Russia

• Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov said Thursday that Russia will continue notifying the US of its missile tests despite its suspension of New START, the last nuclear arms control treaty remaining between Washington and Moscow. AWC
• A prominent Russian military blogger and war correspondent was killed in an explosion in St. Petersburg on Sunday. AWC
• Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Sunday held a call with his Russian counterpart, Sergey Lavrov, to discuss Evan Gershkovich, a reporter for The Wall Street Journal and US citizen who was detained in Russia last week over spying allegations. AWC
• The Russian ambassador to Belarus, Boris Gryzlov, said Sunday that Russian tactical nuclear weapons will be placed in western Belarus, near its border with NATO members. AWC
• On Sunday, a senior Ukrainian official outlined his vision for what Kyiv would do if it retakes the Crimean peninsula from Russia. AWC
• A Kyiv court on Saturday ordered the house arrest of Metropolitan Pavel, a Ukrainian Orthodox priest who is the head monk at the historic Pechersk Lavra Monastery. AWC
• The Turkish parliament on Thursday unanimously ratified Finland’s NATO membership, clearing the final hurdle to Helsinki joining the Western military alliance. AWC

China

• Former Taiwanese President Ma Ying-jeou told a Chinese official Thursday that Beijing and Taipei must do everything possible to avoid a war. AWC

Middle East

• The UN’s top court on Thursday ruled that the US violated international law by freezing assets owned by Iranian companies. AWC
• Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley told Congress on Wednesday that the US should be targeting Iran’s Quds Force, a branch of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), following a drone attack in Syria that killed a US contractor. AWC
• Two members of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) were killed in Israeli airstrikes that targeted the Syrian capital of Damascus on Friday. AWC
• Saudi Arabia is planning to invite Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to an Arab League summit Riyadh is hosting in May, Reuters reported Sunday, citing three people familiar with the plan. AWC