St Petersburg, Russia | Xinhua | Russian President Vladimir Putin explained Russia’s stance and policy on hotspot political and economic issues during the 25th St. Petersburg International Economic Forum on Friday. At the plenary session of the forum, Putin recalled that the surge in commodity and raw material prices occurred …
Read More »Putin, AU discuss sanctions, food access for Africa
Moscow, Russia | Xinhua | Russian President Vladimir Putin discussed political, trade and economic cooperation, as well as the impact of Western sanctions with the Chairperson of the African Union (AU) and Senegalese President Macky Sall in the southern Russian city of Sochi on Friday. Putin and Sall addressed a …
Read More »NATO chief offers quick admission for Finland, Sweden despite Russia’s objection
Brussels, Belgium | Xinhua | The applications by Finland and Sweden to join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) will be processed quickly should the Scandinavian countries choose to do so, the military alliance’s Secretary General, Jens Stoltenberg, said on Thursday. “If they decide to apply, Finland and Sweden will …
Read More »Preventing developing-economy debt disasters
Why it is the world’s poor – 70% of whom live in Africa – who will bear the brunt of Putin’s war COMMENT | ROBAH AREZKI AND MAHMOUD MOHIELDIN | The world’s breadbasket is being wrecked by war. Ukraine and Russia together account for 30% of global wheat and …
Read More »Send Merkel to Moscow
COMMENT | KATI MARTON | As a horrified world searches for a way to stop Russian President Vladimir Putin’s brutal war against Ukraine, there is one person who might be able to get through to the Kremlin’s dangerously isolated autocrat. Angela Merkel, until recently chancellor of Germany, held Putin to some …
Read More »Behind the Russia-Ukraine conflict
Why the U.S should beware of the law of unintended consequences THE LAST WORD | ANDREW M MWENDA | There is a huge misunderstanding of the conflict between Russia and Ukraine. Many people see it as an unprovoked act of aggression by a megalomaniacal President Vladmir Putin against a small …
Read More »Putin criticizes U.S. military-biological research in Ukraine
Moscow, Russia | Xinhua | Russian President Vladimir Putin stressed on Saturday “the unacceptable nature of the military-biological activities of the United States in Ukraine” in a phone conversation with Luxembourg’s Prime Minister Xavier Bettel, the Kremlin said in a statement. Such activities pose a huge danger to both Russia …
Read More »Nearly half of Russia’s reserves frozen
Moscow, Russia | Xinhua | Near half of Russia’s roughly 640 billion U.S. dollars of gold and foreign currency reserves has been frozen, Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov said Sunday. Siluanov said on a Russian TV program that Russia will pay roubles to its debt holders. He said that the …
Read More »Russian forces announce ceasefire, Ukraine ready to discuss ‘non-NATO models’
Moscow, Russia | Xinhua | The Russian armed forces announced a ceasefire and the opening of humanitarian corridors in four Ukrainian cities that started 10 am today, according to the Russian Defense Ministry. Taking into account the “catastrophic humanitarian situation and its sharp aggravation in Kiev, Kharkov, Sumy and Mariupol,” …
Read More »Four ways the war in Ukraine might end
Anticipating the uncertainties that this war will bring is a critical step toward successfully navigating its possible consequences | THE INDEPENDENT | The invasion of Ukraine by Russian forces has spurred Europe’s worst security crisis in decades. But while most analysis is rightly focused on the immediate situation, it is …
Read More »