Russia

MOSCOW, September 13. /TASS/: A visa-free travel agreement between Russia and San Marino is nearly ready and is expected to be signed soon, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Monday after talks with visiting San Marino's Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, International Economic Cooperation and Telecommunications Luca Beccari.

"We have an agreement in principle to speed up the work on an intergovernmental agreement on visa-free trips for the two countries’ citizens. The agreement is almost ready and I think we will organize its signing soon," he said.

MULINO PROVING GROUND /Nizhny Novgorod Region/, September 13. /TASS/: Russia used Uran-9 and Nerekhta combat robots in the regular ranks of formations for the first time during the Zapad-2021 drills, Russian Ministry of Defense announced Monday.

"Uran-9 and Nerekhta reconnaissance and fire support robots were used for the first time within regular forces formations during the staging of practical actions of forces at the Zapad-2021 military exercise," the Ministry said.

MOSCOW, September 13. /TASS/: The price of gas in Europe exceeded $760 per 1,000 cubic meters on Monday, according to the ICE exchange.

Thus, the price of the October futures on the TTF hub in the Netherlands reached $760.4 per 1,000 cubic meters, or 61.32 euro per MWh.

Earlier on Monday, the price of natural gas in Europe has already exceeded $730, $740, and $750 per 1,000 cubic meters.

STRUGI KRASNYE RANGE /Pskov Region/, September 12. /TASS/: The Pskov formation of the Russian Airborne Forces conducted a landing of more than 600 service members and 30 units of military hardware at nighttime for the first time as part of the Zapad-2021 Russian-Belarusian joint strategic exercises.

MOSCOW, September 12. /TASS/: Russia’s coronavirus cases rose by 18,554 to reach 7,140,070 in the past 24 hours, the anti-coronavirus crisis center said on Sunday.

According to data from the crisis center, Russia’s coronavirus growth rate was 0.26%.

In particular, 1,597 cases were reported in St. Petersburg followed by the Moscow Region (718), the Sverdlovsk Region (506), the Rostov Region (472) and the Samara Region (470).

Currently, there are 557,664 active cases of the coronavirus in Russia.

SOCHI, September 10. /TASS/: Western countries have practically declared a war on the Russian mass media, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told journalists on Friday.

"The war has practically been declared," he said, commenting on a question about the West’s "undeclared war" against Russian journalists.

MOSCOW, September 11. /TASS/: A household gas explosion in a two-story residential building in the Russian town of Yelets, Lipetsk region, killed two people, a source in the emergency services told TASS on Saturday.

"The body of a child has been recovered from the rubble. The incident killed two people," the source said. According to earlier reports, the blast left six people injured, five of them were taken to the hospital.

"According to preliminary reports, a gas leak caused an explosion that destroyed half of the building," the source added.

MOSCOW, September 11. /ТАСС/: Russia and Central Asian countries are threatened with a new wave of a migration crisis against the background of the situation in Afghanistan, Deputy Chairman of the Russian Security Council Dmitry Medvedev said in an op-ed for the Gazeta.Ru news website, published on Saturday.

MOSCOW, September 11. /TASS/: Russia has registered 18,891 new confirmed COVID-19 infections over the past 24 hours. The total number of infections has reached 7,121,516 cases, the anti-coronavirus crisis center told journalists on Saturday.

According to the crisis center, the relative increase of new infections is at the level of 0.27%.

MOSCOW, September 11. /TASS/: A record in construction and new housing supply may be set in Russia in 2021, Russian President Vladimir Putin said during a meeting with Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin on Saturday.

"In general, we may have a countrywide record," the president said commenting on the mayor’s report that Moscow may set a record this year in housing construction in its entire history. The president also noted that "the country’s economy on the whole has been restored."