Section: The Malaysian Insider (Malaysia)
Ukraine helicopter pilot slams ‘lies’ as murder trial starts in Russia
Ukrainian airforce helicopter pilot Nadiya Savchenko on Tuesday blasted Russian prosecution ‘lies’ against her at the start of a trial over the murder of two journalists that has caused outrage in Kiev and the West. Savchenko faces up to 25 years in prison for her role in the deaths of the two Russian reporters killed by mortar fire...
Russian court starts hearing Ukrainian pilot’s murder trial
A Russian court on Tuesday started hearing a case against Ukrainian helicopter pilot Nadiya Savchenko over the murder of two Russian journalists in a trial that has caused outrage in Kiev and the West. Seen by her compatriots as a symbol of resistance against a Kremlin-backed conflict in their country, Savchenko faces up to 25 years in...
Putin wants air base in Belarus
Russian President Vladimir Putin has ordered his ministers to agree a deal with Belarus so that Moscow can establish an air base in the ex-Soviet country, as Kremlin’s ties with the West remain at a post-Cold War low over the Ukraine crisis. The creation of a Russian military air base on the doorstep of the European Union in Belarus has...
Ukraine campaigns to strip Russia of UN veto power
Ukraine yesterday redoubled its long-shot bid to see Russia stripped of its veto power on the UN Security Council when the global body’s General Assembly meets in the coming weeks. Numerous nations are upset with Russia, which, along with fellow veto-wielding council member China, has blocked a series of UN efforts to impose sanctions...
Russia’s Nemtsov, Saudi’s Badawi, listed for EU rights prize
Assassinated Russian opposition leader Boris Nemtsov, a Ukraine military pilot held on murder charges by Moscow and jailed Saudi Arabian blogger Raif Badawi were shortlisted Thursday for the European Parliament’s prestigious Sakharov human rights prize. The prize is awarded every year to honour individuals who combat intolerance,...
Germany says ‘significant progress’ made at Ukraine meeting
German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said after meeting his Russian, Ukrainian and French counterparts in Berlin yesterday that “significant progress” had been made towards a resolution of the conflict between Kiev and Moscow. Steinmeier said Ukraine and Russia were close to striking an agreement on the withdrawal of...
Russia’s Putin welcomes Ukraine ceasefire
Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Saturday that it was welcome that both Ukrainian armed forces and separatists in eastern Ukraine had ceased military operations, calling this the main achievement in peace efforts in Ukraine. Speaking in the Crimean town of Chersoneus, Putin also said that Russia could solve the issue of gas supplies...
Ukrainian PM warns West not to lift Russia sanctions
Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk on Saturday urged the West not to lift sanctions on Russia for its role in the Ukraine conflict unless the Minsk peace deal is fully implemented. His call came ahead of a meeting of the foreign ministers of Germany, Russia, Ukraine and France in Berlin to prepare for a summit to be held in Paris...
Russia accuses Ukraine PM of fighting Moscow in Chechnya
The head of Russia’s powerful investigative body claimed Wednesday that Ukraine’s bespectacled technocrat prime minister fought in Chechya with Islamist insurgents against Moscow. Alexander Bastrykin told Rossiiskaya Gazeta state daily that in the first Chechen war in the mid-1990s, Ukraine’s premier “Arseny Yatsenyuk...
Ukraine says foiled bombing of Kiev apartment block
Ukraine’s security services said Thursday they had detained four members of a pro-Russian group suspected of plotting to blow up a block of flats in Kiev. “They planned to blow up a building in Obolon and were caught red-handed,” Olena Gitlyanska, spokeswoman for the SBU security services, told AFP, referring to a residential...
