Latest news with #UkraineInvasion
Arab News
32 minutes ago
- Politics
- Arab News
Rome summons Russian envoy over Italy president on ‘Russophobe' list
Italy's foreign ministry said it considered 'the inclusion of the head of state in this list a provocation against the republic and the Italian people'Germany's Chancellor Friedrich Merz is also on the listROME: Italy on Wednesday summoned Russia's ambassador after Moscow included Italian President Sergio Mattarella on a list of Western officials critical of the between Rome and Moscow — already strained by the Kremlin's Ukraine invasion — have dipped further in recent days, with Italy canceling a concert last week of a pro-Kremlin foreign ministry said it considered 'the inclusion of the head of state in this list a provocation against the republic and the Italian people.'Moscow included Mattarella on its foreign ministry list of Western officials whom it accuses of using 'the language of hatred' against European leaders, such as Germany's Chancellor Friedrich Merz, are also on the president, Mattarella occupies a largely ceremonial Moscow has said it included him on its list for having compared Moscow's aggression in Ukraine to Nazi Minister Giorgia Meloni has been a staunch advocate of Kyiv, with Italy hosting a conference on Ukraine's recovery earlier this a statement Wednesday, she expressed solidarity for Mattarella and said his inclusion on the list was 'nothing more than yet another propaganda operation aimed at diverting attention from Moscow's serious responsibilities.'Italy has taken in thousands of Ukrainian refugees since Moscow's 2022 invasion of the country.
Free Malaysia Today
15-07-2025
- Business
- Free Malaysia Today
Trump's oil tariffs on Putin may risk harming ties with Modi, Xi
India has become a major importer of Russian oil since the invasion of Ukraine in early 2022, and China's imports have climbed over the same period. (Bloomberg pic) WASHINGTON : US President Donald Trump's latest threat of 100% tariffs on Russia would risk complicating relations with two nations crucial to his economic and strategic goals: China and India. Trump yesterday threatened tariffs of about 100% on Russia unless it reached a peace deal with Ukraine in the next 50 days, saying the levies would come in the form of 'secondary tariffs'. Matt Whitaker, the US ambassador to Nato, later said the planned action effectively represents secondary sanctions on countries buying oil from Russia. 'It's about tariffs on countries like India and China that are buying their oil,' he told reporters. Global markets – increasingly skeptical of Trump's near-daily tariff threats – largely shrugged off the news, suggesting there's little concern around any potential impact on crude flows. Trade analysts said the proposed levies would be difficult to police and, if implemented, could well backfire on the US. 'It remains unclear how exactly you would do this, and how China or anyone would certify that they're meeting the US requirement,' said Deborah Elms, head of trade policy at the Hinrich Foundation in Singapore. 'It's going to add more fuel to the fire of why these countries are skeptical of receiving a deal from Trump,' Elms said. Trump's latest threat comes at a crucial time in negotiations with both Asian nations. India is closing in on an agreement that would see 20% so-called reciprocal levies on the South Asian nation before a final deal is reached in the fall. Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government has struck a more defiant stance with the US in recent weeks as frustration with Trump has grown. US ties with China, meanwhile, appear on the upswing after the world's two largest economies reached a trade truce in May. Secretary of state Marco Rubio last week said a meeting between Trump and President Xi Jinping was likely for later this year. Yesterday, Nvidia Corp said the US would allow the resumption of sales of its H20 AI chip to China – the biggest sign yet that the White House is easing export controls on Beijing in return for rare-earth minerals needed to make a range of high-tech products. 'Despite the temporary truce in the trade war between China and the US, there's still a lot uncertainties on other fronts,' said Zhu Feng, executive dean of Nanjing University's School of International Studies. 'A secondary tariff will bring even more chaos and China will surely respond forcefully.' India became a major importer of Russian oil since the invasion of Ukraine in early 2022, and China's imports have also climbed over the same period. Washington policymakers view those stepped-up oil purchases as a form of tacit support for Russia that helps buoy the nation's economy and weakens the impact of sanctions. 'Any major threat to China's energy security could create new frictions in the fragile trade truce between the world's top two economies,' said William Yang, International Crisis Group's senior analyst for Northeast Asia. Secondary levies that threaten India's access to cheap oil could also further erode ties between Trump and Modi. 'Whatever little trust and goodwill is left in the US president will soon get dissipated if the US keeps pushing its arbitrary actions related to tariffs,' said Abhijit Das, international trade policy expert in Delhi. 'As a part of its trade talks, India should demand that the US avoid such arbitrary tariffs,' Das said. Trump's latest salvo comes as countries deepen their trade and diplomatic relations in the face of US policy volatility. Russia's foreign minister Sergei Lavrov was in Beijing this week, where he met China's top diplomat, Wang Yi, and was also received by Xi, who said the two nations should deepen 'comprehensive strategic cooperation'. India's external affairs minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar held talks with his Chinese counterpart yesterday during his first visit in more than five years, as the Asian neighbours strive to repair relations strained by the deadly 2020 border clashes. Jaishankar met with Xi today. 'All these tariff threats are indeed working to bring the BRICS together,' said Amitendu Palit, senior research fellow and research lead on trade and economics at the Institute of South Asian Studies.
Malay Mail
14-07-2025
- Politics
- Malay Mail
Trump says US to send Patriot missiles to Ukraine, slams Putin over continued attacks
MARYLAND, July 14 — President Donald Trump yesterday said the United States would send Patriot air defense systems to Ukraine to help it fight off a Russian invasion, as his relations with Russian President Vladimir Putin soured. 'We will send them Patriots, which they desperately need,' Trump said, without specifying how many, just two weeks after Washington said it would pause some arms deliveries to Kyiv. 'I haven't agreed on the number yet, but they're going to have some because they do need protection,' he told reporters. The weapons delivery will be part of a new deal which Trump says will involve Nato paying the United States for some of the weapons it sends to Ukraine. 'We basically are going to send them various pieces of very sophisticated military and they're going to pay us 100 percent for them,' Trump told reporters. The US president repeated that he was 'disappointed' in Putin. When he first returned to the White House in January Trump insisted he could work with the Russian leader to end the war, but grew increasingly frustrated as Russian missiles continued with no ceasefire in sight. 'Putin really surprised a lot of people. He talks nice and then he bombs everybody in the evening,' said the disgruntled Trump. US special envoy Keith Kellogg is due to begin his latest visit to Ukraine on Monday. Trump also said he would meet NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte on Monday, when he previously said he would make a 'major statement... on Russia.' —AFP
Telegraph
13-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Telegraph
Putin's favourite conductor to lead orchestra in Italy as it breaks ban on pro-Kremlin artists
A Russian conductor and friend of Vladimir Putin is set to perform in Europe for the first time since the invasion of Ukraine. Valery Gergiev, 72, will conduct the Giuseppe Verdi Philharmonic Orchestra of Salerno alongside soloists from the Mariinsky Theatre of St Petersburg in a performance at the Un'Estate da RE festival in the southern Italian city of Caserta. The decision to host the man known as 'Putin's favourite conductor' comes as Italy breaks its ban on pro-Kremlin artists. It has provoked fury among activists and Western officials because of his close relationship to the Russian leader. The conductor was fired as director of the Munich Philharmonic and dismissed from a number of major festivals and concerts in Europe after he failed to condemn Putin's invasion in February 2022. At the time, Mr Gergiev was in Milan conducting The Queen of Spades, and refused to speak out against the war when asked to by the city's mayor. He was promptly dropped from the line-up. Afterwards, he returned to Russia where he became the first person to hold the directorships of the Mariinsky Theatre and the Bolshoi Theatre concurrently. Mr Gergiev took over the Bolshoi from Vladimir Urin, who left the role after he signed a petition by cultural leaders calling for an end to the Ukraine war. Since 2022, Mr Gergiev's touring has mainly been limited to Russia and China, such is the Western effort to reject Russia on the world stage. Last month, Canada formally barred Mr Gergiev from entry and declared it would freeze any of his assets. But in an apparent cultural detente, this month, he will perform at the festival in Italy's Campania region. Vincenzo de Luca, the president of Campania, defended the decision to allow Mr Gergiev to perform, saying he was 'proud' to welcome him and arguing 'culture and art are one of the only cases when dialogue between people can develop'. Alfredo Antoniozzi, a senior MP from Georgia Meloni's Brothers of Italy party, has described Mr Gergiev as 'simply a great artist'. 'If Russians have to pay for the mistakes of their president, then we are committing a kind of cultural genocide,' he argued. But the decision has sparked a major backlash. Pina Picierno, vice-president of the European Parliament, wrote on X: 'Even after three and a half years of war, some still fail to grasp that supporting Putin's regime, even through cultural initiatives like this, serves to legitimise his abhorrent imperialism.' She said the event should be cancelled to prevent 'taxpayers' money ending up in the pockets of a supporter of a criminal regime'. Yulia Navalnaya, the widow of murdered Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, condemned the decision to welcome Mr Gergiev back to Europe, releasing a video describing him as a 'maestro of propaganda'. The Anti-Corruption Foundation, founded by the late Mr Navalny, alleged in a previous investigation that the conductor received 'billions from Russian state funds and oligarchs' and that he owns extravagant properties in eight Italian cities, including a palazzo, a golf estate and an amusement park. The activists argued that was Mr Gergiev's reward for his public loyalty to Putin. Mr Gergiev has known Putin since the early 1990s, campaigned for his election in 2012 and appeared in political advertisements for him. The two are thought to be close, with Mr Gergiev receiving personal congratulations from the Kremlin chief on his birthday along with uncharacteristically effusive tributes describing him as an 'inexhaustible inspiration'. In 2014, Mr Gergiev was one of a host of Russian arts and cultural figures who signed an open letter in support of Russia's illegal annexation of Crimea. But his inclusion on the bill at Un'Estate da RE is significant, and could be part of a wider acceptance of Russian cultural figures back onto the world stage. Earlier this year, Russian propagandists rejoiced when Anora, a film about a sex worker who impulsively marries the spoilt son of a Russian oligarch, swept the Oscars and scored a nomination for Moscow's own Yura Borisov. In 2023, the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club lifted its ban on Russian and Belarusian players competing at Wimbledon. This year, Daniil Medvedev, Aryna Sabalenka, Victoria Azarenka and Andrey Rublev played at the tournament. In 2024, Austria's prestigious Salzburg Festival provoked criticism for allowing Greek-born conductor Teodor Currentzis, who received Russian citizenship in 2014, to lead concerts despite his proximity to the Russian regime.
Yahoo
13-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Putin's friend Gergiev set to conduct as Italy breaks ban on pro-Kremlin artists
Russian conductor Valery Gergiev has been barred from European stages ever since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine. A close ally of Vladimir Putin for many years, the director of the Bolshoi and Mariinsky Russian state theatres has never spoken out against the war. But a region of southern Italy has now invited Gergiev back to Europe, signalling the artist's rehabilitation even as Russia's attacks on Ukraine intensify. Vincenzo de Luca, who runs the Campania region, insists that the concert at the Un'Estate da RE festival later this month will go ahead despite a growing swell of criticism. "Culture… must not be influenced by politics and political logic," De Luca said in a livestream on Friday. "We do not ask these men to answer for the choices made by politicians." The 76-year-old local leader has previously called Europe's broad veto on pro-Putin artists "a moment of stupidity – a moment of madness" at the start of the war and announced that he was "proud" to welcome Gergiev to town. But Pina Picierno, a vice-president of the European Parliament, has told the BBC that allowing Gergiev's return is "absolutely unacceptable". She calls the star conductor a "cultural mouthpiece for Putin and his crimes". Ukrainian human rights activist and Nobel laureate Oleksandra Matviichuk said the invitation by the regional government was "hypocrisy", rather than neutrality. Russian opposition activists have also condemned the director's sudden return. The Anti-Corruption Foundation, of the late opposition leader Alexei Navalny, wants his concert cancelled and is calling on Italy's interior ministry to ban Gergiev's entry to the country. Before Russia's full-scale war in Ukraine, the virtuoso Gergiev was a regular visitor to stages in Italy and across Europe, despite his closeness to Putin. His long and illustrious career includes stints at the London Symphony Orchestra and Munich Philharmonic. But the invitations to Europe stopped abruptly on 24 February 2022. Hours before the first Russian missiles were launched at Ukraine, Gergiev was on stage at Milan's La Scala opera house. Urged then by the city's mayor to speak out against the war, Gergiev chose silence. He was promptly dropped from the bill. Abandoned by his manager, despite calling Gergiev "the greatest conductor alive", he was then fired as chief conductor in Munich and removed from concert schedules across the continent. That's why the invitation from Italy is so controversial. Pina Picierno, who is from the Campania region herself, says her call to stop the event is not Russophobic. "There is no shortage of brilliant Russian artists who choose to disassociate themselves from Putin's criminal policies," she told the BBC. The European MP, who says she has received threats for her work exposing Russia's hybrid warfare, warns that allowing Gergiev to perform would be both wrong and dangerous. "This is not about censorship. Gergiev is part of a deliberate Kremlin strategy. He is one of their cultural envoys to soften Western public opinion. This is part of their war." The cultural controversy erupted in a week when Italy was hosting heads of state from all over Europe to reaffirm their support for Ukraine and discuss how to rebuild the country once the war is over. Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has been a strong and consistent critic of Vladimir Putin from the start. But her culture ministry is one of the backers of Un'Estate da RE, which has invited Gergiev. A senior MP from Meloni's Brothers of Italy party, Alfredo Antoniozzi, has described Gergiev as "simply a great artist". "If Russians have to pay for the mistakes of their president, then we are committing a kind of cultural genocide," he argued. Last month, Canada formally barred Gergiev from entry and declared it would freeze any assets. But the European Union has shied away from formal sanctions against the conductor, who has avoided voicing open support for the war. Gergiev has been a vocal supporter of Putin since the 1990s, later campaigning for his re-election and backing Russia's illegal annexation of Crimea in 2014. He was handed management of Moscow's Bolshoi Theatre, in addition to the Mariinsky Theatre, taking over from a director who signed an open letter against Russia's war. Gergiev is a state employee, but in 2022 an investigation by Alexei Navalny's team uncovered properties in several Italian cities that they say he never declared. They also alleged he used donations to a charitable fund to pay for his own lavish lifestyle. The activists argued that was Gergiev's reward for his public loyalty to Putin. The BBC has so far been unable to reach the conductor for comment. A spokeswoman for the European Commission, Eva Hrncirova, has clarified that the Un'Estate da RE festival is not receiving EU cash: it is financed by Italy's own "cohesion funds". But she added that the commission urged European stages not to give space "to artists who support the war of aggression in Ukraine". In Campania, the artistic director who crafted this year's festival programme declined to comment. A spokesman was confident Gergiev's performance would go ahead, though – despite the controversy. "Yes," he assured the BBC. "For sure." Additional reporting from Rome by Davide Ghiglione. Putin's favourite conductor to run Bolshoi Russian conductor resigns Edinburgh Festival post
