Page 22 - Us Russia

US Treasury imposes sanctions after aborted sale of Russian tycoon stake

Treasury will continue to take action to ... stop evasion by the Kremlin and its oligarch enablers, said US Under Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Brian Nelson

Russian air destroys 10 Ukraine-launched ATACMS missiles over Crimea

The war has killed thousands, displaced millions and turned Ukrainian cities into rubble

Russia arrests another senior defence min official in bribery charges

Russian authorities arrested another senior Defence Ministry official on charges of bribery, authorities said Tuesday, days after President Vladimir Putin replaced the defence minister in a Cabinet shake-up and amid expectations of further purges at the ministry. The Investigative Committee, Russia's top law enforcement body, wrote in a statement that Lt. Gen. Yury Kuznetsov, the chief of the ministry's main personnel directorate, was arrested on charges of bribery and placed in custody pending investigation and trial. Kuznetsov is accused of accepting an exceptionally large bribe, a charge punishable by up to 15 years in prison, the statement said. The official's home and other properties were searched, the Investigative Committee reported, and the authorities seized gold coins, luxury items and 100 million rubles (just over USD 1 million) in cash. Putin replaced Sergei Shoigu as defence minister Sunday in a Cabinet shakeup that comes as he begins his fifth term in office, moving

US Prez Biden signs ban on imports of Russian nuclear reactor fuel into law

The ban on imports of the fuel for nuclear power plants begins in about 90 days, although it allows the Department of Energy to issue waivers in case of supply concerns

Biden-Netanyahu relations strained; can the two leaders move forward

President Joe Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu have long managed a complicated relationship, but they're running out of space to maneuver as their views on the Gaza war diverge and their political futures hang in the balance. Their ties have hit a low point as Biden holds up the delivery of heavy bombs to Israel and warns that the provision of artillery and other weaponry also could be suspended if Netanyahu moves forward with a widescale operation in the southern Gaza city of Rafah. Netanyahu, for his part, is brushing off Biden's warnings and vowing to press ahead, saying, If we have to stand alone, we will stand alone. If we need to, we will fight with our fingernails. But we have much more than fingernails, he said. Biden has long prided himself on being able to manage Netanyahu more with carrots than sticks. But the escalation of friction over the past seven months suggests that his approach may be long past its best-by date. With both men balancing an ...

LS Polls 2024: Congress, BJP step up campaigning; re-polling in 2 booths

Lok Sabha elections 2024 campaign heats up as Congress and BJP launch scathing attacks. Elections in India catch global attention from United States, Russia ahead of Phase 4 of the polls; details here

Putin's next target after Ukraine may be Nato's Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia

With the addition this year of Sweden and last spring of Finland to the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation, the Baltic Sea has been dubbed a 'Nato lake' by some analysts

Russian govt rubbishes US allegations implicating India in Pannun case

Gurpatwant Singh Pannun is an India-designated terrorist who holds American and Canadian citizenship

Ukraine peace talks should include Russian representatives: China diplomat

Moscow has said it sees no point in Ukraine peace talks in Switzerland, while Kyiv has said it sees no place at the summit, held near the Swiss city of Lucerne, for Russia

Russia to practice tactical nuclear weapon scenario in its military drills

The ministry said the exercise was ordered by President Vladimir Putin and would test the readiness of non-strategic nuclear forces to perform combat missions

Putin's critic warns Kremlin will seize more assets to punish foes

Russia has become increasingly aggressive in seizing assets from local tycoons since the start of the Ukraine war

Serbia lawmakers elect new govt with pro-Russia ministers sanctioned by US

Serbian lawmakers on Thursday voted into office a new government that reinstated two pro-Russia officials who are sanctioned by the United States, reflecting persistent close ties with Moscow despite the Balkan nation's proclaimed bid to join the European Union. Prime Minister Milo Vucevic's government got backing in a 152-61 vote in the 250-member parliament. The remaining 37 lawmakers were absent. The government includes former intelligence chief Aleksandar Vulin, who has made several visits to Russia in recent months, as one of several vice-premiers, along with Nenad Popovic, another Russia supporter who has faced US sanctions. The foreign minister in the previous government, Ivica Dacic, also a pro-Russia politician, will be in charge of the Interior Ministry in the new Cabinet. The vote followed a heated two-day debate. President Aleksandar Vucic's ruling nationalist conservative Serbian Progressive Party holds a comfortable majority after an election in December that fueled .

Putin probably didn't order opposition leader Navalny's death: US official

US intelligence officials have determined that Russian President Vladimir Putin likely didn't order the death of imprisoned opposition leader Alexei Navalny in February, according to an official familiar with the determination. While US officials believe Putin was ultimately responsible for the death of Navalny, who endured brutal conditions during his confinement, the intelligence community has found no smoking gun that Putin was aware of the timing of Navalny's death which came soon before the Russian president's reelection or directly ordered it, according to the official. The official spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive matter. Soon after the Navalny's death, US President Joe Biden said Putin was ultimately responsible but did not accuse the Russian president of directly ordering it. At the time, Biden said the US did not know exactly what had happened to Navalny but that there is no doubt that his death was the consequence of something that Putin and

Two Russian journalists arrested for alleged work for Navalny group

Two Russian journalists were arrested by their government on "extremism charges and ordered by courts there on Saturday to remain in custody pending investigation and trial on accusations of working for a group founded by the late Russian opposition politician Alexei Navalny. Konstantin Gabov and Sergey Karelin both denied the charges for which they will be detained for a minimum of two months before any trials begin. Each faces a minimum of two years in prison and a maximum of six years for alleged participation in an extremist organization, according to Russian courts. They are just the latest journalists arrested amid a Russian government crackdown on dissent and independent media that intensified after its full-scale invasion of Ukraine more than two years ago. The Russian government passed laws criminalizing what it deems false information about the military, or statements seen as discrediting the military, effectively outlawing any criticism of the war in Ukraine or speech that

Russia, Ukraine exchange fire, strike each others' refinery and gas targets

Russia reported a Ukrainian drone attack on the Slavyansk oil refinery in the Krasnodar region, the first such strike since early this month

Putin announces plan to visit China in May, his first trip after poll win

Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday he plans to visit China in May, in what could become the first foreign trip for the Russian leader after he extended his rule by six more years in an election that offered voters little real choice. Putin announced the plans for the visit at a congress of the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs in Moscow. He didn't say when exactly it would take place and didn't offer any other details. Putin's inauguration is scheduled for May 7, Russian lawmakers said earlier this week. Last month, the 71-year-old Russian leader secured his fifth term in office in a vote with no real opposition, extending his 24-year rule. Russia's growing economic and diplomatic isolation because of its war against Ukraine has made it increasingly reliant on China, its former rival for leadership of the Communist bloc during the Cold War. According to a recent US assessment, China has surged sales to Russia of machine tools, microelectronics and oth

Brics Summit will take interaction to new heights: Russian FM Lavrov

"It is worth considering that there has been no example of an entity doubling its membership so far," Lavrov added

West teetering on brink of conflict between nuclear powers. says Russia

'United States and NATO were obsessed with the idea of inflicting "strategic defeat" on Russia,' says Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov

Ukraine claims it shot down a Russian bomber; Moscow says its plane crashed

Ukraine's air force claimed on Friday it shot down a Russian strategic bomber, but Moscow officials said the plane crashed in a sparsely populated area due to a malfunction after a combat mission. Neither claim could be independently verified. Previous Ukrainian claims of shooting down Russian warplanes during their more than two-year war have met with silence or denials from Moscow. Russia's air force is vastly more powerful than Ukraine's, but sophisticated missile systems provided by Kyiv's Western partners are a major threat to Russian aviation as the Kremlin's forces slowly push forward along the around 1,000-kilometer (620-mile) front line in what has become a grinding war of attrition. The Ukrainian report said the air force and military intelligence cooperated to bring down the Tu-22M3 bomber with anti-aircraft missiles. Russia commonly uses the bomber to fire Kh-22 cruise missiles at Ukrainian targets from inside its own airspace. The plane can also carry nuclear ...

Climate change, war, poverty biggest challenges: World Bank's Ajay Banga

There was no shortage of stressors to the global economy when Ajay Banga took charge at the World Bank almost a year ago: inflation eating at nations drowning in debt, a once-in-a-generation pandemic, climate disasters and Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Factor in the Israel-Hamas war and rising tensions between powerful nations, and today's agenda is even fuller as the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund hold their spring meetings in Washington this week. The world's intertwined challenges of poverty which clearly we have seen great setbacks over the past few years combined with fragility and conflict and violence, combined with climate change, is coming into a perfect storm, Banga said in an interview with The Associated Press. "We need to put all of our efforts into this. Banga highlighted new initiatives being announced at the meetings, including plans to provide 300 million people in Africa with electricity by 2030 and 1.5 billion people worldwide with health care .