The World Blog by humble servant.

Russia will pay an “astronomical” price should its President Vladimir Putin order the use of tactical nuclear weapons in Ukraine, the US Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Victoria Nuland said on Friday, amid the ongoing Russian offensive. In an interview for the Ukrainian outlet European Pravda, Nuland was asked to assess the possibility of Russia using tactical nuclear weapons. She responded that she could not rule out such a “catastrophic scenario.” As Putin “has already ordered” what, she said, were “brutal war crimes,” the world must be prepared for the worst. At the same time, Nuland stressed, the consequences of such steps would be catastrophic for Russia and for Putin personally. Russia will pay an “astronomical” price should its President Vladimir Putin order the use of tactical nuclear weapons in Ukraine, the US Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Victoria Nuland said on Friday, amid the ongoing Russian offensive. In an interview for the Ukrainian out...

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz believes in the transatlantic mission of universal democracy, rebuilding the German military to make the European Union stronger, and arming Ukraine while carefully skirting the line of open war with Russia, according to an interview published on Friday. Germany is sending weapons, ammunition and other aid to Kiev to fuel Ukraine’s war against Russia, but the situation requires “a cool head and well-considered decisions, because our country bears responsibility for peace and security throughout Europe,” Scholz told the German weekly Der Spiegel. “I don’t think it’s justified for Germany and NATO to become warring parties in Ukraine,” he added. Ukraine has asked NATO countries for everything from artillery, tanks, and armored vehicles to ammunition. Earlier this week, Scholz explained that Germany can’t send any more weapons because the Bundeswehr’s own stores were running low, but is willing to fund Kiev’s arms purchases from the German military indust...

A ban on Russian gas will not stop the conflict in Ukraine but will cause an economic crisis in Germany and the EU, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said in an interview published on Friday. Embargoing Russian gas would cost millions of jobs and crash the German economy, making it more difficult for Berlin to fund Ukraine’s war effort and reconstruction, the chancellor argued. “Firstly, I don't see at all that a gas embargo would end the war,” Scholz told the German weekly Der Spiegel, adding that if Russian President Vladimir Putin “were open to economic arguments, he would never have started this insane war.” Critics of Germany’s position on Russian gas “act as if we’re all about making money,” Scholz complained. “But the point is that we want to avoid a dramatic economic crisis, the loss of millions of jobs and factories that would never open again. That would have serious consequences for our country, for the whole of Europe, and it would also severely affect the financing of...

The United States is deliberately spreading disinformation about the state of affairs in Ukraine in an attempt to confuse local residents and disrupt negotiations, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharovasaid on Friday, amid Moscow’s ongoing offensive in Ukraine. Zakharova was asked to comment on the remarks of her US counterpart, State Department spokesman Ned Price, who on Thursday called Russian statements about taking control of Mariupol “disinformation” from a “well-worn playbook.” Continuing a series of mutual accusations of lies, Zakharova claimed that “disinformation is being handled directly by the State Department.” “For what? There are several reasons. Well, probably, in order to completely disorient the citizens of Ukraine, those people who are now there, to place under question any possibility of any negotiation process and, of course, to make any negotiated settlement simply impossible and meaningless,” Zakharova said, adding that Russia is very familiar wi...

UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres will travel to Moscow to discuss the Ukrainian crisis with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Minister of Foreign Affairs Sergey Lavrov. According to a brief statement by the Secretary General’s spokesman, the meeting – the first face-to-face encounter between Putin and Guterres since the launch of Russia’s attack on Ukraine in late February – will take place on Tuesday, April 26. On the same day Guterres will also have “a working meeting and lunch” with Lavrov. The Kremlin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov confirmed that the meetings described would take place but has not provided any details on the agenda. However, Guterres’ plans were revealed on Wednesday by his spokesman Stephane Dujarric. Dujarric announced that, on the previous day, the UN Secretary General had sent letters to Russian and Ukrainian presidents Vladimir Putin and Volodymyr Zelensky asking for meetings in Moscow and Kiev. “The Secretary-General said, at this time of great peril ...

EU companies may be able to work around Russia’s demand to receive gas payments in rubles without breaching sanctions, if they pay in euros or dollars which are then converted into the Russian currency, the European Commission (EC) said on Friday, according to Reuters. In an advisory document sent to member states on Thursday, the Commission reportedly said that Moscow's gas-for-rubles proposal does not necessarily prevent a payment process that would comply with EU sanctions against Russia. The document said there were options that could allow companies to continue lawfully paying for gas. “EU companies can ask their Russian counterparts to fulfil their contractual obligations in the same manner as before the adoption of the decree, i.e. by depositing the due amount in euros or dollars.” The procedure for securing exemptions from the requirements of the decree is not yet clear, it added. The plan is identical to what the Russian government had suggested earlier this month. B...

Kiev is to receive a shipment of battle tanks from Slovenia “in the coming days” as part of a swap deal agreed by Ljubljana and Berlin, German Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht confirmed on Thursday. Slovenia is reportedly to hand over dozens of its Soviet-made heavy equipment pieces to Ukraine in exchange for infantry fighting vehicles (IFVs) and armored personnel carriers (APCs) from Germany. "It's about tanks, it's about armored personnel carriers, it's about different options that individual countries have to hand over,” Lambrecht told German broadcaster RTL. The minister did not specify the number of items of equipment each side has to hand over as part of the deal but said that Ukraine should receive the delivery “in the next few days.” According to France’s AFP and Germany’s dpa news agencies, Slovenia is to deliver the Soviet-made T-72 main battle tanks to Kiev and receive Marder IFVs and Fuchs APCs from Berlin. The idea behind the deal is to supply Ukrai...

Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki proposed to the European Commission on Friday that bonds be issued, backed by the “confiscated” funds from Russia and its citizens. The assets have been frozen by the EU, and officially have not been confiscated. According to the premier, “the European Commission says that today there are no new funds in the budget, and there are none in the new budget either.” Morawiecki pointed to a new source of funding, which is “the confiscated property of the Russian Federation, located in banks in Western and Central Europe, as well as the property of Russian oligarchs.” Talking to reporters, he said: “Do you want to give this frozen property back to the Russians when peace comes after the crimes committed? I hope that about 100% of citizens in the West will answer this question unambiguously – this would be immoral.” “So, this is a source of additional funds that should serve for restoration of Ukraine and should also serve to help almost 11 million ...

Ukrainian authorities have cited the acceptance of humanitarian aid from Russia as one of the grounds to charge the mayor of a town in Kharkov Region with treason on Friday. Ivan Stolbovoy, the mayor of Balakleya, is accused of urging the city council to cooperate with Russian troops and announcing that they would be distributing food. The office of the prosecutor general of Ukraine charged Stolbovoy with treason, alleging that he “chose to side with the enemy” when the Russian military took control of Balakleya on March 28. He agreed to continue as mayor under the “occupation regime” and accepted humanitarian aid from Russian troops, the prosecutors said. At a town council meeting that day, the mayor championed “loyalty to both the occupation troops and the Russian Federation in general,” the prosecutor said. Later he “convened a meeting of local citizens and told them the Russian military would be distributing humanitarian aid and also that negotiations were underway with the occ...

They can't make you become one who embrace homosexuality and a transgender or abortion baby killer claiming it's your body or a PUTIN hater. . The defeated.Can't you tell they go to loser to lose.The American form of a PROPAGANDA platform by more losers than I ever seen and SELF proclaim God haters. How I know?In what they believe in God haters.Just look and watch if you can it's enough to make you vomit they all age and look horrible telling lies all these years.They lie so much and all political allies.They couldn't just tell the truth ONCE.If they heard the truth and the devil in them go to work in DECEIT and distortion.That sissy godenemy was on cnn. The headline disinformation Putin and something else. This trashcan the biggest discriminator ever and liar. Imagine this sissy and bigot going to come now and give you the truth! Lets examine what he didn't tell us before he was elected. Did he tell that he was Involved and took orders from the Nation of Islam...

Russian President Vladimir Putin will meet with his country's Olympic and Paralympic stars on April 26, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov has said. Putin has traditionally celebrated the achievements of Russia's Olympic representatives but has not done so yet following the end of the 2022 Beijing Games, with the meeting seemingly sidetracked by the onset of the Russian military operation within Ukraine. The Winter Olympics, of which Putin was present at the Opening Ceremony, ended on February 20 – with the military campaign beginning several days afterwards. The onset of tensions with Ukraine led to Russian and Belarusian athletes being banned from the Beijing Paralympics on the eve of the event on March 4. Instead, Russian and Belarusian Paralympians took part on a specially-organized event held in Khanty-Mansiysk. There had been speculation that Putin was to meet with the athletes earlier in April, but according to Peskov, the summit will now take place on April 26....

he accelerating inflation in most developed nations has come as a result of the irresponsible actions of Western financial authorities during the pandemic, worsened by a sanctions campaign against Moscow, according to Russia’s Minister of Finance Anton Siluanov. “The scale of inflationary pressure is unprecedented in the context of recent decades,” the minister said, speaking at a plenary meeting of the International Monetary and Finance Committee of the IMF. “This is the result of the irresponsible actions of the financial authorities of Western countries, from which the whole world suffers, and above all the most vulnerable countries with a low level of income,” he added. According to Siluanov, the latest sanctions imposed by the West on Russia are exacerbating the situation. “Dynamics of the accelerated energy transition is also pushing up energy prices, worsening the problems of poverty, food security, energy availability,” the minister said. The US and its allies have introdu...

Brussels could encourage Kiev to refrain from “massive shelling” of Donbass and from committing “other gross violations” of international law, Russian President Vladimir Putin told European Council President Charles Michel on Thursday. During a lengthy phone call, held amid the ongoing Russian offensive in Ukraine, the two leaders discussed the latest developments on the ground, including Putin’s decision to call off the assault on Azovstal plant in Mariupol and Russia’s efforts to protect civilians, the Kremlin said in a statement. Among other things, Putin brought Michel’s attention to the “irresponsible statements of the EU representatives about the need to resolve the situation in Ukraine by military means,” apparently referring to the recent controversial statement by the top EU diplomat Josep Borrel. “It was noted that Brussels could influence the Kiev authorities in order to force them to stop the massive shelling of Donbass settlements and other gross violations of internat...

Russia is bad. There is no excuse for invading Ukraine, and the argument that it was a strategic imperative to stop NATO’s encroachment is just propaganda, right? That’s what every source in the mainstream media will tell you. But oddly enough, that logic never seems to apply when western countries perceive rival states to be encroaching on their own peripheries, and there’s been no bigger example of that than as to how American and Australian political classes have reacted to the now signed “Bilateral security agreement” between China and the Solomon Islands, a small archipelago which exists not far from Papua New Guinea. The deal was confirmed this week, despite Australia and the US having piled in scores of official visits in a bid to try and halt it. This has been combined with a media narrative of extreme paranoia claiming, without due evidence, that China is set to build a naval base on the islands and poses a direct military threat to Australia in turn. This has produced some ...

US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said on Thursday that a complete European ban on Russian oil and gas imports would “clearly” raise global oil prices and may inflict harm on Europe and other parts of the world. Speaking to reporters following a meeting with Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal and Finance Minister Sergiy Marchenko in Washington, Yellen said that such a ban could ultimately cause more harm than good. “It could actually have very little negative impact on Russia, because although Russia might export less, the price it gets for its exports would go up,” she said, as quoted by AFP. READ MORE: US gas prices spike on increased exports to Europe Yellen’s warning comes as major European countries, including Germany, have been calling for a complete stop to Russian energy imports. This month, the EU approved a ban on Russian coal, but could not reach an agreement on an oil and natural gas embargo. Berlin said on Wednesday that it will stop importing oil from Russia by ...

he UN has refused to back accusations by Kiev and Washington that Russia’s actions during its military operation in Ukraine amounted to genocide. Ravina Shamdasani, the spokesperson for UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), was addressed on the issue by journalists on Friday. “No, we have not documented patterns that could amount to [genocide]," she responded. Shamdasani pointed out there were “a lot of these legal qualifications - crimes against humanity and genocide - at the end of the day would be for a court of law to determine.” According to the UN’s own definition, ‘genocide’ includes “acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group.” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has accused Moscow of “genocide” after the events in the Kiev suburb of Bucha, where numerous bodies with signs of execution were discovered on April 1, shortly after the withdrawal of Russian troops from the area. Russia, which in...

European Union companies may be able to comply with Russia’s proposed system to pay for gas in rubles without falling foul of the bloc’s sanctions against Moscow, the European Commission said on Friday. At the same time, EU executives say that it is not yet clear how such a scheme would work. “The procedure for derogations from the requirements of the decree is not clear yet,” the document issued by the commission said. In March, the Russian government issued a decree requiring European energy companies to open accounts at Gazprombank, where payments in euros or dollars would be converted to rubles. EU rejects Moscow’s ruble-for-gas demandREAD MORE: EU rejects Moscow’s ruble-for-gas demand The step came shortly after Russian President Vladimir Putin demanded that hostile countries, which have imposed economic sanctions on Moscow in connection with the ongoing conflict in Ukraine, pay for Russian gas with rubles. Last week, the EC said that paying for Russian gas in rubles by Euro...

Taiwan is working on bunker-busting missiles and new attack drones, Reuters reported on Friday, citing a document presented to parliament this week by the military-owned National Chung-Shan Institute of Science and Technology (NCSIST), the island's top weapons developer. The news comes amid heightened tension between Taipei and Beijing. According to the report, the Hsiung Sheng land-attack missile comes in two versions: one with a high-explosive warhead to destroy bunkers and well-protected command centers, and another with "dispersal" munitions to hit airfield facilities. The missile could have a range of up to 1,000 kilometers (621 miles), Reuters said. Chieh Chung, a researcher at the Taipei-based National Policy Foundation, was quoted as saying that the Hsiung Sheng could reach most bases in eastern China, including those near Shanghai. Another weapon mentioned in the report is the Sky Bow III surface-to-air missile, designed to intercept ballistic and cruise miss...

Afghan refugees in Berlin are being moved from their accommodation centers to make room for Ukrainians fleeing the ongoing conflict at home, according to a recent report in Foreign Policy magazine. Those moved are shuffled to apartments, repurposed hotels and homeless shelters as authorities struggle to accommodate tens of thousands of people. “The evictions purposefully weren’t publicized. Some people had lived in their homes for years and were ripped out of their social structures, including children who were moved to locations far from their respective schools,” Tareq Alaows, a Berlin Refugee Council board member, told the outlet. While some of those moved were relocated to apartments of their own, others found their new homes to be less than ideal. One man was separated from his mother and two brothers while another woman found herself, her husband and two daughters relocated twice in March – once to a facility housing former criminals – before being settled in a hotel that ...

Moscow has not received any answers from Kiev to its proposals, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Friday, adding that Kiev’s position looks as if Ukraine does not need the peace talks at all. His words came two days after Moscow said it forwarded Ukraine a “draft document” on a peace agreement with concrete wording. Kiev then confirmed it did receive the document and was reviewing it. However, at the time, President Volodymyr Zelensky stated he had not seen any documents containing proposals from Moscow. The Russian foreign minister questioned Kiev’s position on the talks during a joint press-conference with his Kazakh counterpart, Mukhtar Tileuberdi. It was “very strange” for him to hear statements from Kiev, including those by aides to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, that “suggest they do not need these talks at all,” Lavrov said, describing the process of negotiations. Earlier this week, Ukrainian presidential adviser Alexey Arestovich warned that peace talk...

ere is a “realistic possibility” that Russian forces could “win” in Ukraine and that the conflict could last a “long period,” British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Friday. During a press conference in New Delhi, a British reporter asked Johnson if he agrees with the Western intelligence assessment that the military action in Ukraine could continue till the end of 2023 and end in victory for Russia. The British prime minister conceded that both these statements might turn out to be true. Weighing on Russia’s chances of ‘winning,’ Johnson said: “I think the sad thing is that is a realistic possibility, of course.” Saying that Vladimir Putin “has a huge army,” the prime minister claimed that the Russian president “has a very difficult political position because he has made a catastrophic blunder.” He didn’t specify what he meant by “blunder” but it could mean the military attack in Ukraine as this word was used recently by Western officials to describe Russia’s decision to launc...

China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs has hit out against the order to extradite WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange to the US, issued by a UK court earlier this week, saying that it represents the hypocritical nature of the US government. “This is the true face of the US 'freedom of speech and the press.' The extradition of Assange to the US can lay bare the hypocritical nature of the US government better than the WikiLeaks revelations,” said Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin, during a press conference on Thursday. The Chinese official also noted that everything Julian Assange has gone through ever since he reported on alleged US war crimes, tells people that “those who expose the so-called atrocities of other countries are heroes, while those who expose the scandals of the US are criminals.” A magistrates court in London issued a formal order on Wednesday to extradite Julian Assange to the US, where he will face up to 175 years in prison under the espionage cha...

Ukrainian troops and members of the nationalist Azov battalion, who remain besieged in the Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol, can still surrender to the Russian military, the Defense Ministry said on Friday. A day earlier, Russia announced the capture of Mariupol, with President Vladimir Putin calling off the assault on Azovstal, which remains the last holdout of the Ukrainian forces in the strategic port city. Russian troops should “seal the area so that a fly cannot get through,” Putin ordered. In its fresh statement, the Defense Ministry pointed out that the offer to surrender to those inside the facility remained in place. “At any given moment, Russia is ready to introduce a ceasefire and announce a humanitarian pause in order to stage the evacuation of civilians (if they’re really staying in the underground structures of the steel plant) and troops of the Ukrainian armed forces and nationalist battalions.” The commander of the Ukrainian marines, holed up at the plant, had earli...

Russian exports of crude oil have soared despite efforts to ban energy purchases from the country by the US and its allies, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing data from TankerTrackers.com. Shipments of crude from Russian ports have surged to about 1.6 million barrels per day over the course of April compared to 1.3 million barrels per day recorded in March, up by 300,000 barrels per day, the data shows. Meanwhile, similar data from Kpler, another commodities data provider, revealed that the exports rose to 1.3 million barrels a day in April from a million of barrels per day in mid-March. The tankers leaving Russian ports were reportedly heading to “destinations unknown,” and European oil traders have been buying it up under the radar. In April so far, more than 11.1 million barrels were reportedly shipped by tankers without a planned route, which is up from almost none before the launch of Russia’s military operation in Ukraine. EU fails to agree Russian energy banREAD MORE...

Iran will not give up on its cause to avenge Major General Qassem Soleimani, a senior military commander killed by the US in 2020, even if Washington offers to lift its sanctions, a top official with the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) has said. “The enemy keeps sending messages that if we give up on avenging Soleimani, they will give us some concessions or lift some sanctions,” IRGC Navy Commander Alireza Tangsiri said on Thursday. “This is pure fantasy. The Supreme Leader has emphasized the need for revenge and the Revolutionary Guards’ top commander has said that revenge is inevitable and that we will choose the time and place for it.” Soleimani was assassinated on January 3, 2020 in a drone strike on the orders of then-US President Donald Trump. Iran retaliated by launching missiles at two bases in Iraq that were housing American troops, and sanctioning five dozen American officials deemed responsible for the general’s murder. In an interview with in January, Iranian...

The Russian ruble has strengthened against the euro and US dollar on Friday, trading data from the Moscow Exchange shows. The rally comes despite the easing of capital controls this week, after the central bank allowed purchases of foreign currencies in the country. As of 10:07 GMT the Russian currency had jumped roughly 2.7% compared to the end of the previous day’s trading to 78 rubles against the euro, and gained around 2.3% against the greenback to trade at 72.8 to the dollar. Since Monday, the Russian currency gained 5% against the euro and 8% against the dollar. On Thursday, the central bank announced that all exporters will now have 60 business days instead of three to carry out the obligatory sale of foreign currency, credited to their accounts in authorized banks. Earlier the bank increased the period from three to 60 business days for non-resource, non-energy exports. The ruble is also helped by companies preparing to pay a record three trillion rubles (roughly $39 billio...

The Bank of Russia announced on Thursday it plans to have a digital ruble ready by next year and capable of making international payments. It also aims to expand the number of countries that accept Russian Mir banking cards. “The digital ruble is among the priority projects,” central bank governor Elvira Nabiullina told the lower House of Parliament. “We have fairly quickly created a prototype ... now we are holding tests with banks and next year we will gradually have pilot transactions.” The concept of a national digital currency was unveiled by the Bank of Russia in late 2020. The new form of money is expected to coexist with cash and non-cash rubles. Unlike virtual currencies such as bitcoin, the digital ruble is projected to pose minimal risk as it will be issued by the state monetary regulator and backed by traditional money. Nabiullina also said that Moscow aims to extend the number of countries that accept Mir banking cards, after international corporations Visa and Master...

The European Union has failed to reach consensus on a full ban of Russian oil and gas imports, but say that an agreement will be reached in the coming weeks. Member states are discussing several options for sanctions on Russian oil and gas supplies, but there is no unanimity on any of them, according to High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell, as quoted by Le Figaro. “As far as I know, at this time there is no proposal on the table regarding oil and gas. There are many considerations, many proposals that are studied,” Borrell said on Thursday. According to French President Emmanuel Macron, the ban on imports of Russian oil and gas is not being considered at the moment. France urging EU to ban Russian crudeREAD MORE: France urging EU to ban Russian crude “This issue (of embargo on Russian gas and oil) may appear on a negotiating table, but not today. Negotiations on coal and oil are already underway, but not yet on gas,” Macro...

President Biden @POTUS · 21h United States government official Today, I am announcing another $800 million to further augment Ukraine’s ability to fight in the East. This package will include heavy artillery weapons, dozens of howitzers, and 144,000 rounds of ammunition to go with them. It also includes more tactical drones. johnnie ellington @e7johnny · 1m Ukraine Chronicles 672 US weapons for Ukraine disappearing into 'black hole' – CNN Intelligence sources told CNN that American weaponry sent to Ukraine is difficult to track By The humble servant. April 20, 2022 johnnie ellington @e7johnny · 1m The US government is scrambling to trace large quantities of “lethal aid” transferred to Ukraine’s armed forces in recent months, officials have allegedly leaked to CNN, noting that intelligence agencies have “almost zero” ability to follow the shipments to their final end-users. johnnie ellington @e7johnny · 36s The US government is scrambling to trace large quantities of “lethal...

Russian air told carriers to learn to fly their planes without relying on the American Global Positioning System (GPS) satellite-based-navigation facility, newspaper Izvestia reported on Friday. According to the letter from the regulator, Rosaviatsia, which was seen by the paper, it has instructed national airlines to prepare to cope without GPS after a March report by the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA), which warned of increased cases of jamming and spoofing of the system's signal after February 24 – the day Russia started its military offensive in Ukraine. These were apparently registered in such areas as Russia's western enclave, the Kaliningrad Region, the Baltics, eastern Finland, the Black Sea, the eastern Mediterranean, Israel, Cyprus, Lebanon, Syria, Turkey and northern Iran. The interference has led to some planes changing their course or destination as the pilots were unable to perform a safe landing without the GPS, EASA has reportedly said. Russi...

The US will send its newest Phoenix Ghost combat drones to Ukraine, the Pentagon announced on Thursday. NATO countries have been increasingly arming Kiev after Russia launched a military offensive against the country in late February. The drone was “rapidly developed by the Air Force in response specifically to Ukrainian requirements,” US Defense Department spokesman John Kirby told reporters at a regular press briefing. “In discussions with the Ukrainians about their requirements, we believed that this particular system would very nicely suit their needs, particularly in eastern Ukraine.” Kirby said the Phoenix Ghost is somewhat like the Switchblade kamikaze drones that Washington had already promised to Kiev. The drone is “designed for tactical operations,” and can be used for surveillance, but “its principal focus is attack,” the spokesman said. “We see the benefit right now - in the moment - for Ukraine to use it. And so we’re going to provide some of them.” AEVEX Aerospace, t...

Chilean-American blogger Gonzalo Lira, who went missing in the Ukrainian city of Kharkov a week ago, has appeared online on Friday, revealing that he had been held by the Ukrainian Security Service (SBU). “I’m in Kharkov. I’m OK. I just want to say that I’m back online.” Lira said in short video chat with journalist Alex Christoforou on The Duran channel on YouTube. “I was picked up by the SBU on Friday, April 15,” the blogger revealed. Speaking about his condition, the 54-year-old said that he was “fine physically,” but “a little rattled” and “a little bit discombobulated.” Lira made it clear that he was forbidden from revealing any details about what had happened to him in detention. Threat made to Ukrainian opposition leaderREAD MORE: Threat made to Ukrainian opposition leader “I’m still in Kharkov and for the time being I cannot leave. The authorities here told me that I cannot leave the city,” he said, adding that his computer and phone were taken away and that he didn’t hav...

India has granted approval for Japan to pick up humanitarian aid stored in Mumbai and reserved for Ukrainian refugees in Europe, the nation’s foreign ministry said late on Thursday, adding that a commercial rather than a military plane should be doing this. The approval comes after Japan accused India of preventing its Self-Defense Forces plane from landing in its territory earlier Thursday. The aircraft was expected to take part in an aid-delivery mission backed by the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). “We had received a request from Japan for permission to land in Mumbai to pick up humanitarian supplies from UNHCR depot for Ukraine and its neighboring countries. We have conveyed our approval for picking of such supplies from India using commercial aircraft,” the Indian ministry’s spokesman, Arindam Bagchi, has said. The Indian officials have not provided any further details on the issue. However, daily newspaper The Hindu has said that Japan’s use of a mili...

Japan’s industry minister warned on Friday that quitting the Sakhalin energy projects in Russia’s Far East would undermine Western sanctions and benefit Moscow. “We are concerned that if Japan withdraws from the project and the concessions are acquired by Russia or a third country, it could further boost resource prices and benefit Russia, which will not result in effective sanctions,” Economy, Industry and Trade Minister Koichi Hagiuda told a news conference. The Sakhalin-1 oil and gas project and Sakhalin-2, one of the biggest integrated oil and liquefied natural gas (LNG) projects in the world, located off the coast of Sakhalin Island in Russia’s Far East, comprise both offshore and onshore facilities. Sakhalin-2 is operated by a joint venture between Russia’s Gazprom (50%), UK-based Shell (27.5%), and Japan’s Mitsui (12.5%) and Mitsubishi (10%). US oil giant pulling out of Russia – mediaREAD MORE: US oil giant pulling out of Russia – media Hagiuda’s comments follow a report on ...

World number eight Andrey Rublev says banning Russian and Belarusian players from Wimbledon is discriminatory and illogical, as he called on the tournament to donate its prize fund to victims of the conflict in Ukraine. Rublev is among the Russian and Belarusian stars set to miss the tennis grass court showpiece this summer after Wimbledon organizers announced this week that they would be barred. Rublev, 24, hit out at the move on the sidelines of the ongoing Serbia Open in Belgrade. “What is happening now is complete discrimination against us. The reasons they gave us had no sense, they were not logical,” the Russian said, according to the AFP. “Banning Russian or Belarusian players... will not change anything. “To give all the prize money would have a more positive effect to humanitarian help, to the families who are suffering, to the kids who are suffering. “I think that would do something. Tennis will, in that case, be the first and only sport who donates that amount of money...