Page 38 - Russia

EU to set out plan for phasing out Russian gas deals, existing contracts

The EU has a non-binding aim to end its reliance on Russian fossil fuels by 2027, which it set after Moscow's 2022 full-scale invasion of Ukraine

Russian rouble strengthens vs US dollar, Chinese yuan in thin holiday trade

At 1140 GMT, the rouble was up 2% at 81.1 against the U.S. dollar, LSEG data based on over-the-counter quotes showed

China Prez Xi to visit Russia from May 7-10, attend V-day celebrations

Chinese President Xi Jinping will visit Russia from May 7-10 to attend the Victory Day Parade in Moscow and hold "strategic communication" with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin on a series of major international and regional issues, it was announced on Sunday. This will be Xi's first visit to Moscow after Donald Trump took charge of the US Presidency. Xi last visited Russia in October 2024 for the BRICS Summit. President Xi will pay a State Visit to Russia from May 7 to 10 and attend the celebrations marking the 80th anniversary of the Victory in the Great Patriotic War in Moscow, a spokesperson of the Chinese foreign ministry said in a statement in Beijing on Sunday. President Xi will have "strategic communication" with President Putin on China-Russia relations under new circumstances and on a series of major international and regional issues, the statement said, in an apparent reference to the pressure being mounted by Trump on Putin to end the Ukraine war and his tariff war

Missed NEET cutoff? Russian, Ukrainian universities say no worries

Russia, and Ukraine's universities eye Indian medical aspirants falling short of NEET cutoff; low tuition fees and globally recognised degrees continue to lure students, despite geopolitical tensions

Russian drone strikes in Kharkiv injure 47, Zelenskyy seeks support

A Russian drone strike on Kharkiv, Ukraine's second-largest city, wounded 47 people, officials said, and prompted another appeal from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy for more decisive support from the country's allies. Kharkiv Mayor Ihor Terekhov said drones hit 12 locations across the city late Friday. Residential buildings, civilian infrastructure and vehicles were damaged in the assault, according to Kharkiv regional Gov. Oleh Syniehubov. The Kharkiv Prosecutor's Office said Saturday that Russian forces used drones with thermobaric warheads. In a statement on Telegram, it said thermobaric weapons create a powerful blast wave and a hot cloud of smoke, causing large-scale destruction. The prosecutor said its use may indicate a deliberate violation of international humanitarian law. While the world hesitates with decisions, nearly every night in Ukraine turns into a nightmare, costing lives. Ukraine needs strengthened air defence. Strong and real decisions are needed from ou

Russia downs 170 drones, 8 Western-supplied missiles over and around Crimea

Russia on Saturday said it has downed 170 drones and more than 10 guided missiles overnight over Crimea and several border regions with Ukraine. In a press release on its Telegram channel, the defence ministry said between 2200 hours Friday and 0500 hours Saturday, Russian air defence units have destroyed 96 fixed wing drones over Crimea, 47 over Krasnodar territory, 9 over Rostov, 8 each over Bryansk and Kursk regions in South West of Moscow. Two UAVs were also downed over the Belgorod region. Besides these, 8 Britain-supplied Storm Shadow cruise missiles and 3 Ukraine-developed Neptune-MD guided missiles were destroyed over the Black Sea. In the early hours on Saturday, 14 Ukrainian naval drones were destroyed in the Black Sea, the ministry said. Meanwhile, governors of some regions have reported civilian damage from Ukrainian drone strikes. Two adults and two children were evacuated after fragments from a downed UAV caused a fire on the roof of a house in the village of Tselina

Russian drone attack kills 2, injures 15 in Ukraine's port city of Odesa

A Russian drone attack on the Black Sea port city of Odesa early Thursday killed two people and injured 15 others, Ukrainian emergency services said. Regional Gov. Oleh Kiper said the barrage struck apartment buildings, private homes, a supermarket and a school. Videos shared by Kiper on Telegram showed a high-rise building with a severely damaged facade, a shattered storefront, and firefighters battling flames. A drone struck and ignited a fire at a petrol station in the center of Kharkiv, Ukraine's second-largest city, according to Mayor Ihor Terekhov. The Ukrainian Air Force reported that Russia sent 170 exploding drones and decoys into five Ukrainian regions in the latest wave of attacks overnight into Thursday. It said 74 of them were intercepted and another 68 were lost, likely having been electronically jammed. In addition to the drones, it said Russia launched five ballistic missiles during the overnight assault. Russia's Defence Ministry said Sunday that air defences sho

North Korea, Russia begin building first road link to boost growing ties

North Korea and Russia have begun building their first road link, the two countries announced, hailing the construction of a bridge over a border river as a major development that will further expand their booming ties. Russia's Tass news agency reported Wednesday that the bridge would be 1 kilometre long and its construction is expected to take 1 years, and North Korea's Korean Central News Agency said the bridge would expand cross-border travel of people, tourism and circulation of commodities. Relations and exchange programmes between the two countries have been flourishing in recent years, with North Korea supplying ammunitions and troops to support Russia's war against Ukraine. One railway bridge and air service already connect North Korea and Russia, and in June 2024, the two countries agreed to construct a bridge for automobiles over the Tumen River, which runs along North Korea's borders with Russia and China. On Thursday, North Korea and Russia simultaneously held a ...

Ukraine set to sign major minerals deal with US amid ceasefire talks

Ukraine is set to sign a major rare earth minerals deal with the US, amid ongoing ceasefire talks as both sides push for faster negotiations and a potential ceasefire

PM Modi to skip Russia's Victory Day parade amid tensions with Pakistan

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will skip Russia's Victory Day celebrations, likely due to security concerns after the Pahalgam attack

4,700 North Korean soldiers killed or wounded fighting for Russia: S Korea

An estimated 4,700 North Korean soldiers have been killed or wounded while fighting alongside Russia against Ukrainian forces, South Korea's spy agency told lawmakers Wednesday. The assessment came two days after North Korea confirmed for the first time that it had sent combat troops to help Russia recapture parts of the Kursk region, which it lost control of to a surprise Ukrainian incursion last year. In a closed-door parliamentary committee briefing, South Korea's National Intelligence Service said North Korea had suffered 4,700 casualties, including 600 deaths, on the Russia-Ukraine battlefronts, according to Lee Seong Kweun, one of the lawmakers who attended the meeting. Lee told reporters the NIS said that 2,000 injured North Korean soldiers were repatriated to North Korea by air or train between January and March. He cited the NIS as saying the dead North Korean soldiers were cremated in Russia before their remains were sent back home. In January, the NIS said about 300 Nort

McDonald's, Coca-Cola still see risks, stay cautious on operating in Russia

Coca-Cola said in its letter that "sanction regimes and other legal hurdles remain in place, impacting any considerations about returning to the Russian market"

Russian Prez Putin thanks North Korea for sending troops to fight Ukraine

Russian President Vladimir Putin thanked North Korean troops for fighting Ukrainian forces in Russia's Kursk region, after North Korea on Monday confirmed the deployment for the first time. In a statement Monday from the Kremlin, Putin hailed the heroism and dedication of the North Korean fighters, who he said shoulder to shoulder with Russian fighters, defended our Motherland as their own. Russia on Saturday said its troops have fully reclaimed the Kursk region that Ukrainian forces seized in a surprise incursion last year. Ukrainian officials denied the claim. US, South Korean and Ukraine intelligence officials have said North Korea dispatched 10,000-12,000 troops to Russia last fall in its first participation in a major armed conflict since the end of the 1950-53 Korean War. But North Korea hadn't confirmed or denied its reported troop deployments to Russia until Monday. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un decided to send the combat troops to Russia under a mutual defence treaty he

N Korea confirms troop deployment to Russia for first time amid Ukraine war

North Korea's Central Military Commission said the decision to join the war was in line with the two countries' mutual defence treaty sealed last year

Russia-Ukraine peace deal needs to happen soon, says Marco Rubio

"It needs to happen soon. We cannot continue to dedicate time and resources to this effort if it's not going to come to fruition," Rubio told NBC's "Meet the Press" program

Suspect in killing of Russian general claims he was paid by Ukraine: Russia

Russian authorities said on Sunday the suspect in the killing of a Russian general in a car bomb explosion claimed he was paid by the Ukrainian Security Service as he pleaded guilty to terrorism charges. The Investigative Committee said that Ignat Kuzin admitted he was paid to kill Lt. Gen. Yaroslav Moskalik, a deputy head of the main operational department in the General Staff of the Russian armed forces. Moskalik was killed Friday by an explosive device placed in his car in Balashikha, just outside Moscow. Ukrainian authorities did not comment on the attack, the second in four months targeting a top Russian military officer that Moscow has blamed on Ukraine. Lt. Gen. Igor Kirillov was killed on December 17, 2024, when a bomb hidden on an electric scooter parked outside his apartment building exploded as he left for his office. Ukraine's security agency acknowledged it was behind the attack. Kirillov was the chief of Russia's Radiation, Biological and Chemical Protection Forces,

Pak wants Russian, Chinese involvement in Pahalgam terror attack probe

Pakistan wants involvement of Russia and China in investigating the Pahalgam terror attack, according to a media report. Terrorists opened fire in Jammu and Kashmir's Pahalgam on Tuesday, killing 26 people, mostly tourists, in the deadliest attack in the Valley since the Pulwama strike in 2019. The Resistance Front (TRF), a proxy of the banned Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), claimed responsibility for the attack. On Sunday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said the "perpetrators and conspirators" of the Pahalgam attack will be "served with the harshest response". In a recent interview to Russian government-run RIA Novosti news agency, Pakistani Defence Minister Khawaja Asif said, "I think Russia or China or even Western countries can play a very, very positive role in this crisis and they can even set up an investigation team that should be assigned this job to investigate whether India or Modi is lying or he is telling the truth. Let an international team find out." He said ...

Russia strengthens Taliban ties with focus on shared adversary ISIS

Russia's cautious and slow-moving rapprochement with the Taliban, which Moscow had outlawed as a terrorist group in 2003

Zelenskyy cuts short S African trip after Russian strike on Kyiv kills 9

Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Thursday he is cutting short his official trip to South Africa and returning home after a Russian strike on the Ukrainian capital Kyiv killed at least nine people and injured more than 70. Zelenskyy said in a Telegram post that he will fly back to Kyiv after meeting with South African President Cyril Ramaphosa. The Ukrainian leader had hoped to recruit further South African support in efforts to end his country's war with Russia, now in its fourth year. The attack on Kyiv came hours after peace negotiations appeared to stall, with President Donald Trump lashing out at Zelenskyy, saying he was prolonging the killing field by pushing back on ceding Crimea to Russia as part of a potential peace plan. Later that day, Trump said it's been harder to deal with Zelenskyy than with Russia. Zelenskyy has said multiple times that recognising occupied territory as Russian is a red line for his country. The Kyiv City Military Administration said on it

US, Russia may pause Ukraine talks until Zelenskyy okays Trump envoy deal

After downgrading the level of representation in London talks on Wednesday, some experts here do not rule out that the Kremlin and White House may freeze their negotiations on the Ukraine peace deal till Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and western European leaders agree to cede Crimea. The London meet on Ukraine was downgraded to expert-level after State Secretary Marco Rubio and Steve Witkoff cancelled their visit following which foreign ministers of France and Germany also did not turn up. According to web based Lenta.ru news portal, banned in the European Union and Switzerland, the Kremlin could be ready to put the Ukraine issue on the backburner and move ahead on bilateral and West Asian issues, including Iran nuclear talks. Quoting Kremlin pool reporter Alexander Yumashev, the Lenta.ru portal in its commentary writes, I assume that all further negotiations will be, if not frozen, then held in a sluggish format. In any case, Zelensky still holds his post. Meanwhile, Kreml