Russia has vowed to retaliate after the EU's popular social media platform Telegram apparently blocked state media channels. According to media reports, on Sunday in several countries, including France, Belgium, Poland, Greece, the Netherlands and Italy, the channels of Rianovosti news agency, Russia 1, Pervikanal, NTV television, Izvestia newspaper and Rossiyskaya Gazeta newspaper were turned off. I can no longer access it. . Neither Telegram nor EU officials have yet commented on the confusion. The Russian government called the move an “act of censorship.” Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said: “The systematic cleansing of the information space of all unwanted sources continues.” The EU had previously banned Russian state-run media outlets such as Rianovosti, Izvestia and Rossiyskaya Gazeta from being distributed in the region, accusing them of spreading propaganda.
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev said on Sunday that the Azerbaijani airliner that crashed last week was shot down by Russia. Although unintentional, he criticized Moscow for trying to “cover up” the problem. “I can say with complete clarity that the plane was shot down by Russia. I'm not saying it was shot down intentionally, but it was shot down,” he told Azerbaijani state television. Aliyev said the plane, which crashed in Kazakhstan on Wednesday, killing 38 of the 67 people on board, came under fire from the ground over Russia and “lost control due to electronic warfare.” Aliyev said he was “disturbed and surprised” by the events presented by the Russian authorities and accused Russia of trying to “sweep” the issue for several days. The Kremlin said its air defense systems were hit by shells near Grozny, the regional capital of Russia's Chechen Republic, where the plane was attempting to land to deflect a Ukrainian military drone attack.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Monday that Jimmy Carter, who died at the age of 100 and served as U.S. president when Ukraine was not yet independent, was “deep in his heart in our ongoing quest for freedom.'' He stood firmly with us in this battle.” “I deeply appreciate his firm commitment to the Christian faith and democratic values and his unwavering support for Ukraine in the face of Russia's unprovoked aggression,” Zelensky said on the X program. Please continue to stand united against those who threaten these values. ”
An investigation into a destroyed Baltic Sea power cable revealed tens of kilometers of drag marks on the ocean floor. Finnish police announced on Sunday. The Estlink 2 submarine cable carrying electricity from Finland to Estonia has been disconnected from the power grid, just over a month after two communication cables were severed in Swedish waters in the Baltic Sea on Christmas Day. Finnish authorities are investigating the Eagle S oil tanker, which left a Russian port, on suspicion of sabotage. Police said Sunday that an investigation revealed “drag footprints” on the ocean floor, adding that the footprints had been identified “from beginning to end.” The cable cutting was the latest in a series of incidents that Western authorities believe to be sabotage related to Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
Former Russian national soccer player Alexei Bugaev, who participated in Euro 2004, has died during the 34-month-long civil war in Ukraine.Russian media quoted his father and agent as saying on Sunday. “Unfortunately, the news about Alexei's death is true. It happened today,” TASS quoted the player's father Ivan Bugaev as telling the Sport24 news agency.
RIA news agency quoted Bugaev's representative Anton Smirnov as saying that the intense fighting made it impossible to retrieve Bugaev's body for burial. In September, Bugaev was sentenced by a court in southern Russia to nine and a half years in prison for drug trafficking. After that, he announced his intention to participate in the war in Ukraine. Russian authorities are actively recruiting in prisons for the conflict.
Georgia on Sunday inaugurated Mikhail Kavelashvili, a supporter of the far-right ruling party, as president. A months-long political crisis accelerated, sparking mass pro-European Union demonstrations. Kavelashvili, a former professional soccer player, is backed by the Georgian Dream party. He accused Western countries of trying to drag Tbilisi into the Ukraine conflict.
