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MOSCOW (AP) — Russian President Vladimir Putin accused the United States of trying to encourage extended hostilities in Ukraine as part of what he described Tuesday as Washington's alleged efforts to maintain its global hegemony. Addressing a security conference attended by military officials from Africa,, Asia and Latin America, Putin reaffirmed his long-held claim that he sent troops into Ukraine in response to Washington turning the country into an "anti-Russia" bulwark. "They need conflicts to retain their hegemony," Putin charged. "...
MOSCOW (AP) — Russia will pull out of the International Space Station after 2024 and focus on building its own orbiting outpost, the country's new space chief said Tuesday amid high tensions between Moscow and the West over the fighting in Ukraine. The announcement, while not unexpected, throws into question the future of the 24-year-old space station, with experts saying it would be extremely difficult — perhaps a "nightmare," by one reckoning — to keep it running without the Russians. NASA and its partners had hoped to continue opera...
TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Russian President Vladimir Putin won staunch support from Iran on Tuesday for his country's military campaign in Ukraine, with Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei saying the West opposes an "independent and strong" Russia. Khamenei said that if Russia hadn't sent troops into Ukraine, it would have faced an attack from NATO later, a statement that echoed Putin's own rhetoric and reflected increasingly close ties between Moscow and Tehran as they both face crippling Western sanctions. NATO allies have bolstered their military p...
MOSCOW (AP) — The East-West faceoff over Ukraine escalated dramatically Tuesday, with Russian lawmakers authorizing President Vladimir Putin to use military force outside his country and President Joe Biden and European leaders responding by slapping sanctions on Russian oligarchs and banks. Both leaders signaled that an even bigger confrontation could lie ahead. Putin has yet to unleash the force of the 150,000 troops massed on three sides of Ukraine, while Biden held back on the toughest sanctions that could cause economic turmoil for R...
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukrainians defied pressure from Moscow with a national show of flag-waving unity Wednesday, while the U.S. warned that Russia had added as many as 7,000 troops near Ukraine's borders despite Kremlin declarations that forces were being pulled back from the region. While a feared Russian invasion of Ukraine did not materialize as feared, the United States and its allies maintained that the threat is still strong, with Europe's security and economic stability in the balance. Russia has massed more than 150,000 troops east, n...
MOSCOW (AP) — The Kremlin signaled Monday it is ready to keep talking with the West about security grievances that led to the current Ukraine crisis, offering hope that Russia might not invade its beleaguered neighbor within days as the U.S. and European allies increasingly fear. Questions remain about Russian President Vladimir Putin's intentions, however. And countries are evacuating diplomats and on alert for possible imminent war amid the worst East-West tensions since the Cold War. On a last-ditch diplomatic trip, Germany's chancellor s...
WASHINGTON (AP) — The failure of last week's high-stakes diplomatic meetings to resolve escalating tensions over Ukraine has put Russia, the United States and its European allies in uncharted post-Cold War territory, posing significant challenges for the main players to avoid an outright and potentially disastrous confrontation. Unlike previous disagreements that have arisen since the collapse of the Soviet Union, the current Ukraine crisis and seemingly insurmountable differences between Washington and Moscow carry real risks of d...
MOSCOW (AP) — Ukrainian and Western officials are worried that a Russian military buildup near Ukraine could signal plans by Moscow to invade its ex-Soviet neighbor. The Kremlin insists it has no such intention and has accused Ukraine and its Western backers of making the claims to cover up their own allegedly aggressive designs. It's unclear whether the Russian troop concentration heralds an imminent attack. Russian President Vladimir Putin has pushed for Western guarantees precluding NATO's expansion to Ukraine, and the buildup could r...
MOSCOW (AP) — A devastating fire swept through a Siberian coal mine Thursday, killing 52 miners and rescuers about 250 meters (820 feet) underground, Russian news reports said. Hours after a methane gas explosion and fire filled the mine with toxic fumes, rescuers found 14 bodies but then were forced to halt the search for 38 others because of a buildup of methane and a high concentration of carbon monoxide fumes from the fire. The state Tass and RIA-Novosti news agencies cited emergency officials as saying that there was no chance of f...
MOSCOW (AP) — Journalists Maria Ressa of the Philippines and Dmitry Muratov of Russia won the 2021 Nobel Peace Prize on Friday for their fight for freedom of expression in countries where reporters have faced persistent attacks, harassment and even murder. Ressa and Muratov were honored for their "courageous" work but also were considered "representatives of all journalists who stand up for this ideal in a world in which democracy and freedom of the press face increasingly adverse conditions," said Berit Reiss-Andersen, chair of the N...
MOSCOW (AP) — A Russian actor and a film director rocketed to space Tuesday on a mission to make the world's first movie in orbit, a project the Kremlin said will help burnish the nation's space glory. Actor Yulia Peresild and director Klim Shipenko blasted off for the International Space Station in a Russian Soyuz spacecraft together with cosmonaut Anton Shkaplerov, a veteran of three space missions. Their Soyuz MS-19 lifted off as scheduled at 1:55 p.m. (0855 GMT) from the Russian space launch facility in Baikonur, Kazakhstan and arrived a...
MOSCOW (AP) — Space engineers will analyze whether a glitch that caused the International Space Station to spin out of its normal orientation could have impacted any of its systems, a Russian space official said Wednesday. Sergei Krikalev, the director of crewed space programs at the Russian space corporation Roscosmos, emphasized that last week's incident did not inflict any observable damage to the space station but he said that experts would need to study its potential implications. "It appears there is no damage," Krikalev said in an i...
VIENNA, Austria (AP) — Belarusian Olympic sprinter Krystsina Tsimanouskaya, who feared for her safety at home after criticizing her coaches on social media, flew into Warsaw on Wednesday night on a humanitarian visa after leaving the Tokyo Olympics, a Polish diplomat confirmed. Deputy Foreign Minister Marcin Przydacz said the 24-year-old athlete had arrived in the Polish capital after flying from Tokyo via Vienna, a route apparently chosen to confuse those who would endanger her safety. In a statement, the diplomat said he "wanted to thank a...
MOSCOW (AP) — Russia is prepared to target intruding warships if they fail to heed warnings, a senior Russian diplomat said Thursday in a tough statement in the wake of a Black Sea incident in which a British destroyer sailed near Crimea in an area that Russia claims as its territorial waters. Russia said one of its warships fired warning shots and a warplane dropped bombs in the path of British destroyer Defender on Wednesday to drive it away from the area near Sevastopol. Britain denied that account, insisted its ship wasn't fired upon and s...
GENEVA (AP) — An American president won't side with Moscow over his own intelligence agencies. There will be no talk of a "reset" in Russian relations. And it is highly doubtful that anyone will gaze into Vladimir Putin's eyes and discuss his soul. But beyond that, it's not clear what will happen Wednesday in Geneva when President Joe Biden meets Putin for the first time since taking office. Both sides acknowledge that the relationship between the two nations is dismal and neither holds out much hope for meaningful areas of agreement. Still, e...
MOSCOW (AP) — Russian authorities are cracking down on dissent before a crucial parliamentary election in September, in what a leading Kremlin critic on Tuesday described as an attempt to sideline opponents. Mikhail Khodorkovsky, a Russian tycoon who moved to London after spending a decade in prison in Russia on charges widely seen as political revenge for challenging President Vladimir Putin's rule, said the latest moves against opposition activists reflected the authorities' concern about the waning popularity of the main Kremlin-directed p...
NAGURSKOYE, Russia (AP) — During the Cold War, Russia's Nagurskoye airbase was little more than a runway, a weather station and a communications outpost in the Franz Josef Land archipelago. It was a remote and desolate home mostly for polar bears, where temperatures plunge in winter to minus-42 Celsius (43 degrees below zero Fahrenheit) and the snow only disappears from August to mid-September. Now, Russia's northernmost military base is bristling with missiles and radar and its extended runway can handle all types of aircraft, including n...
MOSCOW (AP) — U.S.-Russia ties nosedived on Thursday after Russian leader Vladimir Putin shot back at President Joe Biden's description of him as a killer. The back and forth underscored Biden's desire to distance himself from former President Donald Trump's perceived softness on Putin despite actions his administration took against Russia. Although Biden agreed to extend a major arms control deal with Russia, he has been notably cool toward Moscow and highly critical of many of its activities. In taking a tough stance on Russia, Biden has s...
MOSCOW (AP) — Russia and the United States traded documents Tuesday to extend their last remaining nuclear arms control treaty days before it is due to expire, the Kremlin said. A Kremlin readout of a phone call between U.S. President Joe Biden and Russian President Vladimir Putin said the two leaders voiced satisfaction with the exchange of diplomatic notes about extending the New START treaty. "In the nearest days, the parties will complete the necessary procedures that will ensure further functioning of this important international legal n...
MOSCOW (AP) — The Kremlin on Friday welcomed U.S. President Joe Biden's proposal to extend the last remaining nuclear arms control treaty between the two countries, which is set to expire in less than two weeks. Russian President Vladimir Putin's spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, said that Russia stands for extending the pact and is waiting to see the details of the U.S. proposal. The White House said Thursday that Biden has proposed to Russia a five-year extension of the New START treaty. "We can only welcome political will to extend the document," P...
WASHINGTON (AP) — The United States and Russia inched closer Tuesday to a deal to extend their last remaining arms control pact, after U.S. threats to allow the deal to expire early next year. The two sides signaled they are ready to accept compromises to salvage the New START treaty just two weeks ahead of the U.S. presidential election in which President Donald Trump faces a strong challenge from former Vice President Joe Biden, whose campaign has accused Trump of being soft on Russia. After the White House last week rejected a proposal f...
MOSCOW (AP) — Russia moved to stop the worst escalation of fighting in the separatist region of Nagorno-Karabakh in more than a quarter-century by hosting cease-fire talks on Friday. Late Thursday, Russian President Vladimir Putin issued a statement calling for a break in the fighting between the Armenian and Azerbaijani forces that have raged for nearly two weeks over the region. The Kremlin said Putin's initiative followed a series of calls with Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev. The latest o...
MOSCOW (AP) — The embattled president of Kyrgyzstan ordered a nearly two-week state of emergency Friday in the capital in a bid to end turmoil sparked by a disputed parliamentary election as clashes between rival factions escalated and gunshots were fired at several political leaders. President Sooronbai Jeenbekov decreed that the state of emergency, from 8 p.m. Friday through 8 a.m. on Oct. 21, could include a curfew and travel restrictions. He also ordered the military to deploy troops to Bishkek, the capital, to enforce the measure. "We a...
MOSCOW (AP) — With Russia's mediation, Armenia and Azerbaijan agreed to a cease-fire in Nagorno-Karabakh starting at noon Saturday following two weeks of heavy fighting that marked the worst outbreak of hostilities in the separatist region in a quarter-century. The countries' foreign ministers said in a statement that the truce is intended to exchange prisoners and recover the dead, adding that specific details will be agreed on later. The announcement followed 10 hours of talks in Moscow sponsored by Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, w...
MOSCOW (AP) — Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday decried what he called Joe Biden's "sharp anti-Russian rhetoric" but praised the Democratic presidential nominee's comments on arms control. In his first detailed statements on the U.S. presidential campaign, Putin also lamented President Donald Trump's failure to improve relations between Moscow and Washington, but blamed this on a "bipartisan consensus on the need to contain Russia, to curb our country's development." Putin's comments, to Russian state television, seemed intended t...
