Europe

SOLNECHNOGORSK /Moscow Region/, August 23. /TASS/: The situation in Belarus is clearly normalizing but there are those who wish to implement the Ukrainian scenario, Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said at the youth educational forum ‘Territory of Senses’ on Sunday.

"The Belarusian people will decide itself how to resolve this situation," Lavrov stressed.

MOSCOW, August 23. /TASS/: The engineering development of Russia’s super-heavy carrier rocket is scheduled for completion in October 2021, the company’s press service of the Progress Rocket and Space Center told TASS.

"At present, technical design specification is being coordinated with the head contractor [Energiya Rocket and Space Corporation] of the super-heavy carrier rocket. In line with it, the work is scheduled for completion for October 2021," the press service said.

MOSCOW, August 23. /TASS/:  More than 40% Russians are ready to get vaccinated against the novel coronavirus with Russia’s Sputnik V vaccine, the Russian Public Opinion Research Center VTsIOM’s head, Valery Fedorov, said.

"Russia’s new vaccine Sputnik V: Are we ready to get vaccinated or not? 42% say "yes, most likely." 52% - no we won’t," he said on Saturday.

According to the VTsIOM survey, almost 60% of Russians expect the second wave of the pandemic in Russia.

MAGAS, August 23. /TASS/: Two members of illegal armed formations were eliminated in a counter-terror operation in the village of Troitskoye in the Sunzha district of Ingushetia, a source in the republic’s law-enforcement agencies told TASS on Sunday.

"Two were eliminated in a special operation," the source said.

As was reported earlier, the security forces and militants were exchanging fire in the area of the counter-terror operation.

MOSCOW, August 23. /TASS/: A contract on the delivery of the second batch of S-400 anti-aircraft missile systems to Turkey has been signed and the sides are discussing the contract’s financial terms, Head of Russia’s state arms seller Rosoboronexport Alexander Mikheyev told reporters on Sunday.

"The contract has been signed," the chief executive said, replying to the corresponding question.

The sides are now discussing "the financial arrangement of implementing the contract," he specified.

BRUSSELS, Aug 23 (NNN-AGENCIES) – The European Union (EU) welcomed the cease-fire announcements made by the UN-backed Prime Minister of Libya, Fayez Serraj and Speaker of the eastern-based parliament, Aguila Saleh.

The EU’s High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Josep Borrell, said, the mutual gesture is a “constructive first step forward” that shows the determination of the Libyan leaders to overcome the stalemate and creates hope for ending the longstanding conflict.

VIENNA, Aug 23 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Rafael Mariano Grossi, will travel to Tehran tomorrow, to meet with high-level Iranian authorities, IAEA said.

The visit will be the director general’s first to Iran, since he took office last Dec, the statement said.

During his visit, Grossi will address the cooperation of Iran with the IAEA, and in particular Iran’s provision of access to the agency’s inspectors to requested locations, it said.

LONDON (Reuters) - The chief medical officers of the United Kingdom have said children should return to school after the summer holidays, warning that missing out on their education posed much bigger risks to them than catching COVID-19.

The rare joint statement from the top health advisers to the governments of England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland represents a boost for British Prime Minister Boris Johnson who has said getting children back to school is a national priority.

(Reuters) - Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz and other senior government politicians said they were shocked over an attack on a Jewish community leader in the southern city of Graz on Saturday, and ordered tighter security at Jewish institutions around Austria.

An unknown assailant attacked the Graz Jewish community’s president, Elie Rosen, with a wooden club on the premises of their synagogue, which was twice targeted by acts of vandalism in the past week, the community said in a statement late on Saturday.

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny, who fell gravely ill on Thursday after what his allies believe was a poisoning, was under intense police surveillance in preceding days, a Russian tabloid newspaper cited law enforcement sources as saying.

Before he collapsed on a flight during a trip to Siberia Navalny was followed by plainclothes FSB officers and his movements were closely monitored via CCTV, the report in the Moskovsky Komsomolets newspaper said.