Russian President Vladimir Putin and Prime Minister Narendra Modi will meet on the sidelines of the SCO summit in Uzbekistan this week and discuss issues of strategic stability, the situation in the Asia Pacific region and bilateral cooperation within the UN and G20, the Kremlin has announced.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who is reported to live in several bunkers in the Kyiv area to protect himself from Russian assassins, visited the towns of Irpin and Bucha, outside Kyiv, for the first time since Vladimir Putin's invasion of Ukraine began on February 24, 2022.
These sweeping financial sanctions follow the action earlier this week to cut off Russia's frozen funds in the United States to make debt payments.
Our political history tells us this has never worked. A united Opposition does work in some specific, limited situations, especially in the states. But never as some brilliant pan-national collection of diverse interests with no ideological or political core, asserts Shekhar Gupta.
Russia pledges to work with anti-doping authorities
Taking to Twitter, the ministry shared the intelligence update and said, 'Russian forces have continued their advance on Kyiv with the bulk of their forces now 30km from centre of the city.'
Countries like Russia cannot be "locked up" behind the iron curtain, the Russian presidential spokesman asserted on Thursday, as the US-led West threatened to impose more biting sanctions against Moscow after President Vladimir Putin ordered a military offensive against Ukraine.
The Modi government finds itself in a contradiction of its own making. It has encouraged pro-Russian, Westophobic public sentiment while setting strategic policy that's exactly the opposite, points out Shekhar Gupta.
Reagan, who denounced the then USSR as the 'evil empire', was won over by the charm of the Soviet Union's final leader, Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev.
Croatian President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic gave Russian President Vladimir Putin a Croatian soccer shirt with the name 'Putin' printed on the back on Sunday, hours before Croatia play France in the World Cup final in Moscow.
He may have been hailed as The Great Reformer in nations elsewhere, but in his motherland, Mikhail Sergeyevich was a hate figure for his policies ending the chimera of Russian dominance in the world.
The leaders of the Group of Seven on Sunday (local time) mocked Russian President Vladimir Putin over his shirtless, bare-chested horse-riding picture.
Biden's lengthy remarks on Afghanistan contained no condemnatory references to the Taliban, observes Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar, who played a stellar role in beginning India's systemic dealings in Afghanistan in 1994.
President Vladimir Putin proposed sweeping constitutional changes that could extend his hold on power for many years. Russian Federal Tax Service head Mikhail Mishustin to be the new PM.
The Finals, contested by the world's top eight singles players and eight doubles teams, was moved out of China's Shenzhen after last year's event was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Pakistan summoned a senior US diplomat here and lodged a strong protest over America's alleged "interference" in its internal affairs, according to media reports on Friday.
In his condolence message, Israeli Prime Minister Lapid said that the thoughts and prayers of all Israelis are with the people of India following yesterday's devastating bridge collapse in Gujarat.
The Reserve Bank is working with the government to thrash out a payment settlement solution for Indo-Russian trade, which is hit by the economic sanctions imposed on Moscow after it invaded Ukraine, but asserted that any such solution will be 'sensitive' to the prevailing economic blockade, the central bank said. RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das was quick to add that it is a matter that the government has to deal with first, and as far as the central bank is concerned, obviously, we will not do anything which goes against the sanctions. RBI Deputy Governor T Rabi Sankar said since the Ukraine war has disrupted trade and payments, we are discussing with all stakeholders, and at the same time, we are sensitive to the economic sanctions.
In a video address, Putin on Thursday said, "The fact that we are fighting neo-Nazis is proved by how the hostilities are going, nationalist neo-Nazi's units are using foreign mercenaries from the Middle East. Also, they use civilians as human shields, hiding behind their backs and we have facts, pictures of how they deploy heavy weapons in residential areas."
Pakistan's Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry on Friday claimed that a plot to assassinate Prime Minister Imran Khan has been reported by the country's security agencies, ahead of Sunday's no-trust motion against the premier.
Only 13 nations voted in favour of Russia's call for a secret ballot on draft resolution on Ukraine.
Abramovich had sanctions imposed on him by the British government after Moscow's invasion of Ukraine.
Khan met Russian President Vladimir Putin in the Kremlin on February 24, the day the Russian leader had ordered a "special military operation" against Ukraine.
"There is no truth to these allegations," a State Department spokesperson said soon after Khan made the allegations in a live televised speech from Islamabad on Thursday.
While many Western countries, including the United States, Britain and Australia, are diplomatically boycotting the Winter Olympics over China's human rights record, Putin will join a number of Beijing-friendly leaders at the Games.
Both statesmen possess a cultivated pugnacious style which they keep in reserve and can at will bring into play, and despite the mutual distrust in Russian-American relations, they are proponents of detente, quintessentially, who take their mission deadly seriously, points out Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
"People's republics of Donbass approached Russia with a request for help. In connection therewith, I made the decision to hold a special military operation," Putin said in a special television address.
'The escalation of tension along the border of Ukraine with the Russian Federation is a matter of deep concern'
China is going to be an indispensable partner in Russia's ongoing crisis with the US, while on its part, China cannot remain indifferent if Russia gets crushed by the US, lest it loses 'strategic depth', observes Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
The attack would be preceded by a fabricated pretext that the Russians use as an excuse to launch an invasion.
Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan said on Tuesday that he would like to have a TV debate with his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi to resolve differences between the two neighbouring countries.
Russian President Vladimir Putin on Sunday handed over the mantle of World Cup host to the emir of Qatar, whose country will stage the 2022 edition of the tournament.
The most likely scenario is that in order to stop Ukraine from retaking any Russian occupied territory, Russia may well use a small (1 to 2 kilo tonne) tactical nuclear weapon in Ukraine, warns military historian Colonel Anil A Athale (retd).
Investors and companies should brace for higher commodity prices over the next few weeks in the backdrop of Russian troops attacking Ukraine on Thursday. Meanwhile, US President Joe Biden threatened new sanctions against Russia for an act of aggression against Ukraine. All this, analysts believe, can push prices of key commodities such as crude oil, ammonia, urea, potash, and phosphates higher.
The 193-member general assembly voted overwhelmingly on Wednesday to condemn Russia's "illegal so-called referendums in regions within the internationally recognised borders of Ukraine and the attempted illegal annexation of the Donetsk, Kherson, Luhansk, and Zaporizhzhia regions of Ukraine, following the organisation of the above-mentioned referendums".
'Putin is just flexing his muscles. He is not going to do anything. He is not that crazy.'
Tea planters and exporters are "extremely worried" over the possible impact on their shipments to Russia, India's second largest buyer of tea, in the wake of the Russia-Ukraine crisis. Western sanctions and disruption of payments in dollars as well as transhipments to Russia are expected as a fall-out of Russia launching an attack on Ukraine on Thursday. "The Russian market for Indian tea is extremely important as there are payment issues for shipments to Iran, another vital tea export destination. "Around 18 per cent of India's tea shipments go to Russia," India Tea Association chairperson Nayantara Palchoudhuri told PTI.
Biden said the US will continue to escalate sanctions if Russia escalates.
Russian troops have targeted areas where civilians are present, including apartment buildings, schools and hospitals.
