Page 124 - Russia

Brics Summit: Modi meets South African president, addresses plenary session

During the Plenary Session I of the summit, PM Modi said that BRICS (Brazil-Russia-India-China-South Africa) embarked on a long and amazing journey in the last two decades

Blood and billions: Here's a look at the cost of Russia's war in Ukraine

Russia's expenditure on the war is a state secret, but it coincides with a major shock to the Russian economy from the toughest ever Western sanctions imposed after the invasion

Drones downed in Moscow, surrounding region with no casualties: Officials

Russian defences downed Ukrainian drones in Moscow and the region around the capital early Wednesday, the defence ministry and the mayor said. No casualties were reported. Moscow Mayor Sergey Sobyanin said one drone fell into a building under construction in Moscow City, a prestigious business complex hit by drones twice before. Several windows were broken in two buildings nearby and emergency services responded to the scene. Russia's Ministry of Defence said the drone had been electronically jammed. It blamed the attack on Ukraine and said two other drones were shot down by air defense systems in the Mozhaisk and Khimki areas of the Moscow region. Moscow airports briefly closed but have now reopened, according to Russian state media. Ukraine has since early this year sought to take the war into the heart of Russia. It has increasingly targeted Moscow's military assets behind the front lines in eastern and southern Ukraine and at the same time has launched drones against ...

India set for first south pole Moon landing after Russia's Luna-25 crashes

Vikram, Chandrayaan-3's lander, is trending on X, formally known as Twitter, as billionaire industrialists and Bollywood actors eagerly await the historic moment

Mercenary leader Prigozhin said to be recruiting 'strongmen' for Africa

Russian mercenary leader Yevgeny Prigozhin on Monday published his first recruitment video for the Wagner Group since organizing a short-lived mutiny against defense officials in Russia, according to information on Russian social media channels. Prigozhin moved into the global spotlight in June with a dramatic, short-lived rebellion that posed the most serious threat to President Vladimir Putin of the Russian leader's 23-year rule. The Wagner founder long benefited from Putin's powerful patronage, including while he built a private army that fought for Russian interests abroad and participated in some of the deadliest battles of the war in Ukraine. In the video, which was posted on Telegram messaging app channels which are believed to be affiliated with Prigozhin, a person who appears to be the 62-year-old mercenary leader says the Wagner Group is conducting reconnaissance and search activities, and making Russia even greater on all continents, and Africa even more free. We are hiri

Russian space agency chief blames decades of inactivity for Luna-25 crash

The head of Russia's space agency said Monday that the Luna-25 spacecraft crashed into the moon after its engines failed to shut down correctly, and he blamed the country's decades-long pause in lunar exploration for the mishap. The pilotless Luna-25 had been scheduled to land Monday while aiming to become the first spacecraft to touch down on the south pole of the moon, an area where scientists believe important reserves of frozen water and precious elements may exist. Roscosmos Director General Yury Borisov said the spacecraft's engines were turned on over the weekend to put Luna-25 into a pre-landing orbit" but did not shut down properly, plunging the lander onto the moon. Instead of the planned 84 seconds, it worked for 127 seconds. This was the main reason for the emergency, Borisov told Russian state news channel Russia 24. Roscosmos had contact with the spacecraft until 2:57 p.m. local time Saturday, when communication was lost and the device passed into an open lunar orbit

Elon Musk told Pentagon that he spoke to president Putin directly: Report

Musk made the comments during an October conversation with Colin Kahl, then the Pentagon's top policy official, about Ukrainian forces losing connection to Space X's Starlink service

Moon landing anticipation builds for Chandyayaan-3 after Russia's crash

All systems on the spacecraft are working "perfectly" and no contingencies are anticipated on the landing day, the Isro said on Monday

Luna-25 | Why Russia's historic moon mission ended in a crash

Russia's lunar dreams were dashed when the Luna-25 probe, its first in nearly 50 years, crashed on the Moon on 20th August. >

Russia's Luna-25 crash will have no impact on Chandrayaan-3: Scientists

The failure of Russia's Luna-25 moon mission will have no impact on ISRO's Chandrayaan-3 lunar venture, according to top Indian space scientists. The Luna-25 spacecraft crashed into the Moon after it spun into an uncontrolled orbit, Russia's Roscosmos space agency said on August 20. "It does not have any impact," K Sivan, who was heading ISRO when the Chandrayaan-2 mission was launched in 2019, told PTI on Monday when asked if ISRO would be under additional pressure ahead of the soft landing, following the Russian setback. Chandrayaan-3 mission's lander module with a rover in its belly is expected to touch down on the surface of the Moon around 6.04 pm on Wednesday, ISRO had said on Sunday. "It (Chandrayaan-3 mission) is going on as per plan. It (soft landing) will be done accordingly, Sivan said. "We are hoping that this time (unlike Chandrayaan-2) it (the touchdown) will be successful". Former ISRO Chairman G Madhavan Nair dismissed talk in some quarters that India and Russia we

Russian space agency says its Luna-25 spacecraft has crashed into the moon

Russia's robot lander the Luna-25 spacecraft crashed into the moon after it had spun into uncontrolled orbit, the country's space agency Roscosmos reported on Sunday. The apparatus moved into an unpredictable orbit and ceased to exist as a result of a collision with the surface of the moon, read a statement from the agency. Roscosmos said it lost contact with the spacecraft on Saturday after it ran into trouble while preparing for its pre-landing orbit after reporting an abnormal situation that its specialists were analysing. During the operation, an abnormal situation occurred on board the automatic station, which did not allow the maneuver to be performed with the specified parameters, Roscosmos said in a Telegram post. The spacecraft was scheduled to land on the south pole of the moon on Monday, racing to land on Earth's satellite ahead of an Indian spacecraft. The lunar south pole is of particular interest to scientists, who believe the permanently shadowed polar craters may

Vladimir Putin now turns to ruble and ballot to shore up authority

The Bank of Russia's emergency interest rate hike this week was not just a response to the latest fall in the ruble but part of a wider effort to subdue inflation before the vote

Serbia will increase gas supply to Hungary if Ukraine exits transit deal

Serbia will provide Hungary with increased shipments of Russian natural gas if Ukraine follows through on ending a gas transit agreement with Russia, Hungary's foreign minister said Sunday. Speaking in a taped message, Peter Szijjarto said Serbia's president, Aleksandar Vucic, had met with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbn in Budapest, and assured him that Serbia would be able to supply more Russian gas to Hungary if Kyiv declines to extend an agreement allowing its transit across Ukrainian territory. We've heard in recent days that Ukraine would like to terminate the previously concluded natural gas transit agreement with Russia, Szijjarto said. Today, the Serbian president made it clear that if Hungary would like to increase natural gas shipments through Serbia to Hungary, then Serbia can ensure the necessary shipment capacities. The deal came after Ukraine's energy minister, German Galushchenko, indicated Kyiv was unlikely to extend the transit agreement which brings Russian .

Race to the moon: Russia out of contest as Chandrayaan 3 sets up lunar date

Russia has bowed out of the race to the moon with India after its robot lander crashed on the lunar surface, setting Chandrayaan-3 on an easier course while ISRO scientists achieved yet another successful maneouver to take the spacecraft closer to the moon in its soft-landing attempt on August 23. ISRO on Sunday said it has successfully reduced the orbit of Chandrayaan-3 mission's Lander Module (LM), and it is now expected to touch down on the surface of the Moon at 6.04 PM on Wednesday. This came even as Russian lander Luna-25 crashed into the moon after going into uncontrolled orbit. "The apparatus moved into an unpredictable orbit and ceased to exist as a result of a collision with the surface of the moon," Russian space agency Roscosmos said in a statement. Roscosmos said it lost contact with the spacecraft on Saturday after it ran into trouble while preparing for its pre-landing orbit after reporting an "abnormal situation" that its specialists were analysing. The Luna-25 was

Zelenskyy vows retaliation for Chernihiv attack that killed 7 people

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Sunday vowed stern retaliation for a Russian missile strike in the center of the northern Ukrainian city of Chernihiv that killed seven people and wounded almost 150 others the day before. I am sure our soldiers will respond to Russia for this terrorist attack. Respond tangibly, Zelenskyy said in a video address published in the early hours of Sunday at the end of a visit to Sweden, his first foreign trip since attending a NATO summit in Lithuania last month. He identified a 6-year-old girl named Sofia as among the dead in the attack and confirmed that the wounded included 15 children. The governor of the Chernihiv region, Vyacheslav Chaus, said Sunday that the total number of people confirmed to have been wounded had risen to 148. Further east, Russian forces shelled the city of Kupiansk on Sunday morning, seriously wounding a man, according to Kharkiv regional Gov. Oleh Syniehubov. Zelenskyy arrived in the Netherlands on Sunday, two day

Russia's Luna-25 spacecraft suffers glitch in pre-landing manoeuvre

Russia reported an abnormal situation Saturday on its moon-bound Luna-25 spacecraft, which launched earlier this month. The country's space agency, Roscosmos, said the spacecraft ran into unspecified trouble while trying to enter a pre-landing orbit, and that its specialists were analyzing the situation. During the operation, an abnormal situation occurred on board the automatic station, which did not allow the maneuver to be performed with the specified parameters, Roscosmos said in a Telegram post. Roscosmos did not specify whether the incident will prevent Luna-25 from making a landing. The spacecraft is scheduled to land on the south pole of the moon on Monday, racing to land on Earth's satellite ahead of an Indian spacecraft. The lunar south pole is of particular interest to scientists, who believe the permanently shadowed polar craters may contain water. The frozen water in the rocks could be transformed by future explorers into air and rocket fuel. Also on Saturday, the Rus

China, Russia aiming to steal tech from US space firms: US officials

The two-page advisory warned that foreign intelligence organisations have started to increasingly see the expanding US space sector as a critical and profitable target

Zelenskyy visits NATO candidate Sweden for first time since war with Russia

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is visiting Sweden on Saturday his first visit to the country since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine last year, the Swedish government said. It said Zelenskyy will meet Swedish government officials in Harpsund, about 120 kilometres west of Stockholm. He will also meet Sweden's King Carl XVI Gustaf and Queen Silvia at a palace in the area. Sweden abandoned its longstanding policy of military nonalignment to support Ukraine with weapons and other aid in the war against Russia. It also applied for NATO membership but is still waiting to join the alliance. Meanwhile, Russian President Vladimir Putin visited top military officials in the Russian city of Rostov-on-Don near the Ukrainian border. The Kremlin said that Putin listened to reports from Valery Gerasimov, the commander in charge of Moscow's operations in Ukraine, and other top military brass at the headquarters of Russia's Southern Military District. The exact timings of his visit

Does Brics exist only because a good acronym cannot be allowed to die?

India says it wants clear criteria established for new Brics memberships. But do even the existing members qualify under any meaningful criteria, asks T N Ninan

Diamond city of Surat faces upheaval as demand declines due to sanctions

The demand for diamonds fell as sanctions were imposed on diamonds mined, processed or produced in Russia; India sourced almost 35 per cent of its rough diamonds from Russia