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Tag: Vladimir Putin

  • U.S.-mediated Russia-Ukraine talks begins in Abu Dhabi tomorrow

    U.S.-mediated Russia-Ukraine talks begins in Abu Dhabi tomorrow

    Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov confirmed yesterday that the second round of the U.S.-mediated Russia-Ukraine talks will take place in Abu Dhabi tomorrow and Thursday.

    Speaking at a media briefing in Moscow, Peskov said the talks originally scheduled for Feb. 1 was postponed to adjust the schedules of all participants.

    “Indeed, Wednesday-Thursday, this second round will take place. In Abu Dhabi, this, too, we can confirm,” Peskov said.

    Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced on Sunday that the second round of talks that had to take place on Feb.1 was rescheduled for Feb. 4-5.

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    Commenting on the negotiation progress, Peskov said: “On some issues, we have clearly progressed because there were discussions and conversations, and on some issues, it is easier to find common ground.”

    At the same time, there are issues where finding common ground is harder, he said, adding: “Unfortunately, convergence cannot yet be confirmed there.”

    Asked whether the energy truce is still in effect, Peskov said: “I have nothing to add to what I told you at the previous conference call, where we talked specifically about Feb. 1.”

    Last week, Peskov said the Russian side agreed to the proposal of US President Donald Trump not to strike at the Ukraine’s energy infrastructure to create favorable conditions for negotiations in Abu Dhabi.

    Regarding the possibility of a meeting between Zelenskyy and Russian President Vladimir Putin, Peskov reiterated the invitation to the Ukrainian leader to come to Moscow.

    “Zelensky offers contacts. Putin said that they are possible in Moscow. This position remains ours. It is sufficiently consistent,” he said. “We retain our openness to negotiations. You see that work is being done through working groups. We welcome this, and we are ready to continue this work in the interests of resolving the situation in Ukraine.”

  • U.S. envoy, Putin meet in Moscow over Ukraine peace plan

    U.S. envoy, Putin meet in Moscow over Ukraine peace plan

    United States (U.S.) Special Envoy Steve Witkoff yesterday met with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow, carrying an early peace plan to end the nearly four-year war in Ukraine.

    President Donald Trump is deploying officials to gain traction for his peace proposals after months of frustration.

    The meeting followed weekend talks that included Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Ukrainian officials who met in Florida.

    The Trump peace proposal was initially viewed by many in Europe as being very pro-Russia. It has since been amended by European leaders and President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. The purpose of this meeting is to present these changes to Russia and determine if they remain acceptable.

    Several major issues continue to complicate negotiations: NATO Membership: Russia has long said Ukraine cannot be a member of NATO, while Ukraine seeks the military protections that come with membership. Military Size: Ukraine wants to maintain the ability to defend itself, as Ukrainians remain skeptical that any ceasefire or peace would actually hold.Territory: The war has always been about land, specifically what the borders of Eastern Europe will look like in any peace agreement, particularly regarding the Donbass region.

    Putin enters this meeting from a position of strength. Overnight, Russia claimed victory and additional land in Eastern Europe, though Ukraine disputes this. Russia has had several successes in recent weeks and months regarding territorial gains.

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    Meanwhile, Zelenskyy has been battling corruption scandals within his top leadership ranks.

    The Kremlin said the meeting will go for as long as needed, emphasizing their desire for peace.

    Zelenskyy said yersterday morning that he also wants peace. President Trump and the White House are optimistic that a peace deal could be made.

    However, Witkoff is not expected to announce any agreement. Future meetings are likely, as Zelenskyy has already called for more in-person meetings. Trump has said he would like to get everyone in the room to finalise details if they are truly close to a peace agreement.

    The Donbass region encompasses more than 20,000 square miles – roughly the size of West Virginia and about 10% of Ukraine’s total land area. The region contains valuable rare earth minerals and ports that serve as major economic drivers for Ukraine.

    Long-term security guarantees are equally important. Russia does not want a massive military on its border, but Ukrainian officials have expressed deep skepticism that true peace will hold. Ukraine wants to maintain the ability to defend itself should future conflicts arise.

    If Putin rejects the amended peace plan and demands only the original terms, negotiations would attempt to continue in some capacity. However, if Putin demands land and believes he has control of certain cities, there may be little that can change his mind unless Zelenskyy agrees to give up territory permanently.

  • Russia backs Iran

    Russia backs Iran

    Meanwhile, in Moscow, Russian President Vladimir Putin met with Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and publicly condemned the U.S. strikes on Iran’s nuclear sites.

    Putin accused the U.S. of “unprovoked aggression” and pledged to support Iran. The meeting underscored growing alignment between Tehran and Moscow amid escalating regional tensions.

    In a briefing with reporters, Israeli former Mossad official and Iran expert Sima Shine offered a mixed verdict on the U.S. airstrikes targeting three of Iran’s key nuclear sites, including Fordo, Natanz and Isfahan.

    “It’s much better than what we thought it would be,” she said, but then added, “I don’t think it’s complete destruction of the project.”

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    Shine suggested Iran may be hiding enriched uranium and advanced centrifuges elsewhere, and could build a bomb in secret.

    Trump rages at Russia’s Medvedev for using ‘N-word’ in threat to supply Iran with nukes: ‘That’s why Putin’s The Boss’

    President boasts of US submarine capacity after ex-Russian president suggested other nations could send warheads to Iran

  • Vladimir Putin: Open Dialogue is a Step Toward Forming a New Global Growth Model

    Vladimir Putin: Open Dialogue is a Step Toward Forming a New Global Growth Model

    On June 20, Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke at the plenary session of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum. Among the key topics, he noted the importance of developing a fair and open platform for global growth and emphasized the special role of the Open Dialogue held at the National Centre “Russia.” This initiative brought together participants from more than 100 countries and became one of the important steps toward creating a new model of international cooperation.

    “Russia invites partners to contribute to forming a new global growth model. Together we can ensure the prosperity of our countries and stable development of the entire world for many years to come. This is exactly why we held the Open Dialogue in Moscow this year, which was attended by representatives from more than one hundred states. We intend not only to make this format regular but also to build an entire ecosystem around it for discussing, developing, and implementing breakthrough ideas. The global challenges facing the modern world require an unconditional and global response. Solving problems alone, especially at someone else’s expense, is simply impossible. This is an illusion,” stated Vladimir Putin.

    The session “Shaping a New Platform for Global Growth” based on the results of the Open Dialogue of the National Centre “Russia” opened the SPIEF business program on June 18. The session was moderated by Deputy Chief of Staff of the Presidential Administration of the Russian Federation Maxim Oreshkin.

    International experts from Russia, Cameroon, Spain, Azerbaijan, and Canada participated in the discussion, as well as authors of the best essays from the first Open Dialogue. Participants discussed new approaches to economic development, the potential of Global South countries, demographic trends, and the impact of future technologies.

    Special attention was paid to the report prepared by the Centre for Cross-Industry Expertise “Third Rome” based on the results of the Open Dialogue. The conclusions of the session formed the foundation for the entire SPIEF-2025 business program.

    The first Open Dialogue at the National Centre “Russia” became a platform for discussing the future in four areas: “Investment in People,” “Investment in Technologies,” “Investment in Environment,” and “Investment in Connectivity.” Experts from different countries wrote essays on these topics, and authors of the best works were invited to Moscow and presented their own ideas. The Open Dialogue format will become annual.

  • Russia, Ukraine to begin cease fire negotiations after Trump-Putin call

    Russia, Ukraine to begin cease fire negotiations after Trump-Putin call

    President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin held a two-hour call yesterday in what the U.S. said was a push to get Russia to end its deadly war in Ukraine.

    Both Trump and Putin described the call in a positive light, with the Kremlin chief saying it was “frank” and “useful,” but it is not immediately clear what results were achieved.

    Trump took to social media to praise the call as having gone “very well” and said, “Russia and Ukraine will immediately start negotiations toward a Ceasefire and, more importantly, an END to the War.”

    “The conditions for that will be negotiated between the two parties, as it can only be, because they know details of a negotiation that nobody else would be aware of,” he added.

    Putin, in a statement after the call, also noted that “a ceasefire with Ukraine is possible” but noted that “Russia and Ukraine must find compromises that suit both sides.”

    Any concrete details on the nature of these compromises remain unclear despite negotiation attempts in Turkey on Friday, which Trump suggested failed because he needed to negotiate with Putin first.

    The ceasefire talks fell through after a Ukrainian delegation said it was presented with demands from the Russian delegation that were “unacceptable,” including reported calls for the complete removal of Ukrainian troops from four Ukrainian regions that Russian illegally annexed in 2022, including Kherson, Donetsk, Luhansk and Zaporizhzhia.

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    The Russian delegation also allegedly demanded that the international community not only recognize the regions as now Russian but to also cease aid to Ukraine, including plans to supply peace-keeping troops once the fighting concludes.

    Trump said he immediately alerted not only Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to the call, but also European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, French President Emmanuel Macron, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and Finnish President Alexander Stubb, none of whom immediately responded to Fox News Digitals requests for comment nor have they publicly made statements about the call.

    Trump also said “the Vatican, as represented by the Pope, has stated that it would be very interested in hosting the negotiations.”

  • Ukraine-Russia talks weaken as Putin skips out

    Ukraine-Russia talks weaken as Putin skips out

    Hopes for substantive talks in Istanbul between Russia and Ukraine faded yesterday, after days of intense speculation that Russian President Vladimir Putin and perhaps even President Donald Trump would attend.

    Only one leader — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy — showed up in Turkey. He last met Putin face-to-face in 2019. Now he has accused the Russian leader of being afraid to meet again as Russia continues to attack Ukraine.

    In a decision only made public on the eve of the talks, Putin named a group of mid-level technocrats to lead the Russian delegation. The Kremlin’s spokesman later confirmed that Putin would not be joining them.

    Speaking to reporters in Ankara, Zelenskyy criticised Putin for sending “stand-in props” in his place.

    “We need to understand the level of the Russian delegation, what their mandate is, and whether they are capable of making any decisions on their own,” Zelenskyy said. “Because we all know who makes the decisions in Russia.”

    Yet the head of the Russian delegation, presidential aide Vladimir Medinsky, insisted his team had come to Turkey informed of the Kremlin’s positions and with full authority to negotiate.

    “The goal of direct talks with the Ukrainian side is to sooner or later establish a long-term peace that takes into account the roots of the conflict,” Medinsky said to a scrum of reporters outside the Dolmabahce Palace in Istanbul.There was one catch: Zelenskyy and most of the Ukrainian delegation were still in Ankara, nearly 300 miles away.

    Zelenskyy later confirmed he would send a team led by Ukrainian Defence Minister Rustem Umerov to Istanbul to meet with the Russian technocrats there. It’s unclear when discussions will start. Zelenskyy himself said he’s heading to Albania for a meeting with European leaders.

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    Putin proposed direct talks with Ukraine in a surprise announcement to foreign journalists at the Kremlin Sunday — an apparent counter-offer to an ultimatum by Ukraine and its Western allies to agree to an immediate 30-day ceasefire by May 12 or face further sanctions.

    Putin did not address the ceasefire proposal, but suggested the two sides instead gather in Istanbul, which hosted failed negotiations between Russia and Ukraine back in 2022.

    It was unclear whether Putin himself ever intended to take part. Zelenskyy committed to attend the negotiations — and challenged Putin to do the same.

    President Trump, currently travelling in the Middle East, also said he was open to making an appearance — inflating hopes the Kremlin leader might accept.

    Yet, speaking from Doha, Qatar, Trump reversed course. Trump said he’d never given a commitment to attend and didn’t think Putin would go “if I don’t go.”

    “And that turned out to be right,” added Trump. “But we have people there.”

    Secretary of State Marco Rubio was in Antalya, Turkey, for a NATO summit, and could join the talks. Speaking to reporters there, Rubio played down the chance of progress from Russia-Ukraine negotiations in Turkey. “It’s my assessment that I don’t think we’re going to have a breakthrough here until the President [Trump] and President Putin interact directly on this topic,” he said, “face-to-face.”

    Trump left the door open to engaging with the talks at a later date, “if it was appropriate”,  adding that “nothing’s going to happen until Putin and I get together” in terms of securing a ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine.

  • Trump, Putin to speak today about war in Ukraine

    Trump, Putin to speak today about war in Ukraine

    United States President Donald Trump will speak with Russian President Vladimir Putin today in a possible pivot point in efforts to end the war in Ukraine and an opportunity for Trump to continue reorienting American foreign policy.

    Trump disclosed the upcoming conversation to reporters while flying from Florida to Washington on Air Force One on Sunday evening, while the Kremlin confirmed Putin’s participation yesterday morning. “We will see if we have something to announce maybe by Tuesday. I will be speaking to President Putin on Tuesday,” Trump said. “A lot of work’s been done over the weekend. We want to see if we can bring that war to an end.”

    Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov  yesterday morning confirmed the plans for the two leaders to speak on Tuesday, but declined to give details, saying that “we never get ahead of events” and “the content of conversations between two presidents are not subject to any prior discussion.”

    European allies are wary of Trump’s affinity for Putin and his hardline stance toward Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who faced sharp criticism when he visited the Oval Office a little more than two weeks ago.

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    Although Russia failed in its initial goal to topple Ukraine with its invasion three years ago, it still controls large swaths of the country.

    Trump said land and power plants are part of the conversation around bringing the war to a close.

    “We will be talking about land. We will be talking about power plants,” he said, a process he described as “dividing up certain assets.”

    Trump special envoy Steve Witkoff recently visited Moscow last week to advance negotiations.

    Russia illegally annexed four Ukrainian regions after launching its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022 — the Donetsk and Luhansk regions in the east and the Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions in the southeast of the country — but doesn’t fully control any of the four. Last year, Putin listed Kyiv’s withdrawal of troops from all four regions as one of the demands for peace.

  • U.S. President, Putin speak on ending the war in Ukraine

    U.S. President, Putin speak on ending the war in Ukraine

    United States President Donald Trump said he has spoken to Russian President Vladimir Putin by telephone about ending the war in Ukraine, the New York Post reported, the first known direct conversation between Putin and an American president since early 2022.

    Trump, who has promised to end the war in Ukraine, but has not yet set out in public how he would do so, last week said that the war was a bloodbath and that his team had had “some very good talks.”

    In an interview aboard Air Force One on Friday Trump told the New York Post that he had “better not say,” when asked how many times he and Putin had spoken.

    Putin “wants to see people stop dying,” Trump told the paper.

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    The White House did not respond to a request for comment outside normal business hours.

    Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov yesterday told the TASS state news agency that “many different communications are emerging.”

    “These communications are   conducted through different channels,” Peskov said when asked by TASS to comment directly on the report. “I personally may not know something, be unaware of something. Therefore, in this case, I can neither confirm nor deny it.”

    Putin sent thousands of troops into Ukraine in 2022, calling it a “special military operation” to protect Russian speakers in Ukraine and counter what he said was a grave threat to Russia from potential Ukrainian membership of NATO.

  • Vladimir Putin apologises to Azerbaijan over downed plane

    Vladimir Putin apologises to Azerbaijan over downed plane

    • Admits Russia’s air defence systems ‘were active’ when jet crash killed 38

    Russian President Vladimir Putin has apologised over the downing of a passenger plane in which 38 people were killed.

    Putin reportedly called Azerbaijan President Ilham Aliyev to apologise for the firing carried out by Russian air defences against the Azerbaijan Airlines aircraft.

    No fewer than 38 passengers reportedly died in the crash that occurred in Aktau, Kazakhstan after the aircraft was shot at over Grozny after it took off from Baku.

    Putin, who only stopped short of declaring that Russia shut down the aircraft, admitted that its air defences were “active” at the time and was “repelling” a drone attack.

    A statement issued by the Russian government said: “A detailed discussion was held regarding the crash of an Azerbaijan Airlines passenger plane on 25 December near the city of Aktau in Kazakhstan.

    “Vladimir Putin expressed his apologies for the fact that the tragic incident occurred in Russian airspace.

    “He once again extended his deepest and most sincere condolences to the families of the victims and wished a speedy recovery to those injured.

    “During the conversation, it was noted that the Azerbaijani passenger aircraft, which was strictly following its scheduled route, had made several attempts to land at the airport in Grozny.

    “At the time, Grozny, Mozdok and Vladikavkaz were under attack by Ukrainian combat drones, and Russian air defence systems were repelling these assaults.”

    The plane is believed to have been downed by a Pantsir-S air defence system.

    The statement added: “The Investigative Committee of Russia has opened a criminal case under Article 263 of the Criminal Code (violation of traffic safety rules and the operation of air transport). Initial investigative actions are underway, and both civilian and military specialists are being questioned.

    ‘”At present, two employees from the General Prosecutor’s Office of Azerbaijan are in Grozny, working jointly with representatives of the General Prosecutor’s Office and the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation.

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    “Specialised services from Russia, Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan are closely cooperating at the crash site near Aktau.”

    The US had previously claimed that the Azerbaijan Airline was shot down by Russia.

    National security spokesperson, John Kirby, had told reporters on Friday that there were early indications the jet was brought down by “Russian air defence systems”.

    Asked whether there was a US intelligence that informed that conclusion, Kirby responded in the affirmative. He, however, declined further details.  

  • Our leaders to blame

    Our leaders to blame

    It is not Russians’ fault that young African ladies make themselves available for questionable recruitment to build drones

    The more than two-year war between Vladimir Putin’s Russia and Volodymyr  Zelenskyy’s Ukraine keeps expanding its global impact. The recent report about the Kremlin recruiting African, Asian, and South American women aged 18-22  to fill an urgent labour shortage  in wartime Russia raised eyebrows and must be of serious concern not just for the developing countries involved in Africa like Uganda, Nigeria, Rwanda, South Sudan, but to the global community.

    This comes at a time when immigration, either as a national border issue, nationalistic populist political issue or socio-economic movement of distressed citizens of the underdeveloped world, has become a topical issue. The International Labour Organization (ILO) has many laws meant to protect world citizens from exploitations through flawed and dubious employment processes.

    The fact that about 200 young African women at the zenith of their productive lives were dubiously recruited to work along Russian vocational students in a plant about 1,000 kilometres east of Moscow must worry both individual African countries and the continental body, the African Union (AU), the sub regional bodies  —  the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), the South African Development Community (SADC) and many others; they must wake up and smell the coffee, literally.

    We understand that the age of adulthood is 18 and none of the recruited Africans is a minor. However, the process must matter. There are allegations that the social media adverts used to trap the young African women were utterly couched in dubiety. There were promises of ‘free plane tickets, money and a far-away adventure in Europe’. The incentive was, ‘just complete a computer game and a 100-word Russian vocabulary test’.

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    However, instead of a work-study programme in sectors of productive interests like hospitality, care-giving and catering, most of the recruited women were herded into drone factories in Russia’s Tatarstan region, in a field they had neither passion for nor expertise in – making weapons of war, assembling thousands of Iranian-designed attack drones for use against Ukrainian targets.

    We condemn what obviously comes off as human trafficking, given the seeming deception involved in the recruitment process. The alleged restriction of their movements might be conceded as the right of every nation to protect its territorial integrity, but there are global labour laws that ought to be obeyed, both nationally and internationally. Recruitment for labour services must not be under any socio-economic subterfuge.

    While we condemn Russia and her agents for running what seems like false labour recruitment process and deceiving young women from Africa and other developing countries, we must hold African and other leaderships accountable. Economic migration has become the albatross of many developing and poor countries decades after independence. It is a huge paradox that a continent blessed with enormous human and material resources has been unable to functionally develop.

    Economic migration happens when the most productive demographic decide to move out of their birth countries in search of the proverbial ‘greener grass’, that is fundamentally a product of the African ‘un-watered grass’, a euphemism for the ineffectual leadership in Africa that has failed the people. The sad part is that economic migration by young Africans now seems so attractive that a country like Nigeria has even developed a vocabulary for the process. ‘Japa’, is a word in Yoruba language that depicts ‘moving out’.

    Development is about empowering the people and maximising the resources available. African countries have continued to be the contradiction of being a continent so blessed that the west continually exploits its raw materials and human resources for its own development. In some weird way, Africa seems not to have weaned herself from the vestiges of slavery and colonialism, the processes that were, ab initio, for the benefits of the continents that engaged in the two human vices. Today, human trafficking is a global problem but Africa has a huge problem of doing nothing to completely minimise its impact on the African work force and resources.

    This incident has come to light because of the advantages of technology. Information and communication now rule the world, but only work maximally for nations that tap into the unlimited benefits they bring. The African Union, ECOWAS, SADC and other continental and regional bodies must be more about development and collaboration for the African countries. We hope that actions can be taken to repatriate the young ladies in this sad case, and the agents prosecuted.