Section: Voice of America (USA)
Report: Moscow Sees Threat in NATO Deployment
Russia views the deployment of NATO troops and military hardware to the Baltic states, Poland and Germany as a threat and has no information about how and when the deployment will end, the RIA news agency reported Thursday. RIA cited Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexei Meshkov as saying Moscow was watching closely and would ensure that its own...
McDonald’s Russian Unit Plays Down US Heritage
When McDonald’s opened its first Russian restaurant in 1990 in Moscow, it was not unusual to see wedding receptions held there, so strong was the appeal of the quintessential American brand at the end of the Cold War. In recent years, with U.S.-Russia ties increasingly frosty, the fast-food chain has pursued a different strategy: Go native....
NATO Troops Deploy in Lithuania, Underscoring Commitment to Defense
Germany and NATO on Tuesday underscored their commitment to beefing up the defense of eastern Europe’s border with Russia as the first of four new battalions under the North Atlantic alliance’s banner arrived in Lithuania. In moves agreed last year under former U.S. President Barack Obama, NATO is expanding its presence in the region...
Wife Says Gravely Ill Putin Critic Was Poisoned
The wife of Russian journalist Vladimir Kara-Murza, a prominent opposition activist and Kremlin critic, says “acute poisoning” has left her husband gravely ill in a Moscow hospital. Yevgenia Kara-Murza said Tuesday that doctors told her “an unidentified substance” caused massive organ failure in her husband last week. The...
Ukraine Central Bank Presses for Exit of Kremlin-owned Banks
The Ukrainian central bank is stepping up efforts to edge Russian state-owned commercial banks out of the local market, though that process should be gradual to avoid disruptions, one of its deputy chiefs said Tuesday. Five Russian state-owned banks operate in Ukraine, including three in the top 20, and they hold a combined market share of 8.6...
Ukraine Town Repairs After Worst Shelling in Months
A week-long surge in violence in and around the government-held town of Avdiyivka in eastern Ukraine appeared to be winding down on Monday, as schools reopened and power and water supplies resumed following the worst clashes in months. Last week aid agencies warned of a looming humanitarian crisis after heavy shelling between Ukrainian troops and...
EU Envoys Back Keeping Sanctions Against Russia over Ukraine
The European Union’s top diplomats vowed Monday to uphold sanctions against Russia for destabilizing conflict-torn Ukraine, despite confusion over how U.S. President Donald Trump plans to manage his relations with Moscow. Determined to wait no longer for a clear message from Washington, EU foreign ministers said their economic sanctions...
EU Envoys Back Keeping Sanctions Against Russia over Ukraine
The European Union’s top diplomats vowed Monday to uphold sanctions against Russia for destabilizing conflict-torn Ukraine, despite confusion over how U.S. President Donald Trump plans to manage his relations with Moscow. Determined to wait no longer for a clear message from Washington, EU foreign ministers said their economic sanctions...
Trump to Meet NATO Leaders in May
President Donald Trump agreed to attend a meeting of NATO leaders in May during a phone call Sunday with alliance chief Jens Stoltenberg. The conversation also touched on the separatist conflict in eastern Ukraine, according to a White House statement. Trump and the NATO secretary-general “discussed how to encourage all NATO allies to meet...
Poll Gap Between Merkel’s Conservatives, Social Democrats Shrinking
The lead in voter support for German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s conservative alliance over the center-left Social Democrats (SPD) shrank to a multi-year low of 4 percentage points, an opinion poll showed on Sunday. The SPD, which a week ago appointed Martin Schulz as leader, scored 29 percent in the survey published in newspaper Bild am...
