Russia

MOSCOW, March 8. /TASS/: Russia has altered its schedule of diplomatic contacts over the novel coronavirus spread, Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said in an interview with Rossiya-24 television channel on Sunday.

Countries are cancelling bilateral visits and changing their schedules of diplomatic contacts due to the virus spread, she noted.

"We are now working with this map of international events, adjusting, in particular, the Russian side’s schedule of diplomatic contacts," the spokeswoman said.

MOSCOW, March 8. /TASS/: The air temperature in Moscow climbed to a record 8.5 degrees Celsius (47.3 degrees Fahrenheit) on March 8, the highest figure for more than 140 years of weather observations in the Russian capital, Scientific Head of Russia’s Weather Forecasting Agency Roman Vilfand told TASS on Sunday.

"The maximum figure since 1879 was registered in 2014, equaling plus 8.3 degrees. The warm weather today is such that already at night, at 5-6 hours in the morning, the temperature was plus 8.5 degrees. This is a new record for Moscow," Vilfand said.

MOSCOW, March 8. /TASS/: Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed a decree that defines the basic tasks of former Prime Minister and now Deputy Chairman of Russia’s Security Council Dmitry Medvedev and the goals of the Security Council’s secretaries, according to the document posted on the government’s legal information web portal on Sunday.

MOSCOW, March 8. /TASS/: The limited number of presidential terms is a more preferable option for Russia to guarantee power alternation, Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Sunday.

The Russian president made this statement in an interview for the documentary project: "After A Flight over the Abyss." A fragment of the interview was shown on the Vesti Nedely (News of the Week) program on the Rossiya-1 TV Channel on Sunday.

MOSCOW, March 6. /TASS/: Brent oil futures prices with delivery in May 2020 dropped by more than 6.5% to $46.73 a barrel on the London-based ICE today, according to trading data.

Brent oil prices were at the level below $47 per barrel last time in mid-July 2017.

April 2020 WTI futures prices fell by 6.3% go $43.01 a barrel at the same time.

The dollar at the same time added 1.33% against the ruble to 67.52 rubles per dollar. The euro rose by 1.17% and amounted to 77.07 rubles.

IVANOVO, March 6. /TASS/: Russian President Vladimir Putin stressed that diarchy would be impossible and detrimental for Russia during a meeting with members of the public in Russia’s Ivanovo Region. When asked to comment on Russia’s potential shift towards a parliamentary republic, Putin said: "We do not have stable political parties, like, for example, European parties that have been developing for centuries. Even there [in Europe], there are major setbacks in the parliamentary system."

MOSCOW, March 6. /TASS/: Russia’s flagship air carrier Aeroflot said on Friday it is reducing the number of flights to Italy and South Korea from March 10 and to Vietnam from March 11 due to the slumping demand amidst the novel coronavirus outbreak.

Thus, the company will perform four weekly flights to Rome instead of five in a period from March 10 to 28. The number of flights to Milan will also be reduced. In a period from March 10 to 26, it will make four flights a week to Seoul instead of seven, and three weekly flight to Hanoi instead of seven.

MOSCOW, March 7. /TASS/: Russia’s federal agency for tourism (Rosturizm) has confirmed that currently there are no restrictions on foreign citizens’ hotel accommodation in Russia.

"Rosturizm informs all those concerned that no restrictions exist at the moment on the accommodation of foreign citizens at Russia’s hotels," the agency said on its website.

SIMFEROPOL, March 7. /TASS/: Crimea received more than 7,700 immigrants from Ukraine in 2019, a nearly 17-percent increase compared to the previous year, the Crimean Department of the Russian Federal Statistics Service informed TASS.

According to the federal service, 6,622 citizens of the neighboring country moved to the peninsula in 2018, while in 2019 this number amounted to 7,734. Ukrainians account for almost 80% of the total number of citizens of the CIS countries who moved to Crimea. "The number of people who arrived from the CIS countries stands at 9,674," it said.

MOSCOW, March 6. /TASS/: London’s reluctance to provide consular access to the Russian citizens who were the victims of the Salisbury incident two years ago is an overt violation of international legal obligations stemming from the consular convention, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told reporters at a press briefing on Friday.