Section: Newsweek (USA)
E.U. Extends Economic Sanctions on Russia
LUXEMBOURG (Reuters) – European Union foreign ministers extended economic sanctions on Russiauntil Jan. 31 on Monday, keeping up pressure on Moscow to help resolve the Ukraine conflict. Russia described the move as a triumph for the “Russophobe” lobby in the EU and signaled it would respond by extending a ban on Western food...
Meet Eliot Higgins, Putin’s MH17 Nemesis
Sipping a can of beer and devouring french fries in a Brussels hotel room, Eliot Higgins doesn’t look like the type to get involved in armed conflicts. The Englishman has a baby face, slumped shoulders and a soft Midlands accent. But over the past three years, the 36-year-old former administrator and obsessive gamer has spent hundreds of...
Russia Demands Probe into U.S. Moon Landing
Russia’s investigative committee spokesman has demanded that an international investigation be launched into the U.S. 1969 moon landings, after a US-led investigation into the world governing body FIFA, cast doubt over the fairness of choosing Russia to host the next World Cup. Nine FIFA officials were implicated in a U.S. and Swiss...
Ukraine’s Poroshenko Offers Ex-British PM Tony Blair a Job
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has offered former British prime minister Tony Blair a job as an advisor as he continued his overhaul of government staff, seeking to increase his country’s effectiveness in responding to Russian aggression. Since last summer, in a bid to increase Kiev’s political ties with the West and strengthen...
The World’s ‘Unprecedented’ Refugee Crisis by the Numbers
The number of refugees and internally displaced people in the world reached “unprecedented” levels in 2014, the United Nations said Thursday. In its annual report on global trends and forcibly displaced people, the U.N. refugee agency, UNHCR, outlined a slew of stark numbers, including the fact that 50 percent of the world’s...
The State of Russian Independent Media: Exiles, Enlighteners and Activists
On March 12, 2014, Galina Timchenko, the editor-in-chief of Russian news website Lenta.Ru, received a call from Alexander Mamut, the publication’s principal stockholder. Mamut commended Timchenko for her professional abilities. “You’re a great editor,” he said. He also informed her that she was fired. Mamut never explained why he made...
Kiev Mulls Naming Street After Slain Kremlin-Critic Boris Nemtsov
Kiev could soon honour slain Kremlin-critic Boris Nemtsov by naming a street after him, according to the Ukrainian capital’s mayor Vitali Klitschko. Nemtsov was fatally shot within view of the Kremlin last February, prompting thousands to take to the streets of Moscow in honour of the politician. Nemtsov, who was deputy prime minister of...
U.S. Could Send Premium Stealth Fighter Jet to Protect Europe From Russia
Europe could soon be protected from Russia’s military resurgence by the Air Force’s cutting edge F-22 Raptor stealth fighters according to a top U.S. official. Defence ministers from Lithuania and Poland confirmed media reports over the weekend that the U.S. is contemplating sending heavy weapons, armored vehicles and tanks to Eastern...
Ukraine Reports Almost 100 Separatist Attacks in One Day
Pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine have opened fire, including artillery fire, on government held territories almost 100 times in the last day, according to Ukraine’s defense forces. Recent increasing skirmishes between Ukraine-loyal forces and separatist fighters in the eastern regions of Donetsk and Luhansk, as well as a buildup...
Russian Serviceman Captured in Ukraine Wants to Sue Ministry of Defense
One of the two Russian soldiers detained in Ukraine’s Luhansk region last month has not ruled out taking suing the Russian Ministry of Defense, after it claimed he no longer worked for the military after he had been captured, Russian newspaper Novaya Gazeta reports. Sergeant Alexander Alexandrov was captured along with his colleague Evgeny...
