MOSCOW: Russian President Vladimir Putin touched down Wednesday in Tajikistan for a three-day visit dominated by talks with the leaders of a region where Moscow’s historic dominance is under threat.
The Kremlin strongman is set to meet on Thursday with the heads of Central Asia’s five ex-Soviet states where China and Europe have been vying for influence in Russia’s backyard.
Tajik leader Emomali Rakhmon welcomed Putin on arrival in the capital Dushanbe, according to images broadcast on Russian television.
Putin is accompanied by his Defense Minister Andrey Belousov, who visited a Russian military base in the country Wednesday.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitri Peskov told Russian news agencies that Putin is also set to meet Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev on Thursday, following months of frostiness in Moscow-Baku relations.
Russia has attempted to maintain its grip on Central Asia through deals on energy, including gas deliveries and the building of nuclear reactors.
Though Moscow denies the existence of any tensions with China, Beijing has seen its presence in the region wax, while the European Union has made overtures to Central Asia’s leaders.
This year has seen two regional summits, with the EU in April followed by one with China in June, after a similar meeting with Turkiye in 2024.
Putin lands in Tajikistan to shore up Russia’s regional influence
https://arab.news/43hz2
Putin lands in Tajikistan to shore up Russia’s regional influence
- Putin will meet on Thursday with the heads of Central Asia’s five ex-Soviet states
- He is accompanied by the Russian Defense Minister Andrey Belousov
First urban cable car unveiled outside Paris
- The cable car will carry some 11,000 passengers per day in its 105 gondolas
- The 138-million-euro project was cheaper to build than a subway, officials said
PARIS: Gondolas floated above a cityscape in the southeastern suburbs of Paris Saturday as the first urban cable car in the French capital’s region was unveiled.
Officials inaugurated the C1 line in the suburb of Limeil-Brevannes in the presence of Valerie Pecresse, the head of the Ile-de-France region, and the mayors of the towns served by the cable car.
The 4.5-kilometer route connects Creteil to Villeneuve-Saint-Georges and passes through Limeil-Brevannes and Valenton.
The cable car will carry some 11,000 passengers per day in its 105 gondolas, each able to accommodate ten seated passengers.
The total journey will take 18 minutes, including stops along the way, compared to around 40 minutes by bus or car, connecting the isolated neighborhoods to the Paris metro’s line 8.
The 138-million-euro project was cheaper to build than a subway, officials said.
“An underground metro would never have seen the light of day because the budget of more than billion euros could never have been financed,” said Gregoire de Lasteyrie, vice president of the Ile-de-France regional council in charge of transport.
It is France’s seventh urban cable car, with aerial tramways already operating in cities including Brest, Saint-Denis de La Reunion and Toulouse.
Historically used to cross rugged mountain terrain, such systems are increasingly being used to link up isolated neighborhoods.
France’s first urban cable car was built in Grenoble, nestled at the foot of the Alps, in 1934. The iconic “bubbles” have become one of the symbols of the southeastern city.
