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A U.S. donation of coronavirus tests and ventilators is on its way to Russia, which ranks second in the world behind the United States for its number of infections, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in an interview Sunday. U.S. President Donald Trump had offered to send “some testing equipment, as well as ventilators” in…

Sergei Gribalev’s rubber boots sank into the open field’s thick, foul-smelling mud. As he prepared to take water samples and examine a nearby stream, seagulls landed atop swimming pool-sized basins, filled with brown manure.  “This is just the tip of the iceberg,” he said, through a respirator mask that covered the lower half of his…

Russia confirmed 8,926 new coronavirus infections Monday, bringing the country’s official number of cases to 290,678. It was the lowest number of new virus cases since May 1, when Russia announced 7,933 cases. On Sunday, the head of Russia’s public health watchdog, Anna Popova, said the growth of new coronavirus cases in Russia is stabilizing. Russia is…

As the deadly coronavirus pandemic continues to spread, Russia has gradually become the world’s second most-infected country. There have been 281,752 cases of coronavirus infections reported in Russia so far and 2,631 deaths. May 17: 3 things you need to know today 1. Russia confirmed 9,709 new coronavirus infections Sunday, bringing the country’s official number of cases to 281,752. Russia now has the…

Tucked away in a Moscow office block, the laboratory could pass unnoticed were it not for the line of people waiting, as Russia rolls out mass testing for coronavirus. While those in line are observing social distancing, they do not have symptoms of coronavirus. They have come to the laboratory, part of a commercial chain…

Russia says its high number of cases is due in part to a massive testing campaign that has seen more than 6 million tests carried out. Moscow accounts for roughly half of all infections and the city said it would be launching mass voluntary tests for antibodies from Friday. Russian President Vladimir Putin this week…

Russia says its high number of cases is due in part to a massive testing campaign that has seen more than 6 million tests carried out. Moscow accounts for roughly half of all infections and the city said it would be launching mass voluntary tests for antibodies from Friday. Russian President Vladimir Putin this week…

As the deadly coronavirus pandemic continues to spread, Russia has gradually become the world’s second most-infected country. There have been 272,043 cases of coronavirus infections reported in Russia so far and 2,537 deaths. May 16: 3 things you need to know today 1. Russia confirmed 9,200 new coronavirus infections Saturday, bringing the country’s official number of cases to 272,043 and signaling…

Russia’s state communications watchdog has demanded that Google block a Russian news website’s article on a Financial Times report about Russia’s possibly undercounted coronavirus deaths.  Roskomnadzor, the watchdog, said Thursday it was probing reports by FT and The New York Times, which analyzed official mortality data to investigate whether Russia is undercounting its coronavirus deaths,…

The Russian Premier League will restart its season next month despite rising coronavirus infections, but behind closed doors, its governing body said Friday. The Russian football association said in a statement that matches, suspended since March 17 because of the outbreak, would resume from June 21. The Russian Premier League, the country’s top football division,…

Ambulance workers in western Siberia have threatened to go on hunger strike if they don’t receive President Vladimir Putin’s promised payouts for working with coronavirus patients. Thursday marked Putin’s deadline to hand out April bonuses of up to 80,000 rubles ($1,100) to all medics treating Covid-19 patients. Russia’s prime minister acknowledged this week that regional…

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Friday rejected allegations by German Chancellor Angela Merkel that Russian hackers had spied on her. “Five years have passed. Not a single concrete fact has been provided,” Lavrov said in a live interview with Russia’s RBC news website. Speaking in parliament on Wednesday, Merkel voiced frustration that Russia was targeting…

Austrian princess Maria Galitzine, who spent her school years in Russia, has died of a sudden heart aneurysm in the United States at age 31, her family said in an obituary published Friday. Maria Singh, née Princess Maria Galitzine, was the great-granddaughter of the last emperor and empress of Austria and a descendant of the…

As the deadly coronavirus pandemic continues to spread, Russia has gradually become the world’s second most-infected country. There have been 262,843 cases of coronavirus infections reported in Russia so far and 2,418 deaths. May 15: 3 things you need to know today 1. Russia confirmed 10,598 new coronavirus infections Friday, bringing the country’s official number of cases to 262,843. Russia now has…

Russia says its high number of cases is due in part to a massive testing campaign that has seen more than 6 million tests carried out. Moscow accounts for roughly half of all infections and the city said it would be launching mass voluntary tests for antibodies from Friday. Russian President Vladimir Putin this week…

The head of Russia’s state-run oil giant Rosneft on Thursday asked President Vladimir Putin for a tax exemption for investments into genetic technology. Rosneft has been tapped to work alongside the Russian government to pursue “accelerated development of Russian genetic technologies” through 2027. Putin, who has sought to transform Russia into a world leader in…

Russia’s ambitious plans to build 25 waste-burning power plants risk provoking social unrest over their environmental and financial costs, Greenpeace Russia warned Thursday. State industrial conglomerate Rostec, state nuclear agency Rosatom and the VEB state development corporation on Thursday announced a 600 billion ruble ($7.6 billion) project to build the 25 waste-to-energy plants in “Russia’s…

A key suspect in the downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 was detained on unrelated charges in eastern Ukraine around the time the murder trial against the MH17 suspects started in the Netherlands this spring, BBC Russia reported Thursday. Former field commander Leonid Kharchenko, 47, is the only Ukrainian passport-holder among four suspects named by…

Russia is no longer a tea country, according to industry experts who say coffee drinking overtook tea for the first time last year. Russians consumed 40,000 more metric tons of coffee than tea in 2019, according to data from the RusTeaCoffee association cited by the RBC news website Thursday.  They drank 180,000 tons of whole…

As the new coronavirus that has killed more than 298,000 people worldwide continues to spread, Russia has stepped up its measures to slow the pandemic’s spread within its borders. There have been 252,245 cases of coronavirus infections reported in Russia so far and 2,305 deaths. May 14: 3 things you need to know today 1. Russia confirmed 9,974 new coronavirus infections…

Russia has rapidly become one of the epicenters of the deadly coronavirus pandemic, reporting the world’s fastest growth in infections with more than 10,000 new daily cases from May 2-13. This week, Russia surpassed Britain, Italy and Spain to become the second most-infected country with 252,245 confirmed cases, behind the United States. Officials attribute the…

The New York Times stands by its reporting on Russia’s low coronavirus death figures and will not issue a retraction, the paper’s vice president for communications Danielle Rhoades Ha told Russian state media Wednesday. Russia’s Foreign Ministry had demanded that NYT and the Financial Times retract reports, based on Moscow’s own official mortality data showing…

If you were taking your cues from Russia’s longtime leader Vladimir Putin this week, you would have been left thinking that the country’s worst struggles with the coronavirus pandemic were over.  “Starting tomorrow, May 12, the national non-working period will end for the entire country and for all sectors of the economy,” the Russian president…

The Kremlin this week eased a national lockdown to slow the spread of the virus, despite a steady rise in numbers that has brought Russia to second place in a global tally of infections, behind the United States. A majority of Russia’s new cases were registered in the capital, a government virus tally said, where…

Maria, a 24-year-old doctor working outside Moscow, expected to be paid extra if one of her patients tested positive for the coronavirus. Instead, her salary shrank. In a small town 200 kilometers (120 miles) from the capital, she visits patients at home and normally has around three calls a day. But that number surged to…

Early clinical trials of an antiviral drug in Russia have given “promising” results in treating the new coronavirus, a joint venture announced Wednesday as Russia faced mounting Covid-19 cases. Of 40 coronavirus patients who took a favipiravir pill, 60% tested negative for Covid-19 within five days compared to 30% in the control group, according to…

More than 60% of deaths among Moscow’s coronavirus patients are not being included toward the city’s official virus death toll, city health officials said Wednesday. Moscow, the epicenter of Russia’s coronavirus outbreak, has seen a low mortality rate compared to other major world capitals, with just 1,232 deaths out of 126,004 infections as of Wednesday.…

Russian lawmakers have passed a bill to allow Russians to vote by mail or online for President Vladimir Putin’s constitutional amendments that would allow him to stay in power through 2036. The coronavirus epidemic forced the president to indefinitely postpone the public vote, originally scheduled for April 22. The proposed changes to Russia’s Constitution would…

Russia’s health minister on Wednesday said it was necessary to raise the legal age to buy alcohol to 21 after an increase in drink-related deaths during the coronavirus epidemic. “Unfortunately, the role of alcohol has begun to rise in the death count during this period,” Mikhail Murashko told parliament. Lawmakers should pass legislation that would…

Russia’s oldest coronavirus patient, 100-year-old Pelageya Poyarkova, has fully recovered from the illness, the Federal Biomedical Agency (FMBA) said Wednesday. Poyarkova had been hospitalized for a routine procedure when the other patient in her room tested positive for coronavirus. She was transferred to the FMBA’s Center for Brain and Neurotechnology, a facility repurposed for coronavirus…

Two Russian regions will merge into a single federal subject, the first such move in more than a decade, the state-run TASS news agency reported after their governors signed a memorandum of intent Wednesday. The Arkhangelsk region and the Nenets autonomous district in northwestern Russia near the Arctic could send a petition to President Vladimir Putin…

German Chancellor Angela Merkel voiced frustration Wednesday that Russia was targeting her in hacking action, saying she had concrete proof of the “outrageous” spying attempts. “I can honestly say that it pains me. Every day I try to build a better relationship with Russia and on the other hand there is such hard evidence that…

Russia might not see its pre-coronavirus levels of tourism return until January 2021, officials said Tuesday as President Vladimir Putin pushed for the economy to “return to normal.” Russia shut its borders to foreign nationals, suspended its visa issuance and halted most international flights in late March as the coronavirus pandemic showed no sign of…

A model of Russian ventilator that the Kremlin sent to the United States as part of a high-profile shipment of medical supplies has been banned after being suspected of causing two deadly fires in coronavirus hospitals in Moscow and St. Petersburg. In a statement issued Tuesday, Roszdravnadzor — Russia’s state health watchdog — said it…

Russian investigators have rejected prosecutors’ orders to drop murder charges against three teenage sisters accused of killing their abusive father, Interfax reported Wednesday. Prosecutors in January ordered investigators to drop the charges against Krestina, Angelina and Maria Khachaturyan, who admitted to killing their father in July 2018 after he subjected them to years of physical,…

As the new coronavirus that has killed more than 292,000 people worldwide continues to spread, Russia has stepped up its measures to slow the pandemic’s spread within its borders. There have been 242,271 cases of coronavirus infections reported in Russia so far and 2,212 deaths. May 13: 3 things you need to know today 1. Russia confirmed 10,028 new coronavirus infections…

A Siberian shaman who has attempted several cross-country treks to “purge” President Vladimir Putin from office has been detained and sent to a psychiatric hospital a week after attempts to place him under observation for coronavirus, the MBKh News website reported Tuesday. “Around 20 anti-riot police stormed his house, cuffed him barefoot and bent over,…

On an electric trolleybus ride into central Moscow, all the passengers and the driver are wearing masks and gloves under new rules as the city begins a gradual return to work. “It’s positive, because it’s a necessary measure,” says 25-year-old Tatiana Khan, who wears a surgical mask and a T-shirt bearing a “love” motif. The…

The Kremlin this week eased a national lockdown to slow the spread of the virus, despite a steady rise in numbers that has brought Russia to second place in a global tally of infections, behind the United States. A majority of Russia’s new cases were registered in the capital, a government virus tally said, where…

Russian entrepreneur Pavel Durov dropped plans to launch Telegram’s TON blockchain project Tuesday, attacking the U.S. justice system for killing off the initiative. The Telegram and Vkontakte founder had been developing the TON blockchain platform and Grams cryptocurrency for more than two years, successfully raising $1.7 billion from investors in an initial coin offering (ICO)…

President Vladimir Putin announced that Russia’s “non-working” period would come to an end from May 12, allowing the country to start easing restrictions imposed more than six weeks ago to slow the spread of the coronavirus even as Russia saw record increases in new infections. During the nationwide “non-working” period, all non-essential businesses were required…

Update: Authorities declined to fine the victims “because they turned to police due to threats to their lives and health,” the regional coronavirus task force said Wednesday. Police in Siberia have cited two teenagers for breaking coronavirus stay-at-home orders after they reported that they were raped on the street, the regional Tayga.info news website reported Tuesday.…

President Vladimir Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov has been hospitalized with coronavirus, he told the state-run RIA Novosti news agency Tuesday. “Yes, I got sick, I’m being treated,” Peskov told Interfax. The Kremlin spokesman is at least the second person in Putin’s administration and the fifth senior government official to test positive for Covid-19. In addition to Culture…