Russia has called on the United States to stop imposing its so-called “development model” on other countries, taking a swipe at President Joe Biden for claiming Washington was ending the two-decade war in Afghanistan to “remake” other nations. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov made the call in an address to …
Read More »France warns Russia against paramilitary involvement in Mali
France’s foreign minister has warned his Russian counterpart against involving paramilitaries from the controversial Wagner group in Mali’s conflict. “On Mali, the minister alerted his Russian counterpart to the serious consequences of the Wagner group’s involvement in this country,” the French foreign ministry said Friday. Jean-Yves Le Drian met Sergey …
Read More »German defense minister warns Mali over Russian mercenary deal
Germany warned Mali on Wednesday that a deal with Russian private security group Wagner would “call into question” its deployment in the West African country as part of United Nations and European Union missions. “If Mali’s government makes such a deal with Russia, then it goes against everything that Germany, …
Read More »Russia’s Putin self-isolating after close contact tests positive for COVID-19
Russian President Vladimir Putin is self-isolating as a precaution after several members of his entourage fell ill with COVID-19, but is “absolutely” healthy and does not have the disease himself, the Kremlin said on Tuesday. Putin, 68, will therefore not travel to Tajikistan this week for planned regional security meetings …
Read More »Putin criticizes foreign forces in Syria at Kremlin meet with Assad
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has paid a surprise visit to Moscow where Russian President Vladimir Putin told him that the presence of foreign forces without a UN mandate is hindering the West Asian country’s recovery. According to reports, a transcript of Monday’s meeting released by the Kremlin said Putin congratulated …
Read More »Russia to resume flights with Iraq and several other countries next week
The Russian government announced resuming flights to Iraq, Spain, Kenya, and Slovakia as of September 21. An official Russian statement said that flights will be resumed to Turkey and Egypt from international airports in Pskov, Magadan, Murmansk, and Chita. For his part, the Iraqi ambassador to Russia, Abdul Rahman Hamid …
Read More »Syrian army takes full control of terrorist-held town in Dara’a after 10 years
The Syrian army has entered the town of al-Yadudah in the southern province of Dara’a after 10 years following an agreement with local tribal elders brokered by Russia, reports said on Monday. Syrian military officials were accompanied by Russian forces as they made their way to the southern Syrian town …
Read More »US tells allies Nord Stream 2 is now a ‘reality’
A senior US envoy said on Saturday he had delivered reassurances to Ukraine and Poland on mitigating any threat posed by Russia’s Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline, but that the project was now a “reality”. Amos Hochstein, the State Department’s senior adviser for energy security, told Reuters there was “breathing …
Read More »Two Ukraine soldiers die in clashes with separatists
The Ukrainian army is locked in a conflict with breakaway fighters in Donetsk and Lugansk that erupted after Russia annexed the Crimean Peninsula in 2014. Two Ukrainian soldiers have been killed and 10 others wounded in the country’s war-torn east as clashes tick back up, the army said on Sunday. …
Read More »Russia uses new combat robots, tactical vehicles at big military drills
Russia used new combat robots and tactical vehicles on the second day of the active main phase of large military drills with its ex-Soviet ally Belarus, the defense ministry said on Saturday. The “Zapad-2021” war games, which will run until next Thursday on Russia and Belarus’s western flanks including sites …
Read More »Gas explosion in Russian village kills three, destroys residential building
Three people died, including an 11-year-old girl, after a gas explosion caused a two-storey apartment building to partially collapse in a Russian village early on Saturday, head of the Lipetsk region Igor Artamonov said. Video footage showed major structural damage to the building in Solidarnost, a village 400 km (250 …
Read More »Russia sends military equipment to Tajikistan citing ‘growing instability’ in region
Russia has sent armored vehicles and military equipment to Tajikistan, Afghanistan’s neighbor, against the backdrop of “growing instability” near the southern border, says the defense ministry. The ministry announced in a statement on Saturday it had transferred 12 armored vehicles and an array of military equipment, which includes close combat …
Read More »Ukraine President: War with Russia possible, Moscow: He’s ‘divorced from reality’
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Friday an all-out war with Russia was a possibility, to which Moscow responded by saying he was “divorced from reality.” Asked at the Yalta European Strategy (YES) summit on the possibility of war with Russia he said: “I think it may happen. It’s the …
Read More »Russia emergency situations minister dies during drills in the Arctic
Russia’s Emergencies Minister Yevgeny Zinichev died during a training exercise in the Arctic, the RIA news agency cited the ministry as saying on Wednesday. The 55-year-old official, who had headed the high-profile emergencies ministry since 2018, died while saving someone’s life, it said without providing further details. “… Zinichev died …
Read More »Russian search engine delists Navalny’s tactical voting site after ban
Russian tech firm Yandex said on Tuesday it had removed jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny’s tactical voting website from its search engine to comply with a government ban ahead of a parliamentary election this month. Navalny and his allies want to use the website and a separate app to organize …
Read More »Russia, Ukraine trade accusations over annexed Crimea
Russia’s FSB security service on Tuesday accused Ukraine of organizing an attack on a gas pipeline in Russian-annexed Crimea, an allegation rejected by Kiev which said Moscow was trying to punish prominent Crimean Tatar figures. The FSB accused the Ukrainian military intelligence service and the Mejlis, the outlawed representative body …
Read More »American efforts to stop Nord Stream 2 have failed – Russian foreign minister
Years of economic sanctions and political efforts from Washington have come to nothing, and work on the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline is now nearing the final stages of completion, Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has said. Speaking at a meeting in St. Petersburg on Monday, the veteran diplomat announced …
Read More »Russia: Syria destroyed 21 of 24 Israeli missiles fired at Damascus
The Russian military says Syrian air defense units intercepted most of the missiles fired during a recent Israeli raid on the capital Damascus, shooting down 21 projectiles during the attack launched from the Lebanese airspace. “At about 1:30 September 3, four Israeli Air Force F-15 tactical fighters fired 24 guided …
Read More »Kremlin says US military help could make Ukraine behave dangerously
The Kremlin said on Thursday that U.S. military assistance to Ukraine could make Kyiv behave unpredictably and dangerously in the conflict in its east, and expressed regret at a U.S.-Ukrainian friendship it said was motivated by opposition to Russia. U.S. President Joe Biden told Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy in Washington …
Read More »Putin Says US Achieved ‘Zero’ in Afghanistan, ‘The Result is Sheer Tragedies’
Russian President Vladimir Putin said the United States achieved “zero” during 20 years of military involvement in Afghanistan, just two days after American forces fully exited the country, and “the result is sheer tragedies,” the Associated Press reported. During those years, Putin said Wednesday that U.S. forces in Afghanistan were …
Read More »