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UK’s King Charles lays wreath to mark 80th anniversary of VE Day

Reuters via CNN — Fri, 09 May 2025 18:49:42 +0000

Britain’s King Charles and heir to the throne Prince William laid wreaths in Westminster Abbey on Thursday at the culmination of the country’s four days of commemorations to mark the 80th anniversary of Victory in Europe Day.

The thanksgiving service in the Abbey began with a two-minute silence, which was also observed across the country, to remember Nazi Germany’s unconditional surrender, which took effect on May 8, 1945.

Charles and William, military medals pinned on their chest and standing beside elderly veterans in wheelchairs, laid wreaths at the the Grave of the Unknown Warrior, in a show of respect for those who gave their lives in World War Two.

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Source: https://www.cnn.com/2025/05/08/uk/king-charles-wreath-ve-day-scli-intl

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Russia Sends Aid To Cuba Regime

Warsaw Institute — Sun, 08 Aug 2021 16:31:39 +0000

Anti-government protests in Cuba pose a challenge to Russia. If the Communist regime collapsed, Moscow would lose a crucial ally in Latin America and its security foothold where the Kremlin enjoys influence, too.

SOURCE: KREMLIN.RU

Russia dispatched nearly 100 tons of humanitarian aid to Cuba, the Russian defense ministry has informed, following unprecedented street protests over the communist country’s worst economic crisis in decades. The delivery was directly ordered by President Vladimir Putin. Two An-124 cargo planes carrying more than 88 tons of humanitarian support took off from a military airport near Moscow. The cargo included food, personal protective equipment, and more than 1 million medical masks. Putin ordered to dispatch relief to Cuba after the United States had imposed sanctions on Cuba’s defense minister and a special forces unit for quashing peaceful protests. President Joe Biden warned the measure was “just the beginning” of punitive measures against Havana. Russia earlier this month warned against any “outside interference” in Cuba. Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov vowed support to the Communist-led country during a meeting with the Cuban ambassador to Russia.

Moscow is fearful that a regime shift in Cuba could push Russian influence out of the Latin American country. This would seriously weaken Russia’s position in the Western hemisphere as Cuba serves a pivotal role for the Maduro regime in Venezuela, notably for security reasons. Venezuela has in fact been deeply engulfed in a long-running political and economic crisis. In addition, Venezuela’s Nicolas Maduro is leaning on the protection and support of hundreds––if not thousands––Cuban officers. If the situation in Cuba continues to worsen, Cuban authorities could pull them out to defend the regime, thus causing trouble to another Latin American country, a Russian ally. Also, it was through Cuba that Russia had dispatched its mercenaries to Venezuela. At the Kremlin, a debate is on whether to dispatch advisers to Cuba to help local officials suppress the protests. But if Russian siloviki arrive in the country, the United States will respond harshly.

In October 2019, Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel flew to Moscow while then Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev had been in Cuba a dozen or so days earlier. Russian exports make up most of the new trade wave and include new-model Lada automobiles, trucks, minibuses, and locomotives. In September 2019, Russia and Cuba signed a trade and economic deal for the supply of liquid fuels to the island. Under the deal, there is a cooperation scheme for transport, energy, and agriculture by 2030. Yet most importantly for Moscow, its alliance with Cuba offers a range of security opportunities. In February 2019, Russia approved a 38 million euro loan for Cuba’s defense sector to purchase Russian-made weaponry. In October 2019, Nikolai Patrushev, who heads the Russian Security Council, visited Havana. On the agenda of the two-day meeting was the issue of “color revolutions” and defense cooperation as the Russian delegation included the deputy interior minister, the deputy director of Rosgvardia, and the commander of the Russian Ground Forces.

Source: https://warsawinstitute.org/russia-sends-aid-cuba-regime/

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Russia says Israel must halt its ‘arbitrary’ airstrikes in Syria

Times of Israel — Mon, 30 Nov 2020 16:03:37 +0000

After Israeli-Iranian flare-up, Moscow says Syrian territory should not be ‘an arena for settling geopolitical accounts,’ warns of potential for regional chaos.

This December 11, 2017 photo shows Russian President Vladimir Putin, right, and Syrian President Bashar Assad watching troops march at the Hemeimeem air base in Syria. (Mikhail Klimentyev, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)

Israel should stop its “arbitrary” strikes in Syrian territory, which are against the region’s interests and could spark new chaos, the Russian Foreign Ministry said Wednesday.

The comments by Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova came days after a flare-up between Israel and Iran on the Syrian frontier.

“We have not changed our position on this issue, which is based on the principles of international law,” Zakharova said at a press briefing. “The practice of arbitrarily launching strikes on the territory of a sovereign state, in this case Syria, should be simply excluded.”

She warned that such strikes encourage an “atmosphere of hostility in the region” and “do not serve the long-term national interests of any of the Middle Eastern states, including, of course, Israel… We urge everyone to think about the possible consequences of provoking a new round of chaos in the Middle East.”

Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova in Moscow on January 15, 2018. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko)

She added that Syria should not “become an arena for settling geopolitical accounts.” Israel has said repeatedly that its airstrikes on military and terror targets in the war-ravaged nation are aimed at curbing Iran’s efforts to entrench itself militarily in the country.

On Sunday, Israel reportedly conducted a rare daylight missile attack on Iranian targets in Syria. In response, Iran fired a surface-to-surface missile at the northern Golan Heights, which was intercepted by the Iron Dome missile defense system over the Mount Hermon ski resort, according to the Israel Defense Forces.

Hours later, in the predawn hours of Monday morning, the Israel Air Force launched retaliatory strikes on Iranian targets near Damascus and on the Syrian air defense batteries that fired upon the attacking Israeli fighter jets, the army said.

An explosion, reportedly during Israeli airstrikes near Damascus on January 21, 2019. (screen capture: YouTube)

Twenty-one people were killed in the Israeli raids in Syria early Monday, 12 of them Iranian fighters, a Britain-based Syrian war monitor said on Tuesday.

A Syrian mobile anti-aircraft battery vehicle as seen through the targeting camera of an incoming Israeli missile, on January 21, 2019. (IDF)

Photographs published by ImageSat Tuesday indicated storehouses and radar systems at Damascus International Airport were destroyed in the strikes.

Satellite images purporting to show damage to Damascus International Airport in January 20 raids by Israel, released by ImageSat International, on January 22, 2019. (ImageSat International)

The IDF said Monday that Iranian troops in Syria launched their missile at the Golan in a “premeditated” attack aimed at deterring Israel from conducting airstrikes against the Islamic Republic’s troops and proxies in Syria.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday said Israel was “committed to fighting… the Iranian army in Syria.”

During a visit to the Shizafon army base in the south of the country, the prime minister told soldiers: “Iran is the main enemy, and has declared its intention to destroy us with nuclear weapons, which we are committed to thwarting… But Iran is also building forces around us, and they have established a front in Lebanon through Hezbollah, and they have established a southern fortress in Gaza, which is maintained by Hamas and Islamic Jihad. And now they wish to build a third fortress in the Golan Heights, based on the establishment of the Iranian military.”

Israel in recent years has carried out hundreds of airstrikes in Syria against targets linked to Iran, which alongside its proxies, and Russia is fighting on behalf of the regime of Syrian President Bashar Assad. A number of the strikes have targeted the Damascus airport in a bid to halt weapons transfers from Iran to its militias in Syria and Lebanon. The strikes are coordinated with Russia.

However, the number of airstrikes in Syria attributed to Israel has dropped in recent months, after a Russian military plane was downed by Syrian air defenses during an Israeli attack on Latakia last September, killing all 15 servicemen aboard.

Russia blamed the Israeli military for that incident — a charge rejected by Jerusalem — and has supplied Syria with the advanced S-300 air defense system. The systems were delivered to Syria late last year, but they are not yet believed to be in use, as the Syrian air defense teams still need to be trained to operate them.

Military officials Moscow and Jerusalem have been engaged in talks to restore trust over the incident.

Judah Ari Gross contributed to this report.

Source: https://www.timesofisrael.com/russia-says-israel-must-halt-its-arbitrary-airstrikes-in-syria/

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Russia Deploys Fleet Off Syria While Claiming U.S. Preparing for Possible Strike

Haaretz and Reuters — Mon, 30 Nov 2020 15:37:43 +0000

Up to 13 Russian warships have crossed the Bosphorus toward Syria so far this week as tensions between the U.S. and Syria continue to rise.

Russian President Vladimir Putin speaks during a meeting in Kemerovo, Russia, Monday, Aug. 27, 2018Credit: Alexei Druzhinin, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP

UPDATE: Trump, Merkel Share Concerns Over Syria as Russia Continues Largest Naval Build-Up Since War Began

The Russian Ministry of Defence said on Monday it had noticed Washington was building up its military forces in the Middle East in preparation for what Moscow feared was a possible strike on Syrian government forces, Russian news agencies reported.

Major-General Igor Konashenkov was quoted by agencies as saying that the USS Ross, a guided-missile destroyer, had entered the Mediterranean on Aug. 25 armed with 28 Tomahawk cruise missiles capable of hitting any target in Syria.

Up to 13 Russian warships have crossed the Bosphorus toward Syria so far this week as tensions between the U.S. and Syria continue to rise, according to ship spotters based in the Bosphorus Strait.

Capt(N)@Capt_Navy

Now in Med Sea: CG Marshal Ustinov
DDG Severomorsk
DDG Yaroslav Mudryy
FFG Admiral Grigorovich
FFG Admiral Essen
FFL Pytlivyy FSG Vyshniy Volochek
FSG Grad Sviyazhsk
FSG Velikiy Ustyug
LST Orsk
LST Nikolay Fil’chenkov
MS Turbinist
MS Valentin Pikul
SS Kolpino
SS Velikiy Novgorod

Yörük Işık@YorukIsik

Aug 24, 2018

Final Showdown in #Syria: First time in 2years, Russian Navy transited Bosphorus with 3ships at the same time. #BМФ #ЧФ BSF Krivak II Class frigate Pytlivy and #ЧФ BSF Tapir class LSTs Orsk & Nikolay Filchenkov transited Bosphorus en route to #Tartus. My pics via @reuterspictures

Yörük Işık@YorukIsik

Russia ramping up its presence in the eastern Med for the conclusion of #Syria campaign: Rejoining Russian Navy’s Mediterranean deployment after 85 days, #ВМФ Project1135M #ЧФ BSF Krivak II frigate Pytlivy 868 transited Bosphorus towards Med en route to #Tartus.

The deployment of the Russian fleet comes as the U.S. President Donald Trump threatened to strike the Syrian Army ahead of the long-awaited battle of Idlib. Syria, Turkey, Russia, and U.S. are about to square off in the northern Syria city with millions of civilians in the crosshairs.

Turkey’s foreign minister said last Friday it would be disastrous to seek a military solution in the Idlib region, a rebel-held enclave which the Syrian government says it aims to recapture.

Idlib is a refuge for civilians and rebels displaced from other areas of Syria as well as for powerful jihadist forces. It has been hit by a wave of airstrikes and shelling this month in a possible prelude to a full-scale government offensive.

Turkey has backed some rebel groups in the region and set up a dozen military observation posts. It is trying to avert an attack by forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, who is backed by Moscow.

Source: https://www.haaretz.com/middle-east-news/russia-claims-u-s-preparing-for-possible-strike-on-syria-1.6420955

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A majority of Russians now view Stalin favorably, poll finds

Leonid Ragozin — Tue, 16 Apr 2019 16:32:23 +0000

Soviet — specifically Stalinist — nostalgia is alive and well in Russia, a new poll conducted by the Moscow-based Levada Center finds.

Adoration of Stalin at an all time high in Russia, 70% of people regard his role as positive, according to Levada poll. Stockholm syndrome passed from generation to generation. It’s ironic that Stalin was a semi-taboo figure for half of Soviet history.

Bloomberg reports that the poll found that the nationwide perception of Joseph Stalin, the former leader of the Soviet Union, is becoming more and more positive among Russians. Levada, the only independent polling center in Russia which Quartz described as a “crucial member of Russian civil society,” conducts a survey about Stalin annually. The 2019 results showed that 51 percent of Russians view Stalin with admiration — up from 40 percent last year and the highest mark since the survey began in 2001.

Even more strikingly, 70 percent said Stalin’s 31-year rule was good for the country.

That nostalgia stems from the dissatisfaction many Russians feel about their living standards under President Vladimir Putin, writes Bloomberg. Of course, in many other parts of the world Stalin is considered a historical pariah for implementing tyrannical police state policies, persecuting members of every level of society, and for causing famine as a result of his collectivization program.

Per Bloomberg, Stalin’s crimes have been downplayed in Russian school textbooks and he has instead been cast as a “modernizer who transformed the Soviet Union into a superpower.”

The survey was conducted between March 21-27 via 1,600 personal interviews at people’s homes throughout Russia. The margin of error is 3.4 percent. Tim O’Donnell

Source: https://theweek.com/speedreads/835496/majority-russians-now-view-stalin-favorably-poll-finds

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Moscow will respond immediately if Washington moves against Russian media – Putin

RT — Thu, 19 Oct 2017 07:11:57 +0000

Russia will swiftly implement tit-for-tat measures if the US imposes restrictions on Russian media, President Vladimir Putin said.

“We will act only symmetrically and quite swiftly,” Putin said. “As soon as we see concrete steps limiting the activities of our mass media [in the US], a tit-for-tat response will follow immediately.”

What’s happening to the Russian media in the US is confusing to say the least, Putin said. “It has nothing to do with democracy,” the president added.

“We’ve been told all the time that it’s absurd and undemocratic to put pressure on any legally operating media outlets,”Putin said.

‘Up to broadcast ban’: Russian officials discuss tit-for-tat steps over pressure on RT in US

“There’s only one democratic method to fight what you don’t like – be it the authorities or the opposition – it is to express your own view, but in such a bright, imaginative, talented fashion as to make people believe your point of view, follow your position, join your position. Everything else is undemocratic,” he added.

The contractor that supplies various services for RT America, including TV production and operations, in September received a letter from the Department of Justice, claiming it was obliged to register as a foreign agent, under the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA). The Act was adopted in the late 1930s to counter pro-Nazi agitation and serves the goal of informing “the people of the United States … of the source of information (propaganda) and the identity of persons attempting to influence US public opinion, policy, and laws.”

While the contemporary list of “foreign agents” has some 400 entries, none of them are media outlets, as they have always been exempted from the effects of the Act, due to the freedom of the press, which is one of the cornerstones of US society. If the contractor fails to comply, it might face the seizure of its assets and even the arrests of its employees, which would effectively destroy RT America’s ability to broadcast.

Source: https://www.rt.com/news/407225-putin-russian-media-us/

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Rallies in 80 Russian cities protest President Vladimir Putin on his 65th birthday

Doug Stanglin, USA TODAY — Sat, 07 Oct 2017 02:28:51 +0000

Protesters turned out Saturday in and around some 80 Russian cities to mark President Vladimir Putin’s 65th birthday by calling on him to resign and release opposition activist Alexei Navalny.

Navalny, a Putin political nemesis who vows to run against him in March elections, was sentenced to 20 days behind bars for organizing unsanctioned rallies ahead of a protest in Nizhny Novgorod last week.

The 41-year-old activist’s campaign also organized Saturday’s protests.

Police allowed demonstrators in Moscow to rally near the Kremlin in an apparent desire to avoid marring Putin’s big day with a crackdown, the Associated Press reported.

Interfax quoted the Moscow police department as saying about 700 people, including journalists turned out for the “unpermitted opposition rally” on Pushkin Square.

Interfax said police called via loudspeakers for everyone to disperse and “not to obstruct other people’s passage.”

TV Rain, or Dozhd, an independent Russian television station noted that Channel 1 Russia, the main TV channel, did not carry a news report on the protest.

Police broke up a larger rally in St. Petersburg, Putin’s hometown, after protesters blocked traffic and attempted to break through police cordons.

Novaya Gazeta reports that police at the rally in St. Petersburg detained around 100 people.

The authorities’ decision to refrain from breaking up the Moscow protest contrasted with a more forceful response to previous Moscow rallies called by Navalny, when police detained more than 1,000 demonstrators.

The protesters chanted “Happy birthday, Putin!” “Free Navalny!” “Russia without Putin!” and “Navalny is our president!” Many brought cake or other birthday-themed props with them.

Protesters called on Putin to allow Navalny to run in next year’s elections despite a criminal conviction that Navalny says is politically motivated.

Putin hasn’t yet announced whether he will seek re-election, but he’s widely expected to run. With his current approval ratings topping 80%, he is set to easily win another six-year term in a race against torpid veterans of past election campaigns, like Communist Party chief Gennady Zyuganov.

Navalny argues the high level of support for Putin comes from the lack of real political competition and urged supporters to help him get registered.

“(Putin’s) 86% approval rating exists in a political vacuum,” he said, according to the Associated Press. “It’s like asking a person who has been fed rutabaga his entire life how edible they find it and the rating will be quite high. Listen, there are other things that are better than rutabaga.”

Contributing: Associated Press

Source: https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2017/10/07/rallies-80-russian-cities-protest-president-vladimir-putin-his-65th-birthday/743050001/

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Merkel Suggests Germany Should Join North Korea Talks

Steven Erlanger — Mon, 11 Sep 2017 05:57:04 +0000

BRUSSELS — In what the Germans themselves are calling a “sleep campaign,” Chancellor Angela Merkel, seeking a fourth term in office in elections on Sept. 24, has moved to highlight her international status by calling for a new round of negotiations with North Korea — including Germany.

Already hailed by some in the era of President Trump as the main defender of the West and its values, Ms. Merkel has stepped forward to suggest a diplomatic alternative to the aggressive language being exchanged between Washington and North Korea.

As ever, she made her point by responding to a question. “If we were asked to join talks, I would say yes immediately,” Ms. Merkel said in an interview with the Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung published on Sunday.

She made a parallel to the multilateral talks with Iran over its nuclear program. Those talks were begun by the Europeans and later expanded to include the permanent five member states of the United Nations Security Council, plus Germany, and chaired by the European Union’s foreign policy chief.

In the end, the Iran talks became predominantly a negotiation between the United States and Iran. But they were supported and confirmed by the others, which gave Washington cover for sensitive talks with Tehran.

Ms. Merkel called that negotiation period “a long but important time of diplomacy” that ultimately had a “good end” last year, referring to when the deal was put in place.

“I could imagine such a format being used to end the North Korea conflict,” she said. “Europe and especially Germany should be prepared to play a very active part in that.”

President Trump has called the Iran deal “the worst deal ever,” and during the presidential campaign he said his “number one priority” if elected would be “to dismantle the disastrous deal.”

In office, Mr. Trump has talked about not recertifying Iran’s compliance. But the other signatories, like Ms. Merkel, regard the deal as a breakthrough, halting Iranian progress toward a nuclear weapon for at least a decade.

Many experts think the Iran parallel is a false one, in any case, since “Iran had a nuclear program but always pretended it was not for military use and didn’t have a bomb, while North Korea already has the bomb,” said Volker Perthes, the director of the German Institute for International and Security Affairs in Berlin and an expert on Iran.

The real comparison, he said in an interview, is Germany’s willingness to push for and take part in a new multilateral negotiating format with North Korea in contrast to military threats and bluster. “It’s about multilateralism, nonproliferation and international participation,” Mr. Perthes said.

Ms. Merkel said she believed that the only way to deal with North Korea’s nuclear program effectively is to come to a diplomatic solution, adding, “A new arms race starting in the region would not be in anyone’s interests.”

North Korea has always said that its nuclear weapons program is not negotiable.

Europe should stand united in trying to bring about a diplomatic solution and “do everything that can be done in terms of sanctions,” Ms. Merkel said.

She has already spoken about North Korea to leaders including President Xi Jinping of China and Prime Minister Shinzo Abe of Japan, and is also expected to talk to President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia.

In general, Europe has little economic leverage with North Korea, which is isolated and highly dependent on one country, China, for its economic life. But China, like the United States, may find it easier to deal with North Korea in a diplomatic context involving other countries as well.

Source: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/11/world/europe/germany-merkel-north-korea-talks.html

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