Europe

MOSCOW, February 7. /TASS/: The Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) expects that Russia’s Sputnik V COVID-19 vaccine will be registered in 25 countries by the end of next week, the sovereign wealth fund’s CEO Kirill Dmitriev told Vesti Nedeli program on Rossiya-1 TV channel.

"By the end of next week we expect that a total of 25 regulators, 25 countries will approve our vaccine [Sputnik V]," Dmitriev said.

To date, Russia’s coronavirus vaccine has been approved by 19 regulators, Dmitriev said.

MOSCOW, February 7. /TASS/: Russia’s Sputnik V COVID-19 vaccine has been capable of overcoming political opposition to its use around the world, Deputy Director of the Institute of Europe of the Russian Academy of Sciences Vladislav Belov told TASS on Saturday.

"Sputnik V has proved its effectiveness. It is not interior to any other leading vaccines. There is an understanding that all the vaccines have not gone through all the stages, but Sputnik V was eventually recognized as a worthy opponent to all the other vaccines that are being purchased," he said.

VIENNA, February 7: Austria is ready to produce Russian and Chinese COVID-19 vaccines if they are registered by the European Medicines Agency (EMA), Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz said in an interview with the Welt am Sonntag newspaper published on Sunday.

MOSCOW, February 7. /TASS/: Russia’s coronavirus cases rose by 16,048 in the past day, a record low since October 22, and the total case tally hit 3,967,281, the anti-coronavirus crisis center told reporters on Sunday.

The average growth rate in new cases reached 0.41%.

The lowest growth rates were registered in the past day in the Tuva Republic (0.1%), the Chukotka Autonomous Region, the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Region, the Jewish Autonomous Region, the Magadan Region, the Nenets Autonomous Region and the Khakassia Republic (0.2%).

LONDON (Reuters) - Britain plans to tax retailers and tech companies whose profits have soared during the COVID-19 pandemic, the Sunday Times reported, citing leaked emails.

The government has summoned companies to discuss how an online sales tax would work, while plans are also being drawn up for a one-off “excessive profits tax”, the newspaper reported.

ZURICH (Reuters) - The European Union will not reopen parts of a stalled bilateral treaty with Switzerland, the EU ambassador to the Alpine republic said in an interview with newspaper Blick, taking a hard line on Swiss misgivings over talks that have lasted years.

“What we won’t do is reopen the controversial dossiers,” Petros Mavromichalis told the Swiss newspaper. “The negotiations are done.”

SKOPJE, Feb. 6 (Xinhua) -- North Macedonia is expected to start the vaccination process within this month and the process will be carried out in three stages, Minister of Health Venko Filipce said here on Saturday.

Speaking at a press conference, Filipce presented the national vaccination plan developed by experts of the health ministry working on COVID-19.

According to Filipce, in the first phase the ministry plans to vaccinate high-risk groups, including health workers and people over the age of 70.

SAINT-HERBLAIN, France (AP) — French pharmaceutical startup Valneva had big news in September: a government contract for 60 million doses of its coronavirus vaccine candidate.

The buyer? The United Kingdom — not the European Union, as might be expected for a company on the banks of the Loire.

MOSCOW, February 6. /TASS/: Aeroflot’s Moscow-Amsterdam flight has made a scheduled landing at the Russian capital’s Sheremetyevo Airport after a partial failure of the radio communication system, a source with air agencies told TASS on Saturday.

"The plane has made a scheduled landing at the departure airport. The cause of the failure [of the radio communication system] will be established," the source said.

Russia’s major carrier Aeroflot confirmed the reports on a scheduled landing.

MOSCOW, February 5. /TASS/: Russia has declared a Swedish, a Polish and a German diplomat personae non gratae because of their participation in the January 23 unauthorized rallies in Moscow and St. Petersburg, the Russian Foreign Ministry said on Friday.

"In compliance with the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations of April 18, 1961, diplomats who took part in unauthorized rallies have been declared personae non gratae. They must leave Russia as soon as possible," the ministry said.