Section: Boston Herald (USA)
Kerry to meet Russia's Putin amid Ukraine, Syria tensions
SOCHI, Russia — U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry is in Russia to meet President Vladimir Putin with an eye on easing badly strained relations over conflicts in Ukraine and Syria.Kerry laid a wreath at a World War II memorial in the Black Sea resort city Tuesday before holding talks with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. Later, he was to...
Foreigners could be allowed to serve in Ukrainian army
KIEV, Ukraine — The Ukrainian parliament has given preliminary approval to allowing foreigners to serve in its army.A military conflict between Russia-backed separatist rebels and Ukrainian government forces in eastern Ukraine has claimed more than 6,100 lives. Thousands of Russians have been fighting along with the rebels since the start of the...
Forest fire blazes in Chernobyl off-limits zone
KIEV, Ukraine — Fire engulfed a large sector of woods in the exclusion zone around the destroyed Chernobyl nuclear power plant Tuesday. The fire was the worst in the area for more than two decades, Ukraine’s prime minister said.Arseniy Yatsenyuk said the blaze was under control and had been contained to an area 20 kilometers from the...
Misery, tuberculosis in prisons of war-torn east Ukraine
ZHDANIVKA, Ukraine — The colony of cats living on the grounds of the Zhdanivka penitentiary disappeared when battles in east Ukraine peaked. Talk in the prison is that inmates ate them when food deliveries stopped.Medical supplies have also been in short supply, threatening the lives of nearly 400 prisoners who need treatment. The principal...
Russian parliament allows legal action against lawmaker
MOSCOW — The Russian parliament has voted to allow legal action against an opposition lawmaker who was the sole deputy last year to vote against the annexation of Crimea.The State Duma on Tuesday voted overwhelmingly to strip Ilya Ponomarev of immunity against prosecution, paving the way for legal proceedings against him that could cost him his...
Ukrainian leader lifts objections to vote on regional power
KIEV, Ukraine — Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko on Monday publicly lifted his objections to a referendum that could give more powers to the restive regions engulfed in more than a year of warfare, reversing his government’s previous position. Russia-backed separatists, however, dismissed Poroshenko’s gesture as meaningless....
Rebels in eastern Ukraine pay pensions in Russian rubles
DONETSK, Ukraine — Russia-backed rebel authorities in eastern Ukraine on Wednesday started paying pensions in Russian rubles.Yekaterina Matyushchenko, the finance minister in the Donetsk region’s separatist government, said pension payments to retirees in the rebel-controlled areas will total 1.9 billion rubles (over $30 million) in...
Former Putin allies question his political course
MOSCOW — As Russian President Vladimir Putin marks 15 years in office, his former long-term allies are questioning his political course and warning of the economic consequences of his aggressive foreign policy.Putin’s approval ratings peaked last year as the Kremlin annexed Ukraine’s Crimean peninsula and have stayed at record high...
Rebel leader: Kiev blocks solution for eastern Ukraine
DONETSK, Ukraine — A rebel leader in eastern Ukraine on Monday accused the Kiev government of hampering a political solution for the conflict that has claimed more than 6,000 lives.Andrei Purgin said in an interview with The Associated Press that the Minsk deal, brokered by Western leaders in February, has been “blocked” by...
Putin says Russia regained 'historic roots' in Crimea
MOSCOW — Speaking to tens of thousands of supporters just outside the Kremlin walls, President Vladimir Putin has described Russia’s annexation of Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula as a move to protect ethnic Russians and regain the nation’s “historic roots.”Addressing Wednesday’s rally marking the anniversary of the...
