Russia

MOSCOW, Aug 22 (NNN-AGENCIES) — A Russian Soyuz rocket has blasted into space carrying 34 new satellites from British operator Oneweb, which aims to provide broadband internet everywhere in the world.

  The rocket operated by Europe’s Arianespace took off successfully at 2213 GMT Saturday from the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, the Roscosmos space agency said in a statement.

  It was the fifth launch of OneWeb satellites this year, with the last one on July 1.

MOSCOW, Aug 22 (Reuters) - President Vladimir Putin on Sunday rejected the idea of sending people evacuation from Afghanistan to countries near Russia, saying he did not want "militants showing up here under cover of refugees", Russian news agencies reported.

Putin criticised an idea of some Western countries to relocate refugees from Afghanistan to neighbouring Central Asian countries while their visas to the United States and Europe are being processed.

MOSCOW, Aug. 21 (Xinhua) -- New U.S. sanctions against Russia showed the Biden administration's "lack of political will and unwillingness" to build Moscow-Washington relations on a partnership basis, the Russian Foreign Ministry said Saturday.

The ministry's spokesperson Maria Zakharova made the comments in a statement after the United States on Friday announced new sanctions against Russian individuals and entities over the alleged poisoning of Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny and the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline project.

MOSCOW, August 21. /TASS/: Researchers at Russia’s Gamaleya Center have completed pre-clinical trials of a nasal spray coronavirus vaccine and are ready to launch clinical trials, the center’s Director Alexander Gintsburg told TASS.

"There has been serious progress made in terms of the nasal spray vaccine, pre-clinical trials are over. We are ready to move on to clinical trials," he said. According to Gintsburg, the nasal spray vaccine consists of the second component of the Sputnik V vaccine.

MOSCOW, August 21. /TASS/: Around 12,000 foreigners and Afghans who worked in embassies and international humanitarian groups have left Afghanistan since the Taliban (outlawed in Russia) captured Kabul on August 15, Reuters news agency reported on Saturday, citing a NATO representative.

"The evacuation process is slow, as it is risky, for we don't want any form of clashes with Taliban members or civilians outside the airport," a NATO representative told the agency on the condition of anonymity.

ELISTA, August 21. /TASS/: The medical community has approved the use of Russia’s Sputnik Light single-dose coronavirus jab for people aged over 60, particularly for revaccination purposes, Russian Health Minister Mikhail Murashko told reporters on Saturday.

"The experts issued a permit to use the Sputnik Light shot for people aged over 60. It is primarily used to get revaccinated. For people over 60 years of age, it is used to sustain and save lives. Sputnik Light can be recommended by the medical community today for those who was ill earlier," he said.

MOSCOW, August 21. /TASS/: Russia’s coronavirus cases rose by 21,000 to reach 6,726,523 in the past 24 hours, the anti-coronavirus crisis center said on Saturday. According to data from the crisis center, Russia’s coronavirus growth rate was 0.31%.

In particular, Moscow recorded 1,852 new cases, followed by St. Petersburg (1,665), the Moscow Region (1,119), the Sverdlovsk Region (519) and the Nizhny Novgorod Region (502). Russia currently has 547,189 active COVID-19 cases.

MOSCOW, Aug 21 (Reuters) - Uzbekistan has accepted about 400 more refugees from Afghanistan and put them up in temporary accommodation near the Afghan border, the Russian state news agency TASS reported on Saturday, citing an unnamed source familiar with the matter.

It is unclear how many Afghans have crossed into the former Soviet republic as Taliban insurgents overran Afghanistan. The Tashkent government has denied that senior Afghan figures such as ethnic Uzbek leader Abdul Rashid Dustum were among them.

MOSCOW, August 20. /TASS/: The war on corruption is important, but it must not be used as an instrument of political struggle. Russia will be doing its utmost to uproot corruption, President Vladimir Putin told a news conference following talks with Germany’s Chancellor Angela Merkel in the Kremlin on Friday. 

MOSCOW, August 20. / TASS /: Foreign students will be permitted to enter Russia to continue their education, the Ministry of Education and Science stated on Friday noting that the entry rules had already been formulated and would be approved shortly.