As Witkoff and Kushner were negotiating at the Kremlin, Zelensky said he was ready for “a substantive conversation”. Saturday’s talks in Moscow lasted three hours and were held behind closed doors in Putin’s official residence in the heart of the Russian capital, according to Russian state media. Details are still emerging, but both sides have
This isn’t the first time a foreign leader has publicly urged Putin to end the war in Ukraine. Just five weeks ago the President of Kazakhstan Kassym-Jomart Tokayev suggested Putin freeze the conflict and return to the negotiating table. He didn’t. And he hasn’t. There’s no sign of these public calls for peace changing Putin’s
OpenAI banned a “cluster” of ChatGPT accounts that it claims were part of a pro-Russia operation aimed at bashing Western countries and promoting a think tank with misattributed academic research. The company said in a blog post this week that the banned ChatGPT users used VPNs to get around its restriction on Russian users and
Western nations allege Russia has been operating a “shadow fleet” to evade international sanctions imposed on its oil exports. The UK Ministry of Defence says Russia has a fleet of more than 700 vessels, responsible for carrying 75% of the country’s sanctioned oil. This oil is a “critical lifeline for the Kremlin” in “sustaining Russia’s
What the Kremlin had assumed in 2022 would be a short, successful “military operation” has become the bloodiest conflict in Europe since the Second World War. Yet a confident President Putin continues to predict victory for Russia. “There will never be ‘victory’,” counters Dmitry Muratov. “Because what has been going on for nearly five years
Japan said it “strongly protests” Russian President Vladimir Putin’s visit to a disputed island chain. Russian state media reported on Thursday that Putin visited Iturup – known in Japan as Etorofu – one of four islands in the Kuril chain that are claimed by both Russia and Japan. Japan’s foreign minister Toshimitsu Motegi said the
