South China Morning Post - Russia & Central Asia

Diplomats from the EU’s 27 member states were pressured this week to lift sanctions on Yusha Group, a Chinese textiles manufacturer accused of selling sensitive European technology to Russian buyers. In exchange, Beijing has pledged that the company will refrain from shipping banned items to Russian military-linked buyers. It will also remove German company Sindlhauser Materials...

Russia and Ukraine traded major attacks overnight with Moscow’s mayor saying on Thursday that 630 drones had been launched towards the region, shortly after a US envoy held talks with the Russian president in St Petersburg. Following Wednesday’s meeting between his envoy Steve Witkoff and Putin, US President Donald Trump claimed the two sides were nearing a breakthrough. “The ot...

Last month, the US published the fine print of a US$686 million upgrade deal for Pakistan’s F-16 fighter jets. The deal is for data link systems, new encryption gear and a refit that keeps the jets flying until 2040. The notice says Pakistan can protect the technology to “substantially the same degree” as the US government. The Pakistan Air Force is also the only declared intere...

Russian President Vladimir Putin hosted US ⁠special envoy Steve Witkoff in a grand imperial palace on Wednesday to review ⁠new ideas on ending the war in Ukraine amid Washington’s latest push to stop Europe’s bloodiest conflict since second world war. The talks in St Petersburg, the ninth time that Witkoff has met Putin in person, began with a goodwill gesture from Russia – the ...

As turbulence grows in many countries, it is tempting to ask if there is a global hegemon that can sort everything out fairly. US President Donald Trump has threatened that his country would not defend Nato allies if they failed to spend enough on their defence. Together with new trade barriers, his words suggest that the US is scaling back its ambitions for global leadership an...