Page 29 - Russia

Edward Snowden: US whistleblower, now a permanent Russian citizen

Since 2013, Edward Snowden has been living in Russia to escape prosecution in the US after leaking secret files related to the US National Security Agency (NSA) and the CIA

Japan protests Russia's expulsion of official, denies spying allegations

Japan protested to Russia on Tuesday over the detention of a Japanese consulate official on espionage allegations, denying the allegations and accusing Russian authorities of abusive interrogation. The official was detained on Sept 22 and interrogated with his eyes covered, his hands and head pressed and immobilised, Japan's Foreign Ministry said, prompting it to lodge a protest and to demand an apology. On Monday, Russia's Foreign Ministry notified Japan's Embassy in Moscow that the official had been declared persona non grata, or an undesirable person, on grounds he conducted illegal espionage activity and it ordered him to leave the country within 48 hours. The alleged illegal activity insisted by the Russian side is completely groundless, Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno told reporters. Matsuno said Japan's Vice Foreign Minister Takeo Mori summoned Russia's ambassador and strongly protested, demanding a formal apology from the Russian government and measures to prevent

MoS Devusinh Chauhan highlights India's success in digital infrastructure

Union Minister of State for Communications, Devusinh Chauhan held a bilateral talk with Deputy Minister of Digital Development, Communications and Mass Media of the Russian Federation

Russia detains Japanese diplomat for exchanging sensitive information

Russia said Monday that it had detained a Japanese diplomat based in the eastern city of Vladivostok for soliciting "restricted" information, Russian news agencies reported. "A Japanese diplomat was detained red-handed while receiving, in exchange for financial reward, restricted information about Russia's cooperation with another country in the Asia-Pacific region," the FSB, the KGB's successor agency, was cited as saying through its press service, without specifying the country. The FSB also accused the diplomat, named as Vladivostok-based consul Motoki Tatsunori, of seeking out information on "the impact of Western sanctions" on the surrounding Primoriye region, according to news agencies. Russia's foreign ministry said Tatsunori had been declared persona non grata and ordered to leave the country within 48 hours. The Kremlin has repeatedly referred to Japan as a "hostile" country, a designation it shares with the US, EU countries and their Western allies, since Tokyo joined the

Danish authorities issue warning amid gas leak in Nord Stream 2 pipeline

Citing a gas leak in the Nord Stream 2 pipeline, the Danish Maritime Authority issued a navigation warning and established a no-go zone southeast of the Danish island of Bornholm.

17 dead, 24 wounded in school shooting in Russia

Russia's Investigative Committee identified the gunman as 34-year-old Artyom Kazantsev, a graduate of the same school

At least 17 dead and 24 wounded in Russia school shooting, says report

The Investigative Committee said that of the 24 people wounded, all but two were children. Regional governor Alexander Brechalov said surgeons had carried out a number of operations.

Putin grants Russian citizenship to US whistleblower Edward Snowden

President Vladimir Putin has granted Russian citizenship to former US security contractor Edward Snowden, according to a decree signed by the Russian leader on Monday. Snowden is one of 75 foreign nationals listed by the decree as being granted Russian citizenship. The decree was published on an official government website. Snowden, a former contractor with the US National Security Agency, has been living in Russia since 2013 to escape prosecution in the US after leaking classified documents detailing government surveillance programs. He was granted permanent residency in 2020 and said at the time that he planned to apply for Russian citizenship, without renouncing his US citizenship.

What is Khosta-2? A vaccine-restraint virus found in Russian bats

It is classified as a sarbecovirus, a member of the Coronavirus family. It attaches to the same protein, ACE2 that Coronavirus uses to penetrate into human cells

EU countries plan to delay Russian oil price cap amid divisions: Report

Countries may push to have a preliminary deal ahead of an informal gathering of EU leaders in Prague on Oct 6

Japan bans chemical weapons goods export to Russia amid nuclear war threat

Japan expressed grave concern about Russia's possible use of nuclear weapons against Ukraine as the top government spokesman on Monday announced an additional ban on exports of chemical weapons-related goods to Russia. As the world's only country to have suffered nuclear attacks, we strongly demand that the threat or use of nuclear weapons by Russia should never happen, Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno told a regular news conference. Matsuno was responding to a question about US national security adviser Jake Sullivan's comments Sunday on CBS news that the United States will act decisively in case of a Russian nuclear attack on Ukraine. Asked if Japan approves of the possible use of nuclear weapons by the United States against Russia, Matsuno refused to comment on the grounds that it was a hypothetical question. Japan's government on Monday banned the export of materials that may be used for chemical weapons to 21 Russian organisations, including science laboratories. The .

New Covid-like virus in bats could infect humans, resist vaccines: Study

A new SARS-CoV-2-like virus discovered in Russian bats is capable of infecting humans, and is resistant to current vaccines against COVID-19, a study has found. A team lead by researchers at Washington State University (WSU), US, found spike proteins from the bat virus, named Khosta-2, can infect human cells and is resistant to both the antibody therapies and blood serum from people vaccinated for SARS-CoV-2. A virus uses the spike protein to enter and infect the human cells. Both Khosta-2 and SARS- CoV-2 belong to the same sub-category of coronaviruses known as sarbecoviruses. "Our research further demonstrates that sarbecoviruses circulating in wildlife outside of Asia -- even in places like western Russia where the Khosta-2 virus was found -- also pose a threat to global health and ongoing vaccine campaigns against SARS-CoV-2," said Michael Letko, corresponding author of the study. The finding, published in the journal PLoS Pathogens, highlights the need to develop universal ...

Russian evolution

Western countries may have provided too little support for post-Soviet reform, but they hardly isolated Russia, as Figes claims

Europe's energy crisis: The looming winter of discontent that awaits India

Europe's bid to reduce its dependence on Russian gas ahead of the cold season will put pressure on prices and impact India's growing gas economy

Russia backs India, Brazil for permanent membership in UN Security Council

Russia has voiced its support for India and Brazil as worthy candidates for permanent membership in the UN Security Council, calling them key international actors. During the 77th Session of the UN General Assembly, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on Saturday expressed his support for India, becoming a permanent member of the Security Council. In his address to the General Assembly just an hour before External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar's speech, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said that the UN and Security Council have to be aligned to contemporary realities. He said Moscow sees the prospect of making the Security Council more democratic, exclusively, through broadening the representation of countries from Africa, Asia and Latin America. We note India and Brazil in particular as key international actors and worthy candidates for permanent membership within the Council whilst simultaneously unilaterally and mandatorily raising the profile of Africa, Lavrov said. I

Jaishankar discusses Ukraine, G20 and UN reforms with Russia's Lavrov

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar has said that he had a wide-ranging conversation with his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov during which they discussed a number of issues, including bilateral cooperation, the Ukraine conflict, G20 and UN reforms as he described Russia a "major partner in many domains." Jaishankar made the remarks during his interaction with a group of Indian reporters after his meeting with Lavrov on the margins of the UN General Assembly session, just hours before his address to the UN General Debate on Saturday. "We discussed a number of issues. Some part of my meeting was focused on our bilateral cooperation because Russia is a major partner in many domains," Jaishankar said while responding to a question by PTI on his meeting with Lavrov. "A wide-ranging conversation with FM Sergey Lavrov at #UNGA 77. Discussed our bilateral cooperation. Exchanged views on Ukraine, G-20 and UN reforms," Jaishankar had tweeted after his meeting with Lavrov. To another ...

On Ukraine, Russia repeats insistence to the world that it had no choice

Russia made its case to the world Saturday for its war in Ukraine, repeating a series of grievances about its neighbor and the West to tell the U.N. General Assembly meeting of leaders that Moscow had no choice but to take military action. After days of denunciations of Russia at the prominent diplomatic gathering, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov sought to shift the focus to Washington. His speech centered on a claim that the United States and its allies not Russia, as the West maintains are aggressively undermining the international system that the U.N. represents. Invoking history ranging from the U.S. war in Iraq in the early 2000s to the 20th-century Cold War to a 19th-century U.S. policy that essentially proclaimed American influence over the Western Hemisphere, Lavrov portrayed the U.S. as a bully that tries to afford itself the sacred right to act with impunity wherever and wherever they want and can't accept a world where others also advance their national interests. The ..

Russia's Lavrov backs India for permanent member in UN Security Council

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov backed India for becoming a permanent member of the UN Security Council.While addressing the 77th United Nations General Assembly, Lavrov said, "We see prospective of making Security Council more democratic via representation of countries from Africa, Asia & Latin America. India and Brazil, in particular, are key international actors and should be counted for permanent membership in the council."While addressing the Assembly, Lavrov accused Western countries of "throwing a fit" over the referendum that is being conducted in Russian-controlled areas of Ukraine on becoming a part of their federation.The Russian Foreign Minister said the crises surrounding the war were growing, and the international situation was rapidly deteriorating, but instead of having an honest dialogue and searching for a compromise, the West was "undermining confidence in international institutions" and encouraging negative tendencies within the United Nations as well,

EU candidate Serbia and Russia sign agreement on foreign policy matters

Serbia has signed an agreement with Russia for mutual consultations on foreign policy matters, the Balkan country's media reported on Saturday. Serbian Foreign Affairs Minister Nikola Selakovic signed the agreement on Friday along with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly meeting in New York, where most Western delegations shunned Russia's top diplomat over the country's invasion of Ukraine. The consultation plan covered by the agreement is expected to last for two years, Serbia's foreign ministry said in a Friday statement. Serbia officially is a candidate for European Union membership, but the government maintains relations with Russia. Although Serbia said it supports Ukraine's territorial integrity, the government has repeatedly refused to join Western sanctions against its Slavic allies in Moscow. Aligning foreign policies with the EU is one of the main pre-conditions for joining the 27-nation bloc, but Serbia has increasingly defie

Russia launches new strikes on Ukrainian cities amid Kremlin-staged votes

Russian forces launched new strikes on Ukrainian cities as Kremlin-orchestrated votes took place in occupied regions of Ukraine to create a pretext for their annexation by Moscow. Ukraine's presidential office said the latest Russian shelling killed at least three people and wounded 19. Oleksandr Starukh, the Ukrainian governor of Zaporizhzhia, one of the regions where Moscow-installed officials organised referendums on joining Russia, said a Russian missile hit an apartment building in the city of Zaporizhzhia, killing one person and injuring seven others. In the five-day voting in the eastern Luhansk and Donetsk regions and Kherson and Zaporizhzhia in the south that began on Friday, election officials accompanied by police officers carried ballots to homes and set up mobile polling stations, citing safety reasons. The votes are set to wrap up Tuesday, when balloting will be held at polling stations. Ukraine and its Western allies dismissed the referendums as a sham with no legal