WASHINGTON: Russia would only use nuclear weapons in the context of the Ukraine conflict if it were facing an “existential threat,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told CNN International Tuesday.
“We have a concept of domestic security, and it’s public. You can read all the reasons for nuclear arms to be used,” Peskov said. “So if it is an existential threat for our country, then it can be used in accordance with our concept.”
Peskov’s comment came as interviewer Christiane Amanpour pushed him on whether he was “convinced or confident” that President Vladimir Putin would not use the nuclear option in the Ukrainian context.
Days after Russian troops invaded Ukraine, Putin announced on February 28 that he had put the country’s strategic nuclear forces on high alert in a move that sparked global alarm.
Asked about Peskov’s statement, and Russia’s nuclear stance more broadly, Pentagon spokesman John Kirby called Moscow’s rhetoric on potential use of nuclear weapons “dangerous.”
“It’s not the way a responsible nuclear power should act,” he told reporters.
That said, Kirby stressed that Pentagon officials “haven’t seen anything that would lead us to conclude that we need to change our strategic deterrent posture.”
“We monitor this as best we can every day,” he added.
Russia maintains the world’s largest stockpile of nuclear warheads, and has earned minimal support around the world for its attack on its ex-Soviet neighbor.
Western defense officials said following Putin’s February announcement that they had not seen any significant sign of mobilization of Russia’s nuclear forces — its strategic bombers, missiles and submarines.
But Moscow has also warned that if the United States and NATO allies supplied Ukraine with fighter jets, it could escalate and expand the war, potentially putting Russia in direct confrontation with nuclear-armed rivals in the West.
Earlier this month Beatrice Fihn, who leads the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons, warned Putin is using nuclear “blackmail” to keep the international community from interfering in his Ukraine invasion.
“This is one of the scariest moments really when it comes to nuclear weapons,” she said.
Questioned further about Russia’s offensive in Ukraine, Peskov said it had no intention of occupying its neighbor and asserted his country was not attacking civilians.
The main goals of the “operation,” he said, are “to get rid of the military potential of Ukraine.”
“This is why our military are targeting only military goals and military objects on the territory of Ukraine. Not civil ones,” he said.
Widespread photographic and video evidence supports human rights groups’ allegations that Russian forces have attacked numerous civilian targets in the ex-Soviet state.
Russia would only use nuclear weapons faced with ‘existential threat’: Kremlin
https://arab.news/rpuya
Russia would only use nuclear weapons faced with ‘existential threat’: Kremlin
- "So if it is an existential threat for our country, then it can be used in accordance with our concept" Peskov said
- Pentagon spokesman John Kirby called Moscow's rhetoric on potential use of nuclear weapons "dangerous"
US envoy predicts Ukraine ceasefire in ‘couple of weeks’
“I believe on Monday we actually have the technical teams going” to the Kingdom, Witkoff told Bloomberg Television early Wednesday as he expressed confidence in ongoing negotiations following a telephone call the previous day between US President Donald Trump and Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin.
“They agreed on a pathway to some ceasefire conditions... and to a full-on ceasefire that will be negotiated over the coming days. I actually think in a couple of weeks we’re going to get to it,” he said.
Witkoff, who is also Trump’s special envoy to the Middle East, did not provide details on the upcoming talks in Saudi Arabia. But he said it was time “for the technical teams to dot the I’s and cross the T’s, and everybody is committed to that process.”
Asked by Bloomberg about the prospect of a possible meeting in the kingdom between Trump and Putin, Witkoff said “my best bet would be it’s likely to happen.” He offered no timeline.
Trump’s National Security Adviser Mike Waltz on Wednesday also expressed confidence about enacting steps to bring the fighting to an end.
“I spoke today with my Russian counterpart Yuri Ushakov about President Trump’s efforts to end the war in Ukraine,” Waltz posted on X.
“We agreed our technical teams would meet in Riyadh in the coming days to focus on implementing and expanding the partial ceasefire President Trump secured from Russia.”
Russia toughens sentence against French banker who left country
- Delpal was sentenced alongside his business partner, US investor Michael Calvey, both of whom vehemently denied the charges
- The case shocked Russia’s business community and triggered an outflow of foreign capital from Russia
MOSCOW: A Moscow court has toughened an embezzlement conviction against a French banker who left the country years earlier, converting his initial suspended sentence to jail time, Russian state media reported Wednesday.
Philippe Delpal, a former senior executive at the Baring Vostok investment group, received a four-and-a-half year suspended sentence in 2021 for allegedly swindling funds from Vostochny Bank — partly owned at the time by a businessman linked to Vladimir Putin.
Delpal was sentenced alongside his business partner, US investor Michael Calvey, both of whom vehemently denied the charges.
The case shocked Russia’s business community and triggered an outflow of foreign capital from Russia.
The latest move, while likely to have little impact, comes as relations between Moscow and Paris plummet to new lows as the Kremlin shifts blame for the three-year Ukraine conflict from the United States to Europe.
Both Calvey and Delpal left Russia once the travel restrictions in their suspended sentences were lifted.
Moscow’s Tverskoy Court on Wednesday replaced Delpal’s initial suspended sentence “with a real one” following a petition from Russia’s federal prison service, Russia’s state TASS news agency reported.
Delpal, who spent six months in jail before he was put under house arrest, received the suspended sentence in 2021.
Five Russian associates who said they were innocent also received suspended sentences of between three-and-a-half years to five years.
A Moscow court later reduced Delpal’s sentence from four-and-a-half years to three-and-a-half-years.
UK teen who planned school massacre jailed for minimum 49 years
- “You wanted to be known posthumously as the world’s most famous school shooter of the 21st century,” judge Bobbie Cheema-Grubb said
- The noisy struggle alerted neighbors, who called the police
LONDON: A UK teenager who killed three family members and planned to outdo notorious US massacres to become “the world’s most famous school shooter of the 21st century” was on Wednesday jailed for a minimum of 49 years.
Nicholas Prosper, 18 at the time of the killings, used a shotgun to kill his mother Juliana Falcon, 48, sister Giselle, 13, and brother Kyle, 16, who also received more than 100 knife wounds, at their home in Luton, southern England, in September 2024.
“Your ambition was notoriety. You wanted to be known posthumously as the world’s most famous school shooter of the 21st century,” judge Bobbie Cheema-Grubb said on Wednesday as she sentenced the now 19-year-old Prosper.
Prosper told police upon his arrest of his “Friday the 13th” plan to kill four-year-old pupils and two teachers at a nearby primary school, and then himself.
He said his aim was to conduct an attack more deadly than the US Sandy Hook and Virginia Tech massacres, but the plan was interrupted when his mother woke up before he could kill his family in their sleep.
The noisy struggle alerted neighbors, who called the police.
“You explicitly sought to emulate and outdo Adam Lanza, the 20-year-old American who shot dead 20 children and six adults at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newton, Connecticut in 2012,” the judge said.
“You aimed for 34 deaths, one more than the deadliest school shooting of recent times in the United States of America, at Virginia Tech in 2007,” she added.
Prosper, who experts said showed symptoms of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), was handed a life sentence, with a minimum term of 49 years. Taking into account the time already served, he will serve a minimum of 48 years and 177 days.
Egypt courts Indian investors during foreign trade minister’s New Delhi visit
- Egypt aims to increase trade with India from $4.2bn to $12bn in 5 years
- Cairo wants more Indian companies to enter the Suez Canal Economic Zone
NEW DELHI: Egypt is trying to attract more Indian companies, particularly in the sectors of renewable energy, chemicals and information technology, its embassy in India said on Wednesday, as Investment and Foreign Trade Minister Hassan El-Khatib is on a visit to New Delhi to forge more partnerships.
El-Khatib arrived in India on Sunday for a four-day visit during which he met Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal.
He discussed with Goyal ways of “attracting more Indian investments to the Egyptian market in vital sectors such as new and renewable energy, chemicals, automobile manufacturing and its components, pharmaceutical products, textiles, communications and information technology,” the Egyptian Embassy said in a statement to Arab News.
“Both sides expressed their aspiration to increase the volume of trade exchange between the two countries in the next five years. It was agreed to work on raising the trade volume from $4.2 billion in 2024 to $12 billion.”
El-Khatib also attended the India-Egypt Business Roundtable held by the Confederation of Indian Industry.
“The discussion highlighted new opportunities emerging in trade and investments in Egypt, and the pivotal role of the Indian industry toward leveraging these opportunities. Emphasis was also made over the opportunities in the Suez Canal Economic Zone,” the CII said after the meeting.
The Egyptian minister said his government was prepared to provide Indian investors with “all forms of support and facilitation” in the special zone.
Established in 2015, the SCZone spans 461 sq. km and includes six ports and four industrial zones along the Suez Canal — one of the world’s most important maritime routes.
Talks on establishing a dedicated Indian industrial cluster in the special economic zone have been underway since 2023, when relations strengthened following Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi’s visit as chief guest of India’s Republic Day celebrations and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s official trip to Cairo.
“Egypt is working to accelerate economic growth and views India as a major partner in this regard. India is one of the largest trading partners of Egypt in the world and over 50 Indian companies have invested nearly $3.15 billion in the Egyptian market,” Md. Muddassir Quamar, associate professor at the Centre for West Asian Studies, told Arab News.
The first investment agreement by an Indian company with the SCZone was signed in February. Under the $5 million deal, India’s Volkov Infra will establish a plant producing silico manganese and ferrosilicon from quartz and manganese ore in the East Ismailia Industrial Zone, known as “Technology Valley,” Quamar said.
“These are encouraging signs and the two sides are likely to further strengthen trade, investment and economic relations given India is keen to capitalize on the growing economic opportunities in the Eastern Mediterranean region.”
Nightclub tragedy in North Macedonia hits a generation already doubting its future
- Most of the victims — the 59 killed and dozens injured in a frantic escape — were in their late teens or early 20s
- In a language school in Skopje, the nation’s capital, 14-year-old Mila Krstevska said she is shocked and disappointed
SKOPJE, North Macedonia: The deadly nightclub fire in North Macedonia at the weekend has struck the young of this country the most, with the emotional devastation it brought apparent everywhere, from classrooms to the streets.
Most of the victims — the 59 killed and dozens injured in a frantic escape — were in their late teens or early 20s, enjoying a night out with friends at Club Pulse in the eastern town of Kocani. There was live music, drinks and dancing until flames ripped through the packed club.
Now the nation’s youth, already doubtful about its future amid the young republic’s economic troubles, has been at the forefront of an outpouring of grief and anger. The disaster also exposed deep-seated frustrations among them.
In a language school in Skopje, the nation’s capital, 14-year-old Mila Krstevska said she is shocked and disappointed.
“I am very angry about everything that happened,” she told The Associated Press, her voice shaking. “It’s a sad thing to go to a disco to have fun and then turn to ashes.”
“I am disappointed in our country,” she added. “I love Macedonia but I would like to go abroad when I am older.”
North Macedonia’s unemployment rate is 12.8 percent, the second-highest in Europe, according to the International Monetary Fund. Almost one-fifth of those aged 15-24 are neither working nor in school or getting training, according to most-recent data from the International Labor Organization.
The country’s population shrank by nearly 10 percent over the past two decades, dropping below 2 million, according to census data. Most of those who leave are young people seeking better opportunities elsewhere.
For those left behind, Sunday’s fire is the first major tragedy for their generation, born after North Macedonia’s independence from war-torn former Yugoslavia. Candlelight vigils and demonstrations in the wake of the tragedy have been led by the young.
At one vigil this week in Kocani, a town of about 25,000 people, students dressed in black knelt silently, placing thin yellow candles in trays of sand, their flames flickering in the night.
Nearby, angry youths began chanting “Justice! Justice!” overturned a van as police stood by without stepping in, then used chairs and umbrella stands to trash a cafeteria run by one of the nightclub’s owners.
As the nation mourns, soccer games have been postponed, schools are holding vigils, television presenters are dressed in black on air. Flowers and candles are left in central locations of every town and city.
Skopje social worker and therapist Tanja Marcekic said the fire has profoundly impacted young people.
“There is a sense of revolt and great dissatisfaction. We all feel it,” she said.
But, she added, there could be a small silver lining. “I also see another side of young people — how they organize themselves, how they want to help and be active. Maybe that is the best way to improve their mental health.”
In Kocani, home to about 25,000 people, every family was touched by the disaster.
“I am a parent of two. I can’t even talk — sorry,” said Branko Bogatinov. His grown children, who now live in Germany, used to visit the nightclub when they were still in school.
“This could have happened to anyone,” he said.
