According to internal government documents, India will likely prevent the declassification of 1947’s “Bucher papers,” which provide information about the political and military reasons for Jammu and Kashmir’s special status. New Delhi claims that public access to the documents could negatively impact its foreign relations.
Indian PM Narendra Modi had a phone call and a video call with US President Joe Biden and French President Emmanuel Macron, respectively, on Monday, to discuss the deals Air India struck with both Boeing and Airbus. The historic deals involve Air India buying 220 aircraft from Boeing and 250 aircraft from Airbus. Additionally, the calls focused on strategic bilateral partnerships with India, and Biden and Macron expressed their support for India’s ongoing G20 presidency.
Referring to Japan marking the Northern Territories Day on 7 February — a territory also claimed by Russia — Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Maria Zakharova said on Tuesday that the event “was marked by a particular intensity of Russophobia.” “We noted that this time the baseless territorial claims to the southern Kuril Islands were accompanied by vicious attacks against Russia in connection with the situation in Ukraine,” she added.
China will begin reissuing short-term visas for travellers from South Korea from Saturday, ending their dispute that started after South Korea instituted entry restrictions on travellers from China after the latter relaxed its stringent zero-COVID public health policy.
On Tuesday, NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg said that the “main question” was not Sweden and Finland’s ratification into the alliance “together,” hinting that the two Nordic countries could join the military coalition independently. Ahead of a meeting with the two countries’ defence ministers, he said that the priority should be to welcome Sweden and Finland as members of NATO “as soon as possible.”
North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) fighter jets “detected, tracked, positively identified and intercepted four Russian aircraft entering and operating within the Alaska Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ)” on Monday. It said that the Russian jets, including TU-95 BEAR-H and SU-35 fighter aircraft, “remained in international airspace and did not enter American or Canadian sovereign airspace.” “This Russian activity in the North American ADIZ occurs regularly and is not seen as a threat, nor is the activity seen as provocative,” NORAD stressed.
Romania rushed in two fighter jets under NATO command and Moldova closed its airspace for a short time after their respective authorities reported a small UFO with “characteristics similar to a weather balloon” flying at 36,000 feet on Tuesday. However, Romanian Foreign Minister Bogdan Aurescu revealed that “the Romanian fighter jets did not find any object, even if it was spotted on the radar, […] so no threat for the Romanian airspace.”
The US Central Command (CENTCOM) announced on Tuesday that American forces deployed in Syria shot down an Iranian-manufactured drone “attempting to conduct reconnaissance of Mission Support Site Conoco,” a US military base in northeast Syria.
During a meeting with his Iranian counterpart Ebrahim Raisi in Beijing on Wednesday, Chinese President Xi Jinping called for the immediate revival of the 2015 Iran nuclear deal. Xi vowed China would “participate constructively” in talks to resume stalled negotiations. He blamed the US for withdrawing from the agreement in 2018 and insisted Washington make the first move to resurrect the pact.