Category Archives: Russia

Trump calls for nations to close borders and expel foreigners in UN speech: ‘Your countries are being ruined’

Posted on by

US president accuses European countries specifically of ‘destroying your heritage’ by allowing migration

Donald Trump took the stage at the United Nations general assembly hall for the first time in six years to launch a full-on assault on the world body, which he described as a feckless, corrupt and pernicious global force that should follow the example of his own leadership.

In an inflammatory speech on the 80th anniversary of the founding of the United Nations, Trump called for countries to close their borders and expel foreigners, accused the UN of leading a “globalist migration agenda”, and told national leaders that the world body was “funding an assault on your countries”.

Continue reading...

Danish PM: airport drone incursion a ‘serious attack’ on critical infrastructure

Posted on by

Russia denies involvement after Copenhagen and Oslo airports forced to close after drone sightings

The Danish prime minister has said the country was subjected to the “most serious attack on Danish critical infrastructure to date” after a drone incursion shut Copenhagen airport for several hours.

Mette Frederiksen said authorities were still investigating who was behind the suspected hybrid attack, but she said she could not rule out Russia.

Continue reading...

UK and Poland vow to confront Russian aircraft violating Nato airspace

Posted on by

Russia shrugs off criticism as Poland and Estonia speak about incursions at emergency meeting of UN security council

European allies have vowed to shoot down any Russian aircraft violating their airspace after Nato members accused Moscow of repeated incursions into the alliance’s territory in recent weeks.

“If another missile or aircraft enters our space without permission, deliberately or by mistake, and gets shot down and the wreckage falls on Nato territory, please don’t come here to whine about it,” Poland’s foreign minister, Radosław Sikorski, told an emergency meeting of the UN security council in New York on Monday that was called to discuss a Russian airspace incursion over Estonia.

Continue reading...

German jets scrambled after Russian military plane flies over Baltic Sea

Posted on by

Russian Il-20M reconnaissance plane ignored requests to make contact, in latest of what are seen as provocative acts by Kremlin

Two German Eurofighter jets were scrambled on Sunday to intercept a Russian military aircraft above the Baltic Sea, as Estonia said it would call an emergency meeting of the UN security council after Russian planes violated its airspace.

Germany’s air force said the Russian Il-20M reconnaissance plane had switched off its transponders and ignored requests to make contact. The Eurofighters took off from the Rostock-Laage airbase to head off the aircraft as it flew in international airspace.

Continue reading...

China, India and Belarus line up for Russia’s rival version of Eurovision

Posted on by

Intervision promises to be lighter on sequins and heavier on patriotic ballads than its European counterpart

Russia is gearing up to revive its Soviet-era alternative to Eurovision – the Intervision song contest – which kicks off in Moscow on Saturday, with performers from 23, mostly allied, countries set to take the stage.

But sequinned bodysuits, camp theatrics and Europop bangers will be in short supply. Instead, the Kremlin’s version of the spectacle promises “traditional values”, patriotic ballads and a Russian entry led by a fiercely pro-war singer, as Moscow attempts to refashion Europe’s glitter-soaked pageant in its own image.

Continue reading...

For comedians around the world, the laughs often end as democracy fades

Posted on by

Silencing of Jimmy Kimmel sets US on course similar to that charted by authoritarian regimes from Egypt to India

The exiled Egyptian comedian Bassem Youssef has experienced firsthand how intolerant governments can silence political satire. And he had a short message this week for those living in an age of Donald Trump’s free speech clampdown: “My Fellow American Citizens,” he wrote on X. “Welcome to my world.”

In his attacks on the most prominent of American satirists, the US president has joined a cadre of illiberal and sensitive leaders around the world who will not tolerate a joke.

Continue reading...

Russia has network of 200 camps for ‘brainwashing’ Ukrainian children – report

Posted on by

Investigation uncovers documents and satellite imagery that confirm children being taken to sites for patriotic indoctrination, weapons training and combat drills

Russia is running an extensive network of more than 200 camps to re-educate, Russify and militarise Ukrainian children, a new investigation has found.

The facilities, across Russia and occupied Ukraine, include camps as well as schools, military bases, medical facilities, religious sites and universities.

Continue reading...

RAF Typhoon jets ready to shoot down drones over Poland, UK says

Posted on by

‘Nato is responding with unity and strength’ to Russian threats, says John Healey

RAF Typhoon jets will be deployed within days to shoot down drones over Poland and other Nato allies in eastern Europe if necessary, after last week’s incursion of 19 uncrewed Russian aircraft into Poland.

The British fighters, based at Coningsby in Lincolnshire, will join Nato’s new Eastern Sentry mission working alongside French, German and Danish counterparts who are acting as reinforcements for Dutch F-35s and Polish F-16s.

Continue reading...

Russian drone incursion into Poland ‘was Kremlin test on Nato’

Posted on by

Polish minister says Moscow sought to gauge reaction without starting war as Romania reports new incursion

Poland’s foreign minister has said the Russian drone incursion into Polish airspace was an attempt by the Kremlin to test Nato’s reactions by incremental escalations without prompting a full-scale response, as Romania became the second Nato country to report an incursion in a matter of days.

Radosław Sikorski confirmed that while the drones that entered Poland last week were capable of carrying ammunition, they were not loaded with explosives. “Interestingly, they were all duds, which suggests to me that Russia tried to test us without starting a war,” Sikorski told the Guardian in Kyiv.

Continue reading...

Romania says Russian drone incursions pose ‘new challenge’ to Black Sea security

Posted on by

Country’s defence ministry condemns ‘irresponsible actions’ after drone entered its airspace on Saturday

Romania has strongly condemned the entry of a Russian drone into its airspace during an attack on neighbouring Ukraine, saying Moscow’s actions pose a “new challenge” to Black Sea security.

Poland had already denounced the intrusion of Russian drones into its airspace last week, calling on Moscow to avoid further “provocations”. Polish fighter jets scrambled on Saturday in response to fresh Russian drone strikes just over the border in Ukraine.

Continue reading...

Rubio calls Russian drones over Poland ‘unacceptable’ but declines to say it was intentional

Posted on by

Nato announces plans to beef up defense as Poland rejects Trump’s suggestion drones were sent by mistake

The US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, on Saturday said the incursion of Russian drones into Polish airspace this week was unacceptable but that it remained unclear whether Russia had deliberately sent the drones into Polish territory. Nato announced plans to beef up the defense of Europe’s eastern flank on Friday, after Poland shot down the drones that had violated its airspace, the first known shots fired by a member of the western alliance during Russia’s war in Ukraine.

“We think it’s an unacceptable and unfortunate and dangerous development,” Rubio told reporters before departing on a trip to Israel and Britain.

Continue reading...

Ukraine drone starts fire at one of Russia’s largest oil plants

Posted on by

Head of Bashkortostan region reports second drone shot down and minor damage to Bashneft’s Ufa refinery

A Ukrainian drone has crashed into one of Russia’s largest oil-refining complexes, sparking a fire and causing minor damage, a Russian official has said.

The complex, which belongs to Russian oil company Bashneft, lies on the outskirts of the central Russian city of Ufa about 870 miles (1,400km) from the frontline in Ukraine.

Continue reading...

UK should work with Nato on new missile defence system to counter Russia, experts say

Posted on by

After Russian drones entered Polish airspace, two authors of the UK strategic defence review said Europe would need to build up its defences

Britain should work with Nato allies in developing an integrated air and missile defence system after the incursion of nearly 20 Russian drones into Poland, according to two authors of the UK strategic defence review.

Fiona Hill, a former White House adviser, said that Russia was “testing the limits” of Europe’s defences at a time when the military commitment of the US to Nato was uncertain.

Continue reading...

Trump asks EU to impose tariffs of up to 100% on India and China

Posted on by

In effort to end Russia’s war in Ukraine, US president proposes tariffs targeting Putin allies and trade partners

Donald Trump has asked the EU to impose tariffs of up to 100% on India and China as part of an effort to force the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, to end the war in Ukraine.

The US president made the demand during a meeting between US and EU officials discussing options to increase economic pressure on Russia on Tuesday, according to a White House official.

Continue reading...

EU and US officials meet as Trump says he is ready to impose further sanctions on Russia

Posted on by

Europe and US consider further actions to weaken Russia after largest-ever air attack on Ukraine over the weekend

The EU’s most senior sanctions envoy is holding talks in Washington with US officials after Donald Trump said he was ready to take further action against Russia over the war in Ukraine.

David O’Sullivan, the EU sanctions envoy, is meeting US counterparts on Monday, as Europe and the US look for tougher measures to weaken Vladimir Putin’s war machine after Russia launched its largest-ever air attack on Ukraine over the weekend.

Continue reading...

Largest Russian air attack of war sets fire to Ukrainian cabinet building

Posted on by

Officials say three people including mother and baby killed in strikes that also hit key government building for first time

Russia has launched its largest ever air attack on Ukraine, hitting a key government building in Kyiv for the first time and killing at least three people, including a mother and her baby, and drawing widespread condemnation, including a fresh threat of further US sanctions.

The bombardment of the capital with a large number of drones and missiles injured at least 18 people and set scores of buildings on fire. Explosions were also reported in the cities of Odesa, Kharkiv, Dnipro, Zaporizhzhia and Kryvyi Rih. Authorities triggered a countrywide air-raid warning at 6.06am local time and later accused Russia of deliberately striking civilian targets.

Continue reading...

Western troops in Ukraine would be ‘legitimate targets’, Putin says

Posted on by

Russian president’s threat follows French proposal for postwar support for Kyiv that would include presence of Nato countries’ forces

Vladimir Putin has said any western troops placed in Ukraine would be “legitimate targets” for Russian strikes, upping the stakes as Kyiv’s allies scramble to come up with a convincing offer of postwar support to Ukraine.

Speaking a day after the French president, Emmanuel Macron, announced still-vague plans for a package of support for Ukraine backed by 26 nations, Putin on Friday said any guarantees that involved boots on the ground would violate Moscow’s longstanding objections to Nato troops in Ukraine.

Continue reading...

Russia is leader in prosthetic limbs thanks to Ukraine war, says Kremlin official

Posted on by

Deputy defence minister Anna Tsivilyova said those coming back from the battlefield had become a ‘driver’ in pushing Russia’s innovation in prosthetics

A Kremlin official has said that the number of soldiers wounded fighting in Ukraine had helped to make Russia a world leader in the manufacture of prosthetic limbs.

Deputy defence minister Anna Tsivilyova, reportedly a relative of President Vladimir Putin, told a conference in Vladivostok that those coming back from the battlefield had become a “driver” in pushing Russia’s innovation in prosthetics.

Continue reading...

Macron says 26 nations ready to provide postwar military backing to Ukraine

Posted on by

French president says allies would either deploy ‘reassurance force’ troops to Ukraine, or be present in the area on land, sea or in the air

Twenty-six nations have pledged to provide postwar security guarantees to Ukraine, including an international force on land and sea and in the air, Emmanuel Macron said after a summit at which European leaders sought to pin down Donald Trump on the level of support he is willing to give Kyiv.

“The day the conflict stops, the security guarantees will be deployed,” the French president told a press conference at the Élysée Palace in Paris, standing alongside Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

Continue reading...

Thursday briefing: China flexes its muscle in the tussle for global dominance

Posted on by

In today’s newsletter: In hosting anti-western leaders at its largest ever military parade, Beijing sent a defiant message that will be heard loud and clear across the world

Good morning. All eyes have been on China this week as the second biggest global economy flexed its muscles.

Dozens of world leaders, including from the global south, authoritarian pariah states and the EU, attended China’s largest ever military parade on Wednesday to mark the 80th anniversary of the end of the second world war, which China calls the war of resistance against Japanese aggression.

UK news | Deputy PM Angela Rayner has admitted she underpaid stamp duty on her £800,000 seaside flat, after coming under intense pressure to be more transparent about her property arrangements.

Russia | Vladimir Putin has invited Kim Jong-un to visit Russia during a lengthy meeting in Beijing on the sidelines of China’s biggest military parade, as Kim promised to do “everything I can to assist” Moscow.

Police | The Metropolitan police have declined to drop their investigation into the comedy writer Graham Linehan for tweets about trans issues, and said that the law used by officers to detain him needs reviewing.

Israel | Israeli drones dropped four grenades near UN peacekeepers in south Lebanon, the agency’s force said on Wednesday, in what it described as “one of the most serious attacks” on its personnel since a November ceasefire.

Portugal | A day of national mourning has been declared in Portugal after at least 15 people were killed when Lisbon’s well-known Gloria funicular railway car derailed and crashed on Wednesday.

Continue reading...