Europe

MOSCOW, May 18. /TASS/: Moscow will resort to articles 5 and 6 of the Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production and Stockpiling of Bacteriological (Biological) and Toxin Weapons and on their Destruction to investigate Washington’s research into biological weapons in Ukraine, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told a news briefing on Wednesday.

MOSCOW, May 18. /TASS/: Russia’s COVID-19 case tally rose by 4,732 over the past day to 18,273,690, the anti-coronavirus crisis center reported on Wednesday.

In relative terms, the growth rate reached 0.03%.

As many as 2,395 people were hospitalized with COVID-19 in Russia over the past day, down 13.6% from a day earlier. The number of hospitalized patients decreased in 50 regions, while in 29 regions the figure increased. The situation remained unchanged in six regions. A day earlier, 2,772 people were rushed to hospitals.

MOSCOW, May 18. /TASS/: Work is in progress on the designer documentation for the light fighter jet Checkmate. Its serial production will begin in 2027, Rostec corporation’s CEO Sergey Chemezov said at a meeting with President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday.

"We have plans for starting serial production in 2027," he said.

So far, a prototype has been created and designer documentation is being developed.

May 18 (Reuters) - The Kremlin said on Wednesday Ukraine was showing no willingness to continue peace talks, but officials in Kyiv blamed Russia for the lack of progress Russia.

The last known face-to-face peace negotiations were on March 29. Officials said contacts had continued remotely but both sides said on Tuesday that the talks had stagnated.

"Negotiations are not progressing and we note the complete unwillingness of Ukrainian negotiators to continue this process", Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Wednesday.

ROME, May 18 (Xinhua) -- Italy backs the bid by Finland and Sweden to join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), the country's Prime Minister, Mario Draghi, told journalists here on Wednesday.

Draghi met the press along with Finland's visiting Prime Minister Sanna Marin at Palazzo Chigi, the seat of Italy's government. He said that Italy was willing to speed up the two applicant countries' accession procedures.

MOSCOW, May 18 (Xinhua) -- Russia has declared 34 French diplomats "personae non gratae" in a tit-for-tat move, the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Wednesday.

Moscow made the decision after summoning French Ambassador to Russia Pierre Levy earlier in the day to protest against France's "provocative" and "unjustified" decision to expel 41 Russian diplomats, the statement said.

France's move will seriously damage Russian-French relations and constructive bilateral cooperation, said the ministry.

GENEVA (AP) — The United Nations chief on Wednesday launched a five-point plan to jump-start broader use of renewable energies, hoping to revive world attention on climate change as the U.N.’s weather agency said greenhouse gas concentrations, ocean heat, sea-level rise, and ocean acidification reached record highs last year.

“We must end fossil fuel pollution and accelerate the renewable energy transition before we incinerate our only home,” U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said. “Time is running out.”

BONN, Germany (AP) — The U.S., several global development banks and other groups on Wednesday unveiled a multi-billion dollar plan to stave off a worldwide food security crisis worsened by Russia’s war in Ukraine, a key danger facing an increasingly fragile world economy.

The February invasion has touched off a sharp increase in energy and food prices that are now contributing to a slowdown in growth, prompting Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen to note the risk of stagflation at a news conference.

CANNES, France (AP) — The last two times the Russian filmmaker Kirill Serebrennikov had films playing at the Cannes Film Festival, he couldn’t attend. He was under a travel ban in Russia as part of a conviction for fraud in what was widely protested as unwarranted repression of the arts in Russia. Last year, Serebrennikov, one of Russia’s most celebrated directors of film and theater, appeared at a Cannes press conference by FaceTime.

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — A 21-year-old Russian soldier facing the first war crimes trial since Moscow invaded Ukraine pleaded guilty Wednesday to killing an unarmed civilian.

Sgt. Vadim Shishimarin could get life in prison for shooting a a 62-year-old Ukrainian man in the head through an open car window in the northeastern Sumy region on Feb. 28, four days into the invasion.

Shishimarin, a captured member of a Russian tank unit, was prosecuted under a section of the Ukrainian criminal code that addresses the laws and customs of war.