KAZAN: Russian President Vladimir Putin said Thursday his relationship with the United States after the presidential elections would depend on what attitude Washington adopts, as he welcomed comments by Donald Trump on his desire to end the Ukraine conflict as “sincere.”
But the Kremlin leader struck a hard-line tone, warning the West it was an “illusion” to think Russia could be defeated on the battlefield and that any peace deal would have to recognize Russia’s control of swathes of Ukrainian territory.
Putin was speaking at the end of the BRICS summit in the city of Kazan, where he had faced calls from some of Russia’s most important allies for the fighting in Ukraine to end.
“How Russian-American relations will develop after the election will depend on the United States. If they are open, then we will also be open. And if they don’t want it, then fine,” Putin told reporters in Kazan.
Relations between the two superpowers have sunk to their lowest since the Cold War amid Moscow’s military offensive on Ukraine.
Next month’s US election is set to be critical to the course of future ties and the conflict in Ukraine.
Trump has repeatedly expressed skepticism over Washington’s multi-billion dollar aid to Ukraine and claimed that if elected he could end the fighting in a matter of hours.
Putin said Trump “spoke about his desire to do everything to end the conflict in Ukraine. I think he is being sincere. Of course we welcome statements like this, whoever they come from.”
Chinese President Xi Jinping and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi were among around 20 leaders that gathered for the BRICS summit, the largest diplomatic event in Russia since Putin ordered troops into Ukraine in February 2022.
The Kremlin leader said Moscow was open to considering peace initiatives and welcomed BRICS leaders offering to mediate.
But he said any deal must consider the “realities on the ground” — a reference to Ukrainian territory controlled by Russian forces.
“We are ready to look at any proposals for peace negotiations that are based on the realities on the ground. We won’t accept anything else,” he said.
Putin has previously demanded Kyiv effectively capitulate by pulling its troops back as a precondition to ceasefire talks.
And on Thursday he blasted the West for thinking Russia could be defeated on the battlefield.
Moscow’s opponents “do not conceal their aim to deal our country a strategic defeat,” he said.
“I will say directly that these are illusionary calculations, that can be made only by those who do not know Russia’s history.”
Russia has faced fresh accusations of escalating the conflict this week with the United States, South Korea, NATO and Kyiv all saying North Korea had sent troops to Russia.
Kyiv said Thursday it had intelligence that the soldiers had already been deployed to Russia’s western Kursk region, where Ukraine is mounting a cross-border offensive.
Putin refused to confirm or deny the reports on Thursday, instead accusing Ukraine and the West of aggravating the conflict.
Putin also held talks with United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres in the pair’s first meeting since April 2022.
The Kremlin did not broadcast opening remarks, though both sides had said the talks would cover Ukraine.
The UN chief had pleaded earlier for a “just peace” in Ukraine in a speech delivered in front of Putin.
“We need peace in Ukraine. A just peace in line with the UN Charter, international law and (UN) General Assembly resolution,” Guterres told the summit.
Ukraine has strongly criticized Guterres’s decision to meet the “criminal Putin.”
Guterres also demanded an “immediate ceasefire” in Gaza, the release of hostages and an “immediate cessation of hostilities” in Lebanon.
Other world leaders at the summit also called for an end to Israel’s wars in Lebanon and Gaza, with Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas saying Israel was trying to starve Gazan civilians and drive them from their territory.
Xi warned about “serious challenges” in the world and said he hoped BRICS countries could be a “stabilising force for peace.”
“We need to continue to push for a ceasefire in Gaza, relaunch the two-state solution and stop the spread of war in Lebanon. There should be no more suffering and destruction in Palestine and Lebanon,” Xi said.
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian slammed the UN Security Council’s role in front of Guterres, saying international bodies “lack the necessary efficiency to extinguish the fire of this crisis.”
Putin says ball in Washington’s court on US-Russia ties
https://arab.news/zx2uw
Putin says ball in Washington’s court on US-Russia ties
- “How Russian-American relations will develop after the election will depend on the United States,” Putin told reporters in Kazan
- “If they are open, then we will also be open. And if they don’t want it, then fine”
Shooter kills 9 at Canadian school and residence
- The shooter was found dead with an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound
- A total of 27 people were wounded in the shooting, including two with serious injuries
TORONTO: A shooter killed nine people and wounded dozens more at a secondary school and a residence in a remote part of western Canada on Tuesday, authorities said, in one of the deadliest mass shootings in the country’s history.
The suspect, described by police in an initial emergency alert as a “female in a dress with brown hair,” was found dead with an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound, officials said.
The attack occurred in Tumbler Ridge, British Columbia, a picturesque mountain valley town in the foothills of the Rockies.
A total of 27 people were wounded in the shooting, including two with serious injuries, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police said in a statement.
Prime Minister Mark Carney said he was “devastated” by the “horrific acts of violence” and announced he was suspending plans to travel to the Munich Security Conference on Wednesday, where he had been set to hold talks with allies on transatlantic defense readiness.
Police said an alert was issued about an active shooter at Tumbler Ridge Secondary School on Tuesday afternoon.
As police searched the school, they found six people shot dead. A seventh person with a gunshot wound died en route to hospital.
Separately, police found two more bodies at a residence in the town.
The residence is “believed to be connected to the incident,” police said.
At the school, “an individual believed to be the shooter was also found deceased with what appears to be a self?inflicted injury,” police said.
Police have not yet released any information about the age of the shooter or the victims.
“We are devastated by the loss of life and the profound impact this tragedy has had on families, students, staff, and our entire town,” the municipality of Tumbler Ridge said in a statement.
Tumbler Ridge student Darian Quist told public broadcaster CBC that he was in his mechanics class when there was an announcement that the school was in lockdown.
He said that initially he “didn’t think anything was going on,” but started receiving “disturbing” photos about the carnage.
“It set in what was happening,” Quist said.
He said he stayed in lockdown for more than two hours until police stormed in, ordering everyone to put their hands up before escorting them out of the school.
Trent Ernst, a local journalist and a former substitute teacher at Tumbler Ridge, expressed shock over the shooting at the school, where one of his children has just graduated.
He noted that school shootings have been a rarity occurring every few years in Canada compared with the United States, where they are far more frequent.
“I used to kind of go: ‘Look at Canada, look at who we are.’ But then that one school shooting every 2.5 years happens in your town and things... just go off the rails,” he told AFP.
‘Heartbreak’
While mass shootings are extremely rare in Canada, last April, a vehicle attack that targeted a Filipino cultural festival in Vancouver killed 11 people.
British Columbia Premier David Eby called the latest violence “unimaginable.”
Nina Krieger, British Columbia’s minister of public safety, said it was “one of the worst mass shootings in our province’s and country’s history.”
The Canadian Olympic Committee, whose athletes are competing in the 2026 Winter Games in Italy, said Wednesday it was “heartbroken by the news of the horrific school shooting.”
Ken Floyd, commander of the police’s northern district, said: “This has been an incredibly difficult and emotional day for our community, and we are grateful for the cooperation shown as officers continue their work to advance the investigation.”
Floyd told reporters the shooter was the same suspect police described as “female” in a prior emergency alert to community members, but declined to provide any details on the suspect’s identity.
The police said officers were searching other homes and properties in the community to see if there were additional sites connected to the incident.
Tumbler Ridge, a quiet town with roughly 2,400 residents, is more than 1,100 kilometers (680 miles) north of Vancouver, British Columbia’s largest city.
“There are no words sufficient for the heartbreak our community is experiencing tonight,” the municipality said.
