Tag Archives: NATO

Germany and France called on both the Ukrainian government forces and Russia-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine to respect the restoration of a full ceasefire, their foreign ministries said in a joint statement on Thursday. “We urge the sides to respect the ceasefire and to continue discussions on further steps in …

An American diplomat working for the U.S. consulate in Lebanon has been arrested in Turkey on suspicion of selling a fake passport for $10,000 to a Syrian national, Turkey’s state news agency said on Wednesday. According to Turkey’s Anadolu Agency, which cited a statement from the Istanbul Security Directorate, the …

Ukrainian military forces have conducted combat drills with U.S.-made Javelin anti-tank missiles in a conflict area with separatists in eastern Ukraine as tensions run high with Russia, the Ukrainian Dom television channel said on Wednesday. Ukraine, which seeks to join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), has since 2018 received …

President Vladimir Putin said on Tuesday that Russia had no room to retreat in a standoff with the United States over Ukraine and would be forced into a tough response unless the West dropped its “aggressive line”. Putin addressed the remarks to military officials as Russia pressed for an urgent …

NATO should engage in dialogue with Russia but the US-led military bloc ought not to stand for Moscow telling its members what to do, Germany’s new defense minister declared on Sunday, during a visit to Lithuania. Christine Lambrecht made the statement during a press conference with her Lithuanian counterpart, Arvydas …

UK Defense Secretary Ben Wallace has admitted it’s unlikely that the UK will send military forces to help defend Ukraine in the event of a conflict with Russia. He disclosed that Kiev is aware of the situation. “It’s a fact [that Ukraine is] not a member of NATO, so it …

Russia said on Friday it wanted a legally binding guarantee that the NATO military alliance would give up any military activity in Eastern Europe and Ukraine, part of a wish list of ambitious security guarantees it wants to negotiate with the West. The demands form a package that Moscow says …

Ukraine’s parliament approved on Tuesday a draft law that allows foreign troops to take part in military exercises on the territory of the former Soviet republic in 2022, a move likely to infuriate Russia. According to the draft law, submitted by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, Ukraine plans to hold 10 …

Russian President Vladimir Putin told his Finnish counterpart Sauli Niinisto on Tuesday that he wants “immediate” talks with the United States and NATO over security guarantees, the Kremlin said, as tensions mount over Ukraine. Putin “reiterated the need to immediately launch negotiations with the United States and NATO in order …

Russian President Vladimir Putin and his U.S. counterpart Joe Biden have agreed to hold more talks amid tensions over a Russian troop build-up near Ukraine, the Kremlin said on Sunday, and Putin would like to meet in person at some stage too. The Kremlin said Putin and Biden had agreed …

Finland has chosen US defense giant Lockheed Martin’s F-35 fighters to replace ageing F/A-18 combat jets and plans to order 64 planes with weapons systems in a $9.4 billion deal, the government said on Friday. Lockheed Martin competed in a tender for the deal with Sweden’s Saab, US rival Boeing, …

Ukraine and Russia blamed each other after a push to agree a new ceasefire in eastern Ukraine broke down late on Thursday as tensions over a Russian troop buildup near its southern neighbour persisted. Ukraine said Moscow had rejected a series of its proposals, including prisoner swaps, reopening a checkpoint …

U.S. President Joe Biden and Russian President Vladimir Putin began virtual talks on Ukraine and other subjects on Tuesday, Russian state television reported, amid Western fears that Moscow plans to attack its southern neighbour. Biden will tell Putin that Russia and its banks could be hit with the toughest economic …

US Presidents Joe Biden and Vladimir Putin have a chasm of mutual distrust to bridge when they hold a virtual meeting on Tuesday in the shadow of what the United States believes is a threatened Russian invasion of Ukraine. “A lamentable state,” was how the Kremlin described relations ahead of …

The Belarusian defence ministry said on Sunday it had summoned Ukraine’s military attaché to protest against what it called repeated violations of Belarus’ airspace by Ukrainian aircraft. Relations between the two countries have plummeted since last year, when Russia sided with Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko during mass street protests and …

Russia has dismissed new US media reports about a possible Russian attack on Ukraine, accusing Washington of trying to aggravate the situation while blaming Moscow, the Kommersant newspaper said on Saturday, citing the Foreign Ministry. The Washington Post cited officials and an intelligence document on Saturday as saying US intelligence …

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken warned Moscow of the “severe costs” Russia would pay if it invaded Ukraine, urging his Russian counterpart on Thursday to seek a diplomatic exit from the crisis. Blinken delivered the warning to Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov at what he called a “candid” meeting …

The European Union proposed on Wednesday curtailing some rights of migrants at its frontier with Belarus, a gesture towards member states Poland, Lithuania, and Latvia, even as Brussels acknowledged border tensions were easing. The EU says Belarus has flown in migrants from the Middle East to push them to cross …

Russia would pay a high price for any new military aggression against Ukraine, NATO and the United States warned on Tuesday as the Western military alliance met to discuss Moscow’s possible motives for massing troops near the Ukrainian border. President Vladimir Putin countered that Russia would be forced to act …

Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda said on Sunday that the NATO military alliance needed to adjust its stance towards Belarus, whose military, he said, was becoming more integrated with Russian armed forces. Nauseda told a news conference with NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen in …