MOSCOW, June 22. /TASS/. Iran and the United States discuss Lebanon, asset releases and oil sales during first round of talks, as Russia observes military preparations in Europe. Meanwhile, Ukraine’s Vladimir Zelensky issues threats toward Belarus over strikes. These stories topped Monday's headlines in Russia.
Vedomosti: Iran, US hold talks on Lebanon, release of assets, oil sales
The first round of US-Iran talks after the signing of a memorandum on a ceasefire in the Middle East started at the Swiss resort of Burgenstock on Sunday. The talks, initially scheduled for June 19, were postponed after an Israeli air raid on Hezbollah positions in Lebanon.
The US negotiators included Vice President JD Vance, Special Presidential Envoy Steve Witkoff, and US President Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner. The Iranian delegation comprised Speaker of the Mejlis (Iran’s unicameral parliament) Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, Deputy Security Council Chairman Ali Bagheri Kani, Central Bank Chairman Abdolnaser Hemmati and Hamid Boord, Deputy Oil Minister and CEO of the National Iranian Oil Company. The meeting was also attended by Pakistani and Qatari officials acting as mediators. The parties primarily discussed the cessation of hostilities in Lebanon and access to UN inspectors to Iranian nuclear facilities, Axios reported, citing sources.
The latest round came a day after Tehran closed the Strait of Hormuz for shipping traffic amid Israeli strikes on Lebanon. The Iranian military leadership explained the move citing refusal by the Israeli army to withdraw from areas in southern Lebanon, while the republic’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated in a release that the agreement to cease hostilities will be jeopardized unless the Americans persuade the Israelis to adhere to the Lebanon ceasefire.
Israel cannot fully cease military operations in Lebanon either for military or political reasons, Lyudmila Samarskaya, a researcher at the Center for Middle Eastern Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences’ World Economy and International Relations Institute, told Vedomosti. "While a temporary ceasefire is possible, low-intensity clashes or even sporadic attacks will likely continue until a more or less acceptable for all political decision is finalized," the expert argued.
Israel will likely try to disrupt the US-Iranian agreements by any means possible, agrees Doctor of Political Science at the University of Salzburg Kamran Gasanov. For the Israeli leadership, he noted, a potential deal does not serve their country’s interests, nor is it acceptable in terms of the domestic situation. "Closer to the October parliamentary election, the Israelis are likely to take any measures to play the card of a `sieged fortress’. And any hostilities, be it in the Gaza Strip or Lebanon, will negatively affect the American-Iranian talks," the political analyst believes.
According to Gazanov, Iran protecting Hezbollah’s interests in the international arena is a matter of political prestige, aimed at maintaining its image as a defender of Muslims. "This is especially true in the context of Tehran's defeat in Syria. After the recent war, the Iranians feel empowered, especially against the backdrop of a not very stable situation in the United States. Amid the ongoing negotiations, the Iranians will try to make the most of this situation," the political scientist added.
According to Ilya Vaskin, junior researcher at the Higher School of Economics’ Center for the Study of the Middle East, Caucasus and Central Asia, Tehran will not agree to reopen the Hormuz Strait before the talks result in a long-term agreement, a scenario that he said is currently highly unlikely. In case of success, the expert in Iranian studies, concluded, Tehran could be ready to allow IAEA experts access to its nuclear facilities.
Izvestia: Europe viewed as preparing for new war with Russia
Russia is observing military preparations by NATO and the EU that increasingly resemble the German Barbarossa plan, the strategy by Nazi Germany to attack the USSR, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grushko told Izvestia. According to the senior Russian diplomat, the principal task of Brussels is to inflict a strategic defeat on Moscow. At the same time, the West believes that a military clash with Russia can take place at the turn of 2030. The assistance to Kiev and de facto approval of the neo-Nazi ideology pose a serious threat not only to Russia, but also to Europe itself, experts warn.
Germany’s army chief, Lieutenant General Christian Freuding, earlier stressed that according to intelligence agreed by all 32 NATO member states, Germany and its allies should be fully prepared to wage a conventional war with Russia by 2029. The leaders of the EU and NATO have intensified their coordination toward a plan of increasing military spending at an accelerated rate. Earlier this month, the United Kingdom announced an increase in expenditure to 2.5-3% of GDP, citing the potential risk of a clash with Russia in four years.
Meanwhile, Ukrainian troops have been playing the role of a battering ram against Russia. "Over recent decades, Western funds, including European, have actively invested in supporting radical nationalist movements, mostly in western and central Ukraine, as they formed a layer of Ukrainian nationalists who were actively transforming into neo-Nazi movements," Foreign Ministry’s Ambassador-at-Large on Kiev’s War Crimes Rodion Miroshnik told Izvestia.
Moscow has repeatedly warned of risks of supporting neo-Nazi manifestations in Europe, mostly in Ukraine and Baltic states since neo-Nazism poses a threat not only to Russia but also to neighboring European countries.
Europe previously endorsed Nazism and it supports neo-Nazism that has gripped Ukraine today, Mikhail Myagkov, Scientific Director with the Russian Military Historical Society, maintained. "The main thing is there is an enemy’ in Russia. But our past history and the history of world wars of the 20th century, we know perfectly well what this led to. We are well aware of how England, France, and the United States embraced the policy of appeasing’ Hitler and the Nazis in the 1930s. They pushed Hitler's aggression eastwards," he concluded.
Vedomosti: Why Zelensky issued threats toward Belarus
Attempts by Ukraine’s Vladimir Zelensky to threaten strikes on Belarus mostly aim at exerting psychological pressure, while any large-scale invasion is seen as unlikely amid a shortfall of troops and the terrain in border areas. However, the threat of drone attacks is real, a source close to Russia’s security agencies told Vedomosti.
On June 19, Zelensky first told President Nasry Asfura of Honduras and later took to his Telegram channel to warn that he would give Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko a week to authorize the withdrawal of Russian equipment being used to correct strikes on Ukraine. He also claimed that Belarus has been supplying Russia with fuel for use by the Russian Army while adding that Ukraine knows of Belarusian companies that collaborate with Russia’s defense industry. Such rhetoric can be interpreted as a threat to strike all these facilities, the source added. Lukashenko has yet to comment on Zelensky’s threats.
The West is currently playing an active role in Ukrainian pressure on Belarus as it seeks to coerce Lukashenko into turning his back’ on Russia, Ivan Skorikov, head of the Ukraine section at the Institute of CIS Countries, told Vedomosti. However, the expert views a military escalation or a Ukrainian invasion of Belarus as unlikely. "There are impassible swamps that hampered the advance of Fascist German invaders during the Great Patriotic War on the border between Ukraine and Belarus. As a result, Zelensky will confine himself to various provocations in the form of the above-mentioned ultimatums or stray drone or missile incidents in Belarus. The ultimatum itself is an attempt by Kiev to strengthen its negotiating position and present itself as strong and victorious’ in the eyes of the US and EU leaders," Skorikov argued. This is especially important for the Zelensky government given Washington's position: US President Donald Trump has already stated that he is returning to resolving the Ukrainian conflict, so ahead of negotiations that are undesirable for Kiev, he is trying to escalate the process as much as possible, the expert concluded.
Director of the Center for Analysis of Strategies and Technologies Ruslan Pukhov told Vedomosti that recent statements from Zelensky are an attempt to drive a wedge between Russia and its ally that our country needs so much. The Belarusian side will likely offer resistance in diplomatic terms, but overall it is not seeking to escalate things, the expert argued.
Kommersant: Russian thermal coal shipments to India rise 16% in January-May
As a key buyer of Russian fuel, India increased Russian thermal coal imports by 16% in the first five months of 2026. Overall, the South Asian nation cut its thermal coal imports by 12% over that period, and Russian suppliers have likely benefited from a discount. In January-May, Russia’s total coal exports rose by almost 5% year-on-year, but production has declined.
In January-May, Russia increased its thermal coal exports to India by 16% to 3.7 million metric tons, BigMint has calculated, making it the fourth-largest supplier behind Indonesia (36.9 million metric tons), South Africa (14.4 million metric tons), and the United States (6.1 million metric tons). As regards export growth, Russia ranked second after Australia which raised its coal exports to India by 40% to 1.8 million metric tons.
Alexander Kotovo, a consulting partner at NEFT Research, forecasts that Russia may increase its coal sales by 5% to 10% in the second half of 2026, with Turkey, India, and China having potential upside in coal demand growth by year-end.
This, however, the expert continued, will largely depend on the geopolitical situation in the Middle East - the cessation of hostilities and the long-term reopening of the Strait of Hormuz. "Unless these conditions are met, exports will more likely stagnate instead of growing," Kotov told Kommersant. According to BigMint, the reopening of the waterway and falling oil prices should push freight rates lower. At the same time, BigMint added, limited supplies from Indonesia and uncertainty around its government’s plans to tighten export controls on this strategically important commodity will keep coal prices elevated.
Media: Russia reverses course on ban of foreign neural networks
Russia has reconsidered its decision about banning foreign neural networks. The IT systems already using those can continue to work with them until 2032, according to the final draft law on AI, seen by Izvestia. Moreover, this involves only large language models and sensitive areas such as public administration and critical infrastructure. And businesses will retain the right to independently choose technological solutions that meet their needs, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Grigorenko told Izvestia. Also, the requirement to train domestic large language models on Russian data only has been removed from the document. Otherwise, the introduction of AI in Russia would have come to a halt, experts say.
The bill will pave the way to a legal framework for regulating this technology in Russia, Grigorenko explained. "First of all, the document introduces basic concepts, including artificial intelligence and large language models, into legislation. Today, such technologies are being actively embraced by thousands of companies and government agencies, but these have not been officially defined in the Russian legal field. In addition, the bill creates conditions for the priority development of domestic AI models," he noted.
Roman Mezentsev, an independent IT and banking technology expert, told Rossiyskaya Gazeta that segregating sovereign and national models and allowing the latter to use open source solutions is key. This would reduce development costs and allow businesses to qualify for government support, he argued.
The latest bill "is not more about a framework ban-it-all law which was extremely dangerous for the market and technology development but about supporting sovereign models, which is the right thing in strategic terms," Valery Sidorenko, Interium CEO and member of the Public Board at the Russian Digital Development Ministry, concluded.
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