MOSCOW 31 : Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed a decree setting out the routine spring conscription campaign, calling up 150,000 citizens for statutory military service, a document posted on the Kremlin’s website showed on Sunday. All men in Russia are required to do a year-long military service, or equivalent training during higher education, from … Read more
BRASILIA: French President Emmanuel Macron said Thursday that members of the G20 would have to agree before Russian leader Vladimir Putin is invited to attend the group’s summit in Brazil in November. “The meaning of this club is that there must be consensus with the 19 others. That will be a job for Brazilian diplomacy,” he … Read more
LONDON: Just hours after gunmen stormed a popular concert venue on the outskirts of the Russian capital Moscow on Friday night, killing 115, wounding scores and setting the building ablaze, the extremist group Daesh took to Telegram to claim responsibility. The group said that the attack was executed by its Afghan branch, IS-K, or Islamic … Read more
KYIV: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Saturday accused Russia’s Vladimir Putin of seeking to “shift the blame” onto Kyiv for the Moscow concert hall attack that killed 133 people. “What happened yesterday in Moscow is obvious: Putin and the other scum are just trying to blame it on someone else,” Zelensky announced, after Putin said … Read more
Putin is poised to extend his rule in highly orchestrated vote even as Russians quietly protest MOSCOW: Russians crowded outside polling stations at noon Sunday on the last day of a presidential election, apparently heeding an opposition call to protest against President Vladimir Putin in a vote that offered them no real alternatives after he … Read more
MOSCOW: Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday urged Russians to vote for him at a “difficult” time for the country, hours before polls open and as Kyiv launched a barrage of deadly attacks on Russian border regions. The former KGB agent is set to extend his rule by another six years this weekend in a … Read more
Gaza protest voting in Georgia, Washington threatens Biden’s reelection: Activists CHICAGO: A significant number of Arab and Muslim voters turned their backs on President Joe Biden in Georgia’s and Washington State’s Democratic primary elections on Tuesday — part of a trend likely to threaten his reelection in November’s polls, according to activist organizations. Voters chose … Read more
NEW YORK CITY: The EU’s foreign affairs chief on Tuesday condemned the lack of aid entering Gaza as “man-made” disaster in which starvation is being used as a weapon of war.“When we condemn this happening in Ukraine, we have to use the same words for what’s happening in Gaza,” Josep Borrell told the UN Security … Read more
WASHINGTON: Kremlin critic and chess legend Garry Kasparov on Tuesday called for a stronger Western response to Moscow’s aggression in Ukraine and said Russian dissident voices must be included in efforts to stand up to Vladimir Putin. In an interview with AFP, the former world chess champion who last week was put on Russia’s list … Read more
MOSCOW International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) chief Rafael Grossi met Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday after talks with energy officials over safety at the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in Ukraine. The Kremlin published introductory remarks by Putin and Grossi at the meeting in Sochi in southern Russia but gave no details of the … Read more