Page 80 - Russia

Why Russia's bonhomie with North Korea is potential danger to the world

Russia's forces have been able to blast thousands of artillery shells a day at Ukraine thanks to supplies sent by Kim Jong Un

Meloni describes Putin's cease-fire offer for Ukraine as 'propaganda'

Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni on Saturday dismissed a cease-fire offer for Ukraine by Russian President Vladimir Putin as propaganda, as she wrapped up a Group of Seven summit that saw a deal reached for a USD 50 billion loan to Ukraine. The loan will be provided by the US, UK, Canada and possibly Japan, Meloni said. The frozen Russian assets to be used as collateral are mainly in Europe, so Europe is already contributing by identifying the guarantee mechanism, she added. The loan agreement was reached at the opening Thursday of the two-day annual meeting of leaders from the G7 countries of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States in southern Italy's Puglia region. Asked about Putin's cease-fire proposal, Meloni said it seems to me more like a propaganda move than a real one. The Russian president said Friday he would immediately order a cease-fire in Ukraine and start negotiations if Kyiv begins withdrawing troops from the four regions Mosco

Russia absent as world leaders meet at Swiss resort for Ukraine peace talks

The presidents of Ecuador, Ivory Coast, Kenya and Somalia will join many Western heads of state and government and other leaders at a conference this weekend aimed to plot out first steps toward peace in Ukraine with Russia notably absent. Swiss officials hosting the conference say more than 50 heads of state and government, including Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, will join the gathering at the Brgenstock resort overlooking Lake Lucerne. Some 100 delegations including European bodies and the United Nations will be on hand. Who will show up and who will not has become one of the key stakes of a meeting that critics say will be useless without the presence of Russian President Vladimir Putin's government, which invaded Ukraine in February 2022 and is pushing ahead with the war. US Vice President Kamala Harris is set to attend while Turkey and Saudi Arabia have dispatched their foreign ministers. Key developing countries like Brazil, an observer at the event, India and ..

Putin sets terms for ceasefire: Ukraine must pull out from 'annexed' parts

Russian President Vladimir Putin promised on Friday to immediately order a cease-fire in Ukraine and start negotiations if Kyiv began withdrawing troops from the four regions annexed by Moscow in 2022 and renounced plans to join NATO. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy rejected what he called an ultimatum by Putin to surrender more territory. Putin's remarks came as Switzerland prepared to host scores of world leaders -- but not from Moscow -- this weekend to try to map out first steps toward peace in Ukraine. They also coincided with a meeting of leaders of the Group of Seven leading industrialised nations in Italy and after the US and Ukraine this week signed a 10-year security agreement that Russian officials, including Putin, denounced as null and void. Putin blasted the Switzerland conference as just another ploy to divert everyone's attention, reverse the cause and effect of the Ukrainian crisis (and) set the discussion on the wrong track. His demands came in a speech a

G7: Way to peace is through 'dialogue & diplomacy', PM Modi tells Zelenskyy

PM Modi met Zelenskyy on the sidelines of the G-7 summit in Italy's Apulia region. The prime minister described the meeting with the Ukrainian president as 'very productive'

Russia boosts crude oil revenues as shipping, trading network grows

India has no sanctions against Moscow and became the biggest buyer of Russian seaborne crude ahead of China and Turkey after European refiners stopped imports

South Korea, US sound alarm over North Korea-Russia ties before Putin visit

Security Council resolutions, officials of South Korea and the United States warned on Friday

Peace summit for Ukraine conflict opens in Switzerland without Russia

Switzerland will host scores of world leaders this weekend to try to map out first steps toward peace in Ukraine even though Russia, which launched and is continuing the war, won't take part. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's government didn't want Russia involved, and the Swiss aware of Moscow's reservations about the talks didn't invite Russia. The Swiss insist Russia must be involved at some point, and hope it will join the process one day. Ukrainians too are considering that possibility, Zelenskyy's top adviser says. The process unlikely to produce major results this weekend is seen as a largely symbolic effort on the part of Kyiv to rally the international community and project strength against its better armed and manned adversary. But the question looming over the summit will be how the two countries can move back from the brink and eventually silence guns in a war that has cost hundreds of billions of dollars and caused hundreds and thousands of deaths and ...

Jailed US reporter Evan Gershkovich to stand trial in Russia, say officials

US journalist Evan Gershkovich, who has been jailed for over a year in Russia on espionage charges, will stand trial in the Ural Mountains city of Yekaterinburg, where he was detained, authorities said on Thursday. An indictment of The Wall Street Journal reporter has been finalized and his case was filed to the Sverdlovsky Regional Court in the city about 1,400 kilometers (870 miles) east of Moscow, according to Russia's Prosecutor General's office. There was no word on when the trial would begin. Gershkovich, 32, is accused of gathering secret information on orders from the CIA about Uralvagonzavod, a facility in the Sverdlovsk region that produces and repairs military equipment, the Prosecutor General's office said in a statement, revealing for the first time the details of the accusations against him. Gershkovich was detained while on a reporting trip to Yekaterinburg in March 2023 and accused of spying for the United States. The reporter, his employer and the US government deni

Security deal with US is 'bridge' to Ukraine's Nato membership: Zelenskyy

Zelenskyy made the remarks at a joint news conference with US President Joe Biden, which was held on the sidelines of the G7 Summit in Italy on Thursday

Highlights of the day: Six dead, 1,500 tourists stranded as landslides, rain wreak havoc in Sikkim

Catch all the latest updates from around the world here

Russia says detained US reporter Gershkovich will stand trial over CIA work

Gershkovich, 32, was arrested on March 29, 2023, in the Urals city of Yekaterinburg on charges of espionage that carry up to 20 years in prison after the FSB

US slaps sanctions on Hong Kong, UAE firms for Russian-origin gold deals

Russia is the world's second-largest gold miner after China

Russian forces launch deadly attacks on Ukraine ahead of G7 Summit; 9 dead

Russian forces launched new deadly attacks on Ukraine, killing at least nine people on Wednesday, a day before the leaders of countries that are some of Ukraine's biggest backers were to discuss how to slow Moscow's offensive. Ukrainian authorities said that along with the nine killed, 29 others, including five children, were wounded when Russian missiles hit an apartment block in Kryvyi Rih, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's hometown. Zelenskyy said the strike has again proven that "Ukraine, together with its partners, must strengthen its air defences something that he has repeatedly appealed for with Ukraine's Western partners. The United States has agreed to send another Patriot missile system, two US officials said late Tuesday. Modern air defence systems are capable of providing maximum protection of people, our cities, and our positions," Zelenskyy said. And we need as many of them as possible. Earlier on Wednesday, Ukraine's air force said it shot down more than two

Indians in war zone should be brought back: India to Russian officials

According to MEA reports, two Indian nationals who had been recruited by the Russian Army have recently been killed in the ongoing conflict between Russia and Ukraine

Russia, largely excluded from global sports, hosts athletes at Brics Games

Thousands of athletes in both major and obscure sports will be vying for medals in the Russian city of Kazan at the sixth BRICS Games, an international competition shadowed by politics amid Russia's exclusion from major sports events. The games opened Wednesday, which Russia observes as its independence day holiday, underlining the key role that sports plays in its national identity. Since its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Russia has been frozen out of the most prominent international competitions and sports associations; some Russian passport holders will be allowed to compete as neutral athletes in the Paris Olympics that begin July 26, but their results will not be credited to Russia. In that atmosphere, the BRICS Games are a way for Russia to underline its aggrieved claims of prejudice and inequitable treatment by the West and international sports organizations. Our country has always adhered to the principle that sport is beyond politics, but we are constant

US to widen sanctions to curb semiconductor sales to Russia's war machine

Russia's war, now in its third year, has seen a renewed offensive and intensified aerial bombardment of Ukrainian cities

Pressing Russia to release Indians in Russian military: Foreign secy Kwatra

India on Wednesday said it has been pressing Russia to ensure the safety and repatriation of its nationals employed by the Russian Army. The comments by Foreign Secretary Vinay Kwatra came a day after the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said two more Indians serving with the Russian military were killed in the Russia-Ukraine conflict. The killing of two Indians has taken the number of such deaths to four. "Since the first day, we have constantly been discussing this matter with the Russian authorities, the system and the leadership," Kwatra said. "All of our efforts are aimed at keeping the Indians safe," he said at a media briefing while responding to a question on the matter. "We have clearly told the Russian officials that all Indians in the war zone, howsoever they got there is another matter, should be returned (to India)," he said. Confirming the deaths of the two Indians, the MEA on Tuesday said India has strongly taken up the matter with Russia and sought early release

Faking honest woman: Why Russia, China all use faux females to get clicks

When disinformation researcher Wen-Ping Liu looked into China's efforts to influence Taiwan's recent election using fake social media accounts, something unusual stood out about the most successful profiles. They were female, or at least that's what they appeared to be. Fake profiles that claimed to be women got more engagement, more eyeballs and more influence than supposedly male accounts. Pretending to be a female is the easiest way to get credibility, said Liu, an investigator with Taiwan's Ministry of Justice. Whether it's Chinese or Russian propaganda agencies, online scammers or AI chatbots, it pays to be female - proving that while technology may grow more and more sophisticated, the human brain remains surprisingly easy to hack thanks in part to age-old gender stereotypes that have migrated from the real world to the virtual. People have long assigned human characteristics like gender to inanimate objects - ships are one example - so it makes sense that human-like traits .

Vladimir Putin to keep demoted ally Patrushev on Russia's Security Council

Russia's Security Council, chaired by Putin, is a Kremlin consultative body responsible for managing and integrating national security policy