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Putin Visits Tajikistan for Meetings with Other Ex-Soviet Leaders

Russian President Vladimir Putin speaks to the leadership of the Russian Ministry of Defense and the General Staff, commanders of troop groups in the special military operation zone in the Peter and Paul Fortress in St. Petersburg, Russia, Tuesday, Oct. 7, 2025. (Mikhail Metzel, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)
Russian President Vladimir Putin speaks to the leadership of the Russian Ministry of Defense and the General Staff, commanders of troop groups in the special military operation zone in the Peter and Paul Fortress in St. Petersburg, Russia, Tuesday, Oct. 7, 2025. (Mikhail Metzel, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)
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Putin Visits Tajikistan for Meetings with Other Ex-Soviet Leaders

Russian President Vladimir Putin speaks to the leadership of the Russian Ministry of Defense and the General Staff, commanders of troop groups in the special military operation zone in the Peter and Paul Fortress in St. Petersburg, Russia, Tuesday, Oct. 7, 2025. (Mikhail Metzel, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)
Russian President Vladimir Putin speaks to the leadership of the Russian Ministry of Defense and the General Staff, commanders of troop groups in the special military operation zone in the Peter and Paul Fortress in St. Petersburg, Russia, Tuesday, Oct. 7, 2025. (Mikhail Metzel, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)

Russian President Vladimir Putin began a state visit Wednesday to Tajikistan, a three-day trip that includes a series of meetings with leaders of other nations that once were part of the Soviet Union.

Trade and other ties with Tajikistan and other countries in Central Asia are increasingly important for Russia amid sweeping Western sanctions over its military action in Ukraine.

Putin is set to have talks with Tajikistan’s President Emomali Rakhmon, followed by a Russia-Central Asia summit involving leaders of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. On Friday, they will be joined by leaders of Armenia, Azerbaijan and Belarus for a broader meeting of the Commonwealth of Independent States, a loose alliance of other former Soviet nations.

Rakhmon, in power for nearly 33 years, is the longest-serving of all ex-Soviet leaders. The 73-year-old former collective farm head came to power in 1992 following a devastating civil war that engulfed the country after the demise of the USSR. He crushed or cowed all opposition to his rule soon after coming to power, and he later pushed constitutional changes that allow him to rule for life.

Putin turned 73 on Tuesday, but has only been in power in Russia for a quarter century.

Russia has maintained a military base in Tajikistan, which shares a porous 1,300-kilometer (810-mile) border with Afghanistan.

Tajikistan is a member of the International Criminal Court that in 2023 issued a warrant for Putin for alleged war crimes stemming from Moscow’s actions in Ukraine, but he faces no risk of arrest in the country that relies on close political, economic and military ties with Russia. The ICC has no police force and relies on members to assist in arrests.

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World

Iran Holds Massive Drills in Gulf

A handout photo made available on 05 December 2025 by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) shows a missile being launched during a military drill in the waters off southern Iran coast. EPA/IRGC HANDOUT
A handout photo made available on 05 December 2025 by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) shows a missile being launched during a military drill in the waters off southern Iran coast. EPA/IRGC HANDOUT
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Iran Holds Massive Drills in Gulf

A handout photo made available on 05 December 2025 by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) shows a missile being launched during a military drill in the waters off southern Iran coast. EPA/IRGC HANDOUT
A handout photo made available on 05 December 2025 by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) shows a missile being launched during a military drill in the waters off southern Iran coast. EPA/IRGC HANDOUT

Iran launched massive missiles in the Sea of Oman and near the strategic Strait of Hormuz during the second day of a naval drill, state TV reported Friday.

The report said the Revolutionary Guard launched the missiles from the depth of Iran's mainland, hitting targets in the Oman Sea and neighboring area near Strait of Hormuz in a drill that began on Thursday.

It identified the missiles as cruise Qadr-110, Qadr-380 and Ghadir that have a range of up to 2,000 kilometers. It said the Guard also launched a ballistic missile identified as 303, without elaborating.

The drill is the second one following the Israel-Iran war in June that killed nearly 1,100 people in Iran, including military commanders and nuclear scientists. Missile attacks by Iran killed 28 in Israel.

Earlier, Iran hosted an anti-terrorism drill in its northwestern province of East Azerbaijan with members of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, which, according to state Press TV, was intended to signal both “peace and friendship” to neighboring states and warn enemies that “any miscalculation would meet a decisive response.”

The SCO, a Eurasian security and economic bloc founded in 2001 to combat terrorism, separatism and extremism, often conducts joint military exercises among its members.

The organization includes China, Russia, India, Pakistan, and several Central Asian countries, with observer and dialogue partners such as Iran, Saudi Arabia and others participating in selected operations.

World

Taiwan Says China Deploys Warships in ‘Military Operations’

A Chinese PLA navy ship monitors an area during a maritime cooperative activity between the Philippines, Australia and Canadian navy near Scarborough Shoal in the disputed South China Sea on Sep 3, 2025. (AFP)
A Chinese PLA navy ship monitors an area during a maritime cooperative activity between the Philippines, Australia and Canadian navy near Scarborough Shoal in the disputed South China Sea on Sep 3, 2025. (AFP)
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Taiwan Says China Deploys Warships in ‘Military Operations’

A Chinese PLA navy ship monitors an area during a maritime cooperative activity between the Philippines, Australia and Canadian navy near Scarborough Shoal in the disputed South China Sea on Sep 3, 2025. (AFP)
A Chinese PLA navy ship monitors an area during a maritime cooperative activity between the Philippines, Australia and Canadian navy near Scarborough Shoal in the disputed South China Sea on Sep 3, 2025. (AFP)

Taiwan said Friday that China had deployed warships for “military operations” stretching hundreds of kilometers from the Yellow Sea to the South China Sea, posing a “threat” to the region.

Beijing, which claims self-ruled Taiwan as part of its territory, neither confirmed nor denied the maneuvers.

Taiwan’s defense ministry and other security agencies were monitoring China’s activities and had a “complete grasp of the situation,” presidential office spokeswoman Karen Kuo told reporters.

She did not say how many Chinese ships were involved in the deployment, but a security source told AFP the number was “significant.” The source spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.

The operations were not limited to the Taiwan Strait, but extended from the southern Yellow Sea, to the East China Sea near the disputed Diaoyu Islands and on into the South China Sea and even the Western Pacific, Kuo said.

“This indeed poses a threat and impact on the Indo-Pacific and the entire region,” she said.

Taiwan urged China to “exercise restraint,” Kuo said, adding: “We are also confident that we can handle this matter well.”

Neither China’s armed forces nor state media have announced any increased military activity in the region where Taiwan said Chinese ships had been detected.

Beijing’s defense ministry spokesman Jiang Bin said Friday that the navy’s training on the high seas complies with international law and “is not directed at any specific country or target.”

He was responding to a question about a Chinese naval flotilla that reportedly may be heading toward Australia.

A spokesman for China’s foreign ministry said Beijing “has consistently followed a defensive policy” and urged “relevant parties” not to “overreact or... engage in groundless hype.”

China has refused to rule out using force to take Taiwan, and also contentiously claims sovereignty over nearly all of the South China Sea.

Taiwan’s intelligence chief Tsai Ming-yen said Wednesday that October to December was the “peak season” for China’s “annual evaluation exercises.”

There was a possibility that China’s ruling Communist Party could turn seemingly routine military activities into drills targeting Taiwan, Tsai warned.

Last December, Taiwan said about 90 Chinese warships and coast guard vessels took part in vast exercises including simulating attacks on foreign ships and practicing blockading sea routes in Beijing’s biggest maritime drills in years.

Beijing did not confirm the drills at that time.

The United States has historically been Taiwan’s main security backer.

But President Donald Trump’s administration signaled a potential shift in that policy on Friday, saying in a strategy document that its Asian allies Japan and South Korea should take on more of the burden of defending the region.

World

France Investigates Reports of Drones Over Nuclear Sub Base

A picture taken on December 5, 2016 shows a nuclear submarine at the naval base in Ile Longue, western of France. (AFP)
A picture taken on December 5, 2016 shows a nuclear submarine at the naval base in Ile Longue, western of France. (AFP)
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France Investigates Reports of Drones Over Nuclear Sub Base

A picture taken on December 5, 2016 shows a nuclear submarine at the naval base in Ile Longue, western of France. (AFP)
A picture taken on December 5, 2016 shows a nuclear submarine at the naval base in Ile Longue, western of France. (AFP)

French prosecutors are investigating after drones were suspected to have flown over a nuclear submarine base on the Atlantic coast late on Thursday, a prosecutor in charge of military affairs in the city of Rennes said on Friday.

Jean-Marie Blin said overflights had been reported from around 7 p.m. (1800 GMT) on Thursday until 1 a.m. (midnight GMT) on Friday morning, with the bulk of the sightings occurring during the first couple of hours.

He denied press reports that gendarmes had fired at the suspected drones, but said they had taken "precautionary measures".

Drone flights, mostly of unknown origin, have been disrupting Europe's airspace in the past few months. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has called the incursions "hybrid warfare". Russia regularly denies accusations that it is responsible.

The Ile Longue base in northwest France houses nuclear-powered submarines, according to the navy's website. Each is equipped with 16 ballistic missiles carrying several nuclear warheads.

Blin said the investigation was for now focused on verifying whether there really had been drones in the sky. "Some of the reports may be completely fanciful, others are much more serious."

He said the reports had come from different people on site, including gendarmes and military officers.