Category Archives: Russia

Spain’s PM urges Beijing to discuss peace plan with Zelenskiy

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Pedro Sánchez encourages dialogue between Xi Jinping and Ukrainian president during China visit

Spain’s prime minister has said he conveyed concerns over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine to Xi Jinping, urging Beijing to discuss peace plans with Kyiv directly, during a visit to China aimed at boosting ties between the two countries.

Speaking to reporters on Friday from the Spanish embassy in Beijing, Pedro Sánchez said the talks with the Chinese president had “transmitted our concern at the illegal invasion of Ukraine”, as well as “encouraged Xi to talk to President Zelenskiy” to learn first-hand about the peace plan proposed by Kyiv.

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‘Absurdity to a new level’ as Russia takes charge of UN security council

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Monthly rotation of presidency of 15-member council has been unaffected by Ukraine war

In Ukraine, Moscow is pursuing an unprovoked war of aggression. In The Hague, Vladimir Putin is facing an arrest warrant for war crimes. But at the UN, Russia is about to take charge of a powerful international body, the security council.

From Saturday, it will be Russia’s turn to take up the monthly presidency of the 15-member council, in line with a rotation that has been unaffected by the Ukraine war.

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Russia seeking weapons from North Korea to bolster Ukraine war, says US

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US security spokesman says new evidence suggests Moscow offering food to ‘rogue’ nation in return for dozens of kinds of weapons and munitions

The White House says it has new evidence that Russia is looking again to North Korea for weapons and munitions to fuel the war in Ukraine, this time in a deal that would provide Pyongyang with much-needed food and other commodities in return.

It is the latest accusation that Russia, desperate for weaponry and restricted by sanctions and export controls, is turning to “rogue” nations to help it continue its 13-month-old war.

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Russia-Ukraine war: US ‘deeply concerned’ by Russia’s arrest of American journalist – as it happened

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Dymtro Kuleba, Ukraine’s foreign minister, has tweeted to criticise the fact that Russia will take over chairing the UN security council on 1 April. He writes:

Russian UN security council presidency on 1 April is a bad joke. Russia has usurped its seat; it is waging a colonial war; its leader is a war criminal wanted by the ICC for kidnapping children. The world can’t be a safe place with Russia at UNSC.

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Russia arrests Wall Street Journal reporter on espionage charges

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Evan Gershkovich could face up to 20 years in prison after allegedly ‘collecting classified information’

Russia’s top security agency has said a reporter for the Wall Street Journal has been arrested on espionage charges.

The Federal Security Service (FSB) said on Thursday that Evan Gershkovich had been detained in the Ural Mountains city of Yekaterinburg while allegedly trying to obtain classified information.

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Russian man whose daughter drew anti-war pictures is detained after fleeing

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Alexei Moskalyov had been jailed for two years after investigation triggered by 13-year-old’s drawings

A Russian man who fled house arrest after being sentenced to two years in prison for discrediting Russia in social media posts, following an investigation prompted by his daughter’s anti-war drawings, has been arrested, his lawyer said.

“He has been detained, yes,” Dmitry Zakhvatov told Reuters, without providing more details.

Alexei Moskalyov was sentenced to two years in prison as punishment for his criticism of Kremlin policies in social media posts. Police investigated him after his 13-year-old daughter, Maria, refused to participate in a patriotic class at her school and made drawings showing rockets being fired at a family standing under a Ukrainian flag and another that said “Glory to Ukraine!”

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Russia-Ukraine war: object found near Nord Stream 2 ‘no safety risk’; Bakhmut battle has ‘badly damaged’ Wagner forces – as it happened

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Global commodities trader Cargill has told Russia’s agriculture ministry that it will stop exporting Russian grain from the start of the next exporting season, which begins on 1 July, the ministry said on Wednesday.

“The cessation of its export activities on the Russian market will not affect the volume of domestic grain shipments abroad. The company’s grain export assets will continue to operate regardless of who manages them,” the agriculture ministry said in a comment to Reuters.

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Rupert Murdoch has fuelled polarisation of society, Barack Obama says

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Former US president tells Sydney audience that media coverage has helped exacerbate divisions and that we no longer have a ‘shared story’

The former US president Barack Obama has suggested that Rupert Murdoch’s media empire has led to greater polarisation in western societies through news coverage designed to “make people angry and resentful”.

Speaking to a capacity crowd of about 9,000 people at Sydney’s Aware Super Theatre on Tuesday night, Obama mixed childhood memories of transiting through Australia as a child with pointed observations about the current political discourse and the rise of China.

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Russian man detained after daughter’s anti-war drawings flees house arrest

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Alexei Moskalyov convicted of discrediting armed forces on social media, after police investigated daughter’s drawings

A Russian man who was detained by police after his daughter drew anti-war pictures at school was sentenced on Tuesday to two years after being convicted of discrediting the armed force.

But in a dramatic turn of events, a court spokesperson said the man, Alexei Moskalyov, had fled house arrest overnight and his whereabouts were currently not known.

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Russia-Ukraine war: UN warns of ‘very dangerous’ situation at Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant – as it happened

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Suspilne, Ukraine’s state broadcaster, reports on its official Telegram channel that this morning the border village of Chernatske in Sumy oblast has been struck. It writes: “Twenty hits were recorded, probably from barrel artillery. The infrastructure of the village was damaged – a cultural centre and a children’s playground, as well as five private houses.”

The UK Ministry of Defence says Russia’s 10th tank regiment has borne the brunt of the assault of Avdiivka and has likely lost a “large portion of its tanks” while attempting to surround the town from the south.

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Putin prepares Russia for ‘forever war’ with west as Ukraine invasion stalls

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The Russian president has managed to rally people around the flag with talk of a fight for national survival

One evening in late December, as Muscovites strolled along their city’s brightly lit streets in anticipation of the end-of-year celebrations, a group of old friends gathered for dinner at the flat of a senior state official.

Some of the guests present, which included members of Russia’s cultural and political elite, toasted a new year in which they expressed hope for peace and a return to normality.

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German Leopard 2 tanks now in Ukraine, Berlin confirms

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Eighteen German vehicles handed over at border to bolster military supplies from Britain and EU countries

Germany’s much-awaited shipment of 18 Leopard 2 battle tanks has arrived in Ukraine, the German defence ministry has confirmed.

After months of prevaricating, the German government announced in late January it would provide Kyiv with the state-of-the-art fighting vehicles as part of a deal under which several EU states would contribute to a shipment of two Leopard 2 battalions and 31 American-made M1A2 Abrams tanks from the US.

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Russia-Ukraine war live: Putin’s plan to station nuclear weapons in Belarus ‘irresponsible’ and ‘escalatory’, says Germany

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Berlin says Moscow’s announcement is ‘another attempt at nuclear intimidation’

Russia plans to complete coastal infrastructure needed to host nuclear submarines in the Pacific Ocean, Tass news agency reported on Monday.

The nuclear submarines will be capable of carrying the Poseidon nuclear-capable super torpedos first produced in January, four years after they were announced.

A policy of dramatic fiscal austerity that comes at the expense of the fabric of Ukrainian society and the state will have huge long-run costs. The EU, the United States and other outside supporters can soften this dilemma best a. by providing more generous funding and b. by urging Kyiv towards a strategy of civilian as well as military state-building, not by replacing domestic national institutions with international agencies, but by promoting the mobilization of local institutions and agencies.

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Russian soldiers say commanders used ‘barrier troops’ to stop them retreating

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Assault unit members claim in video that superiors ‘want to execute us’ after ‘huge’ losses in eastern Ukraine

Members of a recently formed Russian assault unit say their commanders deployed troops to stop them from retreating and threatened them with death after they suffered “huge” losses in eastern Ukraine.

In a video addressed to President Vladimir Putin, a group of about two dozen men in military uniform say they are the remnants of Storm, a unit under the defence ministry.

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Putin’s timeline for storing tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus is hard to believe

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Although Alexander Lukashenko has agreed to host nuclear bases little construction work seems to have started

Like a lot of what Vladimir Putin says about nuclear weapons, his suggestion that Russia would start storing its bombs in Belarus may add up to less than it appears.

In February last year, Putin said he was putting Russia’s nuclear arsenal on high alert, but there was no perceptible change in the country’s nuclear posture, or any unusual movements of its weapons.

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Russia-Ukraine war live: Russian plans for nuclear weapons in Belarus ‘dangerous and irresponsible’ – as it happened

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Senior US administration official says there are no signs Moscow intends to use its nuclear weapons

Ukrainian refugees are increasingly being targeted for sexual exploitation with an increase in interest in pornography claiming to feature refugees from the war-torn country, according to research.

Thomson Reuters has conducted the research, which has found that Ukrainian refugees may be victims of both traffickers on the ground and cyber-voyeurs.

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US indicts alleged Russian spy who tried to infiltrate ICC in The Hague

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Sergey Cherkasov studied in US under false identity and is accused of working for Russian intelligence

US authorities have released new details about an alleged Russian spy who attempted to penetrate the international criminal court in The Hague, using a false identity developed over a decade.

An indictment made public on Saturday accuses Sergey Cherkasov, who US intelligence believes is an elite “illegal” operative of Russia’s GRU military intelligence agency. Cherkasov posed as Brazilian citizen Victor Muller Ferreira over many years.

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Russia accused of taking Belarus ‘nuclear hostage’ with deal to station missiles there

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Ukraine says Putin’s deal to station tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus destabilises neighbour

Ukraine has accused Russia of destabilising Belarus and making its smaller neighbour into “a nuclear hostage”, after Vladimir Putin’s announcement that Moscow has made a deal to station tactical nuclear weapons on Belarusian territory.

The country’s opposition leader in exile, Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, said the move “grossly contradicts the will of the Belarusian people” and reflected the further subjugation of Belarus under Russian control.

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