Kremlin Not Ruling Out Return to Talks with Ukraine in October
Three-way negotiations with Ukraine and the United States on ending Europe's worst conflict since World War II could take place in October, the Kremlin said on Sunday, according to Russian agencies.
"We do not rule out such a possibility; we are talking about the foreseeable future," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told journalists, cited by Russia's Ria and Tass news agencies.
US Withdraws from European Anti-Corruption Panel
The Trump administration has withdrawn the United States from a top European anti-corruption watchdog as it forges ahead with plans to disengage from international and multilateral organizations that it accuses of exceeding their mandates, being inefficient or not adapting to US policies.
The Council of Europe said Tuesday that the US formally notified it a day earlier that it would leave the Group of States against Corruption, or GRECO. Only two other countries have left GRECO before — Russia and Belarus.
The State Department confirmed the move, saying that US participation, which requires an annual monetary contribution, “does not provide tangible benefits to US national security.”
“The era of writing blank checks to international bureaucracies is over,” it said. “The department is instead prioritizing higher-impact tools to combat corruption, such as visa restrictions, sanctions, and targeted foreign assistance to strengthen foreign criminal investigations into corruption directly threatening US security and prosperity.”
The Strasbourg-based Council of Europe said the US had been “a valuable contributor” to GRECO "and to the exchange of experience and good practice in preventing and combating corruption.”
“GRECO remains open to resuming cooperation with the United States in the future in support of shared efforts to prevent corruption, strengthen integrity and uphold the rule of law,” it said in a statement.
The decision was announced a week after the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe said the US had declined to invite its members to observe November’s congressional midterm elections, a sharp break from past practice.
The US has already withdrawn from a number of European-based UN and multilateral agencies, including the World Health Organization and the UN Human Rights Council, and is weighing further such steps.
The US withdrew in January from another Council of Europe panel — the Venice Commission, which is an advisory body on constitutional law.
GRECO was created in 1999 by the Council of Europe to monitor compliance with the organization’s anti-corruption standards. Membership is not limited to European Union members, and the United States joined a year after its founding.
Iran Hangs Two Anti-government Protesters
Iran's judiciary announced that two men were hanged on Wednesday over charges relating to anti-government protests that peaked in January, having begun a month earlier over economic grievances.
The two, Ali Hemmati and Majid Nik-Andish, were found guilty of involvement "in the riots of January that resulted in the martyrdom of four security personnel" in the northeastern city of Mashhad, said the judiciary's Mizan Online website.
It added that they also "inflicted extensive damage on public property by setting fire to shops, banks, buses, etc, and even torching trees".
They "were executed by hanging early Wednesday, following the Supreme Court's confirmation of their sentences".
In late December, a protest movement initially sparked by the high cost of living rapidly evolved into widespread anti-government demonstrations that peaked on January 8 and 9.
Iranian authorities reported more than 3,000 deaths, attributing the violence to "terrorist acts" orchestrated by the United States and Israel, while foreign-based NGOs maintain that security forces fired on protesters, said AFP.
US President Donald Trump had threatened at the time to intervene militarily in Iran, before the United States and Israel launched a joint attack on Iran on February 28, triggering the Middle East war.
Since then, arrests and executions have multiplied in the country, linked both to the conflict and to the protests that took place earlier in the year.
In 2025, Iran executed at least 1,639 people, the largest number for any year since 1989, according to the NGOs Iran Human Rights and Together Against the Death Penalty.
According to Amnesty International, Iran is responsible for the second most executions of any country, after China.
Russia Opposes Iran Leaving Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty
Russia does not want Iran to quit the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and counts on it remaining a party to the agreement, the Kremlin said on Tuesday.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov responded to recent comments from Iranian officials about a possible exit from the treaty, which requires signatories not to develop or acquire nuclear weapons.
“This statement requires further clarification. We would not want Iran to withdraw from the NPT,” Peskov said.
The remarks came after Iranian First Deputy Parliament Speaker Ali Nikzad indicated that lawmakers are considering a “triple-urgency” bill on withdrawal.
Nikzad said the draft is under review, including its international implications, and could be brought to a plenary session for same-day consideration once registered.
The First Deputy Speaker also said that Tehran, which became a party to the treaty in March 1970, has no trust in the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), or IAEA chief Rafael Grossi, because he conducts “merely superficial inspections and submits negative reports against Iran.”
Why Shouldn’t We Develop a Nuclear Weapon?
In an interview with state television in August, Mohsen Rezaei, secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, asked, “Why shouldn’t we develop a nuclear weapon so that nobody can attack us?”
