Eyes of the India

  Following Russia’s invasion of Urkaine and a crackdown on the media, independent outlet DOXA – like others – had to reinvent itself. More than 100 people gathered outside of the Dorogomilovsky district court in Moscow on the foggy morning of April 12. Inside the court, four DOXA magazine journalists were about to hear their sentence in a year-long criminal case. They were accused of encouraging minors to protest in a YouTube video they published in the midst of pro-Navalny rallies in January 2021. As hours passed, the crowd and the police presence grew. A woman with balloons in Ukrainian flag colours and six more people were arrested by the police. Tension rose. Finally, at 5:00pm the judge announced the sentence – two years of “correctional labour”. In different circumstances and in a different country, such an outcome might have depressed the defendants. But the journalists were relieved. The measure obligates the four – Alla Gutnikova, Armen Aramyan, Natalia Tyshkevic...

  UN’s cultural body warns of international consequences With more than 160 historical sites having already been damaged or destroyed since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the UN’s cultural agency is stressing the importance of protecting the world’s heritage during times of conflict. It is 40 years since Unesco launched the first World Heritage Day for monuments and sites, and recently its work has become more important than ever. Eight years since ISIS’s destruction of 80 per cent of Iraq’s historic sites in Mosul, Unesco is only just commencing restoration work. But just weeks before reconstruction work began there in March, Russia invaded Ukraine, putting yet more historic sites in jeopardy. “We are extremely concerned about the development of the situation,” Unesco told The National . “Very serious information has come to us, concerning other cultural sites.” Ukraine’s culture ministry has recorded 166 cultural sites which have been destroyed or damaged as a result of Russian ...

 India-US Talks: Recent public statements from Washington warning India about consequences for purchases of weapons and discounted oil from Russia are contrary to private discussions between the two sides. India is optimistic about talks next week with the US on military cooperation even as the Biden administration becomes more vocal in rebuking New Delhi over its reluctance to criticize Russia’s war in Ukraine, people familiar with the matter said. Recent public statements from Washington warning India about consequences for purchases of weapons and discounted oil from Russia are contrary to private discussions between the two sides, the people said, asking for anonymity because of the sensitive nature of the talks. They cited conversations in New Delhi last month with US Assistant Secretary of State Victoria Nuland, who offered help in finding alternative sources of weapons that could be used to counter neighbors Pakistan and China. India informed Nuland that the alternative...

 Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says that the talks with Russian negotiators have had some positive signs but warned that Moscow could not be trusted. Russia announced after Tuesday’s talks between the delegations in Istanbul, Turkey, that it would significantly reduce military operations near Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, and the northern city of Chernihiv. The US and others earlier expressed scepticism about Russia’s announcement. “Yes, we can say that the signals we hear from the talks are positive, but these signals can’t silence the explosions of Russian shells," Mr Zelenskyy in a video address on Tuesday evening. "Of course, we are seeing all of the risks. Of course, we are not seeing grounds to trust the words coming from representatives of the country that continues fighting to destroy us.” He said Ukrainian troops’ “courageous and effective actions” forced Russia to reduce its action around Kyiv and Chernihiv. Mr Zelenskyy said Ukraine would continue the negotiat...

 U.S.-India bilateral relations for decades had more form than substance. Gauzy rhetoric about “shared democratic values” papered over tensions rooted in differences over the Cold War. The U.S. wanted India to choose sides; Indian leaders, fresh from an anti-colonial struggle, preferred charting an independent course to being trapped in the slipstream of others’ disputes. But if India’s leading role in the Nonaligned Movement — and its arms deals with the Soviet Union — put a ceiling on the bilateral relationship, the American public’s generally positive view of India’s struggle for freedom and commitment to democracy established a floor. As a result, even when political tensions arose, the U.S. provided development assistance to India, people-to-people exchanges expanded, and scientific cooperation grew. The collapse of the Soviet Union signaled an opportunity for a new chapter in the  bilateral relationship. The respective governments in the 1990s in Washington and New Delhi...

 Sanctioned billionaire Roman Abramovich was in Turkey for the start of peace talks between Ukraine and Russia on Tuesday. He was at the Dolmabahce Palace in Istanbul, where the talks are taking place, and listened to a speech by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan but it was not immediately clear what role he has, if any, in the ceasefire negotiations. Mr Abramovich, the owner of Chelsea Football Club which is up for sale, was among a group of people who suffered symptoms consistent with poisoning after attending earlier peace talks in Ukraine. The Russian oligarch, who is involved in negotiations between Kyiv and Moscow, is understood — along with at least two Ukrainian negotiators — to have developed red eyes, constant and painful tears and peeling skin on their faces and hands since the meeting at the beginning of this month. Mr Abramovich, whose superyacht is also reportedly in Turkey, has had a number of his assets targeted by international sanctions after the Russian war ...

 Security services in Germany are monitoring the use of the pro-Russian Z symbol as Ukraine urged its allies to ban an emblem it described as showing “public support of barbarism”. A symbol resembling the Roman letter, which does not exist in the Cyrillic alphabet, was painted on Russian tanks when they rolled into Ukraine. It has also been adopted by civilians as a show of support for Moscow’s troops. One suggestion is that it was painted on Russian tanks to distinguish them from those of Ukrainian forces. The symbol has been compared to Nazi and communist iconography and was worn by presenters at a pro-war rally addressed by Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow. On Tuesday, Dmytro Kuleba, Ukraine’s Foreign Minister, urged countries to criminalise what he said was a symbol of support for the month-long invasion. “Z means Russian war crimes, bombed-out cities, thousands of murdered Ukrainians. Public support of this barbarism must be forbidden,” he said. Several German states...

 A Russian soldier laid down his weapons and offered a T-72B3 tank to the Ukrainian military in exchange for £7,500 because he “didn’t see the point in war”, authorities in Kyiv said. The member of the invading forces deserted the Red Army after his two crewmates fled and returned to Russia and his commanding officer threatened to shoot him. Members of the Ukrainian Volunteer Corps prepare howitzer, as Russia's attack on Ukraine continues, at a position in the Zaporizhzhia region of Ukraine on Monday. Victor Andrusiv, the Ukrainian minister of internal affairs, posted a photo on Facebook showing a soldier lying face down in the ground near a tank, while another soldier points a gun at him. The soldier known as “Misha” phoned Ukrainian police to arrange to meet them after authorities had sent messages to Russian soldiers with information about how to surrender, Mr Andrusiv said. He will have a chance to obtain Ukrainian citizenship, authorities said. Misha’s account adds to reports ...

 Philippine economic managers rejected calls to suspend excise taxes on petroleum products, instead pitching for more subsidies to affected sectors and a shorter work week to cut costs. The government is expecting to collect 131.4 billion pesos ($2.5bn) this year from excise taxes on fuel, Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez said on Wednesday. Yielding to some politicians and transport groups’ call to suspend the levy will cut this year’s revenue by 0.5 per cent of gross domestic product, he said. Protesters holding placards stage a rally in front of a petrol station in Manila City Instead, Economic Planning Secretary Karl Chua pitched for more direct aid to affected sectors including the poorest 50 per cent of households. He also proposed a four-day work week to reduce costs for businesses and workers, a move done in past oil shocks. A three-month wage subsidy has also been proposed by the country's Department of Labour and Employment. Russia’s military offensive in Ukraine has fan...

 Russia notified the Council of Europe on Tuesday that it would leave the group after members indicated a move to expel it from the pan-European rights body. The decision ends Russia's 26-year membership of the Council of Europe, making it no longer a signatory to the European Convention on Human Rights. Nato earlier on Tuesday warned of the possibility of Russia conducting a "false flag" chemical weapons attack. Meanwhile, the leaders of Poland, the Czech Republic and Slovenia travelled to Kyiv in support of Ukraine as the city came under shelling from Russian forces. They met Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. A new wave of air strikes on residential areas in Kyiv killed at least two people, emergency services said, the morning after the US Pentagon claimed Russia's ground offensive had largely “stalled” outside the capital. Read More : https://www.thenationalnews.com/world/2022/02/18/russia-ukraine-latest-news/

Russian forces are bearing down on Kyiv and regrouping north-west of the Ukrainian capital, satellite pictures show Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Friday he wanted to allow volunteers to fight against Ukrainian forces and approved handing over captured western missile systems to Russian-backed rebel fighters. Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu proposed handing over US-made anti-tank systems, such as Javelin and Stinger, to fighters from the rebel regions of Luhansk and Donetsk. Mr Putin, at a Russian security council meeting, said he supported such an idea, Reuters reported. He also said that those who wanted to volunteer to fight with Russian-backed forces should be allowed to do so. Mr Shoigu said there were 16,000 volunteers in the Middle East who were ready to come to fight with Russian-backed forces. Moscow could now be planning an assault on the city within days, the UK said on Friday. "Russia is likely seeking to reset and re-posture its forces for renewed off...

  As Russia’s war on Ukraine enters another day, with reports of hundreds killed in less than a week, there are rising questions about what President Vladimir Putin is trying to achieve. According to Cristian Nitoiu, lecturer in Diplomacy and International Governance at Loughborough University London, there should be no misunderstanding about Russia’s motives; Putin is concerned with nothing less than revisionist politics and great power fantasies, he told Al Jazeera. “The long-term goals of Russia following the end of the Cold War have been to recover the great power status of Soviet Union, to be seen as equal by the West and to be able to influence political developments in its smaller neighbours like Ukraine, Moldova or Kazakhstan,” he said. However, Ukraine has been incorporating itself into the Western orbit of influence, and thus going against Putin’s interests. Read More :  https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/2/28/russia-ukraine-war-what-is-putins-endgame

NEW DELHI: As Russia and Ukraine have engaged in the war with a possibility of embroiling other Western nations, fortunes of Mukesh Ambani and Adani family have also taken a hit in the last seven sessions. For the Mukesh Ambani-owned Reliance Group stocks, the loss was steeper. They staved off Rs 83,819.13 crore or 5.1 per cent from their market capitalisation in the last seven sessions. Indian benchmark indices are set to fall for the seventh consecutive day on Thursday, extending the selling that began on February 15. Rising inflation and war in Europe have been the biggest drags on the market. Overall, Adani Group stocks, which have been performing well du .. Read more at: https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/markets/stocks/news/ambanis-ril-wipes-of-rs-81000-crore-m-cap-in-7-sessions-adani-group-rs-47000-crore/articleshow/89797882.cms?utm_source=contentofinterest&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=cppst