Europe

07 June 2020; MEMO: The Russian Foreign Ministry has strongly responded to US remarks about the Middle East, describing them as “crazy”, news agencies reported on Friday.

US Assistant Secretary of State David Schenker announced on Thursday that Russia should “go out” of Syria as it has played a “destructive” role there.

MOSCOW, June 6. /TASS/: Two Russian diplomats expelled from the Czech Republic will leave Prague on June 7, Deputy Head of Russia’s Federal Agency for the Commonwealth of Independent States, Compatriots Living Abroad and International Humanitarian Cooperation Mikhail Bryukhanov told TASS on Saturday.

"They will leave Prague for Moscow on June 7. We have found a way for them to travel from the Czech Republic to Russia," he said.

Bryukhanov told TASS on Friday that it was unclear how the agency’s expelled employees would travel amid coronavirus restrictions.

MOSCOW, June 7. /TASS/: Nearly 318,800 people remain under medical supervision in Russia over a suspected coronavirus infection, the sanitary watchdog said on Sunday.

"Some 318,846 people remain under medical supervision in Russia as of June 6, 2020," the Federal Service for Surveillance on Consumer Rights Protection and Human Wellbeing reported.

A total of 1,444,187 people remained under doctors’ supervision in Russia over the past period of 2020.

More than 12.7 mln tests for COVID-19 have been carried out.

VLADIVOSTOK, June 7. /TASS/: The flight of the Aurora airline, which was to deliver Russian citizens from Bangkok to Vladivostok on Sunday, has been postponed for an indefinite period, Russia’s Communications Ministry said on its Telegram channel.

The Airbus A319 plane was supposed to fly out late in the evening of June 6 from Bangkok (Thailand) and to land in Russia’s Far East on the morning of June 7.

"Flight No SHU5487 Bangkok - Vladivostok was postponed indefinitely on June 6, 2020. Additional information will be published later," the ministry said.

MOSCOW, June 6. /TASS/: The OPEC+ agreements will have a positive impact on future stabilization of the global energy markets, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov told TASS on Saturday.

"These agreements will have a positive effect on future stabilization of the energy markets," he said.

It was reported earlier that the OPEC-non-OPEC Ministerial Meeting agreed on Saturday to extend oil production cuts by 9.7 million barrels per day until late July. Apart from that, the OPEC ministers bound non-compliant members to make extra reductions in July-September.

MOSCOW, June 6. /TASS/: Russia is thankful to the United States for readiness to give a helping hand in cleaning up the fuel spill in Norilsk, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on the Solovyev Live YouTube channel on Saturday.

"We are certainly thankful to the US side," she said.

"It is another goodwill gesture that proves that we can work for the good and can demonstrate this cooperation," the diplomat said commenting on the statement by US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.

MOSCOW, June 7. /TASS/: Russia confirmed 8,984 daily coronavirus cases, bringing the total tally to 467,673, the anti-coronavirus crisis center told reporters on Sunday.

According to the crisis center, the daily growth reached 2% like the day earlier.

Some 3,458 new COVID-19 patients (38.5%) have not shown any symptoms. Now more than 235,000 are undergoing treatment for the coronavirus in Russia.

New 1,956 COVID-19 cases were recorded in Moscow, 754 in the Moscow Region, 340 in St. Petersburg, 317 in the Nizhny Novgorod Region and 240 in the Sverdlovsk Region.

LONDON (Reuters) - The United States has evidence China is trying to slow down or sabotage the development of a COVID-19 vaccine by Western countries, Republican senator Rick Scott said on Sunday.

“We have got to get this vaccine done. Unfortunately we have evidence that communist China is trying to sabotage us or slow it down,” he said during an interview on BBC TV.

“China does not want us ... to do it first, they have decided to be an adversary to Americans and I think to democracy around the world.”

LONDON (Reuters) - Anti-racism protests attended by thousands of people in London and other major British cities “undoubtedly” risk causing an increase in the number of COVID-19 cases again, British health minister Matt Hancock said on Sunday.

Thousands of people attended protests on Saturday to voice their anger at police brutality after the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis, ignoring government advice to avoid large gatherings due to the risk from coronavirus.

LONDON (Reuters) - Fourteen police officers were injured in “shocking and completely unacceptable” assaults during anti-racism protests in central London on Saturday, London police chief Cressida Dick said on Sunday.

After a largely peaceful day, small numbers of protesters briefly clashed with mounted police on Saturday after thousands gathered to voice their anger at police brutality after the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis.