Section: European Voice (EU)
A day in the life of Nariman Dzhelyal
SIMFEROPOL, Crimea — The day starts with traditional coffee. Nariman Dzhelyal’s parents wave him off, just like any couple watching their son leave for the office. But Dzhelyal no longer has an office. And every time he leaves home, in a village just outside Simferopol, Crimea, his parents wonder if he’ll...
Kissinger, a longtime Putin confidant, sidles up to Trump
Back in the 1990s, Henry Kissinger, the legendary former U.S. secretary of state-turned-global consultant, encountered an intriguing young Russian and proceeded to ask him a litany of questions about his background. “I worked in intelligence,†Vladimir Putin finally told him, according to “First...
Putin’s way of war
This week, cybersecurity researchers produced compelling new evidence linking Russia’s GRU military intelligence service to the hacks of Democrats during the 2016 campaign. The findings, released in an 11-page report by the firm CrowdStrike, showed that the same group of hackers who broke into the Democratic National Committee and...
Home Alone in Ukraine in the age of Trump
KIEV — Channel-surf through Ukrainian television during the holiday season and you’re bound to come across a rerun of the classic Christmas film “Home Alone.” The slapstick comedy — whose soundtrack, coincidentally, includes a song, “Carol of the Bells,” by a Ukrainian composer — ranks among the 10...
On stage, Putin celebrates a good year
MOSCOW — Every year, the Kremlin puts on the Vladimir Putin show, the annual press conference at the end of December. But on Friday, the Russian president had a certain spring in his step. Certainly, it’s been a good year for Putin. From the military support of President Bashar al-Assad that has helped bring the rebels in Syria...
Trump releases letter from Putin asking to ‘restore’ US-Russia relationship
President-elect Donald Trump on Friday released a holiday letter he received from Russian President Vladimir Putin, saying he hopes the U.S. and Russia will be able to “live up to†the overtures expressed by Putin and that “we do not have to travel an alternate path.†Putin’s letter,...
Radioactive cloud over Budapest’s budget
Hungary’s €12 billion plan to build two new nuclear reactors could push the country’s budget deficit over the limit set by EU rules, critics of the projects have warned, and regulators may be in the dark about its true costs. In mid-July, the EU Council of Ministers warned the country is close to breaching the fiscal...
White House rebuffed pre-election plan to combat Russian influence
The White House opposed a Republican-led push earlier this year to create an executive-branch task force to battle Russia’s covert information operations, according to a document obtained by POLITICO. Sen. Tom Cotton, a leading GOP defense hawk who has long urged President Barack Obama to take a harder line on Russia, sought to force...
ECJ advocate-general: Trade deals require national parliaments’ approval
The European Court of Justice’s advocate-general on Wednesday issued a non-binding opinion saying national and regional parliaments across the EU must also have a say on ratifying trade agreements. In 2014, the European Commission asked the court to rule if the EU-Singapore trade agreement, and similar upcoming deals such as one with...
Marine Le Pen denies cash-for-support deal with Russia
PARIS — French far-right leader Marine Le Pen may have received funding from Russian-backed banks as thanks for supporting Russia’s annexation of Crimea, French investigative news site Mediapart reported Tuesday, citing text messages exchanged between two Russian officials. In the messages, which Mediapart said it had obtained...
