Russia on Friday called a U.S. decision to not rejoin the Open Skies arms control pact, which allows unarmed surveillance flights over member countries, a political mistake that strikes a sour note ahead of a summit, Russian news agencies reported. The United States told Russia on Thursday it would not rejoin the pact, which Washington left in November, accusing Russia of violating it, something Moscow denied. The original decision to quit the pact was taken by the administration of then U.S. president Donald Trump and Moscow had hoped that Joe Biden would reverse that decision. Sergei Ryabkov, Russia’s deputy foreign minister, was quoted by the RIA news agency on Friday as saying that Moscow was disappointed but not entirely surprised by Biden’s decision. “It certainly does not make us ha...
Agence France-Presse Spokesman to Russian President, Dmitry Peskov, has debunked a report that Vladimir Putin is planning to resign due to health issues. Citing a connected Russian political scientist Valery Solovei, The Sun on Friday reported that Mr. Putin is considering to step down due to health issues. The tabloid said there have been claims that Mr. Putin has been nursing Parkinson’s disease and his daughters and 37-year-old wife are prevailing on him to stand down. However, Mr. Peskov on Friday said that Putin, who is serving a six-year term that will elapse by 2024, is in good health. “No, he is in excellent health,” Peskov told TASS, a Russian newspaper, when asked to react to report that his principal is planning to step down. “There isn’t much to comment on here. “This is pure n...
A baby was born with the coronavirus in Russia’s Caucasus region, health officials were quoted by TASS news agency as saying on Sunday, to a mother who is also infected. The birth in the North Ossetia city of Beslan follows one in mid-April in Peru, which health officials there said was the second known case of a COVID-19 positive newborn worldwide. In North Ossetia, “a pregnant woman was infected by the coronavirus, and her baby was born infected”, a regional health ministry spokesman was quoted by the state agency TASS as saying. “They are now at home, their state is satisfactory,” the spokesman added. The head of the hospital’s maternity unit, Hassan Tagaiev, was quoted by local television as saying that 17 of 35 women who were about to give birth there had tested positive for COVID-19....