BRICS BLAMES UKRAINE: In a final communique at the end of their summit in Brazil, BRICS members condemned an alleged Ukrainian attack on a railway bridge in Russia in May that killed seven people but failed to criticise regular Russian drone and missile strikes on Ukraine that have killed hundreds

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.

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

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&

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

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

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:

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

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