Europe

BRUSSELS, April 22 (Xinhua) -- European Union (EU) members states' representatives have agreed on the technical specifications for the implementation of the Digital Green Certificate, the European Commission said in a press release on Thursday.

The Commission proposed the creation of the certificate last month, in a bid to ease COVID-19 related travel and movement restrictions for people who can prove that they have either been vaccinated, developed natural immunity, or received a negative test result.

FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) — German Chancellor Angela Merkel has defended her lobbying for Wirecard during a 2019 visit to China, testifying before a parliamentary committee Friday that the payments company received no special treatment and that it was in Germany’s interest to promote its businesses.

Merkel said Wirecard’s aim of entering the Chinese market overlapped with the best interests of the German economy as a whole. The company later collapsed in an accounting scandal.

MOSCOW (AP) — Russian troops began pulling back to their permanent bases Friday after a massive buildup that caused Ukrainian and Western concerns.

On Thursday, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu declared the sweeping maneuvers in Crimea and wide swaths of western Russia over, and ordered the military to pull the troops that took part in them back to their permanent bases by May 1.

MOSCOW, April 22. /TASS/: The Kremlin believes that the situation surrounding the conspiracy to assassinate Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko and pull off a coup d’etat can’t affect integration with Russia.

"I don’t think these things are interrelated," Peskov told reporters on Thursday, commenting on whether the situation in Belarus could influence the pace of integration between Moscow and Minsk, and if the two countries needed closer ties in order to avoid such threats.

MOSCOW, April 22. /TASS/: US Ambassador to Russia John Sullivan has arrived at Sheremetyevo Airport, from where he will travel to Washington for consultations, a TASS correspondent reported.

The American diplomat’s car drove up to the terminal with a lounge for government delegations.

According to the timetable, a suitable flight to Washington is a connection flight through London, which will depart from Sheremetyevo at 10:00 Moscow time.

MOSCOW, April 22. /TASS/: Russian President Vladimir Putin will respond to his Ukrainian counterpart Vladimir Zelensky’s proposal to meet in Donbass if he deems it necessary, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Thursday.

"The president will give a response himself if he deems it necessary," he said, adding that Putin had been informed of Zelensky’s proposal.

MOSCOW, April 22. /TASS/: Russian President Vladimir Putin has offered to establish international cooperation on monitoring all types of harmful emissions.

PRAGUE, April 22. /TASS/: The Czech Republic has demanded that Russia reduce the number of diplomats at its embassy in Prague to match the number of Czech employees at the embassy in Moscow, Czech Foreign Minister Jakub Kulhanek told reporters on Thursday.

(Reuters) --- Russia's Federal Security Service arrested a man in Crimea on Thursday on suspicion of treason for allegedly handing over secret information to Ukraine about Russia's Black Sea Fleet, the RIA news agency reported.

The arrest comes amid acute tensions with Ukraine as Moscow has built up military forces near their shared border. Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu arrived in Crimea on Thursday to oversee large-scale military drills. 

 22 Apr 2021; MEMO: The European Union announced on Wednesday that it will continue to fund an education project for Syrian children in Turkey. The project known by its acronym PIKTES — Promoting the Integration of Syrian Kids into the Education System — is to be funded for at least another year.