Section: Los Angeles Times (USA)
Putin says Russia was ready to activate nuclear arsenal over Crimea
Russia would have activated its nuclear arsenal if necessary a year ago when its troops secured the Crimean peninsula and carried out a referendum on the strategic peninsula’s secession from Ukraine, Russian President Vladimir Putin said in a documentary that aired Sunday. …read more Source: Los Angeles...
Obama approves $75 million in nonlethal aid to Ukraine
The United States will provide Ukrainian forces fighting Russia-backed separatists $75 million in nonlethal equipment, including small reconnaissance drones, radios and military ambulances, a senior administration official said. …read more Source: Los Angeles...
Putin appeals to Southern European countries for EU sanctions relief
Russian President Vladimir Putin has been campaigning for sanctions relief from traditionally friendly Southern European countries in what appears to be a strategy of dividing the European Union and undermining its alliance with the United States. …read more Source: Los Angeles...
Russia calls U.S. military trainers in Ukraine a ‘provocation’
Russia’s Foreign Ministry on Thursday called the arrival of U.S. military trainers in western Ukraine a “provocation” and warned Ukrainians and their leaders that they should rethink the consequences of hosting the Western forces. …read more Source: Los Angeles...
Girlfriend of slain Kremlin critic Boris Nemtsov is in hiding
Anna Duritskaya apparently was so afraid that she skipped the Moscow funeral of her slain lover to flee under diplomatic escort to her native Ukraine. …read more Source: Los Angeles...
Boris Nemtsov, prominent Putin critic, is gunned down in Moscow
Boris Y. Nemtsov, one of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s fiercest critics, was shot dead in the shadow of St. Basil’s Cathedral near Red Square early Saturday on the eve of a massive opposition march to show defiance on Kremlin aggression against Ukraine. …read more Source: Los Angeles...
Fighting eases in eastern Ukraine but economic collapse now looms
Fighting has eased between Ukrainian government forces and pro-Russia separatists in recent days as both sides have begun to withdraw heavy weapons but the greater danger now confronting Ukrainians is collapse of their debt-strangled economy. …read more Source: Los Angeles...
Ukraine, separatists say they are pulling back heavy weapons
Ukrainian defense officials and leaders of the separatist rebellion in eastern Ukraine announced Thursday that they were moving tanks and other heavy weaponry away from the front lines in a belated effort to abide by the conditions of a European-brokered peace agreement. …read more Source: Los Angeles...
Amnesty International: Powerful nations failing to stop rights abuses
Shameful milestones in human rights abuses were reached in 2014 as tens of thousands of civilians were killed amid armed conflicts from Syria to Ukraine and the world’s wealthiest countries did little to halt the violence, Amnesty International reported Wednesday. …read more Source: Los Angeles...
European diplomacy to rescue Ukraine peace plan ends in discord
European diplomats gathered in Paris on Tuesday in an attempt to rescue the battered peace plan for Ukraine but failed to agree on any censure of the warring factions that have continued to fight in spite of the truce proclaimed nearly two weeks ago. …read more Source: Los Angeles...
