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Washington — The recent assassination attempt against former President Donald Trump marks a rare event in U.S. history but shines light on a more common global phenomenon.  Political assassinations have long been a part of human history, often occurring in countries with limited political competition and strong polarization and fragmentation, according to research by the Combating Terrorism Center at West Point.  These conditions can lead to a decline in political legitimacy and increased violence, especially during elections and domestic strife, the center said in a 2015 report.   Modern South Asia has been a hotbed of political assassinations. Mahatma Gandhi was assassinated in 1948 by a militant Hindu nationalist upset over his pro-Muslim sympathies.  Gandhi’s assassination shocked the young nation, but also spurred calls for national unity, with key leaders Jawaharlal Nehru and Vallabhbhai Patel putting aside their differences to unify India, according to historian Ramachandra Guha.   The type of political violence that took Gandhi's life is not unique to India. All but two South Asian nations — Bhutan and the Maldives — have lost national leaders to assassins’ bullets or suicide bombs. While heads of state have been frequent targets, many other political leaders, from chief ministers to members of parliament, have also been victims.  The Combating Terrorism Center's research found that political assassinations have become more frequent in South Asia in recent decades, with 76% of the total occurring since the mid-1980s.  Here is a look at major political assassinations across the region and their fallout:   Afghanistan    Mohammed Daoud Khan (April 27, 1978): Killed along with his family in a coup led by the leftist People’s Democratic Party of Afghanistan. Impact: Led to the establishment of a communist government and increased Soviet influence.  Nur Muhammad Taraki (October 9, 1979): Assassinated by suffocation on Prime Minister Hafizullah Amin’s orders. Impact: Led to increased political repression and paved the way for Soviet invasion.  Hafizullah Amin (December 27, 1979): Killed by Soviet special forces during a raid on the Tajbeg palace. Impact: Marked the beginning of the Soviet invasion and decades of war.    Mohammad Najibullah (September 27, 1996): Deposed communist leader Najibullah was tortured and executed by the Taliban after they captured Kabul. Impact: Marked the beginning of the Taliban’s first stint in power.  Burhanuddin Rabbani (September 20, 2011): Assassinated in Kabul by a suicide bomber posing as a Taliban peace envoy. Impact: Disrupted peace negotiations and highlighted growing instability.    Bangladesh:  Sheikh Mujibur Rahman (August 15, 1975): Revered as Bangladesh’s founding father, Mujibur Rahman was killed along with most of his family during a bloody coup launched by army officers. Impact: Led to martial law and a period of political instability.  Ziaur Rahman (May 30, 1981): Ziaur, a former army chief and president, was killed along with six of his bodyguards and two aides during a military coup launched in Chittagong, Bangladesh’s second largest city. Impact: Resulted in further turmoil and the eventual rise of military rule.     India:  Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (January 30, 1948): Shot dead at close range at his daily prayer in Delhi. The assassin, a right-wing political activist, later claimed that he was provoked by Gandhi’s “pandering to the Muslims.” Impact: Prompted key Gandhi followers to set aside differences to unify India.  Indira Gandhi (October 31, 1984): Shot dead by two of her Sikh bodyguards in her official residence. The assassination was apparently in retaliation for a military operation at a famed Sikh shrine. Impact: Triggered anti-Sikh riots and significant political upheaval.   Rajiv Gandhi (May 21, 1991): Assassinated in a suicide bombing carried out by a member of Liberation Tigers of Tamil Elam, a now disbanded Sri Lankan separatist group. Impact: Led to a crackdown on LTTE and changed Indian foreign policy towards Sri Lanka.     Nepal  King Birendra (June 1, 2001): Assassinated along with eight family members by Crown Prince Dipendra who opened fire during a family gathering at the royal palace in Kathmandu. Impact: Led to the abolishment of monarchy and significant political changes.     Pakistan  Liaquat Ali Khan (October 16, 1951): Khan, Pakistan’s first prime minister, was shot at a political rally in Rawalpindi and later died in a hospital. The assassin was killed by police, but the case remains unresolved. Impact: Khan’s death steered Pakistan away from democracy and within seven years a military leader seized power.   Benazir Bhutto (December 27, 2007): Bhutto, a former prime minister, was assassinated in a suicide bombing and subsequent shooting at a political rally. Impact: Sparked a wave of violence and protests and led to the resurgence of Bhutto’s Pakistan People’s Party the following year.   Imran Khan (November 3, 2022): The former prime minister survived an assassination attempt as he was leading a protest march. Impact: Highlighted the intense political polarization and threats to political leaders.     Sri Lanka   Solomon Bandaranaike (September 26, 1959): Sri Lanka’s fourth prime minister was shot and killed by a Buddhist monk at his residence. Impact: Led to political instability and changes in government.   Ranasinghe Premadasa (May 1, 1993): Sri Lanka’s third president, was killed along with 23 others in a massive suicide bombing carried out by an LTTE bomber. Impact: Escalated the Sri Lankan civil war and intensified government crackdown on the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Elam.  

Give us 5 minutes, and we'll give you the world. Around the clock, Voice of America keeps you in touch with the latest news. We bring you reports from our correspondents and interviews with newsmakers from across the world.

DAKAR — In a global operation targeting West African organized crime groups across five continents, police arrested 300 people, seized $3 million and blocked 720 bank accounts, Interpol said Tuesday.  Operation Jackal III, which ran from 10 April to 3 July in 21 countries, aimed to fight online financial fraud and the West African syndicates behind it, the agency said in a statement.  "The volume of financial fraud stemming from West Africa is alarming and increasing," said Isaac Oginni, director of Interpol's Financial Crime and Anti-Corruption Centre. "This operation's results underscore the critical need for international law enforcement collaboration to combat these extensive criminal networks."  One of the targeted groups was Black Axe, one of the most prominent criminal networks in West Africa. Black Axe operates in cyber fraud, human trafficking, drug smuggling, and is responsible for violent crimes both within Africa and globally, the agency added.  Black Axe used money mules to open bank accounts worldwide and is now under investigation in over 40 countries for related money laundering activities, the agency said. The suspects include citizens from Argentina, Colombia, Nigeria and Venezuela.  In Argentina, following a five-year investigation, the police cracked down on Black Axe and seized $ 1.2 million in high-quality counterfeit banknotes, arrested 72 suspects and froze approximately 100 bank accounts.  Interpol, which has 196 member countries and celebrated its centennial last year, works to help national police forces communicate with each other and track suspects and criminals in fields like counterterrorism, financial crime, child pornography, cybercrime and organized crime.  The world's biggest — if not best-funded — police organization has been grappling with new challenges including a growing caseload of cybercrime and child sex abuse, and increasing divisions among its member countries.  Interpol had a total budget of about 176 million euros (about $188 million) last year, compared to more than 200 million euros at the European Union's police agency, Europol, and some $11 billion at the FBI in the United States. 

The woman’s karate coaches told Russian news media they did not recognize their pupil as the U.S. Secret Service agent shielding Trump.

Bangkok — The first group of refugees from Myanmar living in Thailand and eligible for a new resettlement program flew out of Bangkok for the United States last week, more than a year after the plan was first announced, U.S. and U.N. officials have told VOA. Some 90,000 refugees now live in nine sealed-off camps inside Thailand along the country’s border with Myanmar, driven from their homes by decades of fighting between the Myanmar military and a number of ethnic minority armed groups vying for autonomy. Some have called the camps home since the 1980s, put off from returning to Myanmar by the ongoing fighting and mostly barred by the Thai government from legally and permanently settling in Thailand. Most of the refugees from Myanmar, also known as Burma, are ethnic Karen. Hoping to give them a viable way out, Thailand, the U.S. government and the UNHCR, the U.N.’s refugee agency, announced a new resettlement program in May 2023, allowing registered refugees in the camps to move to the United States. “The first group left Thailand for the United States last week,” a U.S. Embassy official in Bangkok told VOA on Tuesday. “Resettlement operations are ongoing in cooperation with the UNHCR and the Royal Thai government,” the official said. “The United States appreciates what Thailand has done to facilitate assistance.” The Thailand office of the UNHCR said the group of 25 left the country on Thursday. Photos posted online by the head of the UNHCR’s Thailand office, Tammi Sharpe, show Thai and U.N. officials at Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi Airport to see the group off. “The value of the program could be felt,” she wrote. “Wishing those who will be on the receiving end my appreciation in advance.” Aid groups working in the camps welcomed the start of resettlement. “We are happy for these people because these people have been waiting to go to resettle for a long time, because along the Thai-Burma border … resettlement has been closed for many years,” Khyaw Paw, who chairs the Karen Women’s Organization, told VOA. A previous resettlement program saw some 100,000 refugees from the camps resettled abroad between 2005 and 2015, according to the UNHCR, most of them in the U.S. Democratic reforms that started in Myanmar in 2011 had raised hopes that most of the refugees could eventually return home. But a military coup in 2021 set off a full-scale civil war and has dashed those goals for the time being. “They are not able to go home, and Thailand has not opened up integration within the country, so for many of the refugees who have been here for a long time, it’s a good opportunity,” Khyaw Paw said of the new program. Refugee advocates say resettlement also can offer relief from what they describe as deteriorating conditions in the camps. 'Growing sense of despair' The Karen Women’s Organization says a growing sense of despair among the refugees over their future has been driving up everything from drug use to domestic abuse, gang violence and suicide. Refugees are not allowed to work or study outside the camps, and they have told VOA of having meager schooling and job opportunities inside. They have little chance to earn a living on their own and must survive on an average of about $9 in food aid per person each month. Some four decades after the first of the camps was established, most homes still lack running water or electricity and are little more than huts with bamboo walls and thatched roofs. “The quality of life is very, very bad in my opinion, and I think if they have a chance [to resettle], I think it will be better for them. When I’m talking about the quality of life, I’m talking about health care, I’m talking about … education, I’m talking about crime,” said Rangsiman Rome, a lawmaker for Thailand’s opposition Move Forward Party. As chair of the House of Representatives’ border affairs committee, he visited some of the camps a few months ago. “I know the government tries to do good,” he said. “The problem is they don’t have freedom to go anywhere, so for me it’s abuse of human rights and … it’s better that they should have a quality of life better than this.” Neither the U.S. Embassy nor the UNHCR would say how many of the roughly 90,000 refugees registered in the camps might ultimately be allowed to move abroad as part of the new resettlement program, or at what pace. Khyaw Paw and Rangsiman both said UNHCR staff told them in meetings in late 2023 that up to 10,000 could be resettled per year. The UNHCR did not reply to a VOA request to confirm or deny the figure. In any case, refugee advocates suspect the ultimate number resettled per year will be far less and that the refugees also need other options. They would like to see the Thai government let the refugees legally study, work and ultimately settle permanently in Thailand outside of the camps. Rangsiman said some refugees looking for a permanent home outside of Myanmar may prefer to settle nearby to avoid the culture shock of moving farther afield, and that Thailand, which for the first time recorded more deaths than births in 2023, could use their labor. “They have a lot of potential, and in Thailand we are an aging society, and we need human resource for our economy,” he said. “There’s no need to just relocate them to the U.S.; it [Thailand] could be a choice for them,” he added. Rangsiman said talks with the government were under way on proposals to resume Thai language courses in the camps, where most instruction now is in Burmese and Karen. He said teaching the refugees to speak Thai, as well, would help them transition to higher education and jobs outside the camps, if someday allowed, and to possibly settle in Thailand for good. Khyaw Paw has voiced hope the refugees will get more rights to study and work outside the camps. “If we compare [with] the last parliament, no one talked about refugees,” she said. “So, I think there is progress.”

Give us 5 minutes, and we'll give you the world. Around the clock, Voice of America keeps you in touch with the latest news. We bring you reports from our correspondents and interviews with newsmakers from across the world.

London — Britain's new Labour Party government promised to calm the country's febrile politics and ease its cost-of-living crisis as it set out its plans for "national renewal" at the grand State Opening of Parliament on Wednesday. Stabilizing the U.K.'s public finances and spurring economic growth were at the center of Prime Minister Keir Starmer 's legislative agenda, announced in a speech delivered by King Charles III. "My government will seek a new partnership with both business and working people and help the country move on from the recent cost of living challenges by prioritizing wealth creation for all communities," the king said in a speech to hundreds of lawmakers and scarlet-robed members of the House of Lords. Starmer campaigned on a promise to bring bold change to Britain at modest cost to taxpayers. He aims to be both pro-worker and pro-business, in favor of vast new construction projects and protective of the environment. The risk is he may end up pleasing no one. In a written introduction to the speech, Starmer urged patience, saying change would require "determined, patient work and serious solutions" rather than easy answers and "the snake oil charm of populism." The King's Speech is the centerpiece of the State Opening, an occasion where royal pomp meets hard-nosed politics, as the king donned a diamond-studded crown, sat on a gilded throne and announced the laws his government intends to pass in the coming year. Labour won a landslide election victory on July 4 as voters turned on the Conservatives after years of high inflation, ethics scandals and a revolving door of prime ministers. Starmer has promised to patch up the country's aging infrastructure and frayed public services, but says he won't raise personal taxes and insists change must be bound by "unbreakable fiscal rules." Wednesday's speech included 40 bills – the Conservatives' last speech had just 21 – ranging from housebuilding to nationalizing Britain's railways and decarbonizing the nation's power supply with a publicly-owned green energy firm, Great British Energy. The government said it would "get Britain building," setting up a National Wealth Fund and rewriting planning rules that stop new homes and infrastructure being built. Economic measures included tighter rules governing corporations and a law to ensure all government budgets get advance independent scrutiny. That aims to avoid a repetition of the chaos sparked in 2022 by then-Prime Minister Liz Truss, whose package of uncosted tax cuts rocked the British economy and ended her brief term in office. The government promised stronger protections for workers, with a ban on some"zero-hours" contracts and a higher minimum wage for many employees. Also announced were protections for renters against shoddy housing, sudden eviction and landlords who won't let them have a pet. The government promised more power for local governments and better bus and railway services – keys to the "levelling up" of Britain's London-centric economy that former Conservative Prime Minister Boris Johnson promised but largely failed to deliver. Though Starmer eschewed large-scale nationalization of industries, the government plans to take the delay-plagued train operators into public ownership. The speech said the government "recognizes the urgency of the global climate challenge" — a change in tone from the Conservative government's emphasis on oil and gas exploration. As well as increasing renewable energy, it pledged tougher penalties for water companies that dump sewage into rivers, lakes and seas. The speech included new measures to strengthen border security, creating a beefed-up Border Security Command with counter-terrorism powers to tackle people-smuggling gangs. It follows Starmer's decision to scrap the Conservatives' contentious and unrealized plan to send people arriving in the U.K. across the English Channel on a one-way trip to Rwanda. The speech also tackled an issue that has foxed previous governments: reforming the House of Lords. The unelected upper chamber of Parliament is packed with almost 800 members – largely lifetime political appointees, with a smattering of judges, bishops and almost 100 hereditary aristocrats. The government said it would remove the hereditary nobles, though there was no mention of Starmer's past proposal of setting a Lords retirement age of 80. There was no mention of lowering the voting age from 18 to 16, though that was one of Labour's election promises. While much of Starmer's agenda marks a break with the defeated Conservative government of former Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, Starmer revived Sunak's plan to stop future generations from smoking by gradually raising the minimum age for buying tobacco. The speech confirmed that the government wants to "reset the relationship with European partners" roiled by Britain's exit from the European Union in 2020. It said there would be no change to Britain's strong support for Ukraine and promised to "play a leading role in providing Ukraine with a clear path to NATO membership." Wednesday's address was the second such speech delivered by Charles since the death of his mother, Queen Elizabeth II, in September 2022. He traveled from Buckingham Palace to Parliament in a horse-drawn carriage – past a small group of anti-monarchy protesters with signs reading "Down with the Crown" – before donning ceremonial robes and the Imperial State Crown to deliver his speech. Police said 10 members of an environmental activist group were arrested near Parliament over alleged plans to disrupt the ceremony. For all its royal trappings, it is the King's Speech in name only. The words are written by government officials, and the monarch betrayed no flicker of emotion as he read them out. "The king has zero agency in this," said Jill Rutter, senior research fellow at the Institute for Government think tank.

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Beijing — China said Wednesday it had suspended negotiations with the United States on nuclear non-proliferation and arms control in response to Washington's weapons sales to Taiwan. The U.S. and China in November held rare talks on nuclear arms control, part of a bid to ease mistrust ahead of a summit between leader Joe Biden and Xi Jinping. Further dialogue had not been publicly announced since, with a White House official in January urging Beijing to respond "to some of our more substantive ideas on risk reduction." But China's foreign ministry on Wednesday said recent U.S. sales of arms to self-ruled Taiwan were "seriously undermining the political atmosphere for continued arms control consultations between the two sides." "The U.S. has... continued its arms sales to Taiwan, and taken a series of negative actions that seriously damage China's core interests and undermine political mutual trust," foreign ministry spokesman Lin Jian said. "For this reason, China has decided to suspend negotiations with the United States on a new round of arms control and non-proliferation consultations," he added. The Pentagon in a congressionally mandated report last October said that China was developing its nuclear arsenal more quickly than the United States had earlier anticipated. China possessed more than 500 operational nuclear warheads as of May 2023 and is likely to have more than 1,000 by 2030, it said. The United States currently possesses about 3,700 nuclear warheads, trailing Russia's roughly 4,500, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, which counts 410 warheads for China. "China is willing to maintain communication with the United States on international arms control issues on the basis of mutual respect," Lin said. "But the United States must respect China's core interests and create necessary conditions for dialogue," he warned. The United States switched diplomatic recognition from Taipei to Beijing in 1979 but it has remained Taiwan's most important partner and biggest arms supplier, sparking repeated condemnations from China. Washington in June approved two military sales to Taiwan worth approximately $300 million in total, mostly of spare and repair parts for the island's F-16 fighter jets.

Amman, Jordan — NATO's decision to open its first liaison office in Jordan – the first in the Middle East – reflects the alliance's growing concerns about Iran and Russia's increased influence in the region.  The decision to open the office in the Jordanian capital, Amman, came during the recent NATO summit in Washington marking the 75th anniversary of the military alliance. Ryan Bohl, a senior Middle East analyst at the RANE Risk Intelligence in Washington, told VOA the move is "a solid diplomatic upgrade for Jordan creating better facilitation and lines of communication," while placing Jordan solidly in "the Western camp to enjoy some of NATO's collective defense capabilities."   In a significant gesture of cooperation, Jordan in April intercepted Iranian missiles targeting Israel as they flew through Jordanian air space.  Bohl said Jordan's active and coordinated air defense set it apart from Gulf Arab states.  "Jordan was flying sorties alongside Western fighters to shoot down these drones and missiles that were crossing their air space," he said. "That was a much more active angle than the Saudis, Emiratis or any of the other Gulf Arabs would have been comfortable in doing. They're very interested in maintaining neutrality with the Iranians. Jordan, on the other hand, is against Israel's campaign in Gaza, but it's also been very much against Iran's attempts to use the Gaza war to deepen its influence across the region."  Bohl said Jordan has acted against Iran's hostile actions that have involved using Jordanian territory, including those not directed against the kingdom itself. "And they've been intercepting Iranian weapons going into the West Bank," he said. "They're worried about the Iranians on their northern border now that the Russians pulled out of that portion of Syria a couple of years ago. For Jordan, this NATO angle is all about Iran."  Analyst Nicholas Heras of Washington's New Lines Institute told VOA that the opening of a NATO office in Jordan also signals Western intentions to curb Russia's influence in the region. "The establishment of a NATO office in Jordan, which is prime strategic territory in the heart of the Middle East, indicates to the wider region that NATO has a role beyond just Europe," he said. "And in fact, NATO's mandate extends throughout that southern region of Europe in the Mediterranean that Russia has been actively contesting for the better part of a decade now."       Julien Barnes-Dacey, Middle East director at the European Council of Foreign Relations, said the NATO presence may quell some Jordanian concerns over Russia.  "That institutionalizes those ties a bit more and highlights some of the risks that Jordan is facing obviously in terms of the Russian presence in Syria."  But Barnes-Dacey downplayed the significance of the new NATO office in Amman, saying Jordan already has longstanding security ties with several Western NATO countries.

Give us 5 minutes, and we'll give you the world. Around the clock, Voice of America keeps you in touch with the latest news. We bring you reports from our correspondents and interviews with newsmakers from across the world.

Give us 5 minutes, and we'll give you the world. Around the clock, Voice of America keeps you in touch with the latest news. We bring you reports from our correspondents and interviews with newsmakers from across the world.

LONDON — The GMB union has failed to secure the right to formally represent workers at an Amazon warehouse in Coventry, central England, Amazon said on Wednesday. The ballot result on union recognition is a blow for the U.K. trade union movement as victory in the ballot would have forced the U.S. e-commerce giant to negotiate labor terms with a U.K. union for the first time. The Coventry workers have been involved in a dispute over pay and union recognition for more than a year and have carried out numerous strikes. The GMB union has argued Amazon frustrated its recognition bid by recruiting hundreds of additional workers at the site so the union no longer had the numbers to make the ballot threshold. Amazon's treatment of workers has been in the spotlight for years. It has historically opposed unionization, saying its preference has been to resolve issues with employees directly rather than through unions. However, in 2022, workers at its warehouse in Staten Island, New York, forced the company to recognize a trade union in the U.S. for the first time. That was seen as key moment for the union movement. However, Amazon workers at two other New York warehouses and one in Alabama have since voted against unionizing. Amazon does interact with unions in countries such as Germany and Italy. But that is largely because it is required to by government. Amazon employs about 75,000 in the UK, making it one of the country's top 10 private sector employers. Britain's new Labor government has promised to give workers more rights and unions more power. It plans to update trade union legislation, removing restrictions on trade union activity and ensuring industrial relations are based around good faith negotiation and bargaining. Labor says British employment laws are outdated, a drag on economic growth and a major factor in the U.K.'s worst period of industrial relations since the 1980s.

Give us 5 minutes, and we'll give you the world. Around the clock, Voice of America keeps you in touch with the latest news. We bring you reports from our correspondents and interviews with newsmakers from across the world.

Saint Petersburg, Russia — Alexandra Kulikova used to come across plenty of different European languages on the streets of Saint Petersburg, the iconic city founded by Peter the Great as Russia's "window to the West". "You could hear English, French or Italian being spoken everywhere... and we were always full," Kulikova, the co-owner of a chain of apartment rentals in the city, told AFP. But the Kremlin's military offensive in Ukraine — and the barrage of sanctions it triggered— effectively sealed Russia off to most would-be Western travelers, seriously knocking the country's tourism industry. Russia is now looking to visitors from Asia and the Middle East to fill the void. "I see huge numbers of Chinese groups, Arabic tourists traveling with their families, Indians," Kulikova said. "But they must be very rich, because they stay in luxury hotels, not in apartments," she added. That has put pressure on her business, including previously hotly sought apartments offering breathtaking views over the golden-domed St. Isaac's Cathedral in the heart of the city. 'Reorganization' Alongside a political climate that has grown even more hostile and unwelcoming towards the West and Westerners, sanctions and logistical difficulties have further complicated travel. Direct flights with the European Union, Britain and the United States have been suspended. And Visa and Mastercard bank cards can't be used inside Russia. All that has combined to spark a "reorganization of tourism towards the East," said Sergei Kalinin, who heads an association of guide-interpreters in Saint Petersburg. During the first quarter of 2024, almost half of all foreign tourists who visited Russia came from China — an estimated 99,000 of 218,000. Around 8,400 came from Germany, the most of any Western country, down two-thirds on the numbers that visited in 2019, according to Russia's Association of Tour Operators. 'A lot in common' In the former imperial capital, famed for its grandiose palaces and picturesque canals, the transformation is stark. At a Saint Petersburg train station on a long summer evening, groups of mostly Chinese tourists were rushing to catch night trains departing for Moscow. "Russia is an interesting country, and now it's easier to get here. There are electronic visas," Liu Yitin, a 60-year-old waiting to board told AFP. "There are many tourist sites in Russia, and our countries have a lot in common," Yitin said. China has become Russia's most important political and economic ally amid its offensive in Ukraine, and the two leaders — Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping — regularly embrace each other as "old friends" on the world stage. While Western governments have strongly advised their citizens against traveling to Russia, Beijing has issued no such warning, and Chinese tourism to Russia has grown exponentially. "There are many Chinese (people) who want to visit Moscow," said Xia Kosinai — a young Chinese guide in Moscow who was leading a group of some two dozen on a trip from Shanghai. "They only know Russia from television," she told AFP. "Because of the fighting in Ukraine, they are a little afraid. But everything is fine" once they arrive in Russia, she said. 'Not very optimistic' Amid isolation in the West, Russia's authorities have sought to facilitate more travel opportunities with citizens from so-called "friendly" nations. Moscow is eyeing up visa-free travel with Middle Eastern and Southeast Asian countries and wants to increase direct flights to China and Iran, the Russian economy ministry has said. Saint Petersburg has also boosted its own marketing. City officials traveled to trade shows in Beijing, Shanghai and Chengdu in May, after hitting a spate of similar events in India. They hope to visit 16 major trade fairs this year across Asia, the Middle East and former Soviet states, the city said. Despite all these efforts, many in the industry say Russia still faces an acute shortage of tourists. "It's not like it used to be," said Maria Khilkova, a tour guide in Saint Petersburg. "Even with the Chinese (tourists) there is no big tourist flow, it can't be compared to what it was like before Covid," she said. "It will take at least five years for everything to recover."