Ukraine-Russia war latest: Putin ‘won’t accept any Trump peace deal’ as he is ‘obsessed’ with crushing Ukraine

Russian authorities on Tuesday ordered a British diplomat to leave the country on allegations of spying as tensions soar over the conflict in Ukraine.

Russia’s Federal Security Service, the top domestic security and counterintelligence agency, said in a statement carried by Russian news agencies that the diplomat, identified as Edward Pryor Wilkes, had provided false personal data while seeking permission to enter the country.

The agency, known under its Russian acronym FSB, alleged that he has worked for British intelligence under diplomatic cover, replacing one of the six British diplomats who were expelled from Russia in August. The FSB alleged that Wilkes was involved in “intelligence and subversive activities that threatened the security of the Russian Federation.”

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Russia's weak rouble is benefiting exporting companies, offsetting the negative impact of the central bank's high benchmark interest rate, Finance Minister Anton Siluanov has said.

The rouble hit the lowest level against the US dollar and China's yuan since March 2022 this week, following rising tensions between Russia and the West over the conflict in Ukraine and fresh round of Western sanctions against Russia's financial sector.

"I am not saying whether the exchange rate is good or bad. I am just saying that today the exchange rate is very, very favourable for exporters," Siluanov told a financial conference in Moscow on Tuesday.

Siluanov's remarks are the first admission from a senior government's figure that Russian authorities at least for the moment do not object the exchange rate's weakness.

"The key thing is that the exchange rate is more important for exports than the interest rate," Siluanov added.

Angela Merkel has recalled Vladimir Putin's "power games" in her memoirs published on Tuesday.

It is perhaps the former German chancellor’s dealings with the Russian President Putin that have drawn the most scrutiny since she left office in late 2021.

Ms Merkel recalls being kept waiting by Putin at the Group of Eight summit she hosted in 2007 – "if there's one thing I can't stand, it's unpunctuality". And she recounts a visit to the Russian Black Sea resort of Sochi that year in which Putin's labrador appeared during a photo opportunity, although Putin knew she was afraid of dogs.

Putin appeared to enjoy the situation, she writes, and she didn't bring it up – keeping as she often did to the motto "never explain, never complain."

The previous year, she recounts Putin pointing to wooden houses in Siberia and telling her poor people lived there who "could be easily seduced," and that similar groups had been encouraged by money from the US government to take part in Ukraine's "Orange Revolution" of 2004 against attempted election fraud. Putin, she says, added: "I will never allow something like that in Russia."

Merkel says she was irritated by Putin's "self-righteousness" in a 2007 speech in Munich in which he turned away from earlier attempts to develop closer ties with the US. She said that appearance showed Putin as she knew him, "as someone who was always on guard against being treated badly and ready to give out at any time, including power games with a dog and making other people wait for him."

"One could find this all childish and reprehensible, one could shake one's head over it — but that didn't make Russia disappear from the map," she writes.

As she has before, Merkel defends a much-criticised 2015 peace deal for eastern Ukraine that she helped broker and her government's decisions to buy large quantities of natural gas from Russia. And she argues it was right to keep up diplomatic and trade ties with Moscow until she left power.

Nato's new secretary-general has said the alliance "needs to go further" to support Ukraine in its fight against a Russian invasion and accused Moscow of dangerously escalating the conflict by bringing in thousands of North Korean troops.

"In pursuing its illegal war in Ukraine, Russia makes use of North Korean weapons and troops, Iranian drones and Chinese dual-use goods for its defence industry," Mark Rutte said during a visit to Greece on Tuesday.

"This is a dangerous expansion of the war and a challenge to global peace and security."

Mr Rutte, a former Dutch prime minister who took over as Nato chief last month, met Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis in Athens and thanked him for Greek support for Ukraine that includes weapons and ammunition, as well as training for F-16 pilots and technicians.

"Our support for Ukraine has kept them in the fight, but we need to go further to change the trajectory of the conflict," Mr Rutte said.

Greece spends more than 3 per cent of its gross domestic product on defence, above the 2 per cent committed minimum for Nato members, and is seeking a change in European Union budget rules to allow for greater military spending. It also wants to help create a common European air defence system.

Mr Mitsotakis said: "We agree on one of the fundamental priorities for all allies: the need to strengthen our collective defence, a goal that requires a strong defence industry with significant investments."

He added that Athens backs "a more functional relationship between Nato and the European Union, to further strengthen the European pillar of the alliance".

Europe's Nato members have been discussing plans to boost defence investments for months due to the ongoing war in Ukraine and uncertainty surrounding the incoming US administration following the election victory of President-elect Donald Trump.

Turkey is in talks with the United States and Russia in an attempt to secure a US sanctions waiver so it can continue paying Gazprombank for Russian natural gas imports, Turkish authorities said.

Last week, the US imposed new sanctions on Russia's Gazprombank as President Joe Biden steps up actions to punish Moscow for its invasion of Ukraine before he leaves office in January.

Turkey imports almost all its gas needs and Russia is the top supplier, providing more than 50 per cent of its pipeline imports.

Turkish Energy Minister Alparslan Bayraktar referred to a previous waiver granted to Ankara when Washington earlier sanctioned Iran, saying Turkey needs something similar when it comes to Gazprombank in order for it to secure supply.

"These sanctions will affect Turkey. We cannot pay, if we cannot pay we cannot buy the goods. The foreign ministry is in talks," Bayraktar told reporters late on Monday.

Separately, a Turkish official said that representatives from Turkish and Russian foreign, trade and finance ministries as well as central banks met on Monday to discuss the US move and its impact on bilateral energy trade.

"We discussed with the Russian delegation what can be done to prevent Turkey from being subject to sanctions during this process and what the effects of this will be," the official said, requesting anonymity since discussions were private.

The official added that Turkey began talks with US counterparts before the Gazprombank sanctions were announced, since Washington usually first announces the move then grants exemptions. "They are working on this issue," he said.

European Union envoys will discuss a 15th package of sanctions on Wednesday in response to Russia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine, including on tankers carrying Russian oil and Chinese firms involved in making drones for Moscow, EU diplomats said.

A total of 29 entities and 54 individuals are lined up to be added to more than 2,200 on the existing sanctions list, which bans travel and freezes their assets within the 27-member bloc, the diplomats said. They did not anticipate significant dissent.

A more significant package will be proposed in January once Poland takes over the EU's rotating presidency from Hungary, whose Russia-friendly leader has frequently delayed or blocked measures that help Ukraine.

In September, Reuters uncovered that Russia had established a weapons programme in China to develop and produce long-range attack drones.

The proposal to add 48 tankers to the list is part of efforts by Western allies to limit Russian oil revenues by strengthening the Group of Seven nations (G7) price cap on Russian oil.

The effectiveness of the cap, imposed in late 2022, was always expected to decrease over time, Western officials said.

As previously reported by Reuters, the 16th package is expected to tighten restrictions on Russian liquefied natural gas (LNG) flows and expand the use of the "No Russia" clause that would oblige subsidiaries of EU companies in third countries to prohibit the re-export of certain goods to Russia.

The EU also wants to pressure financial institutions that help Russia circumvent Western restrictions, in line with a move Washington made earlier this year.

Two B-52 Stratofortress bombers of the United States were intercepted by two Russian SU-27 fighter jets near Russia's Baltic Sea exclave of Kaliningrad on Monday, a US official said on Tuesday.

The US bombers were in the Baltic Sea region to train together with their NATO ally Finland, which shares a 1,340 km (833 mile) border with Russia, amid escalating tensions stemming from Western backing for Ukraine to counter Russia's invasion.

Monday's interception of the US bombers by Russian fighter jets came just days after Russia fired a hypersonic intermediate-range ballistic missile at Ukraine last Thursday in response to a decision by the U.S. and Britain to allow Kyiv to strike Russian territory with advanced Western weapons.

The US bombers did not change their pre-planned flight pattern during what was deemed a safe and professional intercept by the Russian Su-27s, the U.S. official told Reuters.

On Monday, the US B-52s also flew with Finnish F/A-18Cs during a U.S-Finnish drill in Finnish airspace.

The Finnish Air Force said in an emailed statement to Reuters that its fighter jets and the U.S. bombers had flown a training mission in Finnish airspace on Monday as part of efforts to strengthen Finland's defence capability.

The Finnish Air Force statement did not address the Russian intercept but said the drill had included "simulated air-to-ground drops demonstrate our ability to work together in fire-use missions", adding the cooperation also contributed to NATO's collective defence and deterrence in the far north.

In an abrupt departure from its long-standing policy not to align itself militarily, Finland joined NATO in 2023 in direct response to Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

Having fought back an invasion attempt by the Soviet Union during World War Two, Finland has been among the staunchest European supporters of Ukraine in its attempt to push back the Russian invaders.

In the shattered Ukrainian city of Avdiivka, which Russian forces took in February this year, some of the few residents left said they were trying to rebuild their lives, though the scars of war – and the tears they provoke – remain.

Reuters footage, some of the first visuals by an international media organisation, showed destroyed buildings and vast amounts of rubble dusted with snow. Abandoned family pictures and clothes littered ruined apartments.

In a newly renovated apartment building in the city, Florida Troshina, a Russian-speaking Ukrainian, wept over the death of her daughter, killed just two days before Russian troops arrived.

Others told of the deprivations of living in a ruined city, which is known as Avdeyevka by Russian speakers.

"I just wanted to get out of the basement," Tatiana Golovina said in Russian, adding that she was pleased to be moving back above ground.

"It is hard there. There is no light, the lighting is bad, we have battery-powered lamps there - at least it is warm here," Golovina said.

Avdiivka, once a city of more than 37,000, was largely abandoned during the fighting though some residents endured the war and stayed.

"I think, starting from next year we will have the opportunity to approach in detail how and at what pace, what Avdiivka will look like in a post-military period, how it will be linked to the development of Donetsk," said Denis Pushilin, the Russian-installed head of the surrounding Donetsk region.

Downing Street has denied allegations the UK diplomat kicked out of Russia was a spy.

"To be clear, we refute these allegations. They're baseless. We're now considering our response," a No 10 spokesman said.

Downing Street said it would not pre-empt what the UK's response might be, when asked if a tit-for-tat expulsion would occur.

"This is not the first time that (Vladimir) Putin's government has made malicious, baseless accusations against our staff," the spokesman also said.

He added: "You'll remember that the Kremlin baselessly curtailed the accreditation of six UK diplomats in Russia earlier this year following action taken by the UK Government in response to the Russian state directing activity across Europe and in the UK.

"Today's announcement is no surprise coming from President Putin's government, which has overseen an illegal war in Ukraine.

"The UK Government is unapologetic about protecting our national interests and will now respond in due course, and our embassy in Moscow will continue its important work in Russia to support UK interests."