Since America considers India a major defence partner, the Narendra Modi government was hoping to receive an exemption from US sanctions over the acquisition of five S-400 units. India signed a $5.43 billion deal with Russia in 2018 in an attempt to secure its borders from enemies. US law which gives the administration authority to slap strict sanctions on countries which have done deals [...]

MOSCOW - China and Russia are determined to continue the exemplar neighborly relationship in the new year, with Beijing seeing no limits as to how far the bilateral strategic cooperation can reach, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi told Chinese media. "The year 2021 is a year of special importance for China-Russia relations, as both countries will enter a new development stage. In developi [...]

VIENNA - The experience of administration of Russian vaccines against COVID-19 is raising a great interest in Austria even though the countries are not currently engaged in specific negotiations, Russian ambassador Dmitry Lyubinsky said, praising the efficacy of the Russian vaccines. "There are currently no negotiations on exact plans related to the potential use of the Sputnik V vaccine in [...]

This Monday marked 50 years since one of the 20th century’s most iconic moments, when German Chancellor Willy Brandt fell to his knees in Warsaw, emotionally apologizing for the horrors the Nazis had unleashed on Eastern Europe. It was one of the milestones of the Neue Ostpolitik – Bonn’s policy aimed at normalizing relations with the USSR and its East European satellites. On the day of [...]

The deputy speaker of the Crimean parliament has sounded the alarm on escalating military activity on Russia’s borders, insisting that those living on the disputed peninsula just want to be left alone. In comments reported by RIA Novosti, Efim Fiks warned that an aggressive US-led campaign against the stationing of Russian troops in Crimea, which was reabsorbed into the country in 2014, is [...]

A wide-ranging anti-coronavirus vaccination campaign began in Moscow on Saturday, with thousands signing up for shots online, in the Russian capital. Frontline workers were given first priority, as previous indicated. Those wishing to participate have to sign up online before receiving their initial dose of Sputnik V at one of the city’s 70 specialist clinics. The vaccine consists of two se [...]

In a freshly-published book, Maria Butina has documented her time inside the American prison system, where she spent more than a year after being dubbed a foreign agent acting on behalf of Moscow’s ‘influence campaign.’ The book ‘#Prison diary’ is based on the journal Butina kept chronicling her experiences behind bars, including the time she spent in solitary confinement. [...]

A representative of the European Commission said the day before that the European Medicines Agency (EMA) is in talks with the manufacturer of Russia's Sputnik V vaccine against the coronavirus. The European Medicines Agency on Thursday confirmed to Sputnik that it's holding talks with the producer of Russia's Sputnik V vaccine. "We have indeed been contacted by the developer and are discu [...]

Washington already imposed sanctions on the Russian-German energy project late last year, tacking them on to the US National Defence Authorization Act. Now, a bipartisan group of lawmakers from both the House and Senate is reportedly looking to introduce additional restrictions against it before the end of the year. An influential group of German businesses has written a letter to Democra [...]

After pandemic-related delays, Russia’s first electric car, called the Zetta, is set to enter serial production in late 2020, the country’s Industry and Trade Minister Denis Manturov has revealed. The Zetta will roll off the production line in the city of Tolyatti, one of the major centers of Russia's automotive industry. The cars will first be sold on the domestic market, but the initial [...]

Russia's space agency Roscosmos may be hit with US sanctions for the first time ever, as a draft document reveals the Russian Ministry of Defense might become the subject of economic penalties from Washington. As well as Roscosmos, the proposed sanctions would also target Rosatom, the federal nuclear energy agency, as one of 28 organizations in the aviation, rocket, space, nuclear, instrument [...]

The N.F. Gamaleya National Research Centre for Epidemiology and Microbiology and the Russian Direct Investment Fund have announced the efficacy of their newly developed inoculation, the world's first registered COVID-19 vaccine, has topped 95%, with the latter uplifting results shown 42 days after the first shot. The evaluation was carried out among 18,794 volunteers 28 days after receiving the [...]

A notorious US naval destroyer sparked a diplomatic incident on Tuesday morning after Russia claimed that it had launched an incursion into its territorial waters. The USS John S McCain, a specialist combat ship designed to hunt submarines, was operating in the Sea of Japan (also called the East Sea), off the coast of the Russian Far Eastern capital, Vladivostok. Authorities say it was more than t [...]

An American man with a rare muscle disorder took a chance on Russia after doctors back home gave him little hope of walking again. In the US, Alan Spencer's prognosis varied between being bedridden for life or wheelchair-bound. Now, after a month of treatment, under the guidance of Russian specialists, he’s able to walk on his own. Spencer first felt something was wrong with his health a [...]

After trials on two groups of volunteers, Russia’s Gamaleya Research Centre announced it has created the first vaccine against COVID-19. According to Russian Health Minister Mikhail Murashko, the first batch of the drug, known as "Sputnik-V", will be produced in 2 weeks and delivered for voluntary vaccination in Russian hospitals. The vaccine is a two-component treatment based on the human ad [...]

Switzerland has adopted sanctions against Russian individuals and companies involved in the construction of the bridge over the Kerch Strait that connected the Crimean Peninsula with continental Russia, the Swiss Federal Department of Economic Affairs said on Friday. "The Federal Department of Economic Affairs has made amendments to the list of individuals attached to the directive on the preventi [...]

Russia was widely criticized when it became the first country in the world to register a coronavirus vaccine in August. It was accused of rushing through the approval of the ‘Sputnik V’ formula for political or propaganda gain. Since then the whole development of the vaccine has been dogged by Schadenfreude as the press leapt on signs of impropriety in the data, and Russia has even been acc [...]

The research team of Credit Suisse, one of Switzerland’s leading banks, has commended the frank discussion that the developers of the Russian Sputnik V vaccine recently had on its efficacy. "We were encouraged by the frank discussion of the human viral vector technology used and we view the 92 percent efficacy as a positive incremental readacross for the AstraZeneca data expected soon ( [...]

Joe Biden understands it is necessary to extend the New START (Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty), Russian Ambassador to the United Nations Vassily Nebenzia said in an interview with Sputnik. The possible change of the US administration, however, does not mean that the issues Moscow and Washington have in the disarmament area will be completely resolved, the diplomat said. [...]

From stealing research to hacking #virus vaccine trials, Russia has been accused by the West of playing fast and loose in the race to contain the pandemic. Our correspondents see how the #vaccine works and volunteer to test subjects. See their experiences after the Sputnik 5 vaccine injection.  What do you know about the Russian Sputnik-V Russia's Sputnik V vaccine: What the experts say [...]

The boss of one of Israel’s largest hospitals has placed a huge order for Russia’s Sputnik-V coronavirus vaccine, arguing that concerns over the formula are due to tensions between Moscow and Washington, rather than safety issues. Zeev Rotstein, director of Jerusalem’s Hadassah Medical Centre believes Western objections are more political than scientific, telling Israeli newspaper Haare [...]

The Russian authorities would have never let Alexey Navalny leave for treatment in Germany if they pursued poisoning him, especially given his travel restrictions under a criminal case, Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday. "If the authorities wanted to poison him, they would have not let him go to Germany for treatment, would they? As soon as the wife of this citizen sent me a req [...]