Showing posts with label Ukraine. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Ukraine. Show all posts
Tuesday, March 17, 2015
Sunday, February 8, 2015
Would US Military Aid To Ukraine Push Putin To Escalate?
WASHINGTON— As the United States weighs arming Ukraine’s military to bolster its fight against Russia-backed separatists, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President François Hollande have begun talks in Moscow to find a diplomatic solution to the crisis.
VOA’s Carol Castiel probed the issue with two experts. Steven Pifer is a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution and a former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine. William Pomeranz is Deputy Director of the Kennan Institute for Advanced Russian Studies at the Woodrow Wilson Center and a professor of Russian law at Georgetown University.
Castiel: Will sending lethal aid to Ukraine effectively force Russian President Vladimir Putin to escalate the Kremlin’s involvement in the conflict?
Pifer: “The risks of U.S. inaction are greater than the risks of action. What’s going on now in Eastern Ukraine is virtual warfare in places like Donetsk and Debaltseve. But escalation by the Kremlin poses a dilemma [for them] in that it would make this much more a Russian military conflict as opposed to the fiction they try to maintain that its mainly [fueled by] separatists.
Read the full story: www.voanews.com
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Tuesday, November 18, 2014
Russia's Bombers To Conduct Regular Patrols Ranging From The Arctic To The Gulf Of Mexico
Vladimir Isachenkov and The Associated Press, Nov. 12, 2014, The Canadian Press
In a show of military muscle amid tensions with the West, Russia will send long-range strategic bombers on regular patrol missions across the globe, from the Arctic Ocean to the Gulf of Mexico, a top official said Wednesday.
The announcement by Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu came as NATO's chief accused Russia of sending fresh troops and tanks into eastern Ukraine.
Read more: ca.news.yahoo.com
In a show of military muscle amid tensions with the West, Russia will send long-range strategic bombers on regular patrol missions across the globe, from the Arctic Ocean to the Gulf of Mexico, a top official said Wednesday.
The announcement by Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu came as NATO's chief accused Russia of sending fresh troops and tanks into eastern Ukraine.
Read more: ca.news.yahoo.com
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Wednesday, September 17, 2014
Ukrainian Politician Gets Dumped In A Garbage Bin By Angry Mob
By Ishaan Tharoor, Sept. 17, 2014, Smh.com.au
Video emerged Tuesday from Kiev of an angry mob frog-marching a member of parliament and literally dumping him in the garbage. Vitaly Zhuravsky is held down by his assailants, splashed with water and buffeted by a loose tire before getting wheeled away in the dumpster and retrieved by some conspicuously disinterested security personnel.
Zhuravsky is a former member of the political party of former president Viktor Yanukovych, who was ousted following months of protests in February. Some reports suggest he was targeted because of his role in the passage of a bill in January that restricted freedom of speech.
"We live in a country where blood flows because of you," shouted at least one protester to the sprawled deputy, reported Reuters.
This attack took place on the same day the Ukrainian government of President Petro Poroshenko ratified an agreement with the European Union and also proposed self-rule for two restive regions in eastern Ukraine, as well as amnesty for pro-Russian rebels fighting there.
Their separatist insurgency has raised the spectre of full-blown war with Russia. Some in Kiev, particularly among Ukraine's nationalist far-right, were very displeased with the proposed ceasefire agreement.
Read more: www.smh.com.au
By Ishaan Tharoor, Sept. 17, 2014, Smh.com.au
Video emerged Tuesday from Kiev of an angry mob frog-marching a member of parliament and literally dumping him in the garbage. Vitaly Zhuravsky is held down by his assailants, splashed with water and buffeted by a loose tire before getting wheeled away in the dumpster and retrieved by some conspicuously disinterested security personnel.
Zhuravsky is a former member of the political party of former president Viktor Yanukovych, who was ousted following months of protests in February. Some reports suggest he was targeted because of his role in the passage of a bill in January that restricted freedom of speech.
"We live in a country where blood flows because of you," shouted at least one protester to the sprawled deputy, reported Reuters.
This attack took place on the same day the Ukrainian government of President Petro Poroshenko ratified an agreement with the European Union and also proposed self-rule for two restive regions in eastern Ukraine, as well as amnesty for pro-Russian rebels fighting there.
Their separatist insurgency has raised the spectre of full-blown war with Russia. Some in Kiev, particularly among Ukraine's nationalist far-right, were very displeased with the proposed ceasefire agreement.
Read more: www.smh.com.au
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Thursday, August 28, 2014
Russian Troops Said To Capture Key Ukrainian Town
By Annie Gowen and Karoun Demirjian, Aug. 28, 2014, Washingtonpost.com
KIEV, Ukraine — Russian forces in two armored columns captured a key southeastern coastal town near the Russian border Thursday after Ukrainian forces retreated in the face of superior firepower, a Ukrainian military spokesman said.
The two Russian columns, including tanks and armored fighting vehicles, entered the town of Novoazovsk on the Sea of Azov after a battle in which Ukrainian army positions came under fire from Grad rockets launched from Russian territory, according to the spokesman, Col. Andriy Lysenko.
“Our border servicemen and guardsmen retreated as they did not have heavy equipment,” Lysenko said in a statement.
Ukrainian authorities have denounced the latest fighting as a Russian invasion of their territory, intended to prop up pro-Moscow separatists who have been losing ground to Ukrainian forces and to open a new front in the southeastern corner of Ukraine.
Ukrainian officials said earlier that Ukrainian troops were battling combined Russian and separatist forces on the new southern front around Novoazovsk, about eight miles west of the Russian border. The Ukrainian military also said Russian troops were increasing surveillance from northern Crimea, the autonomous Ukrainian peninsula annexed by Moscow in March.
KIEV, Ukraine — Russian forces in two armored columns captured a key southeastern coastal town near the Russian border Thursday after Ukrainian forces retreated in the face of superior firepower, a Ukrainian military spokesman said.
The two Russian columns, including tanks and armored fighting vehicles, entered the town of Novoazovsk on the Sea of Azov after a battle in which Ukrainian army positions came under fire from Grad rockets launched from Russian territory, according to the spokesman, Col. Andriy Lysenko.
“Our border servicemen and guardsmen retreated as they did not have heavy equipment,” Lysenko said in a statement.
Ukrainian authorities have denounced the latest fighting as a Russian invasion of their territory, intended to prop up pro-Moscow separatists who have been losing ground to Ukrainian forces and to open a new front in the southeastern corner of Ukraine.
Ukrainian officials said earlier that Ukrainian troops were battling combined Russian and separatist forces on the new southern front around Novoazovsk, about eight miles west of the Russian border. The Ukrainian military also said Russian troops were increasing surveillance from northern Crimea, the autonomous Ukrainian peninsula annexed by Moscow in March.
Read the full story: www.washingtonpost.com
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Wednesday, August 27, 2014
Tuesday, July 29, 2014
Not Joking: Russia Violates Missile Treaty, Obama Sends Stern Letter
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| President Barack Obama |
In a courageous step to defend our country, Obama has ratcheted up his threats to Russia from the debilitating hashtag attacks and entered into the no man’s land of sending stern letters. The reason for this heightening of tensions? Russia has violated a missile treaty:
The United States has concluded that Russia violated a landmark arms control treaty by testing a prohibited ground-launched cruise missile, according to senior American officials, a finding that was conveyed by President Obama to Russian President Vladimir V. Putin in a letter on Monday.
Rumors are that the UN is considering censuring America for the wildly disproportional attack on the mild, unassuming and kindly missile-wielding Russians.
Read the full story: www.ijreview.com
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Thursday, July 24, 2014
Wednesday, July 23, 2014
First MH17 Dead To Be Flown To Netherlands From Ukraine
By BBC News Europe, Jul. 23, 2014, BBC.com
The Netherlands has received the first victims' bodies from crashed Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 in a solemn ceremony at Eindhoven air base.
Forty hearses left for the town of Hilversum where the formal identification process will begin.
The Netherlands is observing a national day of mourning for the 298 victims, most of whom were Dutch.
Ukrainian pro-Russian rebels have been widely accused of shooting down the plane on 17 July.
UK government sources say intelligence shows rebels deliberately tampered with evidence, moving bodies and placing parts from other planes in the debris.
Read the full story: www.bbc.com
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Putin Says Will Use Influence On Ukraine Rebels, Denounces West
By Darya Korsunskaya, Jul. 22, 2014, News.yahoo.com
MOSCOW (Reuters) - President Vladimir Putin said on Tuesday Russia would try to ensure Ukrainian separatists cooperate with an investigation into the downing of a Malaysian airliner, but said the West must do more to persuade Kiev to end hostilities.
Putin came out fighting in his most detailed comments since the plane was brought down on Thursday, dismissing criticism of Russia's role in events in rebel-held east Ukraine and describing the West's position as "strange and unacceptable".
Accusing the United States indirectly of pulling the strings in Kiev, trying to bully Russia and meddling in Russia's domestic affairs, the president said in televised remarks: "Such methods will not work on Russia."
Reading from notes at the head of a long table flanked by his top government, parliament, security and defense officials, Putin spoke much more forcefully than during brief televised remarks on the plane's downing first released in the early hours of Monday, when he looked tired and less assured than usual.
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| Russian President Vladimir Putin |
MOSCOW (Reuters) - President Vladimir Putin said on Tuesday Russia would try to ensure Ukrainian separatists cooperate with an investigation into the downing of a Malaysian airliner, but said the West must do more to persuade Kiev to end hostilities.
Putin came out fighting in his most detailed comments since the plane was brought down on Thursday, dismissing criticism of Russia's role in events in rebel-held east Ukraine and describing the West's position as "strange and unacceptable".
Accusing the United States indirectly of pulling the strings in Kiev, trying to bully Russia and meddling in Russia's domestic affairs, the president said in televised remarks: "Such methods will not work on Russia."
Reading from notes at the head of a long table flanked by his top government, parliament, security and defense officials, Putin spoke much more forcefully than during brief televised remarks on the plane's downing first released in the early hours of Monday, when he looked tired and less assured than usual.
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Sunday, July 20, 2014
Dutch Fury As MH17 Bodies 'Dragged Around'
By Sky News HD, Jul. 20, 2014, News.sky.com
The Netherlands has asked for help bringing home the bodies of the 192 Dutch nationals killed when Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 was shot down over Ukraine.
Dutch Foreign Minister Frans Timmermans told Ukraine's President Petro Poroshenko that his country was "angry" and "furious" by reports of bodies being dragged around the site in Grabovo, Donetsk.
"We are already shocked by the news we got today of bodies being dragged around, of the site not being treated properly," he said.
Ukrainian officials accused pro-Russian separatists of taking bodies from the scene of the crash before emergency services personnel began officially collecting them on Saturday.
However, Sky's Chief Correspondent Stuart Ramsay, at the scene, said body parts were now officially being removed by Ukraine emergency ministry staff.
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| Source: www.cbcnews.com |
The Netherlands has asked for help bringing home the bodies of the 192 Dutch nationals killed when Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 was shot down over Ukraine.
Dutch Foreign Minister Frans Timmermans told Ukraine's President Petro Poroshenko that his country was "angry" and "furious" by reports of bodies being dragged around the site in Grabovo, Donetsk.
"We are already shocked by the news we got today of bodies being dragged around, of the site not being treated properly," he said.
Ukrainian officials accused pro-Russian separatists of taking bodies from the scene of the crash before emergency services personnel began officially collecting them on Saturday.
However, Sky's Chief Correspondent Stuart Ramsay, at the scene, said body parts were now officially being removed by Ukraine emergency ministry staff.
Read the full story: www.news.sky.com
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Saturday, July 19, 2014
Wednesday, July 16, 2014
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| White House press secretary Josh Earnest / AP |
(CNSNews.com) – White House press secretary Josh Earnest said Monday the Obama administration’s foreign policies in a number of areas have enhanced the world’s “tranquility” – a word that raised eyebrows as reporters pointed to situations in Gaza, Syria, Iraq, Iran, Ukraine and the South China Sea.
More than one reporter during Monday’s press briefing referred to a front-page Wall Street Journalarticle highlighting some of those crises, and citing security strategists as saying “the breadth of global instability now unfolding hasn’t been seen since the late 1970s.”
“How does the White House react to the notion that the president is a bystander to all these crises?” asked Fox News’ Ed Henry, citing the widening gaps between the sides in the Iranian nuclear talks, the conflict in and around Gaza, and the Syrian civil war.
“I think that there have been a number of situations in which you’ve seen this administration intervene in a meaningful way, that has substantially furthered American interests and substantially improved the, uh, you know, the – the tranquility of the global community,” Earnest replied.
Read the full story: www.cnsnews.com
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Friday, May 16, 2014
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| Vice President Joe Biden and son Hunter Biden |
Twitter is abuzz with questions about the involvement of Vice President Joe Biden’s son Hunter with a gas company in Ukraine. The company, Burisma, allegedly appointed Hunter Biden to its board of directors. In late April, around the time the vice president made an official trip to Ukraine, Burisma allegedly appointed Devon Archer, one of Hunter Biden’s business partners, to its board as well. Here’s a brief write-up on the story from the Moscow Times, an English-language news service based in Russia.
These dual announcements raise more questions than they answer. The prominence of the individuals involved — Hunter Biden is the vice president’s son, while Devon Archer was a major bundler for John Kerry and also his stepson’s college roommate — raises the question of whether the entire thing is a hoax.
1. What is Burisma?
Burisma appears to be a Ukrainian energy company with a focus on oil and gas exploration. However, independent information about the company is hard to find and even harder to verify. According to Businessweek:
Burisma Holdings Limited engages in oil and gas exploration and production. The company also engages in oil well drilling, production of liquefied natural gas, and undertaking geological studies. The company was incorporated in 2006 and is based in Limassol, Cyprus.
2. Is Burisma even a real company?
The company’s website is…rough, at best, and the domain does not appear to have even been registered until 2010 even though the company was allegedly founded in 2002 and incorporated in 2006. And as recently as July of 2013, the website was not even written in English.
Basic information about the business is also difficult to find. Joe Weisenthal of Business Insider noted on Twitter that the company lacked a profile in Bloomberg, an extensive database of business information, and had no Wikipedia presence whatsoever. Businessweek contained only a brief blurb about the company, stating that it was incorporated in 2006 and based in Cyprus.
3. Who is Hunter Biden?
Hunter Biden is Vice President Joe Biden’s son. He currently serves as the managing partner of Rosemont Seneca Partners, a financial and policy advisory firm. He was a long-time federal lobbyist, but left his old firm in September of 2008, before his father was elected as vice president.
Read the full story: www.thefederalist.com
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Friday, April 25, 2014
Since the invasion of Crimea, President Vladimir Putin and President Barack Obama have had regular phone calls in an often half-hearted attempt to deescalate the ongoing crisis inside Ukraine. But as the U.S. and EU prepare to unveil new sanctions against Russia, Putin has decided the interactions should stop. The Kremlin has ended high-level contact with the Obama administration, according to diplomatic officials and sources close to the Russian leadership. The move signals an end to the diplomacy, for now.
“Putin will not talk to Obama under pressure,” said Igor Yurgens, Chairman of the Institute for Contemporary Development, a prominent Moscow think tank, and a close associate of Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev. “It does not mean forever.”
Obama and Putin last spoke over the phone on April 14, a call that the White House said was initiated at Moscow’s request. Obama urged Putin in the call to end Kremlin support for armed, pro-Russian activists creating unrest in eastern Ukraine. Obama also warned that the U.S. would impose more “costs” on Russia if Putin continued his current course. According to the Kremlin’s readout of the call, Putin denied Russian interference in eastern Ukraine and said “that such speculations are based on inaccurate information.”
Obama and Putin have spoken to each other about Ukraine regularly over the past weeks, including calls on March 28, March 16, and March 6. But that these calls are now on hold for the indefinite future, due to their lack of progress and frustration on both sides.
Read the full story: www.thedailybeast.com
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First company-sized contingent of about 150 U.S. paratroopers
from the U.S. Army's 173rd Infantry Brigade Combat Team
based in Italy march as they arrive to participate in training exercises
with the Polish army in Swidwin, northern west Poland
April 23, 2014 (Reuters / Kacper Pempel)
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WASHINGTON – U.S. Army paratroopers are arriving in Poland on Wednesday as part of a wave of U.S. troops heading to shore up America's Eastern European allies in the face of Russian meddling in Ukraine.
Pentagon press secretary Rear Adm. John Kirby said an initial contingent of about 600 troops will head to four countries across Eastern Europe for military exercises over the next month.
First, about 150 soldiers from the 173rd Airborne Brigade Combat Team based in Vicenza, Italy, are arriving in Poland.
Additional Army companies will head to Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania and are expected to arrive by Monday for similar land-based exercises in those countries.
The show of strength comes as the United States, European allies and Ukraine try to ease tensions with Russia and pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine. All sides struck a diplomatic agreement last week, but it remains unclear whether pro-Russian demonstrators, who took over a series of government buildings in the wake of Russia's annexation of Crimea, will back down.
Under the current plan, U.S. troops would rotate in and out of the four Eastern European countries for additional exercises on a recurring basis.
"We're looking at trying to keep this rotational presence persistent throughout the rest of this year," Kirby told reporters, adding that over time the exercises could expand to other countries.
The exercises are part of an effort announced last week by Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel aimed at reassuring NATO allies of America's commitment to the region's defense.
Kirby said the U.S. will likely plan other exercises and will continue to work through NATO on joint measures that could be scheduled in the future.
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Sunday, April 20, 2014
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Chief Rabbi of Donetsk holding leaflet
calling on city's Jews to register.
He calls it a 'provocation.'
(Mark MacKinnon/Globe and Mail)
|
The Jewish community of the east Ukrainian city of Donetsk asked for additional police protection after anti-Semitic pamphlets were distributed in the region, where the government has been battling separatists.
“Someone tried to use the Jewish community as an instrument of this conflict,” Chief Rabbi Pinchas Vyshedski told reporters in Donetsk today, adding that he asked for added security at Jewish cultural centers. “They haven’t done it yet because are too busy” dealing with other developments in the city, Vyshedski said. In a statement yesterday he said the incident “smells like provocation.”
The pamphlet, purporting to be signed by Denis Pushilin, the leader of the Donetsk People’s Republic separatist group, said Jewish people were required to register with authorities. They were a form of provocation and the Donetsk People’s Republic had nothing to do with them, said Alexander Maltsev, a spokesman for the group.
Read the full story: www.bloomberg.com
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Saturday, April 19, 2014
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| Arseniy Yatsenyuk, Prime Minister of Ukraine Credit: EPA |
By Erik Wasson, Apr. 19, 2014, The Hill
Ukranian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk says that he has ordered his military to find and bring to justice those accused of taking threatening actions against Jews in the eastern part of Ukraine.
“I made a clear statement urged Ukrainian military and security forces and Ukrainian Department of Homeland Security urgently to find these bastards and to bring them to justice,” the prime minister said in an interview with NBC's "Meet the Press" to air Sunday.
This week, Jews reported receiving flyers from pro-Russian militants ordering them to register with the interim government — an eery throwback to tactics under the Nazi occupation. Militants denied issuing the document and have themselves accused Ukraine's new government of being anti-Semites.
President Obama and U.S. lawmakers have denounced the reported actions.
Read the full story: www.thehill.com
Ukranian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk says that he has ordered his military to find and bring to justice those accused of taking threatening actions against Jews in the eastern part of Ukraine.
“I made a clear statement urged Ukrainian military and security forces and Ukrainian Department of Homeland Security urgently to find these bastards and to bring them to justice,” the prime minister said in an interview with NBC's "Meet the Press" to air Sunday.
This week, Jews reported receiving flyers from pro-Russian militants ordering them to register with the interim government — an eery throwback to tactics under the Nazi occupation. Militants denied issuing the document and have themselves accused Ukraine's new government of being anti-Semites.
President Obama and U.S. lawmakers have denounced the reported actions.
Read the full story: www.thehill.com
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Friday, April 18, 2014
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| Credit: www.mediainfo.us |
World leaders and Jewish groups condemned a leaflet handed out in the eastern Ukrainian city of Donetsk in which Jews were told to "register" with the pro-Russian militants who have taken over a government office in an attempt to make Ukraine part of Russia, according to Ukrainian and Israeli media.
Jews emerging from a synagogue say they were handed leaflets that ordered the city's Jews to provide a list of property they own and pay a registration fee "or else have their citizenship revoked, face deportation and see their assets confiscated," reported Ynet News, Israel's largest news website, and Ukraine's Donbass news agency.
Secretary of State John Kerry said the language of the leaflets "is beyond unacceptable" and condemned whomever is responsible.
"In the year 2014, after all of the miles traveled and all of the journey of history, this is not just intolerable — it's grotesque," he said. "And any of the people who engage in these kinds of activities — from whatever party or whatever ideology or whatever place they crawl out of — there is no place for that."
U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Geoffrey Pyatt called the leaflets "the real deal." But the man whose name appears on the leaflets, Denis Pushilin, identified as chairman of "Donetsk's temporary government," said he was not responsible.
Pushilin, who is a leader of the pro-Russian movement in Donetsk, acknowledged that leaflets were distributed under his organization's name but denied any connection to them, Ynet reported.
Donetsk is the site of an "anti-terrorist" operation by the Ukraine government, which has moved military columns into the region to force out militants who are demanding a referendum be held to join Russia.
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