Russia & Caucasus

Bitcoin-ruble trading volumes swelled in late February as Russia was hit with sweeping financial sanctions.
Ukraine war

U.S., Japan and EU rush to close crypto loophole in Russia sanctions

Decentralized assets seen as haven with ruble crashing and banks cut off

4 March 2022
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba told Nikkei Asia that sanctions against Russia should include blocking its largest bank, Sberbank, and urged Japan to close its ports to Russian ships.
Interview

Russia's top bank must be hit with sanctions: Ukrainian minister

Kyiv seeks not NATO planes and pilots, but 'surface-to-air defense systems'

4 March 2022
Russian attacks have emptied many of the homes and streets in the Ukrainian city of Mariupol. (Photo courtesy of Maxim Kasianczuk)
Ukraine war

Life 30km from Russian border grows lonely for one Ukrainian

46-year-old holds on in city he grew up in to take care of aging father

3 March 2022
Maria Ressa told Nikkei Asia that "no one knows the reality at the time of war" and that disinformation "can change and shape reality."
Interview

Philippines' Ressa says Russia uses dual tactics to 'destroy truth'

Nobelist says lies spread 'bottom up and top down,' urges laws to fight back

3 March 2022
Russian tanks during military exercises in the Leningrad region, Russia, pictured on Feb. 14: many in Europe willfully refused to believe that Russia would invade until those tanks crossed the border. (Handout photo from Russian Defense Ministry)
Opinion

Ukraine war shows West's declining understanding of the world

Ignorance especially evident in much of the discourse about China

3 March 2022
An area of central Kharkiv lies in ruins after what authorities said was a missile attack on March 1. Russian experts say the violence risks turning any remaining pro-Moscow Ukrainians against them.
Ukraine war

One week into Ukraine invasion, Russian analysts weigh the costs

Unexpected Japan and Taiwan sanctions seen biting into industry

3 March 2022
Australian Ambassador to the U.N. Mitch Fifield speaks during the 11th emergency special session of the 193-member U.N. General Assembly.
Ukraine war

U.N. votes 141-5 to call for Russian withdrawal from Ukraine

China, India, Vietnam and 32 other members abstain; Myanmar votes in favor

3 March 2022
U.S. Ambassador Rahm Emanuel: "The world is turning away from Putin. ...In this day and age in the 21st century, you do not bomb hospitals. You do not bomb universities."
Ukraine war

U.S. envoy to Japan sees world 'turning away from Putin'

Emanuel lauds Tokyo sanctions, calls Moscow's war a 'global confrontation'

3 March 2022
Russian President Vladimir Putin's invasion of Ukraine has helped unite the West. 
Comment

Could Ukraine be the beginning of the end for Putin?

Russian leader faces much stronger Western response than after Crimea

3 March 2022
Russia accounts for 15% of coal exports globally.
3 March 2022
Toyota Motor's assembly plant in St. Petersburg, Russia.
Automobiles

Toyota to halt Russia production Friday as sanctions cut supply chain

Top automaker joins Honda in stopping exports to the country

3 March 2022
U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, center left, and Poland's Defense Minister Mariusz Blaszczak shake hands during a visit to U.S. troops in Poland on Feb. 18: India's leaders are sympathetic to the Russian fear of encirclement by NATO forces.
Opinion

Sorry, Eurocentrics, but defending Ukraine is not Asia's problem

Fealty to the old world order is no longer a regional priority

3 March 2022
A woman who fled Russia's invasion of Ukraine holds her grandson as she sits near a refugee shelter Hungary.
Ukraine war

Japan to accept refugees from Ukraine

Kishida weighs separate arrangement from COVID border controls

3 March 2022
Japanese automakers Honda and Mazda will suspend some business in Russia following that country's invasion of Ukraine. (Source photos by Reuters)
Ukraine war

Honda and Mazda to halt exports to Russia

Growing wave of companies reconsider business in sanctions-hit country

2 March 2022
Supermarket shelves are nearly empty as worries grow about food and medicine supplies. (Photo by Eiji Furukawa)
Ukraine war

Determination prevails in Ukraine as Russia steps up attack

Despite dwindling supplies, Kyiv residents hunker down

2 March 2022
The European Union blocks seven Russian banks from the SWIFT global payment system.
Ukraine war

EU blocks seven Russian banks from SWIFT for Ukraine invasion

Sberbank, country's largest, and Gazprombank spared from sanction

2 March 2022
A handful of Asian aircraft leasing companies rent jets to Aeroflot and other Russian carriers. European Union sanctions require leasing operators to terminate their rental contracts in Russia over its invasion of Ukraine. 
Ukraine war

Jet leasing companies race to pull planes from sanction-hit Russia

Questions swirl over how Asian plane suppliers can recover aircraft, unpaid bills

2 March 2022
U.S. President Joe Biden delivers his first State of the Union address to a joint session of Congress in Washington on Tuesday.
Politics

Transcript: President Joe Biden's 2022 State of the Union address

Mostly domestic speech opened with comments on Ukraine war

2 March 2022
President Joe Biden delivers his State of the Union address at the Capitol in Washington on Tuesday.
Ukraine war

Biden rebukes Russia in State of the Union with Cold War backdrop

Few mentions of China, as president touts battle between democracy and autocracy

2 March 2022
Stream article image
Most read in 2022

Turkey rejects Russia's request for navy ships to pass Bosporus

Invoking 1936 convention, Ankara turns back non-home based vessels

2 March 2022
Oil and Wheat prices are surging as the crisis in Ukraine deepens. (Source photo by Reuters)
Ukraine war

Oil prices surge on Ukraine war as Exxon plans Russia exit

Wheat prices hit 10-year high as conflict threatens global supply

2 March 2022
Three major Japanese insurers have added Russian and Ukrainian waters to a list of high-risk navigation areas subject to additional premiums.
Insurance

Russia sanctions poke holes in insurance for Japanese companies

SWIFT expulsion puts frequently used reinsurance arrangements at risk

2 March 2022
A soldier holds a Javelin missile system during a military exercise near Rivne, Ukraine.
Ukraine war

Secret to Ukraine's fierce resistance? Javelin antitank missiles

Lightweight U.S.-made weapon game changer in unconventional warfare

2 March 2022
The area near the regional administration building, which city officials said was hit by a missile attack, in central Kharkiv, Ukraine, on Mar. 1: ASEAN cannot afford to remain silent.
Opinion

ASEAN needs to uphold principles, not neutrality, in Ukraine war

Singapore has shown bold action can advance a country's national interests

2 March 2022
Ukrainian service members stand guard outside the regional administration building, which city officials said was hit by a missile attack, in central Kharkiv on March 1.
Ukraine war

Russian forces step up attacks on Ukraine's civilian areas

'Nobody will forgive,' President Zelenskyy says after Kharkiv bloodshed

2 March 2022