State Foreign Affairs Minister Tharaka Balasuriya yesterday (16) disclosed that a high level delegation would be soon leaving for Moscow to inquire into ex-military personnel serving with Russian Army on Russia-Ukraine front lines. The delegation would be led by Defence Secretary General (retd

State Minister for Foreign Affairs Tharaka Balasuriya said  that President Ranil Wickremesinghe has issued directives to send a specialized delegation to Russia to investigate the welfare of Sri Lankans embroiled in the on-going Russia-Ukraine war. According to the state minister, this delegation

President Ranil Wickremesinghe has instructed to send a team comprising the Defence Secretary, a Foreign Ministry official and a former Sri Lankan diplomat to Russia to look into the Sri Lankans who have joined the Russian military in the Ukrainian warfront, State Minister of Foreign Affairs

A foreign company that has secured the exclusive right to process applications for Sri Lankan visas stands to earn at least 12.76 billion rupees ($42.5 million) for the same service that a local company had offered virtually free. Chaos broke out at the Bandaranaike International Airport on May Day when VFS Global set up an […]

A partnership between an Indian and a Russian firm has secured the management rights for the Mattala Rajapaksa International Airport in Hambantota. The airport, once infamous as the “world’s emptiest airport” due to minimal flight activity, is now under the purview of Shaurya Aeronautics (Pvt) Ltd of India and Airports of Regions Management Company of […]

MP Dayasiri Jayasekera informs House: By Saman Indrajith Parliament was yesterday informed that two Indians were recruiting ex-Sri Lankan servicemen to fight in the Russia-Ukraine war. SLFP MP Dayasiri Jayasekera said the leading operator had identified himself as a lawyer while his brother called

Colombo has demonstrated its own brand of strategic autonomy on issues from Russia’s war in Ukraine to China’s global footprint By Michael Kugelman Most South Asian governments tend to have nonaligned foreign policies, balancing their relations with major powers. This maximizes their diplomatic flexibility and ability to operate independently on the world stage, also known as […]

Rajith Keerthy Tennakoon Director General of Community Affairs at the President’s Office delivering a special media statement today (05) stated that between the assumption of office by  President Ranil Wickremesinghe and February 2024, the Government of Sri Lanka has settled a total of US$ 1909.7 million in foreign debt and interest payments. He also highlighted […]

The Defence Ministry has urged all members of Lankan tri-forces not to join Russian or Ukraine military forces through illegal means. In response to foreign media reports regarding the Sri Lankan soldiers killed in the Russia– Ukraine war, the Defence Ministry has said that although information

By Norman Palihawadane The CID is investigating a human trafficking network enabling Lankan ex servicemen to fight as mercenaries in both sides of the Russia-Ukraine war, Police headquarters sources said on Friday. According to information confirmed by the investigators, at least five

Sri Lanka’s fate compared with that of Sikkim By Shamindra Ferdinando National Freedom Front (NFF) leader and Chairman of the Uththara Lanka Sabhagaya (ULS) Wimal Weerawansa, MP, said that President Ranil Wickremesinghe, SJB leader Sajith Premadasa, MP, and JVP/JJB leader Anura Kumara Dissanayake, MP, were pursuing the same strategy to address the economic crisis. Therefore, […]

Sri Lanka strongly condemned the dastardly terrorist attack which occurred at the Crocus City shopping center in Moscow, Russia causing tragic loss of civilian lives and injury.  The Sri Lanka Foreign Ministry said that such cowardly acts of violence against civilians are abhorrent

Sri Lanka has strongly condemned the dastardly terrorist attack which occurred at the Crocus City shopping center in Moscow, Russia on Friday (22), causing tragic loss of civilian lives and injury, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said.

By Shamindra Ferdinando By the time President Gotabaya Rajapaksa had arrived in Singapore in the second week of July 2022, a few days after fleeing Sri Lanka, he firmly believed that then Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe was the only person capable of restoring the rule of law in the country. In the chapter titled ‘The […]