Tag: Russia

In China, US Secretary of State Blinken raises concerns over trade policies

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

Listen to the Article (6 Minutes)

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Thursday called on China to provide a level playing field for American businesses as he began a visit aimed at resolving a raft of contentious issues that could jeopardise the newly repaired relationship.

Blinken‘s trip is the latest high-level contact between the two nations that, along with working groups on issues from global trade to military communication, have tempered the public acrimony that drove relations to historic lows early last year.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

A top Russian military official reportedly linked to Ukraine’s Mariupol arrested for bribe-taking

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

Listen to the Article (6 Minutes)

A top Russian military official was arrested on suspicion of accepting a bribe, authorities said Tuesday, a high-profile arrest that comes as Moscow’s war in Ukraine is in its third year.

Timur Ivanov, 48, one of Russia’s 12 deputy defense ministers, was sanctioned by both the United States and the European Union in 2022, after Russia invaded Ukraine.

Russia’s state news agency RIA Novosti quoted Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov as saying that both President Vladimir Putin and Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu were informed about the arrest.

The Investigative Committee, Russia’s top law enforcement agency, reported Ivanov’s detention without offering any details of the accusations against him, saying only that he is suspected of taking an especially large bribe — a criminal offense punishable by up to 15 years in prison.

According to the defense ministry’s website, Ivanov was appointed to the post in 2016 by a presidential decree and oversaw property management, housing and medical support for the military, construction and reconstruction of facilities.

Russian media claimed that he was in charge, among other things, of some of the construction in Mariupol — a port city in Ukraine’s partially occupied Donestk region which was heavily bombarded and occupied by Russian forces early on in the war in 2022.

Zvezda, the official TV channel of the Russian military, reported in the summer of 2022 that the ministry “is building an entire residential block” in the severely damaged city and showed Ivanov inspecting construction sites.

That same year, the team of late Alexei Navalny, Russia’s most prominent opposition leader and anti-corruption campaigner, alleged that Ivanov and his family had been living an extravagant life full of luxurious trips abroad, lavish parties and elite real estate.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Global military expenditure touched an all-time high of $2.4 trillion in 2023: Report

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

Listen to the Article (6 Minutes)

Global military expenditure in 2023 witnessed its steepest increase in more than a decade, touching an all-time high of $2.4 trillion, as per a new report by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), news agency AFP reported.

This was fuelled by the wars and rising global tensions. The report stated that military spending in Europe, Asia and Middle East witnessed a particularly large increase.

AFP quoted a senior researcher at SIPRI, Nan Tian as saying that for the first since since 2009, military spending rose across all five geographical regions.

The report stated that military spending increased by 6.8% in 2023, its steepest year-on-year increase since 2009, AFP reported.

Tian told the news agency that the increased military spending was a reflection of the deteriorating peace and security across the world.

The top five spenders were the United States, China, Russia, India and Saudi Arabia, AFP reported citing the report.

Tian said the continuation of the Ukraine war led to a rise in military spending in Russia and Ukraine and many of the European countries. As per SIPRI’s estimates, Russia’s spending increased by 24% in 2023, reaching $109 billion.

Ever since Russia annexed Ukraine’s Crimea in 2014, its military spending has increased by 57%.

On the other hand, Ukraine’s military spending increased by 51% to $64.8 billion. However, it also got military aid of $35 billion, majority of which came from the US. As per this, the combined spending and aid equalled over nine tenths of the spendings of Russia.

Tian told AFP that even though Russia and Ukraine’s overall budgets were more or less close in 2023, Kyiv’s military spending was 37% of its GDP and 50% of the entire government spending. On the other hand, Russia’s military spending equalled to 5.9% of its GDP. Tian added that Ukraine does not have as much room to increase its spending.

In Europe, Poland witnessed its largest increase in spending so far, increasing 75% to $31.6 billion, as per the report.

Military spending also increased across the Middle East, where Israel, which the second-largest spender in the region, witnesseda 24% increase in its expenditure to $27.5 billion last year. This was primarily driven by its offensive in Gaza.

Meanwhile, the Middle East’s largest spender Saudi Arabia, also increased its spending by 4.3% to around $75.8 billion, the report stated.

The US, which spends the most on its military compared to other nations, increased its expenditure by 2.3% to $916 billion, as per the report. China’s military spending expanded for the 29th consecutive year by another 6% to around $296 billion.

Japan and Taiwan both upped their military expenditures by 11% each to %50.2 billion and $16.6 billion, respectively, in 2023.

India, which is the fourth largest spender in the world, increased its spending to $83.6 billion in 2023, a 4.3% rise in expenditure.

Increase in spending in the Caribbean and Central America were driven by struggles such as fighting organised crime. The Domincian Republic increased its expenditure by 14%, responding to the worsening gang violence in Haiti spilling over the border.

Africa also witnessed an increase in its military budgets. The Democratic Republic of Congo’s spending more than doubled by 105% to $794 million, the largest increase by any nation percentage-wise, as tensions increased in neighbouring Rwanda.

South Sudan witnessed the second-largest increase of 78% to $1.1 billion.

Tian told AFP that the expectation is that the increasing military expenditure trend is likely to continue for a few years.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Russia considers removing Taliban from terrorist list, fostering stronger ties

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

Listen to the Article (6 Minutes)

Russia is currently considering taking the Taliban off its list of terrorist organisations, officials have indicated.

While no final decision has yet been taken, one sign of their increasingly cordial relationship is the Taliban’s invitation to an international economic forum being held in Kazan, Russia, in May. The Kremlin has opened up discussions with the Taliban before, and Russia was one of the few nations to accredit a diplomat when the organisation took control of Afghanistan.

But Afghanistan’s political and economic crisis and western sanctions on Russia due to the Ukraine war mean both sides have something to gain from a stronger relationship.

In 1999, the UN security council adopted resolution 1267, in which the Taliban was found responsible for “the provision of sanctuary and training for international terrorists”. A few months later, Vladimir Putin signed a decree implementing the UN resolution and imposing sanctions against the Taliban.

In 2003, the Russian supreme court recognised the Taliban movement as a terrorist organisation, saying it maintained links with illegal armed forces in Chechnya and tried to seize power in Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan.

Russia launched a regional initiative in 2017 to negotiate between the Kabul government and the Taliban as an effort to create a peacemaker role for itself.

These negotiations were aimed at offering solutions to the Afghanistan crisis, and were usually held with the participation of China, Iran, Pakistan and central Asian republics. Russia continued to maintain contact with the Taliban, despite labelling them a terrorist group.

Interests and goals

Since taking over control of Afghanistan, no foreign states have recognised the Taliban government. There are few signs yet that many are close to doing so, partly because of the Taliban’s continuing erosion of women’s rights and recognition of human rights more generally.

The Taliban wants international sanctions to be withdrawn, to take Afghanistan’s UN seat and for frozen assets to be released, which will help the country’s economic development.

Afghanistan should benefit economically from developing the important Lapis-Lazuli trade corridor which links Afghanistan to Istanbul and Europe, and the Uzbekistan–Afghanistan–Pakistan railway line, if international sanctions are withdrawn. Russia taking the Taliban off their terrorism list would be a first step toward international recognition for the current Afghan government.

Russia also benefits from its cooperation with the Taliban. It aims to present itself as the region’s security provider, especially compared to the US’s failure to create stability in Afghanistan. Moscow considers central Asia a zone of historical interest (the Soviet Union was involved in an armed conflict within Afghanistan from 1979-89).

It is also concerned about the stability of the region, drug trafficking and threats from Islamist terrorism, especially after the recent Isis-K attack on the Crocus City Hall, Moscow.

To increase its geoeconomic and geopolitical presence in the region, Russia can use the alliances it has already built – the Collective Security Treaty Organisation (a military alliance with Armenia Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan, formed in 2002) and the Eurasian Economic Union (an economic union of five post-Soviet states). Russia’s 2023 foreign policy plan mentions prospects for Afghanistan’s integration into “the Eurasian space for cooperation”.

Russia’s relationship building

The increasing cooperation between the Taliban and Russia has implications in terms of the ongoing rivalry between Russia and the west. Since the beginning of the Ukraine war, Moscow has tried to get other nations to support its strategic view of why the war is happening.

This version of history and policy positions Russia as a protector of traditional religions and values and places it among major world civilisations, contrasting it with the “godless” west. It also details the right of civilisations to exist and develop within their own values, something that should appeal to the Taliban, and that Russia presents as a contrast to the west.

In 2022, Putin said: “Real democracy in a multipolar world is primarily about the ability of […] any civilisation to follow its own path and organise its own socio-political system. If the United States or the EU countries enjoy this right, then the countries of Asia, the Islamic states, the monarchies of the Persian Gulf […] certainly have this right as well.”

These ideas are popular in the Muslim world because they promise an alternative non-western order and recognise Islamic values as equal and fundamental, with no need to conform to the western interpretations of right and wrong.

The potential rapprochement with the Taliban is a sign to the Islamic world in particular, that, unlike the US, Russia is an ally that will not interfere in another country’s internal affairs or dictate its values.

Economically, and politically, the Taliban needs to cooperate with Moscow, but this doesn’t mean the Taliban trust Russian officials and their official line, or that they have forgotten the Soviet military campaign in Afghanistan. For now, having Moscow as an ally is extremely useful.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Russia builds new Asia trade routes to weaken sanctions over war

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

Listen to the Article (6 Minutes)

Russia is pressing ahead with construction of two new transport corridors linking Asia and Europe, seeking to weaken sanctions over its war in Ukraine at the same time as Middle East turmoil is disrupting global trade.

The shipping and rail networks via Iran and an Arctic sea passage could strengthen Moscow’s pivot toward Asian powerhouses China and India and away from Europe. They have potential to embed Russia at the heart of much of international trade even as the US and its allies are trying to isolate President Vladimir Putin over the war.

The routes could cut 30%-50% off transit times compared to the Suez Canal and avoid security problems plaguing the Red Sea as Houthi rebels attack international shipping over Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza. Iran’s missile and drone strikes aimed at Israel have added to the regional turbulence.

While the US and its Western allies are shunning the Russia-backed routes despite potential cost savings, major Asian and Gulf economies have shown interest.

Still, significant hurdles remain.

Outdated Iranian infrastructure is holding up development of the International North South Transportation Corridor connecting India to the European part of Russia. And even as accelerating climate change melts Arctic ice to make the Northern Sea Route, or NSR, a more viable option, formidable logistical challenges remain along Russia’s remote coastline.

Russia is preparing to invest more than $25 billion to upgrade the route via Iran and improve facilities along the Russian Arctic shoreline, including a fleet of domestically manufactured ice-breakers. It also plans to patrol the NSR route with a network of drone bases, Izvestia newspaper reported, citing an unidentified Defense Ministry official.

Russia issued a 1.3 billion euro ($1.4 billion) loan to Iran last May to build a vital missing rail link that will stretch 162 kilometers (101 miles) to connect the city of Rasht along the Caspian Sea coast to Astara on the border with Azerbaijan. Once completed, the railway will allow cargo supplies from St. Petersburg to Bandar Abbas, Iran’s main export port on the Persian Gulf.

“Its construction will allow us to create direct and uninterrupted railway transportation along the entire length of the North-South route,” Putin said during a videoconference with Iranian counterpart Ebrahim Raisi. “This will help considerably diversify global transport flows.”

Transportation capacity along the north-south route, which includes a longer rail link via central Asia and a Trans-Caspian Sea network, could increase by 85% to 35 million tonnes a year by 2030, according to the Eurasian Development Bank. It will connect Russia with Iran and India as well as potentially the rest of South Asia, the Persian Gulf and Africa. Last August, Russia sent its first direct cargo train to Saudi Arabia.

“If the other routes are interrupted, this one will continue working because it’s sanctions-proof,” said Nikita Smagin, an analyst at the Kremlin-founded Russian International Affairs Council. “That’s the main idea.”

Driven by Russian oil sales and purchases of electronics, industrial equipment and cars, trade with China hit a record $240 billion in 2023, more than double the $108 billion reached in 2020. Trade with India grew to almost $64 billion last year, versus around $10 billion three years earlier, as New Delhi’s purchases of Russian oil have soared since the war in Ukraine began.

Russia’s growing trade with China is already spurring the Kremlin to spend billions to upgrade its vast eastern railroads to expand capacity on the Trans-Siberian and Baikal-Amur Mainline by 2030.

Neighboring Turkey’s trade boom with Russia is faltering, however, as the US and the EU crack down on so-called dual-use goods that could provide the Kremlin with a vital lifeline for its military offensive in Ukraine. Preliminary data published earlier this month from Turkey’s Trade Ministry showed exports to Russia fell by a third in the first quarter from a year earlier.

Development of the Northern Sea Route has been slowed by Western punitive measures over the invasion of Ukraine that have stalled a Russian plan to export liquefied natural gas from the Arctic LNG 2 plant to Asia as key foreign investors froze their participation. The sanctions also upended contracts for the plant to get specialized icebreaker vessels needed to navigate the freezing waters.

Chinese shipping company Cosco stopped using the route from 2022, even though a trip from Dalian, China, to Rotterdam in the Netherlands along the NSR takes around 33 days, compared to 48 days via the Suez Canal. All transit between Asia, North America and Europe through the Arctic that in 2021 represented 40% of shipping volumes has stopped amid concerns over falling foul of sanctions.

That’s despite continuing attacks since late last year by Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi militants on vessels in and around the Red Sea, which is forcing Western shipping firms to avoid the Suez Canal and take a longer route around the southern tip of Africa.

“International transit traffic through the NSR was considered risky because of changes in the geopolitical situation,” said Mikhail Grigoryev, an Arctic expert who is the co-owner and director of consulting company Gecon.

Still, the United Arab Emirates’s DP World port operator in October signed an agreement with Russian state-run Rosatom nuclear operator to develop container shipping along the route between Vladivostok and Murmansk.

In January, Putin attended a keel-laying ceremony for the fifth of seven nuclear-powered icebreakers Russia is building for service on the Northern Sea Route, calling the fleet “an enormous competitive advantage” for the country.

At the launch of two earlier vessels in November 2022, Putin said the ships would “help Russia more fully unlock its export potential and establish efficient logistics routes, including to Southeast Asia.”

India meanwhile is investing in Chabahar, the only Iranian port with direct access to the Indian Ocean, after getting a waiver from US sanctions.

The Russian-backed rail connection via Iran opens the way to central Asia — including crucially Afghanistan — and “offers a shorter route to Europe,” said Vaishali Basu Sharma, a former consultant at India’s National Security Council Secretariat.

“Emerging markets are finally breaking free from the hegemony created by developed countries,” she said.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Vladimir Putin says Russia forced to respond to Ukraine energy attacks

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

Listen to the Article (6 Minutes)

Russian President Vladimir Putin said his forces launched an attack that destroyed the largest power generating plant in the Kyiv region in retaliation for assaults against his own country’s energy sector.

The Russian Defence Ministry said earlier Thursday that it had conducted a “massive strike” in response to Ukrainian attacks on Russia’s oil and gas facilities. The overnight bombings targeted power plants and underground gas-storage facilities in five regions across Ukraine, according to the Ukrainian military.

“Unfortunately, we recently witnessed a series of strikes on our energy facilities and were forced to respond,” Putin said in televised remarks during a meeting with Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko.

While talking with his longterm ally, Putin said Moscow was ready for dialog on Ukraine, but wouldn’t have any positions “foisted” upon it. He also criticized the idea of a conference being held in Switzerland without Russia’s participation.

Also Read: Joe Biden vows to back Japan, Philippines as China jolts allies

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Russia aborts Angara-A5 space rocket launch for second time this week

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

Listen to the Article (6 Minutes)

The test launch of Russia’s Angara-A5 rocket from the Vostochny Cosmodrome was aborted on Wednesday for the second time this week.

“The command to cancel the launch has been issued,” said an announcement made through loudspeakers mere seconds before takeoff at the launch site in Russia‘s Far East.

It was not immediately clear why.

On Tuesday, an issue with the pressurising system of the rocket’s oxidiser tank forced a last-minute cancellation of the launch. It was delayed by 24 hours.

The two aborted launches are yet another setback in a project that has been dogged by manufacturing delays and technical issues.

President Vladimir Putin has grand ambitions for Russia’s space program, including planned construction of a new Russian space station by 2027, and has described the Angara project as having huge significance for national security.

The launch was set to be the first for this type of rocket at Russia’s new launch site at the Vostochny Cosmodrome, located in the forests of the Amur region in Russia’s Far East.

The 42.7-metre Angara launch vehicle is capable of carrying payloads bigger than 20 tonnes into orbit.

Due to its location closer to the equator, Angara-A5 can deliver a heavier payload to orbit if launched from Vostochny, Russia’s first and only post-Soviet spacecraft launch site, than from Plesetsk, an Soviet-era facility where it has had three successful test launches of the Angara rocket.

The setback follows the failure of a Russian moon mission last August, its first in 47 years, when the spacecraft crashed into the moon.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Russia, Kazakhstan rescue over 100,000 people amid worst flooding in nearly seven decades

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

Listen to the Article (6 Minutes)

Russia and Kazakhstan ordered more than 100,000 people to evacuate after swiftly melting snow swelled mighty rivers beyond bursting point in the worst flooding in the area for at least 70 years.

The deluge of melt water overwhelmed scores of settlements in the Ural Mountains, Siberia and areas of Kazakhstan close to rivers such as the Ural and Tobol, which local officials said had risen by metres in a matter of hours to the highest levels ever recorded.

The Ural River, Europe’s third longest which flows through Russia and Kazakhstan into the Caspian, burst through an embankment dam on Friday, flooding the city of Orsk just south of the Ural Mountains.

Downstream, water levels in Orenburg, a city of around 550,000, rose towards the critical level of 9.3 metres as sirens warned major floods were imminent. The water level is currently 9.14 metres.

Sirens in Kurgan, a city on the Tobol river, a tributary of the Irtysh, warned people to evacuate immediately. An emergency was also declared in Tyumen, a major oil producing region of Western Siberia – the largest hydrocarbon basin in the world.

“The difficult days are still ahead for the Kurgan and Tyumen regions,” Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters. “There is a lot of water coming.”

President Vladimir Putin spoke to President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev of Kazakhstan, where over 86,000 people have been evacuated due to flooding. Tokayev said the flooding was probably the worst in 80 years.

The most severely hit areas are Atyrau, Aktobe, Akmola, Kostanai, Eastern Kazakhstan, Northern Kazakhstan and Pavlodar regions, most of which border Russia and are crossed by rivers originating in Russia such as the Ural and the Tobol.

In Russia, anger boiled over in Orsk when at least 100 Russians begged the Kremlin chief to help and chanted “shame on you” at local officials who they said had done too little.

The Kremlin said Putin was getting updated constantly on the situation but that he had no immediate plans to visit the flood zone as local and emergency officials were doing their best to cope with the deluge.

Evacuate Now

In Kurgan, a region with around 800,000 residents, drone footage showed traditional Russian wooden houses and the golden kupolas of Russian Orthodox Churches stranded among a vast expanse of water.

In Orenburg, a city of more than half a million, residents paddled along roads as if they were rivers. Dams and embankments were being strengthened as the Ural river rose to nearly 10 metres high.

Russian officials have said some people ignored calls to evacuate. Kurgan Governor Vadim Shumkov urged residents to take the warnings seriously.

“We understand you very well: It is hard to leave your possessions and move somewhere at the call of the local authorities,” Shumkov said.

“It’s better that we laugh at the hydrologists together later and praise God for the miracle of our common salvation. But let’s do it alive.”

In Kurgan, water levels were rising in the Tobol and Russia said 19,000 people were at risk in the region.

Rising water was also forecast in Siberia’s Ishim river, also a tributary of the Irtysh, which along with its parent, the Ob, forms the world’s seventh longest river system.

It was not immediately clear why this year’s floods were so bad as the snow melt is an annual event in Russia. Scientists say climate change has made flooding more frequent worldwide.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow