In Russia, Biden’s verbal slip over Putin’s name draws mockery and unease

MOSCOW (Reuters) -Joe Biden has shown he is "a pro-Russian candidate being controlled by the Kremlin," Russia's Foreign Ministry spokeswoman joked on Friday, after the U.S. president misspoke and introduced Ukraine's leader as "President Putin" before correcting himself. Video of the gaffe at a NATO summit in Washington on Thursday featured prominently on news bulletins in...

Russia’s sanctioned business union mulls establishing national Bitcoin fund

Russia’s sanctioned business association considers a national Bitcoin fund to enhance the use of digital financial assets in foreign trade. The Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs (RSPP), a sanctioned Russian union representing the country’s wealthiest business figures, is considering launching a national crypto fund to use crypto in foreign trades as Russian business explores options...

Russia pilots new system for tracing crypto-to-fiat links

Russia’s central bank and Rosfinmonitoring pilot a new system to trace connections between crypto transactions and fiat operations. The Bank of Russia alongside Rosfinmonitoring, the country’s main body for financial intelligence, is working on a platform to detect connections between fiat operations and crypto transactions amid efforts to evaluate the size of the local crypto market. According to a report from...

World Court dismisses much of Ukraine’s case against Russia

THE HAGUE (Reuters) - Judges at the top U.N. court on Wednesday found that Russia violated elements of a U.N. anti-terrorism treaty, but declined to rule on allegations brought by Kyiv that Moscow was responsible for the shooting down of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 over eastern Ukraine in 2014. In the same ruling, judges at the...

Putin says Ukraine’s statehood at risk if pattern of war continues

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Tuesday that Ukraine's statehood could suffer an "irreparable blow" if the pattern of the war continued, and Russia would never be forced to abandon the gains it had made. Putin made his televised comments a day after Switzerland agreed to host a global summit at the request...

Russia’s Medvedev says any UK troop deployment to Ukraine would be a declaration of war

MOSCOW (Reuters) - A senior ally of President Vladimir Putin warned on Friday that Moscow would regard any move by Britain to deploy a military contingent to Ukraine as a declaration of war against Russia. Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, now deputy chairman of Russia's Security Council, made the comments in response to a visit by...

Russia has fired 7,400 missiles, 3,700 Shahed drones in war so far, Kyiv says

(Reuters) - Russia has launched about 7,400 missiles and 3,700 Shahed attack drones at targets in Ukraine during its 22-month-old invasion, Kyiv said on Thursday, illustrating the vast scale of Moscow's aerial assaults. Ukrainian air defences were able to shoot down 1,600 of the missiles and 2,900 of the drones, air force spokesperson Yuriy Ihnat said...

Russia renews missile attacks on Kyiv, pounds Ukraine’s east and south

KYIV (Reuters) -Russia launched a missile attack on Ukraine's capital Kyiv and the nearby region for the first time in weeks on Saturday and pounded the east and south of the country with drones, Ukrainian officials said. Serhiy Popko, head of the Kyiv city military administration, said a Russian ballistic missile was launched toward the capital...

Malaysia, Russia sign eight MOUs involving higher education institutions

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia and Russia signed eight memoranda of understanding (MOU) involving higher education institutions of both countries to strengthen and expand cooperation in various fields. Higher Education Minister Datuk Seri Mohamed Khaled Nordin said the MOUs include establishing mirror labs; student mobility; satellite labs; double degrees; matching grants; joint academic and research programmes; enhancement of...

Russian upper house approves de-ratification of nuclear test ban treaty

(Reuters) - The upper chamber of the Russian parliament on Wednesday approved a law withdrawing Moscow's ratification of the global nuclear test ban treaty, the final stage before it goes to President Vladimir Putin for signing. The Federation Council approved the law by 156 votes to zero. (Reporting by Filipp Lebedev; Editing by Mark Trevelyan)