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Serious threats of military escalation remain in Eastern Ukraine
The conflict area in Donbass continues to be heavily militarized, and the threat of conflict escalation remains, the First Deputy Secretary General of the UN, Jan Eliasson, said at a meeting of the UN Security Council on Dec 11.
"The conflict area remains heavily militarized. We see that a serious threat of escalation remains there," he said. According to Eliasson, most of the items of the "Minsk agreement" have not been achieved. And this situation jeopardizes the political process in …
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Yanukovich among world’s most corrupt officials, says online poll
Online voters suggest that former President of Ukraine, Viktor Yanukovich, is the third most corrupt official in the world. Transparency International, the NGO who organized the poll, published a preliminary list of the 15 most corrupt officials and organizations in the world, though votes will continue to be cast for another two months.
On December 11th, the third day of open internet voting, Yanukovich took third place on the list. Polling began December 9th, and will continue until February …
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UN Urges Rebel Leaders to allow Humanitarian Organizations in Donbas Region
In his address to the UN Security Council on December 11th, the Director of Operations for the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, John Ging, called on the pro-Russian separatists in the Donbas region to allow free access to humanitarian missions in the area.
According to Ging, there are currently only two international humanitarian organizations that are allowed to operate in the regions of Eastern Ukraine that are controlled by pro-Russian separatists, the AFP …
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Putin: Russia supports both Al-Assad’s forces and Free Syrian Army
Vladimir Putin stated that Russia supports not only Al-Assad’s forces in Syria, but also a leading group in the Syrian opposition, the Free Syrian Army. The fighters of the Western-backed moderate group have at times cooperated with Syrian government forces during operations against militants of the so-called Islamic State. At a meeting with the leadership of the Russian Defense Ministry, Putin said that Russia had provided air support for the Free Syrian Army for the first time. At the same …
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U.S. Treasury: ISIS Sells Most of Its Oil to the Assad Regime
The "Islamic State" organization has received approximately half a billion dollars from the oil trade. Most of this amount is directed to the Syrian authorities and some part goes to Kurdish areas and Turkey.
According to the Treasury of the United States, about one third of the capital of the terrorist organization Islamic State (ISIS) comes from trading black market oil. The IS’s holdings are estimated at about $1.5 billion, said a senior official of the U.S. Treasurer on Thursday, …