At the 5th Multilateral Meeting of Secretaries of Security Councils in Moscow on Wednesday, Indian National Security Adviser Ajit Doval stressed the need to ensure that Afghanistan “does not become a source of radicalization and terrorism.” In his meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin, both sides agreed to work towards implementing the India-Russia special and privileged strategic partnership.
US Assistant Secretary for Energy Resources Geoffrey Pyatt said that even though India is not part of the Russian gas price cap coalition, it has “effectively used its negotiating leverage” derived from the price cap and Russia’s restricted global market “to drive down the price that it pays for Russian crude.”
The combined death toll of the Kahramanmaras earthquake, and subsequent aftershocks, reportedly surpassed 20,000 in Turkey and Syria on Thursday. Further, according to Syrian and Turkish authorities, nearly 75,000 people have been reported injured thus far. The bitter cold of winter and large-scale destruction have been hindering rescue efforts since the disaster began on Monday.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky appealed to the West to provide his country with more weapons and begin EU membership talks later this year during an impassioned speech in the European Parliament in Brussels on Thursday. Although European leaders, including French President Emmanuel Macron, pledged to support Ukraine “tirelessly,” no rigid timeline was outlined regarding its accession to the EU. However, EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen spoke of a $10.7 billion sanction package that would effectively deprive Russia of military goods that are unavailable elsewhere.
Japan and the Philippines are in an early phase of discussions over a key defence pact that would allow them to deploy troops on each other’s territory for training.
Israel has reportedly issued a sharp warning to Iran that any attempt to ship weapons under the guise of humanitarian aid to earthquake-stricken Syria will be met with a “firm military response.” Having already conducted thousands of airstrikes against Iranian weapons transfers, Israel is wary of the possibility of Iran sending arms to Lebanese militia Hezbollah and other Syrian militant groups.
Brazil denied an Iranian request to dock two of its warships in Rio de Janeiro on Thursday, as a result of pressure from the US. The decision was made a day before Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, who is opposed to US sanctions on Tehran, was to travel to Washington to meet US President Joe Biden.
The US announced Thursday that it is issuing a six-month sanctions exemption for “all transactions related to earthquake relief efforts” in Syria. Transfers to Syria would otherwise not have been possible due to restrictions imposed by the US on the Syrian regime led by President Bashar Al Assad over grave human rights violations.