According to the Russian Deputy Prime Minister Tatiana Golikova, more than 80% of excess deaths this year are linked to the coronavirus pandemic, which is three times the official death toll.
Official figures state that 55,827 people have died from contracting the coronavirus in Russia, but the excess death estimates would raise that to 186,000 people.
The Federal Prison Service (FSIN) on Monday accused Navalny of violating the terms of a suspended prison sentence he is still serving out over a conviction dating from 2014.
According to Russian President Vladimir Putin, the technical modernisation of the arm and navy requires the introduction of new forms of warfare science, especially through the integration of artificial intelligence.
Putin observed that it is vital to not only study the experience of modern armed conflicts and local wars, but also to make predictions on how they will evolve in the future.
The investigation, which Navalny endorsed, said it had identified a team of assassins from Russia’s FSB security service, who had stalked him for years. It named the intelligence officers and poison laboratories it said were behind the operation.
“It’s a trick to attack the leaders (of Russia),” says Putin.
Speaking at his annual press conference, Putin added that Russian hackers had not meddled in the 2016 U.S. presidential vote to help Donald Trump get elected.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday he had not yet decided whether or not he would run for president again when his current term in the Kremlin ends in 2024.
Yet the pandemic coupled with low oil prices saw incomes fall 8.4pc in the second quarter, year-on-year, in what became the deepest quarterly decline since 1999.
The Russian market will have one eye on Thursday on Putin fielding questions from the media, an annual event, which can last for several hours and is due to begin at 1200 (0900 GMT) in Moscow.
The Russian leader wished the US president-elect every success, adding that: "For my part, I am ready for collaboration and contacts with you," according to a Kremlin statement.
Sputnik V, one of two Russian-made vaccines to have received regulatory approval in Russia despite clinical trials being incomplete, requires two injections.
The ceasefire signed on Nov. 10 halted military action in and around Nagorno-Karabakh, internationally recognised as part of Azerbaijan but populated by ethnic Armenians, after the worst fighting in the region since the 1990s.
The two leaders expressed serious concern over the large-scale clashes between ethnic Armenian and Azeri forces in the region and the involvement of fighters from Syria and Libya in the conflict.
Putin informed Macron of the steps Russia had taken towards implementing a ceasefire.