Putin Directs Drills of Russian Nuclear Forces as His Summit with Trump is Put on Hold

(FILES) US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin meet during a US-Russia summit on Ukraine at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Anchorage, Alaska, on August 15, 2025. (Photo by ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS / AFP)

Asharq Al Awsat

06:06-23 October 2025 AD ـ 01 Jumada Al-Ula 1447 AH

Asharq Al Awsat

06:06-23 October 2025 AD ـ 01 Jumada Al-Ula 1447 AH

Putin Directs Drills of Russian Nuclear Forces as His Summit with Trump is Put on Hold

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday directed drills of the country’s strategic nuclear forces that featured practice missile launches, an exercise that came as his planned summit on Ukraine with US President Donald Trump was put on hold.
The Kremlin said that as part of the maneuvers involving all parts of Moscow's nuclear triad, a Yars intercontinental ballistic missile was test-fired from the Plesetsk launch facility in northwestern Russia, and a Sineva ICBM was launched by a submarine in the Barents Sea. The drills also involved Tu-95 strategic bombers firing long-range cruise missiles, The Associated Press said.
The exercise tested the skills of military command structures, the Kremlin said in a statement.
The chief of the military's General Staff, Gen. Valery Gerasimov, reported to Putin via video link that the drills were intended to "practice procedures for authorizing the use of nuclear weapons.”
Putin, sitting alone at a round white table, faced big screens showing Gerasimov and Defense Minister Andrei Belousov. All three men would be involved in launching nuclear weapons in case of conflict.
While Putin emphasized that the maneuvers had been planned in advance, they came hours after President Donald Trump said Tuesday his plan for a swift meeting with Putin in Budapest was on hold because he didn’t want it to be a “waste of time.”
The decision about the meeting in Budapest, Hungary, which Trump had announced last week, was made following a call Monday between US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.
Lavrov made clear in comments Tuesday that Russia is opposed to an immediate ceasefire in Ukraine. Trump, meanwhile, has been shifting his stance all year on key issues in the conflict, including whether a ceasefire should come before longer-term peace talks, and whether Ukraine could win back land seized by Russia during almost four years of fighting.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov on Wednesday emphasized that the planned Putin-Trump summit needs to be thoroughly prepared.
“No one wants to waste time: neither President Trump nor President Putin," Peskov told reporters. "These are the two presidents who are accustomed to working efficiently with high productivity. But effectiveness always requires preparation.”

Türkiye: Ocalan Announces ‘Integration Phase’

Members of the Kurdish community take part in a protest calling for the release of convicted Kurdistan Worker's Party (PKK) leader Abdullah Ocalan in Diyarbakir on February 15, 2026. (Photo by Ilyas AKENGIN / AFP)

Ankara: Saeed Abdulrazek

06:21-18 February 2026 AD ـ 01 Ramadan 1447 AH

Ankara: Saeed Abdulrazek

06:21-18 February 2026 AD ـ 01 Ramadan 1447 AH

Türkiye: Ocalan Announces ‘Integration Phase’

The jailed leader of the Kurdistan Workers Party, Abdullah Ocalan, has said that the Ankara-PKK peace process has entered its “second phase,” as the Turkish parliament sets the stage to vote on a draft report proposing legal reforms tied to peace efforts.

A delegation from the pro-Kurdish Peoples' Equality and Democracy Party (DEM Party), including lawmakers Pervin Buldan, Mithat Sancar, and Ocalan’s lawyer Ozgur Faik, met with the jailed PKK leader on Monday on the secluded Imrali island.

Sancar said that the second phase will be focused on democratic integration into
Türkiye’s political system.

According to the lawmaker, the PKK leader considered the first phase the “negative dimension” concerned with ending the decades-old conflict between the armed group and Ankara.

“Now we are facing the positive phase,” Ocalan said, “the integration phase is the positive phase; it is the phase of construction.”

For the second phase to be implemented, Ocalan called on Turkish authorities to provide conditions that would allow him to put his “theoretical and practical capacity” to work.

The 60-page draft report on peace with the PKK was completed by a five-member writing team, which is chaired by Parliament Speaker Numan Kurtulmuş, and is scheduled for a vote on Wednesday.

The report is organized into seven sections.

In July last year, Ocalan said the group's armed struggle against Türkiye has ended and called for a full shift to democratic politics.

World

Iranians Chant Slogans Against Supreme Leader at Memorials for Slain Protesters

An Iranian man holds the Iranian national flag during a memorial ceremony for those killed in anti-government protests earlier last month, at the Mosalla mosque in Tehran, Iran, 17 February 2026. (EPA)

18:39-17 February 2026 AD ـ 29 Sha’ban 1447 AH

Iranians Chant Slogans Against Supreme Leader at Memorials for Slain Protesters

Iranians shouted slogans against Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei on Tuesday as they gathered to commemorate protesters killed in a crackdown on nationwide demonstrations that rights groups said left thousands dead, according to videos verified by AFP.

The country's clerical authorities also staged a commemoration in the capital Tehran to mark the 40th day since the deaths at the peak of the protests on January 8 and 9.

Officials acknowledge more than 3,000 people died during the unrest, but attribute the violence to "terrorist acts", while rights groups say many more thousands of people were killed, shot dead by security forces in a violent crackdown.

The protests, sparked by anger over the rising cost of living before exploding in size and anti-government fervor, subsided after the crackdown, but in recent days Iranians have chanted slogans from the relative safety of homes and rooftops at night.

On Tuesday, videos verified by AFP showed crowds gathering at memorials for some of those killed again shouting slogans against the theocratic government in place since the 1979 revolution.

In videos geolocated by AFP shared on social media, a crowd in Abadan in western Iran holds up flowers and commemorative photos of a young man as they shout "death to Khamenei" and "long live the shah", in support of the ousted monarchy.

Another video from the same city shows people running in panic from the sounds of shots, though it wasn't immediately clear if they were from live fire.

In the northeastern city of Mashhad a crowd in the street chanted, "One person killed, thousands have his back", another verified video showed.

Gatherings also took place in other parts of the country, according to videos shared by rights groups.

- Official commemorations -

At the government-organized memorial in Tehran crowds carried Iranian flags and portraits of those killed as nationalist songs played and chants of "Death to America" and "Death to Israel" echoed through the Khomeini Grand Mosalla mosque.

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian attended a similar event at the Imam Reza shrine in Mashhad.

Authorities have accused sworn enemies the United States and Israel of fueling "foreign-instigated riots", saying they hijacked peaceful protests with killings and vandalism.

Senior officials, including First Vice President Mohammad Reza Aref and Revolutionary Guards commander Esmail Qaani, attended the ceremony.

"Those who supported rioters and terrorists are criminals and will face the consequences," Qaani said, according to Tasnim news agency.

International organizations have said evidence shows Iranian security forces targeted protesters with live fire under the cover of an internet blackout.

The US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA) has recorded more than 7,000 killings in the crackdown, the vast majority protesters, though rights groups warn the toll is likely far higher.

More than 53,500 people have been arrested in the ongoing crackdown, HRANA added, with rights groups warning protesters could face execution.

Tuesday's gatherings coincided with a second round of nuclear negotiations between Iran and the United States in Geneva, amid heightened tensions after Washington deployed an aircraft carrier group to the Middle East following Iran's crackdown on the protests.

World

Independent UN Body Condemns ‘Vicious Attacks’ on UN Expert on Palestinian Rights

United Nations (UN) Special Rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territories Francesca Albanese looks on at the end of a press conference on the human rights situation in Gaza in Geneva on September 15, 2025. (AFP)

17:57-17 February 2026 AD ـ 29 Sha’ban 1447 AH

Independent UN Body Condemns ‘Vicious Attacks’ on UN Expert on Palestinian Rights

An ‌independent United Nations body on Tuesday condemned what it described as vicious attacks based on disinformation by several European ministers against the organization's special rapporteur for Palestine, Francesca Albanese.

In the past week several European countries, including Germany, France and Italy, called for Albanese’s resignation over her alleged criticism of Israel. Albanese, an Italian lawyer, denies making the remarks.

On Friday, the Czech Republic's Foreign Minister Petr Macinka quoted Albanese on X as having called Israel a "common enemy of humanity", and he ‌also called for ‌her resignation.

A transcript of Albanese's remarks ‌made ⁠in Doha on ⁠February 7 seen by Reuters did not characterize Israel in this way, although she has consistently criticized the country in the past over the Gaza conflict.

The UN Coordination Committee - a body of six independent experts which coordinates and facilitates the work of Special Rapporteurs - accused European ministers of relying on "manufactured ⁠facts".

"Instead of demanding Ms. Albanese's resignation ‌for performing her mandate...these government representatives ‌should join forces to hold accountable, including before the International Criminal Court, ‌leaders and officials accused of committing war crimes and ‌crimes against humanity in Gaza," the Committee said.

It said the pressure exerted on Albanese was part of an increasing trend of politically motivated and malicious attacks against independent human rights experts, UN officials ‌and judges of international courts.

US President Donald Trump's administration imposed sanctions on Albanese after she wrote ⁠letters ⁠to US companies accusing them of contributing to gross human rights violations by Israel in Gaza and the West Bank.

UN experts are commissioned by the Geneva-based Human Rights Council to monitor and document specific human rights crises but are independent of the organization itself.

There is no precedent for removing a special rapporteur during their term, although diplomats said that states on the 47-member council could in theory propose a motion to do so.

However, they said strong support for Palestinian rights within the body means that such a motion was unlikely to pass.

Putin Directs Drills of Russian Nuclear Forces as His Summit with Trump is Put on Hold

Putin Directs Drills of Russian Nuclear Forces as His Summit with Trump is Put on Hold

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Türkiye: Ocalan Announces ‘Integration Phase’

Türkiye: Ocalan Announces ‘Integration Phase’

Iranians Chant Slogans Against Supreme Leader at Memorials for Slain Protesters

Iranians Chant Slogans Against Supreme Leader at Memorials for Slain Protesters

Independent UN Body Condemns ‘Vicious Attacks’ on UN Expert on Palestinian Rights

Independent UN Body Condemns ‘Vicious Attacks’ on UN Expert on Palestinian Rights

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