MOSCOW, May 6. /TASS/. Russia has a strong opportunity to act as a mediator between India and Pakistan; Donald Trump intends to increase US defense spending to unprecedented levels; and Romania may halt weapons transit to Ukraine after its presidential election. These stories have topped Tuesday’s newspaper headlines across Russia.
Izvestia: Russia may serve as mediator between India, Pakistan
Russia could potentially act as a mediator to de-escalate tensions between India and Pakistan, said experts interviewed by Izvestia. Notably, it was the Soviet Union that brokered the 1966 declaration on an end to hostilities between the two countries. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on Monday held talks with his counterparts from both South Asian nations.
It has been two weeks since the terrorist attack in the Indian union territory of Jammu and Kashmir that New Delhi blamed on Pakistani terrorists backed by Islamabad. Tensions between the neighboring nuclear powers are continuing to mount. After imposing diplomatic restrictions, the parties moved to combat alert drills. New Delhi reports ceasefire violations by Pakistan every day. Meanwhile, Pakistan has conducted missile tests, launching a surface-to-surface missile with a range of 120 km and a ballistic missile with a range of 450 km. As the situation escalates, Islamabad has requested a UN Security Council meeting.
However, a joint statement or even a formal resolution is unlikely to ease tensions at once. In such a situation, Moscow could play a key role in resolving the intensifying conflict, said Indian and Russian experts.
The Indians most likely take Russia’s advice seriously but only when it is given quietly behind closed doors, Atul Kohli, professor of Politics and International Affairs at Princeton University, observed. The Indians don’t want any external player to publicly act as a mediator in their conflict with Pakistan. Islamabad, in turn, will also listen to Russia, but most probably if "the message" is passed through China, the expert added.
In theory, Russia could offer to host negotiations in a few months, said Alexey Kupriyanov, head of the Pacific Region Center at the Russian Academy of Sciences’ Institute of World Economy and International Relations. After all, the 1966 Tashkent Declaration on an end to hostilities between India and Pakistan was signed in the Soviet Union.
India will need Russia’s support in case of serious action by the government, Ajay Dubey, professor at New Delhi's Jawaharlal Nehru University, believes. Apart from Moscow, the US, the EU, Saudi Arabia and the UAE may also play a positive role, with Arab countries often hosting peace consultations.
Izvestia: Trump plans to raise US defense spending to unprecedented heights
The Donald Trump administration has published the US draft defense budget for the next year. If Congress greenlights the plan, military spending will exceed $1 trillion for the first time in US history. All other areas - from environmental programs to education - will see major cuts. Even international organizations, including the United Nations, may be left without funding, Izvestia reports.
Andrey Kortunov, research director of the Russian International Affairs Council, points to Trump’s technocratic approach to foreign and defense policy. "Like many other presidents before him, Trump bets on the United States’ presumed technological superiority over a potential enemy. Hence ideas such as the construction of the Golden Dome missile defense shield, the upgrade of the US strategic forces and sixth-generation aircraft, and so on," the expert explained. He stressed that all those high-tech projects were extremely expensive.
"In addition, one could assume that Trump sees it as a way to 'heat up' the defense industry, which is one of the drivers of the country’s reindustrialization. As markets for US defense contracts broaden across the world, weapons trade will grow," the analyst noted. Kortunov added that Congress is expected to introduce amendments to the presidential draft but the general trend for rising spending would persist.
Alexander Yermakov, a junior researcher with the Center of International Security at the Russian Academy of Sciences’ Institute of World Economy and International Relations, observed that Trump, just like his predecessors, was probably disappointed with the current state of US missile defenses.
"We know that the Americans have been building the so-called global missile defenses for 20 years. As a result, they now have a semi-experimental system with a very limited capacity, while in fact, they don’t have any means to defend against intercontinental missiles. This is why Trump has decided to establish missile defenses at a higher level. In order to implement the project, the US needs to rely on space-based interceptors. This is what is new about the Golden Dome and the reason why it is compared to the Reagan-era Star Wars program," the expert elaborated.
Media: Romania could end weapons transit to Ukraine after presidential election
The transit of Western military aid to Ukraine via Romania could be called into question if George Simion, leader of the Alliance for the Union of Romanians right-wing party, wins the current presidential election, experts say. The politician swept past his competitors in the first round of the Romanian election on May 4, garnering about 41% of the vote. Simion is known as an opponent of aid to Ukraine and a Trump supporter, Izvestia reports.
Romania has been providing assistance, including military aid, to Ukraine since February 2022, with foreign weapons and military equipment flowing through the country. Bucharest does not disclose the volume and range of military goods provided to the Ukrainian armed forces, saying the information constitutes a state secret. Meanwhile, an official at the Russian embassy in Bucharest told Izvestia that the size of Romania’s military supplies to Kiev could have reached hundreds of billions of euros since the start of Russia’s special military operation in Ukraine. According to the Romanian media, over this time, as many as 23 T-72 tanks have been delivered to Ukraine from Romania, along with multiple rocket launchers, armored personnel carriers, armored vehicles, 152 mm howitzers, 122 mm and 152 mm projectiles and other ammunition.
If Simion wins the runoff election, the question will be whether Romania will maintain its role as a country used for weapons transit to Ukraine. "In case Romania chooses to abandon this role, Brussels could use various tools of pressure. Attempts will clearly be made to twist Bucharest’s arms to make it continue weapons transit. However, Romania will most likely seek to delay the process," Valdai Discussion Club expert Andrey Kortunov said.
George Simion is a politician from the so-called "Trump team," Alyona Arshinova, a member of the Russian lower house and board chair at the Eurasia autonomous nonprofit organization, noted. Simion cannot be viewed as a pro-Russian politician because he supports sanctions and believes that the EU should seize Russia’s frozen assets. It’s not a surprise that Simion, an antiglobalist, won the first round of the presidential election, Alina Azarenkova, a lecturer with the Department of Political Science at the Moscow State Linguistic University, told Vedomosti. She doubts that the Romanian authorities will now use the administrative resource or cancel the election results, particularly in light of statements by US officials, who condemned such actions last December.
Vedomosti: Israel unveils new plan to take over Gaza Strip
The Israeli security cabinet has approved a plan to completely seize the Gaza Strip, which was presented by the chief of the General Staff, said Dmitry Gendelamn, an advisor to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office. The plan provides for revising the mechanism to distribute humanitarian aid in the enclave in order to deprive the Palestinian movement Hamas of access to it, as well as conducting massive strikes on Hamas facilities and command posts, Vedomosti reports.
According to the Israeli media, the plan is likely to be brought into operation after US President Donald Trump concludes his tour of the Middle East in mid-May. Notably, the US leader does not intend to make a stop in Israel during his trip to Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the UAE.
Israel will try to establish long-term military control over Gaza because otherwise, the territory will continue to pose a constant military threat to the Jewish state, Andrey Zeltyn, a senior lecturer at the Higher School of Economics’ School of Asian Studies, said. It’s another question whether Israel will have enough economic and military resources to maintain control, the expert added.
The new plan for the Gaza campaign is unlikely to fundamentally change Israel’s situation or force Hamas to make serious concessions, said Middle East expert Ruslan Suleimanov. So far, Israel has been unable to defeat Hamas and bring hostages back by using military force.
Israel also risks facing practical difficulties when implementing its new strategy to distribute humanitarian aid among Palestinians amid the chaos of the ongoing war in Gaza, Zeltyn went on to say. In his opinion, the new initiative is primarily aimed at drawing the international community’s attention to the fact that the UN has been undermined in terms of providing supplies to Gaza residents. "Most of the humanitarian aid does not reach final recipients, ending up at Hamas storage facilities or on markets in Syria and Lebanon, which is what I have seen with my own eyes. This is why civilians often plunder cargo convoys on the move in order to prevent goods from falling into Islamists’ hands," the expert remarked.
Media: European Commission aims to fully ban Russian gas imports to EU by 2028
In June 2025, the European Commission will put forward a plan for a complete ban on Russian gas imports to European Union countries, Vedomosti writes, citing Bloomberg. According to the news agency’s sources, the plan will ban both pipeline and liquefied natural gas (LNG) supplies.
Meanwhile, data from the European think tank Bruegel shows that Russia ranked as the EU’s second-largest gas provider to the EU after Norway in 2024. Russia’s share in the EU’s overall gas imports stood at 18%, while the country accounted for 19% of Europe’s LNG imports.
Kirill Bakhtin, senior analyst at BCS World of Investment, believes that an increase in LNG supplies to the EU market will make it possible for Europe to gradually abandon Russian pipeline gas imports. However, Igor Yushkov, a specialist at the Financial University under the Government of the Russian Federation, points out that European customers will have to compete with Asian ones for new LNG volumes, which is why LNG prices will be higher than Russian pipeline gas rates.
Finam analyst Sergey Kaufman notes that Hungary and Slovakia continue to import significant amounts of Russian gas via pipelines. The governments in these countries have "the most friendly" approach towards Moscow among EU nations, calling for the continued import of Russian energy, he stressed. That said, the EU is unlikely to ban Russian pipeline gas imports without providing exceptions to Hungary and Slovakia, the analyst said. Yushkov, in turn, stressed that other countries, including Russian LNG importers, might also resist the move.
Since the EU plans to replace Russian supplies with LNG from the US and Qatar, where US companies are widely present, chances are high that Europe will become even more reliant on Washington, Maria Belova, research director at the Implementa company, told Rossiyskaya Gazeta. She asserted that US President Donald Trump’s unfriendly policy towards the European Union had been a cold shower for EU leaders so they no longer found US LNG as attractive as before.
Alexey Grivach, deputy head of the National Energy Security Fund, believes that discussions of a roadmap could be part of a game around peace talks on Ukraine and, accordingly, plans for selective resumption of energy supplies from Russia to the EU.
TASS is not responsible for the material quoted in these press reviews