More than 30 people were wounded in the shooting, attributed by the authorities to a “group of extremists” who are still at large
At least seven people have been killed and some 34 others wounded in a terrorist attack on a Greek Orthodox church in Jordan. The authorities have described the suspects as “extremists” who fled the scene and are still on the loose.
The slaughter unfolded on Friday afternoon in the village of Hmoud in western Karak Governorate, which is home to a sizable Christian community in the majority-Muslim country.
A group of at least three assailants arrived at the local St. George’s Church, where a funeral ceremony was underway. The gunmen attacked the mourners, with the shooting reportedly lasting for about 15 minutes before the suspects drove away from the scene unhindered. No group has claimed responsibility.
CCTV footage from the scene shows the attackers, two of whom were armed with handguns and the third with an assault rifle, firing at people desperately trying to flee the scene, tripping over pews and each other in the process. Highly graphic footage shows the suspects repeatedly shooting wounded victims in the head as they lay on the ground, apparently to finish them off.
Jordanian King Abdullah II has vowed to “confront the terrorist act that targeted Karak with the harshest penalties.” The country’s interior minister, Mazen al-Faraya, confirmed during a news conference that the suspects still remain at large, describing the attackers as a “group of extremists” without providing any further detail.
He described the attack as “painful and horrific,” stating it was “unparalleled in the history of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan,” which has rarely seen such levels of violence.
The massacre has prompted a major response from the authorities, with Hmoud flooded by assorted security forces. Tightened security measures have also been implemented in the city of Karak, where the bulk of the wounded were transferred for treatment.
The king visited the victims at a hospital later on Friday to show support, promising to punish the perpetrators. Abdullah could be seen arriving at the facility in a military field uniform, accompanied by a large security detail.
The October 25 parliamentary election comes after nearly two years of protests, with ties to Russia and the EU among the key issues
Serbia is heading into a snap parliamentary election on October 25 following nearly two years of anti-government protests sparked by a deadly railway station canopy collapse.
Former Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic is running for prime minister against a fragmented opposition seeking to capitalize on the protest movement. The result could reshape Serbia’s political landscape and its delicate balancing act between Russia and the EU.
What is Serbia voting for, and why does it matter?
Voters will elect 250 members of the National Assembly, with 126 seats needed for a majority. A total of 18 electoral lists, comprising 2,418 candidates, are contesting the election, including the ruling coalition, student-backed candidates, established opposition parties and representatives of national minorities.
The vote will test whether the protest movement can challenge the ruling coalition at the ballot box.
What led to the snap election?
The crisis began after a concrete canopy at the Novi Sad railway station collapsed on November 1, 2024, killing 16 people. Protesters blamed the disaster on alleged corruption and failures of government oversight.
Demonstrations intensified after students and lecturers involved in a vigil commemorating the disaster at Belgrade’s Faculty of Dramatic Arts on November 22, 2024 blocked traffic, prompting drivers to clash with the crowd; some of the motorists were later identified from photos posted online as Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) officials.
Students began blockading university faculties, demanding the release of documents relating to the station’s renovation, accountability for attacks on protesters, an end to the prosecution of detained demonstrators and increased funding for public universities.
The authorities said the demands had been met, but protesters disputed the claim.
Serbian Prime Minister Milos Vucevic resigned in January 2025 following another attack on students, but the protests continued. A major rally in Belgrade on March 15 attracted an estimated 275,000 to 325,000 people, according to the organization Arhiv javnih skupova.
Parliament elected a government headed by Djuro Macut in April, but the student movement demanded snap elections on May 5.
Vucic has accused foreign organizations and intelligence services of financing the protests, alleging on Thursday that outside actors were seeking to remove him from power.
Serbia was the victim of perhaps Europe’s first ‘color revolution’ in 2000, when the opposition, having received extensive funding and training from the National Democratic Institute (NDI), International Republican Institute (IRI), and USAID, as well as support from George Soros’ Open Society Foundations (operating in 2000 as the Fund for an Open Society – Yugoslavia), brought down the government.
Has Vucic lost power, or is he trying to hold on to it?
Vucic resigned as president on September 27, saying he intended to campaign in the parliamentary election without holding the presidency.
He now heads the ruling coalition’s electoral list and is running for prime minister.
Who is running, and who could form a government?
The ruling camp is led by the ‘Aleksandar Vucic – United Serbia’ coalition, built around the SNS. Its longstanding partner, Ivica Dacic’s Socialist Party of Serbia, is running separately under the ‘Factor of Stability’ banner.
The main challenger is the ‘Student List – Students Are Winning,’ which emerged from the protests and includes lecturers, professionals and public figures.
Marinika Tepic and Zdravko Ponos’s ‘European Serbia’ and Milos Jovanovic’s ‘Authentic Right’ are also running independently. Some opposition groups have backed the students rather than fielding their own candidates.
The latest opinion polls offer conflicting assessments of support for the two main contenders.
An Ipsos survey published on October 22 put Vucic’s coalition at 47.4%, compared with 40% for the Student List and 3.2% for Dacic’s Socialists. The poll surveyed 3,624 respondents between October 20 and 22.
Latest Serbia Ipsos Poll modelled out
🔵SNS: 125 seats
🔴STU: 105 seats
❤️SPS: 8 seats
🟦NADA: 0 seats
🟢SVM: 6 seats
💚SDAS: 2 seats
💠SPP: 2 seats
🔹KSLP: 1 seat
🟤RUS: 1 seat
🔵SNS largest party, 1 short of a majority https://t.co/9pjH9MA8Ts
A survey published on October 20 by Nova srpska politicka misao (NSPM) instead gave the Student List 44.5% and Vucic’s coalition 42.7% among decided respondents. The telephone survey of 1,050 people was conducted between September 25 and October 5.
Serbia, NSPM poll:
Student list-*: 45% (+5)
SNS+-EPP: 43% (+5)
SPS/JS~S&D: 3% (-2)
ES-S&D: 3% (-1)
NADA~ECR: 3% (+1)
+/- vs. July 2026
Fieldwork: 25 September - 05 October 2026
Sample size: 1,050
➤ https://t.co/ekzxpjD9df https://t.co/9EKrcxnWOe
An online survey published by Nacija TV on October 21 showed a much narrower gap, with Vucic’s coalition at 42.9% and the Student List at 42%. The poll surveyed 1,204 respondents between October 16 and 18.
An earlier Faktor Plus survey, published on September 21, put Vucic’s coalition at 48.6% and the Student List at 37.1%, based on 986 respondents interviewed between September 16 and 20.
National minority and smaller parties could become important in coalition negotiations if no major group wins a majority.
What unites the opposition, and what divides it?
The groups challenging Vucic differ on key foreign policy issues, particularly relations with the EU, NATO, and Russia.
The Student List has said it would maintain Serbia’s refusal to impose sanctions on Moscow. Its representative Jovo Bakic has proposed a referendum on EU membership and opposed joining NATO.
European Serbia supports alignment with EU foreign policy, including sanctions against Russia, a position advocated by Tepic.
Jovanovic opposes EU membership and sanctions against Moscow, while Socialist representative Snezana Paunovic supports EU accession but has criticized the bloc’s current policies.
Territorial tensions: Where do the parties stand on Kosovo and Republika Srpska?
Kosovo remains one of Serbia’s most sensitive political issues. The province declared independence in 2008, a move recognized by the US and many of its allies. Belgrade still considers Kosovo part of Serbia, as do Russia and China, and some 90 other countries.
The declaration followed NATO’s 1999 bombing campaign against Yugoslavia, conducted without authorization from the UN Security Council. Belgrade’s relations with the ethnic Albanian-led authorities in Pristina remain tense.
Successive SNS-led governments have refused to recognize the breakaway Kosovo while participating in EU-mediated negotiations with Pristina.
The Student List has also rejected recognizing the so-called Kosovo precedent. In a memorandum published in May, it described Kosovo as an integral part of Serbia and called for a negotiated settlement in accordance with the Serbian Constitution and international law.
Republika Srpska, the Serb-majority constituent entity of Bosnia and Herzegovina, whose autonomy is guaranteed under the 1995 Dayton peace agreement, is another touchstone.
Vucic has maintained close ties with its leadership while supporting Bosnia and Herzegovina’s territorial integrity. Former Republika Srpska President Milorad Dodik has openly backed Vucic’s coalition, urging Serbian citizens living there to vote for it.
The Student List has sought support among Serbian voters in Republika Srpska but has not outlined a comparably detailed policy toward the entity. Some Bosnian Serb opposition politicians have backed the students, while others have refused to take sides.
Belgrade and Brussels: The beatings will continue
Serbia applied to join the EU in 2009 and received candidate status in 2012. Accession negotiations began in 2014, but no new negotiating chapters or clusters have been opened since 2021.
Brussels has made further progress toward EU membership conditional on the normalization of relations with Kosovo and alignment with the bloc’s foreign policy, including sanctions against Russia, as well as other judicial, media, and governmental reforms.
Serbia’s accession process has remained stalled while other candidates have moved forward. In July, eight EU member states opposed advancing talks with Belgrade, while Montenegro, Albania, Ukraine, and Moldova have made progress toward membership.
Vucic has expressed frustration with the slow pace of EU enlargement, warning in July that candidate countries should not expect major breakthroughs in the coming years.
EU Enlargement Commissioner Marta Kos questioned Serbia’s commitment to membership in September, saying the country was at a crossroads and that further progress depended on the political direction chosen by its voters.
Kos has also warned against allowing prospective EU members to develop dependencies on outside powers that could conflict with the bloc’s interests.
“We should not risk our future members building dependencies on others that run counter to our long-term interest,” she said.
The commissioner identified Russia as an adversary in the enlargement process and criticized the influence of US President Donald Trump’s MAGA movement on European politics.
Vucic has maintained that Serbia intends to pursue EU membership while preserving its independent foreign policy.
What makes the ties between Serbia and Russia so strong?
Serbia and Russia share longstanding historical and cultural ties, reinforced by their Orthodox Christian traditions and Slavic heritage.
Relations were further shaped by NATO’s 78-day bombing campaign against Yugoslavia in 1999, which Moscow strongly opposed. Russia has since backed Belgrade’s position on Kosovo at the UN Security Council and refused to recognize the province’s independence.
Under Vucic, Serbia has maintained diplomatic and economic cooperation with Moscow while refusing to join Western sanctions over the Ukraine conflict.
In an interview with Russian journalist Ksenia Sobchak published on Tuesday, Vucic said European leaders regularly pressed him on the issue.
”We are not sitting on two chairs; our only chair is Serbia,” he said.
Do Russia and Serbia have an energy deal?
Energy remains central to the relationship. On September 30, Russia’s Gazprom extended its gas supply agreement with Serbia for another three months, until December 31, on unchanged terms, according to Srbijagas CEO Dusan Bajatovic.
The previous three-year contract expired in May 2025, with the two countries relying on short-term extensions since then.
Following talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin in September, Vucic said Serbia was paying around €318 per 1,000 cubic meters of gas, compared with a market price of approximately €868 at the time.
The latest extension secures supplies through the beginning of winter but leaves arrangements for 2027 unresolved.
The future of NIS, which operates Serbia’s only oil refinery, also remains uncertain following US sanctions over its Russian majority ownership. Hungarian oil and gas company MOL has been negotiating the purchase of the Russian stake.
Serbia, however, maintains relations with Kiev and supports Ukraine’s territorial integrity, a position Vucic reaffirmed during an August meeting with Vladimir Zelensky. He has also said he would not object if Serbian ammunition sold to European buyers ultimately reached Ukraine, although he did not confirm direct deliveries to Kiev.
Where would each party take Serbia if they win?
Vucic has emphasized his determination to preserve Serbia’s sovereignty and keep the country out of a war with Russia, which he said he believes the EU is preparing for.
”I do not want Serbia to be part of that war, and I would not allow Serbia to be part of that war,” he said in an interview with TV Prva on Wednesday.
He accused Western governments of seeking to install politicians who would follow their instructions.
”They want to bring in people who will do as they are told, people who will be patted on the back, and everyone will be delighted,” Vucic said.
How could the election affect relations with Moscow?
The next Serbian government will face decisions on future Russian gas supplies, the ownership of NIS, and the country’s military exports.
Russian observers will monitor the election at Serbia’s invitation, according to Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova. The delegation will include representatives of both chambers of the Russian parliament and the Central Election Commission, with Russian officials also participating in international monitoring missions.
Moscow has said it hopes to maintain close ties with Belgrade after the election. Zakharova described the relationship as rooted in “strong fraternal traditions, a shared worldview, and respect for genuine values.”
She added that “continuity in these ties will serve the national interests of both countries and help strengthen peace and stability in the Balkans.”
In the past seven days we also looked at Ukraine’s Starlink saga and France’s losing battle with its own citizens
Witkoff returns to Russia
US envoy Steve Witkoff arrived in St. Petersburg on Wednesday to present a new set of peace proposals to Russian President Vladimir Putin. As was the case in every round of talks so far, Moscow found little to agree with in the terms put forward by Kiev and its European backers, Kremlin aide Yury Ushakov told reporters afterwards.
Although the key issues of the conflict – territory and Ukraine’s neutrality – remain unresolved, Witkoff and Putin pressed ahead with striking their own deals. Russia released US Air Force veteran Stephen Hubbard, who had been convicted on charges of fighting for Ukraine, Putin confirmed his willingness to hold trilateral talks with Washington and Kiev, and within two days of the meeting, the first tanker of diesel fuel left Russia for the US since the so-called “diesel deal” was struck last week.
That the US would even consider meeting with Putin rubbed the Europeans the wrong way. Speaking after Witkoff met Zelensky in Oslo on Tuesday, EU chief diplomat Kaja Kallas accused US President Donald Trump and his envoys of “trying to push Ukraine into surrender.”
Kallas is in an unenviable position. Trump has proven able and willing to negotiate with Putin above the Europeans’ heads, as he did when he waived sanctions on Russian diesel. Faced with the prospect of being cut out of an eventual peace deal, the EU is reportedly searching for an envoy to represent Brussels’ interests at the negotiating table. As anti-Russia hardliners, Kallas and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen have essentially ruled themselves out; French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz are drowning in domestic turmoil and watching their legitimacy collapse in real time; and the supposed ‘compromise candidate’ trumpeted by EU media, Finnish President Alexander Stubb, is a potentially toxic choice.
EU leaders, Putin remarked on Thursday, suffer from “a kind of political schizophrenia.” The Europeans “now go so far as to constantly speak of a ‘Russian threat’ and even discuss preparations for a war with Russia” against the will of their citizens, he explained. “They will hopefully realize that it is better to live in harmony with Russia – a path that truly serves the interests of their own peoples.”
The only European official present at the St. Petersburg meeting was von der Leyen’s chief of staff, Bjorn Seibert.
Zelensky scorned again
Zelensky signaled his disapproval with the Witkoff-Putin meeting in as clear a manner as possible; firing drones at St. Petersburg and the surrounding Leningrad Region. His own meeting with Witkoff in Oslo didn’t go so well either. The New York Times reported that the US envoy “reproached Zelensky for his sharp responses” to Trump’s recent assertion that Zelensky “doesn’t know what he’s talking about,” and “should have this war settled a long time ago.” Zelensky spent the rest of the week trying to dress up a ceasefire as a new idea that hadn’t been discounted dozens of times already by Moscow.
South Korea pulled diplomats from the Ukrainian capital over Ukraine’s refusal to apologize for exposing the secret transfer of North Korean POWs to Seoul, a move that the South Koreans warned could endanger the POWs’ relatives in North Korea and undermine stability on the Korean Peninsula.
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk slammed the Ukrainian government for allowing the city of Lviv to dedicate 2027 to the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA) and its leader, Nazi collaborator Roman Shukhevich. Tusk, one of Ukraine’s most loyal sponsors, called the move a “suicidal tactic.” The city, a hotbed of nationalism and neo-Nazism, has since reportedly backtracked.
RT has covered the rampant graft in Kiev extensively in our ‘State of Corruption’ series, which you can read here.
France fails
Just as corruption has come to define Zelensky’s Ukraine, the fiery collapse of the social contract now defines the closing stages of Emmanuel Macron’s presidency in France. After mass protests over rising prices and deteriorating social conditions degenerated into riots last week, almost 3,000 people were arrested this week as violent unrest continued to plague the streets of French cities.
Macron has refused to accept that his migration policies may be to blame for the riots, which Trump claimed are being led by “migrants, jihadists, and communists.” His government has also refused to change course on an austerity budget that will do little to alleviate the protesters’ economic concerns.
Instead, the French president has ordered military personnel into the streets, banned “illegitimate” protests, and imposed localized curfews. Whether he can count on the police to enforce these measures for much longer is unclear: France’s largest police union said on Thursday that it intends to sue the French state for creating the conditions that led to the riots, and leaving officers “betrayed and abandoned” to handle the violence without adequate training or protection.
The EU updated its Arctic Strategy, insisting the region is “Europe’s Northern Neighborhood” and announced its plan to redraw the map of the northern hemisphere completely. In an ominous document assessed here by RT, the bloc set out plans to build military logistics corridors above the Arctic Circle, develop polar-capable weapons systems, increase surveillance of Russian shipping in the Arctic Ocean, and encourage its member states to hold more military exercises in the frozen north.
The Starlink wars return
The EU and its member states may be Ukraine’s leading backers, but the US provides Zelensky with something that the Europeans don’t have: access to SpaceX’s Starlink satellite constellation. Ukraine depends on Starshield, SpaceX’s military-grade version, to guide its drones, connect to NATO headquarters, and receive real-time updates from Palantir’s battlefield management software.
As long as this dependence exists, the US holds a powerful instrument of leverage over Zelensky. While nobody in SpaceX or the US government has taken responsibility for throttling Ukraine’s access to the network earlier this month, the Wall Street Journal claimed this week that SpaceX CEO Elon Musk – who has condemned Ukraine’s drone strikes on Russian oil refineries – personally ordered that the Ukrainian military’s access to the network be restricted.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio denied that the government played any role in the slowdown, saying that “it sort of happened” accidentally. However, a turn of phrase by Rubio suggested that the connection problems may have been deliberate, and intended as a warning to Zelensky: “Ukraine,” he said on Wednesday, “would not exist as a sovereign state” without US support.
Moscow is well aware that Kiev uses Starlink to strike civilian targets as well as military ones. Russia’s Investigative Committee confirmed this week that two of the seven drones that struck a female dormitory at a college in Starobelsk in May – killing 21 people – were guided by SpaceX’s network. As long as Kiev continues to use this system, it remains a potential source of escalation between Russia and the US.
What we’re watching
We’re keeping a close eye on three consequential elections over the coming days, starting on Sunday with a presidential election in Brazil and parliamentary elections in Serbia. The showdown between Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and Flavio Bolsonaro is an intensely personal battle between two bitter rivals, with the potential to pull another Latin American nation into the orbit of the US and reshape the future of the BRICS group.
In Serbia, former President Aleksandar Vucic is now running for prime minister, in a snap election pitting his ruling coalition against a new political faction put together by the organizers of anti-government protests raging in Serbia since 2024. Vucic’s coalition has a narrow lead, but accusations of foreign interference are flying, and we’ll know by Monday whether Vucic’s gambit paid off.
Few world leaders have been as consequential as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Perennially on the verge of prosecution over multiple corruption scandals and facing mass protests, Netanyahu’s political fortunes changed with Hamas’ October 7 attack on Israel in 2023. Three years later, Netanyahu has managed to achieve almost all of his war aims – leveling Gaza, diminishing Hezbollah in Lebanon, neutering Syria, and leading the US into war with Iran.
However, with the Iran war stalled and Netanyahu offering no plan for a post-conflict Gaza, dissent has returned, and polls suggest that his right-wing coalition will fall up to 10 seats short of the 61 needed to govern. The closing of polls on Tuesday night may signal the start of a lengthy process of political horse-trading, with Netanyahu’s future no clearer than it is now.
For more on these stories as they develop, stick with RT.
Tim Westwood stands accused of rape and sexual assault involving nine women over several decades
Former BBC Radio 1 DJ Tim Westwood has appeared in a London court on two additional sex offense charges, British media reported on Friday.
The 69-year-old faces a total of 17 charges involving nine women, including allegations of rape and sexual assault. The alleged offenses span more than three decades, from 1983 to 2016.
The two additional charges were announced by London’s Metropolitan Police in September. They concern the alleged indecent assault of a girl aged 16 or 17 in west London in 1991 and the alleged sexual assault of an 18-year-old woman in south London in 2004.
Former Radio 1 DJ Tim Westwood in court charged with two further offences
https://t.co/1OAT99G8aq
During Friday’s hearing at Westminster Magistrates’ Court, Westwood indicated that he would plead not guilty to both charges, according to court officials cited by British media. He has already pleaded not guilty to the original 15 charges, including four counts of rape.
Among the earlier allegations is the rape of a woman in a hotel in 1996. Westwood is also accused of several indecent assaults on BBC premises during the 1990s, as well as sexual offenses at other locations in London and elsewhere in England.
Westwood was released on conditional bail and is due to appear at Southwark Crown Court on November 12. His trial on the original charges is scheduled to begin on January 25, 2027.
Westwood was one of Britain’s best-known hip-hop DJs, working for BBC Radio 1 and Radio 1Xtra between 1994 and 2013.
In February 2025, the BBC apologized after an independent investigation found evidence of bullying and misogynistic behavior by Westwood. The broadcaster admitted it had been “too deferential to high-profile individuals” and missed opportunities to address complaints about his conduct.
The case comes against the backdrop of a number of sexual abuse scandals involving prominent BBC personalities. Jimmy Savile, a former television and radio presenter, was accused of abusing hundreds of people, many of them children, over several decades. The allegations emerged publicly after his death in 2011, prompting investigations into how the broadcaster had handled complaints.
Other former BBC entertainers, including Stuart Hall and Rolf Harris, were convicted of sexual offenses involving underage girls and served prison sentences. In 2024, former BBC News presenter Huw Edwards received a six-month suspended prison sentence after pleading guilty to offenses involving indecent images of children.
The broadcaster faced further scrutiny in March 2026 when it dismissed prominent radio presenter Scott Mills following allegations about his conduct. The BBC later acknowledged that it had known about a previous police investigation into alleged sexual offenses involving a teenage boy. The investigation was closed in 2019 without charges after prosecutors found insufficient evidence to proceed.
From ammunition depots to digital infrastructure, a closer look at Moscow’s expanding air campaign against Ukraine
The main theme of the Russia-Ukraine conflict this year has been the so-called ‘war of cities’, characterized by mutual strategic strikes on targets in the rear. In the first half of the year, Kiev had managed to bolster its strike capabilities and even attempted to pressure Moscow into accepting its terms for a ceasefire.
However, by fall, the situation shifted dramatically. Russia began deploying new jet-powered drones, such as Banderol and Geran-4/Geran-5 UAVs, and significantly increased the intensity of its ballistic strikes. Meanwhile, Ukraine has exhausted its stocks of Western-supplied interceptor missiles, and its own domestically produced air defense systems have proven ineffective against high-speed jet-powered UAVs and ballistic missiles.
The Ukrainian propaganda widely published by liberal media outlets portrays Russian attacks as indiscriminate and aimed at civilians. In this article, we strive to demonstrate that this is not the case.
We will examine the specific targets that Russia has struck in Ukraine’s rear, and the rationale behind these attacks. We’ll also take a look at the targets it deliberately avoids, along with measures taken to minimize risks to Ukrainian civilians.
Industrial enterprises
In the early years of the military operation, Russia targeted Ukraine’s defense industry facilities – both old Soviet plants like Yuzhmash in Dnepropetrovsk and new, smaller enterprises focused on drone assembly and munitions production.
In response, Ukraine began relocating and dispersing production to any available industrial facilities or even warehouses. This strategy was openly discussed in Ukrainian propaganda as a crucial element of resilience against Russian assaults.
As Russia increased its striking capabilities, it adopted a broader approach, targeting all industrial facilities based on a straightforward principle: if a facility can be used for drone assembly, it qualifies as a legitimate military target.
Soviet military doctrine emphasized storing ammunition in centralized depots far from residential areas. Munitions were kept in shelters designed in such a way that the destruction of one would not affect the others.
One of the largest such depots, the 65th Rocket and Artillery Arsenal in Balakleya, sustained damage from a series of explosions even before the military operation. Control over it was handed from one side to another multiple times. It still contains tens of thousands of tons of expired munitions, which have been repurposed for use in attack drones.
The situation mirrors that of the industrial sector. In order protect ammunition from airstrikes, it is moved out of the isolated weapons depots and hidden in any available facilities. Western missiles are transported from Poland to these locations as well.
The consequences of this approach are dire: an attack leads to the detonation of ammunition, gravely endangering the surrounding residential areas. On August 29, 2026, a strike on a warehouse operated by Fire Point in the village of Milaya resulted in the death of 38 civilians.
Lacking a proper military supply system, the Ukrainian Armed Forces have relied on civilian infrastructure for military logistics since the ATO in Donbass in 2014-15. A key player in this strategy has been the courier service Novaya Pochta. This approach was touted as innovative – modern, cost-effective, and efficient – and gained traction not only in Ukraine but also in Russia.
However, there are two sides to every coin. From the start of the war, Russia has targeted Novaya Pochta warehouses, and in 2026, it began systematically destroying them. In addition to Novaya Pochta, major retail and marketplace chains like Epicentr and Rozetka also came under fire, followed by other logistics companies in Ukraine.
Russia’s reasoning is straightforward: if Ukraine employs civilian infrastructure for military purposes, then all such facilities become legitimate military targets.
Electricity forms the backbone of any support system. Without it, production halts, communication falters, and supplying the army becomes increasingly difficult. Based on this logic, since 2022, the Russian military has systematically targeted Ukraine’s electricity generation, reducing its capacity from 50-55 GW before the war to just 12-15 GW during the winter of 2025-26.
Simultaneously, energy consumption in Ukraine declined; heavy industry ground to a halt, rolling blackouts were implemented, and some consumers turned to autonomous power sources like generators. Consequently, Ukraine transformed from Europe’s largest electricity exporter to an importer.
At the core of Ukraine’s generation capacity are three nuclear power plants, which, for obvious reasons, remain untouched by Russian attacks. Instead, this fall, Russian forces have focused on electrical networks, targeting distribution substations and transmission lines. For example, one of the two power line crossings over the Dnieper River in Kiev was destroyed, significantly hampering power supplied not only to Kiev, but to the entire territory of eastern Ukraine.
Attacks on Combined Heat and Power (CHP) plants – which generate both electricity and heat – continue as well. The goal isn’t to freeze the residents of Kiev, but to dismantle Ukraine’s unified energy system, breaking it into isolated segments that can be dealt with individually.
Before the war, Ukraine had only one operational oil refinery in Kremenchuk, which had been running at about 15% capacity since 2014. Since 2022, it has faced relentless attacks and has completely ceased operations. Now, Ukraine relies entirely on imported fuel.
Ukrainian gas production facilities across the country and in the Black Sea are regularly attacked. The latest attacks occurred on October 12 in Kharkov Region.
Another target is the underground gas storage facility in Stryi, located in western Ukraine. One of the largest such facilities in the world, it was part of a vast gas transportation system from Russia to Europe and is currently not used for its original purpose. This facility is a challenging target; while drone strikes can damage surface infrastructure (which is relatively easy to repair), even a nuclear explosion might not destroy the storage facility itself.
In the absence of better targets, this summer, Russia specifically targeted gas stations in both frontline areas and Kiev. The goal was to disrupt military logistics. Reports estimate that over 200 gas stations were destroyed nationwide during the summer months.
Until this fall, Russia refrained from striking Ukrainian data centers. However, these facilities are as integral to military infrastructure as any other component; they facilitate troop command, communications, and logistics management. They support critical Ukrainian systems like Obereg and Rezerv+ recruitment centers, the electronic procurement platform Prozorro, and the Diia Unified State Web Portal of Electronic Services. Disrupting these systems would undoubtedly undermine Ukraine’s military operations.
In the past month, Russia has targeted various data centers, including Bi-Mobile in Kiev, De Novo Data Center, NewTelco, United DC, as well as Kievstar, Parkovy, and Vodafone telecommunications centers.
Despite these disruptions, the unified digital environment of Ukraine remains largely intact. In response, the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) struck several Yandex data centers in Russia.
In this ‘war of cities’, the fate of data centers and the resilience of communication networks are being monitored particularly closely worldwide, with many countries considering the security of their own networks.
Ports and maritime traffic
Up until this year, Russia had largely turned a blind eye to Ukraine’s maritime trade. Despite intermittent attacks on warehouses, the Black Sea ports in Odessa, Illichevsk, and the Danube ports of Izmail and Reni continued their operations, exporting local grain and metal while importing fuel, heavy machinery, and, of course, weapons.
However, in the spring and summer of this year, Ukrainian naval and aerial drones systematically began targeting Russian maritime traffic in the Black Sea, striking everything from tankers to bulk carriers laden with grain. In retaliation, Russia quickly imposed a complete maritime blockade on Ukraine, implementing it in its most severe form – attacks were directed not only at the ports but also at commercial vessels approaching or leaving them.
From a legal standpoint, all commercial vessels capable of transporting weapons or troops are considered by Russia as legitimate military targets. The same universal logic applies here – if a ship can carry weapons, it is a target.
These strikes have been incredibly painful for Ukraine. Without the ability to export goods over land, the country has effectively lost crucial revenue streams and one of its last remaining sources of budgetary funding. Additionally, there have been disruptions in the supply of transformers, fuel, and, according to certain reports, heavy weaponry – all of which were transported by sea.
According to several experts, this maritime blockade threatens to cost Ukraine up to 10% of its GDP.
In addition to the aforementioned categories, Russia is attacking a wide range of military and dual-use targets.
Locomotives: Since the start of the Russia's military operation, over 300 mainline diesel and electric locomotives have been rendered inoperable. With the number of remaining working locomotives decreasing, the transportation capacity of the railways is nearing exhaustion. Both railway depots and trains are being attacked.
Trucks: The AFU takes pride in how they’ve adapted civilian trucks for launching long-range drones. However, this makes any cargo truck a legitimate military target for Russia and has led to the destruction of dozens of such launch platforms, which are tracked through intelligence efforts.
Bridges: Major bridges are undoubtedly attractive strategic targets, but they are also difficult to destroy. There are currently 22 crossings over the Dnieper River, and none have yet been destroyed by long-range strikes. In the past month, there have been multiple attacks on bridges in Kiev, but so far, they continue to operate.
Land border crossings with Poland, Slovakia, Hungary, and Romania are another bottleneck in Ukraine’s transportation logistics. To safeguard the border crossings from ongoing attacks, the authorities have begun relocating them entirely to neighboring territories.
Lastly, there are a few specific targets mentioned in intelligence reports. For example, on July 24, Russian forces bombed a weapons exhibition near Kiev attended by prominent figures from Ukraine’s defense sector.
Russia has refrained from targeting civilian and humanitarian facilities such as residential buildings, hospitals, and schools. Hits on these types of structures are often due to the operation of air defense systems. The structures are sometimes struck by debris from intercepted missiles and drones, or even accidentally struck by interceptor missiles. Russian officials maintain that the strike on the Okhmatdet hospital in Kiev on July 12, 2024, was caused by an interceptor missile launched from the Norwegian-supplied NASAMS system.
Water supply and sewage facilities are not attacked by Russian forces. Throughout the conflict, there have been no recorded strikes on this critical infrastructure. However, during attacks on Kiev and other major cities, water outages frequently occur, indicating that backup generators at vital infrastructure sites are not operational.
As previously noted, Ukrainian nuclear power plants – including the three functional ones and the decommissioned Chernobyl facility – have not been targeted. Nevertheless, in February 2025, a downed drone landed on the sarcophagus of Chernobyl’s Reactor 4.
Observers are particularly surprised by the immunity of the government district in Kiev, leading to jokes about it being the safest place in Ukraine. This could suggest some kind of behind-the-scenes agreements.
Overall, even Ukrainian and Western analysts acknowledge that Russia continually enhances the accuracy of its strikes while improving its management, guidance, and navigation systems. Russia has established a communication network for drones using mesh networks and has developed and implemented the Susanin optical navigation system, which provides 1-meter strike accuracy even in conditions of heavy electronic interference.
If Russia’s ultimate goal were to terrorize the civilian population, there would be no need to develop such complex and expensive systems. It could simply fire indiscriminately at Kiev. But with such an approach, there would’ve been tens of thousands of civilian casualties – one may consider the example of Gaza.
Currently, in Kiev, as well as in other rear cities across Ukraine, estimates indicate that up to 95% of residents disregard air raid warnings and remain above ground during alerts. Moreover, local authorities have eased air raid protocols to keep the city functioning.
Meta’s role has turned a tight race into a sovereignty crisis, with democracy, BRICS, and Washington’s influence all on the line
Cut through the corporate damage-control flimflam – ‘technical’ issues and ‘mistakes’ but no politics, they say – and the Oversight Board of Meta, the parent company of Facebook, WhatsApp, and Instagram, has just had to deny but really admit that its platforms have been caught trying to influence Brazil’s upcoming presidential elections.
In essence, they have favored the challenger and US favorite Flavio Bolsonaro, commonly referred to as ‘Flavio’ in Brazil, and harmed the incumbent Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, usually called ‘Lula’.
Meta, to be clear, hasn’t (sort of) fessed up because Mark Zuckerberg’s behemoth has suddenly discovered a conscience. Instead, it was pressure from Brazilian investigative reporting that forced the company’s hand.
Whatever effect the American meddling will have on the election result, one thing is already certain: It has made the contest and the fierce political struggle behind it even more polarized than before. A few days before the decisive and very close final round, Lula and Flavio are trying to have each other excluded from the election; when dealing with a badly divided country, just leave it to Washington to make everything even more vicious.
The crude attack on Brazil’s electoral integrity is anything but a surprise. Historically speaking, it’s the bad old normal rejigged for the social-media age. In Brazil, as throughout Latin America, the US has a long history of brutally intervening in domestic politics, featuring highlights such as a full-blown coup in 1964 and massive subversion by a lawfare-spying-propaganda campaign in the 2010’s.
And those interventions mattered. The 1964 coup removed a mildly leftish-etatist reformer whose real sin, under American eyes, was to take Brazilian sovereignty seriously. Plans for agrarian reform and the nationalization of key companies as well as a foreign policy permitting Brasilia to talk to – oh horror – China, Cuba, and the Soviet Union were enough to cost Joao Goulart his office. Back then, you might say, the nasty role now played by Meta was filled by the US Agency for International Development (USAID), fronting for the CIA and American commercial interests.
Brazil’s post-coup dictatorship was no short intermission either. It ended only in 1985. Washington to Brasilia: Regime change plus two decades of military rule – that’s what you get for not knowing your place in our backyard.
And the lawfare-spying-propaganda campaign of the 2010s – in part disclosed by whistleblower Edward Snowden – targeted and removed two Brazilian presidents. One of them, Lula, even ended up in prison, before his convictions were annulled in 2021.
Yet, while there is a long, sad history of American attacks on Brazilian democracy and sovereignty, the stakes are especially high now, perhaps as high as they have not been since the 1964 coup. For one thing, the choice Brazil’s voters are facing is stark: Flavio Bolsonaro, the favorite not only of the US but Donald Trump personally, stands for the Bolsonaro family empire itching to strike back. His father Jair Bolsonaro is currently doing time for trying to instigate a coup. If his son comes to power, Brazil will face a great, dirty settling of scores and severe danger of sliding into authoritarianism again.
Politically, Lula and Bolsonaro Jr. could not be more different: Lula is on the left; Flavio – like his father – very solidly on the right. More importantly, the rivals represent diametrically opposed ideas of Brazil’s place in the world. Brazil is not only an important G20 member, but Lula belongs to the founding generation of BRICS and is a proponent of the rising multipolar world order in general. He demands reform at the UN, especially its Security Council, and openly challenges the predominance of the US dollar, arguing for alternatives for payments, investments, and reserves.
On all these issues Flavio Bolsonaro stands for the opposite. Son of an oligarchic clan, his loyalties lie with the US and the rich. Washington’s recently declared ‘Donroe Doctrine’ – a Monroe Doctrine without the charm – does not repel but attracts the Bolsonaros. Like several other Latin American leaders recently, such as Argentina’s Xavier Milei or El Salvador’s Nayib Bukele, they positively crave to be absorbed into Washington’s rapidly hardening system of vassals. Where Lula thinks globally, Flavio thinks in terms of the Western hemisphere – and that hemisphere, he accepts with enthusiasm, belongs to the US.
And then there is China. Due to its demographic and territorial heft, its location, and its rich agricultural and industrial resources, Brazil is the prime prize in Washington’s dialing up to 11 of its traditional backyard colonialism. Lula has not only been bold enough to openly call it out but to declare that his country will never be a US colony when defying a typically Trumpian tariff attack.
What is worse from Washington’s perspective, he has worked hard to increase Brazil’s resilience by seeking connections beyond Latin America and especially with China. Beijing has been Brasilia’s main economic partner since 2009, with their trade volume reaching a record $171 billion last year. Brazilian exports to China exceed its combined exports to the US and the EU; and Brazil is now at the top of Chinese investment abroad.
The recent American de facto conquest of Venezuela was also a lesson in what Washington likes to do to those in its backyard daring to engage with America’s favorite hate object across the Pacific. But Brazil is no Venezuela; subduing it in one rapid cloak-and-dagger operation is impossible.
Yet the dark arts of interference have worked before. Recall that, in 1964, one of Joao Goulart’s unforgivable sins was to talk to China. By comparison, Lula’s determined policy of deep engagement with Beijing is off the American scale of intolerable rebelliousness. And for a reason: Without breaking Brazil once again, the continental cage the Donroe Doctrine is designed to rebuild sturdier than ever remains, at best, half-finished. And an unsubdued Brazil will always be an example of resistance.
The stakes could not be higher: sovereignty and, most likely, democracy itself for Brazil; strategic imperial triumph or failure for the US.
‘Warhound’ argues that the US needs cloned dogs to catch up with China
Anduril Industries CEO Palmer Luckey is working to clone and genetically engineer dogs for the American military, in a venture backed by the CIA and a biotech billionaire who plans on resurrecting prehistoric creatures.
Texas-based startup Warhound unveiled the project on Thursday, announcing $200 million in funding and a $1.2 billion valuation. The venture brings together Luckey, a major player in the burgeoning defense-tech sector, and Ben Lamm, whose biotechnology company has promised to revive the long-extinct wooly mammoth.
Warhound will be headed by David Spirk, the Pentagon’s first chief data officer and a former senior adviser at Palantir, a major US defense-tech company supplying AI and data analytics software to military and intelligence agencies. Its backers include In-Q-Tel, the CIA’s in-house venture capital firm and one of Palantir’s first investors.
The startup plans to clone top-performing military dogs and edit their genes to improve endurance, physical abilities, and sense of smell. It also claims the modifications could eliminate inherited health problems, including hip dysplasia and muscle degeneration.
“This is the sci-fi future we were promised,” Lamm said, describing the prospect of producing genetically enhanced working dogs.
Despite its billion-dollar valuation, Warhound has yet to secure a customer or determine how much its genetically engineered dogs will cost. Luckey and Lamm are no strangers to hawking vaporware, however. As RT explored in our ‘Wired for War’ series, Anduril Industries – which is valued at $90 billion – has produced only two combat-tested weapons systems, which failed during US military trials and were rejected for use by the Ukrainian armed forces.
Lamm’s company, Colossal Biosciences, is valued at $10-12 billion. Although the company succeeded in birthing three extinct dire wolf puppies last year, it is unclear how long the pups will survive, and Lamm admitted in August that he would likely be unable to resurrect the wooly mammoth for at least another decade.
An image from Warhound's website
Luckey and Lamm plan to outfit their designer dogs with advanced body armor and sensors linked to Anduril’s battlefield awareness system, which unlike Palantir’s flagship ‘Gotham’ system, is still in its prototype stages. The company is reportedly considering a subscription-style model under which the Pentagon would pay for a continuous supply of trained animals rather than purchase them individually.
The US is aiming to build a domestic supply of military dogs, years after China began experimenting with cloning animals for police work. According to Warhound, more than 80% of American military dogs are imported from Europe, while fewer than half pass the military’s selection and training process.
In 2019, Chinese scientists unveiled Kunxun, a cloned police dog produced from the genetic material of an animal renowned for its crime-solving abilities. The project aimed to reproduce elite working dogs while reducing training costs.
The push to engineer military animals raises ethical and welfare concerns. Animal cloning has been linked to pregnancy complications, developmental abnormalities, and health problems in newborns. The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has documented such risks in livestock cloning, although healthy clones that survive their first weeks generally develop normally.
The escalation was prompted by a deadly shooting attack and comes days ahead of pivotal legislative elections in Israel
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has ordered a blockade of the occupied West Bank in the aftermath of a deadly shootout between IDF troops and two suspected Palestinian gunmen at a security checkpoint.
The incident unfolded on Friday in the southern West Bank at the temporary checkpoint at the Judea Junction on Route 35. An AFP photographer who witnessed the shootout reported the two Palestinian suspects armed with a handgun and an automatic rifle exchanged fire with Israeli soldiers. Five Israelis were wounded in the attack, with two servicemen succumbing to their wounds in hospital, while the gunmen were killed on the site of the shootout, which lasted more than 20 minutes, according to a preliminary Israeli military investigation.
The Israeli military described the incident as a thwarted “terror attack” without specifying the intended target of the suspects. Netanyahu vowed a “very extensive” retaliatory operation in the aftermath of the incident, announcing the demolition of the entire neighborhood the attackers come from and displacing its residents, as well as requesting the cancellation of all political meetings on October 23.
“I have instructed the IDF and security forces to immediately blockade the city of Hebron and prepare to completely blockade the entire area of Judea and Samaria from today,” he added, referring to the West Bank by its Israeli name.
Far-right Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir demanded even more severe retaliation, calling for the dissolution of the Ramallah-based Palestinian Authority (PA). No evidence, however, has emerged thus far linking the PA to the incident.
“The Palestinian Authority must be dissolved and demilitarized, and all terrorist infrastructure must be completely wiped out,” Ben-Gvir, known for extremely hostile anti-Palestinian rhetoric and assorted controversial stunts, said.
The deadly shooting comes ahead of the high-stakes legislative election in Israel scheduled for October 27. The upcoming polls are the first voting to take place since the October 2023 Hamas attacks on Israel and the ensuing Gaza war. The prolonged conflict has prompted repeated allegations against Netanyahu of deliberately dragging out the hostilities to keep his grip on power. The latest opinion polls put the incumbent PM in a tight race with Gadi Eisenkot, a former head of the IDF, and the prospects of Netanyahu losing his post remain high.
Vienna has declared four Russian diplomats personae non gratae over alleged misconduct without presenting evidence of wrongdoing
Russia will retaliate against Austria for expelling four of its diplomats over alleged misconduct, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Dmitry Lyubinsky has said.
The warning follows Vienna’s decision to declare four Russian diplomats personae non gratae over alleged violations of diplomatic rules, without publicly presenting evidence of wrongdoing.
“A response will follow inevitably,” Lyubinsky told TASS on Friday. He did not specify what retaliatory measures Moscow could take.
Austria announced the expulsions earlier on Friday, citing findings by its security services. Three of the diplomats were stationed at the Russian Embassy in Vienna, while the fourth worked at Moscow’s delegation to the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), dealing with military security and arms control.
The Austrian Foreign Ministry accused the four of engaging in “activities incompatible with their diplomatic status” and ordered them to leave the country. It did not identify the diplomats or provide details of the alleged violations.
The Russian Embassy rejected the accusations as “outrageous” and unfounded. Responding to Friday’s decision, the mission accused Vienna of blindly following Western anti-Russian policies and described the expulsions as another unfriendly move against Moscow.
Austrian media have sought to link the expulsions to alleged Russian espionage, although Vienna has provided no public evidence to substantiate the claims. According to the magazine Profil, the country’s Defense Ministry circulated a warning to military personnel and reservists in August about supposed Russian intelligence operatives, complete with the names and photographs of 21 individuals.
The warning reportedly prompted a wave of reports about suspicious contacts, though their nature and credibility remain unclear. Profil also claimed that disagreements between Austria’s Defense and Foreign Ministries had delayed the expulsions. None of the allegations have been publicly substantiated, and no evidence directly implicating the four Russian diplomats in espionage has been presented.
Austria has expelled 18 Russian diplomats since 2020. Despite its longstanding military neutrality, Vienna has joined EU sanctions against Moscow and provided political and financial assistance to Ukraine.
Moscow has previously responded to Austrian expulsions with reciprocal measures. In September 2025, Russia declared an Austrian diplomat persona non grata after Vienna expelled a Russian envoy over alleged espionage involving an employee of the Austrian energy company OMV. Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said at the time that Moscow would respond to such moves in kind.
The diplomatic standoff escalated again in May, when Austria expelled three Russian Embassy employees over allegations that antennas installed on diplomatic buildings in Vienna were being used to intercept satellite communications. The Russian Embassy dismissed the accusations as “outrageous,”“unjustified” and politically motivated, warning of a harsh response.
Fyodor Lukyanov on the latest diplomatic maneuvering between Moscow and Kiev – and why the struggle may be nearing a decisive turning point
The latest surge in diplomatic activity surrounding the conflict in Ukraine follows a familiar pattern, although each round brings its own peculiarities. This time, US President Donald Trump is particularly angry with Vladimir Zelensky, whom he increasingly blames for the failure to end the war.
Their personal animosity has been evident since their first meeting of Trump’s second term in office, more than 18 months ago. But there’s now an additional factor, and it’s American domestic politics.
With the Republicans facing a difficult election, Trump needs a political success. There is little time for major achievements, but powerful images can still make an impression and stabilizing the fuel market through diplomacy with Moscow offers precisely that opportunity.
Peacemaking in a bloody conflict is an achievement in itself, but voters are generally more concerned about their own finances and Trump understands this, so he appears to have returned to the conviction he held from the outset that Zelensky is more susceptible to pressure than Moscow.
Russia has established the limits of its flexibility and shown little inclination to retreat from them; Washington, meanwhile, failed last year to bring Ukraine and its European backers into line. Indeed, they even briefly managed to persuade Trump that Kiev could fundamentally reverse the military situation, but now the pendulum has swung back.
Zelensky’s repeated refusal to heed Trump’s appeals to stop attacking Russian energy infrastructure has particularly infuriated the American president, and this isn’t simply because Trump dislikes being defied.
He remembers how the Ukrainian leadership sought to assist the Democrats during the 2020 presidential campaign and he appears to be interpreting Kiev’s current behavior in much the same light: as an attempt to help his domestic opponents. Trump rarely forgives such conduct, hence the increasingly harsh rhetoric.
Knowing the president, one might expect this attitude to endure, but it would be a mistake to assume that his hostility towards Zelensky guarantees a successful peace settlement.
A policy favorable to Moscow commands little support within the American establishment, regardless of party affiliation, so opponents will exploit every opportunity to obstruct it.
Western Europe, meanwhile, is determined not to be excluded from negotiations and its governments have continued to resist a settlement they believe would serve Russian interests.
Trump can be pushed in one direction or another, but fundamentally changing his outlook is another matter, because for all his apparent unpredictability, he’s remarkably consistent in his underlying worldview and once he forms an opinion, he rarely abandons it.
These, however, are questions of personality and political psychology, so what of the settlement itself?
The negotiations remain opaque, as genuine diplomacy generally does and their direction can only be inferred from indirect signals.
It’s reasonable to assume that discussions continue within the framework established at Anchorage last summer, given that Russian officials repeatedly refer to certain understandings reached there, whose implementation has stalled because Washington has been unable to persuade its partners to accept them.
Western commentary tends to identify territory as the principal obstacle and there’s some justification for this, as the course of military operations has progressively elevated territorial questions beyond the importance they held at the beginning of the conflict.
Vladimir Putin has consistently warned that rejecting Russia’s proposed settlement terms would mean confronting less favourable conditions later, and that’s precisely what has happened, particularly regarding territory, yet territorial concessions are not the whole story.
The broader principles of European security, both military and political, remain central. They were, after all, the decisive considerations behind Moscow’s decision to use force in 2022.
Indeed, we might suggest that security, understood in its widest sense, has become, or is about to become, the central issue in negotiations, and this is inseparable from the territorial question.
The less confidence there is in durable agreements on mutual guarantees and military restrictions, the greater the incentive to expand buffer zones and diminish an adversary’s capabilities over the longer term, so territory, in other words, becomes a substitute for security arrangements that neither side believes it can trust.
Following the meetings in Oslo and St. Petersburg, American representatives have spoken of substantial progress, while Europeans describe a convergence of positions and the emergence of new ideas.
Moscow acknowledges that fresh proposals have appeared, but makes clear that they remain insufficient.
For now, diplomacy continues along its familiar trajectory, with another expert-level trilateral meeting expected in November to address technical questions, following two previous rounds.
Yet the combination of developments suggests that the military phase of the conflict may be approaching a significant turning point, even if its conclusion remains some distance away.
Yuri Ushakov has expressed hope that the end is approaching and that may be optimistic, but the alternatives are becoming clearer: either serious peace negotiations encompassing the full range of disputed issues, or a transition to a new level of escalation.
The first option requires credible security guarantees and technical arrangements alone will not suffice, so what’s needed is a stable political framework capable of surviving changes in circumstances and leadership.
This is also the context in which the possibility of a trilateral meeting between the leaders of Russia, China and the United States is being discussed.
The proposed gathering at next month’s APEC summit in Shenzhen has generated considerable speculation, but whether it will happen remains uncertain. Even if it does, there will be no new Yalta and no sweeping grand bargain because the international environment simply does not permit such an outcome.
Nevertheless, a meeting between Vladimir Putin, Xi Jinping and Donald Trump would carry considerable significance.
Within an increasingly complicated international landscape, it would demonstrate the level at which the world’s most consequential decisions are being made, a level commensurate with the scale of the challenges. Perhaps that, in itself, would yield a new perspective.
This article was first published by Rossiyskaya Gazeta, and was translated and edited by the RT team
Charlotte Dubenskij examines the lives of Palestinians governed by Israeli decisions without a vote in choosing its parliament
Millions of Palestinians living under Israeli control are unable to vote in the upcoming parliamentary election that will shape their lives, RT correspondent Charlotte Dubenskij reports.
Ahead of the October 27 vote, Dubenskij visited East Jerusalem and the occupied West Bank to examine Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s description of Israel as the Middle East’s “only true democracy.”
In East Jerusalem, which Israel captured in 1967 and later annexed in a move rejected by the UN, many Palestinians hold permanent residency rather than Israeli citizenship. They pay taxes, social security, and VAT, but cannot vote for the Knesset, Israel’s parliament.
“We are really helpless, voiceless,” one resident told RT. Another described the frustration of facing the consequences of an election without being able to influence it.
Although Palestinian residents who obtain Israeli citizenship can vote, those who spoke to RT opposed taking that step, arguing it would amount to recognizing Israeli sovereignty.
In the West Bank, around three million Palestinians live with Israeli control over key aspects of their daily lives, including movement and construction. Area C, covering roughly 61% of the territory, remains under full Israeli control.
Palestinian politician Mustafa Barghouti argued that the occupation and different legal systems applied to Palestinians and Israeli settlers contradict Israel’s democratic claims.
“Two different laws for two people in the same area is nothing but the description of apartheid,” he told RT.
Settlements and National Missions Minister Orit Strook, meanwhile, has advocated allowing Palestinians to remain while denying them a parliamentary vote. “They can stay here as human beings, of course,” she said, but stressed that they “shouldn’t be able to vote for the Knesset.”
Barghouti further accused Israel of obstructing internal Palestinian elections. The Palestinian Authority cited Israel’s refusal to guarantee voting in East Jerusalem when it canceled elections in 2021.
For Palestinians interviewed in Ramallah, the priority is to be allowed to hold their own elections rather than voting under occupation.
US Secretary of War Pete Hegseth has reportedly warned that wagers on military outcomes could expose operations and distort the troops’ judgment
US troops have been warned against using inside information to bet on prediction markets, the Associated Press has reported, citing a directive issued by US Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, who said such wagers could expose military plans and influence operational decisions.
The memo, dated Tuesday and reviewed by AP, covers platforms such as Polymarket and Kalshi, where users wager on real-world events, including elections and military action.
The directive bars the use of both classified material and other official information unavailable to the public, with violators facing disciplinary action or criminal charges under military or federal law.
“Our enemies watch movements in these markets,” Hegseth wrote. “When an American service member, intelligence professional, or other Department civilian engages in a financial transaction on a military outcome, they create a signal.”
He also warned that personal financial interests could compromise professional judgment, arguing that “a logistician with money riding on a strike date has an interest in that date” and “an analyst with a position on an outcome has an interest in that outcome.”
The directive follows the prosecution of a US Special Forces soldier accused of profiting from advance knowledge of the January operation to kidnap Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.
Prosecutors allege that Master Sergeant Gannon Ken Van Dyke used information obtained through his involvement in planning and executing the raid to place more than $32,500 in Polymarket bets, earning over $400,000.
Most of the wagers were allegedly placed on January 2, hours before the attack on Caracas. Van Dyke has pleaded not guilty.
The controversy has extended beyond the military. Newly created Polymarket accounts placed suspiciously timed bets shortly before Trump announced an April US-Iran ceasefire, generating hundreds of thousands of dollars in profits. The White House later warned staff against trading on confidential information.
Trump’s former teleprompter operator was separately ordered to surrender more than $107,500 in profits and pay a $65,000 fine after regulators found he used advance access to presidential speeches to bet on which words Trump would say.
The scandals have intensified scrutiny of prediction markets, which several US states have accused of sidestepping gambling laws and consumer protections. The Trump administration, however, has argued that the platforms should remain regulated by federal financial authorities rather than under individual states’ gambling laws.
The president’s family also has business ties to the industry. Donald Trump Jr. serves as a strategic adviser to Kalshi and holds an investment in Polymarket through his venture firm, 1789 Capital.
Civilians in the town of Alyoshki in Russia’s Kherson Region have faced severe shortages of food, water, and medicine under a Ukrainian siege
Moscow and Kiev have agreed to a temporary ceasefire in the frontline town of Alyoshki in Russia’s Kherson Region to allow humanitarian aid deliveries and civilian evacuations following mediation co-ordinate by US First Lady Melania Trump, the Kremlin has confirmed.
Located near the front line in Kherson Region, which voted to join Russia in a 2022 referendum, Alyoshki has been largely cut off from essential supplies and basic services for months under a Ukrainian siege. Drone attacks and remotely laid mines have hampered aid deliveries and evacuation efforts, leaving an estimated 1,500 to 2,000 civilians in the town trapped, many of them elderly.
The White House announced the agreement earlier on Friday, saying both sides had agreed to suspend all military operations in Alyoshki from October 29 to allow humanitarian aid deliveries and prepare for civilian evacuations through a designated safe passage.
Melania Trump, who had previously expressed willingness to support humanitarian efforts in Alyoshki, described the situation as “dire,” calling the town a “frontline war city on the brink of disaster.”
“The remaining population is comprised primarily of elderly residents who urgently need medical attention, medicine, food, and clean water,” she said.
Civilian representatives from Russia and Ukraine will assess residents’ needs and help organize evacuations to either country, depending on the residents’ wishes, the first lady said.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said military officials were working to coordinate the timing of the ceasefire. He welcomed Melania Trump’s efforts, crediting her with making a “significant contribution” to the humanitarian operation.
Peskov also acknowledged the work of Russian human rights commissioner Yana Lantratova and her Ukrainian counterpart Dmitry Lubinets in arranging the operation.
Moscow has accused Kiev of deliberately creating the humanitarian crisis by targeting civilian supply routes and obstructing aid deliveries. Russian Foreign Ministry envoy Rodion Miroshnik previously described the situation as a “medieval blockade using modern methods,” accusing Ukrainian forces of preventing residents from leaving.
Russian President Vladimir Putin and his US counterpart, Donald Trump, discussed the crisis during a phone call earlier this month. According to the Kremlin, the two leaders agreed that Russian human rights commissioner Yana Lantratova would maintain contact with Melania Trump’s office over humanitarian efforts.
An Umrah pilgrim told RT his flight tickets were canceled, while a family member appealed to New Delhi to help bring travelers home
Thousands of Indian Umrah pilgrims remain stranded in Saudi Arabia with airlines extending flight suspensions following attacks on the kingdom’s airports.
Affected travelers and their families have spoken to RT about canceled flights and difficulties in returning home, and appealed for more help from the Indian government.
The disruptions come amid a wave of attacks by Yemen’s Houthi rebels on Saudi Arabia. An Indian national was killed and two others injured in a strike on King Fahd International Airport in Dammam on Wednesday.
Indian carrier IndiGo on Friday extended cancellations to Jeddah, Medina, and Dammam until October 27, while flights to Riyadh will remain suspended until October 31. Akasa Air has also suspended services to Riyadh and Jeddah until October 27.
Mohammed Yahad, an Umrah pilgrim stranded in Medina, told RT that two tickets for his group had been canceled. He said he was safe and in contact with his family back in India, while his travel agent was providing food and accommodation.
”No one from the Indian Embassy has contacted us yet,” he said.
Around 3,000 pilgrims have returned to India on available flights over the past week, alongside more than 10,000 others traveling on scheduled services, India’s Foreign Ministry said Thursday.
Indian lawmaker Asaduddin Owaisi separately estimated that around 4,000 pilgrims remained stranded in Mecca and Medina.
Parveen Ansari’s brother and sister-in-law, both with speech impairments, remain stranded in Saudi Arabia. Ansari told RT that her family had difficulty contacting her brother after his flight was canceled.
Their travel agent later confirmed that he had been moved safely to Mecca. The agent was also covering food and accommodation, but their return could take another week, Ansari said.
”I would like the Indian government to speak with the Saudi government and find a solution to this problem,” she told RT.
Indian Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju said Friday that the government was assisting pilgrims still awaiting their return. Indian diplomatic missions in Riyadh and Jeddah are coordinating with airlines and tour operators and have established round-the-clock helplines.
The civilian reportedly fainted after trying to prevent the detention of a potential military recruit
A video going viral on Ukrainian social media appears to show a police officer choking a woman until she loses consciousness as she protests an attempt to forcibly mobilize a man.
The footage was reportedly recorded in Odessa this week, although few details about the incident have emerged since.
The altercation began when officers attempted to forcibly remove the driver of a parked car and put him into their vehicle, according to local media, prompting witnesses to intervene. One of the protesters, a woman, was placed in a choke-hold by an officer and soon collapsed to the ground, apparently fainting. Reports said she subsequently required medical assistance.
Some outlets suggested the detention was part of Ukraine’s notorious military mobilization campaign. Police have not issued an official statement, and there is no confirmation that the incident involved so-called “busification,” the practice of forcibly detaining potential recruits that has plagued the draft.
The mandatory conscription of fighting-age men, conducted to replenish losses in Kiev’s fight with Russia, has been marred by widespread corruption and abuses of power, as repeatedly documented by Ukraine’s human rights ombudsman, Dmitry Lubinets.
In a recent interview, he said those enforcing mobilization have increasingly been entering people’s homes, sometimes using force, to seize potential recruits. The practice is illegal, but “the reality is very different from what is written on paper,” the official said, referring to complaints received by his office.
The Swiss government has disputed Uganda’s account of a Nigerian woman’s travel history as health officials investigate where she contracted the virus
The woman diagnosed with Nigeria’s first Ebola case in more than a decade did not travel to the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DR Congo), the Swiss government has said. The statement contradicts claims by Ugandan authorities that she had visited the country where the current outbreak began.
The patient is a 42-year-old Ugandan-born Swiss national married to a Swiss diplomat based in Abuja. She is believed to have contracted the virus while traveling with her husband in Uganda, the Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs told Reuters on Thursday.
Uganda’s Health Ministry initially reported that the woman was a Nigerian national who had visited eastern DR Congo on business before traveling through Uganda. The ministry said the source of her infection remained unknown and stressed that Uganda had no active Ebola cases. However, the Swiss government later denied that the woman had traveled to DR Congo, while the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) said they had received no confirmed information about such a visit.
“The information supplied to WHO did not include travel to another country (other than Uganda),” WHO representative in Nigeria Pavel Ursu said.
The Africa CDC is also investigating whether the woman may have come into contact with a Kenyan Ebola patient, as both traveled through Uganda’s Entebbe airport on October 3.
Nigeria confirmed the infection on October 20. The woman returned to Nigeria on October 3 after spending about two and a half weeks in Uganda, the BBC said. According to the WHO, she developed symptoms four days later and sought medical care on October 11. She remains in isolation and is showing signs of improvement, while her husband is also isolated but has no symptoms. Nigerian Health Minister Muhammad Ali Pate warned from “any panic,” stressing there was “no evidence that it has gone into the communities,” as authorities stepped up contact tracing and monitoring.
Uganda recorded 20 Ebola cases earlier this year, mostly imported from DR Congo, before being declared free of the disease in August.
The outbreak has affected DR Congo, Uganda, Kenya, Nigeria, and France. According to the latest figures from DR Congo’s Health Ministry, the country had recorded 9,704 confirmed Ebola cases and 4,687 deaths as of October 20, with a fatality rate of 48.3%. The outbreak has affected 66 health zones across eight provinces.
New Delhi’s mission in Yemen says its nationals are now safe in Hodeidah after the incident on Thursday
Fourteen Indian sailors on board a yacht which was attacked in the Red Sea on Thursday have been rescued, New Delhi’s mission in Yemen has said.
“Reports suggest that all 14 Indian nationals are safe and located around Hodeidah in Yemen,” the Indian mission in Yemen said in an X post on Friday. The embassy will continue to work to ensure their well-being, it added.
On Thursday, the embassy said Indian officials were working to find out more details about the reported strike on the yacht. It said information was sparse due to the conflict in the region.
“We have reached out to different parties to establish the circumstances and facts of the incident and hope to update as soon as authentic information becomes available,” it said in the X post.
Reports suggest that all 14 Indian nationals are safe and located around Hodeidah in Yemen. We will continue to work for ensuring their well being.@MEAIndia
“The Saudi enemy is targeting an Indian yacht near Zuqar Island, carrying 14 people of Indian nationality, according to preliminary information,” Houthi military spokesperson Yahya Saree posted, according to an NDTV report. “The Yemeni Armed Forces are rescuing them and will provide more details later.”
The Russian president outlined what is needed for a lasting settlement, highlighting Kiev’s duplicity on territorial disputes and its brutal conscription methods
Russia remains ready to negotiate a lasting settlement in Ukraine but will achieve its objectives regardless, Russian President Vladimir Putin told journalist Pavel Zarubin on Thursday. He also outright rejected “schizophrenic” claims in Western media that Moscow could be seeking a war with Europe.
Putin’s comments followed nearly three hours of talks with US envoy Steve Witkoff in St. Petersburg on Wednesday. Witkoff brought new peace talk proposals following his own discussions with Vladimir Zelensky, Finnish President Alexander Stubb, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen’s Chief of Staff Bjoern Siebert, and Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store in Oslo.
The new diplomatic engagement comes after Putin’s October 9 agreement with US President Donald Trump on Russian diesel supplies, whereby Washington eased fuel export restrictions while engaging with Moscow on broader economic cooperation.
Lasting peace, rather than a temporary pause
Putin confirmed Russia’s readiness to resume trilateral contacts with the US and Ukraine, focusing on security arrangements for both countries after a final settlement. The goal is to achieve definitive peace agreements, rather than “a suspension of hostilities for some short period,” he stressed.
The Russian leader also stated that he agrees with Witkoff’s argument that such discussions would also need to address Europe’s wider security architecture.
Kremlin aide Yury Ushakov previously suggested the talks could resume around mid-November, potentially in Abu Dhabi.
Putin said an agreement was possible, but insisted that “all the goals of the special military operation will be achieved” one way or another.
European claims that Russia poses a military threat and preparations for confrontation amount to “political schizophrenia,” Putin said, arguing that European populations do not want war with Russia and explicitly rejected suggestions that Moscow is preparing to attack them.
“We do not want, we are not preparing for any war with Europe,” he said.
Putin described inflicting a strategic defeat on Russia as unrealistic, expressing hope that its opponents would recognize that peaceful relations better serve their own populations.
‘Historic Russia’ and the territorial question
Asked about Zelensky’s recent comments to Fox News that he would be willing to give up 25% of his territories in order to freeze the conflict on the current battle lines, Putin rejected the premise.
“It is not their territory, it is the territory of historic Russia,” he said, citing residents’ votes for independence and subsequently for reunification with the Russian Federation.
He acknowledged that the issue remained disputed, but argued that describing these developments as Ukraine losing territory was inappropriate.
Putin called it “incomprehensible” that Kiev expects that “the entire world should pay them, fight for them, supply them with weapons, ammunition, equipment,” and stressed that Russia has no desire to fight Ukraine.
“If Ukraine’s current leadership wants to wage war, let them fight. But why do they think everyone should pay for it and supply them with weapons?” Putin questioned.
He noted that much of this desire for war can be attributed to foreign countries that want to fight against Russia in order to weaken it and have promised support to Kiev.
However, Putin stressed that these foreign entities are prepared to fight until “the last Ukrainian” and questioned whether Ukraine’s leadership similarly treats its citizens as expendable cannon fodder.
Putin accused Ukrainian authorities of rounding up men “like stray dogs” and forcibly sending them to the front, undermining motivation. He also argued that nationalist groups that carry out this so-called “busification” do not always bear the frontline burden themselves.
He recalled that, according to official figures, there have been half a million deserters in Ukraine and over 300,000 criminal cases opened, adding that the actual numbers could be significantly higher.
Shared history and missed opportunities
Putin said Moscow had sought a negotiated resolution with Kiev since 2014, including through the Minsk agreements intended to settle the Donbass conflict. He blamed Ukrainian authorities for repeatedly rejecting opportunities to reach an agreement before Russia’s military operation began in 2022.
He described Ukrainians as a people closely related to Russians, pointing to genetic research that has shown they are “one people.” However, he acknowledged that some wished to identify differently and said Russia accepted that reality.
“We are ready even now to negotiate and seek solutions to this difficult, complicated situation,” Putin said. “Everything can be agreed upon.”
All four international airports of the Russian capital had been forced to halt operations during the attack
All four of Moscow’s international airports – Sheremetyevo, Domodedovo, Vnukovo, and Zhukovsky – have resumed operations after a drone attack on Friday. An alert triggered an evacuation from Sheremetyevo, Russia’s busiest airport, which appeared to be the main target of the latest Ukrainian raid.
The alarm prompted the airports to temporarily suspend all operations, halting arrivals and departures, according to Russia’s Federal Air Transport Agency. The shutdown affected all four international airports serving the Russian capital, which together handle roughly 200,000 passengers and more than 1,000 aircraft arrivals and departures on a typical day.
Sheremetyevo announced an evacuation during the raid, escorting passengers off aircraft and leading them to shelters. The evacuation order was lifted later in the day, with airport officials warning that flight delays and schedule disruptions could persist as airlines worked to restore normal operations.
Sheremetyevo, located northwest of Moscow, is the main hub for Russia’s flag carrier Aeroflot. It handles around 111,000 passengers daily, serving destinations across the country as well as in Asia, the Middle East, and other regions.
Domodedovo, southeast of the capital, handles approximately 39,000 passengers daily, while Vnukovo, southwest of Moscow, serves around 49,000. Both operate domestic and international services, including flights to Türkiye, Central Asia, and the Middle East.
Zhukovsky, the smallest of the four airports, is located southeast of Moscow near the city of the same name. It handles approximately 4,000 passengers daily, primarily on routes connecting Russia with neighboring countries and other international destinations.
The airports have urged passengers to follow official announcements and check flight information directly with their airlines, as schedules remain subject to change.
Moscow’s three largest airports – Sheremetyevo, Domodedovo, and Vnukovo – handled a combined 40.4 million passengers in the first seven months of 2026, down 3.5% from the same period last year, according to Rosaviatsia figures analyzed by Interfax. Domodedovo recorded the steepest decline, with passenger traffic falling 13.2% to 6.9 million. Vnukovo saw a 1.4% drop to just over 9 million passengers, while Sheremetyevo, the capital’s busiest airport, reported a 1% decline to 24.5 million.
Russian air defenses shot down 155 Ukrainian drones over Moscow and the surrounding region overnight, according to Russian authorities. Earlier on Friday, Moscow Mayor Sergey Sobyanin reported that 19 of the UAVs had been intercepted on approach to the capital.
Moscow-bound flights have been diverted to other airports, including Pulkovo in St. Petersburg, which confirmed it was receiving aircraft originally destined for the Russian capital.
The limited supplies and high costs of Venezuelan oil will keep energy flowing from Russia to its traditional friend India, analysts say
India will not cut off Russian crude supplies even if the current US push for it to take in more Venezuelan oil to cool global fuel prices masks the larger goal of weakening New Delhi’s energy ties with Moscow.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in Mumbai on Tuesday that India diversifying its energy supplies is a “smart thing to do.”
Some analysts see a hidden geopolitical and economic goal behind those words and Rubio’s push for Indian conglomerate Reliance to buy and refine more Venezuelan oil.
“A key US goal is to weaken the Indo-Russian relationship by steering India farther away from Russian crude,” geopolitical analyst Brahma Chellaney posted on X on Thursday.
“Washington’s underlying diplomatic objective is to get India to substitute Russian oil with US crude and US-controlled Venezuelan oil.”
Washington imposed an additional 25% tariff on Indian goods in August 2025 to pressure New Delhi over its Russian oil purchases, arguing that Moscow’s energy revenues were helping finance its military in the Ukraine conflict. The penalty was withdrawn in February this year.
Last week, US President Donald Trump also waived separate sanctions and steep tariffs targeting major buyers of Russian energy under a recently passed law, citing ongoing US efforts to negotiate an end to the Ukraine conflict.
During his Indian tour, Rubio sought to get India to buy more U.S. energy as well as more oil from Venezuela, whose export revenues are directly deposited into an account controlled by the U.S. Treasury, with Washington determining when, how much and for what purposes the funds are released. Rubio wants the world’s largest oil-refining complex in Jamnagar to process more Venezuelan crude.
Washington appears not to be content with India’s rapid emergence since May as a top global buyer of U.S.-sourced and U.S.-controlled energy supplies. The U.S. has already become India’s largest supplier of both liquefied natural gas (LNG) and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG). At Washington’s urging, India has also become the largest destination for Venezuelan oil exports.
A key U.S. goal is to weaken the Indo-Russian relationship by steering India farther away from Russian crude. While Rubio framed India’s efforts to diversify its energy portfolio as a “smart thing to do,” Washington’s underlying diplomatic objective is to get India to substitute Russian oil with U.S. crude and U.S.-controlled Venezuelan oil.
“What America is trying to do is gain greater control over the international oil market,” Jindal School of International Affairs adjunct professor and former Jawaharlal Nehru University professor, Anuradha Mitra Chenoy, told RT.
“India will continue purchasing Russian oil,” she added.
Russia remains India’s largest oil supplier amid global energy disruptions. Russian crude made up more than half of India’s oil purchases in July, although the share fell to 33.5% in September as Middle Eastern supplies recovered and competition from China intensified, Reuters reported.
The scale of available supplies in the global market makes replacing Russian oil difficult, especially for a country such as India, Chenoy explained. The world’s most populous nation imports more than 85% of its energy.
“Venezuela alone cannot provide all the alternatives,” Chenoy said. “There are only a limited number of major sources available internationally, and Russia remains one of the most important suppliers.”
Venezuela produced approximately 1.16 million barrels per day of crude in September, compared with Russia’s 8.43 million, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA). India’s Russian imports alone exceeded Venezuela’s entire output that month.
India, looking to widen its crude basket amid the global uncertainty, has already expanded Venezuelan purchases substantially. New Delhi’s Venezuelan imports surged from $255 million in all of FY2026 ended March, to $3.6 billion in the April-August period this year, data shared by the Global Trade Research Initiative (GTRI) think tank showed.
India is a fast-growing major economy and one of the few bright spots amid the macroeconomic headwinds blowing across the world. The IMF forecasts it to grow at 7% this year and next.
Sustaining that growth depends heavily on the availability and affordability of energy, Chenoy pointed out. “India cannot simply abandon Russian oil because Washington wants it to.”
Venezuela’s Merey grade is being offered at around $25 per barrel below benchmark Brent, but that cost advantage disappears when the $35-a-barrel freight to India’s west coast is added in, energy analyst Natalia Katona told the Indian Express.
The discounts on Russian crude have also narrowed and freight costs risen, making its delivered price comparable to some Middle Eastern grades, particularly Iraqi oil, reports said.
Still, it would be tough for Venezuelan oil to compete with Russian crude, let alone replace it for Indian buyers, because of the limited production, higher cost, and specialized equipment needed to refine the heavy grade.
Reliance’s Jamnagar complex, which can process around 1.4 million barrels daily, is among the refineries equipped to handle the Venezuelan grade.
From the American perspective, Merey has one advantage that likely prompted Rubio to rush to India amid higher fuel prices back home: it can produce a higher volume of diesel.
However, that is not a great reason for India to replace Russian crude with Merey.
The sanctions that were levied on Venezuela by Washington – before US forces kidnapped Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro in January – had forced India to stop buying oil from the South American country and froze billions of dollars in Indian investments in oil fields there.
“India must consider whether another shift in US policy could again put its investments and earnings at risk,” said GTRI founder Ajay Srivastava.
The time-tested and deep friendship between India and Russia must also be considered.
Chenoy pointed out that there is a broad consensus across Indian society and politics about the friendship with Russia. “India’s relationship with Russia has been among its most stable international relationships for decades,” she said.
Any designs the US has on India-Russia ties are bound to fail because of that one reason alone.
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