Russia

The US diplomats will have to leave the country until May 21, the local media said. The Ministry announced the expulsion of 10 US embassy workers last month, in a tit-for-tat response to Washington's expulsion of 10 Russian officials and a wide array of sanctions against the country.

Both officials discussed the upcoming transition of the Arctic Council's chairmanship from Iceland to Russia that is set to take place during the ministerial meeting of the council on May 20 in Reykjavik, Iceland, the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement, Xinhua reported.

The source confirmed to the TASS News Agency that the victims comprised eight children and a teacher and among the 10 injured, four were rushed to a local hospital. According to a TASS source in the law enforcement agencies, the shooting took place at school No. 175 in Kazan located in the Tatarstan region.

In an address to troops and guests ahead of the annual event, Russian President Vladimir Putin praised Soviet contributions to the defeat of fascism during World War II and warned against attempts to rewrite history, Xinhua news agency reported. Putin said lessons from history must be learned, but those who are "obsessed with the delusional theory of their exclusivity" are in fact utilizing aspects of Nazi ideology.

"Russia consistently defends international law," the President said during a large military parade with some 12,000 participants in Moscow. Putin once again warned against attempts to falsify history and attempts to relativise the actions of "traitors and criminals", Xinhua news agency reported.

The Covid-19 vaccine Sputnik Light has received authorisation for use in Russia. The Sputnik Light has proven effective against all new strains of the coronavirus and has demonstrated no serious side-effects, said Russia's Gamaleya National Research Center of Epidemiology and Microbiology, which developed the jab.

As the legal procedure requires, Putin will then submit the bill to Parliament for deliberation and approval, and finally sign it into law, officially terminating Russia's participation in the Treaty, Xinhua news agency quoted the government as saying on Wednesday. The Russian Foreign Ministry announced on January 15 that the country had started domestic procedures for the pullout from the Treaty on Open Skies, following Washington's decision to withdraw.

It is another "anti-Navalny law," Leonid Volkov, a close confidant of the 44-year-old leading opposition figure, wrote on Twitter. Several deputies had introduced a bill in the Russian parliament on Tuesday that would deprive members of extremist organizations of their voting rights for years. This could soon affect many Navalny supporters.

"Two adults died in the hospital. It was not possible to save them," the TASS news agency reported, citing a source from the local department of the Russian Emergencies Ministry. According to the source, the fire, which started at 3.27 a.m. at the Vechny Zov Hotel and was extinguished by 4.30 a.m., covered an area of about 100 square metres, reports Xinhua news agency.

Russia's agricultural watchdog Rosselkhoznadzor announced on Friday that it had started mass production of the world's first Covid-19 vaccine for animals Carnivac-Cov. The first batch of 17,000 doses has been produced at Rosselkhoznadzor's subordinate institution, the Federal Centre for Animal Health, the watchdog said in a statement, Xinhua reported.