Russia

23 Mar 2020; MEMO: Russia never sought a sharp oil price fall or an end to cooperation with the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), and the Gulf nations are to blame for the crisis on the global oil markets, a senior Russian official said, according to Reuters.

MOSCOW, March 23. /TASS/: Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin supported on Monday the request by head of the Russian Federal Service for Surveillance on Consumer Rights Protection and Human Wellbeing Anna Popova to strengthen responsibility for violating quarantine procedures.

"We will do that without fail, we need to formulate it after the presidium [meeting]," he said opening a meeting of the presidium of the government's Coordination Council to control the incidence of the novel coronavirus in Russia in response to a request from the chief sanitary physician.

MOSCOW, March 23. /TASS/: The crews of the Caspian Flotilla’s ships and marine infantry units kicked off joint command and staff drills with troops of Russia’s Southern Military District, the District’s press office reported on Monday.

"The personnel of the Flotilla’s units and formations practiced loading supplies onto the ships and motor vehicles while the units of a separate marine infantry regiment prepared to perform a march to the Adanak and Turali training ranges," the press office said in a statement.

MOSCOW, March 23. /TASS/: Russian law enforcement officers eliminated three militants who were plotting a terror attack, the National Antiterrorism Committee told TASS.

"Three bandits, who were plotting a terror attack, have been eliminated in Kabardino-Balkaria," the Committee said, adding that weapons and an improvised explosive device were discovered at the skirmish location.

On Monday, the law enforcement agencies received information that a group of people prepares a terror attack. During the ensuing operation, the bandits’ location was determined.

MOSCOW, March 23. /TASS/: The number of people who contracted the coronavirus in Russia has grown to 438 over the past day, Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin said on Monday.

"In Russia, the situation is not as acute as in other countries, especially in Europe. Over the past day, 71 cases have been recorded and 17 people have recovered. A total of 438 people have been infected," Mishustin told a meeting with deputy prime ministers.

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia and Turkey were forced to cut short their second joint patrol in Syria’s Idlib region on Monday due to security concerns, the Russian Defence Ministry said in a statement.

The patrol is meant to cover the M4 highway which links the cities of Aleppo and Latakia.

Their first joint patrol was also cut short earlier this month due to what Moscow called rebel provocations.

Russia and Turkey are trying to uphold a ceasefire agreement in the region.

MOSCOW, March 21. /TASS/: The Soyuz-2.1b launch vehicle with Fregat upper stage and 34 British OneWeb communication satellites atop was launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome on Saturday.

The upper stage will deploy the satellites in 3.5 hours. The satellites will be placed into the proper orbit in nine stages: first, two spacecraft and then four. It is the second launch of OneWeb modules from the Baikonur Cosmodrome.

MOSCOW, March 22. /TASS/: More than 163,000 coronavirus tests have been conducted in the laboratories of Russia’s Federal Service for Surveillance on Consumer Rights Protection and Human Wellbeing, the sanitary watchdog reported.

"As of March 21, some 163,529 laboratory tests on human material for the novel coronavirus have been carried out," the watchdog said.

Some 52,000 are currently under medical supervision over coronavirus in Russia.

MOSCOW, March 22. /TASS/: The launch of British OneWeb communications satellites on March 21 by the Soyuz 2.1b carrier rocket showed that Russia is ready for deploying multi-satellite orbital groups, Head of Roscosmos space corporation Dmitry Rogozin said on Sunday.

"By this launch we proved that our equipment is ready for a swift deployment of multi-satellite groups of complex orbital configuration," Rogozin wrote on his Twitter account.

MOSCOW, March 22. /TASS/: UK-made OneWeb satellites have been successfully launched into orbit, thanks to efforts of Russian and foreign companies, who made it possible, despite difficult epidemiologic situation in the world, Glavkosmos CEO Dmitry Loskutov said Saturday.

On March 21, the launch has been conducted within the agreement between Glavkosmos and France’s Arianespace. A Soyuz-2.1b rocket has taken 34 OneWeb satellites to orbit from the Baikonur Cosmodrome, increasing the constellation to 74 units.