Candace Owens billed her trip to Russia last week as a family vacation. It turned into something far more useful for the Kremlin.
The U.S. far-right conspiracy theorist — boasting 35 million followers across all social media platforms — ended up appearing at Russia's flagship economic forum
YEREVAN, Armenia — The best of a bad lot was how many Armenians described victorious Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan ahead of Sunday's pivotal election — the first since the bitter defeat in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict with neighboring Azerbaijan.
While the election has frequently been framed outside Armenia as
© Pedro Pardo/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is willing to stop the war along the current line of contact and move to negotiations, he said in a Sky News interview. He presented the idea as the quickest route to a ceasefire, while rejecting any deal that hands Russia Ukrainian land. He also urged allies to close Ukraine's air defense gaps.
Asked where he would freeze the lines if Russia agreed to a ceasefire, Zelenskyy said he is ready to accept today's positions.
"Yes, it's the quickest way," he said.
He insisted this is not a giveaway. He does not want to simply freeze the conflict, but to stop the war so it cannot restart "because of some crazy people." A freeze would let Ukraine save children's lives and bring soldiers home. Any ceasefire must be total and free of Russian games, watched by American and European partners. Only then would the sides sit down to end the war through diplomacy. A ceasefire, he added, is "the biggest compromise from our side."
The most urgent need from allies is air defense, Zelenskyy said. Ukraine faces a large deficit in anti-ballistic missiles, with US transfers slowed by the war in the Middle East. He again asked for more Patriot systems. Russia attacks daily, usually with around 300 long-range explosive drones. On the heaviest nights it launches 600 to 850 drones and dozens of missiles.
Ukraine has built more than 400 defense companies since the full-scale invasion, Zelenskyy said. Dozens rank among the world's strongest. They produce drones and missiles, some underground, and the country is close to its own ballistic missile. Ukraine can now share that expertise with allies and even build air defenses for Europe, he said. Kyiv aims to mass-produce drones on a scale few countries can match.
Ukraine's recent strikes on St. Petersburg and the Moscow region answer Russian attacks on Ukrainian energy, Zelenskyy said. St. Petersburg was hit twice last week. He wants Russians far from the front to feel the war they started. Russian President Vladimir Putin understands only "total pressure," he said. Sanctions on Russia's shadow fleet of sanctions-dodging tankers and its oil and gas exports hit hardest.
Zelenskyy said Putin does not want to stop the war and is signaling he wants to win. Whether the fighting ends "100% depends on his decision," he said. His 4 June open letter, which Moscow called rude and rejected, was meant to force an answer and pierce a Russian public living in "some fantastic world." Russian businessman Roman Abramovich came to Kyiv to carry messages to Putin, Zelenskyy said.
His key message was on the Donbas: Ukraine will not leave its land, and compromises come only after a ceasefire. He is ready to meet in any format, but not in Moscow, Belarus, or Minsk. Leaders cannot decide "without us about us," he said, in a message aimed at Washington. Russia, by contrast, keeps insisting that Ukraine surrender all of the Donbas first.
Members of Russian President Vladimir Putin's sanctioned inner circle are still flying Western-built luxury business jets, according to the Wall Street Journal (WSJ). A network of European brokers buys the aircraft, registers them in countries that ignore sanctions, and then sends them to Russia. Western enforcement, meanwhile, has gone slack.
A $75 million Bombardier Global 7500 sits at Moscow's Vnukovo airport. The Canadian-built jet sells to the global super-rich, and close Putin allies fly aircraft like it. WSJ reviewed records from an aviation-data firm, import filings, and flight-tracker logs to map the pattern.
Sergei Chemezov runs Rostec, Russia's state defense conglomerate, and has known Putin since their KGB days in East Germany. He has flown a Bombardier to Dubai, Türkiye, and Southeast Asia. Flightradar24 tracked roughly six of his UAE flights between October 2025 and January 2026. In Dubai, he holds a property fronting its own private beach on the Palm Jumeirah, the emirate's palm-shaped artificial island, Radio Free Europe reported earlier. Leaked financial files known as the Pandora Papers once tied him to estates in Spain.
Arkady Rotenberg, a boyhood judo partner of Putin's in St. Petersburg, built a fortune on state contracts. International sanctions have targeted him since Russia seized Crimea in 2014. He gained access to two Bombardier Global jets in late 2022. Flightradar24 shows them flying to Azerbaijan and the UAE.
Igor Kesaev made his money in tobacco and alcohol, then moved into retail and weapons. Forbes puts his fortune at $4.8 billion. The US and the EU blacklisted him after the invasion for helping arm Russia's military. In 2023, he brought in a jet-black Bombardier Global Express XRS, according to Ch-Aviation and Import Genius records.
Until the all-out war, much of Russia's elite parked their jets with European management firms in tax havens like Switzerland and Luxembourg. The war cost them those deals, and sometimes the planes themselves. They gave up London, the French Riviera, and the Swiss chalets, and now head to the UAE, Türkiye, and Azerbaijan.
These days, sanctioned Russians reach Western aircraft by going through middlemen and broker firms. European dealers buy Bombardier and Gulfstream aircraft secondhand. They register them in places like the UAE, Oman, Kazakhstan, and South Africa, then fly them to Russia. Similar shadow schemes were tracked before.
The planes moved through a Vienna firm, Avcon, and its subsidiaries before landing in Russian hands. Chemezov's jet started out registered in Bermuda under Avcon's management. A firm called Tarp Aviation later moved it onto Russia's registry. A separate Vienna-based fiduciary, SecuTrust, holds shares in both Avcon and Tarp.
Result strengthens PM Nikol Pashinyan’s drive for deeper integration with Europe despite warnings from Moscow
Armenia’s ruling pro-Europe party has won parliamentary elections, confirming the country’s pivot towards Europe and away from its traditional ally, Russia.
Final results in the small South Caucasus country showed the prime minister Nikol Pashinyan’s Civil Contract party securing a slim majority, while the Strong Armenia alliance, led by the Russian-Armenian billionaire Samvel Karapetyan, won 25% of the seats in parliament.
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© Photograph: Anthony Pizzoferrato/AP
© Photograph: Anthony Pizzoferrato/AP
© Photograph: Anthony Pizzoferrato/AP
Sergey Chemezov, amministratore delegato del colosso russo della difesa Rostec, ha utilizzato un jet Bombardier da 75 milioni di dollari per almeno sei viaggi a Dubai, in Turchia e nel Sud-est asiatico tra l’anno scorso e quest’anno. Come lui, la cerchia ristretta di ricchi russi vicini a Vladimir Putin continua a condurre una vita lussuosa nonostante le sanzioni imposte dall’occidente dopo l’invasione dell’Ucraina. A rivelarlo è un’inchiesta del Wall Street Journal secondo la quale gli oligarchi amici dello zar usano jet privati di lusso prodotti in Occidente, grazie a una rete di società intermediarie, registrazioni offshore e triangolazioni in Paesi che non hanno imposto le misure contro Mosca.
Tanti miliardari russi hanno dovuto adattare il loro stile di vita sostituendo mete come Londra, la Costa Azzurra e le Alpi svizzere con nuove destinazioni quali gli Emirati Arabi Uniti, la Turchia e l’Azerbaigian e continuano a viaggiare spesso all’estero con aerei Bombardier e Gulfstream, che operano regolarmente verso destinazioni come Emirati Arabi Uniti, Turchia e Azerbaigian, nonostante le restrizioni introdotte dal 2022. Secondo il Wall Street Journal, una rete di società intermediarie acquista i jet da produttori occidentali – o di seconda mano – e li immatricola in nuove giurisdizioni per renderli disponibili a cittadini russi colpiti da sanzioni. Al centro di questa rete figurerebbe anche la società viennese Avcon Jet con alcune sue controllate, che avrebbero gestito o registrato diversi aeromobili prima del loro passaggio a operatori russi, tra cui una società riconducibile a Chemezov. L’azienda, citata nell’inchiesta, ha dichiarato di rispettare rigorosamente le norme sanzionatorie, mentre altri soggetti coinvolti non hanno risposto alle richieste di commento.
Chemezov, che in passato frequentava regolarmente l’Europa e disponeva di asset immobiliari anche in Spagna, dopo la guerra ha spostato parte delle proprie attività negli Emirati, dove possiede una villa a Palm Jumeirah. Oltre a lui, il Wsj cita Arkady Rotenberg, imprenditore e amico storico di Putin fin dagli anni della gioventù a San Pietroburgo, già sanzionato dal 2014 per il suo ruolo nelle grandi commesse pubbliche russe. Secondo i dati citati dall’inchiesta, avrebbe avuto accesso a due Bombardier Global utilizzati per voli frequenti verso Emirati e Azerbaigian. L’inchiesta cita anche Igor Kasaev, magnate del tabacco, della distribuzione e dell’industria bellica, con un patrimonio stimato in circa 4,8 miliardi di dollari. L’oligarca, sanzionato da Stati Uniti ed Unione Europea dopo l’invasione dell’Ucraina, avrebbe importato nel 2023 un Bombardier Global Express Xrs.
L'articolo Wall Street Journal: “Le sanzioni non hanno fermato gli oligarchi russi: viaggi in jet grazie a una rete di intermediari” proviene da Il Fatto Quotidiano.
In an open letter to Russian President Vladimir Putin, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy proposed meeting to reach a resolution to the years-long war between their two nations.
"We see that the United States is fully focused on the issue of Iran, and it would be wrong to simply wait until the war in Europe returns to the center of its attention. Ukraine proposes ending this war through direct engagement between us — and you. I am proposing a meeting," Zelenskyy said in the letter.
"There are countries that have traditionally hosted leaders to resolve issues of war and peace. Switzerland, Türkiye, the countries of the Arab world — many are able and willing to host such a meeting. It is leaders who resolve the key issues. That has always been the case, and it always will be," he asserted.
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Zelenskyy suggested that Europe and the U.S. should also be involved in the peace process.
"Since the war is taking place in Europe, and since Ukraine needs security guarantees, while you also seek security guarantees for yourself, it would be logical to involve those who can genuinely serve as guarantors. We believe Europe should be part of this process — those who truly have the capacity to influence the situation. We also believe that the United States must be part of the process. This is what could help shape a new security architecture for our part of the world," he said.
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He indicated that Ukraine would agree to a ceasefire during the proposed negotiations.
"Ukraine is ready for a full ceasefire for the duration of the negotiations. This is standard practice, and current developments around Iran only reinforce that point. An attempt to establish real silence is the best way to begin talking to one another. We believe it would not simply be an attempt, but a real ceasefire — if that is what you want," he noted.
He also suggested a prisoner swap between the two nations, noting, "Ukraine is ready for an all-for-all exchange of prisoners of war, and this could become a good prologue to ending the war. Serious steps must be taken to return civilians and children who were taken away during the war."
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"If you do not personally come to the conclusion that it is time to end this war, Ukraine will continue fighting for its existence. We will have those who support us. But you, too, will have to fight much harder for your own existence — not Russia’s, but your own. And this is not a threat from me or from Ukraine. It is a fact of Russian history that you know well: when Russia grows tired, change comes," Zelenskyy warned Putin.
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