James Kilner

ANTI-TERROR DRILLS: Nationwide anti-terrorist drills took place in schools across Russia yesterday. Photos from the drills show men in balaclavas pointing rifles and shouting at schoolchildren who are cowering on the floor of their classrooms with their hands on their heads. (COMMENT: The photos look fairly traumatic but the Kremlin

SUPPORT FOR NORTH KOREA: The Russia-North Korea Mutal Assistance Pact that allowed Vladimir Putin to ask Kim Jung-Un for military support to expel Ukrainian soldiers from the Kursk region means exactly that, said Dmitry Peskov, the Kremlin spokesman. In other words, if North Korea is attacked it can call on

CAR BOMB: A car bomb in a Moscow suburb killed Lieutenant-General Yaroslav Moskalik, deputy head of the Russian Army's Main Operations Directorate as he walked past. Ukraine has killed several high-ranking Russian military officers, scientists and propagandists. (COMMENT: The apparent assassination of Moskalik came only a few hours

TEACHERS'S PAY COMPLAINTS: Teachers in some of Russia's regions are refusing to organise end-of-year exams until they get a pay rise, the Izvestia newspaper reported on Thursday. (COMMENT: This is part of the 'inflation in Russia' story. Teachers and other municipal workers have not

>> WAR TALKS DOWNGRADED: Ukraine war negotiations in London were downgraded on Wednesday from foreign minister level to "expert level" after Marco Rubio, the US Secretary of State, and Steve Witkoff, Donald Trump's personal envoy, pulled out. (COMMENT: Being downgraded to "expert level"

>> US DIPLOMACY: Yuri Ushakov, a top aide to Putin, says that Steve Witkoff, Donald Trump's personal envoy, will visit Moscow this week. Earlier in April, Witkoff met with Putin in St Petersburg. (COMMENT: Witkoff turning up in Russia does now appear to be a signifier that

(The Russian Memo) - Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, the Emir of Qatar, travelled to Russia to hold talks with Putin. This was the Qatari leader's first trip to Moscow since 2018. He described Russia as a "distinguished friend". (COMMENT: The trip to Moscow shows