Section: Egypt Independent (Egypt)
Kremlin rules out handing back Crimea to Ukraine
Russia said on Tuesday it would not hand back Crimea to Ukraine, despite warnings by the United States and European Union that they will not drop sanctions over the Black Sea peninsula’s annexation a year ago. “There is no occupation of Crimea. Crimea is a region of the Russian Federation and of course the subject of our regions is...
Russia starts nationwide show of force
More than 45,000 Russian troops as well as war planes and submarines started military exercises across much of the country on Monday in one of the Kremlin’s biggest shows of force since its ties with the West plunged to Cold War-lows.President Vladimir Putin called the Navy’s Northern Fleet to full combat readiness in exercises in...
Putin set to reappear after 10-day absence
President Vladimir Putin was due to reappear in public on Monday after an unusually long 10-day absence that unleashed frenzied speculation about the whereabouts and health of the Russian strongman.Putin is scheduled to meet with Kyrgyz President Almazbek Atambayev in Saint Petersburg later Monday, and a Kremlin official confirmed to AFP that the...
EU unlikely to agree next week to prolong Russia sanctions
European Union leaders are unlikely to reach agreement at their summit next week to prolong economic sanctions on Russia that expire in July, a senior EU official said on Friday. New sanctions on Russia are also off the table for now because EU governments want to give a chance to a fragile ceasefire in eastern Ukraine. But some of the EU’s...
IMF chief sees ‘better news’ at last for advanced economies
IMF chief Christine Lagarde said Wednesday that major advanced economies were seeing “better news” thanks to cheap oil, currency shifts and low interest rates that encourage investment.”For once in a long time there are clearly some relatively better news on the horizon of the advanced economies. And this has not happened in...
US slaps sanctions on Ukrainian rebels, Russian bank
The United States on Tuesday placed sanctions on eight Ukrainian separatists and a Russian bank, warning that recent attacks by rebels armed by Russia violated a peace plan in the war-torn country. “If Russia continues to support destabilizing activity in Ukraine and violate the Minsk agreements and implementation plan, the already...
Nemtsov friend says Islamist motive for Moscow killing is nonsensical
A colleague of Boris Nemtsov, the Russian opposition figure shot dead near Moscow’s Red Square, said suggestions he was killed by Islamists were nonsensical and useful for the Kremlin because they deflected accusations that officials were involved.Speculation about an Islamist link strengthened after investigators charged a man from the...
Juncker calls for EU army, says would deter Russia
The European Union needs its own army to face up to Russia and other threats as well as restore the bloc’s foreign policy standing around the world, EU Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker told a German newspaper on Sunday.Arguing that NATO was not enough because not all members of the transatlantic defense alliance are in the EU,...
Report: two charged with Nemtsov killing include Chechen officer
Moscow authorities have charged two men with involvement in the murder of Kremlin critic Boris Nemtsov, one of whom served in a police unit in the Russian region of Chechnya according to a law enforcement official. A total of five men were frogmarched into a Moscow courtroom on Sunday, forced by masked security officers gripping their bound arms...
EU shows little appetite for more Russia sanctions
EU foreign ministers showed little appetite on Saturday for stepping up pressure on Russia over Ukraine, preferring to give a fragile ceasefire a chance before deciding whether to apply more sanctions or even to extend existing ones. Most ministers at an EU meeting in the Latvian capital pinned their hopes on the latest Minsk agreement succeeding...
