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Tag: Russia

  • Putin takes oath for record fifth presidential term

    Putin takes oath for record fifth presidential term

    Russian President Vladimir Putin was Tuesday sworn into office at a lavish Kremlin ceremony for a record-breaking fifth term with more power than ever before.

    The 71-year-old has ruled Russia since the turn of the century, securing a fresh six-year mandate in March after winning presidential elections devoid of all opposition.

    ‘Together we will win’: Putin tells Russians at inauguration

    Vladimir Putin said Tuesday that Russia would pass through the current “difficult” period stronger and emerge victorious, as he took power for a record fifth presidential term.

    “We will pass through this difficult period with dignity and become even stronger,” Putin said at his inauguration ceremony, adding: “We are a united and great nation, and together we will overcome all obstacles, realise everything we have planned, and together, we will win.”

  • More war debris in Gaza than Ukraine: UN

    More war debris in Gaza than Ukraine: UN

    Geneva (AFP) – The Gaza Strip is filled with more war debris and rubble than Ukraine, the head of UN demining operations for the narrow Palestinian territory said Wednesday.

    And the danger for clearance work is restricted not just to unexploded ordnance but includes possible exposure to toxic substances such as asbestos.

    The United Nations Mine Action Service (UNMAS) estimated the amount of debris in Gaza at 37 million tonnes in mid-April, or 300 kilogrammes per square metre.

    “Gaza has more rubble than Ukraine, and to put that in perspective, the Ukrainian front line is 600 miles (nearly 1,000 kilometres) long, and Gaza is 25 miles (40 km) long,” said Mungo Birch, head of the UNMAS programme in the Palestinian territories.

    But the sheer volume of rubble is not the only problem, said UNMAS.

    “This rubble is likely heavily contaminated with UXO (unexploded ordnance), but its clearance will be further complicated by other hazards in the rubble,” Birch told journalists.

    “There’s estimated to be over 800,000 tonnes of asbestos, for instance, alone in the Gaza rubble.” The cancer-causing mineral used in construction requires special precautions when handling.

    Birch said he hoped UNMAS, which works to mitigate the threats posed by all types of explosive ordnance, would become the coordination body for mine action in Gaza.

    It has secured $5 million of funding but needs a further $40 million to continue its work in Gaza over the next 12 months.

    However, “the sector as a whole will need hundreds of millions of US dollars over multiple years in order to make Gaza safe again for the population”, Birch added.

    Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed at least 34,568 people in Gaza, mostly women and children, according to the health ministry.

  • Canadian who died in Cuba mistakenly buried in Russia

    Canadian who died in Cuba mistakenly buried in Russia

    A Canadian man who died in Cuba last month was mistakenly buried in a Russian town north of Moscow, and officials on Friday were scrambling to repatriate his body.

    A government source who was not authorized to speak on the matter told AFP it had been a challenge to determine what had happened to the body of Faraj Allah Jarjour.

    Efforts were now being made to bring his body back to Canada, the official said, after it was found that two bodies had been switched in Cuba before being sent to the wrong countries.

    Jarjour, originally from Syria, was vacationing in Varadero, Cuba, when he died suddenly during a swim in the ocean in late March.

    His remains were believed to have been sent to Canada, but mortuary technicians in Quebec tasked with preparing the body for burial discovered the man in the coffin looked nothing like a photograph his family provided.

    The cadaver, public broadcaster CBC reported, had a full head of hair, tattoos and looked 20 years younger.

    Jarjour, who landed in Canada in 2016 after fleeing war in Syria, was 68 years old and had no hair.

    Cuban Foreign Affairs Minister Bruno Rodriguez apologized to the family for the mix-up, describing it in a social media post as “an unfortunate incident.”

    His Canadian counterpart, Melanie Joly, said she “shares the utmost concern for the unimaginable situation his family faces.”

    “They’re going to un-bury him and send him to Canada,” Jarjour’s daughter Miriam told CBC. “It’s not a good situation, but we don’t have a choice. It’s not in our control. We can only be patient.”

  • Teenager muslim ‘hero’ credited for saving more than 100 in Moscow attack

    Teenager muslim ‘hero’ credited for saving more than 100 in Moscow attack

    A 15-year-old boy is being credited with saving over 100 people from the terrorist massacre at a Moscow concert hall on Friday.


    The teen, Islam Khalilov, who worked as a cloakroom attendant at the Crocus City Hall, quickly moved to open doors and provide exits when he saw a large crowd of people running from the besieged concert hall.


    “At first we heard some strange sounds on the first floor. We thought maybe some noisy group had come,” he explained later in an interview, according to the Daily Mail. “I understood that if I didn’t react, I would lose my life and the lives of many people,” he added.


    “We were shown and told where to send people if something happened. I knew where to take people to keep them safe,” Khalilov said.


    Islam recalled seeing one of the terrorists and how it scared him. “To be honest I don’t consider myself a hero. It was part of my job. It is better to sacrifice oneself than allow a hundred people to die,” the boy stated in a humble tone while talking to Al Jazeera.


    Russian children’s rights commissioner awarded Khalilov and 14-year-old Artyom Donskov-who was also working at the venue during the attack-with an official thank-you letter from the government.


    Russia’s Council of Muftis announced that it would award Khalilov with the Medal for Merit, the highest award of Russia’s Islamic community in the upcoming Friday prayer at Moscow’s Cathedral Mosque, reports The Moscow Times.


    At least 139 people were killed in last Friday’s attack. Russian authorities have arrested 11 suspects, four of whom they say were directly involved in the massacre.

  • Russia claims West aided Moscow attackers

    Russia claims West aided Moscow attackers

    The head of Russia’s FSB security agency claimed Tuesday that Western and Ukrainian special services had aided the attackers who stormed a Moscow concert hall last week, killing dozens.

    Russia continues to allege Ukraine was somehow involved in Friday’s massacre, even after President Vladimir Putin acknowledged “radical Islamists” had carried it out.

    “We believe the action was prepared both by the radical Islamists themselves and, of course, facilitated by Western special services, and Ukraine’s special services themselves have a direct connection to this,” FSB head Alexander Bortnikov was cited as saying by Russian news agencies.

    He also repeated the Kremlin’s claim that the attackers tried fleeing over the Ukrainian border, an assertion that Kyiv has called absurd.

    “I’ll let you in on a little secret: they were going to be greeted as heroes on the other side,” Bortnikov said.

    He added that while Russia understood who organised the attack, “the one who ordered it has not been identified yet”.

    He did not provide evidence for his assertions and Ukraine has vehemently denied any role.

    Islamic State jihadists have said several times since Friday that they were responsible, and IS-affiliated media channels have published graphic videos of the gunmen inside the venue.

  • Hamas welcomes China, Russia veto of US-backed Gaza resolution

    Hamas welcomes China, Russia veto of US-backed Gaza resolution

    Hamas has reportedly shown “appreciation” as Russia and China vetoed a US-led draft resolution on a Gaza ‘ceasefire’ at the UN Security Council on Friday.

    The United States proposed a resolution endorsing “the urgent need for an immediate and enduring ceasefire” and, notably, condemning the October 7 attack carried out by Hamas for the first time.

    “We express our appreciation for the position of Russia, China and Algeria who rejected the biased American resolution of aggression against our people,” the Hamas said in a statement.

    They added that the draft consists of “misleading wording that is complicit” with Israel and “grants it cover and legitimacy to commit a genocidal war against the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip.”

    On the other hand, prior to the vote, Russia’s ambassador to the UN, Vassily Nebenzia, urged members against endorsing the resolution, deeming it as “excessively politicized” and implying it endorsed Israeli military operations in Rafah, Gaza, where more than half of its 2.3 million residents sought shelter in camps to escape the Israeli offensive in the northern regions.

    Nebenzia asserted that several non-permanent Security Council members had crafted an alternative resolution, which he portrayed as a fair proposal, calling on all members to support it.

  • Iran Launches Imaging Satellite From Russia

    Iran Launches Imaging Satellite From Russia

    Iran announced on Thursday the launch of a remote sensing and imaging satellite into orbit from Russia, according to state media.

    The launch of “Pars-I” with the Russian Soyuz-2.1b launcher was broadcast live by state television in Iran.

    The satellite was launched “from Russia’s Vostochny launch base”, some 8,000 kilometres (5,000 miles) east of Moscow, according to the official IRNA news agency.

    Iran’s telecommunications minister Issa Zareppur said “Pars-I” was “fully domestically developed” in Iran, which he said carried out a dozen satellite launches over the past two years.

    In January, Iran said it simultaneously launched three satellites into orbit, nearly a week after the launch of a research satellite by its Revolutionary Guards.

    Western governments including the United States have repeatedly warned Iran against such launches, saying the same technology can be used for ballistic missiles, including ones designed to deliver a nuclear warhead.

    Iran has countered that it is not seeking nuclear weapons and that its satellite and rocket launches are for civil or defence purposes only.

    In August 2022, Russia launched Iran’s remote-sensing Khayyam satellite into orbit from Kazakhstan amid controversy that Moscow might use it to boost its surveillance of military targets in its war in Ukraine.

    Moscow has sought to strengthen its alliances with other countries ostracised by the West, including Iran, which has been accused of supplying Moscow with armed drones for its offensive in Ukraine.

    This month, the United States said it would soon impose new sanctions on Iran over its backing for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

    Tehran denies the allegations.

  • Navalny’s widow says ‘Putin killed my husband’

    Navalny’s widow says ‘Putin killed my husband’

    Warsaw, Poland – Alexei Navalny’s widow said Monday that Russian President Vladimir Putin killed her husband, as she vowed to carry on his work, three days after he died in an Arctic prison.

    Holding back tears in a video address published Monday, Yulia Navalnaya said: “Three days ago, Vladimir Putin killed my husband, Alexei Navalny.”

    Prison authorities said Navalny died after losing consciousness following a walk in his prison colony in Kharp, 2,000 miles (1,200 kilometres) northeast of Moscow inside the Arctic circle.

    “Alexei died in a prison colony after three years of torment and torture,” Navalnaya said Monday.

    Navalnaya, who was by her husband’s side for more than a decade in his fight against Putin, vowed to continue his work.

    “The most important thing we can do for Alexei and for ourselves is to keep fighting, more desperately and more fiercely than before,” she said.

    “We need to seize every opportunity to fight against war, against corruption, against injustice, to fight for fair elections and the freedom of speech, to fight to take back our country.”

    She also vowed to uncover the people who she said had killed her husband.

    “We know exactly why Putin killed Alexei three days ago… We will definitely find out exactly who carried out this crime and how it was carried out. We will name names and show faces,” she said.

    The Kremlin said earlier on Monday that an investigation into Navalny’s death was ongoing and slammed Western governments that have said Putin carries responsibility for his death.

    Russian authorities have so far refused to hand over Navalny’s body to his mother and lawyer, enraging his supports who have said it was a move by the “killers” to “cover their tracks.”

    bur/yad

    © Agence France-Presse

  • Russia developing ‘space-based nuclear weapon’

    Russia developing ‘space-based nuclear weapon’

    Russia is reportedly building a nuclear space weapon that can disband the world’s commercial and government satellites, raising alarm bells across the world and especially in USA.


    American spy agencies are divided on whether Moscow would go so far, but the concern is urgent enough that Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken has asked China and India to try to talk Russia down, reports The New York Times.


    A new “national security threat” debate has taken over the United States Congress, indicating that Russia is reportedly building a nuclear space weapon that has the potential to disband a large portion of the world’s commercial and government satellites by producing a massive energy wave.


    This would disable all communication lines affecting cell phones, paying bills, as well as the internet.


    While not much is known about the weapon at this point, the system is described as a potential “space-based nuclear weapon” in several sources.


    However, it’s unclear if this refers to a nuclear bomb or a nuclear-powered gadget.


    White House National Security Communications Advisor John Kirby said the US is closely monitoring this Russian activity.


    President Joe Biden asserted: “There is no nuclear threat to the people of America or anywhere else in the world with what Russia is doing.”


    According to the New York Post, Russian spokesman Dmitry Peskov dodged the claims and responded by suggesting that the propaganda was a ruse to whip up support in Congress to take action.


    He said: “It is obvious that the White House is trying, by hook or by crook, to encourage Congress to vote on a bill to allocate money; this is obvious.”

  • Putin Says Russia Will ‘Intensify’ Attacks on Ukraine

    Putin Says Russia Will ‘Intensify’ Attacks on Ukraine

    President Vladimir Putin said Monday that Moscow will intensify strikes on military targets in Ukraine after an unprecedented attack over the weekend on the Russian city of Belgorod.

    The attack killed 24 people and left over 100 wounded in Belgorod on Saturday. It came after Moscow launched a large-scale attack on Ukrainian cities.

    “We’re going to intensify the strikes, no crime against civilians will rest unpunished, that’s for certain,” Putin said Monday during a visit to a military hospital.

    He said Russia will press on with hitting what he called “military installations.”

    “We are doing that today, and tomorrow we will continue doing it,” Putin said, almost two years into Moscow’s offensive.

    He spoke as Ukraine said Russia had hit it with a “record” number of drones on New Year’s Day.

    Putin called the Belgorod hit a “terrorist attack” and accused Ukrainian forces of targeting “right in the city centre, where people were walking, before New Year’s Eve.”

    He repeated a claim that Ukraine is being used by the West to “settle its problems” with Russia.

    The Russian leader said he believed the “strategic initiative” in the dragging conflict was on the Russian side.

    “In any case that is how I am being briefed and I always insist: any offensive operations should be done after a defeat of the enemy,” he said, according to the Interfax news agency.