Europe

MOSCOW, February 26. /TASS/: By violating the rights of its own citizens the United States has lost the moral right to lecture other countries on the observance of civil freedoms, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told a news briefing on Friday.

MOSCOW, February 26. /TASS/: Moscow is concerned that Ukrainian authorities will only continue to ramp up its reactionary policy against the opposition, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Friday, commenting on reports of searches in Opposition Platform - For Life political party leader Viktor Medvedchuk’s office.

"There are concerns that the [reactionary policy] will continue to gain momentum in Ukraine," he said. "There are such concerns, of course."

MOSCOW, February 26. /TASS/: Almost 600,000 people in the Russian capital have been vaccinated against the novel coronavirus, the city has a sufficient number of hospital beds for COVID-19 patients, the press service of Moscow’s Healthcare Department has reported.

"Mass vaccination of the population against COVID-19 is gaining momentum. In total, almost 600,000 Moscow residents have been vaccinated," the press service said.

MOSCOW, February 26. /TASS/: Russia has documented 11,086 cases of COVID-19 in the past 24 hours, the lowest daily case count since October 5. The total number of coronavirus cases in Russia has reached 4,223,186, the anti-coronavirus crisis center told reporters on Friday.

The daily increase rate has reached 0.26%.

In the past 24 hours, 1,336 COVID-19 cases were documented in Moscow, 947 in St. Petersburg, 502 in the Moscow Region, 392 in the Nizhny Novgorod Region, 298 in the Voronezh Region, 285 in the Rostov Region.

MOSCOW, February 26. /TASS/: Developments in Armenia have so far not affected the implementation of the agreements on Nagorno-Karabakh, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Friday when asked whether Moscow saw the threat of the Nagorno-Karabakh settlement process being derailed because of the situation in Yerevan.

"No, everything is being implemented so far," he said. The Kremlin spokesman noted that, despite the developments in Armenia, it is important to follow the path of the implementation of the agreements on Nagorno-Karabakh.

BERLIN (Reuters) - The world’s largest economies should continue their rescue and support measures for workers and companies in the COVID-19 pandemic as the recovery is taking longer than initially thought, German Finance Minister Olaf Scholz said on Friday.

“We must not scale back the support programs too early and too quickly,” Scholz said ahead of a virtual meeting of finance ministers and central bank governors of the world’s top 20 economies, adding he would campaign with his G20 colleagues for continued stimulus.

MADRID (Reuters) - Spain’s former King Juan Carlos, who left the country in August amid a cloud of scandals, has settled a back tax bill worth more than 4 million euros ($4.9 million), his lawyer said on Friday.

It was the second such payment by the former monarch in recent months.

The voluntary tax settlement of 4.4 million euros, including interest payments and fines, was based on fiscal duties related to travels and other expenses paid by a foundation from which he benefited, lawyer Javier Sanchez-Junco said in a statement.

LONDON (Reuters) - Oil prices fell on Friday as bond price rout led to gains in the U.S. dollar while crude supply is expected to rise in response to prices climbing above pre-pandemic levels.

Brent crude futures for April, which expire on Friday, fell 99 cents, or 1.4%, to $65.89 a barrel by 1203 GMT. The more actively traded May contract slipped by $1.19 to $64.92.

U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures dropped $1.27, or 2%, to $62.26.

LONDON (Reuters) - Britain’s Prince Harry has said he stepped back from his royal duties because the “toxic” British press had been destroying his mental health, adding he had not walked away from public service.

Last week, Buckingham Palace announced that Queen Elizabeth’s grandson and his American wife Meghan had made a final split with the royal family, and would not be returning as working members and would lose their patronages.

GENEVA (Reuters) - United Nations human rights chief Michelle Bachelet, in rare public comments on Saudi Arabia, said on Friday that people were unlawfully held in the kingdom and urged it to uphold freedom of expression and the right to peaceful assembly.

Bachelet, addressing the U.N. Human Rights Council where Saudi Arabia is among the 47 members, welcomed the release earlier this month of women’s rights activist Loujain al-Hathloul, adding: “although I regret that others continued to be unjustly detained”.