Section: POLITICO – Europe Edition (EU)
Lithuania defense minister fears Russian invasion
Russia’s claims that Vilnius does not belong to Lithuania could be laying the groundwork for a possible invasion, Lithuania’s Defense Minister Raimundas Karoblis told the Guardian in an interview published Monday. “Russia is a threat,” Karoblis said. “They are saying our capital Vilnius should not belong to Lithuania because...
Ukraine suspects Russian role in lawmaker’s murder
KIEV — After three decades of mob power and three years of revolution, Kiev is no stranger to the sound of bullets. But the murder of exiled Russian lawmaker Denis Voronenkov on Thursday outside the swanky Premier Palace hotel was shocking nonetheless. In broad daylight at a busy intersection, three bodies lay in pools of blood: one...
Ukraine bans Russian singer from Eurovision
Ukraine has banned Russia’s entrant in the Eurovision Song Contest because she has performed in Crimea, the BBC reported Wednesday. In 2015, Yulia Samoylova sang in Crimea, which was annexed by Russia in may 2014. Ukraine’s SBU security service said she will be banned for her “illegal” visit. SBU has blacklisted at least 140...
Ukraine blocks road and rail links with breakaway regions
KIEV — Ukraine’s government said Wednesday it would cut off all transport connections with Russian-backed separatist territories in the country’s east, potentially undermining a fragile ceasefire and jeopardizing the country’s tentative economic recovery. The announcement was made at a special meeting of the...
Trump’s pick for national security role now lobbying for Ukrainian tycoon
Monica Crowley, who had been tapped for a national security post in the Trump White House before being derailed by plagiarism allegations, has found a new job: lobbying for a Ukrainian tycoon. Crowley registered on Friday to provide “outreach services” on behalf of Victor Pinchuk, a Ukrainian steel magnate who’s given millions to the...
Ukraine’s fight against fake news goes global
KIEV, Ukraine — When “little green men†invaded Crimea in the spring of 2014, Russian media went into overdrive, smearing Ukraine’s Euro-revolution as a “fascist coup d’état.†A group of professors and students struck back and unwittingly made history that spring...
Authorities looked into Manafort protégé
U.S. and Ukrainian authorities have expressed interest in the activities of a Kiev-based operative with suspected ties to Russian intelligence who consulted regularly with Paul Manafort last year while Manafort was running Donald Trump’s presidential campaign. The operative, Konstantin Kilimnik, came under scrutiny from officials at...
Ukraine takes ‘terrorism’ case against Russia to international court
Ukraine is set to make a case against Russia in the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague on Monday, AFP reported. Ukraine formally submitted its complaints to the judicial arm of the U.N. in January, when it accused Russia of providing “financial, armed and human” support to separatist fighters in eastern Ukraine and of...
Manafort’s Ukrainian ‘blood money’ caused qualms, hack suggests
Paul Manafort’s family expressed misgivings about the political consultant’s work for both Russia-aligned Ukrainian strongman Viktor Yanukovych and Donald Trump, according to text messages allegedly hacked from one of his daughters’ phones. The texts, posted on a darknet website run by a hacktivist collective, appear...
Dutch lower house backs EU-Ukraine agreement
The lower house of Dutch parliament on Tuesday evening backed the amended EU-Ukraine Association Agreement, after it was rejected by Dutch citizens last year in a non-binding referendum, local media reported. The move was expected after most MPs indicated in December that adding a legally binding declaration that ensures the deal is not a...
