Escalating tensions between Iran and the U.S. are raising economic concerns across Central Asia. Although the region lies far from the conflict, its economies remain closely tied to global energy markets and trade routes linked to the Persian Gulf.
A Russian drone damaged a civilian Panama-flagged vessel that was transporting corn near the Ukrainian port of Chornomorsk in the Black Sea Odesa region, the Ukrainian Sea Ports Authority said late on Wednesday.
How do political narratives travel from Moscow to Westminster?
China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi has held talks with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov following recent military strikes carried out by the United States and Israel on targets in Iran, as tensions in the Middle East continue to rise.
The Kremlin is utilising the recent United States and Israeli military strikes on Iran to validate its ongoing war in Ukraine. Russian officials are pointing to the escalation in the Middle East as evidence that Western nations do not adhere to international rules.
Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova on Thursday (26 February) accused Ukraine of threatening Europe’s energy security by halting oil flows through the Druzhba oil pipeline to Hungary and Slovakia.
Russian President Vladimir Putin’s special envoy, Kirill Dmitriev, arrived in Geneva and may hold talks with U.S. officials, according to the RIA news agency.
The situation in Cuba was heating up and called for restraint following a deadly incident involving a Florida-registered speedboat off the coast of the Caribbean island, the Kremlin said on Thursday (26 February).
Switzerland will ban the import and purchase of Russian liquefied natural gas (LNG) from 25 April 2026 as part of its implementation of the European Union’s 19th sanctions package targeting Russia over the war in Ukraine.
Georgia faces rising diplomatic pressure as Western partners urge alignment against Russia. Tensions grew after the UK sanctioned TV channels Imedi and POSTV, prompting Georgia to summon the British Ambassador for clarification.
Russia has claimed its forces have taken control of a village in Ukraine’s Kharkiv region, while Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Kyiv’s new Flamingo missiles successfully struck targets deep inside Russian territory, underscoring the continuing intensity of the conflict.
The Foreign Intelligence Service of the Russian Federation (SVR) on Tuesday (25 February) accused the United Kingdom and France of actively working to provide Ukraine with nuclear weapons. The allegations were swiftly rejected by both London and Paris.
Peace-making has a habit of creating new enemies - especially when it reduces someone else’s leverage. As Azerbaijan and Armenia move toward a settlement architecture that no longer depends on Moscow as the indispensable broker, pressure has not vanished; it has shifted shape.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has suggested that Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán should block financial support to Russia rather than Ukraine, as Budapest opposes the European Union’s 20th sanctions package against Moscow.
The Secretary-General of the United Nations, António Guterres, has called for an immediate, full and unconditional ceasefire in Ukraine, describing the conflict as “a stain on our collective conscience”.
Ukraine signalled its readiness for fast-track European Union membership in Kyiv on Tuesday (24 February), as European leaders pledged continued political and financial backing and insisted Russia would gain nothing at the negotiating table.
The European Union has formally declared that Russia must withdraw its troops from occupied territories - including those inside Georgia - as part of the conditions for achieving lasting peace in Europe.
Four years into Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the war can be measured not only in lives and territory, but in money. In Part One, the war’s cost was measured in casualties and kilometres. In Part Two, it is measured in billions of dollars.
The Taliban in Kabul has rejected Russian claims that more than 23,000 militants from around 20 international terror groups are currently operating within Afghanistan.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Tuesday (24 February) urged Ukraine’s allies to maintain their backing as the war with Russia entered its fourth year, with divisions among European partners overshadowing anniversary commemorations.
Following the full-scale invasion of Ukraine on 24 February 2022, Western governments significantly expanded sanctions targeting Russia’s finance, energy, trade and technology sectors. The measures built on restrictions first imposed in 2014 following Russia's illegal annexation of Crimea.
Britain imposed its largest package of sanctions on Russia in years on Tuesday (24 February), marking the fourth anniversary of Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine, as London also announced fresh military and humanitarian support for Kyiv.
Four years after Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine on 24 February 2022, the war is no longer defined by shock but by scale.
Iran has signed a secret €500 million arms deal with Russia to rebuild air defences, weakened during last year’s war with Israel, the Financial Times has reported. The agreement, signed in December in Moscow, will see Russia deliver 500 Verba launch units and 2,500 9M336 missiles over three years.
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