Ukrainian servicemen take up positions on the front line with Russia-backed separatists in the eastern Donetsk region last month. The United States is expressing concern about what it called ongoing Russian aggression against Ukraine amid reports of a buildup of Russian troops along Ukraine’s border and in Crimea. Secretary of State Antony Blinken spoke by…
Russian President Vladimir Putin said in June 2019 that relations between Moscow and Washington were going downhill and getting worse. Experts believe that Putin’s gloomy assessment is now coming true, and Spain’s media El Mundo said it’s the worst moment for the Russia-U.S. relationship in 41 years. Does the renewal of New START signal a…
The past week has marked a watershed moment in Russia’s relations with the West — and the US in particular. In two dramatic, televised moments, US President Joe Biden and Russian President Vladimir Putin have changed the dynamics between their countries perhaps irrevocably. Most commentators in the West have focused on Putin’s “trolling” of Biden…
MOSCOW (Reuters) – President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday that he and U.S. President Joe Biden should hold live online talks in coming days after Biden said he thought the Russian leader was a killer and diplomatic ties sank to a new post-Cold War low. “I want to offer President Biden that we continue our…
Reminder: Internet censorship can have unintended consequences. Mladen Antonov/AFP/Getty Images Russian internet users began noticing something strange on Wednesday: a number of websites, including the Kremlin’s own Kremlin.ru, were down. Just hours earlier, Roskomnadzor, the Russian government body overseeing communications and technology, announced that it was purposely slowing down access to Twitter, claiming the company…
More than 12,000 protesters were detained during mass nationwide rallies in support of Navalny in January and February. Alexander Zemlianichenko / AP / TASS Russia is revoking residence permits and deporting, often informally and without written notice, foreign nationals for participating in recent political protests, the Meduza news website reported Thursday. The outlet said it spoke with…
Ambassador Chizhov regretted the EU’s decision to impose sanctions on Russia. Vladimir Chizhov, Russia’s long-time ambassador to the European Union, thinks the bloc’s decision to impose further sanctions on Russia is a missed opportunity to fix relations between the two neighbours. Foreign ministers from EU countries agreed on Monday to punish four Russian officials believed to be…
Russian president Vladimir Putin during a video-conference with security chiefs last week (Photo: kremlin.ru) Arguments over the plight of opposition leader Alexei Navalny and Saturday’s (23 January) street protests across Russia demonstrate that there is no such thing as purely domestic politics, and may have serious implications for Europe. Navalny, poisoned by Russian security officers…
Israelis are furious that their taxes are funding vaccines for the enemy. Russian President Vladimir Putin attends a meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the Bocharov Ruchei state residence in Sochi, Russia September 12, 2019. (photo credit: REUTERS/SHAMIL ZHUMATOV) The current Israeli discourse revolves around two main issues regarding the saga of the…
Experts said this year’s weather hews closer to past winter averages for the Russian capital. Sergei Vedyashkin / Moskva News Agency A major winter storm is expected to descend on Moscow this week with massive snowdrifts and unusually cold air temperatures even by the Russian capital’s standards, forecasters said Wednesday. Snow is expected to blanket Moscow beginning…