Scholz on Friday spoke on the phone with Russian President Vladimir Putin for about an hour in what constituted the first direct exchange between the two leaders in nearly two years, according to German media reports. Asked in the Süddeutsche Zeitung interview if he’s afraid of a deal over Ukraine’s head between Trump and Putin, Scholz…
Vladimir Putin has said that NATO should accept “new territorial realities” ahead of any talks to end the war he started, during a phone call with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz that has sparked concern from Kyiv. In the first call between the leaders since December 2022, Putin repeated Kremlin rhetoric that the “current crisis” was…
French President Francois Hollande delivers a speech as he attends the inauguration of the new ‘Sud Europe Atlantique’ (South Europe Atlantic) high-speed rail line, linking Tours and Bordeaux, on February 28, 2017, in Villognon, central France. Yohan Bonnet | AFP | Getty Images Former French President François Hollande underlined the importance of Europe sticking together in…
Eight years ago, after the 2016 U.S. Presidential election, the mood in Moscow was one of lucky disbelief. In Donald Trump, Russian officials saw a transactional businessman who spoke in the language of national interests, not values—Vladimir Putin’s kind of leader. Margarita Simonyan, the head of RT, the Russian state channel, declared that she would…
Tulsi Gabbard, former congresswoman from Hawaii and a vocal supporter of Trump, has been tapped to head the Office of the Director of National Intelligence. US President-elect Donald Trump‘s unexpected choice of Tulsi Gabbard as the director of National Intelligence (DNI) has generated substantial concern within domestic and international intelligence spheres. This appointment indicates a…
Mike Pompeo, secretary of State in Trump’s first administration, is of the same opinion: “President Trump is not going to allow Vladimir Putin to roll through Ukraine,” he said Monday. “Withdrawing funding from the Ukrainians would result in that, and he will be told that by his entire team. It’s not his M.O. to allow…
India is keenly observing any move by US President-elect Donald Trump to end the Russia-Ukraine war, with analysts saying a resolution could settle New Delhi’s conundrum of having to balance its relations with Moscow and the West. “If Americans and Russians can get along [after the war is over], it is great news for India,”…
Russia’s government is reducing payments made to soldiers suffering lesser injuries in the war on Ukraine as the costs of the invasion pile up. Following an order from President Vladimir Putin to review the payouts, the government introduced a three-tier scale with compensation depending on the level of injury, according to a decree signed Wednesday….
Just one week has passed since Donald Trump’s electoral triumph, and already Russian President Vladimir Putin—one of the strongman leaders Trump admires most—is messing with his head. First, Putin waited two days before congratulating Trump on his victory. One can imagine Trump receiving phone calls from kowtowing leaders the world over—Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky, Israel’s Benjamin Netanyahu,…
Several Russian billionaires don’t share the optimism of Vladimir Putin’s government that Russia’s economy will keep growing at a pace most Western countries can only envy. And they see little prospect that incoming US President Donald Trump will lift sanctions. While they don’t expect a collapse that would force Putin to end his invasion of…