Section: The Malaysian Insider (Malaysia)
Ukraine reports fresh casualties in east, OSCE sees violence spreading
One Ukrainian serviceman has been killed and eight wounded in fresh separatist attacks, the military said in Kiev on Thursday, as the OSCE security watchdog warned of a “worrisome” spread of violence in eastern Ukraine. Fighting has lessened significantly since a ceasefire between Ukrainian forces and Russian-backed rebels was...
Ukraine rips up key cooperation deals with Russia
Kiev lawmakers on Thursday annulled five crucial security agreements with Moscow that allowed Russia to transport troops to a separatist region of Moldova and purchase weapons only produced in Ukraine. The deals were effectively suspended with the onset of Ukraine’s pro-Russian uprising in the industrial east 13 months ago that Kiev blames...
No G8 re-entry for Russia until common values met
German Chancellor Angela Merkel said today that there would not be any Group of 8 meetings with Russia as long as it fails to comply with basic common values of democracy and states based on rules of law. “The developments in Ukraine are the reason that we will meet in Elmau as Group of 7 and not a Group of 8,” she said in a speech...
US strongly urge Russia to stick to Ukraine agreement
US Secretary of State John Kerry on Wednesday warned Russia this was a critical time to fulfill a fragile peace deal to end the fighting in Ukraine, after he held several hours of talks with President Vladimir Putin. Kerry said at a meeting of NATO foreign ministers in the Turkish city of Antalya that now is a “critical moment for action...
Nemtsov allies release report on Russian involvement in Ukraine
Allies of murdered Russian opposition leader Boris Nemtsov on Tuesday unveiled a report based on research he compiled that they claimed proved large-scale Russian military involvement in Ukraine. “We gathered what we think is comprehensive proof of the presence of Russian troops,” said Ilya Yashin, one of the authors of the report...
High-powered US-Russia talks underway
US Secretary of State John Kerry began high stakes talks in the Russian resort of Sochi on Tuesday, aimed at pushing President Vladimir Putin to fully implement a shaky Ukraine ceasefire. Kerry met with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov ahead of talks with Putin in the Black Sea city at what a top US official said was “a critical...
Putin to host John Kerry for high-stakes Sochi talks
President Vladimir Putin is expected to host US Secretary of State John Kerry for talks in Sochi on Tuesday, in the first visit to Russia by the US top diplomat since the start of the crisis in Ukraine. Ties between Moscow and Washington collapsed after Russia seized Crimea and buttressed separatists in eastern Ukraine, but after a year of…...
Russia, Ukraine rebels have new ability to launch short-notice attacks
Russia and pro-Moscow rebels in eastern Ukraine now have the capacity to launch new attacks “with very little warning” after a sustained military build-up, Nato head Jens Stoltenberg said today. “In eastern Ukraine, Russia and the separatists (now) have capabilities which enable them to launch new attacks with very little...
Putin hosts huge WWII victory parade amid Western snub
Russia today staged a huge military parade to commemorate the 70th anniversary of victory over Nazi Germany in a conspicuous show of military might amid a standoff with the West over Ukraine. In what is seen as punishment for the Kremlin’s meddling in Ukraine, Western countries led by Russia’s World War II allies are boycotting the...
Record 38 million people internally displaced by conflicts
Conflicts and violence in places like Syria and Ukraine have displaced a record 38 million people inside their own countries, equivalent to the total populations of New York, London and Beijing, a watchdog group said Wednesday. Nearly one third of them – a full 11 million people – were displaced last year alone, with an average of 30,000…...
