Europe

MOSCOW, February 2. /TASS/: Russia’s Ministry of Industry and Trade has announced plans to supply 300,000 respirators from a Russian factory to Germany in February-March 2021.

"Russian respirators from Kimrskaya Gorky factory will be delivered to Germany…The total number of respirators for German consumers exceeds 300,000. They will be shipped under two contracts in February-March 2021," the ministry said.

The first contract implies the supply of 170,000 respirators and the second one - 150,000.

MOSCOW, February 2. /TASS/: It is important to build up the production of Il-76MD-90A heavy military transport planes and Su-57 fifth-generation fighters for the Russian troops, Defense Minister Army General Sergei Shoigu said at the ministry’s conference call on Tuesday.

"This year, it is important to build up the production of advanced types of armament: Su-57 fifth-generation multirole fighters and new Il-76MD-90A heavy military transport planes," the defense chief said.

MOSCOW, February 2. /TASS/: Moscow has reasons to believe that the Alexey Navalny incident was a sham, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said at a joint press conference with his Swedish counterpart Ann Linde on Tuesday.

"As for the Navalny case, no information has been provided to us to prove accusations against the Russian authorities," Lavrov pointed out. "If you make accusations against someone, then prove their guilt. And if you say: ‘I won’t tell you anything because it’s a secret,’ we have reasons to believe that it’s a sham," he added.

MOSCOW, February 2. /TASS/: The Kremlin expects that the European Union won’t link the future of its relations with Russia to Alexey Navalny’s case, Russian Presidential Spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Tuesday.

"We hope that the future of Russia-EU relations won’t be linked to the remand prisoner’s case, which would be a stupid thing to do," he said, commenting on EU top diplomat Josep Borrell’s upcoming visit to Russia.

LONDON (Reuters) - Oil prices rose more than 2% on Tuesday after major crude producers showed they were reining in output roughly in line with their commitments, extending gains in a market thrown out of kilter by weak demand during the coronavirus pandemic.

Brent crude was up $1.30, or 2.3%, at $57.65 a barrel by 1150 GMT, its third straight day of gains. U.S. oil gained $1.25, also 2.3%, to $54.80. Both contracts rose more than 2% in the previous session.

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia’s Sputnik V vaccine was 91.6% effective in preventing people from developing COVID-19, according to peer-reviewed results from its late-stage clinical trial published in The Lancent international medical journal on Tuesday.

Scientists said the Phase III trial results meant the world had another effective weapon to fight the deadly pandemic and justified to some extent Moscow’s decision to roll out the vaccine before final data had been released.

MOSCOW, February 1. /TASS/: The Baltic Fleet’s corvette Stoiky and the tanker Kola passed through the Suez Canal and entered the Red Sea in their long-distance deployment, the Fleet’s press office reported on Monday.

"The ships have transited the Suez Canal, entered the Red Sea and set their course for the designated point in the Gulf of Aden where they will continue accomplishing assigned missions," the press office said in a statement.

GORKI, February 1. /TASS/: Integration within the framework of the Union State is mutually beneficial, though it is necessary to normalize the situation inside Belarus first, Deputy Chairman of Russia’s Security Council Dmitry Medvedev told Russian mass media in an interview.

MOSCOW, February 1. /TASS/: Foreign customers display high interest in the export version of Russia’s Su-57E fifth-generation fighter, Rostec Director for International Cooperation and Regional Policy Viktor Kladov told TASS on Monday.

The full-size model of the Su-57E fighter will be demonstrated at the Aero India 2021 aerospace show that will run in the Indian city of Bangalore on February 3-5, he specified.

GORKI, February 1. /TASS/: It is beneficial for Ukraine to pin all its failures and miscalculations on tense relations with Russia, Russian Security Council Deputy Chairman Dmitry Medvedev believes.

"It is more beneficial for [Ukraine] to maintain the situation in tension, do nothing about it, and use this mobilization trend to explain all miscalculations and failures inside their country," he told Russian media Monday.

According to Medvedev it is always more convenient to blame one’s failings on some external effect.