Russia

MOSCOW, May 9. /TASS/: An improvised light plane that crash landed in the Republic of Tatarstan in the Volga area, killing two, was apparently hijacked, a source in law-enforcement agencies told TASS on Sunday.

"According to preliminary data, the plane was hijacked by two individuals from the Alemetyevsk aeroclub, which operates the plane. Both of them died," the source said.

According to the source’s data, the light plane crashed almost immediately after it took off, some 900 m from the runway of the Poima aerodrome.

MOSCOW, May 9. /TASS/: There can be no forgiveness for those who have forgotten the lessons of World War Two and are again nurturing aggressive plans, Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Sunday.

MOSCOW (AP) — Russian President Vladimir Putin marked the anniversary of the end of World War II in Europe with a speech warning that Nazi beliefs remain strong.

Speaking to the annual military parade on Moscow’s Red Square, Putin on Sunday decried “attempts to rewrite history, to justify traitors and criminals, on whose hands lies the blood of hundreds of thousands of peaceful people.”

MOSCOW, May 7. /TASS/: Russia has documented 8,386 cases of COVID-19 in the past 24 hours, bringing the overall case count to 4,863,514, the federal anti-coronavirus crisis center informed reporters on Friday.

The relative daily increase rate has reached 0.17%.

In the past 24 hours, 2,846 COVID-19 cases were documented in Moscow, 722 in St. Petersburg, 608 in the Moscow Region, 210 in the Rostov Region, 142 in the Voronezh Region, 124 in the Saratov Region.

MOSCOW, May 6. /TASS/: The Sputnik Light vaccine increases the antibody level in people who already have immunity against the coronavirus infection, which suggests that the shot could be used for vaccinating former patients, Health Minister Mikhail Murashko told journalists Thursday.

MOSCOW, May 6. /TASS/: A one-component COVID-19 vaccine dubbed Sputnik Light has been registered in Russia, the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) informs.

"The Russian Ministry of Health, the Gamaleya Research Center and RDIF announce the registration of the one-component vaccine Sputnik Light against the novel coronavirus infection. Sputnik Light is the first component of the Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine," the message says.

MOSCOW, May 6 (NNN-Xinhua) — A Russian MiG-31 fighter intercepted a US reconnaissance plane above the Chukchi Sea, the Russian Defense Ministry said on Thursday.

Russian radars detected an air target approaching Russian borders over the Chukchi Sea, and a MiG-31 of the Russian Pacific Fleet took off in response, the ministry said.

The crew of the Russian jet identified the air target as a US Air Force RC-135 strategic reconnaissance aircraft and then escorted it over the sea.

06 May 2021; MEMO: Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said yesterday that Moscow supports defusing tension between Israel and the Palestinians in the occupied city of Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip, Anadolu reported.

(Reuters) --- Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Thursday that Russia was considering supplying 1 million shots of the Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine to Armenia, the RIA new agency reported.

Russia had already sent 15,000 doses of the vaccine to the former Soviet republic last month, Lavrov was quoted as saying at a meeting with his Armenian counterpart.

Armenia's population is fewer than 3 million people.

MOSCOW, May 5. /TASS/: The chair of the State Duma’s committee on culture, Yelena Yampolskaya, First Deputy Speaker Alexander Zhukov and Senator Alexey Pushkov have submitted to the State Duma (parliament's lower house) a bill banning any public move equating the purposes and actions of the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany during World War II. The bill was uploaded to the State Duma’s electronic data base on Wednesday.