Tag: Russia

EU and US start Russia sanctions, call Crimea referendum illegal

The EU and US have both announced preliminary steps against Russia over the situation in Crimea. Chancellor Angela Merkel said EU economic sanctions could follow within days unless Russia changes tack. The European Union announced that it would suspend talks with Russia on visa matters after a hastily-convened leaders’ summit to address the Crimean crisis on Thursday afternoon. The European Council statement also announced the postponement of ongoing negotiations, started in 2008, seeking a more […]

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Crimea votes to join Russia, Obama orders sanctions

BY ALISSA DE CARBONNEL AND LUKE BAKER (Reuters) – Crimea’s parliament voted to join Russia on Thursday and its Moscow-backed government set a referendum in 10 days’ time in a dramatic escalation of the crisis over the Ukrainian region that drew a sharp riposte from U.S. President Barack Obama. Obama ordered sanctions on those responsible for Moscow’s military intervention in Ukraine, including bans on travel to the United States and freezing of their U.S. assets. He […]

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Ukrainian prime minister says Crimea referendum ‘illegitimate’

Ukraine’s prime minister, Arseniy Yatsenyuk, has called Crimea’s planned referendum to join the Russia Federation “illegitimate.” The Black Sea peninsula remains an “integral” part of Ukraine, he said.   In a press conference in Brussels on Thursday, Ukrainian premier Yatsenyuk urged Moscow to withdraw its troops to their barracks in Crimea and to end its support for separatism on the peninsula. “We urge the Russian government to pull back its military into barracks, not to […]

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Armed group threaten UN envoy in Crimea confrontation

As diplomats met in Paris to lower tensions between Ukraine and Russia, a number of incidents on the ground in Ukraine are fanning the flames. UN chief Ban Ki-moon has called on both sides to “lower their temperature.” While there have been no indications of outright violence, instances of intimidation and unrest have been reported in Crimea on Wednesday. Robert Serry, a special United Nations envoy in the autonomous Ukrainian region on an observer mission, […]

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Putin among Nobel Peace nominees but Ukraine might figure too

(Reuters) – Russian President Vladimir Putin has been nominated for the 2014 Nobel Peace Prize – but the conflict in Ukraine is also likely to be on the Nobel committee’s agenda. A record 278 candidates, including 47 organizations, received nominations for the 2014 prize, said the Norwegian Nobel Institute’s director, Geir Lundestad. Committee members who met on Tuesday added their own proposals with a focus on recent turmoil around the globe. “Part of the purpose […]

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Putin: military force would be ‘last resort’ in Ukraine

(Reuters) – President Vladimir Putin delivered a robust defense of Russia’s actions in Crimea on Tuesday and said he would use force in Ukraine only as a last resort, easing market fears that East-West tension over the former Soviet republic could lead to war. But tension remained high on the ground. Russian forces fired warning shots in a confrontation with Ukrainian servicemen at an air base, and Russian navy ships were reported to have blockaded the strait […]

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Ukraine in State of Upheaval

The crisis between Russia and Ukraine are escalating as Ukraine’s new leaders accused Russia of declaring war with Kiev mobilizing its troops. The international community called for diplomatic solutions.

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Ukraine mobilizes for war, calls up reserves

(Reuters) – Ukraine mobilized on Sunday for war and called up its reserves, after Russian President Vladimir Putin threatened to invade in the biggest confrontation between Moscow and the West since the Cold War. Ukraine’s security council ordered the general staff to immediately put all armed forces on highest alert, the council’s secretary Andriy Parubiy announced. The Defense Ministry was ordered to conduct the call-up, potentially of all men up to 40 in a country […]

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West scrambles, Kiev braces as Putin threatens Ukraine war

(Reuters) – The West faced its biggest confrontation with Russia since the Cold War and Ukraine marshaled its forces for defense after Russian President Vladimir Putin declared the right to invade his neighbor. Ethnic Russian forces have already bloodlessly seized Crimea, an isolated Black Sea peninsula where most of the population are Russian and Moscow has a naval base, and sought to disarm the small Ukrainian contingents there on Sunday. Of potentially even greater concern […]

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Ukraine crisis: US calls for Russia to pull back troops in Crimea

US President Obama and Russian President Putin have discussed the Crimea crisis via telephone. Obama called for Russian forces to withdraw, while Putin said Moscow reserved the right to defend its interests in Ukraine.   President Barack Obama reportedly told his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin on Saturday that Moscow had violated international law by intervening in Crimea, calling for Russian forces to withdraw to their bases on the peninsula. The White House has suspended its […]

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Ukraine cites Russian troop movements as Crimea sliding from its grasp

Ukraine accused Russia on Saturday of sending thousands of extra troops to Crimea and placed its military in the area on high alert as the Black Sea peninsula appeared to slip beyond Kiev’s control. Russia’s RIA news agency said pro-Russian authorities in the region, which has an ethnic Russian majority, and the Russian Black Sea fleet based there had agreed to guard important buildings. Regional premier Sergei Aksyonov said that that Fleet personnel had already […]

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Armed men seize two airports in Ukraine’s Crimea, Yanukovich reappears

(Reuters) – Armed men took control of two airports in the Crimea region on Friday in what the new Ukrainian leadership described as an invasion by Moscow’s forces, and ousted President Viktor Yanukovich surfaced in Russia after a week on the run. Yanukovich said Russia should use all means at its disposal to stop the chaos in Ukraine as tension rose on the Black Sea peninsula of Crimea, the only region with an ethnic Russian […]

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