Contents tagged with Russia

  • Finland concerned about possible influx of refugees to Russia

    The President of Finland, Sauli Niinistö, has said that Russia could face the same influx of refugees that Turkey is witnessing.  This was reported by Interfax on the 14th of February, with reference to a statement made by Niinistö in the Finnish edition of MTV News during the Munich Security Conference.

    "If Turkey closes its border, or its running stream is under control, the uncontrollable wave of people will move somewhere else," Niinistö said.  "In this sense, Russia could become the next …

  • Ukrainian official appeals to government to make a decision regarding transit of Russian trucks through Ukraine

    The Chairman of the Transcarpathian Regional State Administration, Gennady Moskal, has appealed to the Ukrainian government to make a decision with regard to Russian trucks that travel through Ukraine to the European Union.

    According to Moskal, after activists started blocking the transit of Russian cargo transport in several parts of Ukraine, the situation in the Lower Gates, which is the entrance to Transcarpathia from Lviv at the Veracom Pass, is normal.  Beginning on Saturday morning and …

  • 10 civilians killed by airstrikes in Aleppo

    In Syria, 10 civilians were killed as a result of air strikes in opposition-controlled areas of Aleppo, as reported by the Turkish Anadolu news agency, referencing representatives of the local civil defense forces.

    The strikes targeted the residential quarter of Katranji.  Many buildings were damaged or destroyed, and rescue teams are still searching through the rubble for the deceased and wounded.

    A representative of the Media Center of Aleppo, Magic Najjar, has reported that Russian combat …

  • NATO Secretary General Concerned over Russia's Nuclear Arsenal

    The Secretary General of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation, Jens Stoltenberg, expressed concern about Russia’s possession of nuclear weapons. According to Stoltenberg, the President of the Russian Federation, Vladimir Putin, has threatened to use them. He stated in an interview with Bild on the 14th of February that Russian troops routinely conduct training exercises related to the deployment of nuclear weapons.

    Stoltenberg has made it clear that NATO will not quietly observe nuclear …

  • Rally in Support of Oleg Sentsov held in Berlin

    On the 14th of February, a rally in support of Ukrainian film maker Oleg Sentso, who was sentenced to 20 years’ imprisonment in Russia, took place in Berlin at a film festival. Famous movie stars Meret Becker and Katja Riemann took part in the event organized by Amnesty International and both German and European Film Academies.

    Meret Becker, in an interview with Deutsche Welle, stated that Sentsov’s case should be considered by a civil court, not by a military court. According to her, it is …

  • Russia bans transit of Ukrainian trucks

    The Ministry of Transport of the Russian Federation has stopped the movement of registered Ukrainian freight transport on Russian territory.  According to their statement, this measure was introduced in response to the unlawful blocking of Russian vehicles on Ukrainian territory.  This ban will remain in effect until the situation is resolved in Ukraine.

    The Ministry believes that this blocking of trucks violates an agreement between the Ukrainian and Russian governments with regard to …

  • Saudi Arabia: Russia’s support for Syrian government will have serious consequences

    The Saudi Minister of Foreign Affairs, Adel al-Jubeir, warned Russian President Vladimir Putin that Moscow’s support for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad would have serious consequences, as reported by Deutsche Welle. “We informed the Russians that by taking the side of the Syrian President and Iraq, they will become participants of religious war. It is very, very dangerous,” the Head of the Saudi Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated in an interview with a correspondant from Süddeutsche Zeitung. …

  • Polish Foreign Minister: NATO's old obligations to Russia are no longer relevant

    Polish Foreign Minister Witold Waszczykowski believes that NATO should build up military infrastructure in Eastern Europe, despite the old obligations of the Alliance to Russia.

    He said this in a speech at the Munich Security Conference, according to a correspondent of Evropeiskaya Pravda in Munich.

    Waszczykowski said that the Founding Act on Mutual Relations, Cooperation and Security between NATO and Russia from 1997, in his opinion, has lost relevance and the Alliance is no longer obligated  …

  • US intelligence suspects Russia of supporting the Taliban

    Anonymous sources within US intelligence services suggest that Russia provides weapons and military training to the Taliban in Afghanistan. The West also suspects that Moscow’s support of the Taliban is guided by the Russia’s desire to undermine the pro-American government in Kabul, as reported by Rosbalt.

    According to information obtained by the Associated Press from US intelligence sources, evidence was found that Moscow supplied weapons to the Taliban in 2015, during the Islamic group’s …

  • Russian paratroopers to hold large-scale exercise near Latvian and Estonian borders

    Russian airborne troops will hold a large-scale exercise in the Pskov region near the Estonian and Latvian borders, as reported by Radio Svoboda. According to the Russian Ministry of Defense, the exercises will be held from the 15th to the 20th of February, and will involve 2,500 paratroopers and 300 pieces of military hardware.

    The announcement comes after last week’s surprise inspection of Russia’s Southern Military District and subsequent training exercises in southern Russia and the Crimea, …