Hungary has blocked a document that supported Zelensky’s “peace plan” while ignoring other proposals, its foreign minister has said

Hungary has vetoed a Council of Europe resolution on Ukraine because it recognized only one peace plan, the so-called “peace formula” proposed by Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky, Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto said on Friday.

Zelensky’s roadmap to resolve the crisis, which he has been promoting since 2022, calls for a complete withdrawal of Russian forces from all territories Ukraine considers its own, for Moscow to pay reparations, and for a war crimes tribunal. Russia has rejected the proposals as “unrealistic” and a sign of Kiev’s unwillingness to seek a diplomatic solution to the conflict.

“Today the Council wanted to adopt a resolution recognizing only President Zelensky’s peace plan as a peace formula that should be considered and supported. This is unacceptable for us,” Szijjarto wrote on Facebook.

Instead of an “imaginary nuclear war,” “we all need real peace talks,” which are only possible with both sides in the conflict “sitting at the table” Szijjarto said.

Next month, Switzerland is expected to host a summit on Zelensky’s proposed roadmap for ending the conflict with Russia. Switzerland has sent out invitations to over 160 countries, including members of the G7, G20, BRICS, and EU. Russia, however, has not been invited to the talks.

Read more Putin responds to Kiev’s ‘peace formula’ ultimatum

Szijjarto noted that other countries have also proposed scenarios for a diplomatic resolution to the conflict that are “no worse than those of Ukraine’s president.” A number of alternative peace plans had previously been put forward, including proposals by China, Brazil and South Africa.

“I asked to include other peace plans in the Council of Europe resolution. This was rejected by the majority. That’s why I vetoed it so there wouldn’t be a Council resolution,” Szijjarto explained.

China has been promoting since last year a peace formula consisting of 12 points, including the cessation of hostilities, a demand for compliance with international law, the rejection of the ‘Cold War’ mentality, and mutual respect for national security concerns.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said Beijing’s initiative showed “the genuine desire... to help stabilize the situation” in the region.

Speaking to journalists on Friday, he dismissed Kiev’s plan, which does not take into account the “realities on the ground.” Putin reiterated Moscow’s perception of the upcoming Swiss event as a mere ruse by Kiev and the West. The president also emphasized that Moscow remains ready for peace talks that would consider Russian interests.

A conduit for crude could be added to the planned mega gas pipeline, the president has said

The planned mega pipeline project that will carry natural gas from Russia to China could see an extra conduit laid for crude oil, Russian President Vladimir Putin has said.

Moscow and Beijing are nearing a deal on the construction of a mega gas pipeline known as the Power of Siberia 2. It will transport up to 50 billion cubic meters of gas annually from Yamal Region in northern Russia to China via Mongolia.

Speaking at a press conference on Friday during a two-day trip to China, Putin said it may be possible to lay an oil pipeline next to the new gas route.

” Various routes [for Russia’s oil to reach China] are available, one of them is the route through Mongolia. It is possible to lay both gas and oil pipes in the same corridor. Experts should decide how best to proceed ,” Putin said in the Chinese city of Harbin.

Read more Russia and China could sign major energy deal – deputy PM

Russia has traditionally supplied oil to China via the East Siberia-Pacific Ocean pipeline, via transit through Kazakhstan, and by tankers. Moscow also plans to develop railways as another means of transporting crude to the Chinese market.

Energy negotiations between Moscow and Beijing are not limited to the mega gas pipeline, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Aleksandr Novak said on Thursday. “There are other new projects,” he added without elaborating further.

Russia became China’s largest oil supplier last year. Beijing imported a record amount of discounted Russian oil in 2023, taking advantage of Moscow’s push to find new buyers following the implementation of Ukraine-related Western sanctions.

For more stories on economy & finance visit RT's business section

Brussels has gagged four additional news outlets as it allegedly fights propaganda

The European Council has banned four more media outlets from reporting in the EU over allegations that they spread Russian propaganda.

Prior to Friday’s announcement, Brussels had already barred several Russia-associated media from engaging with audiences in member states since the Ukraine conflict escalated into open hostilities in February 2022. Even platforming content from the targeted organizations is illegal in the bloc.

The new additions to the blacklist announced on Friday include the relatively small Czech-based portal Voice of Europe, RIA Novosti, a leading Russian news agency, and the veteran newspapers Izvestia and Rossiyskaya Gazeta.

The latter is the official paper of the Russian government, which prints new laws, presidential decrees, and other executive documents to formally announce them to the general public, before they can enter force.

The council has claimed that the crackdown on Russian news is necessary to counter a “systematic, international campaign of media and information manipulation, interference and grave distortion of facts” about the Ukraine conflict.

Read more EU ban on RT and Sputnik has failed – media

The European Commission, the executive body of the bloc, has hailed the news, declaring that Russia poses an increasing threat to the EU’s “democratic societies” ahead of elections to the European Parliament next month.

“The sanctions do not target freedom of opinion,” it claimed, citing the fact that the gag order does not prevent journalists working for the four outlets from carrying out other activities in the EU.

Moscow has accused Brussels of duplicity and attacking freedom of speech with its restrictions. The campaign to undermine the work of Russian news organizations long predates the Ukraine conflict and is aimed at preventing European citizens from hearing opinions that their government deem undesirable, Russian officials have claimed.

Despite the advance notice from the UK, Kiev’s defense lines on the border were “thin to absent,” the paper said

The UK warned Ukraine ahead of the Russian offensive in Kharkov Region, but Kiev failed to prepare for the attack that resulted in Moscow’s troops making rapid gains, The Guardian reported on Thursday, citing sources.

British intelligence provided Ukraine with advance warning about the attack, according to one of the newspaper’s sources, although he did not say how much time Kiev had to prepare.

However, the alert had followed a public warning by Russian President Vladimir Putin in March, saying Moscow could move to establish a “cordon sanitaire” in Kiev-controlled territories to protect civilians in Russian border regions, particularly in Belgorod, from indiscriminate Ukrainian artillery and drone bombardment.

Given that Ukrainian officials had also reported a concentration of Russian troops in the area ahead of the offensive, “it might have been expected that the attack would be swiftly repulsed,” The Guardian said.

Read more Putin reveals plans for Kharkov

However, Ukrainian defensive lines “were thin to absent” in Kharkov Region, the paper said. As a result, the Russian Defense Ministry reported the capture of several border settlements in Kharkov Region in recent days.

Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky recently admitted that Kiev was not ready to meet a large-scale Russian attack due to delays in Western arms shipments. He has canceled scheduled trips to Spain and Portugal, heading to Kharkov instead. Zelensky described the situation as “very serious,” but promised that Kiev was redeploying reinforcements to the area from other frontline sectors.

Read more Ukrainian military stole money intended for fortifications – local media

On Tuesday, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken traveled to Kiev to reassure Ukraine that it was “not alone” in the face of the Russian onslaught. He noted that the country was now going through its “critical moment” on the battlefield.

Echoing The Guardian report, some Ukrainian service members complained about the absence of fortifications and minefields in Kharkov Region, while local outlet Ukrainska Pravda reported that funds earmarked for creating defenses had simply been stolen. Ukrainian officials, however, have dismissed the narrative about the lack of defenses as “Russian propaganda” aimed at driving a wedge between local administrations and the top brass in Kiev.

On Friday, during his visit to China, Putin confirmed that Moscow’s combat operations in the region were aimed at creating a “cordon sanitaire,” stressing that his country had no plans to capture Kharkov, Ukraine’s second-largest city, at this point.

France’s president is the one who gives orders to his nation’s army, the Russian leader told reporters

Questions about any deployment of French troops to Ukraine should be addressed to the commander-in-chief of that country, Emmanuel Macron, Russian President Vladimir Putin said at a press conference in China on Friday.

The French leader has tried to maintain what he terms “strategic ambiguity” about possibly putting boots on the ground in Ukraine. This approach was first announced in late February when, after hosting a pro-Kiev gathering in Paris, he declared that he did not rule out such a deployment.

Putin was about to wrap up the press conference when a reporter raised a question about French troops being sent to Ukraine.

“I am not the president of France, am I? Why do you ask me?” he retorted, but the reporter insisted on receiving an answer.

“You get him to answer your question first: whether troops would go there or not. And then we will consider possible consequences of such a move,” Putin suggested.

Read more New NATO member has no plans to send troops to Ukraine

Macron has argued that keeping the Russian leadership guessing on the issue was essential to France's approach to the Ukraine conflict. Paris is a key donor of weapons to Kiev and claims that preventing a Russian victory is essential for French national security. On Tuesday, the Elysee Palace announced that more assistance will be arriving in Ukraine soon.

Kiev’s forces have suffered a series of setbacks on the battlefield this year, following last year’s failed counteroffensive that sought to break through Russian defense lines using Western-provided heavy weapons. Last Friday, Moscow ramped up its pressure by launching an operation in the northern Kharkov Region, which has put Ukrainian defenses “on the edge,” according to Kiev’s military command.

During the same press conference, Putin said the Russian military had no intention of capturing Kharkov, Ukraine’s second-largest city, but is acting to create a buffer zone to prevent Ukrainian cross-border attacks with artillery and drones. Russia’s Belgorod Region, which borders Ukraine, has been regularly subjected to shelling by Kiev’s forces, including the city of Belgorod itself.

Moscow and Beijing have also said they expect to further expand cross-cultural ties

Russia and China have pledged to deepen cultural ties between the two nations and to fight ‘cancel culture’ following Thursday’s meeting between Presidents Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping in Beijing.

It marks Putin’s first state visit since he took office for the fifth time earlier this month. The Russian leader said that “based on the multipolar realities,” the partnership between Russia and China is “one of the main stabilizing factors on the international stage.”

In a joint statement on Thursday, Moscow and Beijing agreed to “take the acknowledgement of cultural and civilizational diversity” as the basis for “furthering dialogue, cooperation and experience exchange.” The two countries also vowed to “counter the politicization of culture, attempts at ‘cancelling the culture’ of certain countries and peoples.” According to the document, they will oppose any approaches based on “discrimination, xenophobia and cultural dominance.”

Read more Swiss city cancels Russian opera star’s concert

Russia and China also pledged to expand cross-cultural ties and amplify the exposure of each nation’s people to the other’s art, museums, and cinema.

Speaking in late February, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said that the “destructive line of Western elites to isolate Russia, including in the global informational and cultural spaces, and the general drive to ‘cancel’ everything even remotely connected to our nation has suffered a complete failure.”

In a statement marking Russia’s assumption of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS)’s rotating presidency at the start of the year, the Kremlin named “resisting external destructive influence” on member states as one of its priorities. Moscow cited in particular “attempts to cancel the culture” of a particular people, or its contribution to global heritage, as an example of such malign influence.

Russia won’t be pressured diplomatically, just as it cannot be defeated on the battlefield, the president has said

Russia will not yield to ultimatums from Ukraine and its Western backers as they try to gain diplomatically what they have failed to gain militarily, President Vladimir Putin has said.

In mid-June, Switzerland will host an international conference to discuss Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky’s so-called “peace formula.” Russia was excluded from the event.

Speaking to journalists on Friday, Putin reiterated Moscow’s perception of the upcoming event as a mere ruse by Kiev and the West.

”They want to gather as many nations as possible, convince everyone that the best proposal is the terms of the Ukrainian side, and then send it to us in the form of an ultimatum,” he said. “Is that the way one negotiates seriously? Certainly not.”

Russia and Ukraine had a preliminary agreement on a peace deal in 2022 which would have been beneficial for both sides, Putin noted. But after the general terms were negotiated, Kiev backtracked and declared it would be seeking a military victory instead. The attempt to force its demands on Moscow will fail just as the attempt to inflict a ‘strategic defeat’ on Russia has failed, Putin vowed.

Read more Ukraine situation ‘incredibly dire’ – Washington

The agreements made in Istanbul could serve as the basis for a future peace treaty, the Russian leader said. The benefits for Ukraine in the document were proposed by Kiev’s side, presumably with Western consent, if not authorship, Putin suggested. However, any future agreement “will have to take into account the realities on the ground,” he added.

Following the collapse of the peace talks in 2022, four regions of Ukraine held referendums in which they voted overwhelmingly in favor of breaking away from Kiev and joining Russia. The Ukrainian government has rejected the votes as a “sham.”

The Ukrainian ‘peace formula’ demands the return of the four regions and Crimea, which voted to become part of Russia in 2014, war reparations, a tribunal for the Russian leadership, and long-term global support for restoration of the country. Putin called it a “wish list” rather than a serious foundation for talks.

Restrictions on Chinese and Russian goods are “dishonest competition,” the president has said

The West’s import bans and restrictions on numerous Russian and Chinese products will drive up inflation in the US, Russian President Vladimir Putin has warned.

The comments came during a press conference the Russian leader gave in the city of Harbin during his two-day trip to China.

Putin was referring to the escalating trade war between Washington and China, and to the sanctions imposed by the US, the EU, and their allies on a wide range of Russian products following the start of the Ukraine conflict.

“They have imposed sanctions against [a variety of] goods. What will this lead to? To inflation in the United States, that’s what it will lead to. Because they will try to produce [the goods] themselves, on their own sites, pay wages to their own workers, using their own expensive metal, using their own expensive energy,” Putin said, as quoted by RIA Novosti.

Read more US slaps steep tariffs on China

The US has previously placed bans and restrictions on imports of Russian energy resources and metals such as nickel, copper, and aluminum.

Washington also hiked tariffs on Chinese products earlier this week. Duties on electric vehicles (EVs) were quadrupled to over 100%, and new levies were imposed on computer chips, solar cells, and lithium-ion batteries. The White House claimed the new measures are intended to “protect American workers and businesses.”

Putin suggested that the US imposed restrictions against Chinese car imports because the quality of vehicles from the Asian nation is improving, and that Washington wants to prevent strong competitors from entering the American market.

He described the US approach as “dishonest competition.” As soon as a new country emerges as a manufacturing power and becomes more competitive, it is suppressed in the US and in the EU alike, Putin argued.

READ MORE: US bans import of Chinese ‘genocide’ cotton

Such “abuse” of the market will create inflation, Putin stated, describing the decisions made by the West as “foolish.”

Inflation in the US and across the EU has hit its highest levels in decades over the past few years, fueled by restrictions against Russia, a leading energy exporter, and the fallout from the Covid-19 pandemic.

For more stories on economy & finance visit RT's business section

Moscow is set to deliver another batch of man-portable air defense systems ordered by New Delhi in 2023 in the coming weeks

India is set to receive the next batch of Russian Igla-S short range man portable air defense systems (MANPADS) by the end of May to early June, as the payment issues that delayed the delivery have been resolved, The Hindu reported on Thursday, citing sources.

Moscow and New Delhi signed a contract for the supply and licensed manufacturing of Igla-S MANPADS in India last year, Rosoboronexport, Russia’s main arms export body, announced. The weaponry is being assembled in India by Adani Defense Systems and Technologies Limited (ADSTL) under technology transfer from Rosoboronexport. While the missiles will be imported, some parts of the system such as sights, launcher, and battery will be assembled or manufactured in India by Adani defense, a source told The Hindu.

The first batch of 24 systems and 100 missiles was delivered to the Indian Army in April, The Print reported. In 2021, India already purchased two dozen Igla-S systems under its emergency procurement program, though the current order is larger, according to reports.

Read more Russia and India sign deal on Igla-S missiles – TASS

The Igla-S, which is designed to bring down enemy aircraft or small-sized air targets such as cruise missiles, is meant to replace the outdated Soviet-era Igla-M systems used by India since the 1980s. The Igla-S, with an interception range of up to 6km, is a significant upgrade over the previous modification. It includes a 9M342 missile that can be mounted on various platforms, effectively increasing its range and capability against smaller targets. The system is believed to be crucial for strengthening India’s air defense arsenal, as the country continues to consolidate its position along the border with China, an area marked by sporadic clashes and persistent tensions.

India decided to procure the latest version of the Igla-S MANPADS in 2018. Russian systems were selected over French and Swedish competitors in a bidding process; however, the deal was not signed as some of the bidders challenged the tendering procedures. The deal was estimated at $1.5 billion at the time.

India’s latest order of Russian MANPADS is part of a broader planned initiative, executed under India’s Very Short Range Air Defense System (VSHORAD) procurement program, launched in 2010 with the goal of procuring 5,000 missiles, 258 single launchers, and 258 multi-launchers. While India is updating its inventory through imports from various sources, which apart from Russia include the US and Israel, it is advancing its indigenous VSHORADS missile programs developed by the Defense Research and Development Organization (DRDO).

READ MORE: India to stop all ammunition imports – army official

Meanwhile, the payment issues which had reportedly held up the deal have been resolved, official sources who were not named told The Hindu. Media reports earlier this month suggested that Russian companies trading with the South Asian country are finally able to find ways to utilize Indian rupees accumulating on their special accounts in Indian banks, which was made possible after certain regulatory measures.

Russia continued to be India’s main weapons supplier from 2019-2023 and accounts for 36% of its arms imports, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute.

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