Russia

MOSCOW, April 12. /TASS/: The Rubin Central Design Bureau (part of the United Shipbuilding Corporation) has developed the first Russian patrol ship with a diving capability for foreign customers, the Rubin press office told TASS on Monday.

"Rubin presents the first modification of a submergible patrol vessel that combines the advantages of a submarine and a surface patrol ship," the press office said.

The project has been dubbed ‘Strazh (‘Guard’) and will be promoted on the world market under the name of BOSS (Border and Offshore Submersible Sentry), Rubin said.

MOSCOW, April 12. /TASS/: Over 400,000 Russian military personnel have been fully vaccinated against the coronavirus and more than 530,000 have received their first vaccine dose, the Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement.

"As many as 531,758 people have been vaccinated so far, 41% of them are troops, 59% are military university professors and students, as well as teachers at pre-university facilities. A total of 400,384 military personnel have received both vaccine doses," the statement reads.

MOSCOW, April 12. /TASS/: Russian speakers in Donbass have been rejected by their own state and Russia considers it a priority to protect their interests, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Monday.

"Russia believes that it is important to take care of the interests of Russian speakers around the world in general," he said in response to a question. "It particularly concerns the Russian-speaking people who live in the two self-proclaimed republics [in Donbass], especially because they have been rejected by their own state," Peskov added.

MOSCOW, April 12. /TASS/: Russia recorded 277 coronavirus deaths in the past 24 hours, the lowest number since November 9, the anti-coronavirus crisis center said on Monday. The total death toll has reached 103,263.

According to data from the crisis center, 2.22% of coronavirus patients have died in Russia.

In particular, 34 fatalities were reported in St. Petersburg in the past day, 14 in the Krasnoyarsk region, 12 in the Krasnodar region, ten in the Tula region and nine in the Moscow region.

MOSCOW, April 11 (Xinhua) -- Russia does not seek a war with Ukraine but is concerned for the Russian-speaking population in the country's eastern Donbass region, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Sunday.

"No one is going to move towards a war, and no one at all accepts any possibility of such a war," Peskov told a Russian TV program.

"Russia has never been a party to this conflict (between Kiev and insurgents in Donbass). But Russia has always said that it will not remain indifferent to the fate of Russian speakers who live in the southeast of Ukraine," he added.

MOSCOW, April 11. /TASS/: Russian President Vladimir Putin’s address to the parliament, the Federal Assembly, on April 21 will be devoted to ironing out the crisis after COVID-19 and support measures, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said in an interview with Moscow. Kremlin. Putin program.

MOSCOW, April 11. /TASS/: Russia’s COVID-19 case tally rose by 8,702 over the past day, reaching 4,641,390, the anti-coronavirus crisis center told reporters on Sunday.

The growth rate stood at 0.19% in relative terms.

The lowest growth rates were registered in the Tuva Republic, the Altai Republic (0.01%), the Magadan Region and the Jewish Autonomous Region (0.02%).

Some 694 COVID-19 cases were recorded in St. Petersburg, 574 in the Moscow Region, 239 in the Rostov Region, 236 in the Nizhny Novgorod Region and 198 in the Samara Region.

MOSCOW, April 11. /TASS/: German Chancellor Angela Merkel in her phone talk with Russian President Vladimir Putin did not demand Russia scale down its military presence near the Ukrainian border but voiced concerns about this, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said in an interview with Moscow. Kremlin. Putin on Rossiya-1 TV channel.

MOSCOW, April 10 (Xinhua) -- A Russian MiG-31 fighter intercepted a U.S. reconnaissance plane above the Pacific Ocean on Saturday, the Russian Defense Ministry said.

Russian airspace control systems detected an air target approaching the Russian state border and a MiG-31 of the Eastern Military District took off in response, the ministry said.

The crew of the Russian jet identified the air target as an RC-135 strategic reconnaissance aircraft of the U.S. Air Force and escorted it over the Pacific Ocean.

MOSCOW, April 10. /TASS/: Forecasts that the global economy will overcome the crisis caused by the coronavirus pandemic in 2021 are not justified, according to a study from experts at the Higher School of Economics together with the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs.

"Against the background of new waves of the pandemic that have engulfed many countries in recent months, it is already obvious that the initial forecasts of a full-fledged recovery of the global economy from the crisis in 2021 are not being justified," the study said.