German police arrested a British man on Tuesday who worked at the British embassy in Berlin on suspicion of passing documents to the Russian intelligence service in exchange for cash, prosecutors said on Wednesday. German prosecutors said that the apartment and workplace of the man, identified only as David S., …
Read More »Russia’s Sputnik V Vaccine 83% Effective Against Delta Coronavirus Strain, Health Minister Says.
Russia’s Sputnik V vaccine shows great results against the Delta coronavirus strain, with its effectiveness against it reaching around 83%, Health Minister Mikhail Murashko said on Wednesday. “Today, the Sputnik V vaccine shows the most effective results in preventing and fighting the Delta strain. The latest data show that its …
Read More »Facebook bans firm behind Pfizer, AstraZeneca smear campaign
Facebook has removed hundreds of accounts linked to a disinformation network operating out of Russia that sought to smear COVID-19 vaccines made by Pfizer and AstraZeneca Facebook said Tuesday that it has removed hundreds of accounts linked to a mysterious advertising agency operating out of Russia that sought to pay …
Read More »Russian, Chinese forces kick off massive joint military drills in Ningxia
Russia and China are taking part in massive joint military drills in China’s north-central region of Ningxia, in what is widely viewed as the two superpowers’ intention to boost their operational capabilities vis-a-vis the United States. Russia’s Defense Ministry said in a statement on Tuesday that more than 10,000 troops …
Read More »Russia to build more military infrastructure on Kuril islands: Report
Russia plans to build 51 more pieces of military infrastructure on the Kuril islands, the state TASS news agency quoted Russia’s defense ministry as saying on Monday. Part of the chain is claimed by Japan and the territorial dispute over some of the islands dates back to the time when …
Read More »Russia evacuates 2 villages in Siberia because of wildfires
Russian authorities started to evacuate two villages in a vast region of Siberia where 155 active forest fires burned Sunday. A dozen villages in northeastern Siberia’s Sakha-Yakutia republic were threatened by the fires, according to the regional task force dealing with the emergency. Local authorities were moving the residents of …
Read More »US military relocates 40 Daesh terrorists from prisons to base in northeastern Syria: SANA
The US military has reportedly transferred dozens of Daesh terrorists from prisons run by allied Kurdish militants of the so-called Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) to a base in Syria’s northeastern province of Hasakah. Syria’s official news agency, SANA, citing local residents, reported that American forces had sent 40 Daesh militants …
Read More »RAF Lossiemouth claims new intercept of Russian aircraft close to UK air space
In the latest intercept of its kind, the Royal Air Force (RAF) claims it has deterred two Russian military aircraft from getting too close to British air space. According to the RAF, two Typhoon fighter jets were scrambled from RAF Lossiemouth in north-east Scotland to intercept the Russian aircraft. The …
Read More »Russian court gives Navalny’s brother one year suspended sentence
A Russian court gave the brother of Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny a one-year suspended sentence on Friday for inciting people to break COVID-19 restrictions, his lawyer Nikos Paraskevov said on Twitter. Oleg Navalny was detained in January as part of a broad crackdown on his brother’s allies. He was initially …
Read More »Russia says US asked 24 of its diplomats to leave by Sept. 3
Russia’s ambassador to the United States said Washington had asked 24 Russian diplomats to leave the country by Sept. 3 after their visas expired. Anatoly Antonov did not say whether the U.S. request was prompted by any particular dispute, and there was no immediate comment from Washington. “Almost all of …
Read More »Belarusian sprinter refuses to leave Tokyo (Pictures)
A Belarusian sprinter refused to get on a flight from Tokyo on Sunday after being taken to the airport against her wishes by her team following her complaints about national coaches at the Olympic Games. Krystsina Tsimanouskaya, 24, was still at Tokyo’s Haneda airport in the early hours of Monday. …
Read More »Russia reports pressure drop in International Space Station service module
The head of Russia’s Roscosmos space agency said on Saturday that pressure in a Russian service module on the International Space Station had dropped as a result of an air leak.
Read More »Russia blames software failure after space station briefly thrown off course
Russia on Friday blamed a software failure for an incident that briefly knocked the International Space Station (ISS) off course and said it was pressing ahead with work to activate a newly-attached module at the centre of the episode. The ISS was thrown off track on Thursday after the engines …
Read More »Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline is almost finished: Operator
The much-politicized Nord Stream 2 undersea gas pipeline from Russia to Germany is 99% complete, the pipeline operator said, after the pipelay vessel Akademik Cherskiy finished its initially planned workload. The $11 billion Nord Stream 2, designed to bypass Russia’s political foe Ukraine and double the capacity of the existing …
Read More »Russia, US hold ‘substantive’ nuclear talks after Putin-Biden summit in June
Senior Russian and American officials have restarted talks on nuclear arms control and other strategic issues in an attempt to normalize fraught bilateral relations between the world’s largest nuclear weapons powers with a focus on risk reduction. In a follow-up to last month’s meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and …
Read More »US trying to take root in Central Asia after Afghanistan fiasco: Russia
Russia has denounced the United States’ ongoing talks with Afghanistan’s neighboring countries to create military bases as well as centers for refugees, saying Washington is seeking to take root in Central Asia following its withdrawal from the war-ravaged country, where it has faced a complete failure. Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu …
Read More »US, Russia hold ‘professional’ arms talks despite tensions
Senior diplomats from the United States and Russia held what the State Department described as “substantive and professional” talks on arms control and other strategic issues on Wednesday despite myriad other differences that have sent relations into a tailspin. The State Department said the discussions in Geneva produced no breakthroughs …
Read More »Russia says ISIS terrorists moving into Afghanistan, pledges to boost Tajik army
Russia says members of the Takfiri Daesh militant group are moving into Afghanistan from Syria, Libya, and several other countries, stressing that Moscow would provide its Central Asian ally Tajikistan with military assistance if any security threats emanate from Afghanistan. Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu made the remarks during a …
Read More »Ukraine holds military drills with US, Poland, Lithuania
Helicopters provided air support, armoured personnel carriers rolled through fields, and soldiers fired at enemy targets on Tuesday as part of a large military exercise hosted by Ukraine and also involving the United States, Poland, and Lithuania. The drills, called Three Swords-2021, will involve more than 1,200 servicemen and more …
Read More »Russia ditches 20-year-old space station module to clear way for lab’s arrival
A Russian Progress cargo ship undocked from the International Space Station early Monday, taking with it the two-decades-old Pirs airlock and docking compartment to clear the way for Thursday’s arrival of Russia’s new Nauka multipurpose lab module. With the Progress MS-16/77P supply ship firmly locked to Pirs, hooks and latches …
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