Russia President Vladimir Putin denies meddling in U.S. politics — though he sometimes suggests, with a wink, that “patriotic” Russians may have done so. But there is one point that he always insists on: that the United States does the same to others. He has charged that the U.S. government interfered “aggressively” in Russia’s 2012 presidential vote, which Putin won after a year of protests against him. He claims that Washington “gathered opposition forces and financed them.”

“In the area of security and defense, France and the UAE are fighting a common battle against terrorism and extremism, both on the ground and in the minds,” said Ludovic Pouille, the new French Ambassador to the UAE. [...] About the joint initiatives of France and the UAE, he said: “I am thinking in particular of the joint Franco-UAE initiative that led to the organization last December in Abu Dhabi of the international Conference on Safeguarding Endangered Cultural Heritage.," the envoy said.

A delegation of Japanese officials and businessmen arrived at Russia’s Kunashir Island on Wednesday to inspect facilities that may be used for joint Russian-Japanese business projects at the Kuril Islands, which Japan calls its Northern Territories.