Politics

Units of the Russian armed forces enter Kyiv region on Mar. 3: this time, it is China's partner Russia that has gone to war, not its rival, America.
Opinion

Was China duped on Ukraine?

Beijing is now in damage control mode

5 March 2022
Russian President Vladimir Putin, an ex-KGB agent, has long been a "hard target" for Western espionage.
Ukraine war

What is Putin thinking? Spy agencies size up Ukraine moves

Sanctions said to enrage isolated Russian leader with finger on nuclear button

5 March 2022
Business at the Tigre de Cristal casino near Vladivostok, seen here on its opening day in 2015, has been hit hard by COVID.
Ukraine war

Cambodian casino group NagaCorp halts Russian project

Ukraine war provides chance to escape problematic commitment, analysts say

4 March 2022
An employee is seen in the control center of one of the halted reactors at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in Chernobyl, Ukraine, in March 2021. 
Ukraine war

Nuclear plant fire conjures Chernobyl nightmare

Russian forces take control of Zaporizhzhia site after dangerous fight

4 March 2022
U.S. trade restrictions covering products made with American technology could create pitfalls for Asian companies. (Source photo by AP and Ken Kobayashi)
Ukraine war

From Samsung to Sony, Asia tech grapples with Russia sanctions

Complying with U.S. clampdown now could invite China repercussions later

4 March 2022
The international hacker group Anonymous has vowed to take certain Russian websites offline. 
Ukraine war

Russia walls off government websites from nonfriendly countries

Moscow likely setting up defenses against Anonymous cyberattacks

4 March 2022
A cryptocurrency exchange point in Kyiv, pictured on Jan. 24: if the crypto world fails Ukraine, there may not be any future for crypto. 
Opinion

Ukraine war is crypto's biggest test yet

Essential for individuals to accept that freedom comes with accountability

4 March 2022
China is the largest shareholder of the multilateral development lender.
Ukraine war

China-backed AIIB freezes lending to Russia and Belarus

Development bank vows to 'safeguard financial integrity' as sanctions mount

4 March 2022
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
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