Russia

SOCHI, December 8. /TASS/: Russia advocates peace but has the right to ensure its security in the medium to long term, Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Wednesday.

"It’s a loaded question," he said at a news conference following a meeting with Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, when asked by reporters if Russia was going to invade Ukraine.

MOSCOW (AP) — When the leaders of the Soviet Union’s three Slavic republics met at a secluded hunting lodge on Dec. 8, 1991, the fate of the vast country hung in the balance. With a stroke of their pens, they delivered a death blow to the USSR, triggering shockwaves that are still reverberating three decades later in the tensions between Russia and Ukraine.

MOSCOW (AP) — Russian President Vladimir Putin and U.S. President Joe Biden agreed to appoint envoys to continue talks on security in Europe in light of escalating tensions over Russia’s massing tens of thousands of troops near its border with Ukraine, but the Kremlin said Wednesday it was unclear when the talks would happen.

Biden and Putin spoke for over two hours during a video call on Tuesday. The conversation seemed to have yielded little progress on Ukraine and the Russian troop buildup apart from the two leaders agreeing to name envoys to keep the discussion going.

MOSCOW, December 7. /TASS/: More than 72 million Russians have received at least one dose of a coronavirus vaccine and nearly 65 million of them have received both shots, Russian Health Minister Mikail Murashko said on Tuesday.

"More than 72 million of our citizens have been inoculated so far, with nearly 65 million people having completed the vaccination process. According to the latest data, over 62% of adults have been immunized," he said.

MOSCOW, December 7. /TASS/: It is always the right choice to act in the nation’s interests, Russian President Vladimir Putin said in an interview for a documentary entitled "Russia: Its Recent History" aired on Rossiya-1 TV on Tuesday.

"Even when you take very difficult and risky decisions, if you are convinced deep down that you are right, that you are acting solely in the interests of the Russian people, then it eventually turns out to be the right choice," the head of state emphasized.

MOSCOW, December 7. /TASS/: Russia’s Foreign Ministry expects that the World Health Organization (WHO) will approve the Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine in first half of the next year, Director of the ministry’s Economic Cooperation Department, Dmitry Birichevsky said on Tuesday.

MOSCOW (AP) — A gunman opened fire in a Moscow government services center and killed two people Tuesday, reportedly after being told to put on a face mask, authorities and Russia media said. Four other people were wounded.

Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said on Twitter that a suspect was detained. Sobyanin didn’t offer any details about the assailant or his possible motive, saying only that the incident took place in the southeast of the city.

“Doctors are doing all they can to help those wounded,” the mayor said.

SEVASTOPOL, December 6. /TASS/: Pilots of the Russian Black Sea Fleet’s naval aviation kicked off their first flights in the winter training period, practicing notional enemy warship tracking and missile strikes against naval targets, the Fleet’s press office reported on Monday.

MOSCOW, December 6. /TASS/: Two people tested positive for the COVID-19 Omicron variant after returning to Russia from South Africa, the Russian sanitary watchdog said.

The variant was detected as a result of whole genome sequencing conducted by the Central Research Institute of Epidemiology that’s run by the sanitary watchdog, Rospotrebnadzor, the agency said in a statement.

A total of 10 people had positive PCR tests for COVID-19 after returning from South Africa, and the variants are being determined for the rest of the tests, the agency said.

MOSCOW, Dec 6 (NNN-TASS) – The dangerous actions of the U.S. Air Force have created a threat to civil aviation, Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson, Maria Zakharova, said yesterday.

In a Telegram post, Zakharova expressed concern over the increased intensity of North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) aircraft flight near the Russian border, including over the Black Sea.