Pro-western president Salome Zourabichvili claims country has fallen victim to ‘Russian special operation’
Georgia’s pro-western opposition has called on the country to protest on Monday against the disputed parliamentary victory of the ruling, Russia-aligned Georgian Dream (GD) party.
GD retained power in Saturday’s pivotal election that dealt a significant blow to the country’s long-held aspirations for EU membership, amid allegations of voter intimidation and coercion.
Continue reading...Country’s wealthiest and most influential figure has guided shift away from the west while cultivating an air of mystery
In the winding streets of ancient Tbilisi, one is ever under his watchful gaze. From a hilltop glass mansion, likened by critics to a Bond villain’s lair, Bidzina Ivanishvili, Georgia’s wealthiest and most influential figure, has guided the country’s shift away from the west over more than a decade.
With his party’s latest victory in the pivotal parliamentary elections on Saturday, that trajectory appears set to continue for years to come, sparking warnings from opponents that Ivanishvili plans to dismantle Georgia’s fragile three-decade experiment with democracy while blocking any viable path to EU integration.
Continue reading...Group commits to unspecified measures to enforce price cap on Russian exports in response to Ukraine war
Finance ministers of the G7 nations vowed on Saturday to step up efforts to prevent Russia from evading sanctions imposed after its invasion of Ukraine.
“We remain committed to taking further initiatives in response to oil price cap violations,” the group said in a statement after a meeting in Washington. Those further steps were not spelled out in detail.
Continue reading...Results with 70% of precincts counted give Georgian Dream majority in vote seen as crucial to possible EU membership
Georgia’s ruling party is leading in a pivotal parliamentary election widely seen as a make-or-break vote for the country’s long-held aspiration for EU membership.
Early official results, with 70% of precincts counted, showed the ruling Georgian Dream (GD) party had won 53% of the vote, the electoral commission said.
Continue reading...The government is facing calls to cease trading with DP World because of its partnership with Putin’s northern sea route
Ministers are facing calls to review the UK’s financial ties to the multinational logistics company DP World over its business deals in Russia.
The business announced a £1bn expansion of the London Gateway port earlier this month, despite a row over the transport secretary, Louise Haigh, calling its ferry subsidiary, P&O Ferries, a “rogue operator”.
Continue reading...Voters will decide if Georgian Dream party, in power since 2012, will secure another four-years, having shifted the country closer to Russia
Georgians have headed to the polls in a pivotal parliamentary election that could determine whether Georgia shifts away from its long-held western orientations towards stronger ties with the Kremlin.
Voters will decide on Saturday whether the Georgian Dream (GD) party, which has been in power since 2012 and steered the country into a conservative course away from the west and closer to Russia, secures another four-year term.
Continue reading...SpaceX capsule touches down carrying three Americans and a Russian who were scheduled to return in August
Four astronauts have returned to Earth after a nearly eight-month space station stay extended by Boeing’s capsule trouble and Hurricane Milton.
A SpaceX capsule carrying the crew parachuted before dawn on Friday into the Gulf of Mexico, just off the Florida coast, after undocking from the International Space Station earlier this week.
Continue reading...President’s comments at Brics summit are ambiguous, however, US says it has evidence of movement of troops who could fight in Ukraine
Vladimir Putin has sidestepped claims that North Korea has sent soldiers to Russia, insisting that it was up to Moscow how to run its mutual defence clause with Pyongyang.
Speaking at the close of the Brics summit in Kazan on Thursday, he accused the west of escalating the Ukraine war and said it was “living an illusion” if it thought it could inflict a strategic defeat on Russia.
Continue reading...US says for first time that North Korea has sent at least 3,000 soldiers to Russia and are training at military bases
The US has said for the first time that it has seen evidence that North Korea has sent 3,000 troops to Russia for possible deployment in Ukraine, a move that could mark a significant escalation in Russia’s war against its neighbour.
US defence secretary Lloyd Austin said it would be “very, very serious” if the North Koreans were preparing to fight alongside Russia in Ukraine, as Kyiv has alleged. But he said it remained to be seen what they would be doing there.
Continue reading...Russian president’s goal to de-dollarize world economy alarms members that do not want bloc to turn against west
Vladimir Putin has opened the expanded Brics summit by issuing a call for an alternative international payments system that could prevent the US using the dollar as a political weapon.
But the summit communique indicated that little progress had been made on an alternative payment system.
Continue reading...Announcement is first time federal authorities have confirmed connection
Groups in Russia created and helped spread viral disinformation targeting Democratic vice-presidential candidate Tim Walz, a senior US intelligence official said Tuesday.
The content, which includes baseless accusations about the Minnesota governor’s time as a teacher, contains several indications that it was manipulated, said the official with the Office of the Director of National Intelligence.
Continue reading...Russian president ‘willing to gamble on food security’ by stepping up strikes on grain ships, says UK prime minister
Keir Starmer has accused Vladimir Putin of disrupting food supplies to Gaza after British intelligence suggested Russia had stepped up its attacks on Ukrainian ports.
Starmer said it was clear the Russian president was “willing to gamble on global food security” after several grain ships en route to developing countries were damaged by Russian strikes.
Continue reading...West infuriated as UN secretary general accepts invitation to meeting of countries including China, India and Iran
Vladimir Putin, ostracised by the west and labelled a possible war criminal by the international criminal court, has played host to 36 world leaders from nations including China, India and Iran as part of a summit of the Brics group designed to display Moscow as anything but isolated.
One of the main aims of the summit will be to speed up ways to reduce the number of dollar transactions, and so mitigate the US ability to use the threat of sanctions to seek to impose its political will.
Continue reading...Seoul signals its most proactive position towards arming Ukraine to date
South Korea is considering directly supplying weapons to Ukraine as evidence increases that North Korean soldiers are preparing to assist Russia in its war against Ukraine.
South Korea’s spy agency (NIS) said last week that North Korea had shipped 1,500 special forces personnel to Russia’s far east for training and acclimatising at local military bases for future combat alongside Moscow’s troops in Ukraine.
Continue reading...The Ukrainian film producer behind Leviathan and Loveless was sentenced to eight-and-a-half years in prison after speaking out against Russia’s invasion of Ukraine
A Moscow court has sentenced Oscar-nominated film producer Alexander Rodnyansky to eight-and-a-half years jail in absentia on Monday for spreading “fake” information about the Russian army.
Rodnyansky, 63, was born in Kyiv but spent most of his career in Russia, producing dozens of TV series and movies there including the Oscar-nominated crime drama Leviathan. He has been an outspoken critic of the Kremlin’s offensive since it sent troops into Ukraine in February 2022, repeatedly denouncing the invasion on social media.
Continue reading...Loans will be repaid using interest generated by $300bn of frozen Russian assets held in the west
Britain is to lend Ukraine an additional £2.26bn and allow Kyiv to spend the money on weapons to fight off the Russian invasion as part of a wider $50bn (£38.5bn) loan programme expected to be confirmed by G7 members later this week.
The loans will be repaid using interest generated by the $300bn of frozen Russian assets held in the west, with the extra funds promised as the US heads towards a presidential election where support for Ukraine is a divisive issue.
Continue reading...Intelligence builds that members of Pyongyang’s special forces are in Russia preparing for combat as munitions are also shipped
Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, got to the point in his presidential address last night: “Another state,” he said, was “joining the war against Ukraine”. He was referring to the growing intelligence that shows elite soldiers from North Korea are in Russia preparing to join what has become a fight that, in effect, extends all the way across Asia.
The effect will be greater than the numbers believed to be involved. On Friday, South Korea’s National Intelligence Service (NIS) reported that 1,500 members of Pyongyang’s special forces had crossed the border to Vladivostok in Russia’s far east to begin training and some degree of participation in the war in Ukraine.
Continue reading...Final result sees ‘yes’ vote scrape ahead by 13,000 votes, narrowly avoiding shock setback for pro-western president
Moldovans have voted by a razor-thin majority in favour of joining the EU after a pivotal referendum clouded by allegations of Russian interference.
On Sunday, Moldova held key votes in a presidential election and a referendum on EU membership, marking a critical moment in the continuing struggle between Russia and the west for control over the small, landlocked nation in eastern Europe, home to 2.5 million people.
Continue reading...Suspects are accused of photographing and collecting information about Israeli bases and facilities
Israeli police and the Shin Bet domestic intelligence agency say they have arrested a network of Israeli citizens spying for Iran who allegedly provided information on military bases and conducted surveillance of individuals.
The investigators claimed the network had been active for about two years. According to reports in the Israeli press, the suspects are accused of photographing and collecting information about Israeli bases and facilities, including the defence headquarters in Tel Aviv, known as the Kirya, and the Nevatim and Ramat David airbases.
Continue reading...Seoul demands immediate withdrawal of elite soldiers reportedly helping Russia in its war against Ukraine
South Korea has summoned the Russian ambassador to Seoul to protest “in the strongest terms” about the reported dispatch of thousands of North Korean troops to help Russia in its war against Ukraine.
The first vice-foreign minister, Kim Hong-kyun, told the Russian envoy, Georgy Zinoviev, that the participation of North Korean troops in the war violated UN resolutions and demanded their immediate withdrawal, South Korea’s foreign ministry said in a statement on Monday.
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