Politics

An employee inspects a wellhead at an oil field in Irkutsk, Russia. Energy-related exports make up around half of Russian exports.
Ukraine war

Russian export shutdown would cut 28% of GDP: Nikkei estimate

Energy imports by West hold key to maximizing Moscow's economic pain

11 April 2022
People's Liberation Army Navy soldiers take part in a drill at a naval base in Hong Kong. 
Ukraine war

Russia's war struggles will delay any China move on Taiwan: expert

Beijing weighs cost of war, global outcry and limits of international sanctions

11 April 2022
An apartment complex in the Kyiv suburb of Borodyanka is destroyed by a Russian missile attack. (Photo by Eiij Furukawa)
Ukraine war

Russian troops randomly shot civilians: Bucha resident

'They think nothing of our lives': Ukrainians recount horrors of occupation

10 April 2022
The April 7 resolution to suspend Russia from the U.N. Human Rights Council drew 93 votes in favor, 24 votes against, and 58 abstentions.
International relations

Divisions exposed in vote to suspend Russia from U.N. rights council

Abstentions and 'no' votes jump after push by Moscow and Beijing

9 April 2022
Russian Ambassador to the U.N. Vassily Nebenzia reacts during a Security Council meeting on Apr. 5.
Opinion

Russia should lose its permanent seat on the U.N. Security Council

Moscow has voided its moral claim to such a privilege

9 April 2022
A completed resolution vote tally to affirm the suspension of Russia from the United Nations Human Rights Council is displayed during a meeting of the U.N. General Assembly on Thursday.
Ukraine war

U.N. suspends Russia from Human Rights Council; China opposes

Moscow quits after resolution passes in 93-24 vote; 58 countries abstain

8 April 2022
Disinformation from Russia's invasion of Ukraine can begin in the form of edited photos and videos before it spreads across social media platforms.
Ukraine war

How Russia spread its fabricated pretexts for invading Ukraine

Analysis of video and social media posts reveals extent of disinformation

8 April 2022
Samsung renamed phones including the Galaxy Z Flip in some markets after the letter "Z" became associated with support for the invasion of Ukraine.
Electronics

Samsung caught between rock and a hard place on Russia

Withdrawing would risk losing smartphone lead to China after years of investment

8 April 2022
The Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline in Lubmin, Germany. Its certification was suspended during the run-up to Russia's invasion of Ukraine. 
Ukraine war

G-7 resists going after $1bn-a-day Russian energy revenue

Despite civilian killings, West and Japan avoid painful cuts

8 April 2022
Russia's invasion of Ukraine may have prompted China-linked cyberattacks against the Ukrainian government. (Nikkei montage/AP/Reuters)
Ukraine war

Chinese hackers launch cyberattacks against Ukraine amid war

Experts speculate strikes aimed at collecting information on refugees

7 April 2022
(Nikkei montage/Getty Images)
China up close

Analysis: Xi risks stumbling with Putin if he plays his cards wrong

If Russia fails in Ukraine, questions would arise over long-term authoritarian leadership

7 April 2022
Demonstrators take part in an anti-war rally in support of Ukraine in Almaty on Mar. 6: Kazakhstan has allowed large protests against the war.
Opinion

Western powers should exploit Central Asia's unease over Ukraine war

Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan have both distanced themselves from Moscow

6 April 2022
Vladimir Putin speaks during an event on the sidelines of the ASEAN-East Asia summit in October 2021: This is a time of existential crisis for ASEAN where fudging and muddling may not get by. (Handout photo from Brunei ASEAN Summit)
Opinion

Putin's war in Ukraine has deepened ASEAN disunity

10-member bloc needs to find a way to accommodate opposing points of view

5 April 2022
The Biden administration is returning to the position of the last Democratic president, Barack Obama, who called for a "world without nuclear weapons."
Ukraine war

Biden administration to scrap nuclear cruise missile program

Officials determined new weapon not needed to maintain nuclear deterrence

4 April 2022
U.S. President Joe Biden, second from left, speaks with, left to right, Japan's Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Germany's Chancellor Olaf Scholz in Brussels on March 24.
Comment

New cold wars emanating from Russia, China put Asia on edge

Moscow's invasion of Ukraine upends region's security landscape

3 April 2022
A Russian Sukhoi Su-35S jet fighter. U.S. technology sanctions are designed to deny access to technology that has military applications.
Interview

U.S. expects more to join Russia tech sanctions: commerce official

Further export controls could be imposed on Chinese companies, Thea Kendler says

3 April 2022
An LNG plant of the Sakhalin-2 project: the responses of Mitsubishi and Mitsui were meek and muted in a shy Japanese way.
Opinion

Japan is right to defer Russia sanctions to the government

Kishida takes official responsibility for remaining in Russian energy projects

2 April 2022
Chinese President Xi Jinping and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen take part in the virtual China-EU summit on Friday. 
Ukraine war

EU warns China against 'interfering with Russian sanctions'

Xi calls on Brussels to adopt independent policy toward Beijing

2 April 2022
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan speaks during a February visit to Kyiv. Erdogan has sought to play a mediating role since Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
Ukraine war

Erdogan pushes for Putin-Zelenskyy summit in Turkey

Progress seen in talks but no signs of Russian leader willing to meet

2 April 2022
Indian Minister of External Affairs Subrahmanyam Jaishankar and his Russian counterpart, Sergey Lavrov, ahead of their meeting in New Delhi on April 1.
International relations

Russia's Lavrov lauds India for not taking sides on Ukraine

Visiting New Delhi, Kremlin's top diplomat sees 'progress' in talks with Kyiv

1 April 2022
Vladimir Putin holds talks with Xi Jinping via video link at his residence outside Moscow in December 2021: if you listen to Putin's rhetoric on Ukraine, it could have been co-authored in Beijing.
Opinion

Ukraine focus does not mean the U.S. is ignoring China

Putin's war in Eastern Europe is not a 'distraction'

1 April 2022
Japan says it is prioritizing energy security in declaring it will not withdraw from three Russian energy projects, including this one off the coast of Sakhalin, north of Hokkaido.
Ukraine war

Japan will maintain Russia oil and gas projects: economy minister

Koichi Hagiuda cites energy security as reason to stay in Sakhalin and Arctic

1 April 2022
Japan will not give up its stake in the Sakhalin-2 liquefied natural gas project in Russia as it is essential to energy security.
Ukraine war

Japan will not abandon Sakhalin-2 LNG stake, Kishida says

PM calls project essential to energy security despite Russia's invasion of Ukraine

31 March 2022
Former Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk says the demilitarization of Ukraine would be "completely unacceptable," as it would let his "naked" country "easily be grabbed by Russia."
Interview

Japan must impose embargo on Russian oil and gas: Ukraine ex-PM

Arseniy Yatsenyuk says Moscow's aim in cease-fire talks is 'just to buy time'

31 March 2022
A portrait of Vladimir Putin and the letter Z, a symbol of the Russian military, displayed in the window of a children's library in St. Petersburg on Mar. 11: Western leaders' calls for the removal of the Russian president will serve to further unite people.
Opinion

Russians will continue to back Vladimir Putin

People are yet to link economic downturn with events in Ukraine

31 March 2022