Section: Voice of America (USA)
Exclusive: Chernobyl’s New Containment Shield
Engineers are getting ready to move a 31,000-ton steel structure into place over the destroyed reactor at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. The covering will contain both the reactor and the crumbling sarcophagus built quickly after the 1986 disaster. RFE/RL’s Ukrainian Service was given exclusive access to sites inside the contaminated...
Report: German Coalition Agrees on Steinmeier as President
The parties making up Germany’s coalition government are reported to have agreed to support the foreign minister becoming the country’s next president. Frank-Walter Steinmeier would take over the largely ceremonial role as head of state from Joachim Gauck, whose five-year term ends in February. German news agency dpa reported Monday...
Moldova’s Pro-Russian Candidate Claims Presidency in Runoff
Moldova’s pro-Russian presidential candidate Igor Dodon has declared victory in Sunday’s presidential runoff. With nearly all the votes counted in the former Soviet republic, Dodon, who campaigned on promises to restore closer ties with Russia, earned about 55 percent of the vote, well ahead of pro-European rival Maya Sandu. Final...
A Russian-Friendly Political Novice Wins Bulgaria’s Presidency
Bulgaria’s Socialist Party candidate has won the presidential election, leading to the resignation of the country’s prime minister. Former air force commander General Rumen Radev, a Russian-friendly political novice, won nearly 60 percent of the vote, according to nearly complete results released Monday. Tsetska Tsacheva, the...
EU Leaders Adopting Wait-and-See Approach on Trump Administration
European Union foreign ministers held an informal meeting in Brussels late Sunday to discuss trans-Atlantic relations with the United States under President-elect Donald Trump’s administration. Foreign ministers conceded that they will have to continue working on strengthening Europe’s role in world affairs until the future of...
Moldova’s Pro-Russian Candidate Claims Presidency in Runoff Poll
Moldova’s pro-Russian presidential candidate Igor Dodon has declared victory in Sunday’s presidential runoff vote, holding a commanding lead in the former Soviet republic with nearly all votes counted. With 97 percent of all ballots tallied late Sunday, Dodon, who campaigned on promises to restore closer ties with Russia, held a...
Bulgarian PM to Quit as Opposition Candidate Nears Presidential Win
Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borisov announced his resignation Sunday, as exit polls in the country’s presidential runoff election showed his nominee losing badly to a pro-Russia candidate backed by the socialist opposition. Borisov’s announcement came in Sofia, as exit polls showed Gen. Rumen Radev, a political novice, winning...
British, French Foreign Ministers Absent in EU Special Talks Over Trump
The British and French foreign ministers will not participate in special talks with their European Union counterparts Sunday to discuss how to deal with U.S. President-elect Donald Trump. EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini called the emergency meeting in Brussels after Trump’s stunning victory Tuesday on stated policies that include...
EU Commission President: Trump’s Election Poses Risks for EU-US Relationship
EU Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker says U.S. President-elect Donald Trump poses risks for the relationship between the European Union and the United States. Speaking to students at a conference in Luxemburg late Friday, Juncker said Trump must get up to speed on how Europe works in order to avoid “two years of wasted time” when he...
Former US Ambassador Banned From Traveling to Russia
Michael McFaul, a former U.S. ambassador to Russia, said Friday that Moscow had banned him from entering the country. McFaul, who was ambassador to Russia from 2012 to 2014, wrote on Facebook that Russia had banned him because of his close ties to President Barack Obama. “Was told that I am [on] the Kremlin’s sanctions list because of...
