Appearing at an awards ceremony for young students at the Russian Geographical Society, President Vladimir Putin took issue with nine-year-old Miroslav Oskirko’s statement that Russia’s borders “end at the Bering Strait with the United States.”
Contents: Bulgaria: Socialist pro-Russian Rumen Radev wins election as president; Moldova: Socialist pro-Russian Igor Dodon wins highly polarizing presidential election
Contents: Turkey’s Erdogan and Russia’s Putin sign TurkStream gas pipeline deal; Turkey-Russia TurkStream deal based on pragmatism rather than reconciliation
Lithuania on Monday signed a deal for German-made armoured vehicles intended to boost its defence capabilities, as it seeks to allay concerns of a military resurgence of Russia on its doorstep.
As tensions between Russia and Ukraine increase, the Russians are moving state-of-the-art S-400 Triumph air-defense missiles into Crimea, which the Russians annexed in 2014. Russia claims the Ukrainians are planning to retake the peninsula by force.
Contents: Fears grow that a new Russian invasion of Ukraine is imminent; US forces in Libya may declare victory over ISIS this week
Russia has accused Ukraine of trying to sneak armed saboteurs into Crimea, a charge Ukraine rejects as Russian propaganda and possibly a pretext for a larger Russian military operation against them.
Contents: Russia massing tanks and troops in Ukraine on northern border of Crimea; China’s fury grows over South Korea’s plan to deploy THAAD anti-missile system
Contents: Japan’s elections put constitution’s pacifism clause into question; Nato deploying a ‘tripwire’ of 4,000 soldiers along Russia’s border
Contents: Orthodox ‘Great and Holy Council’ marred by defections and controversies; History of Catholic and Orthodox Christian ‘Ecumenical’ Councils
On Thursday, Ukraine’s State Security Service banned ex-Russian President Mikhail Gorbachev from entering the country for five years over Gorbachev’s very vocal support of Vladimir Putin’s decision to invade Crimea in 2014.
Ukrainian pop singer Jamala wins the Eurovision contest with a song that evoked Moscow’s deportation of members of her Crimean ethnic group during World War II.
(AFP) – German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier Saturday said he had invited his Russian, Ukrainian and French counterparts to talks in Berlin on May 11 intended to smooth differences between Moscow and Kiev. “It is necessary to give new momentum
Contents: US military will deploy three brigades to eastern Europe to counter Russia; Libya’s Government of National Accord sails into port of Tripoli
Russia’s Defense Ministry is seeking to purchase at least five dolphins to use in military tasks, reviving a Cold War project.
Ukraine – which, under attack by Putin’s Russia, was not able to attend Eurovision 2015 – has chosen to submit to Eurovision 2016 a Crimean-Tatar song about the 1944 forced deportation of the entire population of Crimea’s native Tatar people by the Soviet Union under Josef Stalin.
Poland, ripped apart by Germany and Soviet Union in World War II, wants to implement a “46,000-strong” National Guard force due to the Ukraine crisis and possible Russian expansionism.
Contents: Mass protests force Moldova to choose between Europe and Russia; Moldova crisis presents opportunities and dangers for Russia
Russian President Vladimir Putin defended Russia’s annexation of Crimea but also pushed for more cooperation against terrorism in an interview with German publication Bild.
Ukrainians have expressed outrage after a Coca-Cola ad on a Russian social media website featured Crimea on the Russian map. The American business, though, claims a marketing agency changed the map without permission.
Israel should take a stand in the Ukraine-Russia conflict, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said in his address to the Knesset on Wednesday. “When evil wins in one place, it will try to continue to another,” Poroshenko warned. “We need to act
Contents: Russia’s Syria airstrikes kill many innocent civilians, but otherwise appear futile; European Union renews its sanctions against Russia for Ukraine invasion; Russia retaliates against Ukraine by banning food imports; Azerbaijan’s currency devalues 32%, following Russia and Kazakhstan
Former Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel gave an interview to Foreign Policy, billed as his first public interview since he was forced out of office in February. He said the White House sought to personally “destroy” him during his final days.
Contents: Russia and Ukraine escalate mutual trade sanctions over occupied Crimea; Despite China’s disapproval, US will sell $1.83 billion in weapons to Taiwan
Turkish media outlets have reported that a Russian warship fired at a Turkish fishing boat because the boat interrupted the ship attempting to hijack Ukrainian oil platforms.
Contents: Russia and Turkey exchange vitriolic accusations about ISIS oil sales; Russia cancels Turkey gas pipeline, prepares for Bosporus closure; Turkey’s grievances against Russia, and the road to war; San Bernardino mass shootings
Contents: France demands that Russia target only ISIS in Syria; Putin’s Syria intervention hobbled by weak Russian economy
Protests against the Turkish government in Russia following the downing of a Russian jet on the Turkey/Syria border have intensified. Last week, Russians burned Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in effigy before a Turkish embassy in Crimea.
Contents: Russia’s military buildup makes Syria into a Russian no-fly zone; Russia ends food imports from many countries; Turkey’s Erdogan ‘saddened’ by downing of Russia’s warplane
Contents: Russia accuses Turkey of ‘industrial scale’ oil purchases from ISIS; Russia escalates retaliation against Turkey for downing warplane; European Union to end visa restrictions on Turkey’s citizens
Contents: Russia and Turkey move closer to the brink of war; Turkish analysis of downing of Russian warplane; Quote without comment
Contents: Putin calls Turkey’s downing of Russian plane a ‘stab in the back’; Turkmen in Syria versus Russians in occupied Crimea; Russia – Turkey crisis evokes memories of centuries of Crimean wars
Contents: Migrants blocked at Macedonian border sew their mouths shut; Ukraine suspends all commercial trade with occupied Crimea; Ukraine and Russia in tit-for-tat escalating sanctions; Steel and other commodity prices continue to plummet
Contents: China blocks Miss World Canada from attending Miss World pageant; ASEAN leaders harshly criticize China over South China Sea actions; Occupied Crimea declares state of emergency after electricity is cut
Contents: US Navy to challenge China in the South China Sea today; What was the purpose of Russia’s Caspian Sea cruise missile attack on Syria?; Insurers taking increasingly risky investment bets
South Ossetia President Leonid Tibilov announced he is ready to unify the Georgian breakaway region with Russia.
Egypt, Japan, Senegal, Uruguay, and Ukraine have received a non-permanent spot on the United Nations Security Council.
WASHINGTON, D.C.—Russian “aggression” in Europe and now the Middle East is a “new reality” for the United States that is “here to stay,” said U.S. Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter.
Contents: Dutch report confirms that Russian missile shot down airliner over Ukraine; Russia launches its massive disinformation campaign; ‘Lone wolf’ violence by ‘Oslo generation’ of Palestinians grows; Android apps: Xenakis MathGame and Professional Debt Calculator
Belarusian author Svetlana Alexievich condemned Russia’s invasion of Ukraine when she won the 2015 Nobel Prize for Literature for her work that portrayed the cruel reality of living in the Soviet Union. She documents experiences of between 500 and 700 people for each book.
