Category Archives: Russia

Release of Ukrainian prisoners in Russia key to any peace deal, rights groups say

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Kyiv-based Centre for Civil Liberties says tortured inmates bypassed amid focus on territory and security guarantees

Ukrainian and Russian civil society leaders have called for the unconditional release of thousands of Ukrainian civilians being held in Russian captivity, pushing for world leaders to make it a central part of any peace deal.

Oleksandra Matviichuk, head of the Kyiv-based Centre for Civil Liberties, which won the 2022 Nobel peace prize, said most of the discussion on ending the conflict, led by Donald Trump’s administration, focused solely on territories and potential security guarantees.

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France says Russian hackers behind attack on Macron’s 2017 presidential campaign

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Foreign ministry says Russian military intelligence has attacked a dozen French entities since 2021 including a TV station

France has accused Russian military intelligence of carrying out a massive cyber-attack on Emmanuel Macron’s first presidential campaign in 2017 as well as several other recent major hacks, including on a TV station and an organisation involved in the Paris Olympics.

The French foreign ministry said for the first time on Tuesday that it was Russian hackers who had targeted Macron’s campaign team in 2017, adding that other Russian targets had included French media and an organisation involved in the 2024 Olympics.

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North Korea confirms for first time it has sent troops to fight for Russia in Ukraine war

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Battle in Kursk showed ‘highest strategic level of the firm militant friendship’ between North Korea and Russia, state news says, hailing ‘heroes’

North Korea has confirmed for the first time that it has sent troops to fight for Russia in the war with Ukraine under the orders of the country’s leader, Kim Jong-un, who described the soldiers as “heroes”.

The acknowledgment comes amid claims by the Kremlin – contested by Ukraine – that North Korean forces helped recapture Russia’s Kursk region.

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Russia continues to strike Ukraine after Trump questions Putin’s commitment to peace

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Airstrike in Donetsk kills three and drone attack in Dnipro leaves one dead, according to local sources

Russia has continued its assault on Ukraine with a series of drone attacks and airstrikes, hours after Donald Trump cast doubt on Vladimir Putin’s readiness to end the conflict.

Three people were killed and four wounded on Sunday morning in airstrikes on Kostiantynivka in the Donetsk region, according to the regional prosecutor’s office. In a drone attack on the city of Pavlohrad in the Dnipro region, a person was killed and a 14-year-old girl wounded after a third consecutive night of assaults, the local governor, Serhiy Lysak, said.

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Russia sends help to Iran after deadly port explosion

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Investigation launched into cause of blast at Shahid Rajaee port as death toll rises to 28

Vladimir Putin was one of the first world leaders to offer help to Iran in the aftermath of a massive explosion at a container depot in a key port near the strait of Hormuz, dispatching several emergency planes to the area.

Fires still blazed nearly 24 hours after the explosion at the giant Shahid Rajaee port in southern Iran, the nation’s most strategically important port and chief artery for its world trade. The death toll had risen to at least 28 and the numbers injured had risen to more than 1,000.

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Campaigners sound alarm as European nations move to exit landmine ban

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Finland, Poland, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania cite rising threats from Russia to justify once again using one of world’s most indiscriminate weapons

Rights groups have expressed alarm and warned of a slippery slope of again embracing one of the world’s most treacherous weapons, after five European countries said they intend to withdraw from the international treaty banning antipersonnel landmines.

In announcing their plans earlier this year, Finland, Poland, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania all pointed to the escalating military threat from Russia. In mid-April, Latvia’s parliament became the first to formally back the idea, after lawmakers voted to pull out of the 1997 Mine Ban Treaty, which bans the use, production and stockpiling of landmines designed for use against humans.

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Trump says he fears Putin ‘may be tapping me along’ after Zelenskyy meeting

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US president admits to concern Russian counterpart does not want to ‘stop the war’ and ponders new approach to Moscow

Donald Trump and Volodymyr Zelenskyy have sat down for a face-to-face talk in the opulent halls of a Vatican basilica to discuss a possible ceasefire, after which the US president accused his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, of not wanting to “stop the war”.

The White House described Trump’s meeting with the Ukrainian leader before Pope Francis’s funeral as “very productive”, while Zelenskyy said on X that the talk with the US president was symbolic and had the “potential to become historic, if we achieve joint results”.

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Son of CIA deputy director was killed while fighting for Russia, report says

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Michael Alexander Gloss, 21, who died on 4 April 2024, was the son of top-ranking US spy Juliane Gallina

An American man identified as the son of a deputy director of the CIA was killed in eastern Ukraine in 2024 while fighting under contract for the Russian military, according to an investigation by independent Russian media.

Michael Alexander Gloss, 21, died on 4 April 2024 in “Eastern Europe”, according to an obituary published by his family. He was the son of Juliane Gallina, who was appointed the deputy director for digital innovation at the Central Intelligence Agency in February 2024.

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Son of CIA deputy director was killed while fighting for Russia, report says

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Michael Alexander Gloss, 21, who died on 4 April 2024, was the son of top-ranking US spy Juliane Gallina

An American man identified as the son of a deputy director of the CIA was killed in eastern Ukraine in 2024 while fighting under contract for the Russian military, according to an investigation by independent Russian media.

Michael Alexander Gloss, 21, died on 4 April 2024 in “Eastern Europe”, according to an obituary published by his family. He was the son of Juliane Gallina, who was appointed the deputy director for digital innovation at the Central Intelligence Agency in February 2024.

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A carve-up in gift wrapping: Trump’s peace plan puts the sacrifice on Ukraine

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Redolent of old great power thinking, Trump’s Crimea giveaway could usher a return to international lawlessness

“Crimea will stay with Russia,” Donald Trump told Time magazine in a largely sympathetic profile on Friday. And with that statement, the US president made clear that he wanted to carve up another country, Ukraine, and so legitimise the forcible seizure of land made by Moscow 11 years ago.

From reading the transcript of the interview, Trump’s thinking is hardly coherent. Crimea, he says, wouldn’t have been seized if he had been president in 2014, but “it was handed to them by Barack Hussein Obama” and now Crimea has “been with them [Russia] for a long time” – so it is time to accept the seizure.

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Trump envoy meets Putin hours after Moscow killing of Russian general

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Russian official calls talks with Steve Witkoff ‘quite useful’ as investigation launched into suspected Ukrainian bombing

Donald Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff has met Vladimir Putin in the Kremlin for high-stakes peace talks, hours after a senior Russian military official was killed in a car explosion near Moscow.

Trump has played up Witkoff’s visit – his fourth to Russia in recent months – claiming a deal on ending the war in Ukraine was within reach. “The next few days are going to be very important. Meetings are taking place right now,” Trump told reporters on Thursday. “I think we’re going to make a deal … I think we’re getting very close.”

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Alleged former members of neo-Nazi group claim its leader is Russian spy

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Allegation against Rinaldo Nazzaro, founder of the Base, could shed new meaning on group’s efforts inside Ukraine

Alleged former members of an international neo-Nazi terrorist organization are claiming its Russia-based and American leader is a Kremlin spy, according to online records reviewed by the Guardian.

The allegation that Rinaldo Nazzaro, a former Pentagon contractor and founder of the Base, listed as a designated terrorist organization all over the world, is an alleged Russian intelligence asset could bring new meaning to his group’s latest effort: sabotage and assassination missions inside Ukraine to weaken the government of President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

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‘Vladimir, stop!’ Trump in rare rebuke to Putin as Kyiv attack toll rises to 12

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Intervention comes as US president makes renewed push to end war, reportedly on terms favourable to Moscow

Donald Trump has issued a rare rebuke to Moscow for an air attack that killed 12 people in Kyiv, telling the Russian president in a social media post: “Vladimir, STOP!”

The US president’s remarks come as he makes a renewed push to end the Ukraine war, reportedly on terms favourable to Russia that include recognition of Moscow’s 2014 annexation of Crimea, something the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, has said he cannot accept.

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Trump accuses Zelenskyy of jeopardising imminent peace deal

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US president attacks Ukrainian counterpart, complaining Kyiv is unwilling to cede Crimea to Russia

Donald Trump has accused Volodymyr Zelenskyy of jeopardising what he claimed was an imminent peace deal to end the war in Ukraine, as he gave the clearest hint yet that the US would be willing to formally recognise Russia’s seizure of Crimea as part of any agreement.

The US president claimed a deal to end the war – largely negotiated between Washington and Moscow – was close, while the vice-president, JD Vance, said the agreement would include a proposal to freeze the conflict roughly along the current frontlines.

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Indonesian ambassador met senior Australian diplomats on same day Albanese accused Dutton of ‘damaging relationship’

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Exclusive: Meeting with Dfat deputy secretary not specifically about reported Russian military request, diplomatic sources say, but may have been canvassed

Indonesia’s ambassador met with senior Australian diplomats on Tuesday as the nation was thrust into an election campaign debate about a potential Russian military presence in the region – and on the same day Anthony Albanese accused Peter Dutton of damaging the bilateral relationship.

Indonesia’s ambassador to Australia, Dr Siswo Pramono, met with the department of foreign affairs and trade’s deputy secretary, Michelle Chan, who leads its south-east Asian policy division. One diplomatic source said Indonesia requested the meeting.

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Russia ‘may be willing to drop claims to parts of Ukraine it does not occupy’

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David Lammy to host US and European negotiators for ceasefire talks in London amid encouraging speculation

David Lammy, the foreign secretary, will host US and European negotiators for fresh talks about Ukraine on Wednesday amid speculation that Russia has told Washington it might be willing to drop its claim to parts of Ukraine it does not occupy.

The price would include the US making concessions to Moscow such as recognising the 2014 annexation of Crimea, though Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelenskyy said no such proposal had been shared with him by the White House and that his country could not endorse it.

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Russia-Ukraine war: Kremlin says Putin willing to discuss halting attacks on civilian infrastructure as Ukraine says six people killed in past day – as it happened

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Dmitry Peskov says Russia ready to consider Zelenskyy’s proposal to halt attacks on infrastructure such as energy facilities as Ukraine says Russian attacks have killed six

British prime minister Keir Starmer praised the “resilience” of Ukrainians as he addressed personnel taking part in training being provided by British personnel and other allies to Ukrainian troops.

Addressing Ukrainians taking part in the programme to train troops, the prime minister thanked them for attending and said it is “incredible to see the resilience and inspiration that you have” as they head to the Russian frontline.

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Russia resumes fighting after ‘ceasefire’ Ukraine says Moscow breached nearly 3,000 times – as it happened

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Russian military confirms ‘Easter truce’ is over and fighting has begun again as Ukrainian says Moscow launched 96 drones and three missiles overnight. This live blog is closed

When Vladimir Putin launched his full-scale invasion of Ukraine three years ago, he demanded that Ukraine renounce joining Nato, sharply cut its army, and “protect” Russian language and culture to keep the country in Moscow’s orbit.

Now, he also demands that Kyiv withdraw its forces from the four regions Moscow illegally annexed in September 2022 but never fully occupied — Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson.

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Air raid alerts in Ukraine after Putin’s Easter ‘ceasefire’ ends

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Regions in eastern Ukraine were under air raid alerts starting minutes after midnight on Monday, with the alerts gradually extending west

Ukraine issued air raid alerts for Kyiv and the country’s eastern half as blasts shook the city of Mykolaiv early on Monday, authorities said, hours after the one-day Easter “ceasefire” declared by Vladimir Putin came to an end.

Volodymyr Zelenskyy dismissed the Russian president’s unilateral Easter ceasefire declaration as a fake “PR” exercise and said Russian troops had continued their drone and artillery attacks across many parts of the frontline on Sunday.

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‘Propaganda’: Albanese mocks Russia’s ‘you have no cards’ warning to Australia

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Incendiary letter by Moscow’s envoy says Australians should be more concerned about US bases on their soil than a Russian base in Indonesia

Russian warnings to Australia that “you have no cards” to stop Russian military activity in the Indo-Pacific have been mocked by Anthony Albanese, who has dismissed an incendiary letter from an ambassador as authoritarian “propaganda”.

The unsubstantiated spectre of a proposed Russian military airbase on Indonesian territory has loomed over the past week of Australia’s federal election campaign, with the opposition accusing the government of obfuscating and dodging questions, and the government responding that the opposition had misrepresented the Indonesian government and actively fanned Russian propaganda.

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