Section: Newsweek (USA)
U.S., European Fighter Jets Begin Arctic Exercise Near Russia
OSLO (Reuters) – About 100 fighter jets from the United States and eight European nations began an Arctic training exercise in the Nordic nations on Monday, a region worried by increased Russian military activity. The exercise, based in the north of Norway, Sweden and Finland with 4,000 personnel, is meant to test cooperation among Arctic...
Poland Presidential Run-Off Too Close to Call
WARSAW (Reuters) – Poles voted for a president on Sunday in a run-off that is too close to call but has already sounded a warning for the ruling Civic Platform as it looks to re-election later in the year. Originally seen as a shoo-in for a second five-year term, incumbent Bronislaw Komorowski finds himself neck and neck with his...
Russia Warns Traveling Citizens of ‘Threat’ of U.S. Law Enforcement
MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russia’s foreign ministry has warned its citizens traveling abroad of the risks posed by U.S. law enforcement bodies and special services, which it said were hunting for Russians around the world. In a statement on Friday it also accused Washington of kidnapping Russians, citing cases such as that of Vladimir...
EU Defies Russian ‘Bully’ but Disappoints Ex-Soviets
European Union leaders met six ex-Soviet neighbors on Thursday in Riga, rejecting Russian “bullying” in the 18 months since their last summit in a once Kremlin-ruled EU capital sparked conflict in Ukraine. “The European Union stays the course despite the intimidation, the aggression, even the war, of the last year,” said...
Swedish Fighter Jets Intercept Russian Bombers Near Border
STOCKHOLM (Reuters) – Swedish fighter jets intercepted two Russian bombers flying in international airspace over the Baltic Sea close to the Swedish border on Thursday, Sweden’s military said. Relations between the West and Russia have soured as a result of Moscow’s role in the conflict inUkraine and its annexation of Crimea,...
Raising a ‘Russian Rebel Army’ to Overthrow Putin
Andrei Kuznetsov leans forward, clinches his angular jaw, narrows his sharp blue eyes and says: “I could tell you things that would shock Americans.” For emphasis, the 32-year-old Russian exile then raises his eyebrows and nods as he slowly leans back in his chair and takes a sip of beer. Patrons and servers at the downtown Kiev bar swirl around...
Paramilitary Volunteer Groups Surge in Popularity in Eastern Europe
Thousands of ordinary civilians, including doctors, carpenters and teachers, are flocking to join volunteer paramilitary groups in several European countries, with some doubling in size since the start of the Ukraine crisis, Newsweek has discovered. In Estonia, Lithuania, Sweden and Poland, volunteer defence leagues, many of whom train with real...
Thousands Protest Against Macedonia Government
SKOPJE (Reuters) – Tens of thousands of protesters took to the streets of Macedonia’s capital on Sunday, waving Macedonian and Albanian flags in a dramatic display of ethnic unity against a government on the ropes after months of damaging wire-tap revelations. Crowds packed the central avenue in front of Prime Minister Nikola...
Vladimir Putin’s Budding Bromance With China’s Xi Jinping
Several weeks ago, Russian President Vladimir Putin threw a party and almost nobody came. To commemorate the 70th anniversary of the Allied victory in World War II, the Russian leader held a grand military parade through Moscow, replete with rumbling tanks and goose-stepping soldiers. Putin invited 70 world leaders, but only 20 attended. Even...
U.S. Troops Prepare Ukraine Soldiers for Russian Onslaught
YAVORIV, Ukraine—The sounds of gunfire and explosions are constant on the firing range at the International Peacekeeping and Security Center outside this western Ukrainian town. At one spot, behind an earthen bunker, U.S. Army paratroopers are qualifying Ukrainian National Guard soldiers in Soviet-era, shoulder-fired rocket-propelled grenades...
