Photo: AFP/Vladimir Nikolayev
Eurasia
16/03/2024 11:45
“Those enemy strikes haven’t been and won’t be left unpunished,” he vowed at a meeting of his Security Council.
“I’m sure that our people, the people of Russia, will respond to that with even greater cohesion,” Putin said. “Whom did they decide to scare? The Russian people? It has never happened and it will never happen.”
European Council President Charles Michel mordantly criticised Friday on the vote’s preordained nature. “Would like to congratulate Vladimir Putin on his landslide victory in the elections starting today. No opposition. No freedom. No choice,” he wrote on X, formerly Twitter. Russian officials said voting proceeded in an orderly fashion.
The notion of Central Asia being the "Dutch patient" is a term used to describe a region that has experienced economic challenges yet has shown signs of positive growth. Geographically, Central Asia is a region bordered by the Caspian Sea to the west, China to the east, Afghanistan to the south, and Russia to the north. Comprising five former Soviet republics—Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan—the region's abundant natural resources and strategic geographic location, as well as its natural beauty and cultural heritage, rapidly transformed it into a major economic bloc by the first quarter of the 21st century.With a population of 82 million, Central Asia has become a dynamic market, attracting growing interest from Europe to Africa.
Lebanon’s newly elected President Joseph Aoun has summoned Nawaf Salam, the head of the International Court of Justice, to designate him as the country’s prime minister after he won the backing of more than half of parliamentarians. The decision spark outrage in the ranks of Hezbollah, as the paramilitary organisation wanted PM Najib Mikati to keep the job.
Turkmenistan is a Turkic state in Central Asia. It borders Uzbekistan to the north, Iran to the south and Afghanistan to the southeast. Turkmenistan declared its independence from the Soviet Union in 1991. Turkmenistan proclaimed its permanent neutrality, recognized by the United Nations on December 12, 1995.