Tag: Russia

Afghanistan Taliban

Taliban Sign Deal For Russian Oil, Gas, And Wheat At Discounted Rate

By LokMarg

Taliban have inked an agreement to purchase and import Russian wheat, gas, and oil, the officials of the Islamic group said.

A Taliban spokesperson said products including gasoline, diesel, gas, and wheat would be purchased at a “special discount” in Russian currency, Khaama Press news agency reported.
Although Russia had agreed to the discounted trade deal, the Taliban official did not provide any details on the pricing and payment methods.

This deal comes as Russia has been hit hard by sanctions imposed after its invasion of Ukraine. The punitive measures from the Western countries have forced Moscow to shift its exports from Europe to Asia.

Meanwhile, economic development, trade, and transit remained a high priority for the Taliban, since its accent to power in August last year.

The Islamic group has continued diplomatic and economic engagement with regional countries, whose representatives stated publicly that formal recognition of the de facto authorities as a government was not imminent.

This deal comes after high-level Taliban delegations visited Russia earlier this year. Aside from Moscow, several companies from regional countries have shown interest in investing in the extractive industries sector in Afghanistan.

The Taliban leadership have consistently said that they are looking for trade deals with the international community.

This latest agreement with Russia move could help to ease the isolation that has effectively cut it off from the world following their takeover of Afghanistan last year.

A UN report released on Tuesday said the Afghan economy remained greatly weakened by the severe economic contraction and the banking and financial crisis that followed the Taliban takeover.

“Available data suggest that six-month revenue collection through June, driven by customs and non-tax sources, is on par with the level recorded for the same period last year, and exports, driven by coal and fruits, surpassed past performance,” said the latest quarterly report of the UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to the Security Council.

The sudden stop of aid inflows, however, accompanied by political uncertainty, inadequate access to services and women’s exclusion from economic participation, continued to lead to slow growth, the report added.

According to the UN report, Humanitarian needs were compounded by the sharp economic decline and the devastating combination of decades of conflict, recent earthquakes, recurring natural hazards, and protracted vulnerability. (ANI)

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Meta Influence Campaigns

Meta Shuts Down Russia, China-Based Influence Campaigns

By LokMarg

Meta, the parent company of Facebook, on Tuesday took down two separate covert influence networks operating from China and Russia.

Meta publicly detailed the takedown as it remains on high alert for foreign interference in the US midterm elections, a Meta spokesperson told CNN.
The Chinese network was small and received barely any attention, but it did include some accounts that posed as Americans on both sides of the political spectrum, according to a Meta report.

Ben Nimmo, Meta’s global threat intelligence lead, told CNN it was the first time the company had seen Chinese accounts targeting Americans in this way.

“They were running fake accounts that pretended to be Americans and try to talk like Americans and they were talking about really divisive domestic issues like abortion and gun control,” he said.

The company has shared details of the Chinese accounts with the FBI, a Meta spokesperson said.

The Russian campaign, on the other hand, was vast. It pushed pro-Kremlin narratives about the war in Ukraine, included thousands of accounts and pages across multiple social media platforms and spent more than USD 100,000 on ads on Facebook and Instagram.

Meta did not attribute either campaign to specific entities within China or Russia, or to the Chinese and Russian governments, instead saying only the accounts that were part of the campaigns were run out of the respective countries, reported CNN.

Meta said the network of Russian accounts it had taken down was the “largest and most complex Russian operation we’ve disrupted since the war in Ukraine began, it ran a sprawling network of over 60 websites impersonating news organizations, as well as accounts on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, Telegram, Twitter,” and other sites, according to the report.

The operation included websites that were designed to mimic real Western news outlets, including The Guardian. According to a list of website addresses included in the Meta report, the Russian campaign also registered fake sites designed to look like The Daily Mail and the German outlets Bild and Der Spiegel, reported CNN.

The sophistication of the effort was demonstrated in its attempts to promote disinformation about the Bucha massacre.

The Chinese effort only consisted of about 80 Facebook accounts and barely had any following. Meta said the accounts primarily targeted audiences in the United States and the Czech Republic but posted during working hours in Beijing.

Meta said, “these accounts largely stuck to a shift pattern that coincided with a nine-to-five, Monday-to-Friday work schedule during working hours in China — 12 hours ahead of Florida and six hours ahead of Prague,” according to the report. (ANI)

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Putin Gaza

Putin Denounces Inhuman Terrorist Attack At Russian School: Kremlin

By LokMarg

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday denounced the attack on a Russian school in Izhevsk as “inhuman”, according to Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov on Monday.

“President Putin deeply mourns the deaths of people, children at a school where there was a terrorist attack by a person, who apparently belongs to a neo-fascist group,” a Kremlin spokesman said, as quoted by Al Jazeera.
“The president wishes for the recovery of those injured as a result of this inhuman terrorist attack,” he added.

An unidentified attacker opened fire in a school in the Russian city of Izhevsk in which at least 13 people were killed including seven children.

While 21 others including 14 children were injured, TASS reported citing the Russian Investigative Committee today.

“According to preliminary reports, the crime claimed the lives of 13 people, including six adults and seven young children. Fourteen people and seven kids were wounded,” the investigators said.

Media reports said a young man reportedly started shooting at the military enlistment office in Irkutsk Region’s Ust-Ilimsk.

The 25-year-old shooter was immediately detained. A criminal case has been initiated against the suspect who is a resident of Ust-Ilimsk.

According to Al Jazeera, school shootings are rare in Russia.

In April this year, an armed man opened fire in a kindergarten in Russia’s Ulyanovsk region, according to media reports.

In May 2021, nine people – including seven children – were killed after a lone teenage gunman opened fire in Russia’s southwestern city of Kazan.

In 2018, a student at a college in Russian-annexed Crimea killed 20 people before turning his gun on himself, as per Aj Jazeera. (ANI)

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blinken

Need for Peace And Stability In Taiwan Strait: Blinken

By LokMarg

Amid the tension between US and China, Secretary of State Antony Blinken met his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi on Friday and stressed for preserving peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait.

Blinken, who is in New York to attend the 77th sessions of UNGA, “stressed that preserving peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait is critical to regional and global security and prosperity,” State Department spokesperson Ned Price said in a statement.
Over an hour-long meeting, Blinken emphasized that the United States is committed to maintaining peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait, consistent with its longstanding one-China policy.

Both leaders discussed the need to maintain open lines of communication and responsibly manage the US-PRC relationship.

“He also reiterated the United States’ condemnation of Russia’s war against Ukraine and highlighted the implications if the PRC were to provide support to Moscow’s invasion of a sovereign state. He underscored that the United States remains open to cooperating with the PRC where our interests intersect,” Ned Price said as quoted by the statement.

Earlier also, the US had repeatedly raised their voice on China-Taiwan relations. On September 19, CBS released their interview with US President from its “60 minutes programme”, where Joe Biden said that American forces would defend Taiwan from a Chinese invasion.

Responding to a query over defending Taiwan in the event of a Chinese invasion, Biden said the US would defend Taiwan “if in fact there was an unprecedented attack,” according to The Washington Post.

Scott Pelley, the interviewer in the 60-minute programme pressed Biden on whether the situation would be different in the event of an attack on Taiwan.

“So unlike Ukraine, to be clear, sir, U.S. forces — U.S. men and women — would defend Taiwan in the event of a Chinese invasion?” Pelley asked.

“Yes,” Biden replied.

The relations between China and US deteriorated after House Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited Taiwan. That trip angered China’s ruling Communist Party — which views Taiwan as part of its territory, despite never having governed it — and it responded by launching unprecedented military drills around the island, sending warplanes across the Taiwan Strait and firing missiles over the main island. (ANI)

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Ukraine Conflict

Use Dialogue To End Ukraine Conflict: India At UN Security Council

By LokMarg

Noting that the trajectory of the Ukraine conflict is a matter of profound concern for the entire international community, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Thursday said the world has experienced its consequences in terms of higher costs and shortages of foodgrains, fertilizers and fuel.

Speaking at the UNSC briefing on Ukraine’s’ Fight against impunity, the minister said that the need of the hour is to end the conflict in Ukraine and return to the negotiating table.

“This Council is the most powerful symbol of diplomacy. It must continue to live up to its purpose,” he said.

Jaishankar recalled Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s remarks concerning the Ukraine conflict during his meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin on the sidelines of the SCO summit.

India, a non-permanent member of the UNSC along with other members attended the Thursday meeting. The council was being represented by foreign ministers at the meeting. This was the first direct encounter between US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and Ukraine’s Dmytro Kuleba, who attended the meeting as his country is the subject of discussion.

“The trajectory of the Ukraine conflict is a matter of profound concern for the entire international community. The outlook appears truly disturbing. In a globalized world, its impact is being felt even in distant regions. We have all experienced its consequences in terms of higher costs and actual shortages of food grains, fertilizers and fuel. The global south, especially, is feeling the pain acutely. We must not initiate measures that further complicate the global economy,” Jaishankar said.

“That is why India is strongly reiterating the need for an immediate cessation of all hostilities and a return to dialogue and diplomacy. Clearly, as Prime Minister Narendra Modi has emphasized, this cannot be an era of war,” he added.

Referring to the specific topic before the Council, Jaishankar emphasized that even in conflict situations, there can be no justification for violation of human rights or of international law.

“Where any such acts occur, it is imperative that they are investigated in an objective and independent manner. This was the position that we took with regard to the killings in Bucha. This is the position even today. The Council will also recall that we had then supported calls for an independent investigation into that incident,” he said.

Jaishankar said the fight against impunity is critical to the larger pursuit of securing peace and justice.

“The Security Council must send an unambiguous and unequivocal message on this count. Politics should never ever provide cover to evade accountability. Nor indeed to facilitate impunity. Regrettably, we have seen this of late in this very Chamber, when it comes to sanctioning some of the world’s most dreaded terrorists.

“If egregious attacks committed in broad daylight are left unpunished, this Council must reflect on the signals we are sending on impunity. There must be consistency if we are to ensure credibility,” he said.

On Wednesday on the margins of UNGA, Ukraine’s Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal thanked India and asked India to “join forces” to stop Russia’s invasion when he met Jaishankar.

India has remained neutral on Russia’s invasion, abstaining from votes at the Council and the Assembly condemning Moscow. It has provided humanitarian assistance to Ukraine and recently voted with the West on a procedural vote to invite Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky to speak remotely to the Council despite Russia’s opposition. (ANI)

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Putin Gaza

Putin Announces Partial Military Mobilization In Russia

By LokMarg

Asserting that the purpose of the West is to weaken, divide, and ultimately destroy Russia, President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday announced that he had signed a decree on partial military mobilization in Russia amid the ongoing war in Ukraine.

“In order to protect our homeland, its sovereignty, and territorial integrity, to ensure the security of our people and people in the liberated territories, I consider it necessary to support the proposal of the Ministry of Defense and the General Staff to conduct partial mobilization in the Russian Federation,” he said during a national address today, CNN reported.
He further said that efforts to begin partial mobilization will begin today.

“I repeat, we are talking only about partial mobilization. That is, only those citizens who are in the reserve and, above all, those who served in the armed forces, have certain military specialties and relevant experience, will be subject to conscription,” Putin said, as per CNN.

After the Kyiv regime actually publicly refused a peaceful solution to the Donbas problem today and, moreover, announced its claim to nuclear weapons, it became absolutely clear that a new next large-scale offensive in the Donbas, as it had already happened twice before, was inevitable,” he added.

At the beginning of his speech to the nation, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that Western countries are seeking to destroy Russia.

“The purpose of this West is to weaken, divide and ultimately destroy our country. They are already directly saying that in 1991 they were able to split the Soviet Union, and now the time has come for Russia to break up into a multitude of regions and areas which are fatally hostile to each other,” the Russian president said as quoted by CNN.

Referendums on joining Russia will be held in the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics, as well as the Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions in eastern Ukraine on September 23-27.

Earlier, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy dismissed Russian plans to stage referendums in occupied regions in eastern and southern Ukraine as a “noise” and thanked Ukraine’s allies for condemning the votes scheduled to start Friday.

On Tuesday, US Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield condemned the expected referendums during a meeting with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba and reiterated the US would not recognize any attempt by Russia to “claim annexation of Ukraine’s sovereign territory.”

The US, along with the G7 nations and European Union (EU), has imposed severe and immediate economic costs on Russia for its “atrocities in Ukraine, including in Bucha”. (ANI)

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Oil Exports To India

Trend Of Oil Exports To India Will Continue: Russia

By LokMarg

The trend of crude oil supply to India will continue, and bilateral trade will strike new records, said Russian Ambassador to India, Denis Alipov, in an interview with ANI.
“India being a consumer, quite naturally is looking for the cheapest offers and Russia being deprived of its traditional markets in Europe, for example, is looking for new markets, so this meeting between best available options and best available offers is driving the trade and our relationship in the energy sector, it is natural we think this trend will continue in a structured manner,” the Russian envoy said.

“No one knows the situation how energy markets look like by the end of the year, we are looking to further expanding our relationship in this area at promoting the ongoing dialogue and cooperation based on long-term arrangements and agreements,” he added.

According to an estimate, there is a steep jump in Russian oil export to India, as it has increased ten times this year and Russian crude oil is now fulfilling almost ten percent of India’s imported oil consumption.

“The volumes (of trade have reached USD 11.5 billion already in half of the year. We will make and strike possibly a new record in our trade by the year, as we did in the previous one when our trade stood at USD 13.6 billion,” the Ambassador said.

The Russian envoy said that India and Russia are looking to further expanding the relationship in the energy sector as the situation in the future is unpredictable.

Europe and US had expressed reservations about the quantum jump in Russian exports to Asian giants India and China.

The envoy also spoke about the position taken by India on oil imports

He lauded the recent remarks made by External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and slammed the West for practicing double standards. “I believe that these are the same double standards, hypocrisy, and geopolitics.”

” Jaishankar was very clear to articulate the imperative to satisfy the needs of the Indian people, essentially we can put it like that West continues to plausibly ignore India’s legitimate national interest just like it did so most of the time at the time of colonialism,” he said.

Already, several sanctions and restrictions have been imposed on Russian oil exports, which Moscow has termed illegitimate and against the practices of international law, it has warned to stop the supply of gas to European countries.

The Russian envoy termed the G7’s plan to put a cap on the rates of Russian oil prices as narrow-minded and unrealistic, which according to him will definitely affect the global supply chains.

“I believe that this ill-intended initiative to put a cap on the price of Russian oil by administrative measures is both narrow-minded and unrealistic and it will definitely affect the global supply chains consequently will increase the energy rates, galloping projection if this whim is implemented. Russia will simply stop selling oil to those countries which decide to join this initiative as simple as that we will stop the supply of gas. It affects Russia substantially but ultimately it will be Europe who will feel the pain,” the Russian Ambassador said.

Speaking on the war in Ukraine, the Russian envoy said India is aware of the complexity and origin of the conflict.

He said, “We appreciate India’s approach has been very consistent, very well balanced, India is well aware of the origin of the crisis, we don’t have anything against the Ukrainian people we are brothers with Ukrainian people, but the current regime in Kyiv has become a very explicit anti-Russia project, President Zelenskyy let down the Russian-speaking population in the Donbas region labeling the people there as species and launching a military campaign against them, it has now effectively become a western proxy war against Russia and NATO proxy war against Russia.”

We, on our part, exercised a long-term approach with our neighborhood, which we wanted to remain peaceful, stable, and free of threats, we have been accused of the unjustified, unprovoked invasion of Ukraine, an argument which we will not accept. “We regard it as wrong on both accounts, so India is well aware of the complexity of Ukrainian conflict and acts in its own national interest,” he said. (ANI)