Russia

May 9 (Reuters) - Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday ordered the creation of a working group on international payments whose tasks will include figuring out terms for transactions with "unfriendly" states.

Putin said in March that Russia, the world's largest natural gas producer, would require countries it deems hostile to pay for fuel in roubles by opening accounts at Gazprombank and making payments in euros or dollars, to be converted into Russian currency.

KRASNOYARSK, May 8. /TASS/: A number of people injured in fires across Russia’s Krasnoyarsk Territory has climbed to 19, including six fire fighters, the press office of the regional government announced on Sunday.

"Nineteen people were injured. Fourteen people were hospitalized, including six fire fighters," the press office stated.

According to previous reports, 17 people were injured in the fires. Five people were earlier reported to die in the fires in the villages of Talazhnka and Nikolskoye. Two more were reported dead in the residential area of Achinsk.

MOSCOW, May 8. /TASS/: The Russian Federal Medical-Biological Agency (FMBA) plans to begin in 2022 clinical trials of the country’s new anti-coronavirus Convasel vaccine on people aged 60 and older, FMBA chief Veronika Skvortsova told TASS.

"Taking into account the past experience of such research work and successful pre-clinical and clinical trials, FMBA considers an opportunity of launching clinical trials of Convasel for people aged 60 and older in 2022," she said.

MOSCOW, May 8. /TASS/: During the past 24 hours, 5,447new Covid cases were registered in Russia, bringing the total case count to 18,227,666, the federal anti-Covid crisis center announced Sunday, adding that 1,308 people were hospitalized.

The relative case growth is 0.03%.

Meanwhile, 6,682 people recovered from the disease, bringing the total recovery count to 17,603,393. The recovery share is 96.6% of all cases.

MOSCOW, May 8. /TASS/: Russian aviation destroyed a communications post at the Chervonoglinskoye airstrip and a Project 1241 corvette near Odessa via precision air-based missiles, Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Major General Igor Konashenkov announced Sunday.

"During the night, Russian Aerospace Forces destroyed a mechanize brigade command post near Pyatikhatka, Kharkov Region, and a communications post at the Chervonoglinskoye airstrip near the settlement of Artsyz," Konashenkov said.

"A Ukrainian Navy Project 1241 corvette was destroyed near Odessa," he added.

MOSCOW, May 8. /TASS/: Russian President Vladimir Putin sent congratulations with the 77th anniversary of the Victory in the Great Patriotic War to leaders and people of Azerbaijan, Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Abkhazia, South Ossetia, Donetsk People’s Republic and Lugansk People’s Republic, as well as to the peoples of Georgia and Ukraine, the Kremlin announced on its Website Sunday.

MOSCOW, May 7. /TASS/: Foreign companies that have decided to leave Russia may face issues returning to the country as they will be promptly replaced by domestic and Asian firms, Russian State Duma (the lower house of parliament) Speaker Vyacheslav Volodin told reporters on Saturday.

"If they decide to dance to Washington’s tune and leave Russia, it’s their choice. But there is no guarantee that they will be able to return. They will be promptly replaced by Russian and Asian companies," he noted.

MOSCOW, May 7. /TASS/: Russia’s Federal Agency for Tourism has denied reports about the mass cancellation of hotel reservations in Crimea for the May festive period, the peninsula remains in the top resorts among Russians for early May, and reservations in Crimea remains at last year’ level, the agency told TASS on Saturday.

MOSCOW, May 7. /TASS/: The United States has in fact admitted that it is involved in coordinating Ukraine’s combat operations and thereby is participating in military actions against Russia, Russian State Duma Speaker Vyacheslav Volodin said on Saturday.

"The US is taking part in the military operations in Ukraine," he wrote on his Telegram channel. "Today, Washington is basically coordinating and engineering military operations, thus directly participating in the military actions against our country."

MOSCOW, May 7. /TASS/: Russia’s Armed Forces have used Iskander missiles to take out the weapons channeled by the United States and the European Union to the Ukrainian Armed Forces and eliminate troops of Ukraine’s 58th Mechanized Infantry Brigade in the Kharkov Region, Russian Defense Ministry Spokesman Major-General Igor Konashenkov said on Saturday.