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Pakistan is seeking discounts in oil imports from Russia and has urged Moscow to strike a long-term oil deal while remaining within the price cap at USD 60 per barrel, a media report said on Friday. Pakistan, which is currently grappling with high external debt and a weak local currency, is hoping that snapping crude at discounted rates from Russia will stabilise oil prices in the country, The Express Tribune newspaper reported. «Pakistan wanted Russia to set a benchmark of USD 60 dollars per barrel 'free on board' (FOB) — the actual price charged at the port — to import crude oil on a long-term basis.

Putin was on Friday shown meeting one of the most senior former commanders of the Wagner mercenary group, Andrei Troshev, and discussing how best to use «volunteer units» in the Ukraine war. Is Wagner back, who controls it and are its fighters returning to the Ukraine war?

Visiting South Sudan President Salva Kiir has agreed in a meeting with Russia’s president to expand their relationship in energy, trade and other areas, notably oil

Slovakia holds an early parliamentary election on Saturday that pits populist former Prime Minister Robert Fico who campaigned on a clear pro-Russia and anti-American message against a liberal pro-West newcomer

NEW DELHI : Oil India Ltd (OIL) has appointed legal and tax consultants to explore ways to repatriate its $150 million in dividend stuck in Russia, the state-run firm’s chairman and managing director Ranjit Rath said. In an interview, Rath said the money is currently parked in SBI’s Moscow branch. OIL is part of two Indian consortiums that have stakes in several Russian oilfields in Siberia.

China has bought several hundred thousand metric tons — trad Chinese importers are believed to have made large purchases of animal feed corn from Ukraine in the past two weeks, traders in Asia and Europe said on Thursday, providing a boost for the war-ravaged country from an unlikely source. The traders were unable to say the exact volumes but several said they amounted to several hundred thousand metric tons. A Ukrainian government source also confirmed corn sales to China, a key ally of Russia, particularly since Moscow's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. «Importers in China have bought around 10 to 12 Panamax cargoes of Ukrainian corn for November/December shipment,» said a Singapore-based trader at an international grains trading company, referring to a size of ship with a capacity that typically exceeds 60,000 tons of grain. «Ukraine is the cheapest origin for corn as of now,» the trader said. A Ukrainian government source said: «I cannot tell you the volume, but I know that many (traders) did it and it is a good trend (for Ukrainian corn).» Russia has tried to impose a de facto blockade on seaborne Ukrainian grain exports through the Black Sea.

Justin Trudeau apologised Wednesday for Parliament's recognition of a man who fought alongside the Nazis during last week's address by Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Trudeau said the speaker of the House of Commons, who resigned Tuesday, was «solely responsible» for the invitation and recognition of the man but said it was a mistake that has deeply embarrassed Parliament and Canada.

Russia has accused Ukraine’s Western allies of helping plan and conduct last week’s missile strike on the Black Sea Fleet’s headquarters in Crimea

Cryptocurrency exchange Binance said on Wednesday it will sell its Russia business to newly-launched exchange CommEX, becoming the latest company to pull out of Moscow since the country began its war against Ukraine.

India-Russia relations have held «very, very steady» and «we take great care» to make sure that the relationship is working, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar has said. During a conversation at the Council on Foreign Relations here on Tuesday, Jaishankar said that Russia's relationship with Europe and the West has been «so severely disrupted» in the wake of the February 2022 Ukraine war that Moscow is actually turning to Asia and other parts of the world.

A top European Union official says the social network X, formerly known as Twitter, is the biggest source of fake news and urged owner Elon Musk to comply with the bloc’s laws aimed at combating disinformation

(Reuters) — Moscow and Washington have accused each other of destabilising the South Caucuses region, as thousands of ethnic Armenians fled their homes in Nagorno-Karabakh over ethnic cleansing fears.

Thousands of Armenians streamed out of Nagorno-Karabakh after the Azerbaijani military reclaimed full control of the breakaway region while Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan visited Azerbaijan Monday in a show of support to its ally.

By Paul Carsten

Gazprom and Rosneft, Alexei Miller and Igor Sechin, will join President Vladimir Putin's retinue during his visit to China next month, sources familiar with the plans told Reuters. Putin is scheduled to meet China's President Xi Jinping for talks in Beijing and will attend the third Belt and Road Forum following an invitation from Xi during a high-profile visit to Moscow in March. The sources said other senior Russian energy officials would also be in the delegation. Sechin will hold his own energy event following Putin's visit, a source said, without providing details. Gazprom, the world's biggest natural gas producer, and Rosneft, Russia's biggest oil producer, did not immediately reply to requests for comments. Russia is bolstering its ties with Asia, especially economic powerhouse China, to offset reduced trade with Europe, its traditional buyer of oil and gas, over Moscow's actions in Ukraine. Chinese-Russian trade has soared since what Moscow calls a «special military operation» in Ukraine began in February 2022.

Nord Stream pipelines, cutting off a major route for Russian gas exports to Europe and reports allege that Ukrainians may have played a role in this. The blasts occurred in the economic zones of Sweden and Denmark, so both countries launched investigations into the incident. So far, they say the explosions were deliberate, but they have yet to single out who was behind the blasts, according to a report in Aljazeera. On September 26, 2022, several underwater blasts ruptured three of the four pipelines comprising Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2, throwing vast amounts of gas into the Baltic Sea near Bornholm, Denmark. “Dutch military intelligence warned the CIA of a Ukrainian plan to blow up the pipelines three months before the attack, Dutch broadcaster NOS and Germany’s Die Zeit and ARD reported in June.

prices rose on Monday as investors focused on a tighter supply outlook after Moscow issued a temporary ban on fuel exports while remaining wary of further rate hikes that could dampen demand. Brent crude futures climbed 48 cents, or 0.5%, to $93.75 a barrel by 0110 GMT after settling 3 cents lower on Friday. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures extended gains for a second straight session, trading at $90.53 a barrel, up 50 cents, or 0.6%. «Crude oil prices have started the week on the front foot, as the market continues to digest Russia's temporary ban on diesel and gasoline exports, into an already tight market, offset with the Fed's hawkish message that rates will stay higher for longer,» IG Markets analyst Tony Sycamore said. Both contracts snapped a three-week winning streak to fall last week after a hawkish Federal Reserve stance rattled global financial sectors and raised oil demand concerns. Prices had rallied more than 10% in the previous three weeks on forecasts of a wide crude supply deficit in the fourth quarter after Saudi Arabia and Russia extended additional supply cuts to the end of the year. Last week, Moscow temporarily banned gasoline and diesel exports to most countries in order to stabilise the domestic market, fanning concerns of low products supply especially for heating oil as the northern hemisphere heads into winter. In the United States, the number of operating oil rigs fell by eight to 507 last week, their lowest since February 2022, despite higher prices, a weekly report from Baker Hughes showed on Friday. Expectations of better economic data this week from China, the world's largest crude importer, also lifted sentiment.

Police in Russia have reportedly arrested an entrepreneur and “crypto influencer” known as Bitmama, aka the “Queen of Crypto,” on fraud charges.

India has not only been closely monitoring Canada-based Sikh terror groups and their operatives, but also keeping a close watch on the role of NDP leader Jagmeet Singh (coalition partner in the Trudeau government) in encouraging extremist views. Jagmeet Singh has been alleged to influence Trudeau's pro-Khalistan politics and the Trudeau-Jagmeet alliance has engaged in vote bank politics amid the Canadian PM's rising unpopularity. India had engaged with certain countries, including Russia, on Jagmeet Singh's pro-extremist ideologies. Russia has banned Jagmeet's entry into its territory based on inputs provided by New Delhi, ET has learnt.

Keeping Russians happy as elections approach or kicking Joe Biden between the legs over Ukraine?  Vladimir Putin reckons he can do both — if ​​oil prices cross $100 a barrel to limit any damage to the Russian economy from his chokes on supply.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy entered the chamber of the House of Commons to give his historic address to Canadians.Zelenskyy appeared to wipe a tear away as he was met with a minute-long standing ovation before Trudeau gave his welcome speech emphasizing the “pivotal” moment facing the world, and pledging $650 million in new funding to support Ukraine over three years.In his speech, Zelenskyy focused on the necessity to “never submit to evil” and began by talking about the construction of the world’s first Holodmor monument in Edmonton in 1983.“At that time, Ukraine didn’t yet have memorials commemorating the victims of genocide of Ukrainians because Ukraine was under Moscow’s control,” Zelenskyy said.Zelenskyy said that in the past 40 years, a lot has changed. Ukraine gained independence and dozens of countries recognized the systemic starvation of Ukrainians by Russia as a genocide.“It is genocide, what Russian occupiers are doing to Ukraine,” Zelenskyy said.“It is not just about an ordinary conflict.