Section: San Francisco Chronicle (USA)
Chechen leader threatens foes in bid to gain Putin’s support
Putin has seen the burly, red-haired 39-year-old former rebel as essential to keeping Chechnya stable after two separatist wars, and has given him privileges no one else in Russia’s tightly controlled political system has seen. Things began to change when opposition leader Boris Nemtsov, a former deputy prime minister, was shot dead on Feb....
3 people killed by land mine in eastern Ukraine
DONETSK, Ukraine (AP) — Three people were killed Wednesday morning in eastern Ukraine when a bus hit a land mine in a no man’s land between separatist rebels and government troops. The bus driver and a female passenger were killed instantly, while another passenger died of his wounds in the hospital after the minibus drove over the mine on...
IMF chief warns Ukraine over slow pace of reform
Ukraine relies on funding from the IMF and international donors as it battles deep economic problems, in large part resulting from the conflict in the country’s east. …read more Source: San Francisco...
Pope, Russian Orthodox patriarch to meet in historic step
VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Francis and the leader of the Russian Orthodox Church will meet in Cuba next week in a historic step to heal the 1,000-year-old schism that divided Christianity between East and West, both churches announced Friday. The two churches split during the Great Schism of 1054 and have remained estranged over a host of issues,...
The Latest: 1 member of panel disagreed with opinion
U.N. human rights office official Christophe Peschoux said the dissenter was Vladimir Tochilovsky, a Ukrainian member of the U.N. Working Group on Arbitrary Detention. Britain’s Foreign Office has rejected the United Nations panel’s finding that WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange is a victim of arbitrary detention. “The opinion of...
Assange finds surprising ally — but it may not be enough
LONDON (AP) — WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has found a surprising ally — a little known United Nations panel that has decided he has been unfairly detained in Britain while seeking to avoid extradition to Sweden to answer allegations of sexual misconduct. Swedish officials said Thursday the UN panel report concludes Assange has been a victim...
Central Europe guardedly welcomes US military spending boost
WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Countries in Central and Eastern Europe are welcoming a U.S. plan to quadruple military spending in Europe in reaction to Russia’s military resurgence, yet the tone from several governments appears guarded as it remains unclear how much of the spending will translate into a real and lasting presence of troops and...
US proposes more Pentagon funding for Europe aid, equipment
Obama, warning that Russia had taken an “aggressive posture” near NATO countries, called it a “challenging and important time” for the alliance, whose members in Europe are increasingly concerned about Russia’s intentions after its incursions in Ukraine. Addressing the beefed-up request for funding to fight IS,...
As Russian food prices spike higher, some winners emerge
First came President Vladimir Putin’s sanctions on U.S. and European Union food products in 2014, a response to international sanctions over Russia’s role in the Ukraine crisis. […] as part of a farmers’ cooperative selling high-end organic dairy products to moneyed Muscovites, Druganina employs 18 people and keeps more...
AP Exclusive: Putin aide: Kiev refuses to honor Minsk deal
MOSCOW (AP) — Kiev has failed to meet its obligations under the Minsk peace accord and has instead introduced an economic blockade of eastern Ukraine, Russia’s security chief says. Patrushev — a longtime associate of President Vladimir Putin who serves as the executive secretary of the presidential Security Council — made the remarks in a...
