Russia

MOSCOW, September 11. /TASS/: A record in construction and new housing supply may be set in Russia in 2021, Russian President Vladimir Putin said during a meeting with Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin on Saturday.

"In general, we may have a countrywide record," the president said commenting on the mayor’s report that Moscow may set a record this year in housing construction in its entire history. The president also noted that "the country’s economy on the whole has been restored."

MOSCOW, Sept 11 (Reuters) - Russia sent Tajikistan 12 armoured vehicles and an array of military equipment, its defence ministry said on Saturday, as Moscow looks to shore up its Central Asian ally that neighbours Afghanistan.

Moscow has held military exercises in Tajikistan and expanded hardware at its military base there, its biggest in a foreign country, since the U.S. withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan and the Taliban's lightning takeover.

ORENBURG, Russia, Sept. 10 (Xinhua) -- All Chinese troops participating in the "Peace Mission 2021," a counter-terrorism military exercise for Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) member states, arrived at the training range in Orenburg, Russia on Friday.

The drill is set to be held in Orenburg from Sept. 11 to 25. The participants are from eight SCO member states, including China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, India, Pakistan, and Uzbekistan.

The participating troops consist of around 4,000 military personnel, among which 558 are from China.

MOSCOW, September 10. /TASS/: The Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine’s efficacy against the Delta strain varies from 83 to 94%, depending on the calculation method, which is much higher than foreign-made vaccines, Alexander Gintsburg, director of the Gamaleya Center, the vaccine developer, said on Friday.

MOSCOW, September 10. /TASS/: A danger exists that terrorists might find a safe haven in Central Asia in light of the developments in Afghanistan, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov told TASS.

"I am afraid, first of all, that a safe haven for terrorists and extremists may appear there [in Afghanistan] without reference to the Taliban (radical militant group, outlawed in Russia - TASS)," he said. "There may be a consolidation of that terrorist underground or semi-underground, even on the territory of the Central Asian states."

MOSCOW, September 10. /TASS/: Russia and Belarus will continue integration processes within the framework of the Union State taking into account the interests of both countries, Kremlin Spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told journalists on Friday.

"The integration, of course, will be improving, will continue in the form that will correspond to the two countries’ interests the most, in the best possible way," the Kremlin official noted.

MOSCOW, September 10. /TASS/: Russia’s Central Bank has again raised its key rate - by 0.25 percentage points to 6.75%, noting that it holds open the prospect of further key rate rises at its upcoming meetings, according to the press release following the key rate meeting of the board of directors on Friday.

MOSCOW, Sept 10 (Reuters) - Russia summoned U.S. Ambassador John Sullivan on Friday over alleged interference by the United States in an election, Russian agencies TASS and RIA reported, quoting a diplomatic source.

Russian news agencies reported earlier that Sullivan had been summoned over an issue with accreditations for Russian journalists working in the United States. 

The agencies did not specify which election was discussed. Russia will hold a parliamentary election next week.

MOSCOW (AP) — Russia’s state-controlled gas giant said Friday it has completed the construction of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline to Germany, a contentious project that Ukraine and the United States have strongly opposed.

Gazprom said in a statement on the messaging app Telegram, citing its CEO Alexei Miller, that the construction of Nord Stream 2 was “fully completed” on Friday morning.

MOSCOW, September 9. /TASS/: Russia will continue its independent policy and will not conform to the US despite the sanctions and pressure of the US authorities, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said in an interview on Thursday.

"We have adapted to this [US] pressure, to sanction expenses and so on so well that, probably, this policy exhausted itself a long time ago," the spokesman said.

According to the official, this policy "cannot lead to Russia somehow conforming to America, let alone change the main line in its foreign policy."