Section: AsiaOne (Singapore)
Putin says Russia economy will be cured, offers no remedy
Moscow – President Vladimir Putin assured Russians on Thursday that the economy would rebound after the ruble’s dramatic slide this year but offered no remedy for a deepening financial crisis.Defiant and confident at a three-hour news conference, Putin blamed the economic problems on external factors and said the crisis over Ukraine...
EU leaders agree investment package to boost economy
BRUSSELS – European Union leaders endorsed a new investment programme intended to kick-start economic growth in the bloc at a summit in Brussels, which its chairman said would end late on Thursday, half a day earlier than planned. “We agreed three things: one, we call for the urgent establishment of a European fund for strategic...
EU summit to discuss crisis-hit Russia, economic plan
BRUSSELS – EU leaders on Thursday will discuss tense relations with Russia and punishing sanctions imposed over Moscow’s actions in Ukraine at a summit led for the first time by Poland’s Kremlin-wary former premier Donald Tusk.Leaders will also back a huge 315-billion-euro (S$498 billion) investment plan unveiled last month by...
Opponent calls for Putin’s exit as Russia slides into crisis
A prominent opponent has warned Vladimir Putin his days in power are numbered, as Russia awaits the president’s response to the dramatic decline of the rouble.Putin has been silent as the currency collapsed against the US dollar this week before making up some of the lost ground on Wednesday, but he is sure to be asked about it at his...
Russian rouble firms sharply as government pressures exporters
Russian rouble firms sharply as government pressures exportersMOSCOW – Russia’s rouble strengthened sharply on Wednesday after dramatic falls on the previous two days as the government pressured exporters not to hoard foreign-currency earnings and the central bank announced new measures to support financial stability.The rouble was...
Russians go on shopping splurge as ruble plunges
MOSCOW – Russians are feeling the pinch from the slumping ruble, but one somewhat paradoxical result has been to unleash a spending spree as consumers snap up electronics, furniture and cars before prices soar.In general, Russians’ spending power has gone down with the ruble — which this week hit a record low against the dollar...
Spy row as Kremlin agent in Estonia tells all on Russian TV
MOSCOW – In a rare disclosure by a spy agency, Russia’s secret service has revealed it had an agent inside the secret police of NATO neighbour Estonia for 15 years.A documentary entitled “Our man in Tallinn” broadcast Sunday evening on the pro-Kremlin NTV channel showed Uno Puusepp confessing to having fed Russia secrets...
Key events in 2014
PARIS – Here is a panorama of world events in 2014:JanuaryCENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC: Bangui mayor Catherine Samba-Panza, is elected interim president.February UKRAINE: Security forces crack down on pro-European protestors in Kiev’s central Independence Square, or Maidan. More than 100 people die. President Viktor Yanukovych flees to...
Russia invites N.Korea leader for May visit – paper
TOKYO – Russia has invited North Korean leader Kim Jong Un to attend a May ceremony marking the end of World War Two, in what would be Kim’s first foreign visit since taking the helm of the reclusive state in 2011, Japan’s Asahi Shimbun daily said on Wednesday.Kim would probably meet Russian President Vladimir Putin, as North...
In 2015, Vladimir Putin may witness his empire’s death knell
The year ahead could see the outbreak of the third Chechen war, which, in turn, could be the death knell of the Russian Federation in its current borders.If, as is imaginable, Russia dismembers itself later this century – the way the Soviet Union did in 1991 – it will largely be a consequence of President Vladimir Putin’s...
