The beginning of the 50% tariff regime by the US a few days ago has caught the world by surprise. Why would the US take this extreme step against a far less powerful country, and too a country which has had increasingly improved relations with it in the past few decades? A country would impose tariffs on an adversary; not on a weaker power that is in no position to attack it militarily or economically.

There are two schools of thought that have tried to understand this seemingly non-intuitive US behavior. The first holds that the US considers India as a country of no significance. It views Russia and China as its rivals. By punishing India, a country of no consequence in its view, it is sending a message to its lesser rival Russia: stop selling your oil or we will punish those who buy it. To its greater rival China, it is making a conciliatory move: we are punishing your major irritant, India, and so you had better behave yourself so we can move to a bipolar G2 world with us two as world hegemons. So much for the popular theory that the US was using India as a counter to China.

The entirely opposite view is that the US is really frightened about an India that is rising rapidly. A country of 1.4 billion people, half of whom are under 30 has sheer people power with favourable demography. India is at a takeoff stage in its military, atomic energy and space programs. It has shown this prowess by downing a US satellite in 2019. A country that can do this is well capable of using this capability in a regular war—in principle, India can attack the continental USA. Joining the dots, it seems more than possible that India inflicted some big damage on installations within Pakistan during Operation Sindoor— damage of a type that made the US, and maybe China as well, realize that they might have underestimated a sleeping giant.

Trump has never been unaware of the potential of India to assume a rank of primary importance in the international high table—if its growth is allowed unchecked for, say 15 years. If India is allowed to grow to $7 or 8 trillion by 2030, it will reach a status when the US and China will have to factor it in, in any geopolitical calculation. Already India is punching above its weight. It continues to buy Russian oil, strengthen its supply chains, begin to exert an influence on the shipping lanes in the Indian Ocean and make its defence equipment. It is no longer the place where computer coolies do low grade back end jobs for Silicon Valley.

India is a valued member of both BRICS and QUAD. The latter was created ostensibly to act as a check on China’s Pacific ambitions. The former sees India, China and Russia trying to de-dollarise the world economy. Imagine the deftness of Indian foreign policy to be able to do this. India now sees itself as a necessary intermediary between nations that have been at odds: Japan and China; Japan and Russia; Russia and Ukraine; Israel and Iran. One doesn’t need to be the policeman of the world. In the new order it is more strategic to be the ambassador of the world. This is Chanakya Neeti.  A lesser power can punch above its weight by artfully placing itself as an intermediary between rivals seeking areas of congruence rather than dissonance between them.

No country except India can even try to do this because only India has the priceless ownership of Sanātana Dharma. Only sanatanis seek to resolve rather than exacerbate tensions. This is the real meaning of Vishwaguru. India has realised that it can use its soft power — but only if it has hard power. In my view this is what makes Trump and the US Deep State really anxious about India. Very slowly they are beginning to understand that this primary pagan non-Abrahamic religion is very different from the monotheistic world, which is the only world they have ever known. What is scary to them, because clever Americans are really clever, is that it is this missing X-factor, Hinduism, that gives us the feelings of confidence to punch above our strength today. Will Sanātana Dharma really become eternal? This is the question.

In this context, where economic punishment is hardly likely to deter us, the only tactic that the US can resort to is to encourage our half enemy that is within India—specifically I mean the Congress party and the regional hereditary parties of which the DMK is the most notable. Let us expect increased financial aid to these entities from the US Deep State in the coming months. The US would like nothing better than a weak, entitled and stupid person from the Congress as a token PM of India surrounded by strong regional hereditary satrapies.

Tamil Nadu can well become a big battleground in this conflict between two world systems. It is strong economically, strategically located geopolitically (Straits of Malacca), Kalpakkam is located there, it is close to Sriharikota, it is the home of many defence installations, and above all—and this is the clinching factor—it is an authentic home of Sanātana Dharma with its grand temples, religious orders within the Hindu fold, the cradle of Carnatic music and Bharata Natyam. The people of Tamil Nadu are deeply religious despite 400 years of crackpot Dravidian indoctrination beginning with De Nobili and ending with Udayanidhi. Sterlite Copper was only a pilot plant. The entire state will become a complete factory with large-scale manufacturing.

The biggest reason for the latest American fire and brimstone on India is that it doesn’t want us to succeed and become strategically autonomous. A combination of strategic autonomy with economic self-sufficiency, can catapult Bharat’s civilizational and value based ethos to make it the norm for most of the world barring the Amerisphere. This will be the real Visisht Bharat. Our model will show many countries that are weaker than us that they do not need to abandon their cultural and spiritual values, and struggle to align with the now dying “rules based order” paradigm to appear “modern” in the eyes of the West.

Chanakya tells us that when faced with enemies of different strengths, an aspiring power attacks the most powerful one first. India is doing exactly this by going after the US, ignoring the tariffs, continuing to buy Russian oil, parleying with countries as disparate as Japan, Poland, Israel, UAE and Egypt.

It will be ironic if Tamil Nadu becomes the Dharmakshetra for the first real battle between the global clash of civilizations.

Gautam Desiraju is in the Indian Institute of Science and UPES Dehradun.

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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has said that Russia proposed a bilateral meeting with Ukraine, followed by a trilateral meeting. In a news conference following his meetings with US President Donald Trump at the White House, Zelensky said on Monday that he is ready for “any format” of a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

He said that he would participate in the following trilateral meeting, depending on how the first meeting goes. Zelensky added that he does not know the details about the proposed bilateral meeting. He said that he does not want to impose conditions on the meeting because Putin would follow with his own conditions.

“I believe unconditionally we should meet and think about the further development of this path to the end of the war,” he said. Putin told Trump on Monday that he is willing to meet Zelensky, a person familiar with the call said. Putin told Trump, whom he met Friday in Alaska, of his readiness to meet Zelensky during a telephone call in a break from White House talks in Washington with European leaders, the person said on condition of anonymity. Trump said on Monday that he had started arranging a two-way peace meeting between Ukraine’s Zelensky and Russia’s Putin — to be followed by three-way talks involving himself.

“At the conclusion of the meetings, I called President Putin, and began the arrangements for a meeting, at a location to be determined, between President Putin and President Zelensky,” he said after hosting Zelensky and European leaders at the White House.

“After that meeting takes place, we will have a Trilat, which would be the two Presidents, plus myself.” Ukrainian President Zelensky on Monday gave an upbeat asessment of talks with US counterpart Trump and said they discussed security guarantees.

“We had a very good conversation with President Trump, and it really was the best one — or, sorry, maybe the best one will be in the future,” Zelensky said at an expanded meeting with European leaders. President zelensky and President Trump expressed hope that Monday’s critical talks with Ukrainian and European leaders at the White House could lead to trilateral talks with Putin to bring an end to Russia’s war on Ukraine.

Monday’s meeting comes after Trump met with Putin and has said that the onus is now on Zelensky to agree to concessions that he said could end the war. A group of European political leaders also meet with the US President after they were left out of Friday’s summit, and they are looking to safeguard Ukraine and the continent from any widening aggression from Moscow.

-IANS

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External Affairs Minister (EAM) S Jaishankar will leave for Russia on Tuesday for a three-day official visit aimed at deepening the longstanding India-Russia Special and Privileged Strategic Partnership, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) announced.

The visit, scheduled till August 21, comes at the invitation of Russian First Deputy Prime Minister Denis Manturov. During his stay, EAM Jaishankar will co-chair the 26th Session of the India-Russia Inter-Governmental Commission on Trade, Economic, Scientific, Technological and Cultural Cooperation (IRIGC-TEC) on August 20 and also address the India-Russia Business Forum in Moscow.

The EAM will hold talks with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov to review the full spectrum of bilateral ties and exchange views on pressing regional and global developments. “The visit aims to further strengthen the longstanding and time-tested India-Russia Special and Privileged Strategic Partnership,” the MEA said in a statement.

The Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs earlier confirmed the meeting, posting on X, “FM Sergei Lavrov’s schedule: On August 21, FM Sergei Lavrov will hold talks with FM of India Dr S Jaishankar in Moscow. The Ministers will discuss key issues on our bilateral agenda, as well as key aspects of cooperation within international frameworks.” EAM Jaishankar’s visit follows National Security Advisor (NSA) Ajit Doval’s recent trip to Moscow, where he held discussions with Russian President Vladimir Putin, First Deputy Prime Minister Manturov, and Secretary of the Security Council Sergei Shoigu.

The upcoming talks also come close on the heels of the Jaishankar-Lavrov meeting at the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Foreign Ministers’ meet on July 15, and their engagement during the BRICS Summit last month, where the leaders deliberated on bilateral cooperation, West Asia, BRICS, and SCO.

Earlier this year, Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri visited Moscow to hold bilateral Foreign Office Consultations with Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Andrey Rudenko. During the consultations on March 7, the two sides reviewed the entire gamut of bilateral ties and also shared perspectives on regional and global issues of mutual interest.

Both sides took stock of progress on implementation of decisions taken at the 22nd Annual Summit held in Moscow in July 2024, the meeting in Kazan on the sidelines of the 16th BRICS Summit between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Vladimir Putin, the 25th session of the India-Russia Intergovernmental Commission on Trade, Economic, Scientific, Technological and Cultural Cooperation held in New Delhi in November 2024, and other high level engagements.

In November 2024, Russia’s First Deputy Prime Minister Denis Manturov and EAM Jaishankar co-chaired the 25th meeting of the India-Russia Inter-Governmental Commission on Trade. Economic, Scientific, Technical and Cultural Cooperation in New Delhi.

Russian President Vladimir Putin is also expected to visit India following an invitation from Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The visit is being planned as part of the ongoing commitment to annual meetings between the two leaders.

-IANS

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US President Donald Trump has said that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky could chose to end the war with Russia “almost immediately” or “he can continue to fight”.

“President Zelensky of Ukraine can end the war with Russia almost immediately, if he wants to, or he can continue to fight,” Trump said on Sunday on his Truth Social platform.

“No getting back Obama given Crimea (12 years ago, without a shot being fired!)…and NO GOING INTO NATO BY UKRAINE. Some things never change!!!” On the eve of highly consequential talks with Zelensky and a large delegation of European leaders, President Trump has previewed the message he will deliver to his White House visitors: Zelensky must agree to some of Russia’s conditions for the war in Ukraine to end. The post underscored the pressure Zelensky will face on Monday as Trump works to end the conflict.

The two conditions he listed — that Ukraine cede Crimea, which Russia illegally annexed in 2014, and that it agree never to join NATO — are among the conditions Russian President Vladimir Putin has set for ending the war. European leaders visiting the White House with Zelensky on Monday are concerned the meeting will amount to Trump pressuring the Ukrainian leader to accept the conditions Putin put forward in their Alaska summit last week. They hope to glean more information from Trump on what Russia might concede as part of a peace deal, including what role the US would play in providing security guarantees going forward.

“Big day at the White House tomorrow. Never had so many European Leaders at one time. My great honour to host them!!!” Trump posted after his message to Zelensky. The European delegation: French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, Finland President Alexander Stubb and NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte will all join Zelensky for the visit to the White House on Monday.

Trump met Putin in Alaska on Friday but the talks failed to yield any breakthrough on a ceasefire — though White House envoy Steve Witkoff said both leaders had agreed to provide “robust security guarantees” to Ukraine. European Commission Chief Ursula von der Leyen hailed the news, but Zelensky, speaking alongside her at a news conference in Brussels, rejected the idea of Russia offering his country security guarantees.

“What President Trump said about security guarantees is much more important to me than Putin’s thoughts, because Putin will not give any security guarantees,” he said. Zelensky later said on social media that the US offer regarding security guarantees was “historic”.

French President Emmanuel Macron, who will take part in the Washington meeting along with von der Leyen and others, said European leaders would ask about the extent of the security guarantees offered to Ukraine in any peace agreement.

Of Moscow’s position, he said: “There is only one state proposing a peace that would be a capitulation: Russia.” Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova called that an “abject lie” in a statement on Telegram later on Sunday. Moscow had been proposing a “peaceful resolution” of the conflict for seven years under the terms of the Minsk Accords, she said. Macron, she added, was trying to convince Ukraine that it could win on the battlefield even when he knew that that was “impossible”.

Trump, who pivoted after the Alaska meeting to say he was now seeking a peace deal rather than a ceasefire, on Sunday posted “BIG PROGRESS ON RUSSIA. STAY TUNED!” on his Truth Social platform, without elaborating. Trump’s sudden focus on a peace deal aligns with the stance long taken by Putin, one which Ukraine and its European allies have criticised as Putin’s way to buy time while trying to make battlefield gains.

Zelensky also said he saw “no sign” the Kremlin leader was prepared to meet him and Trump for a three-way summit, as had been floated by the US President. The leaders heading to Washington on Monday to appear alongside Zelensky call themselves the “coalition of the willing”.

On Sunday, all the European leaders held a video meeting to prepare their joint position. Speaking to US broadcaster CNN, Witkoff said: “I’m hopeful that we have a productive meeting on Monday, we get to real consensus, we’re able to come back to the Russians and push this peace deal forward and get it done.” US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, speaking to NBC on Sunday, warned of “consequences” — including the potential imposition of new sanctions on Russia — if no peace deal was reached on Ukraine.

European leaders have expressed unease from the outset over Trump’s outreach to Putin, who has demanded Ukraine abandon its ambitions to join the EU or NATO. They were excluded from Trump’s summit with Putin. Witkoff, in his CNN interview, said the process of offering “game-changing” security guarantees would involve territorial “concessions”. According to an official briefed on a call Trump held with Zelensky and European leaders as he flew back from Alaska, the US leader supported a Putin proposal that Russia take full control of two eastern Ukrainian regions in exchange for freezing the frontline in two others.

Putin “de facto demands that Ukraine leave Donbas”, an area consisting of the Donetsk and Lugansk regions in eastern Ukraine, which Russia currently only partly controls, the source said. In exchange, Russian forces would halt their offensive in the Black Sea port region of Kherson and Zaporizhzhia in southern Ukraine, where the main cities are still under Ukrainian control.

Several months into its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Russia in September 2022 claimed to have annexed all four Ukrainian regions even though its troops still do not fully control any of them. On the ground in Ukraine, the conflict rages on, with both Kyiv and Moscow launching attack drones. Ukrainian authorities reported early Monday that 13 people were wounded in Russian strikes on Kharkiv and the Sumy region.

-IANS

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Presidents Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin said that they made progress in three hours of talks on Friday, moving closer to finding an end to the Ukraine War, but did not announce an immediate ceasefire.

“It’s not a done deal at all”, he told a Fox News interviewer after Friday’s summit in Alaska. “And Ukraine has to agree. President (Volodymyr) Zelensky has to agree.” “We had a very good meeting today, and I think a lot of points were negotiated on behalf of Ukraine”, he said.

Before the summit, he said that he would not be negotiating on behalf of Ukraine and that the meeting was a sounding board aimed at facilitating a direct meeting between Presidents Putin and Zelensky.

“Now it’s really up to President Zelensky to get it done”, President Trump said of a peace deal. “We have a pretty good chance of getting it done”, he added. “They’re going to set up a meeting now, between President Zelensky and President Putin and myself, I guess”, he said.

President Trump had said that he could call an immediate meeting between Presidents Putin and Zelensky if the discussion went his way. At the end of the news conference, he told Putin, “We’ll speak to you very soon, and probably see you again very soon”. President Putin chirped up, “Next time in Moscow.”

President Trump saying that “it’s not a done deal” amounted to an admission that he did not get the immediate ceasefire he had insisted on. At the same time, the fact that he had not terminated the negotiations within minutes and walked away, as he had threatened earlier, could be a sign of a breakthrough.

Nor did he announce the “very severe consequences” he had threatened if Putin did not agree to peace. At the news conference after their talks concluded, Putin was upbeat.

“I would like to hope that the agreement that we’ve reached together will help us bring closer that goal (of finding a solution) and will pave the path towards peace in Ukraine”, he said. “I have every reason to believe that, moving along this path, we can reach the end of the conflict in Ukraine sooner rather than later”, he added. “I believe we had a very productive meeting”, Trump said.

“There were many, many points that we agreed on.” President Trump said cryptically there were “a couple of big ones that we haven’t quite gotten there, but we’ve made some headway”. “One is probably the most significant, but we have a very good chance of getting there. We didn’t get there, but we have a very good chance of getting there”, he added.

Fox News interviewer Sean Hannity pressed President Trump about the differences they had. He said that he would rather not talk about it, but added, “I guess somebody is going to go public with it. They’ll figure it out. But no, I don’t want to do that. I want to see if we can get it done.” The main points of difference going into the talks were: Land swap or re-drawing of borders that would give Russia some Ukrainian territories, and a security guarantee from Europeans and the US for Ukraine. Trump has spoken of a land swap, which would be politically hard for Zelensky.

British Defence Secretary said on Friday that the United Kingdom and its allies are ready to put troops in Ukraine to guarantee its security if there is a ceasefire. Trump also spoke in support of troops to guarantee security but ruled out their going under the NATO banner.

Putin may have conceded the security guarantee issue as he said, “Naturally, the security of Ukraine should be true. Naturally we’re prepared to overcome that.” Trump said that he would be calling his Western allies and Zelensky to brief them on the summit. He will have to convince the Europeans and Zelensky, who were sceptical about the summit but were willing to give it a chance that there had been progress.

The summit was truncated and only one of the planned phases – a meeting with key officials, Trump’s Special Envoy Steve Witkoff and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and Putin’s foreign policy aide Yuri Ushakov, Defence Minister Andrei Belousov, and Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov — was held. Instead of the first phase, a private meeting between them, Trump and Putin spoke directly as they walked down the red carpet and continued the conversation in Trump’s limousine.

They started the talks with officials and called off the planned third phase, which was to have been a luncheon with more officials, especially those dealing with trade and investment. Putin had said he wanted to expand the talks to include Nuclear arms control, and Ushakov suggested trade and economic cooperation. Russia’s Finance Minister Anton Siluanov, and Special Presidential Representative for Investment Kirill Dmitriev, and US Secretaries Pete Hegseth of Defence, Scott Bessent of Treasury, and Howard Lutnick of Commerce were on standby.

The third phase in which the topics were expected to be discussed, did not take place. At the news conference, Putin made he pitch for trade, which now pre-occupies Trump “It is clear that the US and Russian investment and business cooperation has tremendous potential”, he said. “Russia and the US can offer each other so much in trade, digital and high tech, and in space exploration”, he said.

“Today’s agreements will be the starting point, not only for the solution of the Ukrainian issue, but also will help us bring back business-like and pragmatic relations between Russia and US”, Putin said. He asserted that trade between the US and Russia had grown 20 per cent under Trump, who has threatend to penalise India with a 25 per cent tariff for buying oil from Russia.

The summit began with a choreographed welcome as the US Air Force 1 and Russia’s presidential aircraft landed almost simultaneously. Trump clapped as Putin walked toward him on the red carpet. They smiled and shook hands as four F-35s and a B-2 Spirit bomber flew overhead.

-IANS

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Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) said Tuesday that it foiled a terror attack targetting a high-ranking defence ministry official in the Moscow region. The agency said it detained a dual Russian-Ukrainian citizen attempting to use a homemade explosive device disguised in a car for the attack.

The vehicle, filled with more than 60 kg of explosives, was to be detonated when the high-ranking officer passes by, the FSB said. Over the past year, Russian authorities have reported multiple foiled plots involving car bombs and other explosive devices, often accusing Ukrainian special services of orchestrating them, Xinhua news agency reported.

In a high-profile incident, Russian Lieutenant General Yaroslav Moskalik, Deputy Chief of the General Staff’s main operations directorate, was killed in a car explosion in the Moscow region on April 25. Meanwhile, Ukraine’s new round of drone attacks hit a helium production plant in Russia’s Orenburg area, the Interfax-Ukraine news agency reported Tuesday.

The plant, struck in the drone attacks launched by the Main Intelligence Directorate under the Ukrainian Defence Ministry on Monday, is Russia’s sole producer of helium used in rocket manufacturing, space and aviation industries, the report said.

Local residents reportedly witnessed drones flying near the plant, and a series of explosions were reported in the targetted area. Russian air defence forces intercepted and destroyed 32 Ukrainian drones overnight and a further seven in the morning, the Russian Defense Ministry had said on Monday.

According to the ministry, seven of the drones were downed over the Belgorod Region, five each over the Bryansk and Kaluga Regions, four over Crimea, two each over the Oryol, Kursk, Voronezh, Ryazan and Moscow Regions, and one over the Tula Region.

On Monday morning, the Defence Ministry reported that air defences shot down another seven Ukrainian drones. As a result of the drone attack on the Nizhny Novgorod Region, one person was killed and two were injured, the regional governor, Gleb Nikitin, wrote on his Telegram channel.

Moscow Mayor Sergey Sobyanin said that seven drones heading toward the Russian capital were downed on Monday morning. “Response teams are working at the site where debris fell,” he wrote on Telegram.

-IANS

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Russia on Tuesday backed India and while criticising US President Donald Trump over his threats to increase tariffs on New Delhi for buying oil from Moscow, saying that “sovereign nations must have the right to choose their trading partners.”

Speaking at a regular press briefing on Tuesday, Russian President’s Press Secretary Dmitry Peskov stated that Russia has noted the US threats against India and does not consider them to be legitimate. He emphasised that nations should have the right to choose the trading partners based on their own interests.

“Russia notes US threats against India but does not consider such statements to be legitimate. Sovereign countries must have and have the right to choose their own trading partners, partners in trade and economic cooperation, and to choose those trade and economic cooperation regimes that are in the interests of a particular country,” Peskov was quoted as saying by Russia’s state-owned news agency TASS.

The Kremlin’s reaction came after Trump threatened to substantially raise tariffs on India for purchasing oil from Russia. “India is not only buying massive amounts of Russian Oil, they are then, for much of the Oil purchased, selling it on the Open Market for big profits. They don’t care how many people in Ukraine are being killed by the Russian War Machine,” Trump wrote in a social media post. “Because of this, I will be substantially raising the Tariff paid by India to the USA,” he added.

After Trump threatened to impose hefty tariffs on New Delhi, the Indian government on Monday said that the targeting of the country by the US over Russian oil purchase is unjustified and unreasonable.

A statement released by the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) spokesperson said that like any major economy, “India will take all necessary measures to safeguard its national interests and economic security”.

According to the government, India has been targetted by the United States and the European Union for importing oil from Russia after the commencement of the Ukraine conflict.

“In fact, India began importing from Russia because traditional supplies were diverted to Europe after the outbreak of the conflict. The United States at that time actively encouraged such imports by India for strengthening global energy markets stability,” the Centre emphasised.

“India’s imports are meant to ensure predictable and affordable energy costs to the Indian consumer. They are a necessity compelled by global market situation. However, it is revealing that the very nations criticizing India are themselves indulging in trade with Russia. Unlike our case, such trade is not even a vital national compulsion,” the government highlighted.

According to the Indian government, the European Union in 2024 had a bilateral trade of Euro 67.5 billion in goods with Russia. In addition, it had trade in services estimated at Euro 17.2 billion in 2023.

“This is significantly more than India’s total trade with Russia that year or subsequently. European imports of LNG in 2024, in fact, reached a record 16.5 million tonnes, surpassing the last record of 15.21 million tonnes in 2022. Europe-Russia trade includes not just energy, but also fertilizers, mining products, chemicals, iron and steel and machinery and transport equipment,” said the official statement.

The government further stated that as far as the United States is concerned, it continues to import from Russia uranium hexafluoride for its nuclear industry, palladium for its EV industry, fertilizers as well as chemicals.

“In this background, the targetting of India is unjustified and unreasonable. Like any major economy, India will take all necessary measures to safeguard its national interests and economic security,” the MEA statement stressed.

-IANS

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Following the powerful 8.7-magnitude earthquake that struck off the coast of Russia’s Kamchatka Peninsula, multiple countries across the Pacific region have issued urgent tsunami warnings, urging residents to take immediate precautions. The earthquake, which originated 125 km southeast of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky at a depth of 19.3 km, triggered fears of potentially destructive tsunami waves across a wide area of the Pacific Ocean.

In response, governments and agencies in Japan, the United States (Hawaii), and the Philippines have activated emergency protocols. In Japan, the Prime Minister’s Office posted a directive on its official X account at 09:43 JST, instructing authorities to act swiftly.

“Provide timely and accurate information to the public regarding the tsunami, evacuation, etc., and take thorough measures to prevent damage, such as the evacuation of residents. “Assess the state of affairs regarding damage as soon as possible. Act in close coordination with local governments and, under the principle of prioritizing human life above all else, spare no effort in our emergency disaster responses, including saving lives and rescuing disaster victims, with the Government working as one,” it added.

A tsunami warning has been issued for the eastern Pacific coast of Hokkaido and other widespread coastal areas. The Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) advised residents to check the estimated arrival times and expected wave heights via their official website.

In the United States, the Hawaii Emergency Management Agency also posted an urgent update on X, stating: “TSUNAMI WARNING, FIRST WAVE UPDATE TO ARRIVE AT 7:10 PM HST URGENT ACTION SHOULD BE TAKEN TO PROTECT LIFE AND PROPERTY, HOURLY UPDATES WILL BE POSTED.”

In another post, the agency announced: “ALL HAWAIʻI ISLANDS, The All Hazards Sirens will sound at 4:10 PM HST TUE 07/29/2025. HAWAIʻI IS IN A TSUNAMI WARNING WITH FIRST WAVE IMPACT AT 7:10 PM HST.”

Meanwhile, in the Philippines, the Presidential Broadcast Service – Radyo Pilipinas, citing PHIVOLCS (Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology), reported: “PHIVOLCS issued a Tsunami Warning following an 8.7 magnitude earthquake that struck the east coast of Kamchatka, Russia. According to PHIVOLCS, tsunami waves less than one (1) meter high are expected to affect the coastal areas of the Philippines facing the Pacific Ocean. The first surge of waves may be experienced between 1:20 PM and 2:40 PM on Wednesday. The public is advised to stay alert for any unusual water movements in the sea. The public is also urged to avoid approaching coastal areas and beaches in the provinces covered by the advisory.”

Emergency services in all affected regions remain on high alert. Residents living in vulnerable coastal zones are being urged to evacuate to higher ground and avoid shorelines until official all-clear messages are issued. Authorities continue to monitor the evolving situation, and more updates are expected as tsunami wave activity is tracked across the Pacific Basin.

-IANS

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Russia on Friday rubbished “fake reports” which cited that it is broadening economic ties with Pakistan, especially by jointly setting up steel mills in Karachi. Pakistani media recently reported that Moscow and Islamabad are working on expanding industrial collaboration by establishing new steel mills in the country in a bid to revive the cooperation witnessed between the two countries in the 1970s when the Soviet Union designed and funded Pakistan Steel Mills (PSM).

The idea, reported Pakistani media, was discussed during a meeting between Haroon Akhtar Khan, a Special Assistant to Pakistan’s Prime Minister, and Moscow’s representative Denis Nazaroof held in Islamabad on May 13. “The two officials engaged in extensive talks on the prospect of collaboration and agreed to form a joint working group to facilitate the establishment of a steel mill in Karachi,” The Express Tribune reported after the meeting.

“Pakistan is a secure and thriving hub for investment and the international community has recognised its potential,” Khan was quoted as saying during the interaction. The reports triggered concerns and also raised doubts considering that cash-strapped Pakistan’s economy continues to survive on bailout packages provided by the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Sources in Moscow admitted negotiations taking place on the issue but slammed reports which claimed that a “multibillion dollar contract” has been signed between the two countries.

They reckoned that by manufacturing fake and “completely fabricated” reports, Pakistan has made yet another failed attempt to dent the time-tested India-Russia Special and Privileged Strategic Partnership which has grown even stronger during Operation Sindoor targetting terror infrastructure deep inside Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK), earlier this month.

“An exaggerated news from someone who wants to derail the relationship for a sensational reason,” said a senior Russian government official on Friday when asked about his response to Pakistani media reports. As the Indian Armed Forces successfully retaliated and also inflicted significant losses on Pakistan, the Russian-made air defence missile system S-400 was credited with shooting down several incoming missiles from across the border.

At the same time, jointly developed with Russia and now largely manufactured in India, the BrahMos supersonic cruise missiles were used to strike high-value targets in Pakistan. In an exclusive interview with IANS, Russian Ambassador to India Denis Alipov had lauded Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s leadership while also praising New Delhi for identifying, tracking and punishing the culprits behind the heinous April 22 Pahalgam terror attack which resulted in the death of 26 innocent civilians.

Russian President Vladimir Putin, who stated in his phone conversation with Prime Minister Narendra Modi earlier this month that Moscow expects that the culprits behind the Pahalgam attack “will be identified, tracked and punished”, is also slated to visit India, this year. “I don’t think there is anybody, anywhere in the world that doubts the credentials of Prime Minister Modi. His strong leadership is steering the country to global prominence. Both India and Russia stand for a multipolar world order without any global power or a group of countries dominating that order. They stand for an equal international relationship. This has been reinstated in the conversation President Vladimir Putin and Prime Minister Modi had on May 5,” Alipov told IANS on Wednesday.

–IANS

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Russia and India are charting a bold new economic course as Moscow pushes for a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with India amidst a booming five-fold trade surge. With nearly 90% of transactions now in national currencies and fresh opportunities from energy to space exploration, the partnership signals a strategic shift towards deeper economic and technological ties.

Russia’s First Deputy Prime Minister Denis Manturov on Tuesday confirmed Moscow’s intentions to conclude an FTA between the Eurasian Economic Union and India — as well as a bilateral agreement on services and investments — while spotlighting that the volume of mutual trade between the two countries has grown more than five-fold over the past five years, including by nine per cent in the first eight months of the current year.

As the Russian Deputy PM co-chaired the 25th meeting of the India-Russia Intergovernmental Commission in New Delhi along with External Affairs Minister (EAM) S. Jaishankar, Manturov also drew attention to the importance of expanding cooperation between Indian and Russian banks, mentioning that the current share of settlements in national and alternative currencies has reached almost 90 per cent.

“What is important is that this growth is accompanied by diversification of the structure of mutual trade. Along with traditional supplies of energy resources and mineral fertilizers, we have increased food exports, primarily sunflower and soybean oil,” the Russian leader said at the meeting, according to a statement released by his office in Moscow.

“In turn, Russia, in addition to purchasing agricultural products, imports industrial equipment, components, medicines and substances from India. The tasks of further expanding the product range and reducing the imbalance in trade will be enshrined in the programme for the development of economic cooperation until 2030,” Manturov stated. The India-Russia Intergovernmental Commission on Trade, Economic, Scientific, Technological, and Cultural Cooperation (IRIGC-TEC) serves as the highest-level forum for bilateral economic collaboration between the two countries, encompassing a broad range of areas from trade to cultural exchange.

Russia’s PMO revealed that special attention at the meeting was paid to the development of bilateral cooperation in the fields of energy, engine building and microelectronics, chemistry, metallurgy, digital technologies, railway engineering, as well as in the field of space exploration. “We see opportunities for expanding the supply of equipment and components to support the Indian national manned space program ‘Gaganyaan’. Projects in the field of satellite navigation are at an advanced stage,” Manturov said. The meeting also discussed cooperation in the humanitarian fields, in particular in the field of higher education with Manturov emphasising the need to simplify the procedure for mutual recognition of educational documents and academic degrees.

In addition, the possibility of training Indian specialists based on Russian secondary vocational education programmes with the prospect of their subsequent employment at Russian enterprises is also being worked out by Moscow and New Delhi. The two countries are working to intensify cooperation in the field of culture and tourism and create a separate working group on the issue within the commission. “It is no less important to coordinate efforts in the transport sector. We are interested in expanding direct air traffic between our countries. Flights are currently carried out only by Russian Aeroflot, which operates 12 regular flights per week.

We expect an increase in the frequency of flights, the development of the route network, as well as the resumption of flights by Indian air carriers,” said the First Deputy Prime Minister of Russia.

Following the meeting, Manturov and EAM Jaishankar signed the final protocol of the 25th meeting of the IRIGC-TEC. The visiting Russian Deputy PM also called on Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, discussing issues of interbank and credit-financial cooperation, as well as prospects for concluding an intergovernmental agreement on the promotion and mutual protection of investments.

–IANS

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