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"Andrzej Duda told the BBC that the Nord Stream gas pipelines, which have not been used since 2022, "should be dismantled". This, he said, would mean the likes of Germany would not be tempted to restore Russian supplies to boost its own struggling economy. "I can only hope that European leaders will learn lessons from Russia's aggression against Ukraine and that they will push through a decision to never restore the pumping of gas through this pipeline," he said. The Polish president, speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos, insisted that economic sanctions against Russia were working and European...

The pro-western incumbent Maia Sandu has won a second term in office in the Moldovan presidential election, preliminary results have shown, marking a significant boost for the country’s EU aspirations and a clear rebuke to Moscow. The runoff election was seen as a crucial indicator of whether the country’s long-term geopolitical alignment will be with Russia or Europe. The pro-western incumbent, Sandu, who has intensified the nation’s efforts to break away from Moscow’s influence, was facing the Kremlin-friendly political newcomer, Alexandr Stoianoglo, from the Socialist party, in the second round of voting on Sunday. With 98% of the ballots counted,...

The Wall Street Journal reported that Russia supplied targeting intelligence to Yemen's Houthi forces for attacks on Western ships in the Red Sea. Yemen’s Houthi terrorists used targeting data provided by Russia to attack Western ships in the Red Sea earlier this year, an exclusive Thursday Wall Street Journal report disclosed. According to the report, the Houthis used Russian satellite data to destabilize the region as the Israel-Hamas war expanded throughout the past year. A person familiar with the matter and two European defense officials reportedly told the WSJ this information. Furthermore, the data was passed through Islamic Revolutionary Guard...

Jim O'Neill came up with the term BRIC in 2001 in a research paper that underlined the massive growth potential of Brazil, Russia, India and China. The then-Goldman Sachs chief economist highlighted the need to reform global governance to include these up and coming countries in his paper. Today, the grouping accounts for 45% of the world's population and 35% of its economy. O'Neill, who admitted he would “have Mr. BRICS stamped on his forehead forever”, has however said the group group had achieved very little over the past 15 years. In an interview, he added that it was not...

Moldovans have voted by a razor-thin majority in favour of joining the European Union, nearly final results showed on Monday after a pivotal referendum clouded by allegations of Russian interference. On Sunday, Moldova held key votes in a presidential election and a referendum on EU membership, marking a critical moment in the continuing struggle between Russia and the west for control over the small, landlocked nation in eastern Europe, home to 2.5 million people. After nearly 99.5% of votes were counted in the referendum that asked voters to choose whether to enshrine in the country’s constitution a path toward the...

Former vice-president of the Russian concern YUKOS Mikhail Rogachev has been found dead in Moscow . This was reported by the Russian propaganda Telegram channel Mash “One of the top YUKOS executives, Mikhail Rogachev, fell out of a window and died in the center of Moscow. He had previously committed suicide,” the report says. It is noted that Rogachev was 64 years old. According to Mash, he had a severe form of oncology. “He left a suicide note and committed suicide in the morning on Protopopovsky Lane,” the Telegram channel reported.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Wednesday unveiled his long-awaited Victory Plan to end Russia's invasion, rejecting any territorial concessions and urging ramped-up Western backing, including an invitation to join NATO. After pushing back Russian troops at the start of the invasion in February 2022, Kyiv is now facing mounting pressure to find an exit strategy as its troops suffer battlefield losses and Moscow intensifies its strikes on infrastructure. Russia has seized around a fifth of Ukraine's territory since the invasion began, reducing towns and cities to rubble and killing thousands of civilians.