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James Kilner

0715GMT//Russia lowers interest rates; new missile tested; top North Korean official visits

INTEREST RATE CUT: Russia's Central Bank cut its core interest rate on Friday to 16.5% from 17%. This was broadly in line with expectations. (COMMENT: This is the fourth consecutive cut since June. Russian business wants a harder cut. The Central Bank still says that there are

0625GMT//Putin-Trump meeting cancelled; former deputy mayor of Russian city killed in Ukriane; Russian credit cards in Afghanistan

PUTIN-TRUMP MEETING CANCELLED: A planned meeting between Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump in Budapest has been cancelled. Trump said that it would have been a "waste of time" as there was too much of a gap between the two men's positions. (COMMENT: This was always likely.

0752GMT//Trump says he's "interested" in US-Russia tunnel; Putin proposes ceding captured regions of southern Ukraine; blast at Russian gunpowder factory kills three people

US-RUSSIA TUNNEL: Russia has suggested building a 'Putin-Trump' tunnel under the Bering Strait from Alaska to Chukotka. Kirill Dmitriev, Putin's envoy for talks with the US, said that research on the project has been ongoing for six months. On Friday, media reported that Donald Trump had

0645GMT//Putin and Trump to meet in Budapest; India starts buying oil from South America; Assassination plot in France foiled

TRUMP-PUTIN MEETING: Donald Trump will meet with Vladimir Putin in Budapest "next week". The two leaders held a two-hour telephone conversation on Thursday to discuss the war in Ukraine, which both said was "good and productive". In the phone call, their first for two months, Putin

0754GMT//Putin hosts Syrian leader at the Kremlin; Trumps says India to stop buying Russian oil; Russian 'foreign leader' label now fast-tracked

PUTIN HOSTS SYRIAN LEADER: Vladimir Putin hosted Syrian Pres. Ahmed al-Sharaa at the Kremlin for talks that focused on the status of Russian air bases in Syria. Less than a year ago, al-Sharaa defeated the Russia-backed forces of Bashar al-Assad. Putin has given al-Assad, who is accused of war crimes

0654GMT//Petrol prices rise in Russia; Kremlin economists warn of recession; Russia-Azerbaijan-Iran trade route meeting goes ahead after Putin apology

PETROL PRICES RISE: Car fuel prices in Russia continued to hit new records, a reflection of shortages caused by Ukrainian drone attacks on oil refineries. Prices are up by around 60% since April. The Kremlin has reduced rules around blending fuels, yet another attempt to ease shortages. Motorists in Novosibirsk

0745GMT//Azerbaijan releases Russian reporter after Putin apology; US helps Ukriane hit Russian refineries, says FT; Medvedev flies in to North Korea

RUSSIAN JOURNALIST RELEASED: Azerbaijan released a Russian journalist from prison in Baku the day after Vladimir Putin apologised for the shooting down of an Azerbaijani Airlines passenger plane on Christmas Day. Igor Kartavykh, a director at the Kremlin-financed Spunik news agency, had been arrested in June with another Russian journalist

0655GMT//Putin apologises for shooting down Azerbaijani airliner; Kremlin supports Nobel Peace Prize for Trump; Internet freedom NGO shuts

PUTIN APOLOGISES FOR SHOOTING DOWN AZERBAIJANI PLANE: Vladimir Putin publicly apologised to Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev for the first time for shooting down an Azerbaijani passenger jet on Christmas Day last year. The two men met in Dushanbe for the first time since Russian air defence systems shot the jet

0756GMT//Putin flies to Tajikistan; North Korea sends 'IT specialists' to Russia

PUTIN FLIES TO TAJIKISTAN: Vladimir Putin has arrived in Dushanbe for his first official State Visit to Tajikistan. He has visited Tajikistan a dozen or so times as Russian president, but this is his first State Visit. (COMMENT: This is an important visit for Putin. Bilateral talks are expected to

0654GMT//Russia alleges Ukraine hit nuclear power station with drone; Kremlin holds first formal talks in Kabul with Taliban; Putin works through his birthday

NUCLEAR POWER STATION DRONE ALLEGATION: Rosenergoatom, Russia's nuclear power plant operator, said that a Ukrainian drone hit the cooling tower at its nuclear power station at Novovoronezh, in the Voronezh Region. It said that the collision with operating unit No. 6 had left a "dark mark"