Section: The Japan Times (Japan)
Despite robust truce, Russia plots pain for Ukrainian economy
Fighting in eastern Ukraine between government troops and Russian-backed separatist forces has ground almost to halt. That should be good news for Ukraine, but Russia looks intent to pile on the economic misery. In a detailed Op-Ed piece Monday, Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev painted a grim forecast of Russian economic blockades ahead as...
As Ukraine truce holds, Russia vows ‘pragmatic’ approach with economic pain
Fighting in eastern Ukraine between government troops and Russian-backed separatist forces has ground almost to halt. That should be good news for Ukraine, but Russia looks intent to pile on the economic misery. In a detailed Op-Ed piece Monday, Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev painted a grim forecast of Russian economic blockades ahead as...
U.N. says death toll in eastern Ukraine up to 4,707
Fighting in eastern Ukraine has killed at least at least 4,707 people since the conflict began in mid-April, and more than a quarter of the recorded deaths have come since a much-ignored ceasefire, U.N. rights investigators said Monday. A new report from the U.N. team in Ukraine says at least 1,357 of the fatalities have […] The post U.N. says...
Kerry, Lavrov meet in Rome as tensions soar over Ukraine
Top U.S. diplomat John Kerry met his Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov, Sunday amid anger in Moscow over the prospect of new U.S. sanctions and possible lethal military aid for Ukraine. The meeting in Rome comes as tensions soar after U.S. lawmakers passed a bill — dubbed the Ukraine Freedom Support Act — calling for additional […] The post...
Russia reaches out to Europe’s far-right parties
A Russian loan to France’s National Front. Invitations to Moscow for leaders of Austria’s Freedom Party. Praise for Vladimir Putin from the head of Britain’s anti-European Union party. As the diplomatic chill over Ukraine deepens, the Kremlin seems keener than ever to enlist Europe’s far-right parties in its campaign for...
Ukraine’s foreign students trapped amid the bomb blasts as rebel conflict rages in east
Wissam Fawzi left Iraq in 2006, hoping to put the horrors of war behind him and study dentistry in a place far removed from the sound of bomb blasts. Unfortunately, he picked eastern Ukraine as his new home. “I wanted to move to Donetsk because there was war in Iraq. There was shelling in Baghdad […] The post Ukraine’s foreign students...
Ukraine truce under pressure as Europe raises Russia fears
A three-day-old cease-fire in eastern Ukraine was under pressure on Thursday after three government soldiers were killed, while European nations raised new fears about Russia’s “unprecedented” military buildup. On some parts of the front line, there appeared to be a determined effort to keep the shaky truce from collapsing. Government...
Spate of bombings hits Ukraine military hub
The city of Kharkiv in Ukraine’s industrial east has stayed out of rebel hands but a mysterious spate of bombings has triggered fears that Russia is trying to destabilize this key defense hub. Barely a week goes by without another bombing reported against Ukrainian military targets in the city of 1.4 million which once served […] The post...
Muslim Tatars suffer discrimination in Crimean homeland since annexation
Since Russia annexed Crimea from Ukraine, armed men have shown up frequently to search the cinder-block houses, mosque and school in Sary-Su, a settlement of Crimean Tatars, a Muslim ethnic minority that has long suffered from discrimination in the peninsula, which is its historic homeland. The worst shock came in September, when two men in […]...
Dutch set to begin assembling MH17 wreckage for investigation
Crash investigators will try to reconstruct the Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777 that was shot down over eastern Ukraine in July from wreckage that was brought by truck to a Dutch air force hangar on Tuesday. Members of the national Safety Board will piece together the remains of the plane on a frame to determine exactly […] The post Dutch set to...
