Page 115 - Russia

Russia weaponising food, energy; abducted children in war: Zelenskyy

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Tuesday that Russia is weaponising everything from food and energy to abducted children in its war against Ukraine and he warned world leaders that the same could happen to them. When hatred is weaponised against one nation, it never stops there," he said at the UN General Assembly's annual top-level meeting. The goal of the present war against Ukraine is to turn our land, our people, our lives, our resources into weapons against you against the international rules-based order. He pointed to the war's effect on fuel and food supplies. And he highlighted what Ukraine says were at least tens of thousands of children taken from their families after Moscow's invasion: What will happen to them? "Those children in Russia are taught to hate Ukraine, and all ties with their families are broken. And this is clearly a genocide, Zelenskyy said. The International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant in March for Russian President Vladimir Putin

Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping to meet in Beijing in October, says Russia

Putin will attend the third Belt and Road Forum after an invitation by Xi during a high-profile visit to Moscow in March

Oil imports fall for third month in row in Aug on lower Russian shipments

Crude imports fell 3.9% month-on-month to 18.73 million metric tons in August, Petroleum Planning and Analysis Cell (PPAC) data showed

Turkey's Erdogan says he trusts Russia as much as he trusts the West

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that he trusts Russia as much he trusts the West. Explaining his recent meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin, Erdogan said he had failed to get him to resume the Black Sea grain deal the Kremlin withdrew from in July but had elicited a pledge for Russia to supply 1 million tons of grain to Africa. I have no reason not to trust them, Erdogan said during an interview late Monday with US broadcaster PBS in New York, where he is attending the UN General Assembly. To the extent the West is reliable, Russia is equally reliable. For the last 50 years, we have been waiting at the doorstep of the EU and, at this moment in time, I trust Russia just as much as I trust the West. Ankara has maintained close ties with both Russia and Ukraine during the 19-month war. In July last year, Turkiye and the UN engineered a deal to allow Ukrainian grain to be safely shipped from its Black Sea ports, helping alleviate a global food crisis. Moscow pull

Kim Jong Un back from Russia, where he deepened comradely ties: N Korea

North Korea said on Tuesday that leader Kim Jong Un has returned home from a trip to Russia where he deepened comradely fellowship and friendly ties with President Vladimir Putin. During Kim's six-day trip to Russia, his longest foreign travel as a leader, the two countries said they discussed boosting their defense ties but didn't disclose any specific steps. Foreign experts speculate the two countries, both locked in confrontations with the West, were pushing to reach arms transfer deals in violation of UN Security Council resolutions. The official Korean Central News Agency said Kim's train crossed a border river on Monday morning, but didn't say whether he headed to the capital, Pyongyang, or elsewhere inside the country. Before travelling to Russia, Kim made several visits to his munitions factories, triggering speculation that he intended to check on productions of arms to be shipped to Russia. While travelling through Russia's far eastern region, Kim met Putin at Russia's mo

Heading for UN, Zelenskyy questions why Russia still has place there

Days before potentially crossing paths with Russia's top diplomat at the United Nations, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy suggested Monday that the world body needs to answer for allowing his country's invader a seat at the tables of power. "For us, it's very important that all our words, all our messages, will be heard by our partners. And if in the United Nations still it's a pity, but still there is a place for Russian terrorists, the question is not to me. I think it's a question to all the members of the United Nations," Zelenskyy said after visiting wounded Ukrainian military members at a New York hospital. He had just arrived in the US to make his country's case to the world and to Washington for continued help in trying to repel Russia's invasion, nearly 19 months into what has become a grinding war. Ukraine's Western allies have supplied weapons and other assistance, and the US Congress is currently weighing President Joe Biden's request to provide as much as USD 2

Iranian prez denies sending drones, other weapons to Russia to use in war

Iran's president on Monday denied his country had sent drones to Russia for use in the war in Ukraine, even as the United States accuses Iran of not only providing the weapons but helping Russia build a plant to manufacture them. "We are against the war in Ukraine," President Ebrahim Raisi said as he met with media executives on the sidelines of the world's premier global conference, the high-level leaders' meeting at the UN General Assembly. The Iranian leader spoke just hours after five Americans who had been held in Iranian custody arrived in Qatar, freed in a deal that saw President Joe Biden agree to unlock nearly USD 6 billion in frozen Iranian assets. Known as a hard-liner, Raisi seemingly sought to strike a diplomatic tone. He reiterated offers to mediate the Russia-Ukraine war despite being one of the Kremlin's strongest backers. And he suggested that the just-concluded deal with the United States that led to the prisoner exchange and assets release could "help build trust"

China's foreign minister Wang Yi heads to Moscow after meeting US NSA

China's top foreign policy official is heading to Russia for security talks after two days of meetings with US President Joe Biden's national security adviser over the weekend in Malta. Foreign Minister Wang Yi, who simultaneously holds the ruling Communist Party's top foreign policy post, will be in Russia from Monday to Thursday for a round of China-Russia strategic security consultations, the Foreign Ministry said in a brief statement. The US and China are at odds over Russia's invasion of Ukraine. China has refrained from taking sides in the war, saying that while a country's territory must be respected, the West needs to consider Russia's security concerns about NATO expansion. It has accused the US of prolonging the fighting by providing arms to Ukraine, weaponry that the US says is needed to defend against Russian aggression. China and Russia have grown closer in recent years as relations with the West have deteriorated for both. China is looking for support as it seeks to .

Ukraine, its allies battle Russian bid to have genocide case tossed out

Ukraine's legal battle against Russia over allegations of genocide used by Moscow to justify its 2022 invasion resumes on Monday at the United Nations' highest court, as Russia seeks to have the case tossed out. Hearings at the International Court of Justice, also known as the Word Court, will see Ukraine supported by a record 32 other nations in a major show of support. Kyiv launched the case shortly after Russia invaded Ukraine, arguing that the attack was based on false claims of acts of genocide in the Luhansk and Donetsk regions of eastern Ukraine and alleging that Moscow was planning genocidal acts in Ukraine. It wants the court to order Russia to halt its invasion and pay reparations. Filing its case last year, Ukraine said that Russia has turned the Genocide Convention on its head making a false claim of genocide as a basis for actions on its part that constitute grave violations of the human rights of millions of people across Ukraine. Ukraine brought the case to the ...

The elusive nature of reality

Egginton gestures at connections between the work of Heisenberg, Kant and Borges, between physics and metaphysics, fiction and fact

N Korea's Kim Jong Un receives 5 explosive drones as gifts from Russia

In Vladivostok on Saturday, he met with the Russian Defence minister and viewed cutting-edge armaments, including a hypersonic missile system

Poland imposes EU ban on all Russian-registered cars in latest sanctions

Poland began to enforce a European Union (EU) ban Sunday on all Russian-registered passenger cars seeking to enter the country the latest in a series of sanctions on Russia in punishment for its war against Ukraine. Under the EU's decision, motor vehicles registered in the Russian Federation are no longer allowed to enter the territory of the 27-member bloc. A car registered in Russia has no right to enter Poland, Polish Interior Minister Mariusz Kaminski said Saturday, announcing the ban that took effect hours later at midnight. This is another element of the sanctions imposed on Russia and its citizens in connection with the brutal war in Ukraine, due to the fact that the Russian state today constitutes a threat to international security, Kaminski said. The move comes just days after the nearby Baltic states of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia banned vehicles with Russian license plates from entering their territory a joint move in line with a recent interpretation of the EU's ...

South Korea's Yoon warns against Russia-North Korea military cooperation

South Korea's president said the international community will unite more tightly to cope with deepening military cooperation between Russia and North Korea, as he pushes to raise the issue with world leaders at the U.N. General Assembly this week. Worries about Russian-North Korean ties have flared since North Korean leader Kim Jong Un traveled to Russia last week for a summit with President Vladimir Putin and to tour a slew of high-profile military and technology sites. Foreign experts speculate Kim could refill Russia's ammunition inventory drained in its 18-month war with Ukraine in return for economic aid and technologies to modernize his weapons systems targeting South Korea and the U.S. Military cooperation between North Korea and Russia is illegal and unjust as it contravenes U.N. Security Council resolutions and various other international sanctions, South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol said in written responses to questions from The Associated Press before his departure to .

Kim Jong Un discussed arms cooperation with Russian minister: N Korea media

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un held discussions with Russia's defence minister on strengthening strategic and tactical coordination between the countries' militaries, the North's state media said Sunday, as Kim continued a visit to Russia's Far East that has raised concerns about an arms alliance that would fuel Moscow's war on Ukraine. The talks with Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu came after Kim on Friday was shown some of Russia's most advanced weapons systems deployed for its war on Ukraine, including nuclear-capable bombers and hypersonic missiles, and a key warship of its Pacific fleet, the Korean Central News Agency said. Kim's trip, highlighted by a summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday, has underscored how their interests are aligning in the face of separate, intensifying confrontations with the West. US and South Korean officials have said North Korea could provide badly needed munitions for Putin's war on Ukraine in exchange for sophisticated Russian .

Russia to increase missile arsenal for winter onslaught against Ukraine

"Between October 2022 and March 2023, Russia focused long-range strikes against Ukraine's national energy infrastructure," the defence ministry said in the statement posted to X

Kim inspects Russian nuclear-capable bombers on visit to country's far east

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un arrived Saturday at a Russian city near the far eastern port of Vladivostok where he's expected to see Russia's Pacific Fleet. The visit follows Kim's talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin at the Vostochny spaceport on Wednesday and his visit Friday to an aircraft-making plant in Komsomolsk-on-Amur. The US and it allies are concerned that Kim's visit is focused on providing Moscow with weapons for its war in Ukraine in a possible arms-for-technology deal.

Bumper harvest of Russian wheat halves world prices from wartime high

"There are not a lot of competitors for Russian wheat," said Helene Duflot, a grain-market analyst at Strategie Grains. "Russia is the price maker at the moment"

UK officially proscribes Russia's Wagner Group as terrorist organisation

The release added that the Wagner group has now been added to the list of proscribed organisations in the UK, alongside 78 organisations

Imports from Russia doubles to $25.69 billion in Apr-Aug on oil, fertiliser

The country's imports from Russia almost doubled to USD 25.69 billion during the April-August period this fiscal due to increasing inbound shipments of crude oil and fertiliser, according to the commerce ministry data. With this, Russia has become India's second-largest import source during the first five months of this fiscal. The imports were USD 13.77 billion during April-August 2022. From a market share of less than 1 per cent in India's import basket before the start of the Russia-Ukraine conflict, Russia's share of India's oil imports rose to over 40 per cent. India, the world's third-largest crude importer after China and the United States, has been buying Russian oil that was available at a discount after some in the West shunned it as a means of punishing Moscow for the invasion of Ukraine. The ministry's data showed that imports from China dipped to USD 42 billion during the period against USD 43.96 billion in the same period last year. Similarly, imports from the US ..

Russia raises interest rate as inflation, exchange rate worries continue

The Central Bank of Russia raised its key lending rate by one percentage point to 13 per cent on Friday, a month after imposing an even larger hike, as concerns about inflation persist and the ruble continues to struggle against the dollar. The increase comes as annualised inflation rose in September to 5.5 per cent and the bank said it expected it would reach 6-7 per cent by the end of the year. Inflationary pressure in the Russian economy remains high. Significant pro-inflationary risks have crystallised, namely the domestic demand growth outpacing the output expansion capacity and the depreciation of the ruble in the summer months," the bank's board said in a statement. "Therefore, it is required to additionally tighten monetary conditions. The bank in August increased the lending rate to 12 per cent a jump of 3.5 percentage points as the ruble fell to 100 against the dollar. Although the ruble's exchange rate improved mildly after the rate hike, it remains around 95 to the ...