Putin and Witkoff Hold Three-Hour Long Meeting

INSIDE RUSSIA

Putin and Witkoff Hold Three-Hour Long Meeting

The meeting between Putin and Witkoff lasted three hours and was constructive and useful, said presidential aide Yuri Ushakov.

Today’s conversation helped bring positions closer not only on Ukraine but also on other international issues, he noted.

During the meeting, the possibility of resuming direct negotiations between Russia and Ukraine was discussed, Ushakov stressed.

Productive dialogue between Russia and the US will continue to be carried out in the most active manner, he added.

 

Putin Confirms Russia’s Readiness to Negotiate With Ukraine Without Preconditions – Kremlin

Vladimir Putin, holding talks with Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff, confirmed Russia’s readiness to negotiate with Ukraine without preconditions, Kremlin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.

Zelensky is sabotaging peace talks because he doesn’t want peace.

It is the Ukrainian side that sets demands for the start of negotiations, while Moscow has stated it is ready.

Ukraine claims it is ready for dialogue about peace only after a ceasefire.

“We are ready for dialogue in any format, with anyone <…> anytime. But only after a real signal that Russia is ready to end the war. Such a signal is a complete and unconditional ceasefire,” Zelensky said at a press conference.

The Ukrainian leader assured on Tuesday that Kiev is ready to negotiate with Moscow after a full ceasefire, yet he has not lifted the decree prohibiting such talks.

Think for yourselves.

‘We Are Really Polite People’ – Russian Lavrov

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Russia does not plan to make public the details of the talks with the United States on the Ukrainian settlement until their official completion.

“We are really polite people, and unlike some others, we never discuss in public what is being discussed in negotiations. Otherwise, negotiations are not serious,” Lavrov told CBS News’ Margaret Brennan when asked about the details of peace talks.

The Russian foreign minister also suggested discussing this issue with Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky, since, according to him, Zelensky, on the contrary, “is happy to talk to anybody through media, even to [US] President [Donald] Trump.”

He said Russia is serious about the talks.

“We are serious people, and we can see the serious proposals, we make serious proposals, and this is a process which is not supposed to be public until the end of it… The negotiations continue, and until the end of the negotiations, we cannot disclose what it is about,” Lavrov said.

Earlier, Lavrov, in an interview with CBS News, said Trump is “probably the only leader on Earth who recognizes the need to address the root causes” of the Ukrainian crisis. He said Trump “rightly” believes the sides are “moving in the right direction” but added that there are some points that need to be “fine tuned.”

On March 6, Lavrov said Russia does not see any possibility for a compromise on the issue of deploying foreign peacekeepers in Ukraine. As the Russian minister specified at the time, if a foreign contingent is deployed in Ukraine, Western countries will not want to discuss the terms of peaceful settlement. The Russian Foreign Ministry previously said the plans of some EU countries to send “peacekeepers” to Ukraine are a provocative step aimed at maintaining illusions in Kiev.

Key Takeaways From Preview of Russian FM Lavrov’s Interview on CBS

“You don’t trust the word of the president of the United States?” Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov wondered when the CBS interviewer asked him to confirm Donald Trump’s statement on the upcoming meeting between Russia’s President Vladimir Putin and US Special Envoy Steve Witkoff.

Sergey Lavrov gave an interview to CBS’ Face the Nation, underscoring that Russia and the US are “moving in the right direction” toward a settlement in Ukraine. The full interview is scheduled to air this Sunday.

Check out Lavrov’s statements on the Ukrainian conflict in a preview of the interview:

“The president of the United States believes, and I think rightly so, that we are moving in the right direction […] The statement by the president mentions a deal and we are ready to reach a deal.”

Russia is “ready to reach a deal on Ukraine, but there are still some specific points, elements of this which need to be fine-tuned.”

The US president is “probably the only leader on earth who recognized the need to address the root causes of this situation,” Lavrov said.

Russia targets only “military goals or civilian sites used by the military […] President Putin expressed this for so many times.”

ICC Completely Fails in Its Main Task – Russian Security Council Deputy Head

“As far as the ICC is concerned, it is now regrettable to note its complete failure to fulfil its primary mission,” Dmitry Medvedev said in his article ‘Lost Illusions, or How the International Criminal Court has become a legal nonentity,’ published in the Pravovedenie magazine.

He added that the ICC, in its current “inefficient” state, must “sink into oblivion,” as it is “irreversibly flawed” and biased, especially in its selective prosecution of war crimes.

The Hague Court shows “discriminatory blindness and hearing loss” towards some high-profile war criminals, while lesser cases receive more attention, the former Russian president added “It seems entirely possible to develop on the regional level (for instance, in the framework of BRICS) a concept of establishing an international legal body as an alternative to the Hague Criminal Court,” Medvedev argued.

“This new judicial body in BRICS could reiterate the common commitment of its member states to the UN Charter principles, including the principles of immunity of heads of sovereign states from any foreign jurisdiction and non-interference into internal affairs of the states,” he stressed.

Russia’s FSB Detains Ukrainian Agent Who Planted Bomb That Killed Lt. Gen. Moskalik

MOSCOW (Sputnik) – The Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) has detained Ukrainian intelligence agent Ignat Kuzin, who planted an explosive device that killed Russian Lt. Gen. Yaroslav Moskalik, the FSB said on Saturday.

“The Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation has detained Ukrainian intelligence agent Kuzin Ignat (born 1983), a permanent Ukrainian resident, who planted an explosive device in a Volkswagen Golf car in Balashikha, the Moscow Region. The subsequent detonation killed Lieutenant General Yaroslav Moskalik (born 1966), the deputy head of the Main Operational Directorate of the General Staff of the Russian armed forces,” the statement read.

The suspect acquired the vehicle and installed a homemade explosive device using components retrieved from a cache previously set up by Ukrainian intelligence agents in the Moscow Region, the FSB said, adding that the explosive device was remotely detonated from Ukraine as Moskalik was exiting an apartment building.

Ukraine Destroys New Jerusalem Church in Belgorod Region

As a result of a drone attack, the all-wood New Jerusalem church complex was completely destroyed, Belgorod Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov confirmed.

Gladkov added that the Ukrainian military intentionally targeted rescue teams to prevent them from putting out the blaze.

“During the holy week of Easter, one of the holiest places in the Belgorod region was deliberately attacked,” he noted.

Vyacheslav Gladkov

Governor of the Belgorod region

“There are several lightly injured victims. The firefighting equipment was injured because when the extinguishing started, the drone was still hovering and continuing to drop. Therefore, as far as I know, the degree of injury is light. But it will be known more precisely later,” the Belgorod and Starooskolsk diocese of the Russian Orthodox Church said, adding that the Ukrainian forces attacked the temple on purpose, and it was completely destroyed.

OUTSIDE RUSSIA

New Gateway to Africa: Russia-Nigeria Trade Route Will Shake Up Global Trade

Russia’s trade mission in Nigeria has announced the launch of a new maritime logistical route that will connect Russia, West Africa, and even North and South America, and cut container shipping delivery costs by up to half.

The roughly 5,350 nautical mile (9890 km) route originates in the Russian Black Sea port of Novorossiysk, running south and west through the Mediterranean, past Gibraltar and around and down the west coast of Africa to the strategic Nigerian port of Lagos.

The first sea voyage from Novorossiysk to Lagos is scheduled for May 15, with a formal launch set for mid-June.

The previously existing rate for container delivery of $8,000-9,000 will be reduced by almost half, according to the Russian trade mission.

Logistical Management

The new route will be managed by A7 African Cargo Line, a Russian freight transport specialist.

In the first stage, the route will operate two chartered 700-TEU container ships (freight capacity: 700 standard 20-foot containers).

The route will facilitate exports of Russian foodstuffs, machinery and transportation equipment to Nigeria, and imports of cotton from Mali, a top regional producer.

In the future, it’s expected to extend to Senegal’s Dakar port, another major port in West Africa.

Strategic Significance

The route is expected to dramatically strengthen Russia’s economic and strategic cooperation potential with West African countries.

Nigeria is now a BRICS partner, while the neighboring Alliance of Sahel States (Mali, Niger, Burkina Faso) has sought closer ties with Russia after kicking out French military forces and rejecting Paris’s monetary and economic control.

In Nigeria’s case, the new route highlights another element in the country’s cautious, gradual shift away from former Western colonial masters toward new partners.

Besides the new maritime trade route, budding Russian-Nigerian ties already include growing finance, investment, energy, communications, cybersecurity and defense cooperation. Russia-Nigeria trade reached over $1.4 billion in 2024, with trade with Africa as a whole hitting $24.5 billion the same year.

SPECIAL MILITARY OPERATION IN UKRAINE

Kursk Region’s Complete Liberation May Help Trigger Zelensky’s Ouster: Here’s Why

Moscow announced Saturday that Russian forces had completely cleared Russia’s Kursk region of enemy units, with President Putin declaring that the Kiev regime’s “reckless undertaking” had “failed completely.” Sputnik asked a pair of veteran Russian military observers to comment on the development’s strategic and symbolic significance.

Kursk region’s complete liberation “is a powerful blow to the image of the Kiev regime and, in general, attitudes of the Ukrainian population and military toward Zelensky and his orders,” veteran military and political observer Evgeny Mikhailov says.

The Kursk gambit “was a political decision with the supposed aim of holding onto territory in order to somehow negotiate with Russia,” Mikhailov recalled.

Now, Ukraine has not only lost this key bargaining chip, but faces the threat of Russian forces freed up for operations on other fronts.

“We’ve liberated our territory and will now direct all efforts to the creation of a buffer zone. What it will look like and how wide it will be is the big question, because the longer the Kiev regime continues to oppose peace talks, the more territory Russia will take, thereby becoming stronger in the negotiations process and weakening the capabilities of Ukraine’s Western partners in negotiations,” Mikhailov emphasized.

Mikhailov has no confidence in Zelensky’s ability to reach peace, pointing to his continued rejection of Crimea and the new Russian territories’ status, refusal to engage in direct talks, and rude behavior during his meeting with his US sponsors in Washington earlier this year.

Ukraine’s defeat in Kursk “could accelerate internal turbulent processes, and Zelensky may simply disappear, replaced with someone who would suit Russia, Ukraine and Ukraine’s partners in the negotiations process,” the observer believes. “Everything is already heading in that direction.”

Strategic & Symbolic Significance

From the liberation of Sudzha in March to Saturday’s announcement of the total expulsion of enemy forces from Kursk region, the Ukrainian army’s Kursk gamble has proven an unprecedented defeat, and one that could ultimately help lead to peace, military observer Sergey Poletaev says.

“The sudden and rapid liberation of Sudzha was a very serious defeat for the Ukrainian Armed Forces, and a defeat of a new kind. Their front has never collapsed on such a scale, not counting February 2022, when there was no front as such. This will have far-reaching consequences,” Poletaev explained.

Saturday’s announcement and “the fact that we have reached the border, and not a single Ukrainian soldier remains on our old territories, carries more of a symbolic meaning,” marking the formal and complete failure of Ukraine’s incursion, according to the observer.

Buffer Zone

Now that Kursk region has been freed, Russia will have the opportunity to create a security zone “on the other side of the border” through gradual advances into Sumy. Operations in Kharkov region, where Russia has advanced 10-12 km into areas with road infrastructure to prevent large Ukrainian formations from approaching the border, could serve as a preview of the military’s next steps in Sumy.

“The fact that we have the opportunity to destroy the front like this I think might influence [the enemy’s] pliability,” particularly “when the Sudzha experience begins to be replicated in other parts of the front,” Poletaev stressed.

With Zelensky continuing to reject Russia and the US’s peace overtures, only major major defeats can accelerate Ukraine’s desire to negotiate, the observer said.

INSIGHTS

Shooting for the Moon: Russia & China Join Forces in Space

Russia’s Roscosmos and China’s National Space Administration signed a government-backed memorandum of understanding to jointly develop the International Lunar Research Station in March 2021, announcing that the first lunar mission was scheduled for 2026.

On Space Day, celebrated in China on April 24, let’s explore the key milestones of Russia–China space cooperation.

Nuclear Power on the Moon

China could install a nuclear power plant on the Moon to support the International Lunar Research Station (ILRS) it plans to build with Russia, according to a presentation by Pei Zhaoyu, Chief Engineer of the Chang’e-8 mission set for 2028.

China aims to land astronauts on the Moon by 2030. The Chang’e-8 mission to the lunar south pole will lay the groundwork for constructing a permanent manned base, says the China National Space Administration.

Li Hongzhong of the China-Russia Friendship Committee for Peace and Development met with Russian counterpart Boris Titov on April 24 to underscore readiness to boost cooperation between the sides, with Titov echoing the sentiment.

Resources & Robotics

Russian Space Agency Roscosmos also presented plans at the Shanghai conference to explore mineral and water resources on the Moon, including potentially using lunar materials as fuel.

Between 2033 and 2035, Russia and China plan to deploy a joint nuclear power plant on the Moon to power the ILRS, addressing the lack of solar energy during the Moon’s 14-day nights, Roscosmos chief Yuri Borisov told Sputnik last year.

By April 2025, 17 countries and organizations have joined the Russo-Chinese ILRS project. China aims to expand this to 50 partners, focusing on BRICS and Global South nations.

Roscosmos chief Yuri Borisov revealed to Sputnik on Wednesday that work is underway on a Russian-Chinese lunar NPP expected to be delivered to the Moon in the 2030s.

Step-by-Step Moon Base Plan

In 2022, Roscosmos and the China National Space Administration (CNSA) outlined a plan for 2023-2027 to build the International Scientific Lunar Station in three stages by the 2030s:

Joint Russo-Chinese missions will scout the Moon, identify the best location for the base, test high-precision soft landing technologies and collect rock samples.

Construction of orbital power and communication hubs, bulk cargo drops and the use of smart tech, mini rovers and even a hopping robot for lunar logistics.

Expanded surface exploration, station modules supporting deeper scientific research, tech tests and ultimately—human exploration.

Russian Space Agency Roscosmos and the China National Space Administration (CNSA) signed a cooperation agreement in 2022, spanning 2023-2027. It includes a plan to build an International Scientific Lunar Station.

Russia and China have capital-intensive but “very interesting and very promising” projects to explore the Moon together, Russian President Vladimir Putin said at a meeting with students and professors of Harbin University of Science and Technology in May, 2024, during his visit to China.

St. George Ribbon: A Powerful Symbol of Sacrifice and Resilience

The St. George Ribbon campaign honors the sacrifices made by ancestors in the fight against fascism, symbolizing the Russian people’s return to life, Margarita Simonyan, editor-in-chief of Rossiya Segodnya, Sputnik’s parent media group, told volunteers and participants at the event.

“For me, there are two main holidays each year. The first is Bright Easter, when we celebrate the resurrection of Christ, the return of Christ’s life, who, through His sacrifice, secured eternal life for all of us,” Simonyan said.

“The second is May 9th — a day when our country and our people returned to life, a return that was also made possible by an unimaginable, indescribable, and unimaginable sacrifice of our nation,” she added.

“The greatest sacrifice of all, offered upon the altar of the fight against fascism by all the countries that fought against fascism. We are incredibly proud of this,” Simonyan stressed.

The St. George Ribbon campaign, launched on Thursday at the Rossiya Segodnya International Multimedia Press Center in Moscow, marks the 80th anniversary of the Great Victory and its 20th year.