
Putin says Russia has told Israel there's no evidence Iran wants nuclear weapons, Sky News Arabia reports
MOSCOW, June 21 (Reuters) - Russia has repeatedly told Israel that there is no evidence Iran is aiming to get nuclear weapons, Sky News Arabia on Saturday quoted Russian President Vladimir Putin as saying in an interview.
"Russia, as well as the IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency), has never had any evidence that Iran is preparing to obtain nuclear weapons, as we have repeatedly put the Israeli leadership on notice," Sky News Arabia quoted Putin as saying.
Russia is ready to support Iran in developing a peaceful nuclear programme, Putin was quoted as saying, adding that Iran has the right to do so.
Speaking at an economic forum in St. Petersburg on Friday, Putin said Russia was sharing its ideas on how to stop the bloodshed in the Iran-Israel conflict with both sides.
He did not give details of those ideas.

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


Reuters
27 minutes ago
- Reuters
Belarus' Lukashenko meets with US envoy Kellogg, Belta reports
MOSCOW, June 21 (Reuters) - Belarusian president Alexander Lukashenko met with U.S. special envoy Keith Kellogg, Belarusian state news agency Belta reported on Saturday. Lukashenko discussed with Kellogg the political situation in the world and the bilateral relations between Belarus and the United States, Belta reported. Earlier this week, sources in Washington told Reuters of Kellogg's plan to visit Belarus and meet Lukashenko. They said that while the exact agenda for the meeting was unclear, the envoy viewed it as a step that could help jump-start peace talks aimed at ending Russia's war against Ukraine. In a video of the meeting released by Belta, Lukashenko warmly embraces Kellogg. "Who doesn't know him? He is the most media-savvy person around these days," Lukashenko said. Kellogg is the highest-ranking U.S. official to visit the authoritarian state in years.


The Independent
27 minutes ago
- The Independent
Vladimir Putin tells Russia ‘all of Ukraine is ours'
Vladimir Putin declared that "all of Ukraine is ours" during an investment event in St Petersburg, asserting that he considers Russian and Ukrainian people to be one nation. This statement, one of Putin's most hardline comments since Donald Trump took power, came during a Q&A session regarding Russia 's end goal in the protracted war. Putin hinted at the potential use of nuclear weapons, warning of "catastrophic" consequences if Ukraine were to use a 'dirty bomb,' a claim Ukraine has consistently denied. Russian troops continue to advance in eastern Ukraine, focusing attacks in the Donetsk region and recently capturing the village of Zaporizhzhya. A US working group tasked with pressuring Russia into peace talks with Ukraine was disbanded, with officials indicating that Donald Trump was not interested in taking a tougher stance with Moscow.


Reuters
an hour ago
- Reuters
Russia's Sechin says China is moving towards exporting energy
ST PETERSBURG, Russia, June 21 (Reuters) - Rosneft ( opens new tab CEO Igor Sechin, one of the most influential men in Russia's energy sector, said on Saturday that China was seeking complete energy independence and that in the foreseeable future it could become a major energy exporter. China's economic and military rise over the past 45 years is considered to be one of the most significant geopolitical events of recent times, alongside the 1991 fall of the Soviet Union which ended the Cold War. Sechin said that a massive increase in electricity consumption was changing the entire landscape of the global energy markets as populations soared in Africa and Asia and the digital revolution triggered massive demand for power. Speaking at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum, Sechin said that China accounted for a third of global investment in the energy sector, was ramping up renewable energy capacity and was now one of the leaders in nuclear power. "China, which has already ensured its energy security, is confidently moving towards complete energy independence, forming a stable energy balance based on its own resources," Sechin said in a speech which referenced both Greek mythology and Niccolo Machiavelli. "There is no doubt, taking into account the persistence and professionalism of our Chinese comrades, that in the foreseeable future they will achieve the desired result, which will turn China from an importer of energy resources into a major energy exporter." China is currently the world's largest importer of crude oil and a major importer of natural gas. Russia is the world's second largest oil exporter and holds the world's largest reserves of natural gas. Sechin, who worked alongside Vladimir Putin in the former imperial capital of St Petersburg and later under the president in the Kremlin, has run Rosneft since 2012. Rosneft accounts for about 40% of Russian oil production, 14% of the country's gas production and 32% of the refinery market. It is also the biggest Russian exporter of oil to China. Sechin said that the decision by OPEC+ to speed up an output increase now looked far-sighted and justified in the light of the confrontation between Israel and Iran. He added that the OPEC+ group could bring forward its output hikes by around a year from the initial plan. He drew attention to the vast U.S. debt pile, warning that great powers from Habsburg Spain and pre-Revolutionary France to the Ottoman Empire and Britain had declined due to high levels of public debt. The expansion of the Western military-industrial complex was diverting enormous resources away from productive sectors and unlikely to be a panacea for the problems in Europe or the United States, Sechin said. "There is always an asymmetrical answer," he added. But his focus was on China's role, giving the example how the growth in the sales of electric vehicles had resulted in significant slowdown in motor fuel demand over the last year. "If this trend continues – it may have a significant reverse impact on the oil market balance," Sechin said. He added than an important part of China's strategy to reduce dependence on energy imports was the processing of coal into synthetic fuels and chemical products. About 40 million tons of coal is used to produce synthetic fuels and more than 260 million tons for ammonia and methanol production, he said.