MOSCOW, April 28. / TASS /: The crisis amidst the coronavirus pandemic may be worse than the global financial crisis of 2008-2009, the state needs to quickly respond to the changing situation, said United Russia Chairman, Deputy Chairman of the Russian Security Council Dmitry Medvedev at a meeting of the presidium of the party’s general council on Tuesday.

MOSCOW, April 28. /TASS/: Russian President Vladimir Putin has instructed the government to submit a report by April 30 on the plan of developing coronavirus vaccines, the Kremlin press office reported on Tuesday.

This order is on the list of instructions issued by the president after his meeting with the medical community, the Kremlin press office said.

MOSCOW, April 28. /TASS/: The court battle over the ownership of the Alexander Metochion (the Alexander Courtyard) in the Old City of Jerusalem will not affect relations between Israel and Russia, because they are stronger than such challenges, Israeli Charge d’Affaires in Moscow Eli Belotserkovsky said at an online briefing organized by the Unified Information Center of the Federation of Jewish Communities of Russia.

MOSCOW, April 28. /TASS/: Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and President of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) Peter Maurer discussed over the phone practical steps aimed at overcoming the aftermath of the coronavirus pandemic, the Russian Foreign Ministry reported on Tuesday.

"[The parties] discussed interaction in the fight against the spread of coronavirus and practical measures to overcome the humanitarian aftermath of the pandemic," the Foreign Ministry said.

MOSCOW, April 28. /TASS/: Issues of peaceful settlement in Syria, the current coronavirus situation and repatriation of nationals were in focus of a telephone conversation between Russian and Turkish Foreign Ministers, Sergey Lavrov and Mevlut Cavusoglu, the Russian Foreign Ministry said on Tuesday.

MOSCOW, April 28. /TASS/: Russia Vepr (K-157), a Project 971 Schuka-B class nuclear-powered attack submarine, has completed trials after overhaul and modernization, and will return to service with the Russian Navy in June, a defense industry source told TASS on Tuesday.

"The Vepr nuclear sub has fully completed the program of trials. The submarine returned to the Nerpa ship-repair plant for minor fixes. This work will continue for about a month," the source said. "After a short period in the dry dock, it will be handed over to the fleet in early July."