Five members of the European Parliament plan to visit Moscow this week to attend events marking the 80th anniversary of the Soviet Union’s victory over Nazi Germany in World War II, German media reported Wednesday.

The delegation includes two lawmakers from Germany’s far-left Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance (BSW), which opposes military aid to Ukraine, a

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India and Pakistan exchanged heavy fire overnight, marking their worst confrontation since 2019 and raising worries of an all-out war in between the 2 nuclear-armed countries.India fired rockets at Pakistan early Wednesday, calling it retaliation for last month's attack in which shooters killed 26 individuals, mostly tourists, in India-controlled Kashmir.India and Pakistan exchanged heavy fire overnight, marking their worst conflict given that 2019 and raising worries of a full-scale war between the 2 nuclear-armed countries.India fired missiles at Pakistan early Wednesday, calling it retaliation for last months attack in which shooters eliminated 26 individuals, primarily travelers, in India-controlled Kashmir. Pakistan said the strikes totaled up to an act of war and launched a vindictive attack.The Russian Foreign Ministry said Wednesday that it was deeply worried about the situation and urged both countries to reveal restraint.Russia has likewise used to moderate the crisis, with Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov having actually held calls with both sides last week.Amid the stress, The Moscow Times takes a look at Russias relationship with both countries: Russia-India relationshipIn December 2023, Indias External Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar called the India-Russia relationship the one constant in world politics, highlighting the two countries ties to each other.Russian assistance for India goes as far back as the 1950s, when the Soviet Union utilized its UN Security Council veto in assistance of India on the problem of Kashmir.Since then, the U.S.S.R. and later on Russia have played a mediating function between India and Pakistan, and the U.S.S.R. supported India throughout the Cold War.However, while British foreign affairs think tank Chatham House says the relationship in between the 2 countries is presently going through a handled decline, Moscow and New Delhi remain important partners in several areas.Trade between the two nations rose to $66 billion in 2024, with an eye on reaching$100 billion by 2030. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has actually checked out Russia two times in the past year, and he has met with Vladimir Putin 17 times in the last decade.Russian oil, which represented simply 2 %of Indias total imports before Moscows invasion of Ukraine, has actually swollen to over 40%since June 2024. In December, the 2 nations penned a 10-year,$13 billion offer to provide 500,000 barrels of crude oil daily to Indian private refiner Reliance.The two nations also comply on atomic energy. Russias state nuclear power company Rosatom has an arrangement in location to build 6 nuclear power reactors in India.Russia and India are likewise deeply involved when it concerns defense. Chatham House notes that Russia represent over 50 %of Indias military equipment which India is the biggest importer of Russian arms worldwide.Still, India has actually tried to walk a diplomatic tightrope when it concerns Russias war on Ukraine, neither condemning nor voicing support for the intrusion. It has also stayed away numerous times on UN resolutions condemning Moscows actions, and the nation is the second-largest provider of limited important innovations to Russia.Russia-Pakistan relationshipThe Russia-Pakistan relationship has deepened recently after Pakistans pro-Western orientation during the Cold War.Bilateral trade reached$1 billion in 2023, the highest-ever level between the two countries, andRussian Deputy Prime Minister Alexei Overchuk said in 2024 that Russia would support Pakistans addition in the BRICS economic bloc.Pakistan-Russia relations since [2011] have been moving on an upward trajectory, nevertheless slowly, Muhammad Murad, a Ph.D. government candidate at the University of Bonn, composed in The Diplomat.In 2017, Islamabad signed up with the Moscow- and Beijing-led Shanghai Cooperation Organization in an effort to deepen its local cooperation.Four years later, Russia and Pakistan signed a contract to construct a gas pipeline from Karachi to Lahore.Despite the growing ties in between Islamabad and Moscow, there is still a certain level of existing skepticism in between the 2 countries owing to Pakistans neutral position on the Russia-Ukraine war and its alleged supply of weapons to Ukraine, states Murad.Pakistan presumably sold $364 million in arms to Ukraine and Israel to cover the financing space needed to fund an International Monetary Fund(IMF )loan. The countys government has actually rejected that the sale took place.While Pakistan has abstained 3 times from choosing UN resolutions that would condemn Russias carry out in Ukraine, it has actually required Ukraines sovereignty to be respected.Prashant Singh, a Delhi-based researcher, views Russia-Pakistan relations from another angle.There is one constant: Pakistan-Russia relations have always acted as a subset of the regional geopolitical pentagon made up of Russia, the United States, China, India and Pakistan, he composed in The Diplomat.He kept in mind that cooperation in between the 2 countries is traditionally limited to energy, food security and counterterrorism, since arms sales would anger India.And even as it grows closer to Moscow, Pakistan also depends on Western-backed organizations like the IMF for funding. As recently as March, Pakistan received the go-ahead to protect $1.3 billion in financing as part of a continuous 37-month program that it stated helped the country ward off the threat of default.

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Chinese President Xi Jinping landed in Moscow on Wednesday for a key three-day visit including a grand Victory Day parade and a show of support for Vladimir Putin.

Moscow and Beijing declared a "no-limits partnership" weeks before Putin ordered Russia's Ukraine offensive in February 2022. Their expanded military and trade ties since have troubled

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Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić’s flight to Moscow for this week’s Victory Day parade made a stop in Azerbaijan as Ukrainian drone strikes forced airports across Russia to halt travel for several hours, Serbian and Russian media reported Wednesday.

Vučić is among more than two dozen world leaders expected to attend the May 9 parade on Red Square

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Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Venezuelan counterpart Nicolás Maduro on Wednesday signed a tactical partnership treaty in Moscow, the current in a series of alliances Russia has actually created because the major invasion of Ukraine.The offer marks Russia's fourth such arrangement in two years, following similar pacts with China, North Korea and I

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When President Vladimir Putin addresses Russia’s military to mark 80 years since Nazi Germany surrendered to the Soviet Union, he won’t just be speaking to his own country.

The Russian leader is expected to host at least 29 foreign leaders, largely from fellow autocracies and repressive regimes, at Friday’s extravagant military parade on Red S

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