Day: April 23, 2020

Russia will temporarily suspend deportations of foreigners over the next two months due to the coronavirus outbreak, the Interior Ministry said Thursday. President Vladimir Putin signed an order this weekend banning authorities from deporting migrants and denying them refugee and temporary asylum status between March 15 and June 15. The act also automatically extends visas…

Russia’s Labor Ministry has ordered mental health facilities and nursing homes to quarantine residents and employees for two weeks in a move to fight the coronavirus outbreak, the state-run TASS news agency reported Thursday. A total of 457 people have “inevitably” been infected with Covid-19 at 16 facilities in seven Russian regions so far, deputy…

Russia’s Supreme Court has ruled it illegal to discuss “fake news” about the deadly coronavirus pandemic in public in addition to publishing it. Facing public mistrust toward the country’s relatively low infection numbers at the time, Russia made spreading false information about Covid-19 punishable by up to five years in jail starting April 1. In…

More than 100,000 pregnant women will be unable to undergo medical abortions in Moscow because of restrictions during the coronavirus outbreak, the women’s rights organization Nasiliyu.net (“No to Violence”) Center has said. Only three out of the Russian capital’s 44 clinics have said they would continue to provide abortions through the national compulsory medical insurance…

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As the new coronavirus that has killed more than 184,000 people worldwide continues to spread, Russia has stepped up its measures to slow the pandemic’s spread within its borders. There have been 62,773 cases of coronavirus infections reported in Russia so far and 555 deaths. MT The number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Russia as of April…

U.S. prison officials have sent Russian pilot Konstantin Yaroshenko into observation after his cellmate allegedly died from coronavirus, Russia’s Consulate in New York said Thursday. Yaroshenko is serving a 20-year sentence at the Danbury federal prison in Connecticut for conspiracy to smuggle cocaine into the United States. Russia’s consulate said it filed a health request…

Russia’s officially reported numbers — which are still relatively lower than those in European countries — have sparked suspicion. Experts warn that Russia’s testing capacity is hampered by bureaucracy, while officials warn that the real number of cases is likely much higher. The majority of Russia’s cases are in Moscow. Since March 30, all of…

The Russian economy has been rocked by the coronavirus outbreak, and fears the fresh OPEC+ oil production pact between Russia and Saudi Arabia will not be enough to address a historic fall in demand. The turmoil has shocked traders around the world and resulted in sharp volatility on the Russian stock markets and swings in…

At least 21 Russian regions have requested digital travel passes a week after coronavirus-hit Moscow enacted its system to enforce lockdown measures and slow the deadly outbreak, the Communications and Press Ministry said Wednesday. Their introduction beyond Moscow comes as health officials warn that the regions lag behind the Russian capital in new infection rates…

After years spent on submarines with Russia’s Northern Fleet, Ivan Chernyshyov is having no problem adjusting to life on coronavirus lockdown — especially as, like many Russians, the retired sailor can escape to the countryside. “It’s good here. We’ll grow carrots and strawberries and maybe even some potatoes,” the 78-year-old says, while his wife Lyudmila…