Russia

Russia scrambled an Su-27 fighter jet to intercept a U.S. RC-135 reconnaissance plane flying over neutral waters in the Black Sea, the RIA news agency cited Russia's defence ministry as saying on Saturday.

Russia reported 27,100 new coronavirus cases on Saturday, including 7,320 in Moscow, taking the national total to 2,242,633 since the pandemic began.

The World Health Organization needs to see clinical data and information of good manufacturing practice to be able to evaluate Russia's Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine, WHO assistant director general Mariangela Simao said on Friday.

Russia plans to vaccinate more than 400,000 military personnel against COVID-19, Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu said on Friday, as authorities reported a record 27,543 new coronavirus cases.

Indian pharmaceutical company Hetero will manufacture over 100 million doses of the Russian Sputnik V COVID-19 vaccine per year under the terms of a deal unveiled on Friday between it and Russia's RDIF sovereign wealth fund.

Pipe-laying vessel Akademik Cherskiy, expected to be used to finish the Moscow-led Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline, has left the German project hub of Mukran and is heading to the Russian port of Kaliningrad, Refinitiv Eikon data showed on Friday.

Russia's foreign minister told Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko on Thursday to honour agreements with the Kremlin and press ahead with constitutional reforms to defuse a political crisis after months of protests.

Russia should consider revising the terms of its participation in the International Space Station, a Russian space industry executive said on Thursday, because it wants to focus on forming its own orbiting outpost after 2024.

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday inaugurated a pharmaceutical plant in Siberia that will manufacture drugs to treat COVID-19 as the country reported record high numbers of new coronavirus infections and deaths.