'What would we feel if we found the world behaving the way it has?' 'Forced to fight our own prolonged battle; nobody from outside really demanding that the war end or actively working to make it end, and above all, a completely toothless United Nations reduced to pleading for a halt to the violence,' notes Shyam G Menon, exactly a month after Vladimir Putin ordered the invasion of Ukraine.
A few days back a news report mentioning that a cat in Crimea had adopted four orphaned baby squirrels turned viral and made netizens across the world go 'awww'. Following that we take a look at the surprising bonds between predator and prey -- animals forming the unlikeliest of friendships.
New Delhi is vulnerable to US sanctions under a 2017 law called CAATSA.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has taken a gamble on Ukraine and is betting that US President Barack Obama will blink first.
The Council will vote on the draft resolution at 3 pm Friday (New York time), two days after it held an emergency meeting on the situation in Ukraine just as Putin had announced Moscow's invasion of Ukraine.
Tirumurti said India 'has been in touch with all concerned parties. It is our considered view that the issue can only be resolved through diplomatic dialogue.'
A convoy with military equipment of the Russian southern military district units crossed the Crimean bridge on the way to the places of permanent deployment following the planned drills in Crimea, the Russian defence ministry said on Wednesday.
The visit to India by Sergey Aksyonov, Head of the Republic of Crimea, accompanying Russian President Vladimir Putin has raised the hackles in the West with the US saying it was 'troubled' by the news and an angry Ukrainian President decrying it.
As the threat of a showdown between Russia and the West over Ukraine loomed large, German Chancellor Angela Merkel has deplored Moscow's military build up on the Crimean peninsula and called on President Vladimir Putin to respect the country's territorial integrity.
'Putin has set aside all the rules and now he is deciding the rules.'
Now, as before, India's vote at the UN was dictated by paramount national interests. Though the Indian vote was 'neutral', its explanation was explicit in its criticism of the Russian actions. India took back with the left hand what it had given with the right, explains Ambassador T P Sreenivasan.
It stands to reason that at the meeting on Friday, Pope Francis conveyed to the Kremlin, some message in regard of the developments in Ukraine. The long duration of the meeting in the Russian embassy flags that it was substantive. Indeed, it took place even as the first Russian tank column was sighted on the outskirts of Kyiv, notes Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
The symbolism of the sinking of a major naval ship is deeply complex and military history is replete with tales of how the loss of a single high value war ship perhaps impacted the larger war that the nation in question was engaged in, points out Commodore Venugopal Menon (retd).
the exhibition called 'SUPERPUTIN' opened on the day that he announced his bid for a fourth term as Russia's president. It features around 30 paintings and sculptures of the Russian leader in a variety of different styles, all of which were made by Russian artists.
Whether it liked it or not, the Ukraine crisis forced India to choose between the aggressor Russia and the US-led free world, a decision it hated to make, Virendra Kapoor points out. In the end, it abstained from the vote in the Security Council.
'As long as we have such partners, Russia cannot be isolated.'
The world is weird and we have the images to prove it!
In the Russian president's eyes, it sends a message of defiance to the world and his own people which fits his favoured storyline: Russia is succeeding despite Western efforts to hold it back.
'Transformation of Ukraine into some kind of permanent strategic challenger, which Russia would have to contain and deter, spend a significant part of political and strategic resources on it.'
Two powerful US Senators have urged President Joe Biden not to impose provisions of the punitive Countering America's Adversaries Through Sanctions Act against India for buying the S-400 surface-to-air missile system from Russia.
In its sheer audacity, the initiative with Russia has the potential to transform world politics in the same way as the 1972 Nixon visit to China and 'Shanghai Declaration' changed world dynamics, says Anil Athale.
The lawyer who picked up the pistol and won plenty of medals in shooting will go back to the court room, ill at ease with the utter lack of activity in the sporting arena due to the COVID-19 pandemic. And Abhishek Verma is fairly confident of striking a balance between shooting and legal practice.
American analysts and their camp followers in India are talking absolute rubbish when they try to establish that India is facing a Hobson's choice in regard of Donbass, called upon to take sides between Russia and the West, asserts Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
'It makes no sense at all to leave because I have my whole family with me.' 'My wife and children are citizens here.'
Notwithstanding how the current impasse is solved, at some point in the future, Russia will realise that just as centuries ago it developed the paradigm of securing its heartland's safety through annexing vast buffer zones between itself and the enemy, a more modern security is possible only through friendly relations and sustainable peace, observes Shyam G Menon.
Putin is looking beyond the current regime in Kyiv. Of course, if the Western military assistance to Kyiv continues in any form, Washington knows that Russia will regard it as a hostile act and there will be severe consequences, predicts Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
Johnson also reiterated his plan to visit India ahead of the G7 summit, after a scheduled visit for Republic Day this month was called off due to the coronavirus crisis.
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.
Crimean clubs have been suspended by UEFA from playing in Russian domestic competitions.
Ukraine's Paralympic chief said on Friday his team would quit the Winter Paralympic Games if Russia invaded his home country, adding that he hoped the competition would be able to spread peace instead.
'There is a cost to war.' 'The West knows that and so does Putin.' 'The point is, how much of the cost are both sides willing to pay?'
Ten images that prove it's a wonderfully bizarre world.
The foreign ministers of the European Union will on Monday decide whether to impose tough sanctions against Russia in the wake of voting by the people of Ukraine's Crimean peninsula to join the Russian Federation.
Several American lawmakers have slammed India for failing to condemn Russia's aggression in Ukraine, Russian rebels' downing of flight MH17 and the annexation of Crimea. The leaders also raised the issue of repeated abuse and violence against minorities and women in India. Aziz Haniffa reports.
Catch up on all the big news of the week gone by, in images.
Readers sent us these photographs of mosques from different parts of the world in response to our invite.
The 70-year-old reality TV star has strongly refuted reports of any relationship with Putin and has said he has never met the Russian president.
Russia has been grappling with sanctions slapped by the US and its allies over Moscow's invasion of Crimea.
'While high-level interventions may help smoothen inter-State relationships, they cannot fundamentally change the alchemy of such relationships, which are firmly rooted in mutual benefits and mutual interests,' points out Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
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