Section: Newsweek (USA)
Mystery of Ukraine’s Richest Man and a Series of Unlikely Suicides
Rain lashes the ninth-floor balcony from which Ukrainian prosecutor Sergei Melnychuk was thrown to his death. On the concrete below, his portrait and a few candles in glass jars form a meagre memorial. Wind off the Black Sea has dashed one jar to the ground, the shattered glass a grim reminder of his body after the fall. Ukraine’s war with...
Ukraine Beats Russia – at the Women’s World Chess Championships
A Ukrainian has beaten a Russian to the title of this year’s Women’s World Chess Championships, which came to a close yesterday in the Russian resort city of Sochi. In the final match, 22-year-old Mariya Muzychuk from Ukraine, a two-time former national champion, defeated 30-year-old Natalia Pogonina from Russia, with the final score...
Ukraine and Separatists Report ‘Intensifying’ Skirmishes Near Mariupol
Pro-Kiev and pro-Russian fighters in eastern Ukraine have reported “intensifying” skirmishes near Ukraine’s strategic port city of Mariupol, after several days of relative calm. The opposing groups however have been blaming each other for the violence. The pro-government battalion stationed around Mariupol, Sector M, told local media...
Poland to Build 24-Hour Surveillance Watchtowers on Russian Border
Poland is enforcing its 200km land border with Russia, with a series of high-tech watchtowers in a bid to provide Polish authorities with instant updates on activity in the region, according to local press. The project, set to be fully operational by June will see six observation towers between 35 and 50 metres in height unveiled on...
Hackers Leak Messages ‘Between Kremlin and France’s Front National’
French media site Mediapart has reported that hackers have leaked thousands of texts and emails sent between the Kremlin and the French far-right party, the National Front. According to French newspaper Le Monde, the hackers posted the messages on their website and many of the texts discuss Marine Le Pen, the leader of the National Front, and her...
Putin Has Mixed Motives in Backing Iran Nuclear Deal
When Barack Obama goes to Congress to sell the nuclear deal thrashed out with Iran in Lausanne, Switzerland, he will likely replay his pitch that the agreement offers “a peaceful resolution that prevents Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon.” To fiercely skeptical U.S. allies, such as Israel and Saudi Arabia, the White House will likely say that...
Three Arrested in Ukraine Over Bombing Campaign
Three people have been arrested in the Ukrainian city of Odessa under suspicion of organising eight bombings in the city since September, Ukraine’s Ministry of the Interior reported today. The detainees are all Odessa natives, two of them men aged 46 and 55, while the third alleged accomplice is a 29-year-old woman. They are suspected of...
Ukraine: The Battle for Mariupol Heats Up
BERDYANSK, Ukraine—Pro-Russian separatists and the Ukrainian Azov Regiment have been battling over the town of Shyrokyne for weeks. The small town on the Sea of Azov is only about nine miles east of Mariupol, an industrial port city on the sea that is considered by some Ukrainian military officials to be the last obstacle before a separatist...
At Least 54 Dead After Russian Trawler Sinks Off Kamchatka
At least 54 crew on a Russian fishing trawler died and 15 were missing after it sank in freezing waters off the Kamchatka Peninsula in the Western Pacific Ocean late on Wednesday, officials in the area said. Sixty-three of the 132 people on board the Dalniy Vostok were rescued with the sea’s temperature near zero degrees Celsius (32 degrees...
Nemstov’s Report on Russian Soldiers in Ukraine to be Published Next Month
A report about Russian involvement in the war in eastern Ukraine, which opposition leader Boris Nemtsov was working on before he was murdered in February, will be published next month, his supporters say. The politician’s close friend and associate Ilya Yashin, who leads the Moscow branch of Nemtsov’s RPR-Parnas party and who was...
