Author: Aadarsh Satwant

Russia is unable to honour its arms delivery commitments to India because of the war in Ukraine, the Indian Air Force (IAF) said, placing a potential strain on New Delhi’s relationship with its largest defence supplier as Moscow attempts to ramp up weapons production. An IAF representative told an Indian parliamentary committee that due to the Ukraine war a “major delivery” from Moscow “is not going to take place.” The admission, published in a report by India’s lower house of parliament on Tuesday, is the first official confirmation by Indian authorities amid swirling rumours and reports in local media suggesting…

Lawmakers in the Riksdag voted largely in favour of Sweden joining NATO despite Green and far-left opposition on Wednesday, with Foreign Minister Tobias Billström now saying he expects his country to officially join in July. After a six-hour-long debate, parliament approved Sweden’s NATO future membership with 269 in favour and 37 against – marking the official end to Sweden’s 200 years of non-alignment in foreign policy. For Sweden to officially join, Turkish and Hungarian approval is still needed. “It goes without saying that we will be able to join in Vilnius,” said Billström about the NATO summit on 11-12 July…

ASTANA – The Kazakh government is considering a new Social Code, projecting a 51 percent basic pension growth in four years, reported the ministry’s press service.  Minister of Labor and Social Protection Tamara Duisenova presented a new draft on Feb. 7 to the Senate, an upper chamber of the Kazakh Parliament. The Social Code embraces the new social policy, an essential aspect of the reforms announced by President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev. Duisenova reiterated that the ministry studied the European Union Social Code when developing the draft document but also considered the specifics of Kazakhstan. “Kazakhstan is undertaking measures to support pensioners…

The Netherlands and Denmark will not take part in the so-called “tank alliance” of countries supplying more modern Leopard models to Ukraine, the Welt newspaper reports, citing a response from government circles. As compensation, according to Welt, the mentioned countries expressed their readiness to take part in the repair and preparation of Leopard 1 combat vehicles. Berlin previously announced plans to create a “tank alliance” that could supply Ukraine with two battalions of Leopard 2 tanks, which is about 90 combat vehicles in the German military interpretation and 60 in the Ukrainian one. Later, the government stated that the “battalion” should…

Chennai: External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Saturday highlighted India’s “strong and firm” response to China, which tried to unilaterally change the status quo on the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in May 2020, amid the Covid-19 pandemic, and more recently in the Tawang sector of Arunachal Pradesh in December last year.Speaking at the Tughlaq’s 53rd Annual Day Function, the External Affairs minister said, “On the Northern borders, China is seeking to change the status quo by bringing large forces, violating our agreements. Despite Covid, remember, this happened in May 2020. Our counter-response was strong and firm.”AD He said the…