Page 92 - Russia

Six Russian journalists, including 1 who covered Navalny's trial, detained

Authorities in Russia have detained six journalists across the country this month, including a journalist who covered the trials of Russian opposition politician Alexei Navalny for several years, media freedom organisation Reporters Without Borders said Thursday. Antonina Favorskaya was detained and accused by Russian authorities of taking part in an "extremist organisation" by posting on the social media platforms of Navalny's Anti-Corruption Foundation, the Russian human rights group OVD-Info said. Navalny died in an Arctic penal colony in February. Favorskaya covered Navalny's court hearings for years and filmed the last video of Navalny before he died in the penal colony. She is one of several Russian journalists targeted by authorities as part of a sweeping crackdown against dissent in Russia that is aimed at opposition figures, journalists, activists and members of the LGBTQ+ community. Two other journalists, Alexandra Astakhova and Anastasia Musatova, were also temporarily ..

We encourage peaceful resolution of Russia-Ukraine conflict, says India

India on Thursday said it continues to encourage a peaceful resolution of the Russia-Ukraine conflict through "dialogue and diplomacy". MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said this in response to a query during a press briefing on India's stand on the inaugural Peace Summit in Switzerland. "We continue to encourage peaceful resolution of Russian-Ukraine conflict through dialogue and diplomacy, and remain open to engage, all ways and means, that would help achieve this objective," he said. His comments came on a day Ukraine's Minister of Foreign Affairs Dmytro Kuleba arrived here on his maiden visit to India. Kuleba said the bilateral cooperation between Ukraine and India is "important" and it will be strengthened. In response to a question on number of Indians "duped" by agents and sent to Russia to join the military, the MEA spokesperson said, "We are constantly in touch with Russian authorities, we are pressing, we have taken it up strongly for them to have our nationals released a

We call for peaceful resolution of Ukraine conflict via dialogue: MEA

India on Thursday said it continues to encourage a peaceful resolution of the Russia-Ukraine conflict through "dialogue and diplomacy". MEA Spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said this in response to a query during a press meet on India's stand on the inaugural Peace Summit in Switzerland. "We continue to encourage peaceful resolution of Russian-Ukraine conflict through dialogue and diplomacy," he said. Prime Minister Narendra Modi on March 20 had separate conversations with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and asserted that dialogue and diplomacy were the way forward for the resolution of the Russia-Ukraine conflict. Modi had spoken to Putin over telephone to congratulate him for winning a fifth term in office in the recent elections and followed it up with a phone call to Zelenskyy to convey India's "consistent support" for all efforts for peace and bringing an early end to the ongoing conflict. During the telephone conversation, the Ukraini

US and UK probe $20 billion of crypto transfers to Russian exchange

The Biden administration has been attempting to squeeze crypto exchanges like Garantex since the early days of the war

Russia will not attack Nato, but F-16s will be shot down in Ukraine: Putin

The Kremlin, which accuses the U.S. of fighting against Russia by supporting Ukraine with money, weapons and intelligence, says relations with Washington have probably never been worse

WSJ reporter Gershkovich marks year in Russian prison as jail time extended

For Evan Gershkovich, the dozen appearances in Moscow's courts over the past year have fallen into a pattern. Guards take the American journalist from the notorious Lefortovo Prison in a van for the short drive to the courthouse. He's led in handcuffs to a defendants' cage in front of a judge for yet another hearing about his pre-trial detention on espionage charges. The proceedings are always closed. His appeals are always rejected, and his time behind bars is always extended. Then it's back to Lefortovo. Gershkovich was arrested a year ago Friday while on a reporting trip for The Wall Street Journal to the Ural Mountains city of Yekaterinburg. The Federal Security Service, or FSB, alleges he was acting on US orders to collect state secrets but provided no evidence to support the accusation, which he, the Journal and the US government deny. Washington designated him as wrongfully detained. The periodic court hearings give Gershkovich's family, friends and US officials a glimpse o

House Speaker Mike Johnson committed to advancing assistance to Ukraine

For over a month, House Speaker Mike Johnson has sat on a funding package that would send desperately needed ammunition and weaponry to Ukraine, mulling how best to gain a grasp of what is expected to be a difficult lift in the House. The Republican speaker has indicated he will attempt to push for approval of tens of billions in wartime funding for Ukraine, as well as Israel, once the House returns in April. Yet it will be perhaps his most difficult task since he took the speaker's gavel late last year. We'll turn our attention to it and we won't delay on that, the Louisiana representative said of the Ukraine package at a news conference last week. Still, Johnson has waited to act at a time when Russia is renewing its missile attacks on Kyiv. In Ukraine's eastern regions, soldiers are running low on ammunition as they attempt to hold off a surge of Russian soldiers to the frontlines. European leaders and analysts are warning that the conflict could grow into a much larger clash tha

Russia strikes Ukraine's Kharkiv with aerial bombs; 1 killed, 17 injured

Russia struck the northeastern city of Kharkiv with aerial bombs on Wednesday for the first time since 2022, killing at least one civilian and wounding 16 others, local officials said. The airstrikes caused widespread damage, hitting several residential buildings and damaging the city's institute for emergency surgery. Russia has escalated its attacks on Ukraine in recent days, launching several missile barrages on the capital Kyiv and hitting energy infrastructure across the country in apparent retaliation for recent Ukrainian aerial attacks on the Russian border region of Belgorod. Such sporadic attacks, however, have been common throughout the war. The Kharkiv region cuts across the front line where Ukrainian and Russian forces have been locked in battles for over two years since Moscow's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. The region is frequently attacked with missiles and drones. Sergey Bolvinov, head of the investigative police department in Khakiv, said in a .

India has spoken with Russia 'frankly and bluntly' on Ukraine conflict: EAM

Jaishankar, who is on a visit to Malaysia, was interacting with the Indian community during an event

Death toll in Moscow concert attack rises to 140 after another victim dies

The death toll from last week's Moscow concert hall attack rose to 140 on Wednesday after another victim died in a hospital, Russian officials said. That person was one of five still hospitalized in extremely grave condition, and the doctors did everything they could to save them, Russia's Health Minister Mikhail Murashko said. A total of 80 people injured in the attack remain hospitalized, the official added, and 205 others have sought outpatient medical assistance. The Friday night massacre in Crocus City Hall, a sprawling shopping and entertainment venue on the northwestern outskirts of Moscow, was the deadliest terrorist attack on the Russian soil in nearly 20 years. At least four gunmen toting automatic rifles shot at thousands of concertgoers and set the venue on fire. An affiliate of the Islamic State group claimed responsibility for the violence, while US intelligence said it had information confirming the group was responsible. French President Emmanuel Macron said France

Two of four Kerala youth forced into Russia-Ukraine war to return home

Two of the four Kerala-based youths who fought in the war against Ukraine after being recruited into the Russian army by private agencies will soon return home to their families, Union Minister of State (Mos) for External Affairs V Muraleedharan has said. The MoS said on Tuesday evening that the Indian Embassy was readying their travel documents to return from Russia. "We expect that they will soon return home," Muraleedharan, who is contesting from the Attingal Lok Sabha constituency in the upcoming 2024 general elections, told reporters. Regarding the remaining two residents of the state, the MoS said the External Affairs Ministry was in talks with the Russian government to bring them back as well. "Rest assured we are taking strong measures to ensure their return," he said. According to the relatives of the three men, he said that they were taken to Russia by a recruitment agency with the promise of a whopping salary of Rs 2.5 lakh. Earlier, Muraleedharan had said that authori

Russia blames Ukraine for concert attack despite its denial, Isis claim

Russian officials persisted Tuesday in saying Ukraine and the West had a role in last week's deadly Moscow concert hall attack despite vehement denials of involvement by Kyiv and a claim of responsibility by an affiliate of the Islamic State group. Without offering any evidence, Alexander Bortnikov, head of the Federal Security Service, or FSB, followed similar allegations by President Vladimir Putin, who linked the attack to Ukraine even as he acknowledged that the suspects who were arrested were "radical Islamists". The IS affiliate claimed it carried out the attack, and US intelligence said it had information confirming the group was responsible. French President Emmanuel Macron said France also has intelligence pointing to "an IS entity" as responsible for the attack. But despite the signs pointing to IS, Putin insisted on alleged Ukrainian involvement -- something that President Volodymyr Zelenskyy rejected, accusing the Kremlin leader of trying to drum up fervour as his forces

Ukraine says a third of Russian warships in Black Sea destroyed or disabled

Ukraine has sunk or disabled a third of all Russian warships in the Black Sea in just over two years of war, the navy spokesman said on Tuesday, a heavy blow to Moscow's military capability. Ukraine's Navy spokesman Dmytro Pletenchuk told The Associated Press that the latest strike on Saturday night hit the Russian amphibious landing ship Kostiantyn Olshansky that was resting in dock in Sevastopol in Russia-occupied Crimea. The ship was part of the Ukrainian navy before Russia captured it while annexing the Black Sea peninsula in 2014. Pletenchuk has previously announced that two other landing ships of the same type, Azov and Yamal, also were damaged in Saturday's strike along with the Ivan Khurs intelligence ship. He told the AP that the weekend attack, which was launched with Ukraine-built Neptune missiles, also hit Sevastopol port facilities and an oil depot. Russian authorities reported a massive Ukrainian attack on Sevastopol over the weekend but didn't acknowledge any damage

US, Cyprus partner to fight evasion of Russian sanctions, money laundering

The United States and Cyprus said on Tuesday they're formalising their collaboration in fighting money laundering, sanctions evasion and other financial crimes with an agreement offering Cypriot law enforcement authorities US expertise. The FBI and Cypriot police will sign an agreement in the coming days that includes the US Department of Justice offering help to proactively detect, investigate and prosecute cases involving financial crimes in Cyprus, according to a joint statement. Cypriot President Nikos Christodoulides last year invited FBI and Justice Department officials to assist with investigations into allegations that Cypriot financial service providers had helped Russian oligarchs skirt international sanctions. Although Cyprus has insisted it has abided by international sanctions imposed on Russia following its 2022 invasion of Ukraine, the US has targeted several Cypriot-based companies, lawyers and accountants for allegedly assisting in dodging the sanctions.

India's engineering exports to Russia doubled till February in FY24: EEPC

India's engineering exports to Russia doubled to USD 1.22 billion till February during the 2023-24 fiscal, Engineering Export Promotion Council (EEPC) of India said on Tuesday. The shipments to the country stood at USD 616.68 million in the previous fiscal, it said. The exports to the US dipped seven per cent year-on-year to USD 15.95 billion during this period, EEPC said in a statement. In case of China, engineering shipments to that country saw a marginal decline to USD 2.38 billion from USD 2.40 billion in the period under review, it said. Exports to the UAE and Australia, with which India had signed an FTA, remained positive. Till February, shipments to the UAE rose 16 per cent on-year to USD 5.22 billion, while those to Australia was higher by five per cent at USD 1.30 billion. Cumulative engineering exports during April-February (2023-24) stood at USD 98.03 billion as against USD 96.84 billion in the corresponding period a year ago, the statement said. In the last few mont

Gazprom buys former Shell stake in Sakhalin Energy for $1 billion

Sakhalin Project is fully owned by Gazprom, company filings showed

US warned Russia of terror attack 2 wks in advance, Moscow didn't listen

The US warning to Russia couldn't have been plainer: Two weeks before the deadliest attack in Russia in years, Americans had publicly and privately advised President Vladimir Putin's government that extremists had imminent plans for just such slaughter. The United States shared those advance intelligence indications under a tenet of the US intelligence community called the duty to warn," which obliges US intelligence officials to lean toward sharing knowledge of a dire threat if conditions allow. That holds whether the targets are allies, adversaries or somewhere in between. There's little sign Russia acted to try to head off Friday's attack at a concert hall on Moscow's edge, which killed more than 130 people. The Islamic State's affiliate in Afghanistan claimed responsibility, and the US said it has information backing up the extremist group's claim. John Kirby, the Biden administration's national security spokesman, made clear that the warning shouldn't be seen as a breakthrough

Ukraine ramps up spending on locally-produced weapons to repel Russia

Ukraine needs any edge it can get to repel Russia from its territory. One emerging bright spot is its small but fast-growing defence industry, which the government is flooding with money in hopes that a surge of homemade weapons and ammunition can help turn the tide. The effort ramped up sharply over the past year as the US and Europe strained to deliver weapons and other aid to Ukraine, which is up against a much bigger Russian military backed by a thriving domestic defence industry. The Ukrainian government budgeted nearly USD 1.4 billion in 2024 to buy and develop weapons at home 20 times more than before Russia's full-scale invasion. And in another major shift, a huge portion of weapons are now being bought from privately owned factories. They are sprouting up across the country and rapidly taking over an industry that had been dominated by state-owned companies. A privately owned mortar factory that launched in western Ukraine last year is making roughly 20,000 shells a month

Indian refiners buy more US crude amid tighter sanctions on Russian oil

India's Reliance, operator of the world's biggest refining complex, will not buy Russian oil loaded on tankers operated by Sovcomflot after recent US sanctions

Islamists carried out concert attack, Ukraine had a role, implies Putin

In the deadliest attack inside Russia for two decades, four men burst into the Crocus City Hall on Friday night, spraying bullets during a concert by the Soviet-era rock group Picnic