Section: Stabroek News (Guyana)
Russia announces war games; UK worried by ‘extremely aggressive’ probing of air space
MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russia accused NATO yesterday of destabilizing northern Europe and the Baltics by carrying out drills there and announced new military exercises of its own, increasing tension over the Ukraine crisis. NATO responded by blaming Moscow for instability in the region, while British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond said he was...
Merkel hits diplomatic dead-end with Putin
BERLIN, (Reuters) – After nine months of non-stop German diplomacy to defuse the crisis in Ukraine, Chancellor Angela Merkel decided in mid-November that a change of tack was needed. Ahead of a summit of G20 leaders in Australia, Merkel resolved to confront Vladimir Putin alone, without the usual pack of interpreters and aides. Instead of […]...
Lavrov accuses West of seeking “regime change” in Russia
MOSCOW (Reuters) – Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov accused the West yesterday of trying to use sanctions imposed on Moscow in the Ukraine crisis to seek “regime change” in Russia. His comments stepped up Moscow’s war of words with the United States and the European Union in their worst diplomatic standoff since the Cold War ended. […]...
Ukraine to close state offices, bank services in rebel-held east
KIEV (Reuters) – Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko issued several decrees yesterday to shut state institutions and banking services in pro-Russian eastern regions, pressing a move to cut links with the rebel-held territory. Ukraine has cut all state funding to separatist parts of Donetsk and Luhansk regions after separatists held elections in...
Western leaders confront Putin at G20 with threat of more sanctions
BRISBANE, Australia (Reuters) – Western leaders warned Vladimir Putin at a G20 summit yesterday that he risked more economic sanctions if he failed to end Russian backing for separatist rebels in Ukraine. Russia denied any involvement in an escalation of the separatist war in eastern Ukraine, where more than 4,000 people have been killed since...
Pro-Russian rebels vote for leader in war-torn eastern Ukraine
DONETSK, Ukraine (Reuters) – Pro-Russian separatists will vote to set up a breakaway regional leadership in eastern Ukraine today aiming to take their war-torn region closer to Russia and defying Kiev and the West as the big guns still boom across the territory. The United States and European Union have denounced as illegitimate the vote […]...
Ukraine, Russia, EU agree to natural gas supply deal
BRUSSELS, (Reuters) – Ukraine, Russia and the European Union signed a deal yesterday that will see Moscow resume vital supplies of gas to its ex-Soviet neighbour over the winter in return for payments funded in part by Kiev’s Western creditors. After several failed rounds of talks in recent weeks as conflict rumbles on despite a […]...
Russia and Ukraine reach tentative gas deal in tough Milan talks
MILAN, (Reuters) – Russia and Ukraine made progress yesterday towards resolving a dispute over gas supplies in time for winter, but European leaders said Moscow still had to do much more to prop up a fragile ceasefire and end fighting in eastern Ukraine. The mooted deal could re-open Russian gas to Ukraine cut off since […] …read more...
NATO can put troops wherever it wants, new secretary-general says
WARSAW, (Reuters) – New NATO secretary-general Jens Stoltenberg said yesterday that the Western alliance could deploy its forces wherever it wants, apparently calling into question post-Cold War agreements that have been shaken by Russia’s actions in Crimea and Ukraine. Stoltenberg was visiting NATO member Poland to reassure it that...
US, Canada send jets to intercept Russian aircraft
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – US and Canadian fighter jets intercepted Russian aircraft that were flying near US and Canadian air space this week, a military spokesman said yesterday. The United States and Russia are increasingly at odds over Ukraine, where Russian-backed separatists have been fighting for control of parts of the former Soviet...
