Section: The Guardian (The United Kingdom)
Euro 2012 left little mark on Ukraine, still haunted by its history | Richard Williams
Few major tournaments can have felt so irrelevant to their time and place as the last European Championship and the potential fault lines in Ukraine were apparent to those who cared to lookThe Donbass Arena, built with several hundred million of an oligarch’s dollars, was as striking a modern setting for a football match as could be...
Sundance 2015 review: The Russian Woodpecker – paranoia and prophecy from a Chernobyl soothsayer
In a documentary unlike any other at Sundance, Chad Garcia follows Ukrainian artist Fedor’s attempts to unmask a Chernobyl cover-up – and to deliver a warning as Putin heads to the brink of civil warFew people know that Soviet officials might have deliberately destroyed the Chernobyl power station to cover up a disastrous nearby attempt to...
Greek finance minister Yanis Varoufakis to visit Osborne and City bankers
Yanis Varoufakis to meet George Osborne and City bankers on whistlestop tour of Europe to drum up support for Athens’ Syriza governmentThe new Greek finance minister is to call on George Osborne and City bankers next week as part of a whistlestop tour of European capitals to drum up support for Athens’ new leftwing government.Yanis...
Ukrainian forces blow up railway tracks in Luhansk – video
Ukrainian government forces destroy railway tracks in the eastern Luhansk region, which they believed were being used by pro-Russian separatists to transfer supplies. Soldiers prepared wiring near the intended target and attached explosives to the tracks, before a series of blasts were carried out destroying the transport link. The actions come...
Donetsk, Ukraine: ‘They are trying to destroy us’ – video
Residents of Donetsk react to an artillery attack on the outskirts of the city on Thursday. The strike killed at least three civilians and wounded another two early on Thursday morning. One resident, his comments punctuated by further shells falling, says he cannot find words to describe his experience in the east Ukrainian city anymore. The...
‘Doubt everything’ – Ukrainian students’ warning to Russian counterparts
Students in Kiev release YouTube video for their Moscow equivalents speaking out against ‘rampant Kremlin propaganda’ they say fuels the conflict in eastern Ukraine. RFE/RL reports“Check what you hear, doubt what you see.”This is the advice handed out by Ukrainian students to their Russian counterparts via YouTube, in a bid to tackle what...
EU emergency meeting set to punish Russia – but Greece may intervene
Tsipras government could disrupt Thursday’s summit after it disagreed with a joint EU statement on Mariupol shellingEuropean governments are to push for tighter sanctions against the Kremlin and against Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine on Thursday, but the new left-wing Greek government of Alexis Tsipras is likely to use the emergency...
Kazakhstan clamping down on freedoms, says UN report
Results of fact-finding visit say central Asian state allows ‘limited space’ for ‘dissenting views’ and fears protests like those that triggered Ukraine crisis Kazakhstan is clamping down on peaceful rallies for fear of a repeat of the demonstrations that triggered the Ukraine crisis, a United Nations rapporteur said in a critical...
Russian credit rating cut by Standard & Poor’s
Ratings agency reports decision to downgrade sovereign credit rating due to Russia’s weakened economic growth prospectsRussia’s sovereign credit rating has been cut to below investment grade with a negative outlook by ratings agency Standard & Poor’s, which says Russia’s economic growth prospects have weakened.The...
Ukraine at war: ‘People feel abandoned’ | Emilie Rouvroy
Food and medicine are getting scarce, and those in the conflict zone wonder why the world has forgotten themThe fighting has intensified dramatically since last week and the situation here is deteriorating rapidly. In the past five days, there has been heavy fighting. We hear the constant boom of shelling and crackle of shooting. More than 70...
