UKRAINE WAR: PUTIN-ZELENSKYY TALKS POSSIBLE AFTER KEY ISSUES SETTLED, SAYS RUSSIA

Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelenskyy can meet for in-person talks only after key issues of a potential peace deal between the two countries are met, Russia's foreign minister Sergey Lavrov said on Monday. His statement comes as delegations of the two countries are set to meet for a fresh round of talks in Turkey as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine entered its 33rd day.

Lavrov further said the meeting between Putin and Zelenksyy is “necessary” once Russia and Ukraine “have clarity” about solutions on all important matters.

The decision to hold fresh talks between Russia and Ukraine was taken after Putin and his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdoğan agreed over the phone on Sunday for Istanbul to host the event. The delegations were initially set to begin the talks on Monday but Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said that was unlikely as the negotiators would be arriving in Turkey later in the day.

Speaking to reporters on a conference call, Peskov further said they are adhering to the policy of “not disclosing any information about the talks” as it could disrupt the negotiation process.

Lavrov's comments come after Zelenksyy said that he is ready to discuss Ukraine's neutrality and security guarantees with Putin to secure peace between the two nations “without delay”. The Ukrainian president added that only a face-to-face meeting with Russia's leader could end the war.

On Sunday, Zelenskyy said Ukraine is willing to compromise over the status of separatist Donbass region in the eastern part of the country as part of a peace deal. His comment came hours after the head of Ukrainian military intelligence, Kyrylo Budanov, accused Russia of trying to split the east European country in two.

“It is an attempt to create North and South Korea in Ukraine,” Budanov said, referring to the division of Korea following the end of World War II.

RUSSIA WON’T GIVE EUROPE FREE GAS AS G7 REJECTS RUBLE DEMAND

Russia said on Monday it will not supply gas to Europe for free as it works out methods for accepting payments for its gas exports in rubles but G7 nations refused the demand.

At a meeting of European Union leaders on Friday, no common position emerged on Russia’s demand last week that “unfriendly” countries must pay in rubles, not euros, for its gas in the wake of the United States and European allies teaming up on a series of sanctions aimed at Russia.

Concerns over security of supply were enhanced after the demand, with companies and EU nations scrambling to understand the ramifications.

The Russian central bank, the government and Gazprom, which accounts for 40 per cent of European gas imports, should present their proposals for ruble gas payments to President Vladimir Putin by March 31.

“We are not going to supply gas for free, this is clear,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told a conference call. “In our situation, this is hardly possible and appropriate to engage in charity (with European customers).”

Russia will take decisions in due course should European countries refuse to pay in the Russian currency, he added.

Meanwhile, energy ministers from the Group of Seven industrialized nations rejected the ruble payment demands, Germany economy and climate protection minister Robert Habeck said after talks with his counterparts.

“All G7 ministers have agreed that this is a unilateral and clear breach of existing contracts,” he told reporters after a virtual conference with G7 energy ministers.

BIDEN SAYS REMARK ON PUTIN'S POWER WAS ABOUT 'MORAL OUTRAGE', NO CHANGE IN US POLICY

US President Joe Biden has said that he would make "no apologies" and was not “walking anything back” after his controversial remark that President Vladimir Putin “cannot remain in power" and emphasising that his comment was a "moral outrage" that he felt after Russia invaded Ukraine.

Biden also underlined that he is not calling for regime change in Moscow.

When pressed by reporters on Monday, Biden refused to apologise for his off-script comments, which his administration has been having a tough time explaining over the past few days.

“I'm not walking anything back. The fact of the matter is I was expressing the moral outrage I felt toward the way Putin is dealing ..., which is just brutality, half the children of Ukraine. I just come from being with those families,” Biden said at a White House press conference.

“But I want to make it clear, I wasn't then nor am I now articulating a policy change. I was expressing the moral outrage that I feel and I make no apologies for it,” he said when asked about his remarks last week in Europe where he had gone to shore up his allies and show solidarity with the people of Ukraine.

Pressed by reporters further, Biden said that a regime change is not the American policy.

“He should remain in power just like, you know, bad people shouldn't continue to do bad things. But it doesn't mean we have a fundamental policy to do anything to take Putin down in any way,” he asserted.

RUSSIA-UKRAINE WAR: BILLIONAIRE ABRAMOVICH, UKRAINIAN PEACE NEGOTIATORS HIT BY SUSPECTED POISONING, SAY REPORTS

Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich and Ukrainian peace negotiators suffered symptoms of suspected poisoning earlier this month after a meeting in Kyiv, the Wall Street Journal and the investigative outlet Bellingcat reported on Monday, citing people familiar with the matter.

Abramovich, who accepted a Ukrainian request to help negotiate an end to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and at least two senior members of the Ukrainian team, were affected, the WSJ report said.

Ukrainian officials poured cold water on the report. Asked about the suspected poisoning, Ukrainian negotiator Mykhailo Podolyak said “there is a lot of speculation, various conspiracy theories”. Rustem Umerov, another member of the negotiating team, urged people not to trust “unverified information”.

The Kremlin did not immediately respond to an emailed request for comment.

According to the WSJ report, Abramovich and the negotiators showed symptoms that included red eyes, constant and painful tearing, and peeling skin on their faces and hands.

Abramovich and the Ukrainian negotiators, including Crimean Tatar lawmaker Umerov, have since improved and their lives are not in danger, WSJ reported.

A person familiar with the matter confirmed the incident to Reuters but said Abramovich had not allowed it to stop him working.

Bellingcat said experts who examined the incident concluded “poisoning with an undefined chemical weapon” was the most likely cause.

The West has imposed heavy sanctions on Russian billionaires such as Abramovich, Russian companies and Russian officials, in an attempt to force Putin to withdraw from Ukraine.

U.S. EASES TRAVEL ADVISORY FOR INDIA

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and State Department eased COVID-19 travel ratings for India on Monday.

The CDC has changed its COVID-19 advisory for India to “Level 1: Low” from “Level 3: High,” which urges Americans to avoid travel to those locations.

NO-CONFIDENCE MOTION AGAINST IMRAN KHAN TABLED IN PAK ASSEMBLY

The no-confidence motion against Pakistan prime minister Imran Khan has been tabled in the Pakistan National Assembly. Leader of Opposition Shehbaz Sharif tabled the no-confidence motion in the presence of deputy speaker Qasim Khan Suri. After tabling, voting was held on the acceptance of the resolution in which 161 lawmakers voted in favour.

The National Assembly has been adjourned till March 31, which means that voting must take after three days but end before the seventh day. After the tabling of no-confidence motion, the constitution of Pakistan does not allow the prime minister to dissolve the house and call for fresh elections.

In a latest development, the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaaf announced PML-Q leader Chaudhary Pervez Elahi as the candidate for the post of Punjab chief minister. Usman Buzdar, the chief minister of Punjab province who had faced a no-confidence motion, has tendered his resignation.

The ruling Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) has 155 members in the National Assembly and needs support of 17 more lawmakers to defeat the no-confidence motion.

It needs to be seen what offers will be made to the Balochistan Awami Party (BAP) and Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan. This as the BAP has already declared that its five members will vote for the opposition. In the current Pakistan Assembly, the opposition parties have a strength of 168 members, needing just four more votes to defeat Imran Khan. Shehbaz Sharif's PML-N has 84 members while Asif Ali Zardari's Pakistan People's Party has 56 members.

Besides the opposition, a substantial number of PTI lawmakers are believed to be voting against Imran Khan. Two ministers on Sunday tendered their resignation hours before the Pakistan prime minister addressed a rally at Islamabad's Parade Ground.

RUSSIAN NOBEL PEACE WINNER’S PAPER SUSPENDS OP AMID MOSCOW PRESSURE

Russia’s leading independent newspaper suspended operations on Monday after pressure from Russian authorities, a move that comes less than six months after its editor Dmitry Muratov co-won the Nobel Peace Prize for his paper’s courageous reporting under difficult circumstances. The paper, Novaya Gazeta, said it will remain closed for the duration of what the paper referred to in quotations as “the special operation” in Ukraine, the term that Russian authorities insist media must use. The newspaper was the last major independent media outlet critical of Putin’s government after others either shut their doors or had their websites blocked. Exactly why Novaya Gazeta was warned remains unclear. Roskomnadzor claimed the paper had failed to identify an unnamed NGO as a “foreign agent” in its reporting, as required by Russian law.

SHANGHAI REPORTS RECORD ASYMPTOMATIC COVID CASES AS LOCKDOWNS ENTER SECOND DAY

China's financial hub of Shanghai reported a record 4,381 asymptomatic COVID-19 cases and 96 symptomatic cases for March 28, the city government said on its official WeChat account on Tuesday.

That compared with 3,450 new asymptomatic cases and 50 new cases with symptoms reported a day earlier.

Shanghai on Sunday announced a two-stage lockdown of the city of 26 million people to carry out COVID-19 testing over a nine-day period.

CHINA TO HOST MINISTERS OF AFGHANISTAN’S NEIGHBOURS

China will on Wednesday and Thursday host the third meeting of Foreign Ministers of Afghanistan’s neighbours, with Beijing giving its backing to a new dialogue mechanism that brings together Russia, Pakistan and Iran among other neighbours.

Pakistan had in September 2021 chaired the first meeting of this group, which was held virtually, with the second meeting hosted by Tehran the following month.

China will this week host Foreign Ministers and representatives from Pakistan, Iran, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan, the Chinese Foreign Ministry said on Monday, while the Acting Foreign Minister of Afghanistan’s Taliban government, Amir Khan Muttaqi, will also attend the meeting in China’s Anhui province.

The meeting will also see Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov travel to China, his first visit there following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Mr. Lavrov is also expected to travel to India this week, as Moscow comes under increasing pressure from the West as well as from sanctions in the wake of its invasion of Ukraine.

“The Afghan situation is now in a critical transition from chaos to order, with the Afghan people facing multiple challenges from within and outside that need to be addressed with more support and help from others,” China’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said on Monday. “By hosting the third Foreign Ministers’ Meeting among the Neighbouring Countries of Afghanistan, China looks forward to pooling more consensus on the Afghan issue from neighbouring countries, discussing ways to jointly stabilise the Afghan situation and support and help the Afghan people, and share our voice with the rest of the international community as neighbours of Afghanistan.

TALIBAN BARS GOVT STAFF WITHOUT BEARDS FROM WORK

Kabul : Afghanistan’s Taliban has instructed all government employees to wear a beard and adhere to a dress code or risk being fired, three sources told Reuters, the latest of several new restrictions imposed by the hardline Islamist administration. The sources said representatives from the Ministry for the Propagation of Virtue and Prevention of Vice were patrolling the entrances to government offices on Monday to check that employees were in compliance with the new rules.

Employees were being instructed not to shave their beards and to wear local clothing consisting of a long, loose top and trousers, and a hat or turban. They were also told to ensure they prayed at the correct times, two of the sources said.

Government workers were told they would from now on be unable to enter offices and would eventually be fired if they did not meet the dress codes, the sources said. A spokesman for the public morality ministry did not respond to a request for comment.

Last week, the Taliban banned women from taking flights without a male chaperone and failed to open girls’ schools as promised. On Sunday it ordered parks to be segregated by sex, with women allowed to enter three days a week, and men the other four days, including the weekend, meaning even married couples and families cannot visit together.

AT LEAST 20 KILLED IN SHOOTING IN MEXICO

At least 20 people were killed in a Sunday night shootout in Michoacan, a western Mexican state plunged into violence by clashes between rival drug gangs.

An attack at a venue often used for hosting illegal betting on cockfights in the town of Las Tinajas was reported to the state Attorney General at around 0430 GMT on Monday.

The A-G’s office said the lifeless bodies of 16 men and three women were found at the scene, all bearing gunshot wounds.

It later said an additional person had died en route to hospital, while another five were being treated for injuries. Authorities were working to track down those responsible for the bloodshed.