Section: Cyprus
U.S. to deploy armored brigade combat teams to Europe
The U.S. military said on Wednesday that it would deploy rotations of U.S.-based armored brigade combat teams to Europe, part of a wider effort to counter what the United States sees as Russian aggression on the continent. The teams will be on nine-month rotations starting in February 2017, and will conduct military exercises across Estonia,...
Hammond: Russia a threat to everyone on world stage (Updated)
Russia is moving further away from having Western sanctions lifted over its role in the Ukraine crisis, British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond told Reuters on Wednesday. Hammond, who was in Georgia to meet Prime Minister Georgy Kvirikashvili and to visit the BP-operated South Caucasus Pipeline, has a track record of robustly criticising...
NATO needs to beef up defence of Baltic airspace – top commander
NATO should upgrade its air patrols in the Baltic states into a combat-ready force that would be able to defend them in time of war, the defence alliance’s top commander said on Tuesday. A multi-national NATO force currently has eight jets patrolling the skies over Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. This air policing operation was increased...
Turkish tourism and economy struggle due to bombings, Russia chill
Suicide bombings in Istanbul, a row with the Kremlin and hard times for the Russian middle class – all these factors spell trouble for Turkey’s tourist industry and its wider economy. Nowhere is the mood gloomier than among shopkeepers in Istanbul, Turkey’s cultural gem and scene last weekend of the second suicide attack on tourists...
Russian court sentences Ukraine’s Savchenko to 22 years in jail
A Russian court on Tuesday sentenced Ukrainian pilot Nadezhda Savchenko to 22 years in jail after finding her guilty of complicity in the killing of two Russian journalists during the separatist conflict in eastern Ukraine. Savchenko, a 34-year-old who has become a national hero at home in Ukraine, was defiant as the verdict was read out,...
Russian court: Ukrainian pilot Savchenko guilty of killing reporters
A Russian court on Monday found Ukrainian pilot Nadezhda Savchenko guilty of complicity in the killing of two Russian journalists, a verdict certain to inflame already dire relations between Moscow and Kiev. Savchenko, 34, was captured by pro-Moscow rebels in eastern Ukraine in June 2014 during the separatist conflict there and handed over to...
EU urges more countries to impose sanctions on Russia over Crimea
By Robin Emmott and Dmitry Solovyov The European Union called on Friday for more countries to impose sanctions on Russia over its annexation of Ukraine’s Crimean peninsula two years ago, but the Kremlin said Crimea was Russian land and its status non-negotiable. In a statement issued on the anniversary of the formal absorption of Crimea...
Obama welcomes Trudeau, celebrates thaw in US-Canada relations
By David Ljunggren and Roberta Rampton President Barack Obama offered a warm, red-carpet welcome for Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau at the White House on Thursday, ending a frosty period in US-Canada relations and celebrating their shared goals on climate and trade. Obama has much in common with Trudeau, the progressive 44-year-old...
EU tells Russia to free hunger-striking Ukrainian pilot Savchenko
The European Union’s foreign policy chief on Thursday told Russia to free Nadezhda Savchenko, a Ukrainian pilot accused over the killing of two Russian journalists, as Savchenko relaxed a hunger strike by starting to take liquids. The 34-year-old is regarded as a national hero by many Ukrainians, but is charged in Russia with complicity in...
Hunger-striking Ukrainian pilot could die before Russia sentences her – lawyer
A hunger-striking Ukrainian pilot on trial in Russia over the killing of two Russian journalists could die before a Russian court sentences her as the state of her health is worsening, her lawyer said. Nadezhda Savchenko, 34, was captured in eastern Ukraine in 2014 during fighting between Ukrainian forces and pro-Moscow separatists and handed...
