Category Archives: Vladimir Putin

Russia and China silence speaks volumes as leaders congratulate Biden

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Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping stay silent while Iran waits to see how US will compensate for Trump sanctions

Most world leaders rushed to congratulate Joe Biden on his election, but Russia and China, two likely losers from the defeat of Donald Trump, remained silent, perhaps waiting for the outgoing president to concede defeat.

The president of the Maldives, Ibrahim Mohamed Solih, is thought to be the first to have congratulated Biden, tweeting his welcome within 24 minutes of the US networks declaring Biden victorious. By contrast, Vladimir Putin, accused of collusion in Trump’s 2016 victory, and Xi Jinping kept their counsel.

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‘Crush the fascist vermin’: Belarus opposition summons wartime spirit

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Partisan tactics once used to fight the Nazis have been turned against Alexander Lukashenko’s brutally repressive regime

In Minsk, what people here call the Great Patriotic War is never far away. Monuments, street names and museums venerate the memory of the awful years from 1941 to 1945, when the Soviet Union was at war with Nazi Germany.

Alexander Lukashenko, who has ruled Belarus since 1994, has used the years of partisan resistance against the Nazi occupation of the country, and the eventual victory by the Red Army, as the basis for a neo-Soviet, Belarusian identity.

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Russian MPs consider lifetime immunity for former presidents

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Second bill in a week sparks talk of whether Vladimir Putin could be preparing for retirement

Russian lawmakers have introduced a bill into parliament that would give Vladimir Putin lifetime immunity from prosecution if and when he decides to leave office.

The draft bill would give a former president immunity from criminal prosecution for any offences committed during his lifetime. A supermajority of lawmakers would be required to revoke the protections. Currently, ex-presidents are protected for actions taken only while they were in office.

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Belarus protests: nationwide strike looms after ‘people’s ultimatum’ rally

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Opposition leader calls for action on Monday as Lukashenko defies demand from 100,000 marchers in Minsk to step down

Belarusian riot police launched another violent crackdown in Minsk on Sunday evening, throwing stun grenades into crowds of peaceful protesters, chasing people through courtyards and making arrests as they attempted to curtail the 11th consecutive Sunday of protest in the country.

At least 100,000 people marched through the centre of the Belarusian capital earlier in the day to give what they called a “people’s ultimatum” to Alexander Lukashenko: step down, or face a nationwide strike on Monday that could cripple the economy.

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Russia’s cyber-attack plan for Olympics part of a familiar pattern

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The reach of the GRU spy unit behind attacks on Japan and South Korea is remarkable

In the aftermath of Moscow’s hacking of the 2016 US election, many analysts expected the GRU to be punished. After all, Russia’s powerful military spy agency had been caught red-handed. The FBI indicted several GRU hackers in humiliating fashion. The spies who stole Democratic party emails – tens and thousands of them – were named and shamed.

In fact, the GRU avoided any repressions. In recent years Vladimir Putin has carried out a sweeping and brutal reorganisation at the top of government, sending a shiver down the spine of nervous bureaucrats. He has sacked or had arrested regional governors and ministers. Even the FSB, Putin’s old spy agency and a rival to the GRU, has seen generals fired.

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Western spies privately blame Russia’s FSB for Alexei Navalny poisoning

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Exclusive: stark conclusion shared between London, Berlin and Paris in effect points finger at Kremlin

Western security agencies have privately concluded that the Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny was poisoned by the country’s FSB domestic spy agency, in effect pointing the finger at the Kremlin for ordering the attack.

The stark conclusion has been shared between London, Berlin and Paris, among others, and underpins the decision this week by the UK and the EU to target the FSB chief, Alexander Bortnikov, with sanctions.

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EU sanctions Kremlin chiefs over Alexei Navalny poisoning

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Bloc targeting six Russians, including FSB chief, over ‘assassination attempt’ on opposition figure

The EU has announced sanctions against members of Vladimir Putin’s inner circle, including the head of Russia’s domestic spy agency, over the poisoning of opposition figure Alexei Navalny.

The EU said it had agreed sanctions against six people believed to have been involved in the “assassination attempt” against Putin’s most vocal critic.

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Russia offers to host Nagorno-Karabakh ceasefire talks

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Putin proposes halt in fighting to exchange prisoners and collect soldiers’ bodies, says Kremlin

Russia has moved to stop the worst escalation of fighting in the separatist region of Nagorno-Karabakh in more than a quarter-century by offering to host ceasefire talks on Friday.

Late on Thursday, the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, issued a statement calling for a break in the fighting between the Armenian and Azerbaijani forces that has raged for nearly two weeks over the region.

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Belarus opposition leader to ask Merkel about upping pressure on Lukashenko

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Svetlana Tikhanovskaya says in interview that people can no longer live under dictatorship, as more 100,000 protest on Sunday

The Belarusian opposition leader Svetlana Tikhanovskaya will meet Angela Merkel in Berlin on Tuesday, as the standoff in Belarus increasingly takes on a geopolitical dimension, becoming one more bone of contention between Russia and the west.

Tikhanovskaya said she will ask the German chancellor about “her potential participation as a mediator” in talks between protest leaders and the government of the embattled autocrat Alexander Lukashenko, who has been backed by the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, and has flatly refused to participate in negotiations.

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America is having a code red moment. Which of its enemies is likely to strike first? | Simon Tisdall

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With Trump in hospital and the election campaign in chaos, the US has never been more vulnerable to foreign threats

US presidential elections and the uncertain transition periods that follow have traditionally been viewed by military, intelligence and security officials as moments of maximum national vulnerability. They will be especially worried now.

The fact that Donald Trump is ill in hospital, presidential advisers and Republican senators are also unwell, or self-isolating, and the election campaign is in chaos will intensify a sense of dangerous exposure at the Pentagon, CIA and state department.

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Alexei Navalny says he believes Vladimir Putin was behind poisoning

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Russian opposition figure poisoned with nerve agent says he has no ‘other versions’ of how crime was committed

The Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny says he believes Vladimir Putin ordered intelligence agencies to poison him, possibly to avoid a “Belarusian scenario” of civil unrest.

Navalny, who is recovering in Germany after falling ill on a flight from Tomsk to Moscow in August, told the news magazine Der Spiegel that the use of the rare nerve agent novichok meant the assault on his life would have been ordered from the top.

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The Guardian view on the US presidential debate: a bad night for the world | Editorial

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The dismal spectacle reminded viewers what is at stake in November for the US – and the rest of us

One unmistakable winner emerged from Tuesday’s presidential debate: Xi Jinping. The loser was the American public – and anyone else unfortunate enough to have sat through the grim 90-minute spectacle.

Variously described by commentators as a trainwreck, dumpster fire, shitshow and the worst debate in presidential history, it reflected the state of the race and the nation after four years of Donald Trump. This is America in 2020: wracked by a pandemic that has killed 200,000 people and highlighted its deep structural failings on healthcare and inequality, as well as the parlous state of its politics – a realm of bitter divisions in which facts appear to be optional.

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United Nations general assembly: China rejects Trump’s ‘baseless’ Covid accusations – live

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Follow live as Jair Bolsonaro, Donald Trump, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin – among others – deliver video messages

...and we have photos of Xi Jinping’s background:

Some more analysis, this time from our diplomatic editor, Patrick Wintour, on Turkey’s talk:

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan used his general assembly address to set out Turkey’s bitter objections to its exclusion from the East Mediterranean, but said he was ready to resume talks bound by international law to address their contested maritime claims in the eastern Mediterranean and Aegean. By his recent rhetorical standards, the speech was one of Erdoğan’s mildest.

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Alexei Navalny walks down stairs as recovery continues

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Russian opposition leader describes ‘clear path’ to recovery and praises Berlin doctors

The Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny has been pictured walking down stairs, five days after a Berlin hospital said he had been taken off a ventilator and could breathe independently.

Navalny, the leading opponent of the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, fell ill in Siberia last month and was airlifted to Berlin. Germany said laboratory tests in three countries determined he was poisoned with a novichok nerve agent, and western governments have demanded an explanation from Russia.

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Belarus charges opposition leader with ‘undermining national security’

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Maria Kolesnikova could face up to five years in prison as president cracks down on opposition

Belarusian authorities have charged the opposition figure Maria Kolesnikova with “actions aimed at undermining national security”, a charge that carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison.

The charge, announced by the country’s investigative committee, is the latest move in a crackdown on opposition leaders by the embattled president, Alexander Lukashenko, who has lost legitimacy among much of the population but retains the support of law enforcement agencies.

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Russia to loan Belarus $1.5bn as Lukashenko tells Putin: ‘a friend is in trouble’

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Belarusian president flies to Sochi for talks with Russian leader after month of protests

The embattled Belarusian president Alexander Lukashenko is holding talks with his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, a meeting seen as crucial to determining whether or not Lukashenko can survive a protest movement against him.

The pair met at Putin’s residence in Sochi, the first foreign trip Lukashenko has made since protests began a month ago.

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Alexei Navalny continues to improve, say German doctors

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Russian opposition leader taken off ventilator and can leave his bed, hospital reports

The Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny has been taken off a ventilator and is able to leave his bed for short periods of time, German doctors who have been treating him for novichok poisoning have said.

In a significant update, the Charité hospital in Berlin said Navalny’s condition “continues to improve” and hinted that he was able to talk. It said latest news of his health was made public after consultation with Navalny and his wife.

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Russia local elections: Navalny allies win council seats as Putin’s party claims victory

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Associates of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny celebrate victory in Siberia where he was poisoned

Allies of poisoned Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny have said they have secured city council seats in Siberia as independent monitors condemned a reported “stream” of voting irregularities in regional polls.

In several dozen of the country’s 85 regions, Russians voted for regional governors and lawmakers in regional and city legislatures as well as in several by-elections for national MPs.

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Belarus: 100,000 join rally against Lukashenko on eve of Putin showdown

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Protesters hold placards criticising Russian support as they march on president’s Minsk residence

Attempts by Belarus’s president, Alexander Lukashenko, to crush popular protests against him failed on Sunday when more than 100,000 people marched on his residence in the capital, Minsk, with other demonstrations across the country.

There was no sign that the anti-Lukashenko movement is declining or fading away. Instead protesters took to the streets in huge numbers for the fifth weekend in a row, defying riot police who blocked off the city centre with military vehicles.

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Belarus: Lukashenko vows to stay in first interview since protests

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President tells Russian journalists that if he resigned the opposition would destroy Belarus

The Belarusian president, Alexander Lukashenko, has used his first interview since mass protests erupted against his rule to say he does not plan to step down soon.

Lukashenko spoke to a group of pro-Kremlin Russian journalists including the editor-in-chief of Russia Today, Margarita Simonyan, and made it clear he plans to fight to cling on to power.

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