Vienna, June 16 (IANS/DPA) Not all participants at the Ukraine Peace Summit in Switzerland are expected to sign the final declaration, although more because of the wording than an actual lack of support, according to Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer.

Diplomatic subtleties in the writing aside, the basic common position would not be affected, Nehammer said on Sunday on the sidelines of the event at the Burgenstock mountain hotel resort near Lucerne.

“That’s why I’m not so worried if not everyone signs now,” said the Chancellor.

The question of the scope of a follow-up conference was also still difficult to answer.

Before Russia also takes a seat at the negotiating table, another conference in a different format is conceivable, Nehammer added. “You have to see it as a process.”

The two-day conference of 92 states and eight international organisations was due to end on Sunday afternoon when the final declaration was also to be published.

According to Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba, the conference, as such, brought significant progress.

Kuleba said that all countries that were not present were also aware of the impetus provided by the meeting.

Overall, the process that has been initiated is welcome, he added.

“We are on the right track,” he said.

Kuleba again stressed the need to support Ukraine militarily with the highest quality weapons possible.

According to him, the stronger Ukraine is, the more willing Moscow will be to negotiate peace.

Press conferences were planned at the end of the conference, including Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

The event aimed to initiate a peace process in which Russia would also be involved in the long term. Officials from Moscow were not invited on this occasion and did not express a wish to attend.

–IANS/DPA

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Moscow, June 16 (IANS/DPA) At least three prisoners in the southern Russian city of Rostov-on-Don, who took employees hostage during an escape bid on Sunday morning, were killed by security forces in a storming operation, officials said.

According to authorities, the men who tried to break out of the remand facility were accomplices of the Islamic State (IS).

During the storming operation, “the criminals were eliminated, the employees who were held hostage have been released and are safe,” the Russian penitentiary service told the state news agency TASS.

It was initially reported that six men tried to break out of the facility and took two guards hostage.

A video posted earlier by Russian media allegedly showed a hostage-taker who described himself and the other inmates as supporters of IS.

The escape bid began early on Sunday morning.

The prisoners reportedly broke through the barred window of their cell block and entered adjacent staff rooms, where they overwhelmed the head of operations and others.

The men were said to have been armed with knives and other sharpened objects. In return for the release of the hostages, they were demanding firearms, an escape vehicle, and free passage.

The breakout was contained, and surveillance of inmates continued in other parts of the facility while police cordoned off traffic in the vicinity of the prison.

The authorities said they were investigating whether the escape attempt had been coordinated from outside.

Three hostage takers had been sentenced to 18 years in jail in December 2023 for plotting to blow up the Supreme Court building in Karachay-Cherkessia, southern Russia, TASS reported, citing the court verdict.

The residents of Russia’s predominantly Ingushetia had previously sworn an oath of allegiance to the Islamic State, according to the verdict. Their jail sentence had not yet taken effect.

–IANS/DPA

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New Delhi, June 16 (IANS) Sri Lankan President Ranil Wickremesinghe said on Sunday that negotiations are currently underway regarding the sale of surplus renewable energy to India.

“A feasibility study is currently being conducted on establishing a power line connection between Sri Lanka and India, with further discussions expected during the upcoming visit of the Indian Foreign Minister to Sri Lanka,” the Lankan President’s Media Division (PMD) said in a statement.

President Wickremesinghe also mentioned that a pre-feasibility study for a land connection between Sri Lanka and India has been completed, and a full feasibility study will be conducted soon.

The Lankan President was in New Delhi last week to attend the swearing-in ceremony of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

During the visit, he also held discussions with External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar, who is expected to visit Colombo soon, to oversee the progress of development projects initiated in the country with Indian investments.

“The discussions also covered India’s ‘Neighborhood First’ policy. Minister Jaishankar highlighted plans for an industrial zone in Trincomalee, to be established by the Indian government, which will attract numerous Indian investors and potentially investors from other countries,” the PMD had said in a statement on June 10.

–IANS

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Ulan Bator, June 16 (IANS) A member of Mongolia’s Democratic Party was killed amid the ongoing campaign for the country’s regular parliamentary elections, the country’s National Police Agency (NPA) announced on Sunday.

A preliminary investigation indicated that the chairman of the Democratic Party’s Committee of Sant Soum (administrative subdivision) in the central province of Uvurkhangai was beaten to death by a man on Saturday, reports Xinhua news agency, citing the NPA.

The attacker is reportedly an election campaigner for another party, according to the police.

With a population of 3.5 million, Mongolia has set June 28 as the date for its next parliamentary elections for the State Great Khural, the country’s unicameral Parliament.

The Asian country’s General Election Commission has registered 1,294 candidates from 19 political parties, two coalitions, and 42 independents for the parliamentary elections.

According to the law on the elections of the State Great Khural, the election campaign, which started on June 10, is expected to halt 24 hours before polling.

–IANS

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Colombo, June 16 (IANS) Sri Lanka Navy said on Sunday that it seized 702 kg of Tendu leaves smuggled into the country and arrested two suspects during a search operation.

The Navy added that it conducts regular search operations and patrols in the coastal areas of the island, to prevent the influx of a wide range of illegal items into the country, Xinhua news agency reported.

As part of these ongoing efforts, staff vessel SLNS Thambapanni, under the Northwestern Naval Command, conducted a search operation on Saturday in the Daluwa area leading to the seizure.

The seized consignment was packed in 19 sacks.

Additionally, the operation led to the confiscation of a three-wheeler used in the illegal activity, according to the Navy.

–IANS

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