Section: The West Australian (Australia)
China, Russia and eastern Europe boost defence spending (AFP)
Stockholm (AFP) – Military spending increased sharply in 2014 in China and Russia and the Ukraine conflict prompted eastern European countries to boost their defence programmes, according to a study by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) released Monday. …read more Source: The West...
Germany calls on Russia, Ukraine to move to next phase of peace deal (AFP)
Frankfurt (AFP) – German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier has called on Russia and Ukraine to set in motion the next phase of the shaky Minsk peace accords aimed at stopping the fighting in east Ukraine, ahead of talks about their implementation in Berlin on Monday. …read more Source: The West...
Russia supplying weapons, troops to Ukraine separatists: report (AFP)
Frankfurt (AFP) – NATO believes that Russia has supplied more troops and weapons to pro-Russian separatists in east Ukraine, a German newspaper reported on Sunday. …read more Source: The West...
Pro-Russians blast destruction of Soviet statues in Ukraine (AFP)
Kharkiv (Ukraine) (AFP) – Masked men toppled Soviet-era statues in night raids in Ukraine’s second city Saturday, as moves to erase fraught symbols of the past widen the country’s divide. …read more Source: The West...
Soviet-era statues smashed as Ukraine likens Russia to Nazis (AFP)
Kharkiv (Ukraine) (AFP) – Masked men smashed communist-era monuments in Ukraine’s second city overnight Friday after the country’s pro-Western parliament voted to purge the nation of Soviet symbols and its head of state compared today’s Russia to Nazi Germany. …read more Source: The West...
Russia lashes out at law to erase Ukraine’s Soviet past (AFP)
Kiev (AFP) – Controversial laws designed to leave Ukraine’s Soviet past behind stoked tension in the war-divided country Friday and prompted an angry reaction from Russia which called the ban on communist-era symbols “totalitarian”. …read more Source: The West...
Ukraine says 39 pro-Russian ‘saboteurs’ arrested in Odessa (AFP)
Kiev (AFP) – Ukrainian authorities on Thursday said 39 people had been arrested for planning a pro-Russian rebellion in the southern port city of Odessa which has been rocked by mysterious explosions in past months. …read more Source: The West...
Amnesty condemns ‘summary killing’ of Ukraine troops by rebels (AFP)
Kiev (AFP) – Amnesty International on Thursday said it had new proof of the “summary killings” of Ukrainian soldiers captured by pro-Russian separatist fighters in eastern Ukraine, and demanded a quick impartial probe. …read more Source: The West...
Ukraine outlaws Communist names in fresh break with Soviet past (AFP)
Kiev (AFP) – Ukraine on Thursday outlawed Communist names, symbols and even songs in a fresh break with the country’s Soviet past as its soldiers fight pro-Russian separatists in the east. …read more Source: The West...
Ukraine rebels ‘killed govt soldiers’ (AP)
Amnesty International says they believe Russian-backed soldiers executed captured Ukrainian soldiers in the country’s civil war. …read more Source: The West...
