Russia

MOSCOW, March 19. /TASS/: The accumulated resources will allow the Russian authorities to quickly respond to a difficult situation, Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov told reporters.

"I believe that the measures that were determined by the government, the resources and reserves that we have formed in the budget, which make the National Wealth Fund, overall 300 bln rubles, will allow us to quickly respond to developments and to help businesses, people, constituent entities of the Russian Federation, and of course enterprises in need," he said.

SEVASTOPOL, March 19. /TASS/: Russia’s Black Sea Fleet carried out late-night artillery drills at Crimea’s Opuk training range, the Fleet said in a statement on Thursday.

"The exercise was primarily aimed at training artillery recruits to use the Grad-M multiple rocket launchers and the Msta-B howitzers," the statement reads. Troops particularly practiced ways to calibrate artillery pieces, prepare to fire and change firing positions.

YEKATERINBURG, March 19. /TASS/: Trials of Russian antiviral drug Triazaverin, which is being tested against the novel coronavirus infection in China, are scheduled for completion in May, the head of the drug’s manufacturer Medsintez told TASS on Thursday.

A humanitarian batch of the medicine was sent to China in late January, and its tests against the novel coronavirus began shortly after.

MOSCOW, March 19. /TASS/: The Progress rocket and space center has started manufacturing components for Russia’s prospective super-heavy Yenisei rocket, Roscosmos Director General Dmitry Rogozin has said.

"Good news from the Samara-based Progress rocket and space center: here are the already manufactured tank lips and other components of the new Soyuz-5 rocket. They will be parts of universal modules of our new super-heavy rocket, Yenisei," Rogozin wrote in a Twitter post, attaching images of those components.

SEVASTOPOL, March 19. /TASS/: Russian President Vladimir Putin has called on Russian officials to be ready for any scenario due to the spread of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19).

Acting Governor of Sevastopol Mikhail Razvozhaev informed the president that 77 people had been placed under medical supervision in Sevastopol, and eight had been taken to hospital on suspicion of the novel coronavirus. "So far, there are no confirmed cases, but we are checking just in case," Razvozhaev said.

MOSCOW, March 19. /TASS/: Oil prices may stop the drop at the resistance level of $15-20 per barrel, Vice President of Lukoil Leonid Fedun said in an interview with RBC.

"We have done a technical analysis. Of course, like any technical analysis, these are subjective estimates. But according to technical analysis, the first resistance level is now, we are seeing it - it is at $32 [per barrel], the ceiling is about $28 [per barrel], and the second resistance level is $15-20 [per barrel]," he said, answering a question about a possible continuation of a decline in oil prices.

MOSCOW, March 18. /TASS/: Veteran Russian adventurer Fyodor Konyukhov plans to sign a memorandum with the Russian Academy of Sciences on cooperation in exploring the World Ocean, his son and director general of the expedition mission Oskar Konyukhov said.

The first joint project will be scientific and technical assistance provided by the RAS Institute of Oceanology to Konyukhov, who seeks to cross the Atlantic and the Pacific Oceans aboard a solar-powered catamaran called NOVA. Konyukhov earlier announced plans to attempt the first solo crossing in 2021-2022.

MOSCOW, March 18. /TASS/: The euro added 3.79% and reached the level of 86.05 rubles on the Moscow Exchange.

The dollar increased by 3.6% and reached 78.15 rubles.

The price of futures contract for Brent crude oil with May delivery reduced by 3.5% to $27.72 per barrel on London's ICE. WTI oil is lost 5.63% and reached $25.79 per barrel.

MOSCOW, March 18. /TASS/: Russia is building up a network of laboratories that make coronavirus tests, Russian presidential spokesman, Dmitry Peskov told the media on Wednesday, when asked why only one laboratory — research center Vector in Novosibirsk — was providing this service.

"There is more than one laboratory. Tests are already being made in several cities. The network of these labs is expanding steadily and quickly enough," Peskov said, adding that the anti-coronavirus center should be contacted for details.

MOSCOW, March 18. /TASS/: Research is well in progress into Russia’s fifth-generation submarines, the Navy’s commander-in-chief, Admiral Nikolai Yevmenov, told the Russian army daily Krasnaya Zvezda in an interview.

"Currently Russia is building fourth generation submarines, but we are obliged to look ahead. This is an imperative of our time and of progress in science and engineering that concerns the Navy’s development. It is common knowledge that research into fifth generation submarines is well underway. They are to boast far better parameters," Yevemnov promised.