0705GMT//Trumps says Russia not supplying Iran; EU diplomat attacked in Vladivostok
RUSSIA-IRAN: Donald Trump said Russia has not sent any military aid to Iran since the Israel-Iran conflict erupted last week. (COMMENT: This matches Russian reporting which has been consistently pro-Iran but has not suggested that the Kremlin has sent any military aid to Iran – a key Russian ally since its invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Commentators have instead been urging the Kremlin to stay out of the conflict.)
NORTH KOREAN LABOUR: After talks with Sergei Shoigu, the Secretary of Russia's Security Council, in Pyongyang, North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un agreed to send 1,000 sappers and 5,000 military engineers to help rebuild Russia's southern Kursk region. Roughly 12,000 North Korean conscripts had been deployed to Kursk to help Russia defeat a Ukrainian incursion. (COMMENT: It's not clear what the Kremlin has promised in return for the workers but it has previously given North Korean satellite technology and other tech know-how. Russia faces a severe shortage of workers because of its war in Ukraine. In May, Kim sent 15,000 labourers to work in Far East Russia. Keep in mind that Russia and North Korea are both part of an anti-US axis with Iran and it is likely that the Israel-Iran conflict was discussed.)
Also agreed between Shoigu and Kim: war memorials to dead Korean soldiers are to be built in Russia; Russia Post will start sending parcels and letters to North Korea; air links between Russia and North Korea will be established "soon".
PUTIN'S ECONOMIC FORUM: The St Petersburg International Economic Forum opens on Wednesday. This is the Kremlin's headline economic event and stars Vladimir Putin for an extended Q&A session. This year's guest is Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto. (COMMENT: Putin will use the Q&A session on Friday to score diplomatic points. He will hold talks with Subianto on Thursday to "cement strategic ties", a win for the Kremlin as, once again, it can show the West that it is not diplomatically isolated.)
EU DIPLOMAT ATTACKED: A member of the EU's delegation in Russia was attacked in May in Vladivostok while on a mission to visit European consulates on Russia's Far East Coast, Germany's Spiegel reported on Tuesday. It said that the Romanian citizen left her hotel at 7am. A car then pulled up next to her and two men jumped out and beat her. An EU spokesman in Moscow confirmed the attack to Spiegel but didn't give any more details. (COMMENT: Western diplomats and journalists working in Russia run risks and have to deal with constant pressure and surveillance. According to Spiegel's report, Western embassies have called an emergency meeting to discuss the attack. There is an unproved suspicion that the Russian security services may have been behind the attack.)
MI6 SPY CHIEF SLANDER: Kremlin propagandists and pro-war bloggers claim that the new head of Britain's Mi6 intelligence services, Blaise Metreweli, has Ukrainian heritage. (COMMENT: It's unclear where they have gotten this information from but it is "doing the rounds" as it feeds into their conspiracy theories. The Metreweli name has also been linked to Georgia.)
AIRPORT SEIZED: Moscow's Arbitration Court nationalised the Domodedovo Airport, Russia's second largest airport, from its billionaire owners on Tuesday. It accused them of having a hidden pro-West agenda. (COMMENT: The Kremlin has been looking for a pretext to seize the airport near Moscow for more than 15 years. Media has already said that Arkady Rotenberg, one of Putin's close associates, could eventually buy it. Since the Kremlin's invasion of Ukraine, the Russian state has seized several high-profile assets and sold them to businessmen with close links to the regime.)
MISSILE DEATHTOLL: At least 23 people are now believed to have been killed by a Russian missile attack on Kyiv on Tuesday morning. (COMMENT: Even for the terrible scores against civilians being recorded during this war, this is now regarded as a particularly deadly attack.)
RUSSIAN NAMES FOR APARTMENT BLOCKS: From March 1 2026, all new residential buildings in Russia must be given a name in Russian rather than an anglicised name, Russia's parliament decreed on Tuesday. (COMMENT: This is part of a divide between Russia and the West that the Kremlin is promoting. It had become fashionable to give residential blocks an anglicised name.)
AFRICAN GOLD MINE: Malian officials on Tuesday said that construction work had begun with a Russian company on a new gold mine. (COMMENT: The Kremlin has been eager to push alliances over the past few years with African nations to secure their diplomatic support and access to their minerals. In Mali and other neighbouring countries, the Kremlin has sponsored coups against pro-Western governments and now provides security through mercenaries.)
NEWS MATRIX:
Trump's confirmation that Russia has not sent military support to Iran since the start of the latest Israel-Iran conflict is the top story of the day. Despite the alliance between Russia and Iran, it's not surprising as Russian media has been talking the alliance down as a "strategic" one, not a military one. The attack in Vladivostok on an EU diplomat is surprising, important and, frankly, a concern.