Category: Russian News

Rubio calls US NATO allies ‘a bunch of junior partners’

The US secretary of state has urged member countries to increase defense spending US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has renewed pressure on NATO members to increase their defense contributions, describing the current arrangement within the military bloc as the US and “a bunch of junior partners.” While being part of NATO is in the US’ interests, its members must shoulder their share of the responsibilities, otherwise it’s not really an alliance, but a “dependency,” he told The Free Press…

Trump freezes over $2bn in Harvard funding over ‘non-compliance’

The move comes after the university rejected the US administration’s request for policy changes The administration of US President Donald Trump has announced it is freezing more than more than $2.2 billion in grants and $60 million in contracts to Harvard University, after the Ivy League school rejected a list of demands from the White House. A major clash between the administration and some of the country’s top universities has been unfolding in response to how the pro-Palestinian student protests…

Hungary amends constitution to ban gay parades

Hungarian MPs have passed changes declaring that children’s rights to moral development supersede the right to peaceful assembly The Hungarian parliament has approved a constitutional amendment that upholds a ban on public LGBTQ+ events earlier introduced in the country. Hungarian MPs voted in legislation last month prohibiting gay parades and allowing the authorities to use facial recognition technology to identify their participants and issue fines of $500. The law was introduced by the ruling Fidesz party of Prime Minister Viktor…

China halts exports of critical materials amid trade war with US – NYT

China has halted exports of several critical rare earth metals and magnets amid a deepening trade war with the US, the New York Times has reported. The move follows US President Donald Trump’s decision to drastically raise tariffs on imports from China and other countries earlier this month.

Telegram Accused of Removing Popular News Channel at Russia’s Request

The messaging app Telegram is facing censorship accusations after reportedly removing a popular Russian news channel whose alleged owners face criminal prosecution inside Russia. VChK-OGPU, an anonymously run channel claiming to share insider information from Russia’s security and law enforcement agencies, had 1.1 million subscribers when it was taken down overnight Monday. On a backup Telegram channel, VChK-OGPU’s owners wrote that the removal came at the request of the Russian Prosecutor General’s Office, the Federal Security Service (FSB) and state media watchdog Roskomnadzor….

UK MPs barred from entering Israel

Two pro-Palestinian British MPs were denied entry to Israel and subsequently deported after local authorities accused them of misrepresenting the nature of their visit and planning to promote campaigns targeting the state. Abtisam Mohamed and Yuan Yang, both members of the governing Labour Party, landed in Tel Aviv at 2:30pm local time on Saturday, accompanied by two aides. During questioning at Ben Gurion Airport, they told border officers they were part of an official UK parliamentary delegation – a claim…

Musk’s father says Tesla tycoon admires Putin

Errol Musk says his family looks up to the Russian leader for his calm leadership and logical speeches Errol Musk has said that his son Elon and their family admire Russian President Vladimir Putin. Speaking to the BBC in an interview, the billionaire’s father described the head of state as a “strong leader” and praised his speeches as logical. Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, also leads the US Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) as part of US President…

Germany to target ‘internal EU enemies’ – Politico

The thinly veiled threat reportedly refers to Hungary, which has blocked several of Brussels’ foreign policy decisions The incoming German government plans to play a larger role in EU decision-making, including by punishing nations that dissent against the bloc’s foreign policy, Politico has reported. According to the outlet, a draft coalition agreement targets Hungary, which has defied EU decisions on issues such as the Ukraine conflict and sanctions against Russia. Germany is set to have a new coalition government formed…

Anti-war Russian Scientist at Harvard Med Detained by U.S. Border Agents

U.S. immigration authorities detained and revoked the visa of a Russian scientist who opposes the war in Ukraine and had been conducting genetic research at Harvard Medical School, her friends and colleagues said this week. Ksenia Petrova was stopped at Boston Logan International Airport on Feb. 16 after returning from a personal trip in France. U.S. officials revoked her research visa for failing to properly declare frog embryos she had brought with her, according to The Harvard Crimson. U.S. Customs…

Zelensky speaks out on US-Ukraine talks in Saudi Arabia

Ukraine’s leader has expressed readiness to enter a US-proposed energy truce with Russia Ukraine’s leader, Vladimir Zelensky, has offered his take on negotiations in Saudi Arabia shortly after the White House released two statements on the US contacts with Kiev’s and Moscow’s respective delegations. Speaking at a press conference on Tuesday, Zelensky expressed readiness to observe US President Donald Trump’s proposed agreement to mutually halt strikes on energy facilities with Russia, as well as to stop fighting in the Black…

Russia Sues Shell for $1.6B Over Unpaid 2022 Gazprom Supplies

Russia is suing Shell for 1.5 billion euros ($1.6 billion) over allegedly unpaid gas supplies to the state energy giant Gazprom in 2022, the British-Dutch company said in its annual report published Tuesday. Shell announced in early 2022 that it would sever ties with Gazprom, halt Russian crude oil purchases and withdraw from Russian energy markets in response to the full-scale invasion of Ukraine. According to the company’s annual report, Russian prosecutors filed a claim in a Moscow court on…

Kremlin says Iran has right to nuclear energy, acting in line with international law

“Iran has the right to peaceful nuclear energy and is acting in line with international law,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Friday. Peskov said Moscow accepted Iran’s statements that it has no intention of obtaining nuclear weapons. Iran was one of the topics discussed in a long phone call between US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin this week, after which the White House said the two leaders “shared the view that Iran should never be in a…

News from Russia: Kiev blew up metering station for EU-bound gas

The destruction of the border energy facility is the latest provocation by Ukraine, the Defense Ministry has said. Ukrainian forces retreating from Russia’s Kursk Region have destroyed the Sudzha gas metering station, the Defense Ministry in Moscow has reported. The incident took place early on Friday, roughly 20 minutes after midnight, the ministry said in a statement. The facility had been previously used to deliver fuel to consumers in European nations.

News from Russia: “People becoming more stupid,” according to study

The shift from reading to consuming video content may have diminished human intelligence, research finds Human intellectual abilities such as reasoning and problem-solving are diminishing, possibly due to increased exposure to visual media, the Financial Times (FT) has reported. Human intelligence appeared to peak in the early 2010s and has been in decline since, the FT added, citing PISA, an international benchmarking test for 15-year-olds that includes reading, mathematics and science, and adult cognitive evaluations. The reported trend comes amid…

News from Russia: Bosnia issues arrest warrant for Bosnian Serb leadership, Republika Srpska President Milorad Dodik

Bosnian prosecutors have issued arrest warrants for the president, prime minister, and parliament speaker of Republika Srpska, the predominantly-Serb region within Bosnia and Herzegovina. They are accused of having launched an “attack on the constitutional order” by enacting laws that restrict the operations of Bosnia’s state-level judiciary and law enforcement agencies. Following a brutal civil war that pitted the former Yugoslav region’s ethno-religious groups against one another, Bosnia and Herzegovina was divided into two self-governing entities, the ethnically Serbian Republika Srpska…

News from Russia: US statements on readiness to negotiate with Iran are hoax -Khamenei

Statements made by the United States about its willingness to negotiate with Iran are a deception of the global public opinion, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on Wednesday.
“Statements that the US president is ready to hold negotiations and invites to the negotiating table are the deception of the global public opinion,” the ISNA news agency quoted Khamenei as saying. “We have been sitting at the negotiating table for several years, and this very same person cast aside a completed and signed document tearing it up. What kind of negotiations we must hold if we know well that they will not work? This is why all calls and statements about negotiations are the deception of the public opinion,” he added. US President Donald Trump announced on March 7 that he had sent a message to Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei calling for negotiations on the Iranian nuclear program.