MOSCOW (AP) — President Vladimir Putin said Thursday that Russia’s air defense were to blame for downing an Azerbaijani jetliner in December that killed 38 people, his first admission of responsibility for the crash in an apparent bid to ease tensions between the neighbors. Putin said the missiles fired by Russian air defenses to target…
TBILISI, Georgia (AP) — Police in Georgia used water cannons and pepper spray on Saturday to push back protesters who tried to storm the presidential palace, as the South Caucasus country held a municipal election boycotted by the main opposition blocs amid a sweeping crackdown on dissent. Tens of thousands rallied in the capital, Tbilisi,…
TBILISI, Georgia (AP) — Almost every day for nearly a year, Gota Chanturia has joined rallies at Georgia’s parliament against the government and its increasingly repressive policies. He’s done this despite mass arrests and police violence against demonstrators. And the civics teacher keeps marching even though he’s racked up an astonishing $102,000 in fines from…
President Vladimir Putin on Thursday condemned France’s detention of a Russian-linked ship as “piracy”, vowing a “significant” response to what he called European threats as tension flared. The Russian leader’s warning came after the French navy on Saturday detained and boarded an oil tanker that has been blacklisted by the European Union for being part…
By Andrew Osborn MOSCOW (Reuters) – Banished from Eurovision, Russia will launch the final of its own international song contest at President Vladimir Putin’s behest on Saturday, with a Soviet-era name and acts intended to promote “traditional family values”. Singers at “Intervision” will hail from 23 countries accounting for more than half the world’s population,…
MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russia on Monday warned it would go after any European state that sought to take its assets after reports that the European Union is looking for new ways to leverage hundreds of billions of dollars of frozen Russian assets to help Ukraine. The U.S. and its allies prohibited transactions with the Russian…
LONDON (Reuters) -For Russian wife killer Azamat Iskaliyev, the war was a one-way ticket out of jail. The 37-year-old had served less than a third of a nine-year murder sentence – for stabbing his spouse to death in his car in the summer of 2021 because she wanted a divorce – when he was freed…
A series of appearances this past week saw Chinese President Xi Jinping all smiles alongside a variety of America’s rivals. The events — a summit that was then followed by a military parade — have gotten plenty of notice. And they’ve clearly gotten under President Trump’s skin, with the president’s latest missive on Friday declaring…
(Reuters) -President Vladimir Putin urged aerospace industry leaders on Friday to press on with efforts to develop booster rocket engines for space launch vehicles and build on Russia’s longstanding reputation as a leader in space technology. Putin, who has spent the past week in China and the Russian far eastern port of Vladivostok, flew to…
President Xi Jinping gathered the leaders of Russia and India among dignitaries from around 20 Eurasian countries on Sunday to kick off a showpiece summit aimed at putting China front and centre of regional relations. The Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit is being held in the northern port city of Tianjin until Monday, days before a…