Putin hosts leaders of Southeast Asian nations, seeking to boost their business ties

MOSCOW (AP) — President Vladimir Putin hosted leaders of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations on Wednesday as Russia seeks to bolster business and other ties with the nations of the regional bloc.

The two-day meeting, being held in Kazan, is set to consider ways to expand Russia’s “strategic partnership” with ASEAN nations that include Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, East Timor and Vietnam, according to Kremlin foreign affairs adviser Yuri Ushakov.

The regional bloc has maintained relations with Moscow as a “dialogue partner” and engaged Russian officials in annual top-level meetings, he said. The summit in Kazan, on the Volga River, marks the 35th anniversary of Russia-ASEAN relations.

In a message greeting participants in a business forum held on the sidelines of the summit, Putin said he was confident that it will “create new opportunities for expanding mutually beneficial trade, investment, and industrial cooperation, while also strengthening direct dialogue between our business communities.”

Ushakov said the agenda includes exchanging views on global and regional issues and reviewing efforts to develop Russia-ASEAN ties. He emphasized that the participants are set to underline their adherence to “forming a just and democratic multipolar world order based on the principles of international law and the United Nations Charter.”

Ushakov praised what he described as “fruitful, equal and constructive dialogue” between Russia and ASEAN.

He told reporters that Putin would have bilateral meetings with ASEAN leaders during the summit, which he will co-chair with Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., whose country holds the association’s rotating presidency.

Opening a bilateral meeting with Marcos, Putin noted their countries' “mutually beneficial cooperation built on good traditions, mutual respect and consideration of each other’s legitimate interests.”

Marcos thanked Putin for organizing the Russia-ASEAN meeting in Kazan and invited him to the ASEAN summit in Manila in November.

Putin also met with Brunei’s Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah and Malaysia's Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim.

Russia and ASEAN nations "jointly stand for forming a just world order, defend the principles of sovereign equality of states, (of) non-interference into internal affairs,” Putin said at a formal reception for heads of delegations Wednesday evening.

“All our states follow their own models of development and don't impose their views on anyone. And this is, indeed, our strength," he said. “Russia is ready for continuing active joint work with ASEAN member states with the goal of strengthening strategic partnership, in the interests of ensuring security, well-being and prosperity of our countries and peoples, as well as the Eurasian region as a whole.”

Another bilateral meeting on the sidelines of the summit was with Turkey's Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, who met in Moscow on Tuesday with his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov.

Putin praised Russia's ties with Turkey as “developing steadily,” with contacts between the countries being “truly friendly and being filled with new meaning.” Fidan said the two had multiple issues to discuss.

Some of ASEAN’s diverse member countries, including the Philippines, are seen to be aligned with the United States, while others have heavy trade and security engagements with China and Russia.

Several ASEAN members, including the Philippines, Indonesia, Thailand and Vietnam, have either imported Russian crude oil or expressed interest in purchasing it after global fuel prices soared in the wake of the war in Iran.

Russian President Vladimir Putin, right, and Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet pose for photo on the sidelines of the Russia-ASEAN summit in Kazan, Russia, Wednesday, June 17, 2026. (Sergei Bobylev/Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)

Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim gestures during a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin on the sidelines of the Russia-ASEAN summit in Kazan, Russia, Wednesday, June 17, 2026. (Sergei Bobylev/Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)

Russian President Vladimir Putin delivers his speech during a gala dinner on the sidelines of the Russia-ASEAN summit in Kazan, Russia, Wednesday, June 17, 2026.(Mikhail Metzel, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)

Russian President Vladimir Putin, fourth right, and Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, second left, attend a talks on the sidelines of the Russia-ASEAN summit in Kazan, Russia, Wednesday, June 17, 2026. (Sergei Bobylev/Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)

Russian President Vladimir Putin, center, and the head of the Republic of Tatarstan Rustam Minnikhanov, left, visit the Kul Sharif Mosque during the Russia-ASEAN summit in Kazan, Russia, Wednesday, June 17, 2026. (Mikhail Metzel/Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)

Russian President Vladimir Putin lights a candle while visiting the Annunciation Cathedral of the Kazan Kremlin during the Russia-ASEAN summit in Kazan, Russia, Wednesday, June 17, 2026. (Mikhail Metzel/Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)

Russian President Vladimir Putin lights a candle while visiting the Annunciation Cathedral of the Kazan Kremlin during the Russia-ASEAN summit in Kazan, Russia, Wednesday, June 17, 2026. (Mikhail Metzel/Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)

Russian President Vladimir Putin, third right, and Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. fourth left, attend the talks on the sidelines of the Russia-ASEAN summit in Kazan, Russia, Wednesday, June 17, 2026. (Sergei Bobylev/Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)

Russian President Vladimir Putin, center right, and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, center left, greet Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. during their meeting on the sidelines of the Russia-ASEAN summit in Kazan, Russia, Wednesday, June 17, 2026. (/Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)

RIVERHEAD, N.Y. (AP) — After decades waiting for justice, relatives of women murdered by New York’s Gilgo Beach serial killer laid into him Wednesday before he was sentenced to life in prison. He told them: “I am responsible” for the crimes.

“The words I would say would have no meaning,” added Rex Heuermann, the Long Island architect who lived a secret life of violence for years before admitting he killed eight women.

The sentencing capped an extraordinary investigation that solved one of New York’s most perplexing mysteries. The seemingly unconnected and largely overlooked disappearances of young women became the focus of true-crime documentaries, books and podcasts after police began discovering the victims’ skeletal remains in the sandy scrub along a coastal parkway.

Heuermann, 62, will have no possibility of parole.

“A million years isn’t enough,” Jasmine Robinson, a cousin of victim Jessica Taylor, said. “Nothing will ever make this right.”

“You fill me with so much repugnance, I can’t stand it,” she added.

As a series of victims' kin spoke, Heuermann sat with his hands on the defense table, looking straight ahead and lightly tapping his fingers.

Then Amanda Funderburg, victim Melissa Barthelemy's sister, commanded Heuermann to look at her. He glanced in her direction, but his eyes were slightly downcast.

“I hope you suffer,” said Funderburg, as she recounted getting a taunting phone call from him days after Barthelemy disappeared, when Funderburg was 15 years old.

JoAnn Mack, the mother of victim Valerie Mack, told the killer that her daughter “had dreams, and you took them all away from her.”

“Justice has been done, but it can’t replace what has been taken,” Mack said.

Heuermann pleaded guilty in April to charges that he murdered seven women: Barthelemy, Mack, Taylor, Megan Waterman, Amber Lynn Costello, Maureen Brainard-Barnes, and Sandra Costilla.

Heuermann also admitted in court to killing an eighth victim, Karen Vergata, though he was never charged in her death. He said he strangled his victims, many of them sex workers, and dismembered some of their bodies.

“Are you at least a little sorry?” Judge Timothy Mazzei asked Wednesday in an indignant voice.

Heuermann nodded and appeared to mouth “yes.”

“You are disgusting — a despicable man, if you are a man at all,” the judge said, his voice rising. “And you are a coward.”

As Heuermann was led away in handcuffs, spectators in the packed courtroom jeered.

Liliana Waterman, who was 3 when her mom vanished, said she has been waiting her entire life to confront her mother’s killer.

“She can finally rest in peace,” Waterman said outside the courthouse. “He can’t hurt anybody else.”

Most of the women disappeared between 2000 and 2010 and their remains were all found on Long Island. Most were along Ocean Parkway near Gilgo Beach. Costilla’s remains were found in 1993 in the Hamptons, while Vergata’s remains were found in 1996 on Fire Island.

Brainard-Barnes’ two children, who were 7 and 1 when she disappeared in 2007, underscored Wednesday how her absence shaped their lives and how she never got to know the adults they grew up to be.

Her sister, Melissa Cann, sobbed deeply as she described wondering for decades if she could have done more to protect Brainard-Barnes. But, she said, that guilt is “not mine to carry. It is for Rex and Rex alone.”

Heuermann’s ex-wife and two adult children said they did not attend the sentencing out of respect for the victim’s families.

The case spilled into view in 2010, when investigators started to find remains along Ocean Parkway while looking into the disappearance of another sex worker, Shannan Gilbert, whose death was ultimately ruled an accidental drowning.

The case went cold until 2022, when detectives linked Heuermann to a pickup truck that a witness reported seeing when one of the victims disappeared in 2010.

Eventually, they matched DNA from a pizza crust Heuermann discarded in a Manhattan trash can to genetic material extracted from highly degraded hair fragments found on the women’s remains.

Investigators amassed other evidence, including cellphone and tracking data showing Heuermann arranged meetings with some victims shortly before their disappearances.

After Heuermann's 2023 arrest, prosecutors recovered what they described as a “blueprint” for the killings from his computer files. Among the documents was a series of checklists with reminders to limit noise, clean the bodies and destroy evidence.

Heuermann will soon be transferred to a state prison after having spent the past three years alone in a segregated cell at the Suffolk County jail, reading crime novels and striking up a brief correspondence with the infamous “Happy Face Killer.”

Calling him “a monster,” Suffolk County District Attorney Ray Tierney declared there was nothing Heuermann could say to mitigate his deeds.

“There is no doubt this defendant is sorry,” Tierney said. “He is sorry he got caught.”

His lawyer, Michael Brown, said Heuermann has cried and there may be “some sincerity in his expressions of remorse.” His client appeared “as normal as they come” during their interactions, in contrast with his horrific crimes.

“He’s somewhat of a charismatic figure when you talk to him,” Brown said.

As part of his guilty plea, Heuermann agreed to cooperate with the FBI’s behavioral analysis unit to help catch other serial killers.

Peltz reported from New York.

Judge Tim Mazzei becomes emotional as Jasmine Robinson, cousin of Jessica Taylor, speaks during a victim impact statement during sentencing of Gilgo serial killer Rex Heuermann at Suffolk County Court in Riverhead, N.Y., on Wednesday, June. 17, 2026. (James Carbone/Newsday via AP, Pool)

Melissa Cann, sister of Maureen Brainard Barnes, speaks prior to sentencing of Gilgo serial killer Rex Heuermann by Judge Tim Mazzei at Suffolk County Court in Riverhead, N.Y., on Wednesday, June 17, 2026. (James Carbone/Newsday via AP, Pool)

Gilgo Serial Killer Rex Heuermann is escorted away after being sentenced by Judge Timothy Mazzei at Suffolk County Court in Riverhead, N.Y., on Wednesday, June 17, 2026. (James Carbone/Newsday via AP, Pool)

Gilgo Serial Killer Rex Heuermann is sentenced before Judge Timothy Mazzei at Suffolk County Court in Riverhead, N.Y., on Wednesday, June 17, 2026. (James Carbone /Newsday via AP, Pool)

Defense Attorney for convicted murderer Rex Heuermann, Michael J. Brown, arrives to the the Arthur M. Cromarty Criminal Court Complex ahead Heuermann's court sentencing Wednesday, June 17, 2026, in Suffolk County, New York. (AP Photo/Ryan Murphy)

Natile Dilea, a member of a sex-workers rights group, stands in line to enter the Arthur M. Cromarty Criminal Court Complex ahead of a court sentencing for convicted murderer, Rex Heuermann, Wednesday, June 17, 2026, in Suffolk County, New York. (AP Photo/Ryan Murphy)

Members of a sex-workers rights group, hug each other while waiting in line to enter the Arthur M. Cromarty Criminal Court Complex ahead of a court sentencing for convicted murderer, Rex Heuermann, Wednesday, June 17, 2026, in Suffolk County, New York. (AP Photo/Ryan Murphy)