Section: Voice of America (USA)
Under NATO Pressure, France Puts Freeze on Russia Warship Deal
France has postponed a deal to deliver two advanced warships to Russia. French President Francois Hollande said Wednesday that Russia’s intervention in eastern Ukraine meant conditions were not right to complete the delivery. France faces a huge bill for halting the contract. And as Henry Ridgwell reports from the Saint-Nazaire shipyard,...
Ukraine’s Poroshenko Gets Show of Support from NATO Leaders
Ukraine’s president received a show of support from Western leaders at a NATO summit on Thursday as a Kremlin peace offer failed to halt fighting the country’s east where pro-Russia rebels have been gaining the upper hand against Ukrainian troops. The West has backed Kyiv with words and imposed economic sanctions against Moscow, but...
EU Readies Action Plan Should Russia Cut Off Gas Supply
The European Union is preparing to take action to secure gas supplies this winter if its biggest supplier, Russia, cuts exports due to the crisis in Ukraine, a draft document seen by Reuters showed. The measures could include making use of existing powers to ban companies from selling liquefied natural gas (LNG) tanker cargoes outside Europe,...
EU Official: Union Considering Payouts to Compensate for Russian Ban
The European Union’s trade chief said on Thursday the bloc was considering compensating European food producers hit by trade restrictions that Russia has imposed in retaliation for EU sanctions over the Ukraine crisis. Trade Commissioner Karel De Gucht told business leaders in Cyprus the EU was looking at ways to help food producers during...
Australia to Give Military Assistance to Ukraine
The Australian government is to provide military and humanitarian aid to Ukraine. Canberra is also offering to join U.S.-led air strikes against Islamic State militants. Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott has previously branded Russia a “bully” over its actions in Ukraine and this week he compared Islamic State extremists in Syria and Iraq to...
NATO Chief Dismisses Putin’s Ukraine Plan
NATO’s secretary-general has dismissed Russian President Vladimir Putin’s seven-step plan to end the fighting in eastern Ukraine, as alliance leaders gathered in Britain for their first summit in two years. Anders Fogh Rasmussen derided Putin’s approach as a “so-called peace plan.” He said, what counts is what is happening on...
Russian FM: Ukraine Should Heed Putin’s Cease-fire Plan
Russia says it is ready to take practical steps to de-escalate the crisis in Ukraine in line with a cease-fire plan outlined by Russian President Vladimir Putin. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Russia hopes the plan will be heeded in Ukraine and in the eastern Ukrainian cities of Luhansk and Donetsk. He said Russia is ready to take...
Obama in Britain for Pivotal NATO Summit
President Barack Obama is in Britain for a two-day NATO summit expected to focus on the conflict in Ukraine and the threat of Islamic extremists in Syria and Iraq. Obama arrived late Wednesday at a British military base, following talks in the Estonian capital with the presidents of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. Speaking in Tallinn, the U.S....
President Obama Pledges Baltics Support Against Russia
President Barack Obama has arrived in Britain for a NATO summit that will focus on Ukraine. The U.S. president spent Wednesday in Estonia where he offered reassurances to Baltic States against possible Russian aggression. White House correspondent Luis Ramirez is traveling with the president and has this report. …read more Source: Voice of...
NATO Leaders Meet in ‘Changed World’
The leaders of the 28 NATO countries will gather for the first time in two years starting Thursday in Wales, in western Britain, with an agenda very different from the one they had for their last summit. At the last NATO summit two years ago in Chicago, Afghanistan was at the top of the agenda and Russia was considered a partner in addressing...
