Section: Daily News & Analysis (India)
Russia’s Putin reappears after 10 day absence, laughs off ‘gossip’
Russian President Vladimir Putin reappeared on Monday after 10 unexplained days out of public view, laughing off the “gossip” over his health that had erupted during his absence. The 62-year-old leader met the president of Kyrgystan at a lavish Tsarist-era palace outside St Petersburg in his first appearance since Feb. 5. His...
Russia starts nationwide show of force
President Vladimir Putin called the Navy’s Northern Fleet to full combat readiness in exercises in Russia’s Arctic North apparently aimed at dwarfing military drills in neighbouring Norway, a NATO member. “New challenges and threats to military security require the armed forces to further boost their military capabilities....
Vladimir Putin set to reappear after 10-day absence
President Vladimir Putin was due to reappear in public on Monday after an unusually long 10-day absence that unleashed frenzied speculation about the whereabouts and health of the Russian strongman. Putin is scheduled to meet with Kyrgyz President Almazbek Atambayev in Saint Petersburg later on Monday, and a Kremlin official confirmed to AFP that...
Vladimir Putin says Russia was ready for nuclear war to annex Crimea
Moscow was ready to put its nuclear forces on alert to ensure Russia’s annexation of Crimea from Ukraine last year, President Vladimir Putin said in a pre-recorded documentary aired on Sunday. Putin also said that Russia had saved the life of Ukraine’s former pro-Moscow president, Viktor Yanukovich, who he said had been in danger...
Pope ready to help improve ties between Belarus and EU, Vatican says
Pope Francis is ready to help improve ties between Belarus and the European Union, a senior papal official said on Saturday in the latest sign of a developing thaw in relations between Brussels and Minsk. Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican secretary of state, also said discussions were under way for a visit to Vatican City by President...
What happened to Putin? Satirists run riot online
A wave of savage mockery broke over Russian President Vladimir Putin across the Internet on Friday, sparked by days of absence from public view, despite official insistence it was business as usual in the Kremlin. State television footage of Putin working at his residence failed to quell the tide of fantastical theories circulating online that...
Russia drops charges against woman accused of treason over Ukraine
Russia has dropped treason charges against an activist accused of phoning the Ukrainian embassy in Moscow last year to warn that Russian solders might be heading to eastern Ukraine, her lawyer said on Friday. Svetlana Davydova was arrested at her home west of Moscow in January on suspicion of making the call after overhearing a soldier’s...
EU unlikely to agree next week to prolong Russia sanctions
European Union leaders are unlikely to reach agreement at their summit next week to prolong economic sanctions on Russia that expire in July, a senior EU official said on Friday. New sanctions on Russia are also off the table for now because EU governments want to give a chance to a fragile ceasefire in eastern Ukraine. But some of the EU’s...
Slovak PM: Sanctions against Russia would not help Ukraine ceasefire
New or extended European Union sanctions against Russia would not help the ceasefire in eastern Ukraine, Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico said on Friday, though he added he would not go against the bloc’s consensus. EU leaders are due to discuss sanctions on Russia, imposed over the Ukraine conflict, at a summit next week. Some member...
US slaps sanctions on Ukrainian rebels, Russian bank
The United States on Tuesday placed sanctions on eight Ukrainian separatists and a Russian bank, warning that recent attacks by rebels armed by Russia violated a European-brokered ceasefire in the war-torn country. The sanctions signal Washington is ratcheting up pressure on Moscow a day after accusing Russia of sending tanks and heavy military...
