Page 136 - Russia

Russian minister set for BRICS meet in Africa with war in Ukraine on agenda

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov was meeting in South Africa with counterparts from the BRICS economic bloc of developing nations for discussions Thursday that will start with an exchange of views on major geopolitical issues, including the war in Ukraine, South Africa's ambassador to the bloc said. Most of the BRICS countries differ sharply from the position of the US and its Western allies on the war. Speaking ahead of the meeting, the South African ambassador, Anil Sooklal, referred to the West's military aid to Ukraine as one of the things that fuels the conflict. Any endeavour that fuels the conflict does not solve the problem," Sooklal said when asked for his reaction to Western attempts to transfer weapons to Ukraine. We do not know of any global conflict that has been solved though war, he said. All it does is cause more pain and suffering and, as BRICS countries, this is what we are saying: Let's focus on finding a peaceful resolution to the challenges, rather than ..

Russian Olympic medalists barred from races for lack of neutrality in war

Two Russian track cyclists who won medals at the Tokyo Olympics were ruled ineligible to race Wednesday for breaching rules monitoring their neutrality during the war on Ukraine. Anastasiia Voinova and Mariya Novolodskaya cannot race in International Cycling Union (UCI) events from Thursday, the governing body said in a document posted on its website. The world championships are held in August in Glasgow, Scotland. This ineligibility will apply for as long as the ad hoc rules' regarding Russia and Belarus remain in force, the UCI said in the document without detailing the breaches. A rules update published May 3 takes effect Thursday and specifies the strictest neutrality towards the Russian Federation and the Republic of Belarus at any time since the beginning of the war in Ukraine is required to race in UCI events. The UCI can deny neutral status to riders or officials who are or have been contracted to the Russian or Belarusian military or who have shown support for the war in .

Sports leaders meet amid uncertainty over Russians playing Olympics 2024

Olympic sports bodies meet Wednesday amid ongoing uncertainty about if and how Russian athletes could return to their competitions ahead of the 2024 Paris Games. The annual meeting of the Association of Summer Olympic International Federations (ASOIF) comes more than two months after the IOC detailed advice on how individual athletes from Russia and its military ally Belarus could be reintegrated as neutral athletes. Exactly how that neutrality is being defined is not very much clearer now as key qualification events start for the Olympics that open in July next year. The International Olympic Committee in March advised that some Russians and Belarusians could return in individual events but not team sports, if they had not actively supported the war in Ukraine, and are not contracted to "military or national security agencies." The IOC also suggested ASOIF and the winter sports umbrella group, AIOWF, could oversee "creating a single independent panel" to run and "harmonize" the ..

BRICS bank NDB looks to find ways to fulfil its Russia obligations

Days after Russia invaded Ukraine, the NDB announced it would stop funding new projects in Russia to assure investors it was complying with western-led sanctions against Moscow

Ukraine's economy shows 'resilience' from Russian attacks, says IMF

Ukraine's economy is showing remarkable resilience following Russian attacks on its electricity infrastructure, officials from the International Monetary Fund said Tuesday as they signed off on an initial loan of USD 900 million and raised their estimate for the country's economic growth. The outlook improved to 1% to 3% growth this year from minus 3% to plus 1% in an earlier assessment in March, said Gavin Gray, the IMF's mission chief to Ukraine. Inflation is coming down and the hryvna currency is stable despite the massive disruption of the war, Gray said. But he warned that the economic outlook faces exceptionally high risks. Through the winter, Ukraine faced devastating attacks on its critical infrastructure, and missile strikes continue countrywide, Gray said in an online news conference. Despite this, the Ukrainian economy has shown remarkable resilience economic activity in the first quarter rebounded strongly, as the energy system rapidly recovered from attacks on critical

Possible Putin trip in spotlight as Russia, China ministers to meet in SA

The Russian and Chinese foreign ministers are expected to meet with their counterparts from the BRICS economic bloc in Cape Town on Thursday, a precursor to a larger summit of developing nations' leaders in South Africa in August that Russian President Vladimir Putin may attend while under indictment by the International Criminal Court. South Africa has suggested without saying explicitly that it won't arrest Putin, if he decides to travel for the main BRICS summit in Johannesburg, despite being obliged to do so as a signatory to the ICC's Rome treaty. BRICS is a bloc of emerging economies made up of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, and their leaders, including China's Xi Jinping, have been invited to the Aug. 22-24 summit. Any Putin trip and the Kremlin hasn't said if he will attend would focus more attention on South Africa's relationship with Moscow. There are clear concerns in the West that Africa's most developed economy is aligning with Russia and pulling other

Crude imports from Russia jumped 14x in FY23, says RBI annual report

The country's overall import of crude oil rose to $162.2 billion in FY23, up from $107.5 billion, data from the Department of Commerce shows

War in Ukraine reaches Moscow; Russian capital hit by biggest drone attack

Russian air defences stopped eight drones converging on Moscow, officials said Tuesday, in an attack that authorities blamed on Ukraine, while Russia pursued its relentless bombardment of Kyiv with a third assault on the city in 24 hours. The Russian defence ministry said five drones were shot down and the systems of three others were jammed, causing them to veer off course. It called the incident a terrorist attack by the Kyiv regime. The attack caused insignificant damage to several buildings, Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said. Two people received medical attention for unspecified injuries but did not need hospitalisation, he said in a Telegram post. Residents of two high-rise buildings damaged in the attack were evacuated, Sobyanin said. Andrei Vorobyov, governor of the wider Moscow region, said some of the drones were shot down on the approach to Moscow. Ukraine made no immediate comment on the attack, which would be one of its deepest and most daring strikes into Russia since

Drones hit Moscow buildings, several downed on approach, says officials

It was not immediately clear who launched the drones

Russia attacks Kyiv as air defences work to stop relentless bombardment

Russia launched a pre-dawn attack on Ukraine's capital Tuesday as its air defences worked to stop drones in what has been a relentless wave of daylight and nighttime bombardments targeting Kyiv. The buzzing of drones and loud explosions were heard as Ukrainian air defence responded to the third Russia aerial attack on the capital in the last 24 hours. According to preliminary data, more than 20 Shahed drones were destroyed by air defence forces in Kyiv's airspace, the Kyiv Military Administration says. One person died, three were injured when a high-rise building in the Holosiiv district caught fire. The two upper floors are destroyed, and there may be people under the rubble, the Kiyv military administration said. More than 20 people were evacuated. Elsewhere in the capital, falling debris caused a fire in a private house in the Darnytskyi district and three cars were set alight in the Pechersky district, according to the military administration. The series of attacks that began .

ONGC Videsh has around $100 mn of dividend income stuck in Russia: Official

India's flagship overseas firm ONGC Videsh has less than USD 100 million of dividend income lying in Russia because of Ukraine conflict but the company is not in a hurry to bring it back, a senior official said on Monday. Indian state oil firms have invested USD 5.46 billion in buying stakes in four different assets in Russia. These include a 49.9 per cent stake in the Vankorneft oil and gas field and another 29.9 per cent in the TAAS-Yuryakh Neftegazodobycha fields. They get dividends on profits made by the operating consortium from selling oil and gas produced from the fields. Soon after invading Ukraine in February last year, Russia put restrictions on repatriation of dollars to check volatility in foreign exchange rates. OVL, the overseas arm of state-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC), got its last dividend back in July 2022. One dividend payout that came after that is lying in the company's account in Russia. Its managing director Rajarshi Gupta said the dividend .

Belarusian President taken to hospital after meeting with Putin: Report

Tsepkalo's message said, "The organized measures to rescue the Belarusian dictator were aimed at averting speculation about the possible involvement of the Kremlin in his poisoning"

Germany says Russia set to expel German diplomats, teachers, cultural staff

Russia will start expelling German diplomats, teachers and employees of German cultural institutions next month, the German Foreign Office said on Saturday a move that will further enhance tensions between the two countries that have already had very fraught ties since Russia invaded Ukraine early last year. The German foreign ministry sharply criticized Russia's move, calling the upcoming expulsions a unilateral, unjustified and incomprehensible decision. The expulsion will affect several hundred German state employees, including teachers and staff of the Goethe Institute, which promotes German culture and language abroad, daily Sueddeutsche Zeitung reported. The expulsion comes in response to the reduction of the presence of Russian intelligence services in Germany earlier this year. The Russian Foreign Ministry had made public in April its decision to introduce a cap on the number of staff at our missions abroad and at German intermediary organistions in Russia, a German Foreig

Russia offers floating nuclear power plants tech to friendly nations

The FNPP supplies power to mining sites in Russia's far east areas that help in the growth and development of the country

$300 mn of dividend income of oil firms stuck in Russia due to sanctions

As much as USD 300 million (about Rs 2,500 crore) of dividend income belonging to Indian oil firms is stuck in Russia due to tough Western sanctions following Moscow's invasion of Ukraine, a top official said on Thursday. Indian state oil firms have invested USD 5.46 billion in buying stakes in four different assets in Russia. These include a 49.9 per cent stake in the Vankorneft oil and gas field and another 29.9 per cent in the TAAS-Yuryakh Neftegazodobycha fields. They get dividends on profits made by the operating consortium from selling oil and gas produced from the fields. "We had been regularly getting our dividend income from the projects, and they are lying in bank accounts in Russia," Oil India Ltd chairman and managing director Ranjit Rath told reporters here. Soon after Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February last year, several major Russian banks were banned from the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (SWIFT) financial transaction processing ..

Damage to Russian-occupied dam submerges Ukrainian island community

The rising waters came as a relief at first, for both the tiny community living on the islands in the southern Kakhovka Reservoir and for everyone who had feared the low levels risked a meltdown at the nearby Russian-occupied nuclear power plant. Since mid-February, the water level in the reservoir has steadily increased, according to data from Theia, a French geospatial analytical organization. An Associated Press analysis of satellite imagery showed the water has now risen so high that it's washing over the top of the damaged Russian-occupied dam downstream. The waves first covered the natural shoreline, then submerged the marsh grasses. Next they came for Lyudmila Kulachok's garden, then Ihor Medyunov's guest room. The wild boars fled for higher ground, replaced by water fowl. Medyunov's four dogs have an ever-smaller patch of grass to roam, and Kulachok serves meals on a picnic table sloshing through the murk in waders. Ukraine controls five of the six dams along the Dnipro Rive

Here's a look at companies leaving Russia and those staying back

More than 500 companies have suspended their business in Russia, and a similar number have withdrawn completely. An additional 151 are scaling back, 175 are buying time and 230 are digging in, according to database kept by Yale University. Chinese companies figure prominently in the last category. Here's a look at some of the Western companies that have chosen to stay or exit Russia: LEAVE Volkswagen on Friday closed a deal to sell its Russian business, including its plant in the western city of Kaluga with 4,000 employees, to an entity supported by Russian dealer Avilon. The agreement had been delayed for months by a lawsuit from Russian automaker GAZ. It made cars under contract for VW until the partnership was ended by what the Germany company calls a mutual agreement in May 2022. Though VW has disposed of its Russia business, it still must contend with the lawsuits. KFC owner Yum! Brands withdrew from Russia in March 2022 and some of the restaurants have rebranded as Rostic'

Increased Russian crude flows to Asia are redrawing the world's oil map

Exports from traditional suppliers are being squeezed. Flows to the pair from West Africa and the US have collapsed by more than 40% and 35%, respectively.

Russia to respond promptly, harshly to future incursions: Defence minister

Russia will respond quickly and extremely harshly to future incursions, Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu said at a meeting with senior defence officials

Russia's upper house supports denunciation of armed forces treaty with NATO

The upper house of the parliament of Russia announced on social media that its senators approved a bill on the denunciation of the Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe (CFE)