Vladimir Putin

Russian President Vladimir Putin has ordered the country's first mobilisation since World War Two and warned the West that if it continued its "nuclear blackmail", Moscow would respond with the might of all its vast arsenal.

Prime Minister Modi, while meeting the Russian President on the sidelines of the 22nd Shanghai Cooperation Organization meeting in Uzbekistan's Samarkand last week, told Putin that 'today's era is not of war'. Macron told world leaders thatthis was not the time to oppose the West against the East or for revenge against the West.

"I think what you heard in Uzbekistan from both Chinese and Indian leaders is indicative of the fact that Putin doesn't have a lot of sympathetic ears out there to what he's been doing in Ukraine," said John Kirby, Coordinator for Strategic Communications at the White House's National Security Council.

PM Modi is also scheduled to launch the National Logistic Policy today at Vigyan Bhawan. The logistic policy is aimed at bringing down the logistic costs and improving the competitiveness of domestic goods in the global market.

The Russian President took a clear broadside at the United States, which has been leading efforts to support Ukraine and impose sanctions on Russia.

The video, that is now viral on social media, was shared by the Russian state-owned news agency RIA shows President Putin laughing as Shehbaz struggles with the headphones. The video was also shared by former Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan's party Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf's (PTI).

Earlier, Pakistan's foreign office ruled out a bilateral meeting between PM Modi and his Pakistani counterpart Shehbaz Sharif. Meanwhile, there is no official word from both India as well as China on a possible meeting between Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping.

This comes a week after a group of politicians from St Petersburg appealed to the State Duma to bring charges of state treason against Putin and strip him of power, citing a series of reasons including Russia's military losses in Ukraine and the damage to its economy from Western sanctions.

The US and European Union, she said, have set up a task force to work on ways to increase alternate sources of natural gas to Europe and help reduce Europe's demand for Russian energy through increased efficiency and clean energy deployment.

Gorbachev's funeral that is scheduled to be held on Saturday will take place in the famous Hall of Columns inside Moscow's House of Unions, the same place where Josef Stalin's body was put on display following his death in 1953. The service will be open to the public and Gorbachev will then be buried at Moscow's Novodevichy Cemetery.