Contents tagged with Russia
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Normandy Quartet Leaders meet in Paris over Ukraine.
The leaders of France, Germany, Russia and Ukraine are meeting in Paris today to consolidate a fragile peace in Ukraine, as the conflict is overshadowed by President Vladimir Putin's dramatic intervention in Syria's war.
The summit’s main objective is to overcome existing obstacles to the Minsk ceasefire deal and to discuss additional measures to ensure adherence to it.Fighting has all but stopped in eastern Ukraine and with peace closer than ever leaders are seeking a lasting political …
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Russian hackers target Clinton's emails.
Russian based hackers tried to infiltrate Hillary Clinton’s home email server.Five attempts have been made to break into her computer under disguise of emails purporting to be New York parking tickets.The malicious emails with fake New York police address included the instructions “to plead, print out the enclosed ticket” and an attached file named “Ticket-728-2011.zip”.As reported, these emails contained a zip file with software, directing an infected computer to transmit information to three …
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Saudi Arabia concerned over Russian strikes in Syria.
Saudi Arabia demands that Russia stop its military operations against targets in Syria.Being a leading adversary of Assad regime, the Saudis noted Russian strikes had caused civilian casualties while failing to target the hardline Islamic State militants Moscow says it opposes.Speaking at the United Nations in New York on Wednesday, a senior Saudi diplomat said: "The delegation of my country expresses its profound concern regarding the military operations which Russian forces have carried out …
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Russian strikes in Syria: day 2.
For a second day in a row now Russia has been launching air strikes in Syria.Reportedly, the strikes targeted sites in the north-west held by the Army of Conquest rebel alliance, as well as areas in Homs and Hama provinces.Russia claims that with some 20 missions carried out on Wednesday it struck 12 Islamic State (IS) positions in 24 hours, destroying a command centre and two arms depots.Although the US fears it was the positions of the opponents of Russia's ally, Syrian President Bashar al- …
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Russia-backed separatist blocking aid in east Ukraine.
In his statement on Tuesday, Ivan Simonovic, the assistant U.N. secretary-general for human rights noted that efforts by Russia-backed separatist rebels to block "desperately needed" humanitarian aid from reaching people in conflict-ridden eastern Ukraine could amount to crimes against humanity. Mr. Simonovic criticized as a "great mistake" the move by rebels who control the eastern city of Luhansk to kick out U.N. and humanitarian aid agencies.
"I do think that currently the military warfare …
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$20 million military aid to Ukraine.
President Obama has authorized the U.S. State Department to provide up to $20 million to Ukraine to fund military training and other similar activities.This came one day after Ukraine announced that US instructors would start training the country’s special forces.
“The authority... to direct the drawdown of up to $20 million in defense articles and services of the Department of Defense and military education and training to provide assistance for the Government of Ukraine,” the Presidential …
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Dozens of civilians killed in Russian airstrikes.
At least 27 civilians are reported to have been killed Wednesday in first Russian airstrikes on Syrian towns near the city of Homs.Earlier today the upper house of the Russian parliament gave President Vladimir Putin approval to use the air force in Syria, according to state media.
"The Federation Council unanimously supported the President's request -- 162 votes in favor of granting permission," Kremlin Chief of Staff Sergey Ivanov said, according to ITAR-Tass.
The vote came after a …
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Military deployment to Syria approved by Russian parliament.
The upper house of Russia's parliament has voted to allow the military to be deployed in Syria, making it the first formal move to legalize Russian air strikes on the militant Islamic State (IS) group.
According to US intelligence, within hours Russia appeared to have carried out its first attack.
Although as assured by a senior Kremlin official, no ground troops would be involved in Syria, only the air force.
Earlier this week President Vladimir Putin called for a broad anti-terror …
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Russian rocket launchers spotted in Ukraine.
As reported by OSCE Special Monitoring Mission (SMM), Russian TOS-1 thermobaric rocket launchers have been spotted in Ukraine.A multiple launch thermobaric rocket system (TOS-1 Buratino, 220mm) was spotted at Kruhlyk training area around 30 km south-west of Luhansk in eastern Ukraine, controlled by pro-russian forces. TOS-1 is a Russian 220mm 30-barrel (original system, Ob.634 or TOS-1M) or 24-barrel (Ob.634B or TOS-1A) multiple rocket launcher and thermobaric weapon mounted on a T-72 tank …
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Russian soldiers on trial in Kyiv.
As reported by BBC, a pair of Russian special-forces soldiers have gone on trial in Kyiv, Ukraine.
Yevgeny Yerofeyev and Alexander Alexandrov were accused of waging war against Ukrainian troops. They were captured in May in east Ukraine. Both are alleged to be officers in Russia's GRU foreign military intelligence, though Russia insists the men were not serving soldiers when they were detained. Prosecutors called for life sentences. The two russians denied charges of terrorism and the hearing …