Russia

Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday he had not yet decided whether or not he would run for president again when his current term in the Kremlin ends in 2024, and that it was too early to talk about it.

August 14 (AFP) - The World Health Organization said on Wednesday it was looking forward to reviewing clinical trials of a potential coronavirus vaccine developed in Russia. President Vladimir Putin declared Russia the first country to approve a vaccine on Tuesday even though final stage testing involving more than 2,000 people was only due to start on Wednesday. The WHO...

Moscow, August 11 (Reuters) - Russia has named its first approved COVID-19 vaccine ‘Sputnik V’ for foreign markets, a reference to the world’s first satellite and what Moscow sees as its success at becoming the first country to approve a vaccine, a top official said on Tuesday. Kirill Dmitriev, head of the country’s RDIF sovereign wealth fund, said Russia had...

Moscow, August 11 (Reuters) - President Vladimir Putin said on Tuesday that Russia had become the first country in the world to grant regulatory approval to a COVID-19 vaccine after less than two months of human testing, a move hailed by Moscow as evidence of its scientific prowess. The vaccine still has to complete final trials, raising concerns among some...

August 8 (AFP) - The head of Russia's space agency said Friday that Roscosmos wants to return to Venus and bring back soil samples and build spacecraft that will surpass Elon Musk's rockets. Last week America's first crewed spaceship to fly to the International Space Station in nearly a decade returned safely to Earth, splashing down in the Gulf of...

London/Ottawa, July 17 (Reuters) - Hackers backed by the Russian state are trying to steal COVID-19 vaccine and treatment research from academic and pharmaceutical institutions around the world, Britain’s National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) said on Thursday. A co-ordinated statement from Britain, the United States and Canada attributed the attacks to group APT29, also known as Cozy Bear, which they...

Moscow, July 2 (Reuters) - Russians opened the door to Vladimir Putin staying in power until 2036 by voting overwhelmingly for constitutional changes that will allow him to run again for president twice, but critics said the outcome was falsified on an industrial scale. Official results, after 98% of ballots had been counted, showed that the former KGB officer who...

Moscow, June 25 (Reuters) - Russians on Thursday will begin casting their ballots in a seven-day vote on sweeping reforms that could clear the way for President Vladimir Putin to stay in the Kremlin until 2036 if re-elected, an exercise that critics call a constitutional coup. The vote is taking place despite concerns in opposition circles over the safety of...

Russia and China have a  shared dissatisfaction with US hegemony and Washington’s pushy policy in their neighborhood.

US is unfairly accused of discovering it for use as a biological weapon, says US website Defence One