INTERNACIONAL
GOP senator alleges Schumer behind ‘hit job’ report on former patients
A Republican senator running in a tightening race in ruby-red Kansas argued that an explosive report detailing allegations of hundreds of lawsuits against his former patients was a political «hit job» planted by top Democrats.
Sen. Roger Marshall, R-Kan., told Digital that a report from The New York Times that detailed hundreds of lawsuits against patients of his former OB-GYN practice over missed medical bills, some of which ended in arrests, was a political attack planted by Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y.
«I think that Kansans look at a story like this and realize it’s from something like the National Enquirer, that this is totally a hit job by left media, an article paid for by Chuck Schumer,» Marshall said during an interview at the Republican National Committee midterm convention in Dallas.
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Marshall was one of the founding partners of the Great Bend Regional Hospital and had his own OB-GYN practice called the Heartland Regional OB-GYN before winning his first bid for Congress in 2016.
During that time, and even after he was in office, the report alleged that Marshall and his lawyers filed lawsuits against more than 700 patients with outstanding medical bills and charged patients an 18% annual interest rate.
Of those, 81 patients were arrested for missing court dates, The New York Times reported, and the outlet interviewed some of those who were arrested.
«I would never want anyone to be arrested because of money that they owe myself or the hospital,» Marshall said. «But we had standard policies. Once they went to collections, I was never asked another — had nothing else to do with the process. These were professional companies that did the collection processes.»
Marshall noted that as one of the few doctors who accepted Medicaid in the area, many of his patients would travel from other cities to see him.
He said that typically it would be nine months to a year before a collection agency was considered, and when that became an option, they would turn to the «same collection agency that most every other doctor and hospital in the region did as well. They were all standard practices.»
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«My golden rule with my office manager is, look, if a person’s making a payment of $5 a month, that’s fine,» Marshall said. «As long as you’re communicating, make an effort, if they miss one, just communicate with us.»
«So only a very small, small, small fraction of the unpaid bills even went to collections,» he continued. «But once it left our office’s hand, we had nothing to do with any further decisions.»
The report comes as Marshall is running for a second term in the Senate. He’s facing Adam Hamilton, the Democratic nominee and a megachurch pastor who led the largest United Methodist congregation in the country.
Tyson Brody, a spokesperson for Hamilton’s campaign, told Digital, «Roger Marshall’s own lawyer said Roger Marshall specifically requested an 18% interest rate, 50% higher than the statutory rate in Kansas.»
«Roger Marshall’s own lawyer said Roger Marshall allowed him to seek warrants, arrests, and garnishments of new and expecting mothers,» Brody said. «One woman said she requested a payment plan but was pressed to pay in full and another reported she was arrested while struggling with payments.»
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«Senator Marshall should explain why he sued a woman who claimed he was charging her for his own mistakes, and why he had patients jailed for as little as $115,» he continued.
Though Kansas is favored to stay in the GOP’s control, Vice President JD Vance, one of the Trump administration’s most valuable surrogates on the campaign trail this cycle, stumped for Marshall last week. While Vance lauded Marshall as a valued ally to President Donald Trump and instrumental in implementing his agenda, he was interrupted by a protester who referred to The New York Times’ report.
«Now, this guy, this guy, I’m telling you, ladies and gentlemen, here’s what happened is he decided to come in and lie about my very dear friend Doc Marshall, because the reality is that Doc Marshall has stood up for everyday Americans every single day he’s been in the United States Senate,» Vance said.
But back in Dallas before the Vance event, Marshall maintained that his office’s practices were above board, and questioned The New York Times’ characterization of what happened.
«Look, I’m not even gonna give The New York Times the honor of me reading their article. But I just think that I trust our judges a lot more than what they’re describing there,» Marshall said. «Our judges wouldn’t do what they’re describing in that article. There had to be something else going on.»
«So it’s just amazing to me. Here, I’m the only OB-GYN in the middle of 60,000 people on call every night,» he continued. «I didn’t get a night off for 30 years darn near. And take so many people we gave pre-care to and there’s so many bills that we just wrote off as well. So I just think this is very much a mischaracterization of the whole process.»
politics, midterm elections, kansas, chuck schumer, health
WARREN, Mich. — Neighbors remember the sound of church bells ringing on Sundays.
A brick building with two sharply sloped roofs and a steeple — a Lutheran church for more than 80 years — still stands, but the cross that once stood atop the steeple is gone. About six years ago, the property was sold and turned into the Al Ihsaan Islamic Center.
«They’ll turn anything into a mosque,» Justin Tye, 57, told Digital during a guided tour of his hometown, where the foreign-born Muslim population has grown significantly over the past decade.
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Tye remembers the church as the centerpiece of his American suburb where local children would gather on the lawn to play pickup sports.
Lebanese, Iraqi and Syrian immigrants, mostly Chaldean Christians, began moving to the Detroit area in the early 20th century, after Henry Ford’s combustion engine drove demand for laborers in the newly-minted auto industry.
Warren, now the third-largest city in Michigan after Detroit and Grand Rapids, exploded almost overnight with the post-World War II auto manufacturing boom, as war veterans moved to the area to work for Ford and General Motors. The blue-collar, white-picket-fence community incorporated as a town in 1957.
After leaving Warren in his adulthood, Tye returned 13 years ago and purchased his childhood home. At that time, he says, it hadn’t changed dramatically.
Now, it’s much different.
TRUMP INAUGURATION PASTOR SAYS DEARBORN CHRISTIANS ‘AFRAID’ TO SPEAK OUT IN MUSLIM-MAJORITY CITY
Shortly after his return, foreign-born Muslims began flocking to the area.
Wars in the 1990s and 2000s led to a boom of Middle Eastern migrations, as America took in a growing Muslim refugee and immigrant population. Long-standing chain migration policies allowed family members to follow their relatives to the United States, and foreign immigrant visas have exploded in recent years.
This, Tye said, has been the story of Warren. But his town’s plight is overshadowed in the media by nearby Dearborn, a now Muslim-majority city that has garnered national and international attention.
Within a seven-mile radius of his neighborhood, there are now five mosques. Digital toured the area while Tye pointed them out.
An old industrial machinery business is now a mosque, as is a former Baptist church.
Tye pointed out a residential home that local Muslims sought to turn into a mosque before a bitter zoning battle, where the Warren City Council eventually decided against the change.
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Tye and several neighbors interviewed by Digital feel like they’re being pushed out of their own hometown.
«It all started when they bought the mosque, roughly six years ago,» said Tye, standing on the street corner in front of Al Ihsaan alongside his longtime neighbor, Wendy Schneider.
«After Ramadan, they would have their [Eid al-Fitr] prayer service. It was unannounced. We didn’t know anything,» he continued. «All of a sudden, we were just woken up to 100-plus people behind the mosque, with an imam on a podium with big amplifier speakers, belting out his prayer service. So it woke up the whole neighborhood.»
Since that day, Tye says the neighborhood has turned to «chaos,» especially during Muslim holidays and weekly Friday afternoon prayers.
Schneider, noting that she requires frequent doctor appointments but doesn’t make plans to leave her home on Friday afternoons, when worshipers flood the neighborhood for Jummah prayers.
Both neighbors claim the roads have become more dangerous, accusing the town’s immigrant residents of driving erratically and claiming those who don’t speak English don’t fully understand the rules of the road.
«One thing that I’ve found is that the driving conditions around here are very dangerous, and especially on their Friday, I make no appointments,» Schneider said. «Because it’s too dangerous to try to leave my house.»
For the same reason, Tye didn’t renew his motorcycle license plates this year.
Michigan motor vehicle accident data shows that in 2010, the city had 3,607 crashes. In 2024, the last year for which the data was available, Warren had 4,086, a 13.3% increase. Nationwide trends show about an 11% increase in crashes during the same time period.
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A third neighbor, who has lived in Warren since 1971 and who declined to be named, echoed to Digital that the influx has disrupted their way of life.
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«Seems like every restaurant that closes up — American restaurant — there’s a Muslim restaurant that opens up. I’ve seen four or five of them so far,» he said.
A fourth neighbor, who also asked not to be named, was born and raised in Warren in a home his family has owned since 1966. Like Tye, he left Warren but later returned. It’s been a decade since he came back.
«I’m normally laid back. Things don’t bother me,» he said. «But it’s like, this is my neighborhood and they’re just taking it over, and that’s what bothers me. And they don’t care.»
Tye said: «This whole neighborhood has been flipped in a decade — less than a decade — to Muslim. Sure enough, they’re nice, they wave and everything. But I go by their actions, and their actions aren’t nice.»
«Disrespecting the neighborhood, disrespecting the people who live here, parking in our driveways, blocking our driveways, parking on our lawns,» he continued, rattling off examples of how life has changed.
A local outlet ran a story in 2021 accusing residents of harassment of the Muslim worshipers during Eid-al-Fitr celebrations. «It’s like Christmas for us and to have people attack you on a holy day, it does hurt a little bit more,» worshiper Mubarak Mozeb told WDIV at the time. Others added that they didn’t feel welcome in the neighborhood.
Tye told Digital he’s never woken up his entire neighborhood with loudspeakers on Christmas.
Neighbors feel unsupported by local officials, including the Warren Police Department.
While some officers have expressed sympathy for their plight, the community members speculate that their hands are tied by city officials who value political correctness.
Tye said that Warren’s mayor, Lori Stone, refuses to speak with them.
«You never get to talk to Mayor Stone. You get to talk to her secretary, who’s a Muslim, who informed myself and my neighbors that we need to respect them because they’re Muslims,» he said.
«They will do absolutely nothing but gaslight you,» he said of the police and the city’s elected officials.
City hall and the Warren Police Department disputed these claims when reached by Digital.
In a statement, Stone claimed she wasn’t aware of any of the issues neighbors brought up in their interviews and insisted her administration «takes resident concerns seriously and works diligently to support the community by addressing issues and assisting with problem-solving.»
Stone also said the claims, relayed to her office by Digital, were «broad and lack sufficient information for the City to verify or investigate the alleged incidents.»
«To date, my office has not received the complaints or concerns outlined in your email, nor has the Warren Police Department provided any updates indicating problems related to the matters you describe,» the response notes.
The Warren Police Department addressed several incidents relayed to them, claiming it «takes all quality-of-life concerns, including parking and noise complaints, seriously, regardless of where they originate.» It said the last incident they responded to was in March.
«In previous years when officers responded to calls in the area, they consistently found that while vehicle volume can be high, all vehicles were legally parked,» the statement continued. «In the past, noise complaints associated with the area were primarily reported during the daytime, which fall outside the restrictions of the city’s general noise ordinances.»
The department added that it has not received any directives from city hall to exempt any areas of the city from law enforcement.
Stone’s office did not return a follow-up comment request. The Al Ihsaan Islamic Center did not return Digital’s request for comment.
politics, michigan, islam, immigration, culture opinion
La brecha laboral entre hombres y mujeres marcó los resultados de inserción de los graduados de la Universidad de Panamá en 2025.
La tasa entre los hombres llegó a 75,9%, mientras que entre las mujeres fue de 58,0%.
El informe del Observatorio Ocupacional, dependiente de la Dirección General de Planificación y Evaluación Universitaria, examinó la incorporación al mercado laboral panameño de los profesionales formados por la institución entre 2017 y 2025.
La Universidad de Panamá registró una tasa promedio de inserción laboral de 62,6% entre sus graduados en 2025.
El estudio muestra que la vinculación con el empleo varía según el género, el nivel de formación, el lugar de estudio y el área académica de procedencia.
La evolución del indicador tuvo cambios durante el período analizado.
En 2017, la tasa alcanzó 83,7%, el nivel más elevado de toda la serie, porcentaje descendió a 67,2% en 2020, en un escenario atravesado por las consecuencias económicas y laborales de la pandemia.
La recuperación posterior llevó el indicador a 80,3% en2022, y posteriormente la tasa volvió a bajar hasta el resultado informado para 2025.
El análisis indicó que la diferencia por género se mantuvo de forma sostenida a lo largo de los años considerados.
El registro más reciente volvió a reflejar una mayor proporción de inserción entre los graduados hombres.
Los egresados de programas de licenciatura tuvieron una inserción laboral de 63,5%, y la cifra quedó por encima del 52,5% observado entre quienes completaron carreras técnicas.
También surgieron diferencias según la sede universitaria, los graduados del campus central alcanzaron una tasa de 72,1%.
En los Centros Regionales Universitarios y otras sedes, el indicador fue de 51,8%.
La distancia entre ambos grupos, de acuerdo con el informe, expone comportamientos distintos en la transición de los egresados hacia el empleo.
El área de Ciencias de la Salud presentó el mejor resultado entre las disciplinas evaluadas, con una tasa de 69,2%.
De acuerdo con el análisis universitario, las Ciencias Administrativas y Económicas quedaron en segundo lugar, con 63,8%. Se indica que ambas áreas superaron el promedio general de inserción registrado ese año.
Por su parte, las Ciencias Humanísticas y Sociales alcanzaron 60,2%, mientras que Ciencias Naturales y Tecnología obtuvo 59,3%.
Los datos, siempre según el análisis de la Universidad de Panamá, permiten observar que las posibilidades de incorporación laboral no son uniformes entre las distintas áreas de formación. El estudio plantea que estos resultados pueden servir para revisar la correspondencia entre la oferta académica y las necesidades del país.
Entre los factores identificados para fortalecer la empleabilidad figuran la actualización permanente de los planes de estudio y una mayor relación con las empresas y otros sectores productivos. El documento también menciona la ampliación de los programas de prácticas, el desarrollo de competencias digitales y habilidades blandas, y el impulso de servicios de orientación laboral para los egresados.
La investigación y la innovación con impacto social aparecen como otros componentes vinculados a una mayor preparación de los graduados frente a las demandas laborales.
Los resultados del Observatorio Ocupacional ofrecen a la Universidad de Panamá una base para evaluar sus programas académicos, ampliar sus estrategias de acompañamiento y fortalecer los vínculos que faciliten la incorporación de sus profesionales al mercado de trabajo.
Los niveles más altos de inserción se registraron en 2017 (83.7%) y en 2022 (80.3%), tras la recuperación pospandemia.
La tendencia reciente refleja una desaceleración acorde con el comportamiento económico del país.
Al cierre del primer semestre de 2026 la Universidad de Panamá, también conocida como “la Universidad del pueblo”, informó que registró una matrícula de 84 mil estudiantes, cifra que de acuerdo con sus directivos se mantiene estable respecto al año anterior.
graduados,birrete,oficina,empleo
INTERNACIONAL
EXCLUSIVE: Russian document reveals sweeping Iran plan spanning nuclear, finance and aviation
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EXCLUSIVE: A nonpublic Russian government document obtained and reviewed by Fox News Digital reveals how Moscow sought to deepen its relationship with Iran far beyond conventional trade — laying out plans for alternative financial channels, nuclear cooperation, Iranian production of Russian aircraft components, major energy projects and new transportation routes stretching toward the Persian Gulf.
The 44-page Russian-language document, titled «Plan for Cooperation Between the Russian Federation and the Islamic Republic of Iran for 2024-2026,» is marked «For official use» and was approved on the Russian side on Sept. 2, 2024. It assigns ministries, agencies and state companies responsibility for projects and sets deadlines extending through the end of 2026.
PUTIN AND IRAN ‘NEED EACH OTHER DESPERATELY,’ EXPERT SAYS, AS RUSSIA VOICES SUPPORT FOR REGIME
Russian President Vladimir Putin and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian talk during their meeting on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, on Sept. 1, 2026. (Kristina Solovyova/Pool Sputnik Kremlin via AP)
The document predates the current war involving Iran and the United States by well over a year, meaning it does not establish which projects remain active or how the conflict may have altered Moscow’s plans.
But an independent review of the Russian-language document, along with subsequent public reporting, shows that a number of initiatives described in the roadmap later advanced or materialized.
Keti Korkiya, a research analyst with the Foundation for Defense of Democracies’ Russia program, reviewed the document for Fox News Digital and said its significance lies less in any single project than in the architecture Moscow was trying to build around the relationship.
«The roadmap is not revelatory: people paying close attention to the relationship between Russia and Iran will see many collaborations between the two countries that have been public for years,» Korkiya said in written analysis provided to Fox News Digital.
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President Vladimir Putin shakes hands with Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi during a meeting at the Boris Yeltsin Presidential Library in St. Petersburg, Russia, April 27, 2026. (Dmitri Lovetsky/Pool via Reuters)
«What is more revealing is the architecture of the relationship Moscow is trying to build,» she said, pointing to financial mechanisms, transportation routes, energy investment and aviation cooperation as different ways of reducing vulnerabilities created by sanctions and Western economic pressure.
«These are nonpublic high-level documents that illustrate the comprehensive cooperation between Russia and Iran,» a European intelligence source who reviewed the material told Fox News Digital.
«It is also strategic, sensitive and highly politicized, focusing on areas like nuclear programs, energy trade and financial transactions that aim to evade the U.S. sanctions,» the source said.
A U.S. official, responding on background to questions from Fox News Digital about the financial provisions, said U.S. sanctions have «severely isolated Russia and Iran from the international financial system,» adding that efforts by the two countries to develop alternative financial channels and other sanctions-evasion schemes were therefore «not surprising.»
The official said Washington closely tracks attempts by sanctioned jurisdictions to develop alternative cross-border payment mechanisms and would seek to disrupt those that facilitate sanctions evasion or illicit finance.
The Russian document itself does not use the phrase «sanctions evasion.» Instead, it repeatedly calls for increased use of national currencies, independent financial channels and measures to counter what Moscow describes as «unilateral restrictive measures.»
TRUMP THREATENS ‘UNPRECEDENTED’ ECONOMIC CONSEQUENCES FOR ANY NATION AIDING IRAN
Russian President Vladimir Putin and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian pose for a photo during their meeting at the Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, on Sept. 1, 2026. (Vyacheslav Prokofyev/Pool Sputnik Kremlin via AP)
BUILDING FINANCIAL CHANNELS OUTSIDE WESTERN SYSTEMS
Some of the clearest provisions concern how Russia and Iran intended to move money.
The plan set a target of increasing the share of bilateral trade conducted in national currencies from 68% in 2024 to 71% by 2026, while also seeking to expand correspondent accounts denominated in national currencies.
More ambitiously, the roadmap calls for the Bank of Russia and the Central Bank of Iran to develop the use of central bank digital currencies for cross-border settlements.
Another provision calls for «ensuring the use of independent systems for transmitting financial messages,» including connecting financial institutions to independent channels for exchanging financial information.
The document does not identify which messaging system would be used or explicitly state that the goal was to bypass SWIFT or U.S. financial controls.
Strategic moves by Russia to address its budget deficit may inadvertently devalue the ruble, analysts warn. (Reuters/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo)
But some of that financial integration later became public.
In February 2025, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexei Overchuk said Russia and Iran had «practically completely» shifted bilateral settlements into national currencies using their own systems for transmitting financial and banking messages. Interfax, a Russian news agency, reported that the effort was part of a broader push toward independent payment infrastructure between the two countries.
Iran’s ambassador to Russia also said in February 2025 that Tehran and Moscow no longer needed SWIFT for bilateral banking relations and were using their own confidential bank-messaging systems. He said the initial phase of linking Iran’s Shetab payment network with Russia’s Mir system had begun the previous year.
Korkiya said the significance of those measures is cumulative.
IRAN REGIME USES FORMER SOVIET REPUBLIC TO DODGE SANCTIONS, FUND WAR MACHINE: REPORT
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian visits nuclear facilities in Tehran on Nov. 1, 2025. (Iranian Presidency/Handout/Anadolu via Getty Images)
«Individually, none of these initiatives is transformative,» she wrote. «Collectively, however, they amount to an attempt to remove single points of vulnerability and build redundancy into the Russia-Iran economic relationship.»
The financial effort is paired with a political one.
The roadmap calls for Russia and Iran to coordinate through BRICS and other international institutions against «unilateral trade restrictions,» while another provision proposes studying ways to counter «unilateral restrictive measures» and their impact on global markets.
Korkiya said that goes beyond simply finding workarounds.
«Especially interesting is that the roadmap also goes beyond practical sanctions workarounds and includes an effort to build an intellectual and diplomatic campaign against sanctions themselves,» she wrote, citing plans for expert communities, discussion platforms and an international forum focused on unilateral restrictions.
A U.S. official told Fox News Digital that financial institutions and intermediaries enabling sanctions evasion expose themselves to «significant sanctions risks,» adding that Washington would continue working with partners to «identify, expose and disrupt these networks wherever they emerge.»
The official also pushed back on the idea that alternative Russia-Iran systems could displace Western financial infrastructure.
«Russia and Iran can try to build alternative financial channels, but they cannot replicate the reach, liquidity or trust of the U.S. dollar and the international financial system,» the official said. «Their efforts will not weaken the effectiveness of U.S. sanctions.»
CHINA, RUSSIA, IRAN AND NORTH KOREA FORM ‘AXIS OF AGGRESSORS’ THAT COULD OVERWHELM US, BOOK WARNS
A person walks past a sign at a currency exchange, as the value of the Iranian rial drops, in Tehran, Dec. 30, 2025. (Majid Asgaripour/West Asia News Agency via Reuters)
ROSATOM AND IRAN’S NUCLEAR SECTOR
The financial architecture sits alongside another strategically sensitive pillar of the relationship: civilian nuclear energy.
The plan assigns Russia’s state nuclear corporation Rosatom continued responsibility at Iran’s Bushehr nuclear power plant, including fuel and maintenance support for Unit 1 and continuing construction work associated with Units 2 and 3.
The cooperation did not remain solely on paper.
On Sept. 2, 2026, Rosatom said Russian specialists had begun returning to Bushehr, that Unit 1 was preparing for scheduled maintenance and partial fuel replacement, and that nuclear fuel had already been delivered to the site. Rosatom also said work was continuing on the plant and that additional Russian specialists were expected to arrive.
An Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps speedboat during a parade marking Persian Gulf National Day near the Bushehr nuclear power plant in Iran on April 29, 2024. (Morteza Nikoubazl/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
Korkiya noted that the Bushehr Units 2 and 3 project predates the 2024 roadmap, meaning the document did not originate that cooperation but rather incorporated an existing strategic project into the broader Russia-Iran framework.
«Such strategies and protocols confirm that Russia and Iran are closely aligned countries, and Russia almost certainly continues and aims to increase its current cooperation with Iran also in 2026,» the European intelligence source said.
Fox News Digital sought comment from Rosatom on the document and the current status of its work in Iran.
ENERGY PROJECTS — WITH SOME FINANCING KEPT CONFIDENTIAL
The roadmap also identifies specific Iranian oil and gas fields where Moscow sought a role.
It names Shadegan, Kish and North Pars, assigning Russia’s Energy Ministry and unspecified «interested Russian companies» responsibility for advancing the projects.
Those companies are not named in the roadmap. For several projects, the financing column is marked «Confidential.»
There is evidence that at least one of the named projects advanced.
Interfax reported on Feb. 13, 2026, that Russian state-owned ZN-Vostok was developing Iran’s Shadegan oil field, while Iranian officials said Tehran hoped to expand Russian investment across additional oil and gas projects.
The roadmap sets milestones for Shadegan through the end of 2025, while work involving Kish and North Pars runs into 2026 and includes legal, commercial and project-analysis work.
That pattern appears repeatedly through the document: ministries, deadlines and strategic objectives are spelled out, while some of the participating companies or financing arrangements remain undisclosed.
BESSENT WARNS IRAN’S OUTSIDE BACKERS TO ‘STAY AWAY’ AS TRUMP SEEKS TO ‘ASPHYXIATE’ TEHRAN’S ECONOMY
This handout image supplied by the Iran International Photo Agency (IPA) shows the reactor building at the Russian-built Bushehr nuclear power plant on Aug. 21, 2010, in southern Iran. (IIPA via Getty Images)
RUSSIAN AIRCRAFT PARTS — MADE IN IRAN?
One of the more unusual provisions goes beyond ordinary trade.
The roadmap calls for Russia to help establish production in Iran of individual parts and assemblies for Russian aircraft.
Russian authorities were instructed to determine which aircraft parts could be repaired or manufactured in Iran, identify Iranian companies capable of producing them, certify selected sites through Russia’s aviation regulator Rosaviatsiya and conclude a localization agreement.
The roadmap set a March 31, 2026, deadline for an agreement on localized production and a Dec. 31, 2026, target for launching prototype production.
Public evidence does show that aviation cooperation advanced in the related area of aircraft maintenance.
In February 2025, Rosaviatsiya’s chief said three Iranian companies had been approved to perform maintenance and airworthiness work on Russian-operated aircraft after an Aeroflot Airbus A330 underwent maintenance in Tehran.
The Russian government also publicly discussed deeper aviation-industrial cooperation with Iran that month, including aircraft manufacturing and joint work on jet engines for passenger aircraft.
But Fox News Digital has not independently verified that the more ambitious provision in the roadmap — manufacturing Russian aircraft components inside Iran — was implemented.
A TRADE ROUTE SOUTH
The document also lays out an effort to strengthen the physical transportation network linking Russia and Iran.
It calls for work on a proposed railway built to Russia’s 1,520-millimeter track gauge, stretching from Iran’s border with Azerbaijan toward Iranian ports on the Persian Gulf.
The proposal remained in the planning and negotiation stage in the roadmap.
Separately, Moscow sought to advance the Rasht-Astara railway, a roughly 162-kilometer missing link in the International North-South Transport Corridor.
That project subsequently moved beyond the purely conceptual stage.
Russia and Iran formally launched engineering surveys for the railway in May 2025, according to Russia’s Transport Ministry.
Korkiya said the project had still not reached full construction by late summer 2026, with Russian and Iranian officials continuing to work on the implementation and construction arrangements. She also identified another provision: Iranian investment in port infrastructure in Astrakhan, Russia.
The roadmap calls for a terminal there using Iranian investment, along with warehouses, a logistics park and grain and vegetable-oil facilities. Korkiya found that an Iranian-owned company later operated a terminal in Astrakhan with a railway spur and was building grain and vegetable-oil storage facilities that closely tracked the roadmap’s description, although the document does not identify that company by name and the match cannot be definitively established.
Taken together, the transport provisions point to an effort to build physical trade routes that are less dependent on traditional European corridors.
MEDIA, TECHNOLOGY AND «INFORMATION SECURITY»
The roadmap reaches well beyond finance and heavy industry.
It calls for content exchange, journalist training and joint media production, including at least two joint projects and ‘professional training’ for Iranian journalists.
It also calls for Russian technology companies to secure at least two contracts in Iran involving information and communications technology, including «information security,» telecommunications and the video-game industry.
US ECONOMIC CHOKEHOLD ON IRAN REACHES PEAK LEVERAGE AS COLLAPSE RISKS EMERGE
A satellite image shows Shahid Rajaee port in Bandar Abbas, Iran, April 9, 2025. (Planet Labs PBC/Handout via Reuters)
A PUTIN FAMILY CONNECTION AT THE TOP
The official overseeing the Russian side of the relationship also has a direct connection to President Vladimir Putin’s extended family.
Russian Energy Minister Sergei Tsivilev chairs the Russian side of the Permanent Russian-Iranian Commission on Trade and Economic Cooperation.
Tsivilev is married to Anna Tsivileva, a Russian deputy defense minister and the daughter of Putin’s late cousin, Reuters reported when Putin appointed her to the Defense Ministry in June 2024.
The European intelligence source argued that the connection reflects the political importance Moscow attaches to Iran.
«It should be emphasized that on Russia’s part, the economic cooperation with Iran is coordinated and managed by a representative of Vladimir Putin’s extended family,» the source said.
«This indicates that the Iranian matter is not just one of many bureaucratic issues in the agenda of the Russian government. But it holds significant value for the interest of the Vladimir Putin regime.»
«What is also notable is the degree of state coordination and institutionalization behind this effort,» she said, pointing to the involvement of central banks, ministries, regulators and state companies, as well as formal deadlines and confidential financing in some projects.
«That suggests Moscow is trying to turn what could otherwise remain a politically convenient partnership into something more durable and bureaucratically embedded,» Korkiya said.
President Vladimir Putin and Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi attend a meeting at the Boris Yeltsin Presidential Library in St. Petersburg, Russia, April 27, 2026. (Dmitri Lovetsky/Pool via Reuters)
Russian and Iranian officials did not respond to multiple requests for comment from Fox News Digital. Fox News Digital also sought comment from Rosatom and from Russian officials responsible for Moscow’s participation in BRICS.
war with iran, russia, iran, foreign policy, vladimir putin
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