A bill proposed by Russia’s Duma would let the Kremlin send troops abroad to “protect” Russian citizens who are facing arrest, detention, or any other form of perceived persecution.
Russian President Vladimir Putin speaks during a press conference in Moscow, Russia May 9, 2026.(photo credit: REUTERS/Ramil Sitdikov/Pool) ByCORINNE BAUM, REUTERS Updated: Russia’s parliament approved a bill on Wednesday to expand President Vladimir Putin’s power to invade foreign countries.
If approved, the bill would let the Kremlin send troops abroad to “protect” Russian citizens who are facing arrest, detention, or any other form of perceived persecution.
“Western ‘justice’ has turned into a repressive machine used to punish those who disagree with the decisions imposed by Euro-bureaucrats,” State Duma Speaker Vyacheslav Volodin said in a statement.
Under these conditions, it is important to do everything possible to ensure that our citizens abroad are protected.”
Putin now has 14 days to sign the bill into law.
Russian soldiers, who were involved in the country’s military campaign in Ukraine, march in columns during a parade on Victory Day, marking the 80th anniversary of the victory over Nazi Germany in World War Two, in Red Square in central Moscow, Russia, May 9, 2025. (credit: REUTERS/ANTON VAGANOV)Moscow has previously justified its invasion of Ukraine in 2022 by claiming that it was protecting Russian-speaking regions of the country, including Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia, and Kherson.
Russia still demands the reinstatement of the Russian language and the Russian Orthodox Church in Ukraine as part of any peace agreement.
EU worried Russia will start conflict as Trump pulls troops from Europe
Officials from the European Union have expressed concern that Putin will initiate a conflict with Europe within the next year or two to test the United States’ commitment to NATO.
This comes after the Pentagon canceled plans to temporarily deploy 4,000 US-based troops to Poland, two US officials said.
The decision, first reported by Army Times, came just two weeks after the Pentagon announced it was withdrawing 5,000 troops from NATO ally Germany, in part due to a widening rift over the Iran war between US President Donald Trump and Europe.
In December, Putin said that Russia was ready for war with Europe.
“If Europe suddenly wants to fight with us and starts, we are ready right now,” Putin said.
After talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping, Trump asserted that the two leaders agreed that Iran should not have nuclear weapons.
U.S. President Donald Trump speaks during a meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping (not pictured) on the sidelines of a visit to the Zhongnanhai Garden in Beijing, China, May 15, 2026.(photo credit: REUTERS/Evan Vucci)ByGOLDIE KATZ, REUTERSUpdated: US President Donald Trump said that he is not going to be “much more patient” with Iran’s leadership and that they can either make a deal or “get annihilated” during an interview with Fox News’s Sean Hannity on Thursday.
“I am not going to be much more patient,” Trump asserted. “Now they can make a deal, or they get annihilated,” he said, adding that “any sane person would make a deal, but they might be crazy.”
He reiterated that the US will not allow Iran to develop or obtain a nuclear weapon because “they would use it.”
As for the enriched uranium Iran already has, Trump said that he would prefer to “get it” rather than leave it “entombed” in rubble after US and Israeli strikes destroyed much of Iran’s nuclear weaponization infrastructure in June of 2025 and during Operation Epic Fury and Operation Roaring Lion.
“I just feel better if I got it, actually. But it’s, I think, it’s more for public relations than it is for anything else.”
Chinese President Xi Jinping and US President Donald Trump attend a meeting on the sidelines of their visit to the Zhongnanhai Garden in Beijing, China, May 15, 2026. (credit: REUTERS/Evan Vucci)
He then stated that the US knows that Iran has been building up in the past few weeks since the ceasefire took effect.
“I hope they’re watching. Because all of their anti-stuff, anything they put up, we know exactly what they put up,” he said. “We know everything they’ve done. They built it up a little bit. We’ll take it out in one day. It’ll all be gone. You know, they had a little respite. And so they’re trying to get a few things together.
“It’ll all be gone in one day. Everything they’ve done for the last four weeks will be gone in one day.”
Trump says he and Xi agree to keep Iran from having nuclear arms
After talks between Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping on Thursday, the White House said the leaders had agreed that the strait should be open and that Xi made clear China’s opposition to the militarisation of the strait and any effort to charge a toll for its use.
The two leaders met at the walled-off Zhongnanhai complex in Beijing as Trump wraps up his state visit to China.
“We’ve settled a lot of different problems that other people wouldn’t have been able to solve,” Trump said.
Trump said Xi also promised not to send Iran military equipment. “He said he’s not going to give military equipment, that’s a big statement,” Trump said on Fox.
Xi also expressed interest in purchasing more American oil to reduce China’s future dependence on the strait, and the leaders agreed that Iran should never obtain nuclear weapons, the White House readout said. Tehran has denied seeking such weapons.
China’s Foreign Ministry said that its “position on the Iran situation is very clear.
“To find an early way to resolve the situation is in the interest of not only the US and Iran, but also regional countries and the rest of the world,” the foreign ministry said in a statement.
State-of-the-art US military aircraft known as “nuke sniffers” have been recorded surveying the wreckage scene twice over the last year, once on August 28, 2025, and again on February 6, 2026.
The calm surface of the ocean on a clear day.(photo credit: PEXELS) ByASHER SMITHUpdated: A Russian cargo ship, Ursa Major, which sank after a series of explosions in unexplained circumstances, may have been carrying two nuclear reactors bound for North Korea, according to a CNN report on Tuesday.
The circumstances surrounding the Ursa Major’s sinking have been shrouded in mystery since the incident occurred on December 23, 2024. Evidence from a Spanish-led investigation revealed the circumstances surrounding the sunken ship may point towards military intervention to prevent Russia from sending nuclear technology to North Korea.
Military activity around the wreckage site has heightened curiosity about its cargo and destination. United States nuclear “sniffer” aircraft have surveyed the site of the incident twice in the past year, according to publicly accessible flight data. The Ursa Major was part of Russia’s “Ghost Fleet” of vessels evading sanctions and was traveling from St. Petersburg to Vladivostok via the Mediterranean Sea, according to the ship’s public manifest.
The manifest also stated that the cargo on board consisted of only two large “manhole covers,” 129 empty shipping containers, and two Liebherr cranes. The ship was also escorted by two Russian Navy ships, the Ivan Gren and the Aleksandr Otrakovsky, according to a statement from the Spanish Government released earlier this year.
When the Ursa Major slowed dramatically, Spanish responders radioed to check if the vessel and crew were in distress. Twenty-four hours later, the ship veered sharply off its course and issued a call for help, according to the Spanish investigation. The crew reported the ship had sustained three explosions on its starboard side, near the ship’s engine room, killing two crew members and leaving the ship stranded at sea.
This photograph taken on September 16, 2022 shows the ”Vladimir Latyshev” Russian cargo ship which was confiscated in Saint-Malo harbour, western France, since March 1, 2022, as part of the Russian asset freeze. (credit: DAMIEN MEYER/AFP via Getty Images)The 14 surviving crew members were rescued by Spanish authorities before one of the Russian military vessels escorting the Ursa Major ordered nearby ships to stay 2 nautical miles away from the incident site and demanded the immediate return of the crew. However, Spanish authorities insisted they needed to conduct rescue operations and begin investigating the explosion.
The Ursa Major was thought to be stable and recoverable, according to CNN. However, at 9:50 p.m., Ivan Gren (one of the Russian Military escorts of the Ursa Major) fired red flares over the scene, which were followed by four explosions detected by the Spanish National Seismic Network. By 11:10 p.m., the Ursa Major had sunk, according to the investigation.
Unusual circumstances surrounding the wreckage
The surviving Russian crew members were brought by Spanish authorities to the port city of Cartagena immediately following their rescue, where they were debriefed by police. According to the investigation, the crew and the ship’s captain were fearful of discussing the ship’s cargo and route.
Igor Vladimirovich Anisimov, the captain of the Ursa Major, reportedly came “under pressure to clarify what he meant by ‘manhole covers,’” found in the ship’s public manifest, the Spanish statement read.
“He finally confessed that they were the components of two nuclear reactors similar to those used by submarines. According to his testimony and without being able to confirm it, they did not contain nuclear fuel,” the statement added.
The Spanish investigation concluded that the items registered as “manhole covers” were likely nuclear reactor hulls used for nuclear propulsion, similar to those found in submarines.
The investigation reported that the ship’s captain, Anisimov, believed his route would be redirected to Rason, a North Korean port, to deliver the two reactor hulls.
A week after the incident, Russian military vessels returned to the scene of the wreckage for five days before four more explosions were recorded, potentially aimed to destroy the remains of the Ursa Major on the sea floor, a source close to the investigation told CNN.
CNN also reported on the US interest in the wreckage site. State-of-the-art US military aircraft known as “nuke sniffers” (usually based at Offutt Air Force Base in Nebraska) have been recorded surveying the wreckage scene twice over the last year, once on August 28, 2025, and again on February 6, 2026.
Kris Pierce, a spokesman for the base in Nebraska, told CNN the aircraft’s role “supports nuclear debris collection and analysis.”
“We cannot provide additional details regarding specific flight routing, mission findings, or any partner-related coordination,” Pierce added.
Another “nuke-sniffer” took a similar flight path a year before the Ursa Major sank, suggesting the surveys conducted by the US military may be routine, according to analysts at CNN.
Sources close to the investigation told CNN that the Ursa Major’s captain, Anisimov, told Spanish authorities he did not recall hearing an explosion on December 22 when the ship abruptly slowed. The following day, three explosions near the engine room killed two crew members whose bodies were not recovered.
The Spanish investigations suggested the explosion was potentially made by a Barracuda supercavitating torpedo, a high-speed torpedo that only the US, Russia, Iran, and a few NATO member states are believed to possess.
