Russia

MOSCOW, March 4. /TASS/: The European Union’s internal processes have put progress in easing EU visa requirements for Russian youth out of reach for the time being, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said in an interview with the Govorit Moskva radio station on Thursday.

MOSCOW, March 4. /TASS/: Russia strictly adheres to the provisions of the Chemical Weapons Convention and expects reciprocity from its counterparts, Russian presidential spokesman, Dmitry Peskov commented on the US conditions for the cancellation of sanctions against Russia to the media on Thursday.

"Many years ago, Russia declared and verified elimination of all chemical weapons in its territory. It has strictly complied with the provisions of the corresponding convention," Peskov said, adding that "there are no chemical weapons in Russia’s territory."

MOSCOW, March 3. /TASS/: Russian President Vladimir Putin has demanded that Interior Ministry agencies react within legal bounds to attempts to involve underage children in unauthorized street rallies.

"The fact that underage children are dragged into illegal and unauthorized street rallies is a violation of law," the president noted Wednesday when opening an extended meeting of the Russian Interior Ministry. "There should definitely be a reaction to it within legal bounds."

MOSCOW, February 26. /TASS/: There is no threat to Russian blogger Alexey Navalny’s security or health in the penal colony, where he will serve his sentence over the Yves Rocher case, Federal Penitentiary Service Director Alexander Kalashnikov said Friday.

"I guarantee that there is no threat to [his] health or life," he told journalists.

MOSCOW, March 3. /TASS/: Russia confirmed 10,535 COVID-19 cases in the past day, and the total case tally hit 4,278,750, the anti-coronavirus crisis center told reporters on Wednesday.

In relative terms, the growth rate in new cases reached 0.25%.

The lowest growth rates were registered in the Tuva Republic (0.03%) and the Magadan Region (0.04%).

MOSCOW, March 3. /TASS/: The latest sanctions by the United States and the European Union against Russian individuals and organizations are intervention in Russia’s internal affairs, Russian presidential spokesman, Dmitry Peskov told the media on Wednesday, adding that such restrictions were unacceptable.

"We regard any such restrictions as absolutely unacceptable," Peskov said. "They cause considerable harm to relations, which are already in a deplorable condition."

MOSCOW, March 2. /TASS/: All existing vaccines will also work against the so-called British strain of the coronavirus, Russia’s former chief sanitary doctor Gennady Onishchenko, currently first deputy chairman of the State Duma (lower house) Committee on Education and Science, said.

MOSCOW, March 2. /TASS/: Russia’s national payment system Mir has conducted its first test transactions with Mir cards in Dubai. The Network International group of companies, which provides services in the e-commerce market in the Middle East and Africa, acts as the local partner of Mir in the UAE, the press service of the payment system told TASS.

MOSCOW, March 2. /TASS/: A 60% level of herd immunity against coronavirus, which is necessary for fully lifting restrictions, may be developed in Russia as early as in August if vaccination remains at the same pace as now, Deputy Prime Minister Tatyana Golikova told TASS.

This could happen earlier if the vaccination pace is stepped up, she said.

MOSCOW, March 2 (Xinhua) -- Russia is working to decrease dependence on the U.S. dollar and strengthen its ruble, Russian Federation Council Speaker Valentina Matviyenko said Tuesday.

"Both the Central Bank and the government have been pursuing a policy of de-dollarization as instructed by the president in recent years," Matviyenko told RIA Novosti news agency in an interview.