Section: Newsweek (USA)
Putin’s War: Ukrainian Women on the Front Line
This story first appeared on The Daily Signal. KIEV, Ukraine—It was called position 18. The house, which was yellow and had its roof caved in from artillery hits, was only a hundred meters or so behind the front-line trenches in Pisky, Ukraine. Shrapnel and bullet holes had shredded the exterior walls, leaving the yellow paint polka-dotted by the...
Putin’s War: A Swedish Sniper In Ukraine
This story first appeared on The Daily Signal. KIEV, Ukraine—This was supposed to be a routine reconnaissance mission, but suddenly it became complicated. They had been crawling in the woods to stay concealed when the jeep with four separatists inside pulled up and parked along the road a few hundred meters away. They had two options: Start...
Consumer Rights Advocates to Sue Putin Over Food Destruction
A Russian consumer rights charity is appealing to the country’s High Court against President Vladimir Putin’s decree to destroy food imports which have been banned under sanctions against Europe, independent news agency Interfax reports. The decision to destroy food seized by Russian authorities at the country’s borders began...
Ukraine Accuses Russian Secret Service of Seeking to Influence Local Elections
Ukraine’s Security Service (SBU) has accused Russia of trying to influence local elections in the west of Ukraine by funding left-wing activists through secret channels. The SBU issued a statement on Thursday warning Ukraine’s westernmost Zakarpattia region, which borders four European Union member countries, of alleged attempts by a...
Russia to U.S.: Drop European Missile Shield
MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russia urged the United States on Friday to scrap plans to station parts of a missile shield system in Europe now that Iran has reached an agreement with world powers to limit its nuclear program. Moscow has long opposed the plan, which it sees as a threat to its nuclear deterrence, and vowed to retaliate if it goes...
Three Ukraine-Bound Circus Lions Found in Rome Suburb
Residents of a Rome suburb got a surprise on Wednesday when police discovered that the source of strange noises they had reported was a broken-down truck containing three caged circus lions, according to a report in Italian newspaper Il Messaggero. The lions had been parked in the sun on the outskirts of Rome for at least three days before...
A Few Bad Apples? Russia Accuses Poland of Poor Quality Produce
Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev and his Polish counterpart Ewa Kopacz have clashed over claims that Poland is sending Russia its worst apples and keeping the better ones. Polish apples, one of the country’s biggest agricultural exports, were banned in Russia last summer after Poland joined other EU members in imposing trade sanctions...
NATO and Russia ‘Preparing for Conflict,’ Warns Report
Large-scale military exercises by Russia and NATO are part of a dangerous “action-reaction cycle” that could accidentally elevate the chance of war, a British think tank has warned. The European Leadership Network (ELN), a London-based global security think tank, published a policy brief on Wednesday, warning that NATO and Russia...
Russia’s Economy Contracts By 4.6 Percent in Three Months
Russia’s economy shrank by 4.6 percent in the second quarter of 2015 compared to the same period last year according to the country’s official statistics office Rosstat. This represents a contraction of more than twice the size of the one reported for the first quarter of 2015 (2.2 percent) and marks Russia’s worst recession...
Putin Ally Naryshkin Predicts U.S. ‘Aggravation’ of Russia
The speaker of Russia’s parliament, Sergey Naryshkin, a close ally of president Vladimir Putin, warned of further “aggravation” between Moscow and the West, and accused the U.S. of preparing “political provocations,” in a column for national daily Rossiyskaya Gazeta on Monday. Naryshkin has personal sanctions imposed...
