Section: Newsweek (USA)
Russia Set To Open Its First Whiskey Distillery
Russia is on course to open its first whiskey distillery after local officials in the region of Kaliningrad greenlit the project to build a factory. Although hard liquor consumption in Russia is problematically high, production, exports and sales appear to have tailed off during the current financial crisis and whiskey imports have dropped...
Gorbachev Urges Putin and Obama to Begin Ukraine Talks
The Soviet Union’s last leader Mikhail Gorbachev has urged the U.S. and Russian presidents to personally start talks on alleviating the Ukraine crisis, fearing the conflict may not stay “frozen” for long. Ukraine has entered a tense stalemate with Russian-backed separatists in its eastern Donetsk and Luhansk regions, after violence erupted...
NATO Dismisses Russian Claims of Civil War in Ukraine
The NATO and Russia council’s first meeting in almost two years was marred by “profound disagreements” on the crisis in Ukraine, with NATO dismissing Russian claims that the conflict is a “civil war” “During the meeting it was reconfirmed that we disagree both when it comes to the facts, the narratives, and the responsibilities for the...
Ukraine’s Poroshenko Hails End of Political Crisis
Ukraine’s President Petro Poroshenko has announced the deadlock between parliament and his country’s government is over, with the appointment of the new prime minister. His former ally Arseniy Yatsenyuk officially resigned last week, after months of pressure both from Poroshenko, the opposition and the Ukrainian public. Poroshenko...
Meet President Vladimir Putin’s Celebrity Friends
Formula One (F1) boss Bernie Ecclestone has backed Russian President Vladimir Putin to “be in charge” of Europe. Ecclestone spoke at Advertising Week Europe in London on Tuesday, where he also advocated that EU states “get rid of Brussels” and entrust their fate in the Russian president. “He does what he says he’s gonna do, he gets the job...
Putin Urges Obama to Close Turkey-Syria Border
Russian President Vladimir Putin told his U.S. counterpart Barack Obama that Turkey’s border with Syria should be closed to help preserve the ceasefire on Monday The two leaders spoke on the phone about the situation in Ukraine and Syria, according to the Kremlin’s press desk. According to the statement on the phone call released by...
Russia Dismisses Latvian Claim of $210 Billion in Soviet Damages
Russia has dismissed Latvian claims that the Baltic country is owed over $200 billion in damages caused by its forced entry into the Soviet Union after the Second World War. When calculating the damages to the country as a result of the Soviet occupations of 1940 and 1945, members of Latvia’s state commission said that the Baltic state had...
Putin and Poroshenko Discuss Russian and Ukrainian Prisoner Swap
Russia and Ukraine’s presidents discussed the fate of Ukrainian pilot Nadiya Savchenko, and the two Russian servicemen captured in Ukraine, in a phone call on Monday. Military pilot Savchenko is serving a jail sentence in Russia’s Rostov region for allegedly guiding a mortar strike, which hit a Russian state TV crew, killing two...
Ukraine’s Crimean Tatar Battalion To Start Border Patrols
Crimean Tatars have announced they are launching a battalion to help Ukrainian police patrol the region bordering annexed Crimea, Radio Free Europe has reported. Lenur Islyamov—the leader of the Asker activist group that cut off Crimea’s electric supply in 2015, in protest of Russia’s annexation and treatment of the native Muslim...
Latvian NATO Drill Doubles Due to Perceived Russian Threat
NATO has kicked off its 1,300-strong exercise in Latvia, practicing land and aerial combat against a variety of threats, Latvia’s Ministry of Defence reports. Summer Shield XIII kicked off on Sunday and will continue until April 29, involving troops from Latvia, Lithuania, U.S.,Canada, Finland and Germany. Held in the military training...
