Ukraine war latest: Russia vows retaliation over EU blocking state media on Telegram

Slovakia has rejected Ukraine president Volodymyr Zelensky’s accusation that prime minister Robert Fico had opened a “second energy front” against Kyiv on the orders of Russia as a gas transit dispute deepened between the countries.

Foreign minister Juraj Blanar said on Sunday Slovakia was closely monitoring communications from Ukraine regarding Mr Fico’s statements and said Mr Zelensky’s suggestion of an alliance with Russian president Vladimir Putin was “fabricated”.

“We fully understand that they are exposed to a long-term war conflict, but that is why they should not create new enemies and fabricate a formation of a second front because member states of the European Union, including Slovakia, support Ukraine and its people,” Mr Blanar said in a Facebook post.

Ukraine pumps Russian natural gas through its territory to several European countries including Slovakia but it is expected to halt the flow when the existing transit deal – signed before Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine – expires at the end of the year.

Mr Fico, who visited Mr Putin in Moscow a week ago, said on Friday Slovakia would consider reciprocal measures against Ukraine such as halting electricity supplies if Kyiv stops the gas transit from 1 January – spurring Mr Zelensky’s accusation that Slovakia was opening up a second energy front.

The Slovak prime minister also posted on Facebook yesterday, calling on the European Commission to pay close attention to the matter and repeating his claims that the loss of gas transit across Ukraine would hit European consumers and businesses.

“We are coming to a conclusion that must be unacceptable for the European Union and its goals,” Mr Fico wrote in an open letter. “Unilateral stoppage of transit through Ukraine towards Slovakia will cost European citizens, businesses and infrastructure tens of billions.”

Aleksei Bugayev, a former member of Russia’s national soccer team who played at Euro 2004, has been killed in the 34-month-old war in Ukraine, Russian media quoted his father and agent as saying yesterday.

“Unfortunately, the news about Aleksei’s death is true. It happened today,” Tass news agency quoted the player’s father Ivan Bugayev as telling the Sport24 news outlet.

RIA news agency quoted Bugayev’s agent, Anton Smirnov, as saying intense fighting had made it impossible to retrieve Bugayev’s body for burial.

Bugayev, dead at age 43, played two matches for the Russian national team in the 2004 European championship and also played for Moscow sides Torpedo and Lokomotiv as well as other provincial sides. He ended his career in 2010 at the age of 29.

In September, Bugayev was sentenced by a court in southern Russia to nine and a half years in prison on drug trafficking charges.

He later declared his intention to sign up to fight in the Ukraine war. Russian authorities actively recruit in prisons for the conflict.

Russia has accused the European Union of censorship after its state media channels were reportedly blocked on Telegram across several EU countries.

Yesterday, channels belonging to the Ria Novosti news agency, Rossiya 1, Pervyi Kanal, NTV television, and newspapers Izvestia and Rossiyskaya Gazeta became inaccessible in nations including France, Belgium, Poland, Greece, the Netherlands, and Italy, according to reports.

Neither Telegram nor EU officials have commented on the alleged disruptions, leaving the cause unclear.

Russia criticised the move, describing it as an “act of censorship. “The systematic cleansing of all undesirable sources of information from the information space continues,” said foreign ministry spokesperson, Maria Zakharova.

The EU has previously banned the distribution of Russian state media within its borders, accusing outlets like Ria Novosti, Izvestia, and Rossiyskaya Gazeta of spreading propaganda.

Moscow has vowed to respond to what it sees as an escalating act of suppression against its state-owned media platforms.

Azerbaijan was “in favor of a group of international experts” investigating the crash, president Ilham Aliyev said.Baku had “categorically refused” Russia’s suggestion that the Interstate Aviation Committee, which oversees civil aviation in the Commonwealth of Independent States, investigate it.

“It is no secret that this organisation consists mostly of Russian officials and is headed by Russian citizens. The factors of objectivity could not be fully ensured here,” Mr Aliyev said.

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told Russian state media yesterday that Vladimir Putin had spoken to Mr Aliyev over the phone again but did not provide details of the conversation.

The Kremlin said a joint investigation by Russia, Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan was underway at the crash site near the city of Aktau in Kazakhstan.

The plane was flying from Azerbaijan’s capital, Baku, to Grozny when it turned towards Kazakhstan, hundreds of kilometers across the Caspian Sea from its intended destination, and crashed while making an attempt to land.

Passengers and crew who survived the crash told Azerbaijani media they heard loud noises on the aircraft as it was circling over Grozny.

Azerbaijan’s president Ilham Aliyev said Azerbaijan made three demands to Russia in connection with the crash that killed 38.

“First, the Russian side must apologise to Azerbaijan. Second, it must admit its guilt. Third, punish the guilty, bring them to criminal responsibility and pay compensation to the Azerbaijani state, the injured passengers and crew members,” he said.

Mr Aliyev noted that the first demand was “already fulfilled” when Russian president Vladimir Putin apologised to him on Saturday. Mr Putin called the crash a “tragic incident” though stopped short of acknowledging Moscow’s responsibility.

He said that an investigation into the crash was ongoing, and that “the final version (of events) will be known after the black boxes are opened.”

Azerbaijan’s president Ilham Aliyev said yesterday that the Azerbaijani airliner that crashed last week was shot down by Russia, albeit unintentionally, and criticised Moscow for trying to “hush up” the issue for days.

“We can say with complete clarity that the plane was shot down by Russia. (…) We are not saying that it was done intentionally, but it was done,” he told Azerbaijani state television.

Mr Aliyev said that the airliner, which crashed Wednesday in Kazakhstan, was hit by fire from the ground over Russia and “rendered uncontrollable by electronic warfare.”

Mr Aliyev accused Russia of trying to “hush up” the issue for several days, saying he was “upset and surprised” by versions of events put forward by Russian officials.“Unfortunately, for the first three days we heard nothing from Russia except delirious versions,” he said.

The crash killed 38 of 67 people on board. The Kremlin said that air defense systems were firing near Grozny, the regional capital of the Russian republic of Chechnya, where the plane attempted to land, to deflect a Ukrainian drone strike.

Azerbaijan’s president has said the Azerbaijani airliner that crashed in Kazakhstan last week was shot down by Russia, albeit unintentionally.

“We can say with complete clarity that the plane was shot down by Russia. We are not saying that it was done intentionally, but it was done,” Ilham Aliyev told Azerbaijani state television.

Mr Aliyev said the aircraft was hit by fire from the ground over Russia and rendered uncontrollable by electronic warfare.

He accused Russia of trying to “hush up” the issue for several days, saying he was “upset and surprised” by versions of events put forward by Russian officials.

“Unfortunately, for the first three days we heard nothing from Russia except delirious versions,” he said.

The crash near Aktau airport on Wednesday December 25 killed 38 of the 67 people on board.

Russian energy giant Gazprom said it would suspend gas exports to Moldova from 1 January due to unpaid debt by Moldova, which is bracing for severe power cuts.

It said the company reserved the right to take any action, including terminating the supply contract with Moldova.

Russia supplies Moldova with about 2 billion cubic metres of gas per year, which is piped via Ukraine to the breakaway region of Transdniestria where it is used to generate cheap power that is sold to government-controlled parts of Moldova.

Moldovan Prime Minister Dorin Recean condemned the Russian decision, which is a precursor to a total shutdown of Russian gas exports via Ukraine and to Europe, where it flows further to Slovakia, Austria, Hungary and Italy, once a current transit deal with Ukraine expires on 31 December.

Moldova will be hit the hardest by the shutdown.

“This decision confirms once again the intention of the Kremlin to leave the inhabitants of the Transdniestrian region without light and heat in the middle of the winter,” Recean wrote on Facebook, accusing Russia of using energy as a political weapon.

Moscow has repeatedly dismissed those allegations.