Page 49 - Russia Ukraine Conflict

Russia smuggling Ukrainian grain worth $530 million to fuel Putin's war

When the bulk cargo ship Laodicea docked in Lebanon last summer, Ukrainian diplomats said the vessel was carrying grain stolen by Russia and urged Lebanese officials to impound the ship. Moscow called the allegation false and baseless, and Lebanon's prosecutor general sided with the Kremlin and declared that the 10,000 tons of barley and wheat flour wasn't stolen and allowed the ship to unload. But an investigation by the Associated Press and the PBS series Frontline has found the Laodicea, owned by Syria, is part of a sophisticated Russian-run smuggling operation that has used falsified manifests and seaborne subterfuge to steal Ukrainian grain worth at least USD 530 million cash that has helped feed President Vladimir Putin's war machine. AP used satellite imagery and marine radio transponder data to track three dozen ships making more than 50 voyages carrying grain from Russian-occupied areas of Ukraine to ports in Turkey, Syria, Lebanon and other countries. The ongoing theft,

US plans $1.5 billion-a-month aid to crisis-hit Ukraine, says report

EU leaders are expected to discuss Kyiv's financial requirements, which the draft budget for 2023 has placed at $38 billion, at a summit in the Czech Republic this week

Pope appeals to Vladimir Putin to end 'spiral of violence' in Ukraine

Pope Francis on Sunday appealed to Russian President Vladimir Putin, imploring him to stop this spiral of violence and death in Ukraine, and denounced what he called the absurd risk of nuclear war. Francis made his strongest appeal yet on the seventh-month war as he addressed the public in St. Peter's Square. The pontiff also called on Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to be open to serious peace proposals. He also exhorted the international community to use all diplomatic instruments to end this huge tragedy and horror of war.

Global stocks pin hopes of year-end rally on earnings' resilience

The 7% drop came as investors grappled with persistently high inflation, a surging dollar and jumbo interest-rate hikes across the world that threaten to choke economic growth

FPIs turn net sellers again; withdraw Rs 7,600 cr from equities in Sep

With this, the total outflow by FPIs from the Indian equity markets has reached Rs 1.68 trn so far in 2022, data with depositories showed

Take steps to encourage India's transition away from Russia: US senators

A strong US-India defence partnership rooted in shared democratic values is critical to advancing Washington's interests in the strategic Indo-Pacific region, according to three top American senators who have moved a legislative amendment that urges the Biden administration to encourage New Delhi to accelerate its transition away from Russian weapons. Senator Mark Warner, Co-Chair of the Senate India Caucus, along with Senators Jack reed and Jim Inhofe, in the amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act, says that India faces immediate and serious regional border threats from China, with continued military aggression by the Chinese people along the India-China border. The United States should take additional steps to encourage India to accelerate its transition away from weapons and defence systems manufactured in the Russian Federation while strongly supporting India's immediate defense needs, said the amendment. It said that for its national defence, India relies on weapon

Putin ally Kadyrov calls for 'using low-yield nuclear weapons' in Ukraine

In the wake of Russian troops' withdrawal from the strategic town of Lyman, the leader of the Chechen republic, Ramzan Kadyrov, called for using "low-yield" nuclear weapons on the battlefield

India's abstentions on Ukraine at UN not seen as neutrality: Linda Thomas

India's abstentions on Western-sponsored resolutions on Russia's invasion of Ukraine don't weigh on India-US ties or are seen as neutrality, Permanent Representative Linda Thomas-Greenfield

Ukraine encircles key eastern city Lyman; Russia intensifies bombing

Ukrainian forces encircled the strategic eastern city of Lyman on Saturday in a counteroffensive that has humiliated the Kremlin, while Russian bombardments intensified after Moscow illegally annexed a swath of Ukrainian territory in a sharp escalation of the war. In the northeast, Ukrainian officials accused Russian forces of attacking a civilian evacuation convoy, killing 20 people including children. In the south, Ukraine's nuclear power provider said Saturday that Russian forces blindfolded and detained the head of Europe's largest nuclear plant. The fighting comes at a pivotal moment in Russian President Vladimir Putin's war. Facing Ukrainian gains on the battlefield which he frames as a U.S.-orchestrated effort to destroy Russia Putin this week heightened his threats of nuclear force and used his most aggressive, anti-Western rhetoric to date. Despite Purtin's land-grab Friday of four regions in Ukraine, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and his military have vowed t

Russia's war naked aggression; India, France working to mitigate outcome

Russia's war in Ukraine is a "naked aggression" without any provocation and France and India are working together to mitigate the consequences of the conflict including global food and energy security, French Ambassador Emmanuel Lenain said. In an interview to PTI, the envoy said France strongly condemned Russia's illegal annexation of four Ukrainian regions and described it as a serious violation of both international law and Ukraine's sovereignty. Welcoming Prime Minister Narendra Modi's recent call to Russian President Vladimir Putin to end the conflict, the envoy said leaders of both India and France are working together to convince Moscow to return to the negotiating table. "We feel that Putin wants to return to the time of imperialism and that's exactly what we want to avoid in Europe and anywhere else in the world, especially in this region where I am talking," he said. "In the Indo-Pacific too, we do not want this, and I am sure India does not want any neighbour to encroach

Russia accused of 'kidnapping' head of Europe's largest nuclear plant

Ukraine's nuclear power provider accused Russia on Saturday of kidnapping the head of Europe's largest nuclear power plant, a facility now occupied by Russian troops and located in a region of Ukraine that Russian President Vladimir Putin has moved to annex illegally. Russian forces seized the director-general of the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, Ihor Murashov, around 4 p.m. Friday, Ukrainian state nuclear company Energoatom said. That was just hours after Putin, in a sharp escalation of his war, signed treaties to absorb Moscow-controlled Ukrainian territory into Russia. Energoatom said Russian troops stopped Murashov's car, blindfolded him and then took him to an undisclosed location. His detention by (Russia) jeopardizes the safety of Ukraine and Europe's largest nuclear power plant, said Energoatom President Petro Kotin said. Kotin demanded that Russia immediately release Murashov. Russia did not immediately acknowledge seizing the plant director. The International Atomic

LIVE updates: Avalanche near U'khand's Kedarnath Temple, no damage reported

Live news updates: The giant glacier behind Kedarnath broke for the second time since the last month and appeared like a watershed from a distance

Raft of new US sanctions leave Putin's oil and gas revenue unscathed

The US sanctioned hundreds of Russian officials, lawmakers, family members and businesses in what Treasury Secretary Yellen called a "sweeping action," but, the measures won't have much impact in real

On a wing and a prayer: Only this explains the RBI move to jack up rates

By raising the repo rate, the RBI has sacrificed growth and investment to try and contain inflation, which even the government says, has been driven by external factors

Russian annexation breach of int'l law, Ukrainian sovereignty: Macron

French President Emmanuel Macron on Friday condemned the annexation of Ukrainian territories by Russia and said that the act is a serious violation of international law and Ukrainian sovereignty.He added that the move is opposed by France and it continues to stand with Ukraine in its battle against Russia to regain its territories.In a tweet, Macron wrote, "Russia's "illegal" move to annex four Ukrainian regions, describing the act as a "serious violation of international law and Ukrainian sovereignty.""France opposes this and will continue to stand alongside Ukraine to confront Russian aggression and allow Ukraine to recover its full sovereignty over all of its territory," he tweeted on Twitter.The annexation has been widely criticized by the west.Notably, the United States on Friday announced that it will impose a "swift and severe cost" on Russia after President Vladimir Putin announced the annexation of four regions of Ukraine, which America quoted as a 'sham referendum.'Calling ..

US prez Joe Biden vows Russia won't 'get away with' Ukraine annexation

The United States and its allies hit back at Russia's annexation of four Ukrainian regions on Friday, slapping sanctions on more than 1,000 people and companies including arms supply networks as President Joe Biden warned Vladimir Putin he can't "get away with" seizing Ukrainian land. The Russian annexation, though expected, escalated an already heated conflict that's become fraught with potential nuclear implications. Biden said his administration would support any effort by Ukraine to retake the annexed territories by force, setting the stage for further hostilities. And Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced that his country would make an accelerated bid to join the NATO military alliance, a plan not endorsed by the U.S. or other allies that could add fuel to the fire. America and its allies are not going to be intimidated by Putin and his reckless words and threats," Biden told reporters. He added that Putin "can't seize his neighbor's territory and get away with ...

India abstains from UNSC resolution on Russian annexation of Ukraine's land

India abstained on a draft resolution tabled in the UN Security Council by the US and Albania that condemns Russia's illegal referenda and annexation of four Ukrainian territories and requires that Moscow withdraw troops from Ukraine immediately. The 15-nation UN Security Council voted on the resolution tabled by the US and Albania that condemned Russia's illegal referenda and annexations of Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia. The resolution failed to get adopted as Russia vetoed it. Of the 15-nation Council, 10 nations voted for the resolution and four nations abstained. Russia announced that annexation of the Ukrainian regions of Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said on Thursday that any annexation of a State's territory by another State resulting from the threat or use of force is a violation of the Principles of the UN Charter and international law. Any decision to proceed with the annexation of Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson

Putin calls out West's past, cites 'plundering of India', 'slave trading'

Vladimir Putin fulminated against the West's record, singling out the US use of nuclear weapons in the closing days of the Second World War, and then western nations' centuries of 'colonialism'

How should India respond to future shocks in an off-balance changed world?

The global engines of growth have become the sources of instability and uncertainty. T N Ninan explores what India should do

Nobel Prize season arrives amid Russia-Ukraine war, nuclear fears, hunger

Members of the European Parliament have called for Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and the people of Ukraine to be recognised this year by the Nobel Peace Prize committee