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Russian University Student Release After Regretting Marriage to ISIS Militant

Russian university student Varvara Karaulova (Asharq Al-Awsat)
Russian university student Varvara Karaulova (Asharq Al-Awsat)
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Russian University Student Release After Regretting Marriage to ISIS Militant

Russian university student Varvara Karaulova (Asharq Al-Awsat)
Russian university student Varvara Karaulova (Asharq Al-Awsat)

A Russian court has granted parole to a Russian university student, who was jailed for attempting to join ISIS terrorist group in Syria.

Varvara Karaulova was studying at Moscow State University and she got married to an ISIS militant. Her story has sparked wide media interest in social, legal, and political circles in Russia and abroad.

Her father, Pavel Karaulov, said “we’re over the moon, but it’s still hard to believe.”

It dates back to 2015, when her father made a plea through social media to stop the abduction of children and trafficking in human beings.

Varvara left home on May 27 heading to the university, and she hasn’t returned yet, he said, describing her as “a good, smart young lady who doesn’t smoke or drink alcohol.”

He then suggested that someone had recruited her to join ISIS.

Early June 2015, Turkish security forces found her and had her arrested while trying to cross the Turkish border into Syria illegally. They deported her to Russia.

Russian security forces first talked to her and advised her not to repeat what she did. They put her under surveillance in addition to her computer, mobile phone, and all means of communications she used.

She was arrested several months later after being accused of trying again to communicate with ISIS militants. She was sentenced to four and a half years imprisonment.

During investigations and security operations, and based on her confessions, it turned out she had decided to flee to Turkey after getting married to an ISIS militant online. She then decided to go to Syria in search of another militant whom she fell in love with on the Internet as well.

In the fall of 2018, she filed a petition seeking amnesty from Russian President Vladimir Putin.

On Tuesday, Vologda District Court, where she was serving her sentence, announced its response to the petition, saying it was no longer necessary to isolate her.

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World

Israel Sets 2026 Defense Budget at $34 Billion Despite Ceasefire in Gaza

FILED - 25 June 2024, Israel, Jerusalem: Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz is pictured during an event in Jerusalem. Photo: Hannes P Albert/dpa
FILED - 25 June 2024, Israel, Jerusalem: Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz is pictured during an event in Jerusalem. Photo: Hannes P Albert/dpa
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Israel Sets 2026 Defense Budget at $34 Billion Despite Ceasefire in Gaza

FILED - 25 June 2024, Israel, Jerusalem: Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz is pictured during an event in Jerusalem. Photo: Hannes P Albert/dpa
FILED - 25 June 2024, Israel, Jerusalem: Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz is pictured during an event in Jerusalem. Photo: Hannes P Albert/dpa

Israel's defense budget for 2026 has been set at 112 billion shekels ($34.63 billion), the defense minister's office said on Friday, up from 90 billion shekels budgeted in an earlier draft.

Defense Minister Israel Katz and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich agreed on the defense spending framework as the cabinet has begun debating next year's budget, which needs to be approved by March or could lead to new elections.

Ministers began what is usually a marathon session on Thursday ahead of a vote that could come early on Friday. If it passes, it heads to parliament for its initial vote.

Katz said the military will continue its to address the needs of its fighters and reduce the burden on reservists.

"We will continue to act decisively to reinforce the IDF and to fully address the needs of the fighters and to reduce the burden on reservists - in order to ensure the security of the State of Israel on every front," his office quoted him as saying.

The Gaza war has been costly for Israel, which spent $31 billion in 2024 on its military conflicts with Hamas and with Hezbollah in Lebanon.

Israel has since entered ceasefire deals with both militant groups.

Smotrich's office said that the 2026 defense budget has seen an increase of 47 billion shekels compared to 2023 on the eve of the war.

"We are allocating a huge budget to strengthen the army this year, but also one that allows us to return the State of Israel to a path of growth and relief for citizens,"
Smotrich said, according to his office.

World

India Rolls Out Red Carpet for Russia's Putin

In this pool photograph distributed by the Russian state agency Sputnik, Russia's President Vladimir Putin and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi look out from a car prior to an informal dinner at Modi's residence. Alexander KAZAKOV / POOL/AFP
In this pool photograph distributed by the Russian state agency Sputnik, Russia's President Vladimir Putin and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi look out from a car prior to an informal dinner at Modi's residence. Alexander KAZAKOV / POOL/AFP
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India Rolls Out Red Carpet for Russia's Putin

In this pool photograph distributed by the Russian state agency Sputnik, Russia's President Vladimir Putin and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi look out from a car prior to an informal dinner at Modi's residence. Alexander KAZAKOV / POOL/AFP
In this pool photograph distributed by the Russian state agency Sputnik, Russia's President Vladimir Putin and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi look out from a car prior to an informal dinner at Modi's residence. Alexander KAZAKOV / POOL/AFP

India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi hosts Russia's President Vladimir Putin at a summit on Friday, with defense and trade ties taking center stage as New Delhi faces heavy US pressure to stop buying Moscow's oil.

Both leaders will also discuss the geopolitical situation in the wake of the Russian invasion of Ukraine and global trade disruptions triggered by tariffs imposed by US President Donald Trump, said AFP.

Big ticket defense sales and co-production ventures, energy purchases, and wider economic engagement are on the agenda, Putin's first visit to India since the Ukraine war.

Modi welcomed Putin at the airport on Thursday with a warm hug on a red carpet, before the two rode together in the same car to a private dinner -- mirroring a lift that Putin gave Modi when they last met in China in September.

"India-Russia friendship is a time-tested one that has greatly benefitted our people," Modi wrote in a post on social media, accompanying a photograph of them grinning together inside the vehicle.

It was a symbolic show of friendship, after US President Donald Trump imposed 50-percent tariffs on most Indian products in August, citing Delhi's continued purchases of Russian oil -- revenue Washington argues helps fund the war in Ukraine.

In an interview with India Today, Putin said he was "very happy" to be meeting "my friend" Modi.

"The range of our cooperation with India is huge," he said in remarks translated by the broadcaster, citing ship and aircraft manufacturing, nuclear energy and space exploration.

"This visit is part of India's diversification strategy, both in terms of strategic and economic, especially at a time when the US tariffs have hurt India," Ashok Malik of business consultancy The Asia Group told AFP.

On Friday, Putin is due to be given an honor guard welcome at the presidential palace in New Delhi, before meeting with Modi.

'Balancing acts'

India is walking a diplomatic tightrope -- relying on strategic Russian oil imports while trying not to provoke Trump during ongoing tariff negotiations.

"Balancing acts are second nature to Indian foreign policy making", wrote Pankaj Saran, a former Indian envoy to Russia, writing in the Times of India.

The leaders will also address business and industry leaders before Putin attends a state banquet hosted by the Indian President Droupadi Murmu.

India, the world's most populous nation, has become a major buyer of Russian oil, saving itself billions of dollars and providing Moscow with a much-needed export market after it was cut off from traditional buyers in Europe because of the war.

Putin also told India Today that Modi is "not someone who gives in to pressure", when asked about the impact of US tariffs.

The Russian share of India's arms imports fell from 76 percent in 2009-13 to 36 percent in 2019-23, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute.

Besides discussions around cutting-edge defense hardware, which includes air defense systems, fighter jets, and nuclear submarines, New Delhi will push for easier access to the wider Russian market.

Bilateral trade reached $68.7 billion in 2024-25 -- almost six times higher than the pre-pandemic levels -- but Indian exports accounted for only $4.88 billion.

The two countries are expected to announce an agreement on easier mobility of Indian workers into Russia.

World

Iran Accused of ‘Digital Apartheid’

03 December 2025, Iran, Teheran: View of the smog-ridden metropolis of Tehran. Photo: Aref Taherkenareh/dpa
03 December 2025, Iran, Teheran: View of the smog-ridden metropolis of Tehran. Photo: Aref Taherkenareh/dpa
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Iran Accused of ‘Digital Apartheid’

03 December 2025, Iran, Teheran: View of the smog-ridden metropolis of Tehran. Photo: Aref Taherkenareh/dpa
03 December 2025, Iran, Teheran: View of the smog-ridden metropolis of Tehran. Photo: Aref Taherkenareh/dpa

Ordinary Iranians face up to 10 years in prison or even execution if they use X to write anything the government deems critical.

But little did they know that government officials and regime supporters have been using the social media site, which is banned inside Iran, Britain’s The Telegraph reported.

This practice has been revealed after Elon Musk’s X rolled out an update that displays each user’s location.

It has exposed government ministers, state media figures, political officials and pro-regime accounts as having accessed the banned platform from within Iran using special white SIM cards.

The new X location feature was designed to spot fake accounts but instead has lifted the curtain on the divide in Iran, one of the world’s most censored countries, according to the newspaper.

Critics of the regime have termed the online divide a form of “digital apartheid”, with only certain groups able to access the internet freely.

Ordinary Iranians are forced to use VPNs, which conceal their true location, to get around the ban. If they are caught posting on X they are reprimanded by Iranian authorities, and if those posts are anti-Iran or pro-Israel, they face execution or prison sentences.

Meanwhile, state and pro-regime accounts use the white SIM cards in their phones to receive unrestricted access to the internet and bypass their own restrictions.

Ahmad Bakhshayesh Ardestani, an Iranian politician who serves on the national security commission, criticized their use.

Ardestani said: “Many people want filtering to exist because they want to sell VPNs and do business.”

He added that the VPN market, used by ordinary Iranians, has high financial turnover and is controlled by “a mafia”.

If users access X through VPNs, the location shows the country where their server is located rather than their actual location.

Other banned platforms in Iran include Facebook, YouTube and Telegram.

“This is obvious discrimination in public rights and against the explicit text of the constitution,” one Iranian citizen told The Telegraph, referring to Iran’s constitutional guarantee of equality among citizens.

“When you yourself use white SIM cards, how can we expect you to understand the pain of filtering? How can we expect you to fight to remove it?” another Iranian said.

Among those whose locations were displayed were communications minister Sattar Hashemi, former foreign minister Javad Zarif, government spokesman Fatemeh Mohajerani and dozens of journalists working for state-aligned media outlets.

Also exposed were political figures, eulogists who praise the Iranian regime at official events, and accounts that had claimed online to be opposition voices, including some monarchist and separatist pages operating from inside Iran with apparent government approval.

Analysts say it is meant to keep parts of the opposition narrative under the control of the clerical establishment.

The exposure proved particularly embarrassing for officials who had publicly opposed privileged internet access.

Mohajerani had claimed she used VPN software like ordinary citizens, saying: “Class-based internet has neither legal basis nor will it ever be on the government’s agenda.”

Mahdi Tabatabaei, communications deputy, said: “Making society white and black is playing on the enemy’s field.”

He added that from President Masoud Pezeshkian’s view, “all 90 million Iranians are white”.

Journalist Yashar Soltani compared the situation to George Orwell’s Animal Farm. He said: “When freedom is rationed it’s no longer freedom – it’s structural discrimination.”