Iran and Saudi Arabia are preparing to reopen their respective embassies in Tehran and Riyadh, and wil lre-establish full diplomatic ties, an Iranian lawmaker has said. Relations between the two major regional powers are “being revived” and the embassies are “preparing to open,” Jalil Rahimi Jahanabadi, a member of the …
Read More »Taiwan furious as diplomatic property is transferred to Beijing
Authorities in Taipei lashed out at Nicaragua’s decision to hand over to Beijing the building in Managua that previously served as the embassy of Taiwan. Taiwan’s Foreign Relations Ministry called the move “unlawful and utterly disgusting,” blasting the “Ortega regime” for blocking the plan to sell the property to the …
Read More »Putin in first chat with new German leader amid diplomatic row
Putin congratulated Scholz on his election as long time leader Angela Merkel’s successor, and noted that he’s had plenty of experience dealing with Russia as the mayor of Hamburg, St. Petersburg’s sister city. Tuesday’s call came a day after Moscow expelled two German diplomats in reprisal for Berlin’s expulsion of …
Read More »Australia joins US diplomatic boycott of Beijing Olympics
Morrison said on Wednesday that it would “come as no surprise that Australia will not be sending any official representatives to the forthcoming Winter Games in China,” citing alleged “human rights abuses in Xinjiang and many other issues that Australia has consistently raised.” “We have been very pleased and very …
Read More »France & Germany rejected Russian plan for peace in Donbass, diplomatic cables reveal
On Thursday, the Russian Foreign Ministry published a series of cables exchanged with its counterparts in Paris and Berlin. The move was in response to the “distortion” of its position, officials say, after Western media outlets reported that the Kremlin had objected to holding a ‘Normandy Format’ meeting with the …
Read More »Russia’s dramatic decision to cut direct diplomatic ties with NATO further proof that Moscow no longer cares what the West thinks
The rapprochement with the West, it seems, is now truly dead and buried. Russia will withdraw its delegation from Brussels, and will send home NATO’s mission in Moscow from next month. The row ostensibly comes after the US-led bloc announced it would expel nearly half of Russia’s envoys, reportedly over …
Read More »Russia to suspend diplomatic ties with NATO from November with US-led military bloc’s Moscow mission ordered to close – FM Lavrov
Speaking on Monday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov also revealed that the NATO information bureau in Moscow will also be forced to shut down as part of retaliatory measures. Earlier this month, NATO officials decided to slash the size of the permanent Russian delegation to the bloc, revoking the credenitals …
Read More »Vatican enjoys diplomatic immunity, European human rights court says, dismissing alleged child-abuse victims
On Tuesday, the top court dismissed a case submitted by two dozen people who claim to be survivors of child sexual abuse at the hands of the Catholic clergy from France, Belgium and the Netherlands. The alleged survivors had initially filed a class action in the Ghent Court of First …
Read More »Taliban calls for improved ‘diplomatic relations’ with US after ‘candid talks’ in Doha, welcomes humanitarian aid
In a statement released in the wake of two-day talks with US officials in Doha, Qatar, the Taliban said that the US promised to “give humanitarian assistance to Afghans” and “provide facilities for other humanitarian organizations to deliver aid.” While saying that it “welcomes” the aid, the Taliban stressed that …
Read More »Algeria bans French military aircraft from its airspace amid diplomatic row with Paris
The French military became aware of Algiers’ decision on Sunday morning when they filed another flight plan with Algerian officials but were denied overflight authorization, Colonel Pascal Ianni, a spokesman to the French Chief of the Defense Staff, told the media. France had used the route to deploy troops and …
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