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Russia last year overtook Saudi Arabia to become the largest supplier of oil to China, Reuters reported, citing Chinese import data....

Iranian authorities have seized the prestigious Sakharov Prize that was awarded by the European Parliament to honor Mahsa Amini, whose September 2022 death in custody sparked nationwide anti-government protests and who came to symbolize battle for human rights for Iranian women....

KYIV – Ukraine will likely receive it first shipment of advanced F-16s in the next few days, Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte told President Volodymyr Zelenskiy in a phone call as Kyiv seeks to disrupt Russia’s air superiority over Ukrainian skies amid continued battles on December 23 in the east and south of the country....

With all political opposition eliminated and Russia firmly in the grip of what analysts call “mature authoritarianism,” the country prepares for a March presidential vote devoid of competition and, if the Kremlin has its way, ushers Vladimir Putin into another six-year term without surprises.

The United States said it would give Ukraine a new military aid package worth $200 million as President Volodymyr Zelenskiy traveled to NATO’s headquarters in Belgium to press for more support for his war-ravaged country ahead of the onset of the cold season....

A guard at one of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s residences in occupied Crimea has fled to Ecuador, calling the Kremlin leader a war criminal....

A court in the Russian city of St. Petersburg sentenced anti-war activist Olga Smirnova to six years in prison on August 30 on a charge of spreading fake news about the armed forces. Smirnova was also banned from administering websites for three years. Prosecutors asked for a seven-year sentence....

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has warned that it was “inevitable” that “war” would come to Russia after authorities there were forced to temporarily close a busy Moscow airport following an overnight drone attack on the capital.

The Astoria Grande cruise ship, carrying some 800 passengers including Russians, was forced to leave the Georgian Black Sea port of Batumi on July 27 upon arriving there the same day from the Russia port of Sochi, after groups of Georgians protested its presence there.

A Russian soldier on July 13 was convicted of insubordination. An independent Russian news outlet reports he was among a group of conscripts held in a cellar for refusing to fight in Ukraine.

Romania has recalled its ambassador to Kenya for making a racist comment that equated Africans to monkeys while convening a meeting at a UN building in Nairobi.

As the brutal war against Ukraine costs Russia’s army ever more casualties, recruitment drives for fresh replacements are now turning to migrants from Central Asia and the Caucasus to fill the boots of the dead left behind by their prospective comrades. Meanwhile, Mikhail Matveyev, a Duma member, criticised "naturalised...