Section: The Gulf Today (United Arab Emirates)
Ukraine warring sides announce start of small arms withdrawal
KIEV: Warring sides in Ukraine on Saturday began withdrawing tanks and smaller weapons from a buffer zone in the war-torn east a day after the leaders of France and Germany met Vladimir Putin for peace talks. The announcement of the beginning of the small-weapons withdrawal came after Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko voiced cautious optimism...
Leaders meet to consolidate Ukraine peace
PARIS: The leaders of France, Germany, Russia and Ukraine met in Paris on Friday to consolidate a fragile peace in Ukraine, as President Vladimir Putin eyes relief from punishing sanctions over Moscow’s role in the conflict. Fighting has all but stopped in separatist eastern Ukraine but with peace closer than ever, the 17-month conflict...
Kazakhstan recalls books after spat with Ukraine
ASTANA: Ex-Soviet republic Kazakhstan has recalled a series of school textbooks that Ukraine said acknowledged Crimea as part of Russia following complaints from Kiev. At the centre of the controversy are textbooks for secondary school students in the Central Asian nation that said Crimea had become part of Russia in 2014 after a popular...
Rebels give initial backing to small arms withdrawal
KIEV: Ukraine said on Wednesday it had struck an initial agreement with pro-Russian insurgents to withdraw smaller weapons from the buffer zone splitting eastern rebel lands from the rest of Ukraine. International monitors said the two sides’ February committment to pull back heavy weapons from the 500km line separating the forces was only...
Ukraine opens trial of Russian troops
KIEV: Ukraine on Tuesday began hearing a case against two Russian soldiers it claims will prove Moscow’s direct involvement the conflict in the war-torn former Soviet state. Troops captured the two men, both of whom were wounded, in May and interrogated them, broadcasting their alleged confessions in which they said they were active members...
Netherlands to repatriate more MH17 bodies
AMSTERDAM: The Dutch government said on Friday it would repatriate more remains of victims from last year’s Malaysia Airlines MH17 air crash over Ukraine, as it prepared to publish a report into the cause. The Dutch justice ministry said a ceremony to mark the arrival of the latest remains unearthed would be held at Amsterdam’s...
Ukraine bans Russian airlines as part of curbs
KIEV: Ukraine is banning flights by Russian airlines from Oct.25 as part of a wave of sanctions against Russia over its support for separatists in the east of the country, the government said on Friday. Kiev said last week it was imposing restrictions on more than 90 companies or groups, mostly from Russia, and including airlines Transaero and...
Nato worried of Russian muscle-flexing
BRUSSELS: Nato head Jens Stoltenberg told AFP on Thursday there was still a “strong” Russian presence in eastern Ukraine in support of pro-Moscow rebels although a recent ceasefire seems to be holding. Stoltenberg said he backed the continuation of European Union and United States sanctions against Russia over its involvement in Ukraine until...
Nato chief stops short of backing Ukraine membership
Kiev: The head of Nato said on Tuesday that “Ukraine can rely on” the Western military alliance but stopped short of infuriating Russia by backing the ex-Soviet republic’s membership in the Cold War-era bloc. Nato Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg also repeated his charge from Monday that Russia was supplying pro-Moscow...
Stoltenberg visits Ukraine amid lull in conflict
KIEV: NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg on Monday touched down in Ukraine on his first visit to the country hit by a separatist conflict that has caused the worst standoff between Moscow and the West since the Cold War. Stoltenberg headed first to a military base in the western city of Lviv where the US army has been training Ukraine’s forces....
