The Cardinal Apostolic Vicar of Ulan Bator shared the experience of his small Church, which “whispers the Gospel” into the hearts of the other peoples of the steppe. The Centre for the Study of Mongolian Culture has opened in the cathedral. “Pope Francis’s visit fostered a sense of goodwill from which we continue to benefit.”
From Piazza Madonna dei Monti to the streets of the city, young Ukrainians bring to the Jubilee the wounded and tenacious heart of their country, as well as flags, songs, meetings, and the word “Volya”: freedom and the will to resist. A 20-year-old man told AsiaNews that he came “to rest spiritually." For the Brand Ukraine NGO, “We are fighting for a European future.”
The Attorney General's Office has secured the banning of an “international movement” which, in reality, local authorities have used to lump together everyone from environmentalists to Pokemon fans, all accused of being part of “conspiracies organised to weaken patriotic spirit among young people”. Anthropologist Arkhipova: it is a new “millenarian ideology”, according to which only “true Russians” will be saved.
Grozny is expanding its network of Muslim educational institutions by increasing the number of Islamic schools and inviting well-known teachers from around the world. Even Grand Mufti Salakh Mezhiev, who is very close to Ramzan Kadyrov, often meets with students and gives lecture series. However, according to many observers and activists from the Chechen diaspora, what is being taught is an increasingly rigid form of Sufism.
A new decree signed by the president lists the various forms of use in Russia of words adopted from other languages that the authorities must minimise in the official spoken language. But since its origins, Russian has seen a continuous mixing of terms from European and Asian languages. Starting with the word Rus' itself.
Kiev has ordered the pro-Russian UOC to sever all ties with the Moscow Patriarchate by 18 August. It currently has around 10,000 parishes, a number now equivalent to that of the autocephalous Orthodox Church. Defending Metropolitan Onufryj - who has always maintained a balance between rejecting war and maintaining ties with the Russian Church - is Larisa Brodetskaja, a veteran of the Ukrainian armed forces in the resistance against Moscow's troops.
Kyiv just celebrated the anniversary of Prince Vladimir’s Baptism with a Synod that condemned the ideology of the “Russian world”. Conversely, in a few days, the Julian calendar will allow the Russians to celebrate it alone, boasting about their resistance to Western depravity and heresy, in that isolation that is the aspect that best defines the concept of “Orthodoxy” in Moscow today.
Two years after Prigožin's death, Russian mercenaries remain in the field as employees of the Ministry of Defence. They are strongly committed to supporting political propaganda throughout Africa, even offering special courses for African journalists with programmes on Russian television networks and agencies.
An alternative to the Kerch Bridge, which is constantly under attack by Ukrainian drones, the road and rail link between the peninsula and the Donetsk region is taking on an increasingly strategic role. This opens up not only immediate prospects, but also long-term ones.
Moscow has become the first government to complete the normalisation of relations with the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan. Since 2018, Russian policy towards the Taliban had begun to change, moving from formal opposition to an evident search for cooperation. But the new friendship with Kabul will develop in the usual style of mutual suspicion and cross-checking
Looking back at Russia's past and present history and reality, Patriarch Kirill condemns those who ‘call for the purity of Islam or Orthodoxy,’ because ‘we may have different cultures and traditions, but we are one people.’ Meanwhile, in the Moscow neighbourhood of Kommunalka, a multi-religious centre is being presented where an Orthodox church, a synagogue, a mosque and a Buddhist temple are to be built in a shared space.
Meetings and projects for new cooperation initiatives between Mongolia's political leadership and Central Asian heads of state and government are multiplying. In a network of relations that not only has political and commercial significance but also represents a form of historical and commercial reunification.
On the 80th anniversary of the end of the Second World War, the Japanese emperor visited Ulan Bator for the first time to pay homage to the Japanese soldiers who died in Soviet POW camps. However, the atrocities committed by the Japanese Imperial Army continue to cast a long shadow on Japan’s relations with Asian countries, which Tokyo is trying to woo in opposition to Beijing.
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