Section: Los Angeles Times (USA)
Kerry, Putin tackle U.S.-Russia policy strains in marathon Sochi talks
Secretary of State John F. Kerry huddled with Russian leaders for hours Tuesday in wide-ranging talks on the world crises over which they have bitterly differed and pledged reinvigorated cooperation to resolve the disputes racking Ukraine, Syria and other violence-torn states. …read more Source: Los Angeles...
Merkel visit after parade boycott does little to mend rift with Russia
German Chancellor Angela Merkel visited the Kremlin on Sunday to pay respects to the millions of Soviet lives lost in World War II and to press Russian President Vladimir Putin to use his influence with pro-Russia separatists to end the deadly conflict in Ukraine. …read more Source: Los Angeles...
Ukraine: Mediators set new peace talks as fighting reignites in east
European mediators have called an urgent meeting in Belarus for Wednesday to try to salvage a nearly 3-month-old peace plan for Ukraine, where intense fighting has resumed in recent days and both sides are reported to be gearing up for new offensives. …read more Source: Los Angeles...
U.S. warns of new Russian buildup in Ukraine
Russia has sent arms and drone aircraft into eastern Ukraine and is concentrating troops along the tense border, a buildup that is raising concern about a new escalation in the conflict, the State Department said Wednesday. …read more Source: Los Angeles...
U.S. paratroopers in Ukraine to train fledgling national guard troops
U.S. paratroopers on Monday began training the first of three Ukrainian national guard units in an operation intended to improve the fighting capabilities of the irregular troops that have been on the front lines of the year-old battle against Russian-backed separatists in the country’s east. …read more Source: Los Angeles...
Third pro-Russia activist found dead in Ukraine capital this week
A journalist supportive of former Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovich was gunned down in Kiev on Thursday, the third death this week of a prominent critic of Ukraine’s Western-backed government. …read more Source: Los Angeles...
Fighting in eastern Ukraine flares after winter lull
Intense fighting flared in eastern Ukraine over the last three days, shattering a cease-fire that held for two months while winter snow dampened the year-old conflict and the early spring thaw mired the would-be combatants in vast expanses of mud. …read more Source: Los Angeles...
Ukrainian leader lifts objections to vote on regional power
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko says that he does not object to a referendum that could give more powers to the restive regions engulfed in more than a year of warfare. …read more Source: Los Angeles...
Russian hopes of money, glory die on Ukraine battlefields
When Alexander Zhitinev left in November to fight with the pro-Russia separatists in eastern Ukraine, winter had just begun unleashing its fury on the wind-lashed steppe of this impoverished 18th century frontier town. …read more Source: Los Angeles...
Body count from world’s bloodiest wars spikes in 2014
The war in Ukraine and extremist violence contributed to a spike in the death toll from the world’s most brutal conflicts last year, analysts say. …read more Source: Los Angeles...
