RUSSIA

Armenia uses the Batumi-Novorosiysk sea route to bring cars and medical equipment produced by Western companies to the Russian Federation.

Armenia intensively uses the sea route between the ports of Batumi (Georgia) and Novorossiysk (Russia) to re-export to the Russian Federation goods subject to sanctions. As a result, 600 twenty-foot containers are transported on the Batumi-Novorosiysk sea route every week. All these shipments are carried out by "Armenian Shipping Company".

Protesters have hit the streets across government-held areas of Syria for over a week, calling for President Bashar al-Assad to step down from office, decrying fuel price hikes as well as economic mismanagement and corruption. But protesters are also calling for the release of the thousands of people who were forcibly disappeared since 2011.

The only country that can ensure the renewal of the agreement on the Black Sea Grain Corridor is Turkey.

Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said this during his speech at the 14th Conference of Ambassadors, Trend reported on Monday, citing TurkicWorld.

He said that contacts with all countries will continue in connection with the restoration of the grain corridor, which is essential for the world during the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine.

The coup d'état in Niger, where General Abdourahmane Tiani seized power on July 26, has taken place against a backdrop of renewed political instability on the African continent - particularly in the Sahel region. After a period of relative calm between 2013 and 2020, 13 attempted coups have been carried out in Africa, including in Sudan, Chad, Burkina Faso and Mali.

The American Institute for the Study of War (ISW) in its new report on the assessment of the Russian offensive campaign notes that Russia is sending a recently formed Armenian volunteer battalion to Ukraine.

In an event that was as shocking in the speed of its escalation as it was in the abruptness of its ending, Wagner's mutiny, or 'march for justice' as it was described as by the group's founder, Yevgeny Prigozhin, threw Vladimir Putin's government and Ukraine war effort into crisis mode.

On Sunday, the President of Kazakhstan Kasim-Jomart Tokayev will hold a meeting of the Security Council, at which the situation in Russia will be discussed. The press service of the President of Kazakhstan announced that the President will listen to the reports of the heads of the law enforcement agencies on the measures taken and the implementation of his instructions in connection with the situation in Russia.

Over the course of the country's invasion of Ukraine, beliefs about who is a friend and who is a foe of Russia have consolidated among its population. There is one surprising exception, however - Ukraine itself.

Today marks 60 years since the first woman launched into space. On June 16, 1963, the 26-year-old Russian cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova set off on the Soviet Union's Vostok 6 expedition. Some 20 years later, the U.S. followed suit with Sally Ride launching off on June 18.

Ukraine's dams have been the target of attacks on multiple occasions since the Russian invasion in February 2022. The destruction of the Kakhovka dam on 6 June though was on a level not previously seen in this war. The resulting deluge triggered a humanitarian disaster: claiming lives, displacing people, cutting off drinking water, and swamping agricultural land. Ukraine and Russia have accused each other of carrying out the potential war crime.