Russia

China calls for dialogue and consultation to resolve the crisis. Beijing will not recognise Moscow’s annexation of occupied Ukrainian regions, just as it will not support the Kremlin’s possible nuclear adventurism. The Russian president has failed to heed Xi Jinping's warning on the sidelines of the SCO summit.

New warning from Francis during the general audience in the face of the news coming from Russia and Ukraine. "Card. Krajewski yesterday told me on the phone the monstrosity of the tortured corpses that were found. Let us unite with the martyred Ukrainian people'. He retraced the stages and meetings of his trip to Kazakhstan. Prayer and appeal for Alzheimer's sufferers and their families to be supported.

Today's headlines: Bangkok removes Covid from the list of diseases that prevent entry; Hong Kong police arrest a citizen for playing the harmonica during Queen Elizabeth's funeral; Riyadh funds the construction of the first mosque in Cuba; the founder of the Gulagu humanitarian project denounces an assassination attempt by Russian intelligence.

Today's headlines: Saudi GDP set to grow by the highest figure in the last decade; Shanghai launches a 260 billion development plan; Pakistan's high court clears former premier Khan of terrorism charges; a giant statue of Padre Pio is to be erected in Cebu in a pilgrimage site; Moscow patriarchate says the meeting between the pope and Kirill is still possible and desirable.

Today's headlines: aftershocks from yesterday's earthquake in southern Taiwan at least one victim and 150 injured; more clashes between Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan, a hundred people dead; a mega-church in Zhejiang held prayer services with sacred music linked to traditional Chinese culture; Turkish president and Pakistani premier agree on Russian gas supply.

Russia's most famous songwriter admonishes Putin for the attack on Ukraine. He urges Russians not to fall into depression over what is happening today. He reminds that the Soviet Union was not only influenced by the West, but also by the East and the South.

Today's headlines: Metropolitan Antonij reports Pope Francis has requested a new meeting with Patriarch Kirill; ceasefire holds between Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan; protests in Iran over the death of a young woman detained for violating headscarf regulations; pork prices in China mount, about 70% year-over-year; Phnom Penh set to issue final verdict on Khieu Samphan.

The death of Gorbachev and Queen Elizabeth, the Pope in Central Asia, the war in the Caucasus and the Ukrainian counteroffensive, Xi Jinping's trip: all events that evoke the end of a era, to make way for a world as yet to be described.

The two leaders meet on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit. The Russian leader fully backs China's Taiwan policy, and appreciates Beijing’s “balanced" position on Ukraine. For his part, the Chinese president spreads his wings in Central Asia, the Kremlin’s traditional turf.

Catholics from Central Asia and Russia travelled to Nur-Sultan to take part in the papal Mass. Inspired by the meeting between the world’s religious leaders, the pontiff calls for a Church open to God’s future, never brandishing “the cross of Christ against our brothers and sisters for whom he gave his life!” He ended the service, appealing for peace between Azerbaijan and Armenia in the wake of the latest fighting.

In his first meetings in Kazakhstan, the pontiff was met by the splendour of palaces that former President Nazarbayev built in a capital that has changed names five times in a century. In a country where Cyrillic still prevails, the changing script in Kazakh-language signs are symptomatic of a country caught between a Russo-centric imperial past and a new Turkic-speaking future promoted by current President Tokayev.

A new railway line to bring Mongolian coal to Chinese territory opens. Construction work on a new Russian gas pipeline to supply China through Mongolia is due to start in 2024. The United States is also playing its geopolitical game in the region amid rising friction between Beijing and Ulaanbaatar.