Europe

MOSCOW, May 25. /TASS/: Russia expels five Swedish diplomats in a retaliatory move, the Russian Foreign Ministry said on Thursday.

Sweden’s ambassador to Moscow Malena Mard was summoned to the Russian Foreign Ministry on May 25.

"The Swedish ambassador was notified that the Russian side had decided to declare as personae non gratae five Swedish diplomats, including three staffers of the defense attache's office at the Swedish embassy in Moscow as a retaliatory measure," the news release said.

MOSCOW, May 25. /TASS/: The Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) is becoming one of centers of the evolving multipolar world, Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday.

"I note with confidence that cooperation within the Eurasian Union framework continues entrenching and our association is consistently taking up the position of one of independent and self-sufficient centers of the evolving multipolar world," the head of state said.

GENEVA, May 25 (NNN-ACN) — Cuban Health Minister Jose Angel Portal Miranda and his Italian counterpart Orazio Schillaci penned a Memo of Understanding on bilateral cooperation in healthcare and medical sciences to further strengthen links between the two ministries.

At the meeting, which took place during the 76th World Health Assembly in Geneva, Portal Miranda said that the accord backs the goal of Italy and Cuba to deepen cooperation in the benefit of their peoples.

May 25 (Reuters) - The Kremlin said on Thursday that Russia's security services knew what they were doing after a top Ukrainian intelligence official said President Vladimir Putin was number one on Kyiv's kill list.

Vadym Skibitsky, deputy head of Ukraine's military intelligence service, told Germany's Die Welt newspaper in an interview that Kyiv wanted to assassinate Putin "because he coordinates and decides what happens" in the war and that the Russian leader was aware he topped Ukraine's kill list.

MOSCOW, May 25 (Reuters) - Russia moved ahead on Thursday with a plan to deploy tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus, whose leader said the warheads were already on the move, in the Kremlin's first deployment of such bombs outside Russia since the 1991 fall of the Soviet Union.

The U.S. State Department denounced the deployment plan, but said Washington had no intention of altering its position on strategic nuclear weapons or seen any signs Russia was preparing to use a nuclear weapon.

LONDON, May 25 (Reuters) - The United Arab Emirates has become a key trade hub for Russian gold since Western sanctions over Ukraine cut Russia's more traditional export routes, Russian customs records show.

The records, which contain details of nearly a thousand gold shipments between Feb. 24, 2022 and March 3 this year, reveal the names of over 100 non-Russian companies that have handled Russian gold since Western markets banned imports from Moscow.

The shipments in the records, supplied to Reuters by a commercial provider, may not cover all exports in the period.

MADRID, May 25 (Reuters) - Killer whales severely damaged a sailing boat off the coast of southern Spain, the local maritime rescue service said on Thursday, adding to dozens of orca attacks on vessels recorded so far this year on Spanish and Portuguese coasts.

In the early hours of Thursday, a group of orcas broke the rudder and pierced the hull after ramming into the Mustique on its way to Gibraltar, prompting its crew of four to contact Spanish authorities for help, a spokesman for the maritime rescue service said.

STOCKHOLM (AP) — Sweden’s defense minister says the Nordic country is considering whether to let Ukrainian pilots test its JAS 39 Gripen fighter jets.

So far, Sweden has ruled out sending any Gripen fighters to Ukraine, saying it needs them for its own territorial defense. But Defense Minister Pål Jonsson told Swedish broadcaster TV4 that Sweden was looking with a “positive spirit” on a Ukrainian request to allow its pilots to try out the Swedish plane.

BELGRADE, Serbia (AP) — A U.S. senator on Thursday said he hopes Serbia would adopt Western sanctions against Russia over its invasion of Ukraine, telling the Balkan country that “there is no future” in an alliance with Moscow.

“Russia’s invasion has been an absolute disaster and my belief is that Russia is ultimately going to lose this conflict,” Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn) told reporters in the Serbian capital Belgrade. Serbia is the only country in Europe that has not imposed any sanctions on Russia.

LISBON, Portugal (AP) — Police in Portugal have ended the latest search for clues regarding the disappearance of Madeleine McCann, the British child who went missing in 2007 in southern Portugal.

Authorities gave no details about the results of the search Thursday. A statement by Portugal’s Judiciary Police said some material had been collected and would be handed over to German authorities for examination.