Latest news with #SputnikRadio
Straits Times
02-07-2025
- Politics
- Straits Times
Russia urges Azerbaijan to repair ties with Moscow amid diplomatic crisis
MOSCOW/BAKU - The Russian Foreign Ministry on Wednesday urged Azerbaijan to restore its ties with Moscow to a level befitting "strategic cooperation" after saying that certain forces were trying to wreck the two countries' relationship. The diplomatic row began last week after two ethnic Azerbaijanis died during police raids in Russia and escalated after Baku then arrested two Russian state journalists and a further roughly 15 more Russians on suspicion of drug trafficking and cybercrime. Azerbaijan says post-mortems conducted in Baku on the two men who died in Russia showed they were beaten to death - though Moscow said one of them had died from heart problems - and that authorities in Baku had opened their own investigation. Relations have been under strain since late last year, when 38 people were killed after an Azerbaijani airliner headed from Baku to southern Russia crashed. Baku says the crash was the result of accidental damage caused by fire from air defence units in Russia. Nemat Avazov, the head of Baku's investigation into the accident, told reporters on Wednesday that his team would release its findings in the coming days. Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Wednesday that Moscow had been cultivating its relationship with Baku for many years based on mutual respect and suggested unknown actors were now trying to use the situation to "warm up their hands" - a Russian phrase meaning to enrich oneself. "Just don't let them get burned," she told Sputnik Radio in an interview. "Because for us, for the two peoples, friendship relations are extremely important. And those who want to spoil them should think carefully about what they are doing." She later said in a news briefing that Baku should restore its ties with Russia, complaining that Moscow did not have any consular access to its detained citizens. "We, of course, call on the Azerbaijani side to take measures to return our ties to the level of interstate relations as set out in official documents. Let me remind you that this is the level of strategic cooperation," she said. The Kremlin has said Russia aims to negotiate the release of its journalists, who have been charged with fraud and other crimes and placed in pre-trial detention in Baku. REUTERS
Saba Yemen
19-06-2025
- Politics
- Saba Yemen
Moscow: Strikes against peaceful nuclear facilities pose real, not hypothetical, threat
Moscow - Saba: Russian Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Maria Zakharova stressed that the nuclear threat in the Middle East is not merely hypothetical but carries a practical dimension. In an interview with Sputnik Radio, Zakharova said that this is a real threat facing the region and the world. Zakharova added: "All of this leads not only to escalation, but also to a direct threat to the region and the world, given that the strikes are directed against peaceful nuclear or atomic facilities. The nuclear threat is not hypothetical but has a practical dimension." Iran had previously stated that it "had, has, and will have the right" to possess peaceful nuclear facilities, which have been subjected to Israeli strikes since June 13 in a large-scale attack launched by the Israeli enemy army. Whatsapp Telegram Email Print
Saba Yemen
14-05-2025
- Politics
- Saba Yemen
Hamas: We are open to any proposal that ends war, allows aid into Gaza
Gaza - (Saba): Mahmoud Taha, a member of the political leadership of the Palestinian Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas), confirmed on Wednesday that the movement is dealing positively and flexibly with mediators to reach an agreement to halt the Israeli genocide in the Gaza Strip. However, the Israeli Prime Minister, the war criminal Benjamin Netanyahu, always rejects the agreement and continues to commit massacres. Taha's remarks came during his comment on the new proposal by US Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff regarding a prisoner exchange deal and ending the war. Taha revealed in a statement to Sputnik Radio that "the movement has nothing official yet," but at the same time, he affirmed "complete openness with mediators to any proposal that ends the war and allows food and medical aid into the Gaza Strip." He pointed out that "the American position has been and continues to support the Israeli enemy, despite the meetings that have taken place between Hamas and the US President's envoy." He said, "We proposed a single agreement to release all prisoners in exchange for a full withdrawal from Gaza and a resumption of aggression." Whatsapp Telegram Email Print
Saba Yemen
14-05-2025
- Politics
- Saba Yemen
Zakharova: Information on Istanbul talks to be aired via official media
Moscow - Saba: Russian Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Maria Zakharova criticized publications about Russia's participation in the Ukraine settlement negotiations in Turkey and confirmed that the Russian side will announce relevant information through official channels. Commenting on reports claiming to have published details and information about Russia's participation in the negotiations, Zakharova told Sputnik Radio: "Yesterday, I had to read all this correspondence between the universe and the galaxies on anonymous social media accounts," according to the Russian news agency RIA Novosti. Zakharova confirmed that the Russian side will issue an official announcement regarding the negotiations. On Sunday, President Putin addressed representatives of the Russian and international media, proposing to Ukraine the resumption of direct negotiations without preconditions in Istanbul on May 15 and stressing that he does not rule out a genuine ceasefire that Kyiv would adhere to. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov confirmed that the Russian delegation will be in Istanbul, Turkey, on Thursday and will wait for the Ukrainian side there. For his part, US President Donald Trump called on the authorities in Kyiv to "immediately" accept Putin's proposal to hold talks in Türkiye. Trump said such talks would "at least determine whether a deal is possible." Whatsapp Telegram Email Print
The Guardian
12-03-2025
- Politics
- The Guardian
World Service must be fully state-funded to counter disinformation, say BBC bosses
Ministers must take on the full costs of the BBC's World Service to counter an 'aggressive' disinformation drive by Russia around the globe, BBC bosses are preparing to argue. Amid concerns about the scale of state-backed content after Russia's invasion of Ukraine, senior BBC figures believe it is 'undeniable' that the government should shoulder the costs of championing 'western values' via the financially strained World Service. There have been concerns from within the BBC that Russian and Chinese state media are spending an 'eyewatering' £8bn a year, compared with the World Service's £400m budget. 'They're doing it for a reason,' said a BBC source. 'The views and opinions of nations around the world strategically matter. It's only the BBC that has the global reach to actually do something about this. We believe in western values and they are under attack.' There is also evidence that Russia has been targeting former World Service audiences where budget cuts have forced the BBC to retreat. When the BBC's Arabic radio service withdrew from Lebanon, its radio frequency was taken over by the state-owned Russian Sputnik Radio. Figures inside the BBC also think it is unfair that licence fee-payers in the UK pay for content delivered to audiences overseas. The push to hand the costs of the World Service back to the government is an early skirmish in what are set to be lengthy negotiations over its remit and funding as part of the corporation's charter renewal process. Those talks are scheduled to run until 2027. Jonathan Munro, the global director of BBC News, said: 'The BBC World Service is a uniquely valuable asset that provides trusted independent and impartial news to audiences around the world. 'As press freedom drastically reduces, disinformation thrives and state-backed media advance aggressively, its role is increasingly important. We need a sustainable, long term funding solution that enables the World Service to meet these global challenges and invest in services for the future.' Before 2014, the government held sole responsibility for funding the World Service, an international news service available on radio, television and online that provides news and analysis around the world in more than 40 languages. However, as part of the cost-cutting measures pursued by the coalition government from 2010, the costs of providing the service were loaded on to the corporation itself. Under the latest funding settlement, about two-thirds of the costs of the World Service come from the licence fee, with the rest made up from government grants. Lisa Nandy, the culture secretary, said recently that she believed the World Service's funding model was unsustainable. She said that with the 'challenges in the world being so great', successive governments have had to step in with additional funding to safeguard it. The World Service has already had to make cuts this year as the BBC struggles with the two-year freeze in the licence fee. It was announced in January that 130 jobs would go as part of plans to save about £6m. It included cuts to BBC Monitoring, which analyses news from media around the world. While BBC bosses think they have a strong case, persuading the Treasury to find the extra money is a tall order. The chancellor, Rachel Reeves, has left herself little room for manoeuvre after ruling out any more large tax increases and her self-imposed fiscal rules significantly restrict her spending options. Meanwhile, she has already had to accommodate Keir Starmer's decision to increase defence spending to 2.5% of GDP by 2027 – worth an additional £6bn a year – by slashing international aid. The prime minister announced the move before his meeting with Donald Trump in Washington last month. Government sources said that all issues relating to the BBC's funding would be examined as part of the charter renewal process. They also said the last spending review included 31% increase in the World Service's government funding for 2025-26, to £137m. The figure was £20m less than the BBC had asked for during negotiations. A spokesperson for the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office said: 'The government highly values the BBC World Service, which reaches a global audience of 320 million, and remains the world's most trusted international news service.'
