Section: POLITICO – Europe Edition (EU)
Joe Biden: Ukraine must reform or EU may lift Russia sanctions
Ukraine must make progress on promised economic and political reforms or the EU could backtrack on sanctions it imposed on Russia after the annexation of Ukraine’s Crimea peninsula in 2014, U.S. Vice President Joe Biden warned on Wednesday, Reuters reported. “We know that if they give an excuse to the EU, there are at least five countries...
In Ukraine, media freedom under fire
KIEV — Ukrainians take media freedom seriously. They expect to hear debates on the airwaves. But what has been a source of pride for many has recently come under threat. Politicians, publicly criticized for their failures, want to pull an iron curtain over media outlets. On a recent Sunday afternoon, masked men in military fatigues stormed the...
EU extends Russia sanctions over Ukraine
EU sanctions designed to deter Russian aggression in Ukraine were prolonged by six months Thursday, with the bloc’s foreign affairs ministers agreeing there had been insufficient change to warrant lifting the measures. The asset freeze and a travel ban against 146 people and 37 firms, most of them Russians, were first introduced in March...
German, French ministers visit east Ukraine
The German and French foreign ministers traveled to eastern Ukraine on Thursday in their first visit to the conflict area since fighting broke out in spring 2014. Frank-Walter Steinmeier and Jean-Marc Ayrault arrived in Kramatorsk, a city controlled by the Ukrainian army, to meet with observers from the Organization for Security and Cooperation...
Opposition’s tiny gains point to thaw in Belarus
Two opposition candidates won seats in the Belarusian parliament for the first time in 20 years, raising hopes that relations will warm further between the West and the authoritarian government of President Alexander Lukashenko. Following Sunday’s vote, Belarus election officials announced early Monday that Anna Konopatskaya from the United...
Half of Dutch EU referendum cash must be paid back
Nearly €500,000 in grants handed out by the Dutch government ahead of an April referendum on an EU-Ukraine deal will have to be paid back, it said Wednesday. A special committee, set up to deal with the funding, said that half of the money handed out to individuals and organizations ahead of the April 6 referendum could not be justified. The...
Petro Poroshenko: Russia wants ‘the whole Ukraine’
Vladimir Putin wants “the whole [of] Ukraine” to be part of the “Russian empire,” Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said Wednesday as his country celebrated 25 years of independence. “It is absolutely the same situation like Russian bombardment in [the Syrian city of] Aleppo,” Poroshenko told CNN’s Christiane Amanpour. “They have only...
France’s farmers on suicide watch as wheat crop fails
Paris — Desperate French farmers are increasingly turning to newly created suicide hotlines as the worst wheat harvest in a generation devastates their livelihoods. Heavy spring rains have crippled the EU’s top wheat exporter just as Russia and Ukraine piled on the pressure, depressing prices with a bumper crop. While France’s harvest...
Ukraine celebrates, with an eye on Russia
KIEV — More than 200 military vehicles — including tanks and missile carriers — flanked by ranks of troops are being prepared for Ukraine’s largest-ever military parade on Wednesday. The martial tone of Ukraine’s independence day celebrations isn’t unexpected. Two years ago, the date marked a large-scale offensive by...
US officials probe Manafort’s firm for corruption link to Viktor Yanukovych
FBI and Justice Department prosecutors are conducting an investigation into possible U.S. ties to alleged corruption of the former pro-Russian president of Ukraine, including the work of Paul Manafort’s firm, according to a CNN report Saturday. The investigators are looking into whether U.S. companies and the country’s financial...
