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James Kilner

0715GMT//Kremlin recognises Islamic State of Afghanistan; oil and gas revenues drop to lowest in 2-1/2 years; deputy head of navy killed

RECOGNISING THE TALIBAN: Russia on Thursday became the first country in the world to recognise the Islamic State of Afghanistan. (COMMENT: Economics is driving this decision. The Kremlin needs Afghanistan as part of a transit route south to South Asia. The Taliban and the Kremlin also share enemies – the West.

0700GMT//Armenia to nationalise power grid owned by Russian oligarch; Russia and Israel discuss Iran

RELATIONS WITH AZERBAIJAN: The Kremlin said on Wednesday that Volodymyr Zelensky was trying to "destabilise relations" between Azerbaijan and Russia after he posted a message on X/Twitter saying he'd telephoned Azerbaijani Pres. Ilham Aliyev to chat through "Russia's brutalisation tactics". Kremlin

0654GMT//Putin-Macron chat on the phone; Relations with Azerbaijan worsen; Fee imposed for airport smoking room

PUTIN-MACRON CONVERSATION: Vladimir Putin held a telephone conversation with French Pres. Emmanuel Macron on Tuesday for the first time since September 2022. According to the Kremlin, the telephone conversation lasted two hours and was "substantive". (COMMENT: Macron and Putin reiterated their public positions – Macron said he recognised Ukraine&

0645GMT//Azerbaijani arrests Russian journalists; Russian coal mine closes; Iran wants to buy Russian Caspian Sea port

AZERBAIJAN ARRESTS RUSSIAN "JOURNALISTS": Police in Azerbaijan raided the office of the Kremlin-sponsored Sputnik news agency on Monday, intensifying a conflict between Russia and Azerbaijan. Two Sputnik journalists were arrested for spying. The Kremlin responded by calling in Azerbaijan's ambassador. (COMMENT: The arrests follow a raid

0835GMT//Kadyrov's son marries wearing $18m diamond watch; vital Kremlin relations with Azerbaijan fracture

KADYROV'S SON MARRIES: Adam Kadyrov, the thuggish youngest son of Chechen warlord Ramzan Kadyrov, has married. Reports in Russian media said that the 17-year-old married a woman called Medni at his "ancestral village" in Chechnya over the weekend. Typically brash photographs of Adam Kadyrov posing in

0735GMT//North Korea's Kim opens waterpark for Russians; a hidden banking debt crisis lurks

NORTH KOREAN WATERPARKS: North Korean dictator Kim Jung-un hosted the Russian ambassador at the opening of a new waterpark aimed at attracting Russian tourists. Photographs showed Kim, with an ashtray and a packet of cigarettes on a table to his side, watching a man demonstrate sliding down a waterslide. (COMMENT:

0654GMT//Lift falls 12 floors as more repairs are delayed; Putin to skip BRICS summit

PUTIN AND BRICS: Putin will not fly to the BRICS summit in Brazil on July 6-7 and will instead take part via a video link, the Kremlin said on Wednesday. Brazil is a member of the ICC which has an arrest warrant out for the Russian leader. Instead, Russia will

0710GMT//Putin cuts civilian spending; Russia to grow bananas for the first time

SPENDING CUTS: Putin signed a plan to cut government spending on civilian projects this year in Russia because of a drop in income linked to soft oil and gas prices. (COMMENT: The "war economy" has been protected, of course. Instead, the Russian government will cut spending on industrial

0645GMT//Putin meets Iran's foreign minister; anti-gov protests flare in Siberia; monogorods funding cut

IRAN: Vladimir Putin met with Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi in the Kremlin on Monday. He condemned the Israeli and US bombing strikes against Iran as "unprovoked and unjustified". (COMMENT: These comments felt pro forma. More importantly, Putin didn't actually offer up any concrete actions to

0658GMT//Kremlin dodges helping 'ally' Iran after US strike; Taliban makes migrant worker deal with Russia

IRAN BOMBING REACTION: The Kremlin criticised the US bombing raid against Iran as "irresponsible and illegal" but didn't offer Tehran any actual support. (COMMENT: Other than speaking out against US and Israeli bombing runs against Iran, there is not much that Russia can do. There is