TheNewsGuru

Tag: Russia

  • Serviceman kills 3 fellow soldiers at airbase

    A Russian serviceman was caught by law enforcers after he shot dead three of his fellow soldiers at the Baltimore airbase near the Russian city of Voronezh on Monday.

    TASS news agency reported, citing the press service of the country’s Western Military District adding that “at present, investigative actions are being carried out with the detainee.’’

    Local media earlier reported that the serviceman, Anton Makarov, used a handgun he took from an officer to kill the soldiers.

    The media said that Makarov went missing after the killings, adding that a search was underway to find him in the Voronezh Region.

    It added that another soldier was wounded and is currently receiving treatment in the hospital.

    According to media reports, Makarov studied at the Voronezh Institute of the Russian Interior Ministry and went to serve in the army after being expulsed.

    He passed all necessary tests when enlisted in the military and knew how to professionally use weapons.

  • JUST IN: Russia’s COVID-19 vaccine lands in Nigeria, FG expresses interest

    JUST IN: Russia’s COVID-19 vaccine lands in Nigeria, FG expresses interest

    The Nigeria’s government has expressed interest in the Coronavirus vaccine produced by Russia in the battle against the pandemic.

    Minister of Health, Dr. Osagie Ehanire received samples of the vaccine from the Russian Ambassador to Nigeria, Alexey L. Shebarshin in Abuja on Friday.

    Details of the meeting could be found on the twitter handle of the Federal Ministry of Health.

    Ehanire expressed Nigeria’s interest for the Russia’s COVID-19 vaccine, saying “We are exploring all knowledge in terms of therapeutics and vaccines.

    “We are expressing our interest for the COVID-19 vaccine so that we will have the opportunity to work elaborately.”

    Executive Director, National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA), Dr. Faisal Shuaib, in his remark stated that this opportunity would help to strengthen the collaboration between Russian and Nigeria.

    “We are at a point where we have a joint venture with the private sector,” he said.

    Dr Adepimpe Adebiyi, Director, Hospital Services Department stated that this was an opportunity to expand the nation’s vaccine production.

    “The technical officers will inter-phase with the Russian team in order to strengthen the relationship between Nigeria and Russia,” he said.

  • Coronavirus vaccine undergoes final testing phase in Russia

    Coronavirus vaccine undergoes final testing phase in Russia

    Russian Deputy Health Minister, Oleg Grinev, says a state laboratory
    vaccine for the novel coronavirus is undergoing final testing phase, expected to be registered next week.

    According to him, the vaccine is currently in its final testing phase, which is extremely important.

    “We need to understand that the vaccine will be safe,” he said in comments carried by the Russian news agency — Interfax.

    Another senior health official had said in July that the vaccine was expected to be mass produced in September.

    Russia recorded the world’s fourth largest coronavirus caseload, with more than 875,000 cases.

    The vaccine was developed by the Russian state’s Gamaleya Research Institute for Epidemiology and Microbiology,
    which was announced two months ago that the vaccine had produced immunity in all test subjects without negative side effects.

    The vaccine was initially tested on volunteers from the institute and then soldiers from the Russian military.

    “There were no side effects or abnormalities detected among the volunteer soldiers”, Russia’s Defence Ministry said in a statement.

    “The research results clearly showed that all volunteers had a clear immune response resulting from the vaccination,’’ the Defence Ministry said.

  • Germany rejects Trump’s proposal to invite Russia into G7

    Germany rejects Trump’s proposal to invite Russia into G7

    Germany has rejected a proposal by U.S. President Donald Trump to invite Russian President Vladimir Putin back into the Group of Seven (G7) most advanced economies, German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said in a newspaper interview published today.

    Trump raised the prospect last month of expanding the G7 to again include Russia, which had been expelled in 2014 following Moscow’s annexation of Ukraine’s Crimea region.

    But Maas told Rheinische Post that he did not see any chance for allowing Russia back into the G7 as long as there was no meaningful progress in solving the conflict in Crimea as well as in eastern Ukraine.

    Russia itself could make the biggest contribution to becoming part of the G7 format again by contributing to a peaceful solution in the Ukraine conflict, Maas said.

    Russia is still part of the G20, a broader grouping including other emerging-market economies.

    “G7 and G20 are two sensibly coordinated formats. We don’t need G11 or G12 anymore,” Maas said in reference to Trump’s proposal to invite not only Russia, but other countries to G7 meetings.

    Maas described the relationship with Russia as “currently difficult” in many areas.

    “But we also know that we need Russia to solve conflicts such as those in Syria, Libya and Ukraine. That will not work against Russia, but only with Russia.”

    Germany, which took over the rotating six-month EU presidency on July 1, has taken on a mediating role in the conflict in Libya as well as in Ukraine.

    “But Russia also has to make its contribution, which is very slow in Ukraine,” Maas said.

  • Russian hacking group trying to steal UK’s coronavirus vaccine research

    Russian hacking group trying to steal UK’s coronavirus vaccine research

    Russian hackers who are “almost certainly working for the country’s intelligence services have targeted coronavirus research facilities in the US, UK and Canada, according to information released by the UK government.

    UK security officials told journalists on Thursday that the group, known as APT29, or “Cozy Bearwere launching “persistent, highly targeted and ongoingcyber-attacks on organisations involved in development for a coronavirus vaccine as part of a “maliciousattempt to steal their research.

    They are said to have been making the hacking attempts since the start of the pandemic in February.

    “We condemn these despicable attacks against those doing vital work to combat the coronavirus pandemic,the UK’s National Cyber Security Centre’s Director of Operations, Paul Chichester, said.

    “We condemn these despicable attacks against those doing vital work to combat the coronavirus pandemic.

    “Working with our allies, the NCSC is committed to protecting our most critical assets and our top priority at this time is to protect the health sector.

    A UK government spokesperson said that known targets of APT29 include UK, US and Canadian vaccine research and development organisations.

    They said that the group uses techniques, including spear-phishing and custom malware known as “WellMessand “WellMail”.

    The group of hackers is called APT29, often referred to as Cozy Bear, which Dutch intelligence services say is led by the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service.

  • Governor detained for allegedly ordering murders 15 years ago

    Governor detained for allegedly ordering murders 15 years ago

    Gov. Sergei Furgal of Russia’s far-eastern Khabarovsk region was detained on Thursday on suspicion of having ordered multiple murders allegedly committed by an organized criminal group about 15 years ago.

    Furgal, governor for the past two years, is considered the “organiser of an attempted murder and the murder of a number of business people” in 2004 and 2005, according to a statement by Russia’s top investigative agency.

    Four alleged members of the criminal group have been arrested on suspicion of involvement in those crimes, committed in Khabarovsk and the neighbouring Amur region, the Investigative Committee said in a statement.

    He was implicated during questioning of those suspects, state media reported, citing the Investigative Committee.

    Furgal, 50, was brought to the capital, Moscow, for further investigative procedures, state media reported. He was to be officially charged, with a court appointed to decide whether he should remain in custody.

    Furgal, of the populist Liberal Democratic Party of Russia (LDPR), won the 2018 election against the long-time incumbent, Vyacheslav Shport, who had represented the party most loyal to President Vladimir Putin, United Russia.

    He was reportedly elected upon a rise of anti-establishment sentiment in the region.

    “This is a very big political case,” LDPR leader Vladimir Zhirinovsky said in comments carried by Russian state news agency TASS. He emphasized that the party would defend Furgal.

    He was detained in the morning outside his home while he was heading to work, state media reported.

    Images from the scene showed him wearing a suit and tie while being pulled from a black Lexus SUV by armed officers in camouflage, their faces covered with headgear.

    Furgal, an educated medical professional, previously worked as a doctor at a state hospital for seven years until 1999, when he went into the private sector, according to a biography on the Khabarovsk administration’s website.

    He was elected as a regional lawmaker in Khabarovsk in 2005 and went on to be appointed to the federal parliament two years later. He served in Russia’s lower house of parliament for 11 years, from 2007 to 2018.

  • Amazing! Russian chefs protest naked as COVID-19 lockdown diminishes their income

    Amazing! Russian chefs protest naked as COVID-19 lockdown diminishes their income

    Russian restaurant owners, whose income dropped due to the COVID-19 lockdown, have campaigned to reopen shops by posting photos of themselves naked on social media.

     

    On Tuesday, pictures of residents said to be owners of bars, restaurants, and cafe employees, with carefully positioned plates, saucepans, bottles, and napkins, circulated on social media platforms.

     

    Reuters report that the group demanded that the Russian authorities allow them to start serving clients as the country gradually eases measures to stop the spread of the novel virus.

     

    Putin had ordered firm lockdown measures at the end of March — a directive that shut businesses except for food stores, pharmacies, although regions were conditionally allowed some adjustment.

     

    But the country would on Monday declare that it would lift a range of anti-coronavirus measures including a strict lockdown on Moscow, despite still recording thousands of new cases.

     

    While this would allow residents to travel freely for the first time since March, it was gathered that authorities in some cities including Novosibirsk had yet to say when restaurants can open.

     

    “We are naked because we are left with nothing,” Arthur Galaychyuk, owner of the Relab Family bar chain in the city of Kazan, whose 20 employees took part in the campaign, reportedly said.

     

    A chef known as Pavel from the Siberian city of Novosibirsk added: “We don’t want to stage a strip show or to fool around, we only want one thing to work!

     

    “We don’t pose more of a risk then supermarkets, shopping malls, hair salons, or public transport.”

     

    Ever since Russia’s first case of COVID-19, the country has so far recorded above 450,000 cases and over 6,100 deaths, according to worldometres.

     

  • Russia to build new space station, says ISS becoming obsolete

    Russia plans to build a new space station because the current International Space Station (ISS) will last only another decade at most, the head of the Russian space agency Roscosmos said on Monday.

    “It’s still unclear whether the new station will be international or national,’’ Roscosmos Chief Dmitry Rogozin said in comments carried by the Russian newspaper Komsomolskaya Pravda.

    Rogozin said that the International Space Station (ISS) would be operable for another seven to 10 years.

    The ISS, with segments built by Russia and the U.S., has been in continuous use for the past two decades.

    The orbiting laboratory has been a collaboration of mostly U.S. and Russian crew members, tasked with conducting scientific research that would be impossible on Earth’s surface.

    It is a unique source of cooperation between these two rival powers.

    Rogozin did not provide a timeline for the construction of Russia’s new space station.

    He said the issue of whether it would host international crews would be decided in the near future.

    “The technical preparations are supposed to start now,’’ Rogozin said.

  • Russia’s COVID-19 burden hits new high

    Russia has confirmed 8,946 new COVID-19 cases in the last 24 hours, raising its total infections to 353,427, its coronavirus response centre said in a statement on Monday.

    The death toll grew by 92 to 3,633, while 118,798 people have recovered, including 5,499 over the last 24 hours, according to the statement.

    Moscow, the country’s worst-hit region, confirmed 2,560 new cases in the last 24 hours, taking its total to 166,473.

    Russia’s consumer rights and human well-being watchdog, Rospotrebnadzor said in a statement on Monday that 287,683 people were under medical observation as of Sunday.

    More than 8.9 million lab tests for COVID-19 have been conducted across the country so far, it added.

    Rospotrebnadzor’s Head, Anna Popova, said on Sunday on Rossiya-1 television channel, that the pandemic situation in Russia had stabilised.

    She said that the virus spread ratio indicating how many people an infected person can pass the disease on to before isolation, which used to be less than one or equal to one in only nine regions, is now less than one in 27 regions and is equal to one in 17 regions.

    Therefore, 44 out of Russia’s 85 regions could “proceed today or tomorrow to the first stage of the removal of restrictions imposed because of COVID-19’’, Popova said.

    “Our scientists say that we’ll be able to move on to the next stage after two more weeks.’’

    At the first stage, people may be allowed to engage in outdoor sports and reopen small businesses, while at the second stage, people will be allowed to walk on the streets with family members and educational institutions may reopen.

    In Moscow, on Monday, some government agencies resumed receiving visitors.

    City residents will again be able to apply for passports, driver’s licences and obtain other documents, the Moscow Mayor’s office said on its website.

  • Russian Prime Minister tests positive for coronavirus

    Russian Prime Minister tests positive for coronavirus

    Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin has announced that he had contracted the coronavirus and requested that his first deputy be appointed as acting prime minister

    Mishustin made the announcement during an online conference with President Vladimir Putin.

    He said that he would remain in self-isolation for the time being, but added that his cabinet would continue to operate and that he would stay in touch.

    “In light of this situation, I would like to address all Russian citizens to take the threat of the coronavirus infection and its spread seriously.

    “We have the May celebrations ahead of us and I urge all of you to stay home [during them] and follow all safety rules to prevent the spreading of the disease,” Mishustin said.

    The PM also suggested that his first deputy, Andrey Belousov, be appointed as acting prime minister until he gets well and is able to fully return to work.

    Putin has accepted Belousov’s candidacy and wished Mishustin to get well as soon as possible.

    “What happens to you right now can happen to any of us, I have always said that. […] You, your cabinet, presidential administration are in the zone of high risk [of infection],” Putin told the prime minister.

    The president also announced that all crucial decisions on supporting the Russian economy during the pandemic will be cleared with Mishustin before being signed.

    He also thanked the prime minister for all the work he and his cabinet have done so far and expressed hope that he will be able to continue to take an active part in the cabinet’s activities, despite his illness.