Her husband, President Putin’s most vocal critic, was sentenced to 19 years for extremism, charges that were seen as politically motivated. He died in February in a brutal penal colony in the Arctic Circle. US President Joe Biden said there was "no doubt" Putin was to blame. Russia denies killing Navalny.

Alexei Navalny died in an Arctic prison in unclear circumstances in February. His widow Navalnaya said that she vowed to keep up her husband's work, but said she would not be returning to Russia to do so.

The Russian leader's top political opponent died in an Arctic prison in unclear circumstances. Read more at straitstimes.com.

Serbia's president has said after his telephone conversation with Russian President Vladimir Putin that his country will continue to refuse to impose sanctions against Russia over its invasion of Ukraine despite Western pressure.

Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said he thanked Russian President Vladimir Putin on Sunday for helping his country secure sufficient supplies of natural gas for the winter. Russia and Serbia have a three-year gas supply contract which expires in March 2025.

Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić called Russian leader Vladimir Putin for the first time in 2.5 years. He thanked him for the gas. In the published video, Vučić said that he and Putin had a “very good conversation.

Amid the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war, tensions between NATO countries and the Kremlin have continued, with NATO leaders increasingly warning that direct conflict with Moscow is a realistic possibility. This comes after Putin and senior Russian officials have repeatedly threatened a nuclear escalation in the war against Kyiv and its Western partners.

Russia has stated that it will only bring the war to an end if it can officially claim the Ukrainian land it currently occupies.

Vladimir Putin has vowed to prevent Ukraine from acquiring nuclear weapons after Volodymyr Zelenskyy revealed that his military no longer uses the Soviet arsenal, as Kyiv seeks to join NATO. The Russian leader warned that if Ukraine manages to develop a significant nuclear arsenal,