The CIA had top-level intelligence last August that Russian President Vladimir Putin personally ordered an operation to help Donald Trump win the U. S. presidential race, the Washington Post reported Friday. The intelligence shocked the White House and put U. S. security chiefs on a top-secret crisis footing to figure out how to react. But … Read more
The CIA had top-level intelligence last August that Russian President Vladimir Putin personally ordered an operation to help Donald Trump win the US presidential race, the Washington Post reported Friday. The intelligence shocked the White House and put US security chiefs on a top-secret crisis footing to figure out how to react. But amid confidence … Read more
Recalibrating France’s long-held policy of insisting that Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad must step down, President Emmanuel Macron has opted for realpolitik by making the fight against terror the top priority. In an interview with eight European newspapers Thursday, he unveiled a revamped policy to address a conflict that has claimed more than 320,000 lives and … Read more
US President Donald Trump greeted his Ukrainian counterpart Petro Poroshenko in the White House on Tuesday as Washington rolled out more sanctions against pro-Russian rebels, in a diplomatic coup for Kiev. Amid speculation that Trump would refuse to meet the Ukrainian leader, Poroshenko had what the White House described as a “drop-in” with the US … Read more
New US sanctions on Russia approved by the Senate will complicate the countries’ relations, Russian President Vladimir Putin said in a TV interview Saturday. “Of course this will make Russia-US relations more complex,” Putin said in an excerpt from an interview due to air in full at 1700 GMT on Rossiya-1 television. “I think it … Read more
Saudi Arabia insisted on Tuesday that its neighbour Qatar was not under blockade as a Gulf diplomatic dispute escalated amid increasing international concern over its effects on ordinary people. The gas-rich emirate’s only land border is with the Saudi kingdom, and the closure of both it and Saudi, Bahraini and Emirati airspace to Qatar Airways … Read more
Oliver Stone, the Hollywood director and triple Oscar winner, puts Russian President Vladimir Putin in US living rooms on Monday by broadcasting interviews with a leader who fascinates and repels many Americans in equal measure. “The Putin Interviews” is the product of 12 conversations between the Russian leader and Stone between July 2015 and February … Read more
US President Donald Trump said Friday that the United States remained committed to NATO’s mutual defense pledge, after he failed to endorse it in a speech in Brussels last month. Amid worries by Washington’s European partners that the US leader had not fully bought into the Atlantic alliance, Trump told reporters: “I’m committing the United … Read more
Asian rivals India and Pakistan on Friday formally joined the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, a security bloc spearheaded by China and Russia, despite bilateral tensions bubbling over Kashmir. Leaders of the largely symbolic body — including Russia’s Vladimir Putin and China’s Xi Jinping — formally signed off on the sub-continent duo’s accession at the annual SCO … Read more
Lithuania’s defense minister on Wednesday warned that a Russian military exercise later this year may serve as cover for an aggressive troop buildup on NATO’s eastern flank. Raimundas Karoblis is in Washington to lobby US officials and lawmakers for support as the exposed Baltic states modernize their defenses to deter Kremlin interference. In an interview … Read more
Leaked documents from the probe into Russia’s interference in the 2016 US election underscore some of the worst fears about electronic voting systems — that they may be vulnerable to hackers. The intelligence report revealed by The Intercept showed a cyberattack that targeted more than 100 local election officials and software vendors, raising the prospect … Read more
A top secret US report showing that hackers from Russian military intelligence tried repeatedly to break into US voting systems before last year’s presidential election raised new alarms Monday about the extent of Moscow’s meddling. But the alleged leak of the National Security Agency document by one of the tens of thousands of private contractors … Read more
Russian President Vladimir Putin says he had only a brief and passing acquaintance with former US national security adviser Michael Flynn, though the two sat next to each other at a dinner in Moscow in 2015. In an interview to be aired Sunday evening by NBC, Putin minimized his contact with Flynn, who was fired … Read more
World leaders have condemned Saturday’s London terror attack which left seven people dead and more than 30 injured. President Emmanuel Macron said France, which had two citizens injured in the attack, was more than ever at Britain’s side. Australian PM Malcolm Turnbull said his “prayers and resolute solidarity” were with the British people. One Australian … Read more
Russian President Vladimir Putin has said Americans must stop their “hysteria” about an alleged Russian deal with US President Donald Trump. “This is simply some kind of hysteria. You can’t seem to stop. Do we need to give you a tablet?” he said in a debate at the St Petersburg Economic Forum. A US journalist … Read more
In withdrawing the United States from the Paris climate pact, President Donald Trump claimed that honouring its terms would cost the country billions of dollars for a miniscule change to the global warming trajectory. Is this true? How will Washington quitting the 196-nation Paris club affect the fight against climate change? The Paris Agreement’s stated … Read more
In US director Oliver Stone’s edgy new interview series, Russian leader Vladimir Putin says he believes intelligence leaker Edward Snowden is no traitor and appears to confirm multiple assassination plots have targeted him. Excerpts released Thursday from “The Putin Interviews” show the strongman president chatting from behind the wheel of a car, in the Kremlin … Read more
Former FBI director James Comey will testify on June 8 before a congressional panel probing allegations of Russian interference in last year’s US election, the Senate Intelligence Committee said Thursday. Comey was fired by President Donald Trump early last month as the FBI’s own Russia probe increasingly focused on possible collusion between Trump’s campaign and … Read more
Russian President Vladimir Putin hosts Indian premier Narendra Modi on Thursday on the sidelines of the Kremlin’s annual economic forum, as Moscow looks to burnish a fragile recovery despite tensions with the West. Modi and Putin will meet on the third leg of the Indian leader’s four-nation tour of Europe with the pair looking to … Read more
A Russian warship and submarine have fired cruise missiles at Islamic State group targets around Palmyra in Syria from the Mediterranean, Moscow said Wednesday, the first such strikes announced in months. The frigate Admiral Essen and submarine Krasnodar carried out four strikes against military hardware and fighters from the jihadist group who had left its … Read more