President Vladimir Putin has signed legislation to pull Russia out of the Open Skies arms control treaty following the US exit from the pact. The United States initially left the Open Skies Treaty, which allows unarmed surveillance flights over member countries, in November in one of Donald Trump’s final acts …
Read More »Kremlin critic Navalny is returned to prison facility after hunger strike – TASS
Jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny has been returned to the original correctional facility where he had been serving out a sentence after he recovered from a hunger strike at a hospital in a different prison, the TASS news agency reported on Monday. The 45-year-old opposition politician had declared a hunger …
Read More »Ukraine’s Euro 2020 football kit provokes outrage in Russia
A new kit for Ukraine’s football team, showing a map including Russian-annexed Crimea, has provoked anger in Moscow. Ukraine unveiled its shirt for Euro 2020, emblazoned with its borders including Crimea, and the slogan “Glory to Ukraine!” Russia annexed the Crimean peninsula from Ukraine in 2014, and considers it a …
Read More »Putin says US threats smack of Soviet Union’s fatal mistakes
Russian President Vladimir Putin said the United States was wrong to think that it is “powerful enough” to get away with threatening other countries, a mistake, he said, that led to the downfall of the former Soviet Union. Putin made the comments during a press briefing late on Friday as …
Read More »Putin says US wants to ‘hold back’ Russia as Biden meeting looms
Russian president says he wants to improve strained ties with the US but sets a tough tone ahead of the Geneva summit. Russian President Vladimir Putin has said he wants to improve Moscow’s ties with Washington when he holds his first summit with US counterpart Joe Biden later this month, …
Read More »Germany bans Russian flights in tit-for-tat move
Germany has refused to issue any further permits for flights arriving from Russia in a tit-for-tat move after Moscow failed to extend German airline Lufthansa’s flight permissions, the German transport ministry said on Wednesday. The dispute follows European Union moves to stop Russia-bound flights from crossing Belarusian air space after …
Read More »NATO plans to transfer modern weapons to Ukraine: Russia
As NATO and Russia continue a dispute over Ukraine’s eastern region of the Donbass, a Russian military official has said modern weapons will be delivered to Ukraine under the guise of NATO’s annual military drill in the strategic Black Sea. Major-General Igor Konashenkov, a spokesman for the Russian Defense Ministry, …
Read More »Russia resumes air travel with Britain, other countries
Russia has announced the resumption of air travel with Britain and a number of other countries that had been suspended due to coronavirus restrictions. “Given the improvement of the epidemiological situation in the United Kingdom, a decision has been taken to resume regular air travel between Moscow and London from …
Read More »Russia to conduct strategic military drills in Arctic this autumn – Ifax
Russia will conduct strategic military drills in the Arctic this autumn, the Interfax news agency cited Russia’s northern fleet as saying on Tuesday. Russia has built up in recent years its military presence in the Arctic, where receding ice has raised the prospect of resources opening up.
Read More »Russia scrambles fighter jet to escort US bomber – reports
The Russian military scrambled a Su-27 fighter jet to accompany a U.S. B-52H bomber over the Baltic Sea, Russian news agencies reported, citing the military. They said the bomber has not violated the Russian airspace.
Read More »Russia & Pakistan agree to build gas pipeline from Karachi to Lahore in biggest deal in decades
Russia has signed a deal with Pakistan to build a major gas pipeline linking the nation’s southern port of Karachi to industrial hubs in the north. The deal is set to be the biggest between Moscow and Islamabad since the 1970s. Russia’s Energy Minister Nikolay Shulginov and the Pakistani Ambassador, …
Read More »Belarus leader flies into Russia for talks with Putin amid uproar over ‘air piracy’
Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko flew into Russia on Friday to hold talks with President Vladimir Putin amid an uproar in Europe over the dramatic grounding of a passenger jet in Minsk and the arrest of a dissident blogger. The talks in the Black Sea city of Sochi were organised before …
Read More »US Will Not Rejoin ‘Open Skies’ Treaty With Russia
The Associated Press reported earlier in the day that the Biden administration had informed Russia it had no intent to return the United States in the Open Skies treaty, which provided surveillance flights in both countries. Washington has notified Moscow that it would not return to the Open Skies Treaty, …
Read More »Vienna-Moscow flight cancelled after Russia rejects Belarus rerouting
Austria on Thursday slammed Russia after it refused to allow an Austrian Airlines flight to be rerouted to avoid Belarusian airspace, resulting in the Vienna-Moscow service being cancelled. “Based on a recommendation by the EU Aviation Safety Agency (EASA), Austrian Airlines has suspended flights through Belarusian airspace until further notice. …
Read More »Russian court fines Twitter for failing to delete content considered illegal by Moscow
A Russian court on Thursday fined Twitter 19 million roubles ($259,000) for failing to delete content considered illegal by Moscow, in the latest episode of a long-running dispute between Russia and the social network operator. Twitter has been subjected to a punitive slowdown in Russia since March, part of a …
Read More »Russia bans three ‘undesirable’ German NGOs – TASS
The Russian state prosecutor’s office banned three German non-governmental organizations on Wednesday after labeling them “undesirable”, the TASS news agency reported. The groups were identified as the Forum Russischsprachiger Europäer, the Zentrum für die Liberale Moderne and the Deutsch-Russischer Austausch, the report said.
Read More »Biden, Putin to meet in Geneva on June 16 amid disputes
US President Joe Biden and Russian President Vladimir Putin will meet in Geneva on June 16, the White House and the Kremlin said on Tuesday amid sharp disputes over election interference, cyberattacks, human rights, and Ukraine. Earlier this month, Reuters reported that both countries were lowering expectations for big breakthroughs …
Read More »Russia warns Turkey over ties with Ukraine
‘Stop fuelling Kyiv’s militaristic sentiment,’ Russia says, after Ankara’s pledge to support Ukraine in recent clash. Russia’s foreign minister on Monday warned Turkey against what he said were attempts to fuel “militaristic sentiment” in Ukraine after Ankara moved to boost cooperation with Kyiv. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan last month …
Read More »Biden and Putin to have summit in Geneva soon, Swiss daily says
US President Joe Biden and Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin will meet in Switzerland for their first summit, newspaper Tages-Anzeiger reported on Monday, citing “reliable sources”. An advanced U.S. mission has already arrived in Geneva for that purpose, the newspaper added. Plane spotters reported on Twitter seeing an unusual U.S. cargo …
Read More »President Putin to Russia’s foreign foes: ‘Will knock teeth out’
Russian President Vladimir Putin alleged on Thursday that some of the country’s foreign foes dream about biting off pieces of the country’s vast territory, warning that Moscow would “knock their teeth out” if they ever try. In strong remarks during a conference call with officials, the Russian president noted that …
Read More »