Russia

MOSCOW (AP) — Russian authorities have ramped up their pressure on dissent ahead of a parliamentary election, arresting one opposition activist and raiding several others’ homes.

Andrei Pivovarov, the head of the Open Russia movement that dissolved itself last week, was pulled off a Warsaw-bound plane at St. Petersburg’s airport just before takeoff late Monday and was to be taken to Krasnodar in southern Russia Tuesday as part of a criminal probe against him.

MOSCOW, May 31. /TASS/: Russia is reliably protected against military threats while its economy has proven its viability and ability to withstand external pressure, Secretary of Russia’s Security Council Nikolai Patrushev said in an interview with the government newspaper Rossiyskaya Gazeta on Monday.

Russia’s security chief summed up the results of implementing the country’s previous national security strategy.

MOSCOW, May 31. /TASS/: New Delhi expects a large batch of the Russian Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine later on Monday, Indian Ambassador to Russia Bala Venkatesh Varma told TASS.

According to the ambassador, the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) is expected to dispatch three million Sputnik V doses to India on Monday evening.

He recalled that the first batch of 150,000 vaccine doses had been supplied to India on May 1. It was followed by a batch of 60,000 doses on May 16.

MOSCOW, May 31. /TASS/: Russia’s Defense Ministry will establish about 20 new military units and formations in the country’s west in response to the activity of the US-led NATO bloc in the western strategic area, Russian Defense Minister Army General Sergey  Shoigu said at the ministry’s board meeting on Monday.

MOSCOW, May 31. /TASS/: Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov has re-addressed to the Belarussian Foreign Ministry the question about "Russian oligarchs'" alleged involvement in provocations during the 2020 elections in the country.

"It is hard for me to make any comments on this. Possibly, it is better to put this question to the Belarusian Foreign Ministry," Peskov told the media on Monday.

MOSCOW, May 30. /TASS/: The Russian COVID-19 Sputnik V jab is in high demand all over the world due to its high efficiency and safety, CEO of the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) Kirill Dmitriev stated on the Rossiya-1 TV channel on Sunday.

"We definitely see an absolutely excessive demand for the Russian vaccine across the world, and this is due to the fact that it shows the best results both in terms of efficiency and safety," Dmitriev said.

(Reuters) --- Russia will move ahead with a second $500 million loan to Belarus next month, following talks between the two countries' leaders amid uproar in the West over the grounding of a passenger jet in Minsk and the arrest of a dissident blogger.

President Vladimir Putin and Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko held a second day of talks, as well as a yacht tour, in the southern Russian city of Sochi on Saturday, as the Russian leader showed his longstanding ally support in this latest standoff with the West.

MOSCOW, May 29. /TASS/: Kabul is ready to purchase weapons from Moscow, Afghanistan’s Ambassador to Russia Said Tayeb Jawad said in an interview with TASS.

"We are hoping that Russia will consider repairing the existing Russian equipment, especially helicopters," the ambassador said.

"Our cadets are getting training here, especially from the Ministry of Interior, which is good," he noted.

The diplomat also expressed hope that Russia would provide an opportunity for Afghanistan to train its pilots and mechanical engineers.

MOSCOW, May 29. /TASS/: Russia has documented 9,289 cases of COVID-19 in the past 24 hours, bringing the total case count to 5,053,748, the federal anti-coronavirus crisis center informed reporters on Saturday.

The relative daily increased rate reached 0.18%.

In the past 24 hours, 3,241 COVID-19 cases were documented in Moscow, 846 in St. Petersburg, 750 in the Moscow Region, 180 in the Rostov Region, 149 in the Nizhny Novgorod Region, 148 in the Voronezh Region.

Currently, there are 262,457 active cases of COVID-19 in Russia.

(Reuters) --- Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday offered his Belarusian counterpart Alexander Lukashenko support in his standoff with the West over his handling of the grounding of a passenger jet and the arrest of a dissident blogger.