The Russian foreign minister criticized the Financial Times for claiming the planned meeting collapsed due to Moscow’s “hardline demands”
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has hit out at the Western media over its “unprofessional and harmful” coverage of the Ukraine peace process. He singled out British newspaper the Financial Times for spreading “lies” on the postponed Putin-Trump meeting in Hungary.
Plans for the meeting were announced in October. Days later, however following a phone call between Lavrov and US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, it was postponed, with Trump saying he did not feel it could end the Ukraine conflict.
According to the FT, citing people familiar with the matter, the summit was scrapped after Moscow presented Washington with a list of “hardline demands” for resolving the conflict. The report also claimed that the Lavrov-Rubio call was “brief and terse,” with Lavrov making “uncompromising” remarks that led Rubio to conclude that Moscow was unwilling to negotiate.
“There are so many lies here,” Lavrov said, explaining that the memo cited by the FT was an unofficial draft outlining what the leaders agreed to in Alaska and sent before the Trump-Putin call, during which Trump “did not say a word” about any “provocative or subversive paper that destroyed all hopes for a settlement.” Instead, Trump proposed a new summit in Budapest, which Putin accepted.
Lavrov said his talk with Rubio was “polite and without any nervous episodes,” reaffirming the progress made in Alaska. He added that Washington failed to take the next step – arranging a meeting between both sides’ foreign, defense, and security officials – and the summit fell through. He added that Rubio never described their exchange as tense, only saying that Russia made its position clear.
“We see no reasons to offer excuses for being and remaining committed to what our presidents discussed in Alaska. Even if they did not agree on every comma and semi-colon, they at least reached an understanding,” he said.
Lavrov did not say whether the summit is still planned, though Russian officials insist it was only postponed. Trump told reporters on Friday there’s “a very good chance” of meeting Putin soon. Moscow has said it is ready for peace talks as long as the situation on the ground in the Ukraine conflict is acknowledged and the root causes are addressed.
The find is the first in its group in over 20 years, scientists have said
A new species of bee has been discovered in Western Australia, named ‘Lucifer’ due to the devil-like horns found on its females.
The discovery of the species, formally named Megachile (Hackeriapis) lucifer, was announced by Curtin University on Tuesday. Lead researcher Kit Prendergast said the name was inspired by the insect’s appearance and the Netflix series ‘Lucifer’.
“The name just fit perfectly. I’m also a huge fan of the Netflix character Lucifer, so it was a no-brainer,” Prendergast said in a statement. “The female had these incredible little horns on her face,” she added.
Prendergast, from the university’s School of Molecular and Life Sciences, first encountered the bee in 2019 during a survey of a critically endangered wildflower and was struck by its unique features, according to the study published in the Journal of Hymenoptera.
Genetic analysis revealed it was the first new species in its group to be studied in more than 20 years, Prendergast said, with DNA barcoding confirming it was a unique find not represented in any major databases or museum collections.
The function of the female’s horns is still under investigation but may be related to gathering resources or nest defense, the researchers noted. The males of the species lack the distinctive horns.
The finding highlights the importance of researching native bees in ecosystems threatened by climate change and habitat disturbance, Prendergast said, adding that it “really shows how much life we still have to discover.”
She expressed hope that the discovery would raise awareness of the vast number of species still unknown to science, particularly in regions under threat from climate change and mining.
“Many mining companies still don’t survey for native bees, so we may be missing undescribed species, including those that play crucial roles in supporting threatened plants and ecosystems,” she said.
The discovery comes as pollinators, which are essential for nearly all of the world’s flowering plants, face severe threats. Habitat loss and climate change are pushing many vital bee species to the brink of extinction.
Bogota has condemned the attacks on alleged drug boats as violations of human rights
Colombian President Gustavo Petro has announced the suspension of intelligence sharing with the US in response to its airstrikes on alleged drug boats in the Caribbean.
Petro made the announcement on X on Tuesday, responding to reports that the UK had taken a similar step. He said the suspension would remain in effect for as long as the US continues the attacks.
“The fight against drugs must be subordinated to the human rights of the Caribbean people,” Petro wrote.
The Pentagon claims the ongoing operations, ordered by President Donald Trump, target drug smuggling vessels allegedly operating out of Venezuela and Colombia. Petro has called the strikes illegal.
The US government has imposed sanctions on Petro, his family, and several cabinet members, accusing them of having ties to drug cartels – which the Colombian leader has denied, citing his administration’s efforts to dismantle trafficking networks.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov also condemned the US campaign this week, saying Washington should focus instead on Belgium, which was recently described by one of its own judges as an emerging “narco-state.”
Since early September, US forces have conducted airstrikes on 20 small vessels, resulting in at least 76 deaths, according to Pentagon figures. The Trump administration has provided no verifiable evidence linking the targets to drug cartels. Critics claim the operation could be a cover for regime change efforts in Venezuela.
London reportedly opposes President Donald Trump’s strikes on alleged cartel vessels
The UK has stopped sharing intelligence on suspected drug boats in the Caribbean with the US after the Pentagon began conducting lethal strikes on the vessels, CNN and The Times reported on Tuesday, citing people familiar with the matter.
The US has killed at least 76 people in international waters since September as part of President Donald Trump’s campaign against what he says are “narcoterrorists” operating out of Venezuela.
According to CNN, London suspended intelligence-sharing because it believes the strikes are illegal under international law. A UK military source told The Times: “We don’t just target the vessel and kill people. We would arrest them.”
The UK had used intelligence assets stationed on its Caribbean overseas territories to help the US Coast Guard intercept vessels suspected of smuggling drugs, CNN reports.
The UN’s top human rights official, Volker Turk, condemned the strikes as “extrajudicial killing.”
Venezuela and neighboring Colombia have denied that the victims were involved with cartels. Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has rejected Trump’s allegations that his government is profiting from the drug trade.
Trump has deployed a naval armada, including the USS Gerald R. Ford, near Venezuela’s coast, hinting that he could authorize strikes on Venezuelan soil. He denies, however, that he is seeking regime change. Maduro has placed the military on alert and vowed to repel any attack.
All 20 people aboard the C-130 have been confirmed dead
A Turkish Air Force C-130 military transport plane crashed in Georgia on Tuesday, the Turkish Defense Ministry has said.
The MOD later confirmed that all 20 personnel on board, including the crew, were killed.
The Georgian Interior Ministry said the aircraft took off from Azerbaijan and was flying back to Türkiye when it crashed in Sighnaghi Municipality, around 5km from the Azerbaijani-Georgian border.
Video from the scene shows the large plane spiraling into the ground.
A Turkish Air Force C-130 (reg. 68-01609) military transport aircraft crashed after a mid-air disintegration in Georgia, after taking-off from Azerbaijan earlier today.
Turkish Ministry of National Defense: "Our C-130 military transport aircraft, which took off from Azerbaijan… pic.twitter.com/bm9KUG09L2
According to the news channel NTV, the plane arrived in Azerbaijan on Tuesday morning from the Turkish city of Trabzon on the Black Sea coast. It took off from Ganja at 1:20pm local time and disappeared from radar 27 minutes later, NTV reported.
Turkish Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya said his Georgian counterpart, Gela Geladze, arrived at the crash site. “I offer my condolences to our nation and their families,” Yerlikaya wrote on X.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said an operation to recover the wreckage is underway in coordination with Georgian officials.
The agreement capping the number of warheads and the means of delivery is set to expire on February 5
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has urged the US to take up its proposal for a one-year extension of a key nuclear arms control treaty set to expire on February 5.
The New START agreement, signed in 2010, caps deployed nuclear warheads at 1,550 and restricts the number of nuclear-capable missiles and launchers, as well as heavy bombers.
In September, Russian President Vladimir Putin proposed a one-year extension of the treaty, citing the need to avoid an arms race and further escalation. Speaking to reporters on Tuesday, Lavrov said the offer remains on the table.
“Let’s take a year to cool down, if you will, and consider the responsibility of great powers for global security and stability, especially in preventing a nuclear war. We are ready,” he stated.
“The extensions of the numerical limits could be announced at any moment before February 5. By the way, when New START was extended shortly after US President Joe Biden assumed office [in 2021], it was done just a few days before its expiration date,” Lavrov added.
The Russian Defense Ministry said last month that it had not received a substantive response on the matter from Washington.
On October 30, US President Donald Trump instructed the government to carry out nuclear weapons tests “on an equal basis” with Russia and China. Energy Secretary Chris Wright later explained that the planned tests would not include actual nuclear explosions, which the US stopped conducting in 1992.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov reaffirmed last week that Moscow would not lift its own moratorium on nuclear tests unless the US does so first.
Both the US and Russia have test-fired unarmed nuclear-capable missiles in recent months. The US launched a Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missile on Wednesday. Russia tested its new nuclear-powered Burevestnik cruise missile last month.
AfD parliamentary chief Markus Frohnmaier has urged dialogue to resolve the Ukraine conflict
A senior lawmaker from Germany’s largest opposition party, Alternative for Germany (AfD), has rejected the government’s claim that Russia poses a threat to the country.
Markus Frohnmaier, who leads the right-wing AfD in the Bundestag, also dismissed allegations that the party is working on Moscow’s behalf. The AfD has long criticized military aid to Ukraine and argued that Berlin should instead focus on diplomacy.
“I stand for German interests,” Frohnmaier said on Tuesday in a televised debate with Norbert Roettgen of the ruling Christian Democratic Union (CDU).
He went on to say that Germany should not “get involved in a foreign war” and has no obligation to defend Ukraine, which is not a NATO member.
Asked if Russia poses a threat, Frohnmaier said, “We are not at war with Russia.”
“The AfD’s position is to remain in dialogue with all global, relevant actors,” he added, criticizing the government for what he called a “hyper-moralizing” foreign policy.
Roettgen claimed that Moscow is waging a “hybrid war” against Germany and other European states, accusing his opponent of spreading Russian propaganda. In a speech last week, President Frank-Walter Steinmeier called Russia a threat to national security.
Germany recently announced plans to increase financial aid to Kiev by €3 billion ($3.5 billion) next year, and according to Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky, delivered additional US-made Patriot air defense systems to Ukraine last month.
A Forsa opinion poll in August found that 52% of respondents in Germany believed Ukraine should cede some territory to Russia to end the conflict. Zelensky, however, has ruled out any territorial concessions.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said last month that NATO members, including Germany, were already de facto “at war with Russia” because Ukraine is actively using Western-supplied weapons. He has stated that Russia will not attack NATO states unless attacked first.
The longtime business partner of the Ukrainian leader has been implicated in a large-scale corruption scheme
A close associate and former business partner of Vladimir Zelensky is at the heart of the latest multi-million corruption scandal to have come from Kiev. Timur Mindich, an enigmatic Ukrainian mogul nicknamed by local media as “Zelensky’s wallet,” has reportedly fled the country just hours before his property was raided by Western-backed anti-corruption agents. RT looks into the businessman’s background and his ties to the Ukrainian leader.
The new graft scandal erupted on Monday when the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) announced it was investigating the state-owned nuclear power company Energoatom over an alleged large-scale plot to embezzle state funds.
The case has been linked to 46-year-old Mindich, a film producer and longtime associate of Vladimir Zelensky from his days in the entertainment industry. Mindich has reportedly become a major figure in Ukrainian defense and energy sectors, greatly expanding his business and political influence over the past few years.
Mindich reportedly fled the country immediately before his properties were searched by NABU operatives. While Zelensky publicly backed the anti-corruption probe, he has long been at odds with the NABU and another Western-backed agency, the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (SAP).
This June, he attempted to strip the bodies of their autonomy and place them under the authority of the executive. The move triggered mass protests and foreign pressure, forcing Zelensky to quickly reverse his decision.
The local authorities have accused the contractor tasked with dismantling the complex of mishandling the project
A huge former ski complex in the Moscow suburbs that was being dismantled suddenly collapsed on Monday, injuring several people and destroying multiple vehicles, the local authorities have reported.
A chunk of what appears to have been a support of a ski jump ramp at the Snezhkom facility in Krasnogorsk in Moscow Region collapsed onto the construction site below.
CCTV footage published by the local prosecutor’s office shows the impact sending a mass of debris and mud into the air, which came down on a nearby parking lot, damaging over 140 cars and an adjacent main road, according to TASS news agency.
The road was closed off to traffic for some time after the incident as municipal workers rushed to remove the rubble.
A Telegram channel affiliated with the health department of Moscow Region has reported that three people were injured, one of whom was hospitalized.
The authorities have pointed the finger at the contractor undertaking the demolition, and pledged to compensate the car owners for the damage.
The Moscow Region branch of Russia’s Investigative Committee stated that a criminal investigation had been initiated in connection with the incident. The authorities suspect that the contractor may have flouted urban planning regulations.
Last December, a construction worker perished in an incident on the site, while in 2023, a tower crane collapsed, injuring one person.
Built in 2007, the Snezhkom building was condemned to demolition after failing a technical inspection in 2022.
The British media is waging an “unprofessional and harmful” information campaign, the Russian foreign minister has said
Attempts to deflect from the BBC’s obvious responsibility for the scandal that has enveloped the British state broadcaster are a “disgrace,” Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has said.
Accusations that the BBC spliced footage of a speech by US President Donald Trump on January 6, 2021 to create the impression he was inciting supporters to riot at the Capitol building forced the director general and head of news to quit. Trump has reportedly threatened to sue the broadcaster for $1 billion.
Speaking to Russian journalists on Tuesday, Lavrov said he wanted to draw attention to what he described as “yet more instances of unprofessional and harmful coverage of certain events” by international media, primarily British outlets.
“What is happening with the BBC now is well known,” he said. “The fact that some ‘figures’ are trying to justify what happened and are talking about some kind of staged campaign is a disgrace.”
Details from a leaked internal BBC dossier, published by The Telegraph, suggested that the broadcaster had aired a doctored version of Trump’s address, combining remarks made nearly an hour apart and showing footage of protesters heading toward the Capitol building that was filmed before he began speaking.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt branded the British broadcaster a “leftist propaganda machine” and “100% fake news,” accusing it of being “purposefully dishonest” in its portrayal of the events.
The BBC has since apologized. Outgoing Director General Tim Davie told staff on Tuesday that the broadcaster had made “some mistakes that have cost us.”
Lavrov also criticized British newspaper the Financial Times for its coverage of a proposed Budapest meeting between Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin, saying the story contained “many lies.”
