Although Russia has been a member of the convention since 1997, civil rights activists have always complained that torture and degrading treatment are widespread in Russian police stations and detention centers. Formally, the convention allowed international monitors access to Russian prisons, but this effectively stopped following Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
But summits and sweatshirts won't make Russia a superpower. Only a credible show of strength can do that. The war in Ukraine was meant to supply this, but it has instead become a slow-motion demonstration of Russia's decline-less a catalyst of national revival than a case study in national self-harm. Moscow has devoted considerable resources, manpower, and political will to its invasion of the country next door.
A new chapter began for Burkina Faso on September 30, 2022, when a group of military officers led by Captain Ibrahim Traore staged a coup. His predecessor, Paul-Henri Sandaogo Damiba, had only months earlier ousted the last democratically elected president, Roch Marc Christian Kabore, and declared himself head of state. Traore justified his own takeover by citing the worsening threat of terrorism. He promised to defeat the extremists within six months and hold democratic elections within a year.
A British toddler has been kidnapped from Marbella, Spain and there is growing fears he has been "taken to Russia." The boy has only been named as Oliver P, he disappeared on 4 July and was kidnapped by his Russian mother on the Costa del Sol. Spain's National Police confirmed the boy was kidnapped and that he is British and was staying at a holiday resort, a spokesperson said a police report was filed that claims the mother took the boy.
With one peculiar and complex thing - the supreme leader of the world's greatest superpower is, objectively, a Soviet or Russian asset. He functions as an asset,
Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong-un are among the world leaders who will attend a military parade with President Xi Jinping in Beijing next week, in a show of collective defiance amid western pressure. No western leaders will be among the 26 foreign heads of state and government attending the parade next week with the exception of Robert Fico, prime minister of Slovakia, a member of the European Union according to the Chinese foreign ministry.
Finnish president Alexander Stubb has been speaking at a press conference before the country's ambassadors' conference in Helsinki. In comments reported by the Finnish public broadcaster, Yle, he said that he hoped Trump's patience with Putin would run out soon. He insisted that Finland and other European countries will do everything we can do achieve lasting peace. He also hinted that the only way to force Putin to end the invasion of Ukraine would be by hitting his allies,
For many residents of central Asian countries, Russia remains the only realistic option to earn a living abroad, given a lack of opportunities back home. A shared language, familiar bureaucracy and established migration networks made this a natural transition following the collapse of the Soviet Union. But is Russia still the safe haven for central Asian migrant workers it once was? Increasingly, the answer seems to be no.