Vladimir Putin has spoken to Azerbaijan’s president about the plane crash and apologised as the “tragic incident” took place in Russian airspace. Russia has accused UK and US spies of trying to provoke attacks against Russia’s military bases in Syria to force their evacuation.
Saturday 28 December 2024 15:57, UK
Moldova’s prime minister has accused Russia of using energy as a political weapon after Moscow stopped supplying gas to the breakaway Moldovan region of Transdniestria.
Dorin Recean said the move would leave residents there without power or heat.
In a statement on Facebook he said Moldova would now consider its legal options, including international arbitration.
Russia’s Foreign Ministry has significantly expanded a list of EU and EU member state officials banned from entering the country in response to a new package of EU sanctions.
On Monday the EU imposed its 15th package of sanctions against Russia, including tougher measures against Chinese entities and more vessels from Moscow’s so-called shadow fleet of ageing tankers used to evade sanctions on the sale of Russian oil.
The Foreign Ministry said it had responded by adding more unnamed “representatives of security agencies, state and commercial organisations of EU countries, and citizens of EU member states responsible for providing military aid to Kyiv” to its stop list.
Russia has changed the tactics it uses in strikes on Ukraine since August, the Ministry of Defence (MoD) has said.
In a post on X the ministry said since then Russia has built up stocks of missiles between each strike and then launch them in a larger swarm.
“Since August 2024, it is likely Russia has chosen to take time to build stocks between strikes and then launch in larger, less frequent strike waves, rather than the more frequent smaller attacks conducted earlier in the year,” it said.
It said the composition of a “large-scale multi-axis attack” into Ukraine overnight on 12-13 December focused on Ukrainian infrastructure and industry, as well as Ukrainian air defences and airfields.
“However, Russia retains the ability and the stocks to allow such assets to be deployed in smaller numbers, as a punitive measure, with little or no warning,” it added.
You can read the full post here:
A cyberattack in Italy has been claimed by a pro-Russian hacker group, which said the country’s “Russophobes get a well-deserved cyber response”.
Hackers targeted around 10 official websites in Italy today, including Milan’s two airports and the Foreign Ministry, putting them temporarily out of action, according to the country’s cyber security agency.
A spokesperson said it was plausible the “Distributed Denial of Service” (DDoS) attack could be linked to the pro-Russian group Noname057(16), which claimed the attack.
DDoS attacks see hackers flood a network with unusually high volumes of data traffic in order to paralyse it.
The spokesperson said the attack’s impact was “mitigated” in less than two hours.
The cyberattack did not cause any disruptions to flights at Milan’s Linate and Malpensa airports, said a spokesperson for SEA, the company that manages them.
Reports Russian fire could have caused the Azerbaijan Airlines crash are a “stark reminder of MH17,” the EU’s foreign affairs chief has said.
The Malaysia Airlines flight was shot down by Russia-backed forces while flying over eastern Ukraine in 2014, killing all 283 passengers and 15 crew on board.
Kaja Kallas, the former prime minister of Estonia and vice-president of the European Commission, posed on X to “call for a swift, independent international investigation”.
“Our thoughts are with the families and friends of the victims. I wish for a speedy recovery to the injured,” she added.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said Russia “must provide clear explanations” for the Azerbaijan Airlines plane crash and “stop spreading disinformation” in a call with Azerbaijan’s president.
The Ukrainian president “acknowledged the heroism of the pilots and the entire crew of the aircraft” in the talks with Ilham Aliyev, according to a post on Zelenskyy’s X account.
“The key priority now is a thorough investigation to provide answers to all questions about what really happened,” he added.
“Russia must provide clear explanations and stop spreading disinformation.
“Photos and videos clearly show the damage to the aircraft’s fuselage, including punctures and dents, which strongly point to a strike by an air defence missile.”
It comes after the White House said early indications suggest the plane could have been brought down by Russia, and two US military officials told our partner site NBC News that America has intelligence indicating Russia may have misidentified the aircraft as a drone and shot it down.
Meanwhile Putin also called Aliyev and apologised as the “tragic incident” took place in Russian airspace (see 12.45pm post).
You can read Zelelnskyy’s full post here:
Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev told Vladimir Putin the Azerbaijan Airlines plane was subject to “external physical and technical interference” in Russian airspace.
His words were the same as those used by Azerbaijan Airlines, which has suspended a host of flights to Russian cities in the aftermath of the crash.
In a call with the Russian president Aliyev said the plane completely lost control and was diverted from southern Russia to the city of Aktau in Kazakhstan.
In the same call Putin apologised as the “tragic incident” took place in Russian airspace (see previous post).
Vladimir Putin has spoken to Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev about the Azerbaijan Airlines plane crash and apologised as the “tragic incident” took place in Russian airspace, but stopped short of saying Russia was responsible.
In a statement the Kremlin said: “Vladimir Putin apologised for the fact that the tragic incident occurred in the Russian airspace, and once again expressed deep and sincere condolences to the families of the victims, [and] wished a speedy recovery to the injured.”
It said as the aircraft attempted to land in Grozny, the capital of Russia’s Chechnya region, Ukrainian drones were attacking Russia and Russian air defence forces repelled the attacks.
The passenger plane crashed on Wednesday near the city of Aktau in Kazakhstan after diverting from southern Russia, where Ukrainian drones were reported to be attacking several cities.
At least 38 people were killed and 29 survivors were left with injuries.
The White House has said early indications suggest the plane could have been brought down by Russia, and two US military officials have told our partner site NBC News that America has intelligence indicating Russia may have misidentified the aircraft as a drone and shot it down.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy has accused Slovakia’s Prime Minister Robert Fico of opening a “second energy front” against Ukraine on the orders of Russia.
“It appears that Putin gave Fico the order to open the second energy front against Ukraine at the expense of the Slovak people’s interests,” the Ukrainian president posted on X.
“Fico’s threats to cut off Ukraine’s emergency power supply this winter while Russia attacks our power plants and energy grid can only be explained by this.”
Russia has launched waves of cruise missiles and drones against Ukraine’s power grid and other infrastructure in an attempt to break the country’s resistance.
Regular flights between Turkmenistan’s capital of Ashgabat and Moscow will be suspended for a month after an Azerbaijan Airlines passenger plane crashed in Kazakhstan, the state-run TASS news agency has reported, citing Turkmenistan’s national air carrier.
The crash killed 38 people and left all 29 survivors injured.
US intelligence indicates Russia may have misidentified the aircraft for a drone before shooting it down, two US military officials told our partner site NBC News.
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