RUSSIA DEALING WITH COVID-19 BETTER THAN US: PUTIN

President Vladimir Putin said in a televised interview Sunday that Russia had been more successful in dealing with the coronavirus than the United States, adding, "we are exiting the coronavirus situation steadily with minimal losses, God willing, in the US it isn't happening that way."

Russia on Sunday confirmed 8,835 new virus cases, taking the total to 528,964, the third highest in the world, Agence France Presse (AFP) reported late on June 15, 2020.

Regions are gradually lifting lockdown restrictions and Moscow has reopened non-essential shops and hairdressers.

The US has the world's largest number of cases by far at 2.07 million. Putin told state television the coronavirus pandemic had exposed "deep-seated internal crises" in the US. He criticized a lack of strong leadership on the virus situation, saying that "the (US) president says we need to do such-and-such but the governors somewhere tell him where to go."