Europe

MOSCOW, September 8. /TASS/: The Russian Foreign Ministry has summoned German Ambassador to Moscow Geza Andreas von Geyr to discuss the situation around blogger Alexei Navalny, the ministry’s Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told reporters on Tuesday.

"We expect Berlin to provide us with all the available data, including the results of lab tests conducted by the Bundeswehr as well as the ‘evidence’ that the German Foreign Ministry has. We are waiting to receive the German ambassador [in the Foreign Ministry’s building] on Smolenskaya Square," the diplomat said.

ARKHANGELSK, September 8. /TASS/: Bulk deliveries of a vaccine against the novel coronavirus infection to the regions are scheduled to begin in November - December, Russian Healthcare Minister Mikhail Murashko said on Tuesday during a working visit to Arkhangelsk.

Earlier the Healthcare Ministry reported that the first batch of the Sputnik V vaccine was released for civilian circulation.

"The vaccine against the coronavirus infection in mass format will begin to arrive as early as November - December," the minister said.

MINSK, September 8. /TASS/: Participants in the joint Russian-Serbian-Belarusian Slavic Brotherhood 2020 military exercise will arrive in Belarus between September 10 and September 15, the Belarusian Ministry of Defense announced in its Telegram channel Tuesday.

"The Slavic Brotherhood 2020 multinational Belarusian-Russian-Serbian military drills will take place at the Brestsky proving ground of the 38th Airborne Brigade," the ministry said. "The participants’ arrival is planned for September 10 to September 15."

MOSCOW, September 8. /TASS/: The Kremlin is not ready to recognize that there are political prisoners in Belarus, Russian Presidential Spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Tuesday.

"On the whole, we aren’t ready to recognize that there are political prisoners in Belarus," he said, commenting on the situation surrounding Maria Kolesnikova, a member of the Belarusian opposition’s Coordination Council, who had been detained when trying to illegally cross the Belarus-Ukraine border.

MOSCOW, September 8. /TASS/: Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko confessed that he might have overstayed his term of office, but he emphasized that he is the only one who can "protect Belarusians," according to Rossiya-1 TV channel reporter Yevgeny Rozhkov, who took part in Lukahsenko’s interview for Russian reporters.

"Yes, perhaps, I’ve sat [in the presidential chair] for a bit too long maybe, I’m shown not only on TV, but on irons and kettles as well. But truthfully I’m the only one who can protect Belarusians right now," Rozhkov quoted Lukashenko as saying Tuesday.

GENEVA, Sept 8 (NNN-TASS) — The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic is not the last one, so the world must brace for a new pandemic in advance, World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said.

“This will not be the last pandemic. History teaches us that outbreaks and pandemics are a fact of life. But when the next pandemic comes, the world must be ready – more ready than it was this time,” the director-general said during a press briefing.

According to Ghebreyesus, the COVID-19 pandemic is “teaching all of us many lessons.”

LONDON (Reuters) - Oil slid more than 3% towards $40 a barrel on Tuesday, its 5th session of decline, pressured by concerns that a recovery in demand could weaken as coronavirus infections flare up around the world.

Coronavirus cases rose in 22 of the 50 U.S. states, a Reuters analysis showed on the Labor Day holiday weekend. New infections are also increasing in India and Britain.

08 Sep 2020; MEMO: Cyprus has sent a team of officials to Lebanon to help local authorities try to stop boats carrying migrants from attempting to reach the European island nation by sea, Agence France Presse (AFP) reported.

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Siberia’s Vector virology institute on Tuesday completed early-stage human trials, known as Phase II, of a second potential Russian vaccine against COVID-19, the state consumer safety watchdog was cited by the Interfax news agency as saying.

Russia registered its first vaccine candidate, developed by Moscow’s Gamaleya Institute, in August. Late-stage trials of this vaccine, due to involve 40,000 participants, were launched last week.

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko on Tuesday said he would not step down, despite a wave of protests against his rule, but did not rule out early presidential elections during an interview with Russian media, a radio journalist reported.

Lukashenko said his supporters would be attacked if he left, said Roman Babayan, editor in chief of the Moscow Talks radio station and one of the journalists who interviewed Lukashenko earlier on Tuesday.