National interests
President Vladimir Putin said Sunday that Russia's navy was capable of delivering lethal strikes against underwater and aerial enemy targets during a parade of warships in the port city of St. Petersburg.
Putin, speaking days after military officials announced tests of advanced new weapons, said Russia had secured its place among the world's leading naval powers, including by developing "the latest hypersonic precision weapons still unrivaled in the world."
Cold War ally
Russia dispatched nearly 100 tons of humanitarian aid to Cuba, the Defense Ministry said Saturday, following unprecedented street protests over the communist country's worst economic crisis in decades.
Two An-124 cargo planes carrying more than 88 tons of humanitarian support, including "food, personal protective equipment and more than 1 million medical masks," took off from a military airport near Moscow, a statement said.
Tense talks
The United States and Russia will hold a high-level Strategic Stability Dialogue on July 28 in the second bid in as many months to encourage stability in the tense relationship, the State Department said Friday.
The U.S. delegation will be led by Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman and include Bonnie Jenkins, recently confirmed as the under secretary of state in charge of arms control.
Fresh start
The Russian Football Federation on Friday named former international midfielder Valery Karpin as manager of the national football team.
Karpin, who was coaching FK Rostov, will replace Stanislav Cherchesov, who was sacked after Russia was eliminated in the group stage of Euro 2020.
Olympic medals
The Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) has collected seven medals after two days of competition at the Tokyo Olympics, with the team’s first and only gold brought Sunday by women’s 10 meter air pistol winner Vitalina Batsarashkina.
Fellow shooter Anastasia Galashina won silver in women’s 10 meter air rifle Saturday, with fencers, archers and taekwondists also contributing to the ROC’s medal count.
AFP contributed reporting to this article.
