Russia

MOSCOW, November 30. /TASS/: Russia recorded 32,648 coronavirus cases in the past 24 hours, the lowest daily number since October 15, the anti-coronavirus crisis center said on Tuesday. The total number of cases has reached 9,636,881.

Russia’s coronavirus growth rate was 0.34%.

In particular, 2,215 cases were reported in the Moscow region in the past day, 2,103 in St. Petersburg, 908 in the Samara region, 742 in the Voronezh region and 716 in the Nizhny Novgorod region.

There are currently 1,032,435 active coronavirus cases in Russia.

MOSCOW, November 30. /TASS/: The dollar has not lost its value as a reserve currency but the policy of US authorities undermines its global positions, Russian President Vladimir Putin said at the plenary session of the 13th VTB Capital Investment Forum "Russia Calling!"

"I did not say the dollar lost its value as the reserve currency, as the universal global currency for settlements. No, I merely said that the policy of US authorities undermines the dollar and pushes us out of the dollar zone," the President said.

MOSCOW, Nov 30 (Reuters) - Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Tuesday he had not yet decided whether to run for six more years in the Kremlin when his current term ends in 2024, while praising U.S. President Joe Biden's decision to seek re-election in that year.

Putin has been in power as president or prime minister since the turn of the century, making him the longest-serving Kremlin leader since Josef Stalin. Russia passed reforms last year allowing him to run for two more six-year terms, without which he would have had to step down in 2024.

MOSCOW, November 29. /TASS/: Washington never stops trying to contain Russia’s development and is spending considerable funds to destabilize the situation in Russia, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov said on Monday.

MOSCOW, November 29. /TASS/: Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov has left without comment the rumors Ukraine had allegedly handed over to Russia via Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan a list of held persons to be exchanged. 

"I will leave this report without a comment," Peskov said.

"The problem of verification is an old one. It has not been resolved to this day. It has been and still remains part and parcel of the general set of issues and problems that exist between us," he said.

MOSCOW, November 29. /TASS/: The 2021 Winter Universiade in Switzerland’s Lucerne has been cancelled due to the emergence eruption of the new Omicron coronavirus strain, a source in the International University Sports Federation (FISU) told TASS on Monday.

The 2021 FISU Winter Universiade was scheduled to run between December 11 and 21 in Lucerne and the six cantons of Central Switzerland, including Lucerne, Nidwalden, Obwalden, Schwyz, Uri, and Zug.

MOSCOW, November 29. /TASS/: A completely new Tupolev Tu-160M strategic missile-carrying bomber nicknamed the ‘White Swan’ by Russian military pilots will make its debut run along the runway of the Kazan Aviation Enterprise (part of the Tupolev Aircraft Company) in December, a source in the domestic aircraft-building industry told TASS on Monday.

"The aircraft is in a hangar readymade and fueled. Before the end of this year, the Tu-160M will surely make a run along the runway. A flight is not planned," the source said.

MOSCOW (AP) — Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko on Monday accused Lithuanian authorities of dumping the bodies of migrants on the border between the two countries — a claim rejected by Lithuania amid soaring tensions over migration.

Lukashenko also warned that his country with stand squarely behind its ally Russia if the Ukrainian authorities launch an offensive against Moscow-backed rebels in eastern Ukraine. He tried to cast the tensions over migrants as part of a purported Western plot against Belarus and Russia.

MOSCOW (AP) — Russia’s navy successfully test-fired a prospective hypersonic missile, the military said Monday.

The Defense Ministry said that the Admiral Gorshkov frigate in the White Sea launched the Zircon cruise missile, hitting a practice target 400 kilometers (215 nautical miles) away.

The launch was the latest in a series of tests of Zircon, which is set to enter service next year.

MOSCOW, November 28. /TASS/: None of the Western countries wants open confrontation between Russia and NATO. The West will do its utmost to prevent this, Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto said in an interview with the RT TV channel.

"I believe, and that’s my personal opinion, that even in the western part of Europe no one wants to have such a conflict. So, I think that everyone in the West does everything possible to avoid conflict. I’m pretty sure of that," he said.