Section: New Europe (EU)
Chinese counterfeits smuggled into EU
Author(s): Basil A. Coronakis toxics.jpg OLAF, the anti-fraud service of the European Union, is investigating a major contraband case involving a large American company and certain Ukrainian officials of the previous regime who have already flown to Russia. …read more Source: New...
NATO, Russia blast each other like in Cold War days
Author(s): Dan Alexe Alexander Vershbow.jpg Vladimir Putin is seeking to turn Ukraine into a failed state while silencing dissent at home, a top NATO official said on Thursday, suggesting the Russian President was ultimately responsible for the murder of Kremlin critic Boris Nemtsov. “President Putin’s aim seems to be to turn Ukraine...
Lunch with Putin: Renzi wants a role for Italy
Author(s): Dan Alexe h_51828715.jpg Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi, on a visit to Moscow on March 5. met with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev. With Russia-West ties at their lowest point since the Cold War times, most European Union leaders have shunned Moscow. Renzi’s trip had no immediate purpose...
Norway hosts high-level Northern European defence talks
Author(s): NEOnline | TB nordef.jpg Norway’s Defence Minister Ine Eriksen Søreide hosted colleagues and other government representatives from 12 European countries in Oslo to discuss security issues. As reported in the local media, Søreide focussed on Russia’s illegal annexation of Crimea and its aggression against Ukraine. This also...
Brussels emergency talks on Russian gas for Ukraine
Author(s): Dan Alexe h_51803091.jpg Russia and Ukraine’s energy ministers are holding emergency talks in Brussels as Russian gas giant Gazprom threatens to cut off deliveries to Ukraine for lack of payment. European Union energy spokesperson Anna-Kaisa Itkonen said Monday that the EU’s executive Commission will mediate between the...
Defeat for Putin in Estonia, as pro-NATO party claims victory
Author(s): Dan Alexe Estonian Prime Minister Taavi Roivas.jpg There were fears that Putin might come to rule through proxy in tiny Estonia, after the pro-Moscow Centre Party had been given favourite by practically every poll, but Estonia’s ruling Reform Party has emerged as the overall winner in Sunday’s general election dominated by...
Petro (Poroshenko) and the Chocolate Factory
Author(s): Dan Alexe h_51804441.jpg He had promised last year that, were he to win the presidential election, he would sell his chocolate factories, in order to be able to concentrate on the defence of the Fatherland. After all, even Ukraine’s Constitution bars (no pun on chocolate intended) him from running such businesses, in parallel...
Amnesty report: 2014 – “an ultimate low point"
Author(s): Dan Alexe Ukraine shelling.jpg Calling 2014 a “devastating year”, Amnesty International writes in its latest yearly report that this must change and that world leaders must act immediately to address this issue so that the citizens can get a better future. “We must hope that looking backward to 2014 in the years to come,...
Kiev denies rebels began withdrawing weapons
Author(s): Dan Alexe Ukraine artillery.jpg Pro-Russia separatists said on Tuesday they had begun pulling heavy weapons from the front line in east Ukraine under a ceasefire deal, but Ukraine said the rebels were using the cover of the truce to reinforce for another advance. A peace plan worked out in marathon talks on Feb. 12 aims to create a...
Germany starts working on next White Paper
Author(s): NEOnline | TB d_defence.jpg Germany’s Defence Minister Ursula von der Leyen has said it is time for another White Paper –an analysis about the country’s international role and the future of the armed forces. The last White Paper was issued in 2006. The new White Paper, which is scheduled to be published in 2016, will most...
