Page 23 - Russia

Russian oil offered to India at discounted rates amid tariff pressure

Following US President Donald Trump's decision to raise tariffs on Indian goods to 50 per cent as a penalty for its continued imports of Russian oil, Russian crude has become cheaper than Dated Brent

India slams US 25% tariff as 'unfair, unjustified and unreasonable'

MEA says US move to impose 25% tariff on Indian goods over Russian oil imports is "extremely unfortunate" and pledges all necessary steps to safeguard India's national interests

US to impose secondary Russia sanctions on Friday despite Putin meeting

Witkoff met Putin for around three hours on a last-minute mission to seek a breakthrough in the 3-1/2-year war that began with Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine

Oil prices seesaw as US Secy questions potential Russia sanctions

Oil prices hit five-week lows as markets await US sanctions decision on Russia. Tariffs on India, crude inventory draw, and Opec+ supply plans also influence Brent and WTI price movements

Trump's envoy arrives in Moscow ahead of Russia-Ukraine peace deadline

US President Donald Trump's special envoy Steve Witkoff arrived in Moscow, reported state-owned Russian media on Wednesday, days before the White House's deadline for Russia to reach a peace deal with Ukriane or potentially face severe economic penalties. Witkoff was seen taking an early morning stroll through Zaryadye Park, a stone's throw from the Kremlin, with Kirill Dmitriev, the Russian president's envoy for investment and economic cooperation, footage aired by TASS showed. Dmitriev had played a key role in direct peace talks between Russia and Ukraine in Istanbul in recent months, as well as discussions between Russian and US officials. Moscow is yet to confirm whether Witkoff will meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin during his stay. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov welcomed on Monday Witkoff's visit. We consider (talks with Witkoff) important, substantive and very useful," he said. Trump's deadline for Putin ends on Friday. Washington has threatened severe tariffs and

Datanomics: US sermonises India, ignoring its own vital imports from Russia

While the US has cut down on goods import from Russia sharply, from $29.63 bn in 2021 -- when it attacked Ukraine -- to just $3 billion in 2024, it has ramped up exports of some other crucial items

Putin doubts potency of Trump's ultimatum to end the war: Report

Putin's goal is to fully capture the Ukrainian regions of Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson, which Russia has claimed as its own, and then to talk about a peace pact, one of the sources said

Russia walks out of INF Treaty: Is a new nuclear arms race beginning?

Nearly four decades after the Cold War cooled, the 1987 INF Treaty is officially history. Russia has dropped out of it, citing threats from the US and NATO.

How Russia reins in internet by blocking websites, isolating it from world

YouTube videos that won't load. A visit to a popular independent media website that produces only a blank page. Cellphone internet connections that are down for hours or days. Going online in Russia can be frustrating, complicated and even dangerous. It's not a network glitch but a deliberate, multipronged and long-term effort by authorities to bring the internet under the Kremlin's full control. Authorities adopted restrictive laws and banned websites and platforms that won't comply. Technology has been perfected to monitor and manipulate online traffic. While it's still possible to circumvent restrictions by using virtual private network apps, those are routinely blocked, too. Authorities further restricted internet access this summer with widespread shutdowns of cellphone internet connections and adopting a law punishing users for searching for content they deem illicit. They also are threatening to go after the popular WhatsApp platform while rolling out a new national messeng

UK intel may involve Nato allies to raid 'shadow fleet', claims Russia

Russia's SVR claims UK secret services plan to involve Nato allies in a large-scale crackdown on the so-called 'shadow fleet', according to intel received by the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service

US President Trump's envoy Steve Witkofs likely to visit Russia this week

Witkoff was expected to land in the Russian capital on Wednesday or Thursday, according to Trump, following his trip to Israel and Gaza

Ukrainian drone hits Russian oil depot as Zelenskyy announces prisoner swap

An overnight Ukrainian drone attack on an oil depot near Russia's Black Sea resort of Sochi sparked a major fire, Russian officials said on Sunday, as the two countries traded strikes and the Ukrainian president announced a prisoner exchange. More than 120 firefighters attempted to extinguish the blaze, which was caused by debris from a downed drone striking a fuel tank, Krasnodar regional Governor Veniamin Kondratyev said on Telegram. Videos on social media appeared to show huge pillars of smoke billowing above the oil depot. Russia's civil aviation authority, Rosaviatsia, temporarily stopped flights at Sochi's airport. Farther north, authorities in the Voronezh region reported that four people were wounded in another Ukrainian drone strike. Russia's Defence Ministry said its air defences shot down 93 Ukrainian drones over Russia and the Black Sea overnight into Sunday. Meanwhile, in southern Ukraine, a Russian missile strike hit a residential area in the city of Mykolaiv, accord

Russian university creates world's first anti-drone rifle simulator

Each virtual device is an exact copy of its real counterpart. To create such detail, the developers used the powerful Unreal Engine game engine

Opec+ countries to boost oil production by 547,000 barrels per day

A group of countries that are part of the OPEC+ alliance of oil-exporting countries has agreed to boost oil production, a move some believe could lower oil and gasoline prices, citing a steady global economic outlook and low oil inventories. The group met virtually on Sunday and announced that eight of its member countries would increase oil production by 547,000 barrels per day in September. The countries boosting output, including Saudi Arabia, Russia, Iraq, United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Kazakhstan, Algeria and Oman, had been participating in voluntary production cuts, initially made in November 2023, which were scheduled to be phased out by September 2026. The announcement means the voluntary production cuts will end ahead of schedule. The move follows an OPEC+ decision in July to boost production by 548,000 barrels per day in August. OPEC said the production adjustments may be paused or reversed as market conditions evolve. When production increases, oil and gasoline prices ma

Dormant volcano erupts for 1st time in centuries after 8.8 quake in Russia

A volcano on Russia's far eastern Kamchatka Peninsula erupted overnight into Sunday for what scientists said is the first time in hundreds of years, days after a massive 8.8-magnitude earthquake. The Krasheninnikov volcano sent ash 6 kilometres into the sky, according to staff at the Kronotsky Reserve, where the volcano is located. Images released by state media showed dense clouds of ash rising above the volcano. The plume is spreading eastward from the volcano toward the Pacific Ocean. There are no populated areas along its path, and no ashfall has been recorded in inhabited localities, Kamchatka's emergencies ministry wrote on Telegram during the eruption. The eruption was accompanied by a 7.0-magnitude earthquake and prompted a tsunami warning for three areas of Kamchatka. The tsunami warning was later lifted by Russia's Ministry for Emergency Services. This is the first historically confirmed eruption of the Krasheninnikov volcano in 600 years, Olga Girina, head of the Kamchat

Ukrainian drone strike sparks major fire at Russian oil depot near Sochi

An overnight Ukrainian drone attack on an oil depot near Russia's Black Sea resort of Sochi sparked a major fire, Russian officials said Sunday, as the two countries traded strikes. More than 120 firefighters attempted to extinguish the blaze, sparked after debris from a downed drone struck a fuel tank, Krasnodar regional Gov Veniamin Kondratyev said on Telegram. Videos on social media appeared to show huge pillars of smoke billowing above the oil depot. Russia's civil aviation authority, Rosaviatsia, temporarily stopped flights at Sochi's airport. Further north, authorities in the Voronezh region reported that four people were wounded in another Ukrainian drone strike. Russia's Defence Ministry said its air defences shot down 93 Ukrainian drones over Russia and the Black Sea overnight into Sunday. Meanwhile, in southern Ukraine, a Russian missile strike hit a residential area in the city of Mykolaiv, according to the State Emergency Services, wounding seven people. The Ukrainian

Strong earthquake of 6.7 magnitude rattles Russia's Kuril Islands

The massive 8.8 magnitude quake on Wednesday is tied for the sixth strongest ever recorded

Vladimir Putin dismisses Zelensky's appeal for regime change in Moscow

Recent polls have shown that Zelensky could lose in a competitive election, with retired General Valery Zaluzhny emerging as a leading alternative

Putin says hypersonic missile enters service, to be deployed in Belarus

President Vladimir Putin said Friday that Russia has started production of its newest hypersonic missiles and reaffirmed its plans to deploy them to ally Belarus later this year. Sitting alongside Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko on Valaam Island near St Petersburg, Putin said the military already has selected deployment sites in Belarus for the Oreshnik intermediate range ballistic missile. Preparatory work is ongoing, and most likely we will be done with it before the year's end, Putin said, adding that the first series of Oreshniks and their systems have been produced and entered military service. Russia first used the Oreshnik, which is Russian for hazelnut tree, against Ukraine in November, when it fired the experimental weapon at a factory in Dnipro that built missiles when Ukraine was part of the Soviet Union. Putin has praised the Oreshnik's capabilities, saying its multiple warheads that plunge to a target at speeds up to Mach 10 are immune to being intercepted and a

Indian fuel exports to US escape Trump's tariff net, no Russian penalty yet

India's exports of petroleum products like diesel and jet fuel to the US continue to be exempted from the levy of any import duty or tariff, and President Donald Trump has, for now, not indicated the penalty he plans to impose to deter New Delhi's energy trade with Russia. On Wednesday, Donald Trump had announced plans to impose a 25 per cent tariff on India, along with an additional penalty, citing concerns over the country's energy and defence ties with Russia, as well as existing trade barriers. However, the executive order he signed thereafter only gives effect to the 25 per cent tariff on Indian goods coming to the US. Even this has an exclusion list that includes finished pharmaceutical products (tablets, injectables and syrups), active pharmaceutical ingredients, electronics and ICT goods (semiconductors, smartphones, SSDs and computers), and petroleum products (crude oil, LNG, refined fuels, electricity and coal). The executive order also does not indicate any penalty that i