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Russia announced Tuesday it will significantly scale back military operations near Ukraine’s capital and a northern city, as the outlines of a possible deal to end the grinding war came into view at the latest round of talks, Associated Press reported.

Ukraine’s delegation at the conference, held in Istanbul, laid out a framework under which the country would declare itself neutral and its security would be guaranteed by an array of other nations.

Moscow’s public reaction was positive, and the negotiations are expected to resume Wednesday, five weeks into what has devolved into a bloody war of attrition, with thousands dead and almost 4 million Ukrainians fleeing the country.

Amid the talks, Russian Deputy Defense Minister Alexander Fomin said Moscow has decided to “fundamentally ... cut back military activity in the direction of Kyiv and Chernihiv” to “increase mutual trust and create conditions for further negotiations.”

He did not immediately spell out what that would mean in practical terms, according to the Associated Press. 

The announcement was met with skepticism from the US and others.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Russia cannot be trusted. Although the signals from the talks are “positive,” they ”can’t silence explosions of Russian shells,” he said in a video address.

Zelenskyy said it was Ukrainian troops who forced Russia’s hand, adding that “we shouldn’t let down our guard” because the invading army still “has a great potential to continue attacks against our country.”

Ukraine will continue negotiations, he said, but officials do not trust the word of the country that continues “fighting to destroy us.”

While Moscow portrayed it as a goodwill gesture, its ground troops have become bogged down and taken heavy losses in their bid to seize Kyiv and other cities. Last week and again on Tuesday, the Kremlin seemed to lower its war aims, saying its “main goal” now is gaining control of the mostly Russian-speaking Donbas region in eastern Ukraine, Associated Press reported.

US President Joe Biden, asked whether the Russian announcement was a sign of progress in the talks or an attempt by Moscow to buy time to continue its assault, said: “We’ll see. I don’t read anything into it until I see what their actions are.”

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken suggested Russian indications of a pullback could be an attempt by Moscow to “deceive people and deflect attention.”

It wouldn’t be the first time. In the tense buildup to the invasion, the Russian military announced that some units were loading equipment onto rail cars and preparing to return to their home bases after completing exercises. At the time, Putin was signaling interest in diplomacy. But 10 days later, Russia launched its invasion, Associated Press reported.

Dean Thompson has been nominated as the US Ambassador to Nepal.

US President Joe Biden announced his intent to nominate Thompson as the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to Nepal, read a statement issued by the White House on Wednesday.

Thompson will replace Ambassador Randy Berry.

Thompson is a career member of the Senior Foreign Service, class of Minister-Counselor. He currently serves as the State Department’s Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for South and Central Asian Affairs and was the acting Assistant Secretary from 2020 to 2021.

Prior to that, Thompson was the Deputy Chief of Mission of the US Embassy in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, and the Deputy Chief of Mission and Charge d’affaires of the US Embassy in Bucharest, Romania. Thompson also was the Consul General of the US Consulate in Kolkata, India, the statement read.

Among other assignments, he served as Director of the State Department’s Executive Secretariat Staff, Deputy Director of the State Department Operations Center, Director of the Operations Center Crisis Management Staff, and Deputy Director for Information Resources Management for the Executive Secretariat.

Thompson earned a BA degree from Wittenberg University in Springfield, Ohio, a MA degree from the University of Maryland School of Public Affairs, and a MS in National Security Strategy from the National War College, National Defense University. His foreign languages include Romanian and Bengali.

The government has decided to approve the grant assistance and the technical assistance related to the feasibility study for the trans-border railway to be received under the Economic and Technical Cooperation Agreement proposed by the government of the People’s Republic of China. 

Government spokesperson and Minister for Communication and Information Technology Gyanendra Bahadur Karki  informed about this during a press conference organized today at the Ministry while making public the decisions made by a meeting of the Council of Ministers on March 28. 

Minister Karki said the Cabinet meeting decided to extend the term of the implementation agreement concerning the oil and natural gas resource survey in Nepal by two years. It decided to approve the letter of intent related to zero customs and quota-free facility between Nepal and China as well as the agreement regarding the feasibility of grid connection between the two countries. 

According to the government spokesperson, the meeting decided to declare the Tilaurakot Kapilbastu area as a ‘protected monument zone’. It approved the visit of a team led by National Planning Commission (NPC) vice-chair Dr Bishwonath Poudel that participated in the 20th edition of the Doha Forum conference held on March 26 and 27 in Doha, Qatar. It approved the India visit of Toyam Raya, the Secretary at the Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA), from April 1 to 10.

The Monday’s Cabinet meeting has also made appointments to various government bodies. Accordingly, Lekhnath Sharma Pangeni and Dr Jeevan Angai have been appointed members of the Nepal Revenue Advisory Committee, and Sanjeev Jha the General Manager of Dairy Development Corporation.

Similarly, Bhairab Raj Regmi is appointed a member of the National Land Commission while Karuna KC has been designated as the Deputy Director-General of the Survey Department. 

The Cabinet has also appointed and installed, as per the recommendation of the Public Service Commission and the Judicial Service Commission, the Gazetted Second Class officers of various services and groups in the Gazetted First Class posts of the related service groups.

The government has formed a recommendation committee under the convenorship of the Secretary at the Ministry of Communication and Information Technology for appointing a member of the Nepal Telecommunication Authority. It has decided to give approval to Dr Kedar Bhakta Mathema, former ambassador of Nepal to Japan, to receive an Honour to be conferred on him by the Government of Japan. 

The Cabinet meeting has given temporary approval to the Chitwan Engineering Campus Rampur for running classes of the new course programme in Bachelor of Architecture, with an intake of 24 students. RSS

The ruling Nepali Congress has decided to forge an alliance in the forthcoming local level elections.

A Central Committee meeting held on Tuesday made the decision to this effect.

Party spokesperson Prakash Saran Mahat said that the meeting has decided to forge an electoral alliance as per the local needs.