Latest news with #Kremlin
Russia Today
6 hours ago
- General
- Russia Today
Kremlin speaks out on Macron slap
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov was reluctant to comment on French President Emmanuel Macron being pushed in the face by his spouse Brigitte, saying it was unacceptable to talk about such family issues. However, he went on to point out that a wife always has a reason to slap her husband. The footage of the incident was captured as the French first couple arrived in Hanoi, Vietnam, on May 25. The video shows the aircraft door opening to reveal Macron speaking to someone off-camera. Moments later, two arms in red sleeves reach out and push his face, covering his mouth and jaw. Macron steps back, smiles, and waves after noticing the cameras. Brigitte soon appears beside him, wearing a red jacket. The video later went viral, prompting the president to downplay the incident, describing it as the two of them just 'bickering and joking.' 'You know, I am convinced that it would be inappropriate for us to comment on the Macron family's private matters,' Peskov said. 'On the other hand, if a wife slaps her husband, she never does it without a reason, but still, it's not our business.' Shifting away from celebrity gossip, the spokesman emphasized that Paris isn't working towards peace, and opting to increase pressure on Moscow instead. 'France still believes that something can be achieved with Russia through pressure — this reflects a fundamental misunderstanding of the nature of our country,' Peskov said, adding that the fact that the French leader 'does not understand the reality of the situation' is regrettable. France has provided over €3.8 billion ($4.2 billion) in military aid to Kiev since the escalation of the Ukraine conflict in February 2022, according to the Kiel Institute. Authorities in Paris have advocated deploying French troops to Ukraine in the event of a peace deal between Kiev and Moscow, arguing that it could help deter Russia. In March, Macron announced a French-British plan to prepare such a 'reassurance force' in the event of a ceasefire. The announcement sparked protests in Paris against what demonstrators called NATO's militaristic stance. Russia has repeatedly warned it won't accept the presence of any NATO country's troops in Ukraine, and pointed out that the military bloc's expansion in Europe had been a primary reason for the conflict.
Free Malaysia Today
6 hours ago
- General
- Free Malaysia Today
Russia says no response from Ukraine on Istanbul talks
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov called Kyiv's demand 'non-constructive'. (Kremlin pool/EPA Images pic) MOSCOW : Russia on Thursday said it was still waiting for Ukraine to say whether it would attend peace talks in Istanbul on Monday, after Kyiv demanded Moscow send its peace terms before agreeing to the meeting. Diplomatic efforts to end the three-year conflict have gained pace in recent months, but Moscow has shown no signs of easing its bombardment of Ukraine while rebuffing calls for an immediate ceasefire. Moscow has offered to hold a second round of direct talks with Ukraine in Istanbul on June 2, where it wants to present a so-called 'memorandum' outlining its conditions for a long-term peace settlement. But, Ukraine said the meeting would not yield results unless it saw a copy of the memorandum in advance, a proposal that the Kremlin dismissed. 'As far as I know, no response has been received yet… we need to wait for a response from the Ukrainian side,' Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, calling Kyiv's demand that Russia provide peace conditions up front as 'non-constructive'. Ukraine said it had already submitted its peace terms to Russia and demanded Moscow do the same. Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan called on Russia and Ukraine not to 'shut the door' on dialogue ahead of the anticipated meeting in Istanbul. The warring sides previously met in Istanbul on May 16, their first direct talks in over three years. Those talks failed to yield a breakthrough, but the two sides did agree to trade 1,000 prisoners each – their biggest POW swap since the beginning of the conflict. Erdogan's foreign minister, Hakan Fidan, who met Russian leader Vladimir Putin in Moscow on Monday, was expected to travel to Kyiv on Thursday to meet Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. US President Donald Trump, who has been pushing for a peace deal, has become increasingly frustrated with Moscow's apparent stalling and warned on Wednesday he would determine within 'about two weeks' whether Putin was serious about ending the fighting. Moscow's offensive, launched in Feb 2022, has resulted in tens of thousands of deaths and the destruction of large parts of eastern and southern Ukraine. Attacks go on Ukraine, on Thursday, criticised Russia's refusal to provide the memorandum. 'The Russians' fear of sending their memorandum to Ukraine suggests that it is likely filled with unrealistic ultimatums,' foreign ministry spokesman Georgiy Tykhy said. The Kremlin has been grinding forward on the battlefield for over a year while pushing its demands for peace, which include Ukraine abandoning its Nato ambitions and ceding territory it already controls. Local authorities in Ukraine said Thursday that Russia had fired 90 drones overnight, killing at least five people across the country. In southern Ukraine, a drone strike killed two civilians in the Kherson region, while a ballistic missile attack claimed the life of a farm worker in the Mykolaiv region. In the eastern Donetsk region, shelling killed one civilian, according to a 24-hour tally from the National Police. A 68-year-old man was killed by a drone strike on his home in the northeastern Sumy region, which borders Russia. In his comments on Wednesday, Trump told reporters he was 'very disappointed' at Russia's deadly bombardment during the negotiating process, but rebuffed calls to impose more sanctions on Moscow. Kyiv has accused Russia of deliberately stalling the peace process to pursue its offensive. Zelensky said Russia was 'amassing' more than 50,000 troops on the front line around Sumy, where Moscow's army has captured a number of settlements as it seeks to establish what Putin has called a 'buffer zone' inside Ukrainian territory. On Thursday, the Russian army said it captured three villages in the Donetsk and Kharkiv regions and had repelled 48 Ukrainian drones, including three over the Moscow region. A retired Russian commander who led air strikes on the Ukrainian port city of Mariupol died in a blast early Thursday in Stavropol in southern Russia, authorities said, adding that they did not rule out Ukrainian involvement.
Associated Press
11 hours ago
- General
- Associated Press
A Russian missile strike kills a child and injures another, a Ukrainian official says
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — A Russian missile hit a front-line region in Ukraine on Saturday, killing a child and injuring another, a Ukrainian official said as uncertainty remains as to whether Kyiv diplomats will attend a new round of peace talks proposed by Moscow for early next week in Istanbul. Russian troops launched some 109 drones and five missiles across Ukraine overnight and into Saturday, the Ukrainian air force said. Three of the missiles and 42 drones were destroyed by air defenses, while another 30 drones failed to reach their targets without causing damage, it said. A 9-old girl was killed in a strike on the front-line village of Dolynka in the Zaporizhzhia region, and a 16-year-old was injured, Zaporizhzhia's Gov. Ivan Fedorov said. 'One house was destroyed. The shockwave from the blast also damaged several other houses, cars, and outbuildings,' Fedorov wrote on Telegram. Moscow did not comment on the latest attack. Meanwhile, 14 people were injured after Ukrainian drones struck apartment buildings on Saturday in the Russian town of Rylsk and the village of Artakovo in the western Kursk region, local acting Gov. Alexander Khinshtein said. Four children were among those injured in the two attacks, which also sparked several fires, he said. On Friday, Andrii Yermak, a top adviser to Ukraine's president said Kyiv was ready to resume direct peace talks with Russia in Istanbul on Monday but that the Kremlin should provide a promised memorandum setting out its position on ending the more than three-year war, before the two delegations sit down to negotiate. Speaking late Friday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that Russia was 'undermining diplomacy' by withholding the document. 'For some reason, the Russians are concealing this document. This is an absolutely bizarre position. There is no clarity about the format,' Zelenskyy wrote on Telegram. Moscow previously said it would share its memorandum during the talks. ___ Follow AP's coverage of the war in Ukraine at
The Independent
15 hours ago
- Entertainment
- The Independent
‘Le Slap' talks to the dark truth at the core of Brigitte and Emmanuel Macron's marriage
Was it just 'joking around', or, as the official party line claims, a 'moment of closeness' between the French president, Emmanuel Macron, and his wife, Brigitte, that set tongues wagging around the world this week? After a video of Brigitte Macron, 72, appearing to shove her 47-year-old husband in the face went viral on Monday, 'Le Slap' – or ' Slapgate' as it quickly became known – went viral. Probably because it didn't look as though the pair were 'decompressing one last time' before beginning their diplomatic visit to Hanoi, Vietnam, as a source desperately claimed. Initially, conspiracy theorists claimed that the footage of the heated row was part of a plot to discredit the president, and had come straight from the Kremlin. In a world of AI-generated videos, where a pope can be seen wearing a Balenciaga coat and Macron can be spied dancing to 1980s hit song 'Voyage Voyage' by French singer Desireless in a video he once made himself to make a point about deepfakes, it seemed it was something to consider. Certainly, Macron's first reaction was to condemn the videos of him, saying the footage had been manipulated by people he described as 'crackpots'. He referred to other incidents, including the images shot on a train to Kyiv, in which some accounts falsely claimed he could be seen sharing cocaine. For the rest of us, though, this incident looked different, and it felt as though the president was putting on quite the show in an attempt to dismiss the furore. The Macrons put on a united front, yet there was ultimately no avoiding their frustration as media attention grew: by the end of the week, Macron admitted that the video showing the altercation had become what he called 'some kind of planetary catastrophe' (a slight exaggeration). But regardless of how the Macrons tried to frame the incident, it was a sharp-eyed glimpse into the couple's relationship; an indication of underlying tension between them coming to the surface. Perhaps it's just the tip of the iceberg. Because it's no secret – though it is often too easily brushed off, or forgotten – that at the heart of the Macrons' relationship lies an ethical dilemma at best; a gross abuse of power at worst. The couple met when Brigitte Trogneux was 39 and Emmanuel was just 15. Brigitte was already married to banker André Auzière, and a mother of three children – Sebastien, Laurence, and Tiphaine. In fact, one of her daughters, Laurence, was in the same class as the boy her mother would eventually marry, at La Providence High School, a Catholic secondary school in Amiens. Emmanuel was 'intellectually gifted' and 'precocious' as a teenager, and he and his future wife bonded over literature and theatre, Brigitte told Paris Match during an interview in 2017. The two of them wrote a play together; she later recalled, during the time she spent with him, having a 'feeling I was working with Mozart'. 'The writing became an excuse,' she said. 'I felt that we had always known each other.' Despite their 'bond' remaining supposedly platonic, by the following year, Emmanuel's parents were removing him from the school, concerned after finding out about the relationship through a family friend. 'We just couldn't believe it,' his mother, Francoise Nogues-Macron, told Anne Fulda, author of the book Emmanuel Macron: A Perfect Young Man. 'What is clear is that when Emmanuel met Brigitte, we couldn't just say, 'That's great'.' Physically separating the pair didn't work – by the time the French president was 17, he was already declaring that he would marry Brigitte one day. Later, he would write in his 2016 book, Révolution, that he was captivated by her intelligence and charisma. 'I resisted for a long time, but love is stronger than conventions,' he told Elle magazine in 2020. The thing is, it was hardly something as simple as 'conventions' that made their relationship objectionable – the exact year they met, either 1993 or 1994, has reportedly never been confirmed, in what is thought by some to be an effort to obscure legal 'complications' or questions that might be raised, since Emmanuel was just a child. While Brigitte has always insisted that they only fell in love after he was 15 (which is the age of consent in France), she risked serving three years in prison, since the law bans sexual relationships between teachers and pupils under 18. Regardless of the justifications, then, she knew it was wrong. The couple didn't marry until years later, in October 2007, when Emmanuel was 29 and Brigitte was 54, but the foundations of their relationship were set: a narrative of manipulation, societal ostracism, and a profound imbalance of power that has shaped their personal and political lives ever since. Their age gap is more than just a number – it's a gap that would rarely, if ever, go without objection if it were between an older man and a teenage girl. Brigitte was also in a position of power, a teacher – an authority figure who was responsible for a vulnerable and impressionable adolescent. At their wedding, Emmanuel acknowledged the obvious peculiarity, saying, 'We're not a normal couple, but we are a couple.' Initially, they faced a backlash to their unusual relationship. According to Maëlle Brun, who wrote an unauthorised biography of Brigitte Macron, there were repercussions of sorts; they were ostracised, anonymous letters were sent to their families, and there were even instances of spitting on their doorstep. The friends that Brigitte had made through her first marriage disappeared – yet the Macrons' relationship apparently flourished. In the years since, as Emmanuel charted his rise to the top of French politics, Brigitte has been described as a 'shadow power' at his side. She is believed to be an influential figure in his career; there have been reports of her becoming involved in his ministerial duties and presidential campaigns, despite grumbling over the impropriety of this – and perceived conflicts of interest – among the public. For years, despite the doubts that have surrounded their relationship because of how it began, they've been good at keeping up appearances in front of the camera. But this week's footage talks to the tension at the core of their marriage: an imbalance of power that they have seemingly never escaped. Lip-reading experts claimed that, in the moments after the 'slap' – which, really, looked more like a shove in the face – Brigitte muttered, 'Dégage, espèce de loser,' as her husband offered his arm – in English, 'Stay away, you loser.' A funny joke, as Emmanuel claims? It seems unlikely. A clearer angle, perhaps, on the dark heart of a controversial relationship – one that has left an indelible mark on the couple's lives and careers. Though it is often portrayed as a romantic saga, the story of the Macrons is layered with complexities, and begs for scrutiny. In the golden salons of the Élysée, Emmanuel and Brigitte Macron may project the defiant image of a couple who triumphed against the odds and have defied scandal and stigma. But beyond the veneer of fairytale romance lies something that is not just more complex, but far more uncomfortable: a relationship that began in the blurred margins of power and abuse, with this week's events leaving many wondering if it remains there.
The Guardian
19 hours ago
- General
- The Guardian
Ukraine war briefing: Zelenskyy accuses Moscow of doing ‘everything it can' to sabotage peace talks
Ukraine has said it does not expect any results from talks with Russia in Turkey, unless Moscow provides its peace terms in advance, accusing the Kremlin of doing 'everything' it can to sabotage the potential meeting. Moscow said it was sending a team of negotiators to Istanbul for a second round of talks on Monday but Kyiv has yet to confirm if it will attend. 'For over a week now, the Russians have been unable to present the so-called memorandum,' Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on X on Friday, referring to a document Russia says it has prepared outlining its conditions for peace. 'For a meeting to be meaningful, its agenda must be clear, and the negotiations must be properly prepared,' the Ukrainian president added. 'Unfortunately, Russia is doing everything it can to ensure that the next potential meeting brings no results.' Russia says it will provide the memorandum at the talks in person on Monday. But Ukraine suspects it will contain its maximalist demands that Kyiv has already rejected. Zelenskyy said he and the Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, discussed on Friday the conditions under which Ukraine would participate in the Istanbul meeting proposed by Russia. 'There must be a ceasefire to move further toward peace. The killing of people must stop,' Zelenskyy wrote on Telegram. While he didn't commit to Ukraine's attendance, he said that in their call he and Erdogan discussed the possibility of organising a four-way meeting with the leaders of Ukraine, Russia, Turkey and the US. Erdogan said it was important that Russia and Ukraine sent strong delegations to Istanbul, adding that a leaders' meeting could contribute to the peace process, the Turkish presidency said. A leading US senator warned Moscow it would be 'hit hard' by new US sanctions. Republican Lindsey Graham said on a visit to Kyiv that the US Senate was expected to move ahead with a bill on sanctions against Russia next week. Graham, who met Zelenskyy in the Ukrainian capital, told a news briefing he had talked with Trump before his trip and the US president expected concrete actions now from Moscow. Graham accused the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, of trying to drag out the peace process and said he doubted the Istanbul meeting would amount to more than a 'Russian charade'. Trump, meanwhile, said on Friday that both Putin and Zelenskyy were stubborn and that he had been surprised and disappointed by Russian bombing in Ukraine while he was trying to arrange a ceasefire. Pro-Kremlin websites are ramping up a disinformation campaign targeting Ukrainian refugees in Poland, using AI-generated content to stoke resentment ahead of Sunday's presidential election, experts warned. Russia-aligned accounts have 'inflamed negative sentiment towards Ukrainians', calling them 'pigs' and accusing them of planning armed attacks, the London-based Institute for Strategic Dialogue said in a report on Friday. Ukraine ally Poland hosts about a million Ukrainian refugees – mostly women and children – and immigration has been a key issue for voters. Ukraine has jailed a 21-year-old man for 15 years on allegations he guided missile attacks for Russia. The SBU security service said on Friday that on the orders of a Russian special services officer, the man travelled around the Ukrainian capital and its outskirts secretly photographing the locations of Ukrainian troops. It said the Kyiv resident, who was not identified by name, was also preparing attacks in the city on behalf of Russia and was caught red-handed while 'spying' near a military facility.
