Russia Demands Ukraine Hand over Head of Security Service, Others

Members of the Russian Emergencies Ministry and workers remove debris inside the burnt-out Crocus City Hall following a deadly attack on the concert venue outside Moscow, Russia, in this still image taken from video released March 26, 2024. (Russian Emergencies Ministry/Handout via Reuters)
Members of the Russian Emergencies Ministry and workers remove debris inside the burnt-out Crocus City Hall following a deadly attack on the concert venue outside Moscow, Russia, in this still image taken from video released March 26, 2024. (Russian Emergencies Ministry/Handout via Reuters)
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Russia Demands Ukraine Hand over Head of Security Service, Others

Members of the Russian Emergencies Ministry and workers remove debris inside the burnt-out Crocus City Hall following a deadly attack on the concert venue outside Moscow, Russia, in this still image taken from video released March 26, 2024. (Russian Emergencies Ministry/Handout via Reuters)
Members of the Russian Emergencies Ministry and workers remove debris inside the burnt-out Crocus City Hall following a deadly attack on the concert venue outside Moscow, Russia, in this still image taken from video released March 26, 2024. (Russian Emergencies Ministry/Handout via Reuters)

Russia is demanding that Ukraine hand over all people connected with terrorist acts committed in Russia, including the head of the country's SBU Security Service, the foreign ministry said on Sunday.

A ministry statement listed violent incidents that have occurred in Russia since the Kremlin's forces invaded Ukraine in February 2022, including bombings that killed the daughter of a prominent nationalist and a war blogger, and another incident in which a writer was seriously hurt.

It said investigation of these incidents showed that "the traces of these crimes lead to Ukraine."

"Russia has turned over to Ukrainian authorities its demands ... for the immediate arrest and extradition of all those connected to the terrorist acts in question," the statement said.

The ministry statement said those to be handed over included SBU head Vasyl Maliuk, who has acknowledged his service was behind attacks on the bridge linking Crimea to the Russian mainland since the Kremlin's February 2022 invasion of Ukraine. Russia seized control of Crimea in 2014; the bridge was built after the region was annexed.

"The Russian side demands that the Kyiv regime immediately cease all support for terrorist activity, extradite guilty parties and compensate the victims for damages," it said.

"Ukraine's violation of its obligations under anti-terrorist conventions will result in it being held to account in international legal terms."

The statement referred to the mass shooting this month at a concert hall outside Moscow in which 144 people died, but only in an oblique sense.

ISIS claimed responsibility for the attack, and US officials said they had intelligence showing it was carried out by the network's Afghan branch, ISIS Khorasan, or ISIS-K.

Russian investigators said last week they had found proof that the concert hall gunmen were linked to "Ukrainian nationalists". Kyiv denies any connection with the attack.

Russian news agencies on Sunday quoted Alexander Bastrykin, the head of Russia's Investigative Committee, the country's most important criminal investigation body, as saying that work was proceeding to determine who was behind the attack. 



Iran Says it Rejected Direct Negotiations with the US

28 March 2025, Iran, Teheran: Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian (R) attends a rally marking the annual al-Quds Day (Jerusalem Day), that takes place annually on the last Friday of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. Photo: Iranian Presidency/ZUMA Press Wire/dpa
28 March 2025, Iran, Teheran: Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian (R) attends a rally marking the annual al-Quds Day (Jerusalem Day), that takes place annually on the last Friday of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. Photo: Iranian Presidency/ZUMA Press Wire/dpa
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Iran Says it Rejected Direct Negotiations with the US

28 March 2025, Iran, Teheran: Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian (R) attends a rally marking the annual al-Quds Day (Jerusalem Day), that takes place annually on the last Friday of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. Photo: Iranian Presidency/ZUMA Press Wire/dpa
28 March 2025, Iran, Teheran: Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian (R) attends a rally marking the annual al-Quds Day (Jerusalem Day), that takes place annually on the last Friday of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. Photo: Iranian Presidency/ZUMA Press Wire/dpa

Iran’s president said Sunday that Tehran had rejected direct negotiations with the United States in response to a letter from President Donald Trump over its rapidly advancing nuclear program.

The remarks from President Masoud Pezeshkian represented the first official acknowledgment of how Iran responded to Trump’s letter. It also suggests that tensions may further rise between Tehran and Washington.

Pezeshkian said: “Although the possibility of direct negotiations between the two sides has been rejected in this response, it has been emphasized that the path for indirect negotiations remains open.”

It’s unclear, however, whether Trump would accept indirect negotiations. Indirect negotiations for years since Trump initially withdrew America from Tehran’s nuclear deal with world powers in 2018 have been unsuccessful.