Russia has no interest in fighting with Nato country if it wins in Ukraine, Vladimir Putin says
Russia-Ukraine war at a glance: what we know on day 662
Russian isolation is taking a toll on Arctic climate science, according to this piece from AFP.
It comes as the climate crisis takes a toll across the world, and countries gathered at Cop28 this month to chart a path to containing global temperature rises to 1.5C (2.7F) above pre-industrial levels.
In the Arctic, as in the rest of the world, Western and Russian researchers have cut almost all ties since the start of the war in Ukraine. The exchange of data from Russia has now completely dried up.
Moscow’s February 2022 invasion was the final nail in the coffin of cooperation, already in decline in recent decades amid president Vladimir Putin’s more aggressive policies.
Turkey, Romania and Bulgaria plan to sign a deal in January on a joint plan to clear mines floating in the Black Sea as a result of the war in Ukraine, Turkish defence minister Yasar Guler said on Saturday, after months of talks between the Nato allies. Speaking to reporters at a meeting in Ankara, Guler said the “Trilateral Initiative” would only include Turkey, Romania, and Bulgaria for now, and their defence ministers planned to hold a signing ceremony in Istanbul on 11 January.
A third Ukrainian truck driver has died in blockades at the Polish border staged by Polish truckers, Ukraine’s Suspilne public broadcaster said on Saturday.
Suspilne, quoting an official from Ukraine’s international trucking association, said the driver took ill at the Krakivets-Korczowa crossing – one of four points affected by the protests. He died while being taken to a hospital. Two truckers died last month after becoming snared in the blockades.
Moldovan president Maia Sandu hailed the adoption by parliament of a new defence strategy calling for anchoring Moldova alongside its western allies and identifying Russia as a threat to the former Soviet state. Sandu posted on Facebook two days after the European Union agreed to open talks on extending its membership with both Moldova and neighbouring Ukraine – more than 21 months into Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.
Hungary will veto Bulgaria’s entry into Europe’s passport-free Schengen Zone unless it scraps a transit tax on Russian gas, the Hungarian foreign ministry said on Saturday. The veto threat follows Thursday’s agreement among all 27 European Union members except Hungary to start accession talks with Ukraine despite its invasion by Russia, bypassing prime minister Viktor Orbán’s grievances by getting him to leave the room.
Vladimir Putin will run for president again as an independent candidate with a wide support base but not on a party ticket, Russian news agencies reported on Saturday, citing his supporters. An initiative group made up of over 700 politicians and figures from the sporting and cultural worlds met on Saturday in Moscow and unanimously endorsed Putin’s nomination…
2023-12-17 03:25:11
Link from www.theguardian.com
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