Section: The Gulf Today (United Arab Emirates)
New peace bid launched in Ukraine
Slavyansk: The German and French foreign ministers made their first visit to Ukraine’s war-torn east on Thursday, saying they wanted to push a new bid for peace after a recent surge in violence. Frank-Walter Steinmeier and his French counterpart Jean-Marc Ayrault visited the Donetsk region and viewed a bridge destroyed in fighting between...
Stolen Dutch masterpieces ‘soon’ back at museum
The Hague: Five stolen 17th and 18th-century masterpieces will soon be returned from the Ukraine to the Dutch museum where they disappeared from more than a decade ago, officials announced on Monday. “The Ukranian authorities will soon hand over five retrieved artworks to the Dutch embassy in Kiev,” said Marloes Hoorn, spokeswoman of the...
Ukraine fears full-scale Russian invasion
KIEV: It has become increasingly difficult for Ukraine to secure Western support in its fight against “Russian aggression” and a full-scale invasion from Russia cannot be ruled out, Ukraine’s President Petro Poroshenko said on Tuesday. Poroshenko said Europe’s internal strength was being tested by external issues such as the migration...
Russia launches army drills set to rattle Kiev
Moscow: Russia on Monday launched large-scale military drills on Ukraine’s eastern border and around the Crimean peninsula, in the latest exercises set to rattle Kiev and the West. The defence ministry said 12,500 servicemen are taking part in the drills across its southern military region, which encompasses Russia’s volatile North...
UN anti-torture body resumes Ukraine visit
Geneva: A UN torture prevention group said on Wednesday it would resume a visit to Ukraine that it had halted in protest over access issues following “positive talks” with the Ukrainian government. Last May, the United Nations Subcommittee on Prevention of Torture (SPT) announced that it had suspended its mission to Ukraine after being denied...
Russia ‘cages’ Umerov in ward for mentally-ill
Simferopol: International rights groups and Ukrainian officials protested on Friday against the incarceration in a psychiatric hospital of a prominent Crimean Tatar activist charged with calling for extremism in the Russian-annexed peninsula. Ilmi Umerov, 59, has been held in a psychiatric hospital in the main Crimean city of Simferopol since...
Ukraine sheds Soviet past on 25th year of independence
Kiev: Ukraine marks the 25th anniversary of its freedom from Kremlin rule on Wednesday with moves to sweep away its totalitarian past and embrace a European future while grappling with its tense relations with Russia. A nation that once served as a geopolitical bridge between Moscow and the West is now the source of a deep and dangerous rift....
Putin visits Crimea after Ukraine incursion claim
MOSCOW: Russian President Vladimir Putin was on Friday visiting annexed Crimea to boost security measures there, just days after accusing Kiev of attempting an armed incursion into the peninsula. Putin chaired a meeting of his powerful security council in Crimea as he made his fifth visit to the strategic Black Sea peninsula since annexing it...
Ukraine could introduce martial law: Poroshenko
KIEV: Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said on Thursday he did not rule out introducing martial law and a new wave of military mobilisation if the conflict with pro-Russian separatists worsened. Poroshenko made his comments as fresh tension with Russia over Crimea reignited fears that a fragile ceasefire deal hammered out in the Belarussian...
Russian boosts Crimea air defence system
MOSCOW: The Russian military said on Friday it had delivered its most advanced S-400 air defence system to Crimea after pledging last month to deploy it to the disputed region. Russia’s southern military district said in a statement carried by state news agencies that troops in Crimea had “received the modern S-400 ‘Triumph’ air...
