Latest news with #AndrewOsborn
Yahoo
06-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Russia and Ukraine exchange 205 prisoners of war each, Russian military reports
MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia and Ukraine on Tuesday swapped 205 prisoners of war each, the Russian Defence ministry said in a statement. The ministry said that the United Arab Emirates had helped mediate the exchange and that the freed Russian prisoners were currently in Belarus receiving medical and psychological support. (Reporting by Reuters; Writing by Maxim Rodionov; Editing by Andrew Osborn)
Yahoo
03-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Russia bans Elton John AIDS Foundation to defend 'spiritual and moral values'
By Andrew Osborn MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia's General Prosecutor on Thursday banned the activities of the Elton John AIDS Foundation, accusing it of taking a negative stance towards countries like Russia that protect "traditional spiritual and moral values". The prosecutor's office said its ban specifically applied to two non-governmental organisations, one registered in the United States and the other in Britain, both of them called the "Elton John AIDS Foundation". Both are officially designated as "undesirable organisations", it said. The foundation was set up by the gay British singer and songwriter who in the past has given sell-out concerts in Russia and has spoken out against what he has said is unacceptable discrimination against gay people by the Russian authorities. President Vladimir Putin has rejected such assertions. He has cast Russia as a bastion of "traditional values" locked in an existential struggle with a decadent West. The Elton John AIDS Foundation did not immediately respond to a request for comment. "When a musician plays along with the promoters of democracy, you get propaganda. And if Elton John is at the piano, it is not just anti-Russian propaganda," the prosecutor's office said in a statement on its official Telegram channel. "The NGOs (non-governmental organisations) actively participate in an information campaign orchestrated by the 'collective West' to discredit traditional values and escalate social tensions," it added. In a separate statement on its website, the prosecutor's office complained about the foundation's promotion of "non-traditional sexual relationships, Western family models, and gender reassignment". Without citing examples, the statement also accused the foundation of taking part in what it called a Western campaign to "denigrate Russia" over its war in Ukraine, something the prosecutor called a "special military operation". Putin has encouraged women to have at least three children to battle a birth rate dip, and a 2022 law widened a ban on "LGBT propaganda" to effectively ban any public expressions regarding homosexuality. In November, Russia's lower house of parliament voted unanimously to ban what authorities cast as pernicious propaganda for a child-free way of life. In a mission statement on its website, the Elton John AIDS Foundation said it had raised more than $600 million to support over 3,100 projects in 95 countries globally to increase access to health care, tackle LGBTQ+ stigma, and end AIDS.
USA Today
21-03-2025
- Politics
- USA Today
Russia accuses Ukraine of blowing up gas pumping station in 'act of terrorism'
Reuters USA TODAY MOSCOW, March 21 - Russia on Friday accused Ukraine of blowing up a major Russian gas pumping and measuring station in the Kursk region near the Ukrainian border in what it called "an act of terrorism." Russia's Investigative Committee, which probes serious crimes, said in a statement it had opened a criminal case over the incident which it said had done "significant damage" to the facility near the town of Sudzha. The Ukrainian military has denied involvement in the attack. The facility, once used by Gazprom to export gas via Ukraine to Europe, is in a region largely recaptured by Russian forces this week after heavy fighting with Ukrainian troops who had held it since last year. (Reporting by Reuters; Writing by Anastasia TeterevlevaEditing by Andrew Osborn)
Yahoo
14-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Analysis-As Trump thaws ties, Russia has a new public enemy number one: Britain
By Andrew Osborn LONDON (Reuters) - Two British diplomats expelled in a spying row. A blistering statement from Russia's foreign intelligence service calling Britain "a warmonger." And a threat from a top ally of Vladimir Putin to seize UK assets inside Russia. As the U.S. under Donald Trump seeks to reset ties with Moscow and broker peace between Russia and Ukraine, Britain has been granted the status of Russia's public enemy number one. It's a mantle it has held on and off over the past two centuries. "London today, like on the eve of both World Wars of the last century, is acting as the main global 'warmonger'," Russia's foreign intelligence service said in an unusually charged public statement on Monday. It accused London of trying to derail Trump's efforts to broker peace in Ukraine. "The time has come to expose them and send a clear message to 'perfidious Albion' and its elites: you will not succeed," the agency, known as SVR, said. It did not elaborate on its objections to Britain's behaviour prior to the two World Wars. Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2022 has become Europe's biggest and deadliest conflict since World War Two. It has left hundreds of thousands of dead and injured, displaced millions more, and triggered the sharpest confrontation between Moscow and the West in decades. For most of the war, Russia lambasted Washington for its role in supplying aid to Kyiv. With Trump in office, that has changed. Three Russian officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to speak to the media, said Britain was now regarded as Moscow's main foe, with one fuming that London was "stoking chaos and war" in Ukraine. Another described Britain as the driving force in the West when it came to galvanising opposition to Russia. Prime Minister Keir Starmer's talk this month of putting British boots on the ground and planes in the air in Ukraine as part of a potential peacekeeping force has angered senior Russian politicians. So did his hosting of a meeting of the "coalition of the willing", as well as his in-person and phone lobbying of Trump to support Ukraine. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has cast Starmer as fuelling tensions at the very moment when Trump was trying to calm them. British diplomats in Russia say they know what they're up against. Tit-for-tat expulsions have already shrunk the staff at Britain's embassy by at least 10 diplomats since the start of the war. Neither Russia nor Britain has defence attaches in post. Russia's FSB security service on Monday accused a British diplomat and the spouse of another diplomat of spying and expelled them - allegations London called "baseless." Britain summoned Russia's ambassador in London on Wednesday and expelled a Russian diplomat and a diplomatic spouse in retaliation. "It is clear that the Russian state is actively seeking to drive the British Embassy in Moscow towards closure," the British Foreign Office said in a statement on Wednesday. Russia's Foreign Ministry and British Foreign Office did not immediately respond to requests for comment. "HOSTILE ACTION" Russia, according to the head of Britain's MI6 Secret Intelligence Service, has used "staggeringly reckless" sabotage on British and European soil. A London court this month found three Bulgarians guilty of being part of a Russian spy unit. In October, a British man admitted to a London court that he had carried out an arson attack on a Ukrainian-owned warehouse in east London on behalf of Russia. A British inquiry blamed Russia for the 2006 poisoning of Kremlin critic Alexander Litvinenko in London with a radioactive substance. London also accused Moscow of the 2018 Salisbury poisoning that used the Novichok nerve agent. Moscow rejected those accusations. Some Russian politicians have suggested, without providing evidence, that Britain helped Ukraine carry out sabotage operations on Russian targets such as on the bridge linking Crimea with mainland Russia, in which two people were killed in 2023. One of the three Russian officials said Starmer, like Boris Johnson before him, was using the Ukraine war to distract from domestic problems. London says it wants to ensure Ukraine gets "a just peace" rather than being forced to capitulate. 'THE ENGLISHWOMAN RELIEVES HERSELF' Nationalist commentators on Russian state TV have started telling Russians that London has been trying to undermine Moscow for centuries. Despite London's popularity as a Russian investment destination, distrust of Britain traces its roots back to at least the Crimean War of 1853-1856, when it was part of an alliance that defeated the Russian Empire. Britain's more recent purported transgressions have had Russian politicians reaching for a nineteenth century phrase used to describe Britain's hostile foreign policy towards Russia under Queen Victoria: 'The Englishwoman relieves herself" on Russia, a saying meant to signify Britain's alleged systematic efforts to act as a spoiler. The new, souring anti-British mood, which has been accompanied by a marked and rapid softening of anti-U.S. rhetoric in state media, could leave London more exposed. As Russia enters a fourth year of war with its economy overheating, there is a sense in Moscow that Trump's new approach offers a chance for peace on terms favourable to Moscow. Some lawmakers have said companies from "hostile" nations like Britain should not be allowed back even if Western sanctions are eased after an eventual peace deal with Ukraine, or given a much harder ride if they are. Vyacheslav Volodin, a top Putin ally, this week spoke of the need to claw back money from Britain, a reference to interest accrued on frozen Russian assets in the UK worth around $26 billion that London has been handing to Ukraine. British-Russia trade has shrunk from over 16 billion pounds in 2021 to just over 2 billion pounds in 2023, according to UK government data, with oil company BP taking a hit of over $20 billion to exit Russia in 2022. Other British companies, such as the British-Swedish pharmaceuticals giant AstraZeneca and GlaxoSmithKline, continue to do business there. BRITISH LOCOMOTIVE Some in Britain might be surprised by the global importance attributed to London's intelligence services and special forces by Moscow. But one of the three Russian officials said London had shown it was able to lead by example on Ukraine. "They're the locomotive and pull others along with them," the official said. Britain, which offers training and finance to the Ukrainian military, was the first country to pledge Western-made main battle tanks to Ukraine and the first to deliver long-range cruise missiles at a time when other countries were hesitating. It deeply angered Russia. "If today Britain is hitting our territory with its missiles from Ukraine … I consider this a good reason for Britain to cease to exist, Andrei Gurulyov, a pro-Putin lawmaker and former military commander, told state TV in January. Russia's attempt to cast Britain as a warmonger echoes Putin's accusation that former British prime minister Boris Johnson persuaded Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy to walk away from a potential peace deal in 2022, an assertion Johnson and Zelenskiy reject. And though it would appear to weaken the charge that Britain poses a threat to Moscow, Russian politicians and commentators have been eager to point out the shrunken state of the British military, which currently has less than 75,000 full-time army soldiers. Russia has an estimated 1.1 million active servicemen. State TV anchor Yevgeny Kiselyov used his flagship show this month to quip that the entire British army could fit into London's Wembley football stadium.
Yahoo
13-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Putin orders army to eject last Ukrainian troops from Russian territory
By Andrew Osborn and Mark Trevelyan (Reuters) -President Vladimir Putin donned military fatigues for a surprise visit to troops in Russia's western Kursk region on Wednesday where he ordered them to press their lightning advance and swiftly retake the rest of the area from Ukrainian forces. Putin made his visit after Washington asked him to consider a 30-day ceasefire proposal backed by Ukraine, and after Russian forces retook a swath of territory in Kursk, forcing Ukrainian troops to fall back and cede control of the town of Sudzha. See for yourself — The Yodel is the go-to source for daily news, entertainment and feel-good stories. By signing up, you agree to our Terms and Privacy Policy. Ukraine sprang one of the biggest shocks of the war on August 6 last year by storming across the border and grabbing a chunk of land inside Russia, boosting citizens' morale and gaining a potential bargaining chip. But after clinging for more than seven months to a gradually shrinking area, Ukraine has seen its position worsen sharply in Kursk in the past week after its main supply lines were severed. Putin make it clear he was considering setting up a new buffer zone inside Ukraine's Sumy region, which is adjacent to Kursk, to guard against any future potential Ukrainian incursions. He also said foreign citizens fighting with Ukrainian forces captured in Kursk were not entitled to enjoy the protection of the Geneva Conventions, and that Ukrainian soldiers captured in Kursk should be treated as "terrorists." "Our task in the near future, in the shortest possible timeframe, is to decisively defeat the enemy entrenched in the Kursk region and still fighting here, to completely liberate the territory of the Kursk region, and to restore the situation along the line of the state border," Putin said. "And of course, we need to think about creating a security zone along the state border." Valery Gerasimov, the chief of Russia's General Staff, was shown telling Putin that Russian forces had pushed Ukrainian forces out of over 86% of the territory they had once held in Kursk, the equivalent to 1,100 square kilometres (425 square miles) of land. Ukraine's plans to use Kursk as a bargaining chip in possible future negotiations with Russia had failed, he added. Kyiv's gambit that its Kursk operation would force Russia to divert troops from its advance in eastern Ukraine had also not worked. Gerasimov said Russian forces had retaken 24 settlements and 259 square kilometres of land from Ukrainian forces in the last five days along with over 400 prisoners. Russian units had also crossed into Ukraine's Sumy region where he said they were expanding "a security zone." Reuters could not independently verify his assertions. Reuters was however able to verify video published by Russian bloggers and state media showing troops standing with a Russian tricolour flag on a square in the centre of Sudzha, a town near the Ukrainian border on a highway used by Ukraine as a supply route. Deep State, an authoritative Ukrainian site that charts the frontlines of the war, updated its battlefield map to show Ukrainian forces were no longer in control of Sudzha. However, it said fighting was continuing on the outskirts. Ukraine's top army commander said on Wednesday that Kyiv's troops will keep operating in Russia's Kursk region as long as needed and that fighting continued in and around the town of Sudzha. Skadovskyi Defender, a Ukrainian military blogger, posted on Telegram: "Ukraine's Armed Forces are leaving Kursk. There will be no Ukrainian soldier there by Friday." The same channel said, however, that Ukraine was continuing to conduct heavy strikes on Sudzha. (Additional reporting by Dmitry Antonov in Moscow, Anastasiia Malenko and Max Hunder in Kyiv, Yuliia Dysa in Gdansk and Lucy Papachristou in London, writing by Andrew Osborn/Mark Trevelyan; Editing by Kevin Liffey and Stephen Coates)
