Month: June 2023

Lavrov: Iran To Join Shanghai Alliance With China, Russia Next Week

Iran will be formally approved as a member of the regional Shanghai Cooperation Organization with China, Russia and Central Asian countries, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Friday. “At the meeting of heads of state on July 4, the full membership of Iran will be approved,” Lavrov said at the opening of an SCO center in Moscow. Iran has intensified its diplomacy with friends and foes alike in recent months, seeking to reduce its isolation, improve its economy and project strength. SCO membership was already on the cards and Iran is also hoping to be quickly accepted into another grouping …

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Журналісти підтвердили загибель щонайменше 26 801 російського військового в Україні

До моніторингу потрапляють лише ті люди, чию смерть вдалося встановити на основі відкритих джерел. Реальне число загиблих, на думку авторів дослідження, може бути помітно більшим …

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600 Arrested, 200 Police Officers Hurt in French Protests

NANTERRE, France — Protesters erected barricades, lit fires and shot fireworks at police who responded with tear gas and water cannons in French streets overnight as tensions grew over the deadly police shooting of a 17-year-old that has shocked the nation. More than 600 people were arrested and at least 200 police officers injured as the government struggled to restore order on a third night of unrest. Armored police vehicles rammed through the charred remains of cars that had been flipped and set ablaze in the northwestern Paris suburb of Nanterre, where a police officer shot the teen identified only …

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NATO Struggles to Choose New Leader as Allies Crave Stability Amid Ukraine War

NATO is attempting to choose a new leader, as the term of the current secretary-general, Jens Stoltenberg, is due to end later this year. However, some member countries want Stoltenberg to stay on, to give the Western alliance stability amid Russia’s war on Ukraine.  Stoltenberg, a former Norwegian prime minister, has led NATO for nine years. His tenure has already been extended twice, most recently last year, following Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine. Hosting the secretary-general in Washington earlier this month, U.S. President Joe Biden praised Stoltenberg’s record. “Your leadership in the alliance has been through a really significant period, in …

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Austria Seizes Weapons Cache in Raids on Right-Wing Biker Gang

VIENNA, AUSTRIA – Austrian authorities said Thursday they had seized hundreds of weapons, ammunition and Nazi memorabilia and arrested six people after raids on several premises of the right-wing extremist Bandidos motorcycle gang. Police found a huge weapons stash including about “35 long firearms, 25 submachine guns, 100 pistols, over a thousand weapons components, 400 signal weapons,” the interior ministry said. The haul was made following 13 house searches in the neighboring provinces of Upper and Lower Austria carried out Monday, the ministry added in a statement. More than 10,000 rounds of ammunition as well as grenade launchers were also seized, …

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«Обіцяв «відмазати» іноземця від екстрадиції»: СБУ повідомила про затримання народного депутата

У відомстві не називають імені депутата. Водночас видання «Українська правда» із посиланням на свої джерела пише, що йдеться про Сергія Алєксєєва від партії «Європейська солідарність» …

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Ініціативу на Бахмутському напрямку ЗСУ, ймовірно, використають ще більшою мірою – ISW

Визнання українськими силами свого володіння ініціативою на Бахмутському напрямку може свідчити про намір продемонструвати намір ширше використати цю ініціативу. Таке припущення роблять у своєму огляді аналітики американського Інституту вивчення війни (ISW). Аналітики звертають увагу, що і Генштаб ЗСУ, і головнокомандувач Валерій Залужний заявляють про «стратегічну ініціативу» на Бахмутському напрямку та підтверджують широкі наступальні дії у цьому районі. «Українські офіційні особи, ймовірно, тепер визнають, що ініціатива належить українським силам, щоб показати, що українські сили мають намір використати її більшою мірою», – йдеться у звіті. Крім того, в ISW зауважують, що українські сили вели наступальні операції щонайменше на двох інших ділянках фронту. …

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Putin ‘Somewhat Weakened’ by Mutiny, Trump Says

WASHINGTON – Former U.S. President Donald Trump, a longtime admirer of Russian President Vladimir Putin, said Thursday that Putin has been “somewhat weakened” by an aborted mutiny and that now is the time for the United States to try to broker a negotiated peace settlement between Russia and Ukraine. Speaking expansively about foreign policy in a telephone interview with Reuters, the front-runner in opinion polls for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination also said China should be given a 48-hour deadline to get out of what sources familiar with the matter say is a Chinese spy capability on the island of …

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Moscow Sentences Critical Publisher to 8 Years in Prison in Absentia over Military Criticism

A Moscow court on Thursday sentenced a Russian media publisher to eight years in prison in absentia for criticizing Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Ilya Krasilshchik, who left Russia after the invasion and now lives in Berlin, is a former publisher of the exiled Russian news outlet Meduza, which is based in Latvia. Krasilshchik was charged in absentia in April 2022 with “spreading fake news about the Russian military motivated by political hatred” over comments about the massacre of civilians in Bucha, Ukraine, by Russian troops.   Spreading “false information” about Russia’s military became a criminal offense in Russia soon after …

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Stockholm Quran Burning Angers Turkey, Hurting Sweden’s NATO Chances

Turkey has condemned Wednesday’s public burning of a Quran in Stockholm and analysts say the incident will likely give Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan even more reason to veto Sweden’s bid to join NATO. Erdogan has already threatened to block Sweden’s membership because he accuses Stockholm of harboring Kurdish separatists who he says are terrorists. For VOA, Dorian Jones reports from Istanbul. …

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