Latest news with #KremlinResponse
Reuters
10 hours ago
- Politics
- Reuters
Kremlin says Russia deeply regrets and condemns the US strikes on Iran
MOSCOW, June 23 (Reuters) - Russia deeply regrets and condemns the U.S. strikes on Iranian nuclear sites, the Kremlin said on Monday. The U.S. actions had increased the number of participants in the conflict and ushered in a new spiral of escalation, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters. He added it was not yet clear what had happened to Iran's nuclear facilities and whether there was a radiation hazard. The situation on the ground in Iran after the strikes cannot fail to be a cause of concern, he said. Russia signed a strategic partnership treaty with Iran in January, although it did not include a mutual defence clause. Before Saturday's U.S. strikes, Moscow had warned that U.S. military intervention could destabilise the entire region and plunge it into the "abyss". Peskov said U.S. President Donald Trump had not told Russian President Vladimir Putin in detail about the planned strikes in advanced, although they had discussed the possibility of U.S. military involvement more generally. Asked what Russia was ready to do now, Peskov said Moscow had offered its services as a mediator, and what happened next would depend on what Iran needed. Putin is due to meet Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi later on Monday.
LBCI
13-06-2025
- Politics
- LBCI
Kremlin condemns Israel-Iran 'escalation': Russian state media
The Kremlin on Friday condemned and expressed concern over what it called a "sharp escalation" between Israel and Iran, Russian state media reported. "Russia is concerned and condemns the sharp escalation of tensions," spokesman Dmitry Peskov told state news agencies. The Russian embassy in Tel Aviv also urged Russians in Israel to leave the country if they could and said it "strongly recommends" against traveling there until the "situation normalizes." AFP
Russia Today
13-06-2025
- Politics
- Russia Today
Kremlin comments on Israeli attack on Iran
Russia 'is concerned and condemns the sharp escalation of tensions' between Israel and Iran, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has said, commenting on the Israeli strikes. Earlier on Friday, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) carried out a series of attacks targeting both military and nuclear sites in Iran. Central Tehran was also hit. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the operation aimed to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons. The attack came just two days before the sixth round of US-Iran nuclear talks scheduled for Sunday in Oman. Peskov told reporters on Friday that Russian President Vladimir Putin is monitoring the situation through the Defense Ministry, Foreign Intelligence Service, and Foreign Ministry. 'President Putin receives real-time reports on events in the region,' Peskov said. Iranian media reported that several top-level military commanders, including Revolutionary Guard commander Hossein Salami and Deputy Chief of Army Staff Gholam Ali Rashid, and at least six nuclear scientists were killed in the strikes. According to state news agency IRNA, Tehran has requested an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council following the airstrikes on its territory, which it described as 'blatant aggression' by Israel. The Iranian Army earlier warned that 'a bitter lesson awaits Netanyahu.' Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei warned on Friday morning that Israel 'should expect severe punishment.' In light of the rapidly deteriorating security situation, the Russian embassy in Tel Aviv has advised Russian citizens to refrain from traveling to Israel and urged those already in the country to stay near shelters.
The Independent
03-06-2025
- Politics
- The Independent
Zelensky launched a string of daring raids against Russia. He's proving to Trump that Ukraine has the cards after all
First came dozens of armed drones launched from trucks traveling deep inside Russia, swarming over military airfields across the country and raining down nuclear-capable long-range bombers. Then, two days later, a massive underwater bomb targeted a key bridge linking occupied Crimea to the Russian mainland. The two daring raids by Ukrainian special forces have stunned the Kremlin, bolstered Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, and sent shockwaves through defense departments around the world. But there has been an uncharacteristic silence from the White House, and its usually verbose inhabitants. Donald Trump, who during an infamous Oval Office showdown in February told Zelensky that he didn't 'have the cards' to keep up the fight against Russia, and JD Vance, who in the same meeting asked the Ukrainian president if he had 'said thank you, once' for Washington's support, have not said a word about one of the most significant setbacks to Russia's military in decades. John Bolton, Trump's former national security advisor, told The Independent he was 'surprised that there has been no public Trump comment, given his propensity to comment on almost anything.' When The Independent asked the White House if Zelensky might have had some cards up his sleeve that the president hadn't known about, press secretary Karoline Leavitt said that Trump 'remains positive at the progress" the two sides have made in U.S.-brokered peace talks that just ended in Istanbul, Turkey. 'But he also is a realist, and he realizes these are two countries that are at war and have been for a long time because of his predecessor's weakness and incompetence,' she added. Despite the U.S. role in brokering those talks, Ukraine did not inform the White House of the attacks in advance. The strikes took out many of the Russian bombers that have been firing barrages of missiles on Ukrainian cities over the past few weeks, but they also destroyed a number of its nuclear-capable strike force that might have threatened the United States. That led many to ask on social media, with just a hint of irony, if JD Vance had said thank you to the Ukrainian president. In any case, there was plenty for Vance and Trump to comment on. So why the silence? The operation, which has been dubbed 'Russia's Pearl Harbor,' may have brought home some uncomfortable truths for the president. Trump has repeatedly insisted that Ukraine is on an inevitable path to destruction, or at risk of starting World War III, if it does not agree to a U.S.-brokered surrender that would see Ukraine give up most of the land that Russia currently occupies. Ukraine's victories over the past few days have decisively undermined that notion, dealing a strategic and symbolic blow to Russia's military strength and striking deep into the country's interior. Trump has also spent an enormous amount of political capital trying to bring the war to an end, specifically by attempting to enforce terms on Ukraine that it couldn't possibly accept. Those peace talks have been accompanied by a heavy Russian bombing campaign against Ukrainian cities. Ukraine's willingness to fight on stands in the way of that aim, which has angered Trump and Vance. Michael Weiss, a Ukraine expert and editor of Insider, an investigative media outlet focused on Russia, said there really wasn't much Trump could say after the last few days. 'Yesterday, a Ukrainian intel officer messaged me asking the same question. Why is Trump so quiet? I told him, well — what's he going to say? The Ukrainians are starting World War III and making sure Russia won't be able to fight it half as well?' he told The Independent. 'More seriously, I suspect he knows his peace gambit is DOA. Now, even Mike Johnson is pro-sanctions. Pressure is building to penalise Moscow. If he walks away from it all, Ukraine has just shown it won't be helpless or incapacitated,' he added. The attack coming as a surprise to the White House is significant. It's clear Zelensky does not trust the U.S. with sensitive information on account of the abrupt pro-Russia spin Trump has put on American policy towards Kyiv since returning to power in January. Some members of the Trump administration are vehemently anti-Ukraine in part because they see Russia as a sympathetic nationalist-run power exerting itself in the face of NATO expansion and American-led hegemony. Many MAGA influencers were quick to attack Ukraine for the raids, fearing a Deep State plot to drag the U.S. deeper into the war. This anti-Ukraine view reaches as high as the office of the Vice President, who intervened to blow up an Oval Office meeting between Trump and Zelensky in February by casting the Ukrainian leader as ungrateful and disrespectful to his American patrons. While Democrats and some anti-Trump Republicans have long claimed there's a similar patron-client relationship between Trump and Putin dating back to Russia's efforts to interfere in the 2016 U.S. election on Trump's behalf, people close to Trump have suggested the matter is far less complex. The president, The Independent understands, sees Russia as a strong country and Putin as a strong leader — a 'winner,' in his own parlance. But the audacity and ingenuity of this weekend's Ukrainian attacks may have — for now — positively influenced his opinion of Zelensky. Put simply, it's because Ukraine's success makes Moscow look less like a winner and more like the thing Trump hates above all else: a loser. Indeed, Zelensky indicated that the strikes were intended as such. '[W]hen we do show our strength, we do it justly, striking military targets. We show it not only to the Russian aggressors, but also to those of our allies who were once strong supporters but have started to waver, Zelensky wrote on X on Monday. Weiss believes that the last few days might have demonstrated to Trump that Ukraine is not done fighting yet. 'So long as the U.S. sells arms directly or allows third-party transfers from the Europeans, Kyiv will be in okay shape,' he said. 'Air defense is critical, and this is why knocking out 20 per cent of Russia's cruise missile-firing aircraft was such a master stroke. Why hit arrows when you can kill the archer?'
Sky News
16-05-2025
- Politics
- Sky News
Don't get your hopes up of Ukraine peace talks between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin anytime soon
The Kremlin's response to Donald Trump's comments regarding a possible meeting with Vladimir Putin can be summed up in two words: "Yes, but…". Spokesman Dmitry Peskov was typically non-committal on his daily conference call with journalists, talking up the importance of a summit between the leaders while simultaneously playing down expectations that it will happen any time soon. He described such a meeting as "essential" and "necessary". He even said it was "hard to overestimate" the importance of it - deploying the kind of flattery we've got used to hearing from Moscow when it knows America is listening. 1:08 But Mr Peskov also said, practically in the same breath, that a meeting required "advance preparation", which can be "lengthy". In short, don't get your hopes up… Ukraine war latest: Russia-Ukraine talks under way The prospect of a bilateral meeting has been talked about since Trump came into office, with both sides repeatedly saying that preparations were under way. That talk has dropped off somewhat in the past few weeks, since Washington's stance in the peace negotiations has appeared to shift in favour of Ukraine. But now, Trump is casting a one-on-one with Putin as the keystone to peace. There will be no movement towards peace without it, he said on Thursday. It's exactly the position Moscow craves - carving up Ukraine without Kyiv at the table. So if that's the context, I'm sure Vladimir Putin will want to sit down with the US president. But for now, it seems, it will be at a time of his choosing.
