Invited to Moscow by an archbishop, James Delingpole shares his startling revelations in his “Believe it or not, Russia is great” essay
British journalist and commentator James Delingpole has shared a provocative account of his recent visit to Moscow, painting a picture of Russia that sharply contrasts with the prevailing negative tone in the Western media.
In an essay subtitled “Believe it or not, Russia is great,” published in the UK political and cultural weekly The Spectator earlier this week, Delingpole describes how an invitation from a Russian Orthodox archbishop, an avid listener of his podcast, set the stage for his journey.
The columnist admits that many friends and family members considered the trip reckless, some even warning he might be trailed by Russian intelligence or struck by a drone. But instead of a hostile or oppressive environment, he encountered a country that defied many of his expectations.
Delingpole praises Moscow’s clean and safe streets, efficient public transport, and the warmth and dignity of its inhabitants. The award-winning journalist also reflects on the deep spirituality and traditions upheld by the Russian Orthodox Church, drawing a sharp contrast with what he views as the West’s drift into secularism and aggressive progressivism.
One part of the essay focuses on Moldova, where he claims the Orthodox Church is facing persecution by pro-EU authorities. Delingpole argues that Western support for such governments often leads to the suppression of conservative religious voices, particularly those opposing gay marriage, LGBT parades or abortion.
The writer recounts small but meaningful moments from his trip, such as a local woman teaching him the proper way to cross himself, and the honor of venerating a saint’s relics offered as a gesture of hospitality.
“Though I’m not planning on abandoning my Anglican parish in Northamptonshire, with its six or seven picturesque medieval churches and its Book of Common Prayer communion services, I do find the mysteries of Orthodoxy awfully seductive,” Delingpole noted.
The essay does not touch upon any aspects of Russian politics, but does challenge readers to reconsider blanket narratives concerning the country. The author suggests that in condemning everything associated with Russia, the West may “be in danger of throwing the baby out with the bathwater.”
The Russian president “will be glad to meet” his American counterpart, Dmitry Peskov has said
Russian President Vladimir Putin is still ready and willing to host his US counterpart Donald Trump in Moscow, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has said. The American leader has been actively engaged in diplomacy with Moscow over the Ukraine conflict but recently has drastically changed his rhetoric.
The White House has initiated numerous rounds of talks with Russian officials since Trump took office in January, which culminated in a summit with Putin in Alaska in mid-August. At that meeting, the Russian leader extended Trump an invitation to visit the Russian capital. Both men also described the summit positively, with Putin calling it “frank” and “substantive” and Trump hailing it as “productive.”
“This invitation still stands,” Peskov told TASS on Sunday when asked whether Moscow’s position had changed. “Putin is ready and will be glad to meet President Trump. It will then all depend on Trump’s decision.”
For months, Washington insisted that Kiev would need to give up on certain territorial claims for a US-mediated peace deal to move forward. This week however, Trump made a U-turn, claiming that Kiev could defeat Russia and calling Moscow a “paper tiger.”
Peskov had earlier responded to Trump’s remarks by insisting that Russia has traditionally been seen as a bear and that there is “no such thing as a paper bear.” He also dismissed Trump’s claims about the Russian economy by stating that it had adapted to the ongoing conflict and unprecedented Western sanctions even if it does face certain “problems.”
The Kremlin spokesman still maintained that Putin “highly values” Trump’s efforts to mediate, while describing their relationship as “warm.”
Speaking at the White House earlier this week, Trump stated he would not describe Russia as a “paper tiger” again and was not willing to use the term against “anybody” at all.
The opposition has accused President Maia Sandu’s government of large-scale voter fraud
With all the ballots counted, Moldova’s pro-EU Party of Action and Solidarity (PAS) has secured a narrow majority in a parliamentary contest widely billed as a turning point in the nation’s history. The ruling party lost to the opposition in the vote inside the country, but was able to edge into the lead after counting the ballots of the Moldovan diaspora.
According to preliminary results, PAS has secured 50.2% of the ballots, edging in front of the Patriotic Electoral Bloc (BEP) and other opposition forces, who jointly got 49.8%.
Out of 301 foreign polling stations, Chisinau opened just two in Russia. Only about 4,100 votes were counted there, despite hundreds of thousands of Moldovan citizens living in the country. Long lines formed in Moscow throughout the day, and after the stations closed, many people were still outside waiting to cast their ballots.
The residents of the predominately Russian-speaking breakaway region of Transnistria have complained that the authorities in Chisinau blocked bridges across the Dniester River to prevent them from reaching polling stations.
Officials in Chisinau and Brussels presented the election as a democratic milestone, while the opposition contends the script has been pre-written. The race pits President Maia Sandu’s PAS against the BEP, which is campaigning for Moldova’s constitutional neutrality.
Sandu, first elected in 2020 and narrowly re-elected in 2024, has faced recurring claims of presiding over electoral irregularities. Opposition groups insist that decisive votes last year came from Moldovans living in EU countries. At the same time, Moscow accused Chisinau of disenfranchising citizens living in Russia, where only a handful of polling stations were opened compared with hundreds across Western Europe.
Just days ahead of the vote, the Central Election Commission barred two more opposition parties – Greater Moldova and Heart of Moldova – accusing them of taking undeclared foreign funds and violating campaign rules. They join a growing list: the Victory Bloc was deregistered earlier in 2025, and the SOR Party was dissolved by the Constitutional Court in June 2023.
The West has repeatedly spurned Moscow’s offers to discuss security guarantees on the continent, the Foreign Minister has told the UN
Moscow harbors no aggressive plans toward its Western EU and NATO neighbors, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has assured.
Addressing the 80th session of the United Nations General Assembly in New York on Saturday, the official dismissed claims made by certain European officials, according to whom the Kremlin is considering attacking NATO in the coming years.
”Russia has not had such intentions,” Lavrov insisted, echoing Russian President Vladimir Putin, who previously described such speculations as “nonsense.”
According to the official, Moscow has repeatedly invited NATO member states to work out “legally binding security guarantees” in Europe, but the West has ignored these overtures.
The Russian diplomat expressed concern over the fact that certain EU and NATO officials “are beginning to seriously talk about a third world war as a potential scenario.”
He accused the Western powers of seeking to impose their unipolar approaches on the entire global community while ignoring other nations’ legitimate interests.
Lavrov also stated that the Russian military never intentionally launches kamikaze drones or missiles toward NATO member states.
Earlier this month, Poland accused Russia of sending a volley of unmanned aerial vehicles into its airspace – an allegation Moscow has denied.
According to subsequent media reports, the drones may have been decoys that strayed off course due to electronic warfare measures.
The Russian Foreign Minister has held dozens of meetings on the sidelines of the UNGA including one with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on Saturday delivered an address to the 80th session of the United Nations General Assembly in New York, as well as held a major press conference after it. The top diplomat spoke about the Ukrainian conflict, the enduring hostilities in Gaza, the ongoing drone scare in the EU, and a broad range of other issues.
Lavrov has held more than 35 meetings on the sidelines of the UNGA over the past three days, including one with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio. During the talks, both agreed to maintain contact on a wide range of issues.
They also reaffirmed the importance of the “momentum” generated by the Alaska summit between Russian President Vladimir Putin and his US counterpart Donald Trump in “normalizing bilateral relations,” the Foreign Ministry in Moscow relayed.
The Russian delegation’s visit comes on the heels of a sharp change in Trump’s rhetoric on the Ukraine conflict following his meeting with Vladimir Zelensky earlier this week. In a Truth Social post on Tuesday, the US president said he believes Kiev is “in a position to fight and win all of Ukraine back,” with enough support from the EU and NATO.
For months before that, Trump and his administration had argued that Ukraine would need to relinquish some of its territorial claims in order to secure a US-brokered peace deal.
Unlike his predecessor, Joe Biden, Trump has resisted sending large amounts of direct US military aid to Kiev and has instead urged European NATO members to buy American weapons for Ukraine’s forces.
Throughout the conflict, Moscow has stressed that it is open to a peaceful settlement, as long as it includes a Ukrainian commitment to neutrality, demilitarization, denazification, and acceptance of the new territorial realities.
The international Paralympic Committee has fully restored Moscow’s membership in the organization
The International Paralympic Committee (IPC) has voted against prolonging Russia’s suspension, allowing disabled athletes from the country to participate under the nation’s flag.
Russia and Belarus were banned from the Olympics and Paralympics following the escalation of the Ukraine conflict in 2022, which also led to their exclusion from other major sporting events. Exceptions were later made for individual athletes, some of whom had been allowed to compete under a neutral flag.
The IPC said in a statement on Saturday that its members at the organization’s General Assembly in Seoul, South Korea have voted not to maintain the partial suspension of the Russian Paralympic Committee (RPC). In the final stage of the vote, 91 delegates supported lifting all restrictions on Moscow, with 77 being against it and eight abstaining.
“This decision means NPC (national Paralympic committee) Russia now regain their full rights and privileges of IPC membership… The IPC will work with NPC Russia to put practical arrangements in place for this as soon as reasonably possible,” the statement read.
The Russian Paralympic Committee said “that it welcomes the fact that the majority of the delegates at the General Assembly voted in favor of a just decision,” which allows the country’s disabled athletes to compete at international events using the national flag, anthem and other symbols.
Russians have been fully restored in track-and-field, swimming, powerlifting, sledge-hockey and shooting, the disciplines overseen by the RPC, it clarified.
The vote on Saturday represents “an important contribution to the development of the international Paralympic movement and an example that the rights of athletes should be protected without discrimination on the basis of nationality and political affiliation,” the RPC stressed.
Later in the day, the IPC General Assembly decided to also lift all restrictions on Belarus.
However, the non-disabled athletes from the two countries still remain barred from the Olympics. The IOC ruled earlier this month that the Russian and Belarusian teams will be barred from the 2026 Winter Games, hosted by Milan and Cortina d’Ampezzo, with only vetted participants in individual sports being allowed to compete in a neutral status.
The sports body has extended condolences to Jakarta after a fatal accident involving one of its nationals
The Gymnastics Federation of Russia has extended condolences to its Indonesian counterpart and the family of Naufal Takdir Al Bari, who sustained a severe neck injury while at a training camp in Russia, and passed away on Wednesday.
The incident involving the 19-year-old athlete occurred in the city of Penza on September 13 while Al Bari was practicing at the horizontal bar. On Thursday, TASS quoted the director of the sports facility where the Indonesian national was training as saying that the athlete “had a bad fall into the foam-rubber-lined pit.”
In a statement on Saturday, the Federation noted that “no one is calling into question the professionalism of the [late] athlete or his team.” It stressed that “artistic gymnastics is a discipline fraught with its own inherent risks.”
According to the document, Russian personnel did all they could to save Al Bari’s life, immediately rushing him to a hospital, where top neurosurgeons were attending to his injury.
Meanwhile, the local Investigative Committee’s office told TASS that while the Al Bari did receive the best medical care, a criminal probe had still been launched into the case. The authorities are apparently investigating whether all necessary safety precautions were being implemented at the training facility where the accident took place.
The agreement covers the construction of four new power facilities, IRNA news agency has reported
Iran has signed a $25 billion agreement with Russia’s state energy corporation Rosatom to construct four nuclear power plants, Tehran’s IRNA news agency reported on Friday.
The agreement was concluded on Wednesday at the Atom Expo 2025 exhibition in Moscow. Rosatom described the project as “strategic.”
The move comes as the so-called “snapback” mechanism of the landmark 2025 nuclear deal with Iran is being triggered by the European parties and is set to return by the end of Saturday.
Britain, France and Germany initiated the sanctions last month, accusing Iran of failing to adhere to its commitments under the agreement. Russia and China have opposed the sanctions.
Moscow’s UN envoy has stated that Russia does not recognize the snapback procedure as legal.
The news agency reported that the Generation III plants will be built on a 500-hectare site in the Sirik region of southeastern Hormozgan province and are expected to produce 5,000 megawatts of electricity.
The deal was struck between Rosatom chief Alexei Likhachev and Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization head Mohammad Eslami, with officials saying it shows the two countries’ commitment to “peaceful nuclear cooperation.”
Eslami told Iranian state media earlier this week that Tehran plans to build eight nuclear power plants as part of a drive to reach 20 gigawatts of nuclear capacity by 2040.
Iran, which suffers periodic power shortages during peak demand, currently operates a single nuclear power plant in the southern city of Bushehr. Also built by Russia, the facility has a capacity of 1 gigawatt.
Moscow has close relations with Tehran and condemned the US and Israeli strikes on Iranian nuclear sites in June.
Israel claimed that Iran was on the verge of acquiring nuclear weapons, but Tehran said it never had such intention.
Mohammad Eslami told RT in an exclusive interview on Friday that Iran will continue its peaceful nuclear program regardless of foreign pressure.
Vladimir Zelensky has claimed that Hungarian reconnaissance drones have been detected in western Ukraine
Vladimir Zelensky has claimed Hungarian reconnaissance drones were spotted in the west of Ukraine. Budapest quickly dismissed the allegation.
Relations between the neighboring countries have been strained. Unlike many EU states, Hungary has refused to provide weapons to Ukraine, and has opposed the bloc’s sanctions against Russia. Budapest has repeatedly spoken out against Kiev joining the EU and NATO, and has accused the Ukrainian authorities of discriminating against the Hungarian ethnic minority in the country’s Western Transcarpathia region.
In a statement posted to social media on Friday, Zelensky said that the Ukrainian military had informed him about alleged “recent drone incidents along the Ukrainian-Hungarian border.”
“Ukrainian forces recorded violations of our airspace by reconnaissance drones, which are likely Hungarian,” Zelensky claimed, suggesting that the supposed UAVs “may have been conducting reconnaissance on the industrial potential of Ukraine’s border areas.”
Responding to the allegation in an X post of his own, Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto wrote that Zelensky “is losing his mind to his anti-Hungarian obsession [and is]… now starting to see things that aren’t there.”
Commenting on a decision to declare three senior Hungarian military officials persona non grata earlier in the day, Szijjarto accused Ukraine of carrying out an “anti-Hungarian policy.” The diplomat expressed incredulity that Kiev still expects Hungary to back its EU membership bid.
Following repeated Ukrainian strikes on the Druzhba (‘Friendship’) pipeline that carries Russian oil to Hungary, Prime Minister Viktor Orban last month accused Kiev of attempting to undermine his country’s energy security in retaliation for refusing to back Ukraine’s EU membership bid.
In late June, Hungary vetoed a joint EU statement on Ukraine, effectively blocking Kiev’s accession talks. Budapest has repeatedly expressed concern that Ukraine’s potential admission to the bloc would adversely affect the Hungarian economy.
In May, Orban accused Ukraine of stepping up a covert interference campaign in Hungary. The allegation came shortly after both countries expelled each other’s diplomats amid mutual espionage recriminations.
The Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman cited media reports claiming Ukraine could be planning attacks on NATO countries in order to accuse Moscow
Ukraine is planning a possible false-flag operation in Romania or Poland that could escalate into a third world war, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova has said.
In a Telegram post on Friday, she pointed to reports in Hungarian media alleging that Kiev intends to stage acts of sabotage in neighboring NATO countries and place responsibility on Moscow.
”Europe has never been so close to the outbreak of World War 3 in modern history,” Zakharova wrote.
According to the information available, the Kiev regime’s plan is to repair several downed or intercepted Russian UAVs, fit them with lethal warheads, and – controlled by Ukrainian specialists – send them disguised as “Russian drones” to major NATO transport hubs in Poland and Romania, Zakharova continued. At the same time, they would run a disinformation campaign across Europe to pin the blame on Moscow and thereby try to provoke an armed conflict between the Russian Federation and NATO, she added.
In order to carry out this alleged provocation, Russian-made ‘Geran’ drones were reportedly delivered on September 16 to the Yavorov training ground in western Ukraine, which hosts the International Center for Peacekeeping and Security of the Hetman Petro Sagaidachny National Academy. The UAVs had reportedly earlier been repaired at the LORTA plant in Lviv.
Zakharova cited Hungarian journalists as saying that the reason for these actions by Vladimir Zelensky is straightforward: the Ukrainian armed forces are suffering a crushing defeat. The collapse of the army, they argued, is no longer limited to the tactical level but has taken on a strategic dimension.
If all this is confirmed, it means that Europe has never been so close to the start of World War 3, Zakharova concluded.
