Section: KXAN (USA)
Putin warns of foreign efforts to destabilize Russia
MOSCOW (AP) — Russia’s President Vladimir Putin ordered the nation’s top counterintelligence agency Wednesday to redouble its efforts to address what he described as Western attempts to destabilize the country. Speaking at a meeting of top officials of the Federal Security Service, or FSB, the main KGB successor agency, Putin pointed...
Belarus journalist on trial over report on protester’s death
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — A Belarussian court on Friday opened the trial of a journalist accused of revealing personal data in her report on the death of a protester, part of authorities’ efforts to stifle protests against authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko. Katsiaryna Barysevich of the independent tut-by online news portal has been in...
Estonia report: Russia bets on COVID-19 weakening the West
HELSINKI (AP) — Estonia’s foreign intelligence agency said on Wednesday that Russia is counting on the COVID-19 pandemic to weaken unity in the West which will help Moscow gain a more prominent role in international affairs and lead to “declining Western influence on the global stage”. The Kremlin believes that the pandemic will force the...
Ex-presidential hopeful faces trial in Belarus
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Belarus’s highest court on Wednesday opened a trial of a bank executive who had aspired to challenge the country’s authoritarian president in last year’s vote but was blocked from running due to criminal charges that he rejected as political. Viktor Babariko, the former head of Russia-owned Belgazprombank,...
Belarus detains dozens of journalists, activists
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Belarusian authorities on Tuesday raided homes and offices of journalists and human rights activists and detained dozens in the latest move to squelch protests against the nation’s authoritarian president. Police searched the offices of the Belarusian Association of Journalists and the Viasna human rights center as well...
Russia says it’s open to better ties with EU despite chill
MOSCOW (AP) — Russia’s top diplomat blamed the European Union Monday for a freeze in ties but argued that Moscow remains ready to mend relations if it hears positive signals from the bloc. Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said after talks in St. Petersburg with his Finnish counterpart, Pekka Haavisto, that “if the EU decides that it’s...
Russia moves to extinguish pro-Navalny ‘flashlight’ protests
MOSCOW (AP) — When the team of imprisoned Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny urged people to come out to their residential courtyards and shine their cellphone flashlights in a display of unity, many responded with jokes and skepticism. After two weekends of nationwide demonstrations, the new protest format looked to some like a retreat....
Belarusian leader vows to defeat foreign-backed ‘rebellion’
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Belarus’ authoritarian leader on Thursday denounced six months of protests against his rule as a foreign-directed “rebellion” and vowed to resist the pressure. Speaking to 2,700 participants of the All-Belarus People’s Assembly, President Alexander Lukashenko charged that “very powerful forces” abroad were behind...
EU ponders future of gloomy ties with Russia
BRUSSELS (AP) — European Union officials on Monday pondered the future of the bloc’s troubled relations with Russia amid deep concern that their large eastern neighbor sees democracy as a threat and wants to distance itself further from the EU. The state of ties took a turn for the worse on Friday after Russia said that it was expelling...
Ukraine shuts TV channels owned by Russia-friendly tycoon
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukraine has shut several television channels owned by a Russia-linked magnate in what the nation’s president described Wednesday as a necessary move to fight Kremlin propaganda. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said stopping the broadcasts and blocking the assets of the three channels was a “difficult” but...
