Page 94 - Russia

Russia committed to fight terrorism along with India, other nations: Envoy

Russia is committed to "decisively fight" the menace of terrorism together with India and other countries, bilaterally and multilaterally, its envoy in New Delhi said on Saturday. Russian ambassador Denis Alipov, in a thread post on X, described the March 22 attack on a suburban Moscow concert hall in which 144 people were killed as a "monstrous terrorist attack". "The Embassy keeps receiving condolence messages expressing sympathy over the huge loss of lives and condemnation of the monstrous terrorist attack on March 22 near Moscow," he said. "We highly appreciate the sentiments towards victims and their kin and the Russian Government by the people of India and other countries," Alipov added. Prime Minister Narendra Modi had condemned the attack, calling it a heinous terrorist attack. Alipov said, "Russia is committed to decisively fight the menace of terrorism together with India and other countries bilaterally and multilaterally." He said that "strong statements of support" to

Ukraine Foreign Min Dmytro Kuleba discusses peace plan in India meeting

India, with deep economic and political ties with Russia, has consistently pushed for dialog and diplomacy to end the conflict. It has not publicly criticized or voted against Russia at the UN

As cases of asset seizures rise, Vladimir Putin's tycoons seek safeguards

With most Russian billionaires having been sanctioned over the past two years, the next concern is which decades-old privatisation decisions might be reversed

9 detained in Tajikistan in relation to Moscow concert hall attack: Report

Nine people have been detained by Tajikistan's state security service over suspected contact with the perpetrators of last week's attack by gunmen on a suburban Moscow concert hall that killed 144 people, Russian state news agency RIA Novosti said Friday. Nine residents of the Vakhdat district were detained for contact with the persons who committed the terrorist attack at Crocus City Hall on March 22, the agency reported, citing information from an unnamed source in Tajikistan's special services, who said that Russian security forces were also involved in the operation to detain the suspects. Those detained are also suspected of having connections with the Islamic State group, according to RIA Novosti. Russia's Investigative Committee said Thursday it had detained another suspect in relation to the raid on Crocus City Hall, on suspicion of being involved in financing the attack. It did not give further details of the suspect's identity or alleged actions. Russian officials previou

Working for release of Wall Street Journal reporter held in Russia: Biden

On the one-year anniversary of the Russian detention of Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, President Joe Biden said the US is working every day to secure his release. Journalism is not a crime, and Evan went to Russia to do his job as a reporter risking his safety to shine the light of truth on Russia's brutal aggression against Ukraine, Biden said in a statement on Friday. Gershkovich was arrested while on a reporting trip 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. On Friday, there was a giant blank space on the front page of The Wall Street Journal, with an image at the top of the page of Gershkovich in the newspaper's signature pencil drawing and a headline that read: His Story Should be Here. A recent court hearing ..

Russia launches 99 drones, missiles on Ukraine's energy system: Israel

Air raid warnings rang out across the country, with 10 Ukrainian regions coming under fire, the country's Interior Minister, Ihor Klymenko, said

Ukraine requests India to reconsider 'Soviet legacy' of Russia ties

Ukrainian foreign minister has urged India to support it in its war against Russia. India-Russia ties are based on Soviet legacy that is evaporating, he said

Singapore attracts cyber espionage as host of high-profile global events

Cyberespionage is taking place all over the world and Singapore -- being one of the hubs for hosting high-profile trade exhibitions and conferences -- "inevitably" attracts intelligence operations, a report said on Friday. "Cyberespionage is happening all over the world because we are more connected than ever before," said Dr Alan Chong, senior fellow at the S Rajaratnam School of International Studies. Chong's comments came after Russian media earlier this month leaked a recording of a German military phone call that Berlin said was due to a participant dialling in through an "unauthorised connection" from a Singapore hotel during the February Singapore Airshow. "In terms of the geopolitical location of Singapore, to me it's no surprise. Since the Cold War, long before the digital age, we were already a base of operations for both the Communist and the Western powers," Channel News Asia quoted Chong as saying. Intelligence operations around the world will happen more frequently as

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