Category: World

Presidential Aide Ushakov: a meeting between Putin and Biden on neutral territory is possible and US President Joe Biden. His words are reported by RIA Novosti. According to Ushakov, a meeting of the presidents on neutral territory is possible in the future. “A face-to-face meeting is naturally the most productive type of diplomatic work, and both presidents understand this,” he said. However, during the last conversation, the leaders of the countries did not discuss this issue. As Ushakov noted, earlier the parties agreed to organize a video conference. “This format also proved to be useful,” he said. After that, Russia and the United States agreed to think about the possibility of organizing a meeting of the presidents “somewhere on neutral territory in the future.” Negotiations between Joe Biden and Vladimir Putin took place on December 7. The Russian leader contacted the American president from his residence in Sochi. Putin arrived

Bloomberg: Pfizer Vaccine Provides Partial Protection Against Omicron COVID-19 strain of coronavirus. This is reported by Bloomberg, citing a study by the African Health Research Institute in South Africa. According to study leader Alex Sigal, the loss of immune defenses is “severe but not complete.” In particular, infection with the new omicron strain leads to an approximately 40-fold decrease in antibodies that block viruses. As noted by the researchers, the booster dose of the vaccine can provide additional protection. Previously, the vice president of the vaccine group at Pfizer Ralf Rene Reinert said in a conversation with the agency that the company's experts did not expect significant decrease in the effectiveness of the drug. On December 7, a virologist, doctor of medical sciences, professor, chief employee of the Gamaleya Research Center for Epidemiology and Microbiology Anatoly Altshtein told Lente.ru that data on the effectiveness of vaccines against the new omicron

Ushakov: Biden mentioned sanctions in a more acceptable form during his talks with Putin US President Joe Biden during online talks with Russian leader Vladimir Putin has toned down his rhetoric on possible sanctions against Russia. This was told by the assistant to the head of Russia, Yuri Ushakov, reports TASS. According to him, during the conversation Biden mentioned restrictive measures in a more acceptable form than was done earlier in various public statements. < p> Prior to this, the White House listed the main topics that were raised during the online talks between the presidents of Russia and the United States. Washington indicated that Biden voiced the concern of the United States and European allies with the build-up of Russian forces near the borders of Ukraine. The meeting was held via a special video link. The Kremlin said that this line was created during the previous administrations, but today

Analysts called on China to finance Indonesia's energy transition China and Japan have sponsored large-scale development of the coal industry in Indonesia, which, according to experts, does not have enough funds to implement its plan to achieve zero emissions, according to the South China Morning Post. Of the 31.9 gigawatts of coal-fired power plants in operation in Indonesia, about 41 percent were sponsored by Chinese organizations and about 17 percent by Japanese organizations, according to a study published in November by the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA). In addition, just over half of the 13.8 gigawatts of coal projects under development received financial assistance from Japan or China. Excessive expansion of coal production over the past 15 years has resulted in a 50-60 percent surplus in generating capacity at Indonesia's main state-owned electricity company, Perusahaan Listrik Negara, as IEEFA analysts Elrika Hamdi and Putra Adhiguna pointed out

Instagram will have a function for deleting photos, likes and comments published a long time ago and also change the policy regarding the content that is recommended to teens. The planned innovations were announced by the head of the social network, Adam Mosseri. According to him, the company will disable users' ability to mark or mention teenagers who are not subscribed to them. It will also be possible to delete photos, comments or likes published a long time ago without contacting the moderators. In 2022, the creators promised to launch an application for parents and guardians, allowing them to see how much time their children spend on social networks. Earlier, the developers of the Telegram messenger released updates to protect content. Channel owners now have the ability to prevent subscribers from forwarding messages, saving content, or taking screenshots. Also, users can delete correspondence for a specific day or a selected

MSU graduate Saule Omarova withdrew her candidacy for the post of head of the US Treasury … A native of the USSR no longer aspires to the post of head of the Office of Currency Control in the US Treasury, Reuters reports. According to the White House press service, published on Tuesday, December 7, US President Joe Biden granted Omarova's request to withdraw her candidates. Earlier it was reported that if appointed, a graduate of Moscow State University could become the first woman to head the department in 158 years of its existence. At the same time, Republicans and representatives of the banking sector criticized Omarova's candidacy. Thus, Senator from the Republican Party John F. Kennedy asked her to explain her ties with the All-Union Leninist Communist Youth Union (Komsomol) and demanded to provide confirmation of her withdrawal from the “organization of young communists”.

French President Macron will discuss the situation in Ukraine with Putin and Zelensky in the coming days French President Emmanuel Macron wanted to discuss the situation in Ukraine with the President Russia Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky, RIA Novosti reports. According to the agency, he plans to call his colleagues in the coming days. On December 7, Macron participated in negotiations on this issue with the heads of the United States, Germany, Italy and Great Britain. Earlier, Macron expressed hope that the talks held on Tuesday, December 7, between the leaders of Russia and the United States would lead to a decrease in tensions in relations between Western countries and Moscow. “Our strategy is to start working towards reducing tensions,” he said.

Senator Dzhabarov: no need to blackmail Russia with sanctions against the Nord Stream 2 project First Deputy Chairman of the Federation Council Committee on International Affairs Vladimir Dzhabarov called useless blackmail with sanctions against the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline. His words are reported by RIA Novosti. “There is no need to blackmail Russia with Nord Stream in connection with Ukraine, it is futile,” the senator said. He stressed that the project is commercial and more beneficial to Germany. At the same time, Russia is not a party to the conflict within Ukraine and is not preparing for an invasion, Dzhabarov stressed. The United States expects that the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline will be stopped if Russia invades Ukraine, the deputy said earlier US Secretary of State Victoria Nuland. She noted that the US is already consulting with the new German government on this matter. The implementation of the

President Putin told Biden that the sanctions are not having any positive effect Biden said that the sanctions have no positive effect, including for the United States itself. This was announced by the aide to the President of the Russian Federation Yuri Ushakov, reports TASS. “Biden talked about possible sanctions, and our president talked about what the Russian side needs, that sanctions are not new, they have been adopted for a long time, only, unfortunately, they do not give any positive effect either for the United States or for Russia, ”he said. Ushakov also clarified that Biden, warning of new sanctions, spoke of the threat to the Russian “economy, finance and politics.” Earlier, the Kremlin said that Biden softened his rhetoric on possible sanctions against Russia. According to Ushakov, during the conversation, Biden mentioned the restrictive measures in a more acceptable form than was done earlier in various public statements.

Nuland: Russia is ready to attack Ukraine with almost all troops west of the Urals … Deputy Secretary of State Victoria Nuland said this to the Congress, RIA Novosti reports. According to her, Moscow plans to involve “about 100 battalion tactical groups, or practically all combat-ready ground troops west of the Urals” in the military operation. She also added that Russia's military and intelligence services “continue to develop the potential for decisive action against Ukraine if ordered, potentially in early 2022.” On December 4, US intelligence “discovered” that Russia was planning an invasion the territory of Ukraine, and made a map of the proposed offensive on several fronts. Intelligence officials said that Moscow plans to involve 100 battalion tactical groups of up to 175,000 servicemen in the offensive. At the same time, the Western term “battalion tactical group” is absent in the combat regulations of the Russian Armed Forces, instead