Author: Steven Sahiounie

The trilateral talks will focus on Syria but other key issues will also be addressed in the Iranian capital, the Kremlin has said Russian President Vladimir Putin is scheduled to arrive in Tehran on Tuesday for talks with his Iranian counterpart Ebrahim Raisi and Turkish leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan. It will be his second foreign trip since the launch of Russia’s military operation in Ukraine on February 24. In late June, he visited Turkmenistan and Tajikistan to meet the countries’ leaders and attend the sixth Caspian Summit, in which Iran also took part. The trilateral negotiations in the Iranian capital…

Thirteen prisoners were killed at a prison in the Ecuadorean city of Santo Domingo on Monday, Ecuador’s prison agency said, the latest incident of deadly jail violence in the Andean country. The government of conservative President Guillermo Lasso attributes prison violence to fights between gangs over control of territory and drug trafficking routes, Reuters reported. Last year, 316 prisoners died during riots in various prisons across Ecuador. The police and the armed forces were retaking control of the penitentiary, the SNAI prisons agency said on Twitter. It earlier called the incident a “dispute”. “Unfortunately, personnel from the center report up…

North Macedonia and Albania are a step closer to membership after Skopje resolved its disputes with Bulgaria The European Union has initiated accession talks with North Macedonia and Albania, EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced on Tuesday. Speaking at a press conference in Brussels, von der Leyen hailed Skopje and Tirana for their progress on the path to joining the bloc, including strengthening the rule of law, fighting corruption, and implementing a range of reforms. She said the governments of the two Balkan nations have been making headway to become EU members because those steps are “good for…

The State Department told Antiwar.com ‘Crimea is Ukraine’ when asked if the ban on using HIMARS on Russian territory applies to Crimea Originally published by AntiWar The State Department on Sunday implied that Ukrainian forces are allowed to use US-provided High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS) against Russian targets in Crimea, which Russia has controlled since 2014. When the US first announced it was sending HIMARS to Ukraine, Biden administration officials said they received “assurances” from Ukrainian officials that the rockets won’t be used to target Russian territory. When asked if the ban on Ukraine using the HIMARS to target Russian territory…

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov says that “sanctions against Russia began to be introduced long before the special operation, now they measure in the hundreds and thousands”. Ahead of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s visit to Iran, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov has issued several statements, emphasizing that “restrictions and sanctions are the price that Russia and Iran must pay for sovereignty”. In an interview with the Iranian state-run TV, Peskov stressed that “sanctions against Russia began to be introduced long before the special operation, now they measure in the hundreds and thousands.” It is worth noting that Russia and Iran are stepping up efforts to…

The US treasury secretary campaigns in Asia, seeking a price cap on Russian crude The US has held ‘encouraging’ talks with India about a price cap on Russian oil that Washington wants to introduce in order to limit Moscow’s revenues and push down global crude prices, Reuters reported on Monday. US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, who’s currently on a trip to Asia, told the agency that she was feeling generally positive about the proposed measure. “We’ll see where they come out. The conversations I’ve had have generally been encouraging,” Reuters quoted Yellen as saying. According to a senior Treasury official cited…

Syrian Arab Army Units deployed in several areas in the northern countryside of Aleppo and Raqqa , adjacent to the border strip have reinforced their posts to counter the aggressions carried by the Turkish occupation forces and their affiliated terrorist mercenaries . “this procedure come in line with the governments efforts to profilate stability and security all through the Syrian terrotries ” SANA reporter stated. These reinforcements come at the time of the aggravated aggressions launched by the Turkish occupation forces and its terrorist mercenaries on safe areas, villages and towns by targeting citizens’ homes, properties and infrastructure with heavy…

The approval of a fifth tranche has taken the bloc’s overall military assistance to Kiev to €2.5 billion The European Union agreed Monday to allocate an additional 500 million euros in military aid to Ukraine. With the approval of the fifth assistance package, the bloc’s aid to Kiev has reached €2.5 billion ($2.5bn), the head of the European Council Charles Michel announced following a meeting of EU foreign ministers. In his post on Twitter, Michel noted that the funds are being released in the framework of the European Peace Facility (EPF) – a financial mechanism created in 2021 to enhance the bloc’s…

Bern has refused to treat Ukrainian civilians, arguing that they are “indistinguishable” from soldiers, local media report The Swiss federal government has turned down a request to treat wounded Ukrainians, arguing that the move would violate the Alpine nation’s neutral status, the country’s Tages Anzeiger newspaper has learned. The request was made by a NATO department. The Euro-Atlantic Disaster Response Coordination Centre – a NATO structure that currently coordinates international medical evacuations and treatment of Ukrainians injured during the ongoing conflict between Moscow and Kiev – reportedly reached out to the Swiss Army’s Coordinated Medical Service (KSD) in May. The military…

The head of state stressed that Russia cannot be isolated from the rest of the world, or fenced off from it Russia is not going to lose heart or have decades of its progress reversed, despite inhospitable forecasts from opponents, President Vladimir Putin told the Council for Strategic Development at a meeting on Monday. The president said Russia was being completely denied access to foreign hi-tech products. “We understand that this is a major challenge to our country, however we are not going to lose heart or have decades of our progress reversed, despite predictions from a number of our…