Section: Cyprus
Russian soldier said captured in Ukraine admits on video to spying mission
One of two Russian servicemen Ukraine says it captured while fighting with separatists in eastern Ukraine admitted on a video circulating on Monday that he had been part of a Russian special forces spying mission. Moscow, which has acknowledged in the past that Russian national “volunteers” might be fighting for the separatists, repeated its...
Baltic military chiefs to call for permanent NATO presence
By Andrius Sytas Baltic states Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia are preparing an appeal to NATO command for a permanent presence of NATO troops on their territory to counter increased Russian air and naval activity, the Lithuanian army said on Thursday. The states, all with ethnic Russian minorities, fear they could become a target of Kremlin...
Scores of Russian soldiers killed in east Ukraine
By Maria Tsvetkova Moscow spent more than 53 billion roubles ($1.04 billion) supplying a separatist rebellion in east Ukraine and at least 220 Russian soldiers have been killed there, a report by Russian opposition activists said on Tuesday. The report was the last project of murdered Kremlin critic Boris Nemtsov, who used open source information...
Kerry to explore Putin’s flexibility on Ukraine, Syria
By Arshad Mohammed and Denis Dyomkin US Secretary of State John Kerry hopes to explore Russia’s willingness to curb its involvement in Ukraine and its support for Syria’s president at talks on Tuesday with President Vladimir Putin. Kerry flew to the Black Sea resort of Sochi for the highest-level US visit to Russia in two years, to...
Lavrov, Kerry to discuss Ukraine on Tuesday in Sochi, Russia
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and US Secretary of State John Kerry will discuss the Ukraine crisis and other global conflicts on Tuesday in Russia’s Black Sea resort of Sochi, RIA news agency quoted a diplomatic source as saying. Lavrov will tell Kerry US military support for the Kiev government, which is battling pro-Russian...
Turkey’s new naval vessel contract causes alarm
“Turkey has taken a major step in altering the naval balance in the eastern Mediterranean by contracting the construction of a multi-purpose amphibious assault ship that can function as an aircraft carrier, potentially providing Turkey an unprecedented measure of sea control in the region”, Michael Tanchum writes in an article published by...
Russia stages huge military parade, Western leaders boycott
By Vladimir Soldatkin, Jack Stubbs and Timothy Heritage Thousands of Russian troops marched across Red Square, tanks rumbled through the streets and jets screamed overhead on Saturday in a huge military parade marking the 70th anniversary of victory over Nazi Germany. Western leaders boycotted the parade over Russia’s role in the Ukraine...
NATO starts anti submarine exercise in North Sea as tension with Russia rise
By Balazs Koranyi NATO launched one of its biggest-ever anti-submarine exercises in the North Sea on Monday, inviting non-member Sweden for the first time, amid increasing tensions between Russia and its northern neighbours. More than a dozen vessels from 11 countries are participating in the Dynamic Mongoose exercise. NATO will simulate...
Ukraine says separatists step up attacks, Poroshenko warns of ‘threat of war’
By Richard Balmforth Ukraine’s leader warned on Tuesday that a war with pro-Russian separatists could still break out again as its military said the rebels had greatly stepped up attacks and widened the area of their operations despite a ceasefire. A military spokesman said one Ukrainian serviceman had been killed – the fourth fatality...
EU, Ukraine leaders meet as shelling worsens, one Ukrainian soldier killed
By Pavel Polityuk Top European Union officials met the Ukrainian leadership on Monday for talks on deepening trade links and efforts to bring peace to Ukraine, but worsening violence in the separatist-minded east clouded the summit. As Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko met European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker and European Council...
