Firefighters in the Russian capital Moscow on Friday (January 30) night battled a large fire in the library of the Institute of Scientific Information on Social Sciences. The fire broke out in on the top floor of the three-storey building shortly after 10pm (1900 GMT), and emergencies workers said they had localised the blaze a few minutes after midnight, according to Russian news agency RIA. RIA reported the fire consumed 2,000 square metres (21,500 square […]
Tag: Moscow
Moscow, Kiev swap troops as Ukraine port girds for pro-Russian assault
(Reuters) – Ukraine and Russia swapped soldiers who had entered each other’s territory near the battlefield in eastern Ukraine, where Kiev says Moscow’s forces have come to the aid of pro-Russian insurgents advancing for an assault on a major port. Ukrainian troops and local residents were reinforcing the port of Mariupol on Sunday, the next big city in the path of pro-Russian fighters who pushed back government forces along the Azov Sea this past week […]
EU names Tusk, Mogherini to top jobs, ready Russian sanctions
(Reuters) – European Union leaders on Saturday chose Poland Prime Minister Donald Tusk to chair their Council and named Italian Federica Mogherini to run the bloc’s foreign relations, as the EU prepared to threaten Russia with new sanctions overUkraine. A summit in Brussels shared the two coveted EU posts between a Kremlin critic from ex-communist Eastern Europe and the foreign minister of one of Moscow’s biggest customers for gas. EU officials gave Ukraine’s embattled President Petro Poroshenko […]
Putin: Ready to talk solutions
Vladimir Putin says he’s ready to discuss resolutions to Ukraine’s conflict. Security forces loyal to the interim government in Kyiv have gained fresh ground in their efforts to take back Ukraine’s east from separatists. At a meeting in Moscow Wednesday with Didier Burkhalter (left in photo), 2014 chairperson of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, Russian President Vladimir Putin (right) said he would discuss options for ending Ukraine’s conflict. Clashes have killed […]
Side deals with Moscow thwart drive to wean Europe off Russian gas By Henning Gloystein
(Reuters) – While officials in Brussels were calling for Europe to reduce its dependency on Russian natural gas and negotiate with Moscow as a bloc, Austria was quietly bypassing the European Commission to cut its own bilateral deal on building a pipeline. The deal on the South Stream pipeline, which will be built under the Black Sea to Bulgaria and on to central Europe, shows the European Union’s difficulty in creating a unified energy policy […]
US ramps up pressure on Russia as Ukraine separatists sit tight
The US has warned Russia of further sanctions unless it helps convince Ukrainian separatists to leave government buildings. They have so far ignored the terms of a deal to de-escalate the crisis and refused to budge. US national security advisor Susan Rice said Moscow must use its influence to persuade pro-Russian activists to implement the Geneva deal, which order those occupying administrative buildings to disarm and leave. Rice warned that the US was otherwise prepared […]
Putin calls Russian interference in Ukraine ‘nonsense,’ backs Geneva talks
President Vladimir Putin has called claims Russia is behind eastern Ukraine’s unrest “nonsense.” He has accused the government in Kyiv of raising tensions in the region, while expressing hope for crisis talks. During the beginning of a televised call with the nation on Thursday, Putin said Ukraine’s decision to send armed forces to the country’s restive east rather than establishing a dialogue was a “grave crime.” He also dismissed Western accusations that Russian special forces […]
Student kills two in Moscow school in possible revenge attack
(Reuters) – A Moscow high-school student shot a teacher and a police officer dead and held more than 20 other students hostage in a classroom in a possible revenge attack on Monday, days before Russia hosts the Winter Olympics under tight security. The student was disarmed and detained less than two hours after the shooting following negotiations aided by his father, Interfax news agency said. News agencies said he might have been seeking revenge over […]
