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Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday he believed Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump was sincere about wanting to end the war in Ukraine, but that he did not know how Trump planned to do so if elected. Putin, speaking at a news conference in Kazakhstan at the end of a regional security conference, commented after being asked about Trump's statements that he could end the Ukraine war swiftly if he won the White House race on Nov. 5. "The fact that Mr Trump, as a presidential candidate, declares that he is ready and wants to stop the war in...

The World Bank has upgraded Russia from an “upper-middle-income” to a “high-income” country with per-capita gross national income (GNI) totaling $14,250 in 2023. “Economic activity in Russia was influenced by a large increase in military-related activity in 2023,” the international financial institution said Monday. Russia’s move up the ranks was also boosted by growth in trade (+6.8%), the financial sector (+8.7%), and construction (+6.6%), according to the U.S.-based institution. “These factors led to increases in both real (3.6%) and nominal (10.9%) GDP, and Russia’s Atlas GNI per capita grew by 11.2%,” it said.

Proceeds from oil and gas sales for Russia's federal budget rose by around 41% year on year in the first half of the year 5.698 trillion rubles ($65.12 billion), finance ministry data showed on Wednesday, due to rising oil prices and the weaker ruble. Oil and gas revenues have been the most important single source of cash for the Kremlin, accounting for around a third to a half of total federal budget proceedings for the last decade.

White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre on Wednesday remembered to blame President Joe Biden’s panic-inducing debate performance on jet lag, apologizing for failing to mention it previously. “You did get numerous questions yesterday about the President’s debate performance. You didn’t mention travel, the jet lag, the foreign trip. So I think you can understand why it was a little bit puzzling to hear the president mentioning that as his explanation for the first time last night,” a reporter told Jean-Pierre, who said she was aware of that excuse as well. “That is my bad,” Jean-Pierre responded. “That is part of,...

A club of Eurasian countries spearheaded by China and Russia to advance their leaders’ vision of an alternative world order is set to expand again this week – this time adding a staunch Russian ally that has openly supported Moscow’s war on Ukraine. The expected admission of Belarus to the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) at its annual leaders’ summit in Astana, Kazakhstan is another push by Beijing and Moscow to transform the grouping – from a regional security bloc into a geopolitical counterweight to Western institutions led by the United States and its allies. Belarus, which helped Russia to launch...

A network of Russia-based websites masquerading as local American newspapers is pumping out fake stories as part of an AI-powered operation that is increasingly targeting the US election, a BBC investigation can reveal. A former Florida police officer who relocated to Moscow is one of the key figures behind it. It would have been a bombshell report - if it were true. Olena Zelenska, the first lady of Ukraine, allegedly bought a rare Bugatti Tourbillon sports car for 4.5m euros ($4.8m; £3.8m) while visiting Paris for D-Day commemorations in June. The source of the funds was supposedly American military aid...

South Korea said Thursday that it would consider sending arms to Ukraine, a major policy change that was suggested after Russia and North Korea rattled the region and beyond by signing a pact to come to each other's defense in the event of war. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and Russian President Vladimir Putin signed the pact at a summit Wednesday in Pyongyang. Both described it as a major upgrade of bilateral relations, covering security, trade, investment, cultural and humanitarian ties. South Korea, a growing arms exporter with a well-equipped military backed by the United States, has provided humanitarian...

Vladimir Putin had always kept his family in the dark. Now, it's out in public. Let's take a closer look at Putin's family. 0:01 have you heard have you ever heard of Vladimir Putin's family chances are you 0:08 haven't heard much it's because in the state he has built Putin's family didn't play any significant role and it's 0:16 always been hidden in the shadows somewhere Putin has placed his bets on 0:24 close friends and former colleagues but not on the Family 0:30 but that is changing now and fast Vladimir Putin has started empowering his family frantically...

The Ukraine war will end in a surrender, not in a negotiated deal. That is my sense of where the war is headed and why the parties cannot negotiate a settlement. The latest wrinkle in the missing negotiating saga is a declaration in the form of an interview given by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to the Philadelphia Inquirer. In the interview, Zelensky said there can’t be direct negotiations between Ukraine and Russia but there could be indirect negotiations through a third party. In Zelensky’s proposed scenario, the third party will serve as an intermediary and any deal will only be...

Russia dropped dozens of its glide bombs on its own territory between April 2023 to April 2024, an intercepted internal document found. At least 38 of the munitions fell on the Belgorod region close to Ukraine, according to The Washington Post, which cited bomb cleanup and evacuation documents obtained by Ukrainian intelligence. The majority of bombs, largely undetonated, were found by civilians in areas surrounding the city. Four bombs have hit the city of Belgorod itself. The first recorded accidental bomb drop fell on a central street in Belgorod in April 2023, creating a 65ft crater, shattering windows and blowing...

Vladimir Putin plans to send Russian children to a summer camp in North Korea where activities include polishing the statues of leaders. Grigory Gurov, the head of Putin’s Movement of the First youth organisation, announced the plan despite opposition from worried Russian parents. “We will now form our delegation,” he said. “Conditions there are good.” The children will be the first Russian group for five years to visit the Songdowon camp, built on North Korea’s eastern shore by dictator Kim Jong-un’s grandfather in 1960. Accounts from Russian adult leaders on previous trips described Songdowon camp as a cross between a...

Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas is tipped to become the European Union's next foreign policy boss, but her tough stance on Russia may raise doubts as to whether she can represent views from across the bloc. EU leaders' informal talks on Monday, their first since the European Parliament election, focus on the appointments for the bloc's top jobs, with European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen expected to secure a second term and EU diplomats saying Kallas is in line for the foreign affairs role. Kallas, who turns 47 on Tuesday, has made her name as an eloquent critic of...

BRUSSELS, June 27. /TASS/. Ukraine does not want to prolong the conflict due to the high count of killed and injured at the battlefield, Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky said upon arrival to the EU Summit. "We must put this [settlement] plan on the table within few months. We do not have much time, because we have a lot of killed and injured on the battlefield. […] Therefore we do not want this war to last for years. Therefore we want to prepare this peace plan for the second summit," Zelensky said. Previously, Ukraine announced that it will prepare a settlement...

Moscow must find other ways to pay for exports or its sanctions-hit economy faces "ruination" one of President Vladimir Putin's top bankers has said, following moves by Chinese lenders to suspend transactions with Russian banks. ICBC, China CITIC Bank and most other Chinese banks have made similar moves, worried about falling foul of Western sanctions, which have been stepped up to choke off the funding for Putin's full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Earlier this month, the U.S. and other countries unveiled a new wave of sanctions that targeted Russian financial institutions and entities and individuals who do business with them. "If...

A former US ambassador to Bolivia charged with spying for Cuba for four decades told a judge on Thursday sensationally admitted to the charges and said he'd been gathering information for the rogue state since 1981. Victor Manuel Rocha, 73, was arrested in December for what US officials called 'one of the highest-reaching and longest-lasting infiltrations of the United States government by a foreign agent.' Rocha pleaded not guilty two weeks ago to charges of conspiring to act as an agent of a foreign government but he told Judge Beth Bloom at a pre-trial conference on Thursday that he wanted...

LIMA, Jan 9 (Reuters) - Peru barred Bolivia's socialist former president, Evo Morales, from entering its territory on Monday, Peru's government announced in a statement, a decision Morales later derided as an attack meant to distract from rights violations. The move to ban Morales, along with eight other unidentified Bolivians, follows weeks of deadly protests in Peru targeting President Dina Boluarte... ...The statement from Peru's interior ministry said Bolivian citizens have entered the country in recent months to carry out political activities, violating immigration laws while undermining national security.... ...Shortly after the ban was announced, Peru Prime Minister Alberto Otarola...

LA PAZ, Bolivia -- The Bolivian soldier who pulled the trigger to execute famed revolutionary guerrilla Ernesto “Che” Guevara died on Thursday at age 80, according to his friends. Mario Terán “simply complied with his duty as a sergeant of the army,” said retired Gen. Gary Prado, who led the group that captured Guevara in 1967 after a months-long pursuit. Speaking to Radio Companera, he said Terán had died after a long illness. He is survived by his wife and two children.

Jeanine Áñez was detained in the early morning in her hometown of Trinidad and was flown to the capital, La Paz. She had earlier warned that officials were searching for her, terming it “abuse and persecution” in Twitter posts. The arrest of Áñez and warrants against numerous other former officials further worsened political tensions in a South American country already torn by a cascade of perceived wrongs suffered by both sides. Those include complaints that Morales had grown more authoritarian with nearly 13 years in office, that he illegally ran for a fourth reelection and then allegedly rigged the outcome,...

Bolivia Files Charges for Crimes Against Humanity Against Evo Morales at The Hague The International Criminal Court (ICC) at The Hague received a petition Tuesday to open a case against socialist former president of Bolivia Evo Morales and several of his senior cabinet members for “crimes against humanity” committed in the aftermath of his resignation in November. The government of Bolivia filed the charges citing evidence of a “campaign of terrorism” against the Bolivian people intended to ensure Morales returned to power. Morales resigned on November 10 willingly in the aftermath of the publication of an Organization of American States...

Morales, an iconic socialist leader in Latin America who had been in power for nearly 14 years, has said he was toppled in a coup and has relocated to Mexico, which has granted him asylum. But lawmakers in his Movement to Socialism (MAS) party have reached a deal with other parties to pass legislation needed to appoint a new electoral board to call new elections. The bill they hashed out would annul the Oct. 20 election and was passed by the Senate unanimously on Saturday. The lower chamber was expected to pass it later in the day. In the highland...