MOSCOW(AFP)-Russian President Vladimir Putin said a Ukrainian sabotage group had knowingly fired at civilians on Thursday in what he called a “terrorist act” on Russian territory close to the border. Russian news agencies reported earlier that a group of Ukrainian saboteurs had taken hostages in the Bryansk region, while the regional governor said one person had been killed.
China joins Russia in refusing to support G20 joint declaration
China joined Russia on Thursday in refusing to support a demand for Moscow to cease hostilities in Ukraine, a statement from the G20 foreign ministers’ meeting in New Delhi showed.
Both countries were the only G20 members not to agree to the statement demanding Russia’s “complete and unconditional withdrawal from the territory of Ukraine”.
Russian plane destroyed in factory test incident, one killed
One person died and the fuselage of a Russian Il-76 plane was destroyed during an incident at a factory in the Ulyanovsk region on Thursday, the RIA Novosti Russian news agency reported, citing emergency services.
Blinken, Lavrov meet briefly as US-Russia tensions soar
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov spoke briefly Thursday at a meeting of top diplomats from the Group of 20 nations in the first high-level meeting in months between the two countries.
US officials said Blinken and Lavrov chatted for roughly 10 minutes on the sidelines of the G-20 conference in New Delhi. The short encounter comes as relations between Washington and Moscow have plummeted while tensions over Russia’s war with Ukraine have soared.
A senior US official said Blinken used the discussion to make three points to Lavrov:
that the US would support Ukraine in the conflict for as long as it takes to bring the war to an end, that Russia should reverse its decision to suspend participation in the New START nuclear treaty and that Moscow should release detained American Paul Whelan.
The official, who spoke to reporters on condition of anonymity to discuss the private conversation, declined to characterise Lavrov’s response but said Blinken did not get the impression that there would be any change in Russia’s behavior in the near term.
Zelensky’s adviser says reports of Bryansk attack are ‘deliberate provocation’ by Russia
A senior adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Thursday that reports of a sabotage attack by Ukrainian forces in Russia’s Bryansk region are a “deliberate provocation”.
“The story about (a) Ukrainian sabotage group in RF is a classic deliberate provocation,” Mykhailo Podolyak wrote on Twitter. “RF wants to scare its people to justify the attack on another country & the growing poverty after the year of war.”
Moscow, Beijing blast Western ‘blackmail and threats’
Russia and China on Thursday criticised the West for employing “blackmail and threats” against other countries, Moscow said following a meeting of the two countries’ foreign ministers at the G20.
Russia says it suspended nuclear pact because US was using it to help Ukraine
Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said on Thursday that Moscow had been forced to suspend its participation in the New START nuclear arms control treaty because Washington was using it to help Ukraine attack Russian strategic sites.
Russian forces say they are fighting Ukrainian sabotage group in border region
Russian forces are fighting a Ukrainian sabotage group in Russia’s Bryansk region which borders Ukraine, the TASS news agency reported on Thursday, citing security agencies. An official in southern Russia said on Thursday that a Ukrainian sabotage group had invaded and opened fire in southern Russia, and that Russian forces had responded to “eliminate” the group.
(London Post with AP,AFP and Reuters)
