DIRS.INFO The most relevant business & tech news

☆ Russia-Ukraine war live updates: Russian drone attack kills rescue workers in Kharkiv; Russia says NATO dialog at 'zero' but does not seek conflict
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-04 | by ( Elliot Smith | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

Military experts operate at the site of a Russian aerial bombing of a high-rise residential building in the Shevchenkivskyi district on March 27, 2024 in Kharkiv, Ukraine. Russian drone strikes on Kharkiv early Friday morning killed at least four people, including three rescue workers, and injured 12 more, according to Ukrainian officials. A repeat attack on a separate area of Ukraine's second-largest city killed three rescue workers who had arrived on the scene after the first strike, he added. As NATO foreign ministers gather in Brussels to mark the defense alliance's 75th anniversary, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grushko told state news agency RIA that dialog with Moscow had been reduced to a "critical zero" by Washington and Brussels. Grushko reportedly said relations were "predictably and deliberately" deteriorating, but that Russia has no intention of entering into open conflict with any NATO member.

Persons: Igor Terekhov, Alexander Grushko, Grushko Organizations: Kharkiv, NATO Locations: Shevchenkivskyi, Kharkiv, Ukraine, Russian, Brussels, Moscow, Washington, Russia

☆ NATO's Largest Exercise Since Cold War Kicks Off
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-24 | by ( Jan. | At P.M. | ) www.usnews.com time to read: +1 min

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Navy dock landing ship Gunston Hall left port on Wednesday to mark the first movement for the largest NATO exercise since the Cold War, officials said. The drills will rehearse NATO's execution of its regional plans, the first defence plans the alliance has drawn up in decades, detailing how it would respond to a Russian attack. But its top strategic document identifies Russia as the most significant and direct threat to NATO members' security. The exercise comes at an important moment after Russia's invasion of Ukraine started the deadliest war on European soil in more than 70 years. RUSSIAN RESPONSEThe scale of NATO's Steadfast Defender 2024 exercises mark an "irrevocable return" of the alliance to Cold War schemes, Russia's Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grushko told the state RIA news agency in remarks published on Sunday.

Persons: Matthias Eichenlaub, Alexander Grushko, Idrees Ali, Phil Stewart Organizations: WASHINGTON, U.S . Navy, Gunston Hall, NATO, Twitter Locations: United States, Russia, Ukraine, Atlantic, Europe, Norfolk

☆ NATO's Steadfast Defender Exercises Mark Return to Cold War Schemes, Russia Says
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-21 | by ( Jan. | At A.M. | ) www.usnews.com time to read: +1 min

(Reuters) - The scale of NATO's Steadfast Defender 2024 exercises mark an "irrevocable return" of the alliance to Cold War schemes, Russia's Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grushko told the state RIA news agency in remarks published on Sunday. "These exercises are another element of the hybrid war unleashed by the West against Russia," Grushko told RIA. "An exercise of this scale ... marks the final and irrevocable return of NATO to the Cold War schemes, when the military planning process, resources and infrastructure are being prepared for confrontation with Russia." But its top strategic document identifies Russia as the most significant and direct threat to NATO members' security. Moscow, and its chief diplomat Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, have since often accused "the collective West" of conducting a "hybrid war" against Russia by backing Ukraine through financial and military aid.

Persons: Alexander Grushko, Grushko, Sergei Lavrov, Lidia Kelly, Jamie Freed Organizations: Reuters, NATO, West, Russia Locations: Russia, Ukraine, Kyiv, Moscow, Melbourne

☆ Finland to close last operating checkpoint on Russian border
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-28 | by ( Eve Brennan | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

CNN —Finland will close the last operating checkpoint on its Russian border on Thursday, entirely shutting off the NATO country’s eastern border with Russia for two weeks. In Tuesday’s press release, Finland’s interior ministry said entry into Finland at the eastern border has continued despite restrictions. “Since the beginning of August, almost 1,000 third-country nationals have arrived in Finland without a visa via the border crossing points at the eastern border. He welcomed the move by the European Union’s border agency, Frontex, to deploy 50 guards along the Finnish border. Earlier this year, the Finnish Border Guard also began the pilot phase of constructing an eastern border barrier fence along some key parts of the border.

Persons: Petteri Orpo, Mari Rantanen, Alexander Grushko, ”, Grushko, “, Jens Stoltenberg, ” Stoltenberg, Stoltenberg, Vladimir Putin’s “ Organizations: CNN, NATO, Finland’s Ministry, Internal Affairs, Finland’s, Finnish Border Guard, Government Locations: Finland, Russia, Helsinki, Ukraine, ”, Russian, Moscow, “, Finnish, Brussels, European

HIROSHIMA, Japan, May 21 (Reuters) - Potential allied training programmes for Ukrainian pilots on F-16 fighter jets were a message to Russia not to expect to succeed in its invasion of Ukraine even in a prolonged conflict, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said on Sunday. "The training of the pilots is a longer project," Scholz told reporters before leaving the G7 summit in the Japanese city of Hiroshima. Discussions with Kyiv were ongoing and no Ukrainian pilots were now being trained in France, the official said. The official said training a person from scratch to operate a NATO-made warplane could take as long as four years, while an experienced pilot used to Ukrainian jets would need four to nine months. We are in a counteroffensive stage and this training won't be ready in the coming weeks, but for the long term," the official said.

☆ Russia says supplying F-16 jets to Ukraine would carry 'colossal' risks for West, TASS reports
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-20 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

MOSCOW, May 20 (Reuters) - Western countries will run "colossal risks" if they supply Ukraine with F-16 fighter jets, TASS news agency quoted Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grushko as saying on Saturday. Grushko was responding to a question about the implications of providing the jets, which Ukraine has been requesting from NATO countries. It involves colossal risks for themselves," Grushko was quoted as saying. These fighters can engage aerial targets from both high and low altitudes," he said, adding that the jets can carry advanced weapons. "By utilising F-16s, our ground troops will be able to swiftly liberate occupied Ukrainian territories by targeting enemy command posts, military groups and logistics supply chains," he said.

☆ Russia warns West of 'enormous risks' if Ukraine supplied with F-16 jets
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-20 | by ( Darya Tarasova | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

CNN —Russia’s deputy foreign minister has warned Western countries of “enormous risks” if Ukraine is provided with F-16 fighter jets, Russian state media TASS reported Saturday. The comments come after US President Joe Biden gave his backing for Ukrainian pilots to be trained to fly F-16s, reversing his previous position. Responding to the move, Alexander Grushko said: “We see that the Western countries are still adhering to the escalation scenario. In any case, this will be taken into account in all our plans, and we have all the necessary means to achieve the set goals.”Earlier this week, the UK and the Netherlands were reportedly building an “international coalition” to help Ukraine procure F-16 fighter jets. After saying Kyiv did not need the fighter jets earlier this year, US President Joe Biden reversed his objections by signaling to European allies that they would allow F-16 exports to Ukraine.

☆ Russia denounces Macron over China comments
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-15 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

MOSCOW, May 15 (Russia) - Russian officials on Monday denounced comments by French President Emmanuel Macron that Moscow was becoming subservient to China, saying Western countries must get used to a world underpinned by the Kremlin's close ties with Beijing. The Russian criticism focused on an interview Macron gave to the Paris daily l'Opinion in which he decried the Kremlin's isolation brought on by its invasion of Ukraine more than 14 months ago. "(Russia) has de facto started a form of vasallisation with China and has lost access to the Baltic that was critical to it as it has precipitated the decision by Sweden and Finland to join Nato," Macron was quoted as saying in the daily. Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said Russia's relations with China were those of a strategic partner and had nothing to do with dependence. Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grushko said Paris had become preoccupied with Moscow's strengthened relations with China and changes that implied for the world order.

☆ Ukraine battles on in Bakhmut as Finland joins NATO
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-04 | by ( Pavel Polityuk | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

[1/2] An Ukrainian serviceman sits atop an infantry fighting vehicle (IFV), amid Russia's invasion of Ukraine, near the bombed-out eastern city of Bakhmut, in the eastern Donetsk region, Ukraine, April 2, 2023. "From a legal point of view, Bakhmut has been taken," said Prigozhin, who has previously made premature claims. "Bakhmut is Ukrainian and they have not captured anything and are very far from doing that," Serhiy Cherevatyi, spokesperson for the eastern military command, told Reuters. Western pressure on Russia may increase with Finland, which shares a 1,300-km (810-mile) border with Russia, joining NATO on Tuesday. "In the event that the forces and resources of other NATO members are deployed in Finland, we will take additional steps to reliably ensure Russia's military security," he told RIA.

☆ Map shows how Russia's border with NATO more than doubles with Finland as a member
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-04 | by ( Sinéad Baker | Erin Snodgrass | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Finland officially became a member of the NATO military alliance on Tuesday. Finland has an 830-mile border with Russia, meaning Russia's border with NATO more than doubles. Finland's presence in the alliance more than doubles the border between NATO countries and Russia. The increase in public and political support in Finland for joining NATO came after Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. He added: "In the event that the forces and resources of other NATO members are deployed in Finland, we will take additional steps to reliably ensure Russia's military security."

☆ Russia says it will beef up military in northwest as Finland joins NATO - RIA
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-03 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

April 3 (Reuters) - Russia will strengthen its military capacity in its western and northwestern regions in response to Finland's expected accession to NATO on Tuesday, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grushko said, state-owned news agency RIA reported. Finland and Sweden applied to join NATO last year after Russia invaded Ukraine. Finland has a 1,300-km (810-mile) border with Russia that will roughly double the transatlantic alliance's frontier facing Moscow. Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu said last year that Russia was taking "adequate countermeasures" and would form 12 units and divisions in its western military district. Grushko told RIA: "We will strengthen our military potential in the western and northwestern direction.

"Tomorrow we will welcome Finland as the 31st member of NATO making Finland safer and our alliance stronger," NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg told reporters in Brussels, hailing the move as "historic". Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February last year pushed Finland and its neighbour Sweden to apply for NATO membership, abandoning decades of military non-alignment. [1/2] NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg attends a news conference before a meeting of NATO foreign ministers in Brussels, Belgium April 3, 2023. REUTERS/Johanna Geron 1 2"President Putin went to war against Ukraine with the clear aim to get less NATO," Stoltenberg said. Stoltenberg pledged to work hard to get Sweden into NATO as soon as possible.

☆ Ukraine war live updates: Russia extends grain export deal for 60 days; Bakhmut fighting 'hard' and 'very painful,' Kyiv says
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-14 | by ( Holly Ellyatt | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

A vital grain export deal between Ukraine and Russia has been extended for 60 days, according to Russia's deputy foreign minister, who was quoted by a Russian news agency. The deal, known officially as the Black Sea Grain Initiative, has facilitated the export of agricultural products, such as wheat, corn and sunflower oil, from Ukraine via the Black Sea. Early on in the war a blockade on such exports contributed to global food shortages and rising prices. The grain initiative, brokered by Turkey and the United Nations last July, has enabled millions of tons of agricultural products to be exported from Ukraine, alleviating shortages elsewhere. Moscow has complained that international sanctions on its logistics, insurance and payments industries have continued to impede its own agricultural exports of grain and fertilizers.

☆ Russia accuses Nord Stream blast investigators of cover-up
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-09 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Feb 9 (Reuters) - Russia's foreign ministry said on Thursday that European countries were trying to hide the results of their investigations into last year's blasts on the Nord Stream gas pipelines, accusing them of covering up who was to blame. The blasts, which are being investigated by Swedish and Danish authorities, could put three of Nord Stream 1 and 2's four undersea lines permanently out of use. Moscow had asked Stockholm to be allowed to join the investigation, but both Sweden and Denmark rejected the idea of Russian participation. Construction of Nord Stream 2, designed to carry Russian gas to Germany, was completed in September 2021. Swedish and other European investigators say the attacks were carried out on purpose, but they have not said who they think was responsible.

☆ Western officials and Ankara are in talks after stand-off on oil tanker pile-up near Turkey
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-08 | by ( Huileng Tan | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

The UK, US, and EU are working with Ankara to clear an oil tanker pile-up in Turkish waters. EU's $60 a barrel price cap on Russian crude kicked in Monday, which is impacting shipping and insurance. Most vessels in Turkish waters now are loaded with oil from Kazakhstan, not Russia, two Western officials told the Financial Times on Thursday. It is considering several options to counter the price cap, Russian business daily Vedomosti reported Wednesday, citing two sources close to the cabinet. Russian deputy foreign minister Alexander Grushko also weighed in on the matter, saying Russia's concerned about the congestion off Turkey.

[1/2] Oil product tanker Lila Fujairah sails in the Bosphorus, on its way to the Mediterranean Sea, in Istanbul, Turkey December 6, 2022. REUTERS/Yoruk IsikCompanies Ingosstrakh SPAO FollowLONDON, Dec 7 (Reuters) - Western officials are in talks with Turkish counterparts to resolve oil tanker queues off Turkey, a British Treasury official said, after the G7 and European Union rolled out new restrictions on Dec. 5 aimed at Russian oil exports. "The UK, U.S. and EU are working closely with the Turkish government and the shipping and insurance industries to clarify the implementation of the Oil Price Cap and reach a resolution," the official told Reuters. At least 20 oil tankers continue to face delays to cross from Russia's Black Sea ports to the Mediterranean as operators race to adhere to the Turkish rules. "The (insurers) have agreed that they cannot and should not issue such a letter," UK P&I said in a statement on its website.

☆ Russia is concerned over oil tankers build-up in Bosphorus - RIA
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-07 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/2] The Maltese-flagged crude oil tanker Minerva Baltica sails in the Bosphorus, on its way to the Black Sea, in Istanbul, Turkey December 5, 2022. REUTERS/Yoruk Isik/File PhotoMOSCOW, Dec 7 (Reuters) - Russia is concerned about a build-up of oil tankers in the Bosphorus Strait and is discussing the issue with insurance and transport companies, RIA cited Russian deputy foreign minister Alexander Grushko as saying on Wednesday. After all, insurance companies insure, not the state," Grushko is quoted as saying. The European Union banned all seaborne Russian crude imports from Dec. 5, with a fuel import ban to follow in February. Kazakhstan, a large oil exporter, said on Wednesday that the build-up of the oil tankers at the Bosphorus is normal during the winter season.

☆ Russia says U.S. lowers 'nuclear threshold' by deploying new nuclear bombs in Europe
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-29 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

LONDON, Oct 29 (Reuters) - Russia said on Saturday that the accelerated deployment of modernised U.S. B61 tactical nuclear weapons at NATO bases in Europe would lower the "nuclear threshold" and that Russia would take the move into account in its military planning. Russia's invasion of Ukraine has triggered the gravest confrontation between Moscow and the West since the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis when the two Cold War superpowers came closest to nuclear war. Russia has around 2,000 working tactical nuclear weapons while the United States has around 200 such weapons, half of which are at bases in Italy, Germany, Turkey, Belgium and the Netherlands. "We cannot ignore the plans to modernize nuclear weapons, those free-fall bombs that are in Europe," Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grushko told state RIA news agency. "The United States is modernizing them, increasing their accuracy and reducing the power of the nuclear charge, that is, they turn these weapons into 'battlefield weapons', thereby reducing the nuclear threshold," Grushko said.

☆ Russia says U.S. lowering 'nuclear threshold' with newer bombs in Europe
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-29 | by ( Guy Faulconbridge | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

Russia has about 2,000 working tactical nuclear weapons while the United States has around 200 such weapons, half of which are at bases in Italy, Germany, Turkey, Belgium and the Netherlands. "We cannot ignore the plans to modernize nuclear weapons, those free-fall bombs that are in Europe," Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grushko told state RIA news agency. President Vladimir Putin has repeatedly said Russia will defend its territory with all available means, including nuclear weapons, if attacked. The U.S. B61 nuclear bomb was first tested in Nevada shortly after the Cuban Missile Crisis. The United States, according to the U.S. 2022 Nuclear Posture Review published on Thursday, will bolster nuclear deterrence with the F-35, the B61-12 bombs and a nuclear-armed air-launched cruise missile.

Search resuls for: "Alexander Grushko"

19 mentions found