(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – October 16, 2014) U.S. Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel has issued a warning to his country’s armed forces, saying they should be prepared for the security threat posed by a revitalized Russia. “The demands on the [U.S.] Army will only grow more diverse and complicated going forward,” Hagel told the Association of the U.S. Army’s […]
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(US Department of State – John Kerry, Secretary of State – October 14, 2014) Paris, France SECRETARY KERRY: Well, good evening, everybody. Thanks for your patience. This has been a very productive couple of days, and I’m glad to have an opportunity to be able to catch up on the discussions that we’ve had, both with Foreign Minister Fabius as […]
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(Russia Beyond the Headlines – rbth.ru – Lara McCoy Roslof, RBTH – July 29. 2014) Lara McCoy Roslof, RBTH’s Executive Editor for the Western Hemisphere, writes about how seeing the news from a different social and geographical perspective reinforces the importance to news organizations of finding meaningful links between news stories and their target audience. North Myrtle Beach, South Carolina […]
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KIEV, July 29 (RIA Novosti) – Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin, who is on an official visit to the United States secured its backing to strengthen Ukraine’s defense capabilities, restoring the country’s economy and stabilizing the situation in Donetsk and Luhansk regions, Ukrainian Foreign Ministry said Tuesday. “The US Vice President emphasized the United States’ absolute support to the peace […]
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MOSCOW, July 28 (RIA Novosti) – The United States have not made the final decision on whether to favor Ukraine’s request for lethal weapons, Deputy National Security Adviser Ben Rhodes told CNN Sunday. “We haven’t made the decision to provide a certain type of weapons, but intelligence – we do provide intelligence,” Rhodes said. “The American authorities had provided a […]
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(Bloomberg – bloomberg.com – Margaret Talev – July 23, 2014) The downing of a Malaysian passenger aircraft in Ukraine may stiffen Obama administration resistance to providing heavy armaments to rebels — or even besieged governments — seeking U.S. help in hotspots around the world. In the wake of the Malaysia Airlines (MAS) disaster, President Barack Obama has raised the risk […]
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(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Matthew Bodner – June 18, 2014) United Launch Alliance, or ULA, the leviathan of the U.S. Space launch industry, has answered a congressional call to end the U.S.’s dependence on Russian space technology for launches of military and intelligence satellites by signing development contracts with multiple domestic firms to develop a next-generation engine by 2019, the […]
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The White House Office of the Press Secretary For Immediate Release June 04, 2014 FACT SHEET: U.S. Security Assistance to Ukraine The United States is working to bolster Ukraine’s ability to secure its borders and preserve its territorial integrity and sovereignty in the face of Russian occupation of Crimea and a concerted effort by Russian-backed separatists to destabilize eastern Ukraine. […]
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US Department of State Jen Psaki Spokesperson Daily Press Briefing Washington, DC May 27, 2014 (excerpt re Ukraine) QUESTION: Ukraine. You have seen reports, I presume, of the fighting that’s going on in Donetsk. I’m wondering if you have anything to say about that. MS. PSAKI: Mm-hmm. Well, first, let me of course – I know we put out a […]
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(Russia Beyond the Headlines – rbth.ru – Georgy Manaev, RBTH – April 20, 2014) In 1867, Russia sold the territory of Alaska to the U.S. for $7.2 million. A mere 50 years later, the Americans had earned that amount back 100 times over. How could the imperial officials have given up such a choice parcel? RBTH sorts out the muddled […]
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(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Michael Bohm – April 11, 2014) Michael Bohm is opinion page editor of The Moscow Times. Russian leaders often look uninformed – or desperate – when they try to justify abuses of power by claiming that the U.S. is guilty of similar infractions. Take, for example, President Vladimir Putin’s comparison of Russia’s selective legal assault […]
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Commission on Security & Cooperation in Europe: U.S. Helsinki Commission “Ukraine: Confronting Internal Challenges and External Threats” April 9, 2014 Testimony :: Ambassador Motsyk Ambassador of Ukraine to the United States – Ukraine Embassy Washington, DC Dear Members of Congress: Today’s hearing comes at a time of great challenge and grave danger not only for Ukraine, but also for the […]
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Commission on Security & Cooperation in Europe: U.S. Helsinki Commission “Ukraine: Confronting Internal Challenges and External” [hearing transcript] Commission Members Present: Senator Benjamin Cardin (D-MD); Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI); Senator John Boozman (R-AR); Representative Michael Burgess (R-TX) Representative Steve Cohen (D-TN) Speaker: Victoria Nuland, Assistant Secretary for European and Eurasian Affairs, U.S. Department of State The Briefing Was Held From […]
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(RIA Novosti – April 10, 2014) The allegations that the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) declined to provide its American counterparts with comprehensive information about Tamerlan Tsarnayev, one of the Boston Marathon bombing suspects, is another manifestation of “anti-Russian hysteria”, Igor Korotchenko, the editor in chief of the Natsionalnaya Oborona (National Defence) magazine and a member of the public council […]
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ANKARA, Turkey, April 11 (RIA Novosti) – The US guided-missile destroyer Donald Cook and French intelligence warship Dupuy de Lôme have entered the Black Sea, the Turkish newspaper Sabah reported Friday. According to the US military command, the dispatch of the Donald Cook destroyer was a move to reassure the country’s NATO allies in the region amid heightened tensions due […]
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(Interfax – April 10, 2014) Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has said that he believes that US congressmen, who uphold an anti-Russian position, for example over events in Ukraine, are thus trying to undermine US President Barack Obama’s positions, privately-owned Russian news agency Interfax reported on 10 April. “A huge number of facts point to the idea that those who […]
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MOSCOW, April 11 (RIA Novosti) – US and EU energy companies would not tolerate the delays in payment by Ukraine that Russia has faced, an economist at the London Vanguard investment firm told the Voice of Russia radio station Friday. “Historically, since the end of the USSR, Ukraine has repeatedly failed to pay for its Russian gas. This is an […]
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(RFE/RL – April 9, 2014) A top U.S. diplomat says the United States is helping Ukraine comb through a “treasure trove” of documents recovered from the government of ousted Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych in order to prosecute corrupt officials. U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs Victoria Nuland said Department of Justice officials were helping to “exploit” […]
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KYIV. April 8 (Interfax) – Ukraine’s acting chief of the presidential administration Serhiy Pashynsky has denied claims that foreign mercenaries are involved in the Interior Ministry’s operations in east Ukraine. “I responsibly declare: there is no Right Sector, let alone U.S. security forces, in Kharkiv, Donetsk or Luhansk,” Pashynsky said. He joked, pointing at himself and Ukrainian Interior Minister Arsen […]
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(Window on Eurasia – Paul Goble – Staunton, April 9, 2014) A major reason the crisis in Ukraine is now so dangerous, Georgy Mirsky says, is that “neither [Russian President Vladimir] Putin nor [US President Barack] Obama wants to go into history as the politician who ‘lost’ Ukraine, although [that country] does not belong to either the one or the […]
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(Stratfor.com – George Friedman – April 8, 2014) George Friedman is the Chairman of Stratfor. Ever since the end of the Cold War, there has been an assumption that conventional warfare between reasonably developed nation-states had been abolished. During the 1990s, it was expected that the primary purpose of the military would be operations other than war, such as peacekeeping, […]
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MOSCOW. April 8 (Interfax) – Washington has announced it is halting financing of work on improving the security of Russian nuclear facilities, citing its disagreement with Moscow’s actions in regard to Ukraine, national daily Kommersant reported on Tuesday. The U.S. has suspended all work on physical protection of nuclear facilities in Russia, National Nuclear Security Administration representative Anne Harrington said, […]
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(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Alexander Panin – April 8, 2014) As the worst standoff since the Cold War emerges, energy and economic diplomacy are the tools the West applies to contain Russia, expecting them to be more effective than military confrontation. Business executives and energy industry analysts, however, were doubtful that these tools had any commercial value added to […]
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MOSCOW, April 7 (RIA Novosti) – American gas cannot become an alternative to the Russian fuel in Ukraine for the lack of “vacant export objects” in the foreseeable future, said Sergey Kupriyanov an official spokesperson for Gazprom in his interview with TV-channel Rossiya 24 Saturday. He stressed that the claims of Ukranian authorities about possibly importing liquefied natural gas (LNG) […]
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(Russia Beyond the Headlines – rbth.ru – Xenia Grubstein, special to RBTH – April 2, 2014) For many Ukrainian-Americans and Russian-Americans, the crisis in Ukraine and the annexation of Crimea are political but also deeply personal. Russians and Ukrainians in the diaspora and abroad are connected; their lives and those of their friends and families are intimately intertwined. RBTH asked […]
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(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Anna Dolgov – April 3, 2014) The number of Russians and Americans who view each others’ country negatively has soared during the Ukraine crisis, while more than four in 10 Russians believe the NATO countries have reason to fear Russia, recent poll results have shown. According to a survey released Wednesday by independent pollster Levada […]
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(Russia Beyond the Headlines – rbth.ru – Dmitry Babich, special to RBTH – March 31, 2014) As tensions ease, economic rapprochement with Europe will increase but security comes first for Moscow, discovers Voice of Russia political analyst Dmitry Babich Following last Sunday’s talks between Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and US Secretary of State John Kerry in Paris, which while […]
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ASTANA. Apr 1 (Interfax) – The only way to resolve the Ukrainian crisis lies through diplomacy and defusing of military tensions in the region, United States Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs Nisha Desai Biswal said. Today the world is watching the events in Ukraine with great concern. The U.S. and the international community advocate the […]
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(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – April 1, 2014) A mere four kilometers separate Russia’s Big Diomede Island from Alaska’s Little Diomede Island in the Bering Strait. This boundary between two feuding powers – known as the “Ice Curtain” during the Cold War – is likely the only place from which former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin could really see Russia. But […]
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(The White House – whitehouse.gov – Office of the Press Secretary – For Immediate Release – March 28, 2014) President Putin called President Obama today to d iscuss the U.S. proposal for a diplomatic resolution to the crisis in Ukraine, which Secretary Kerry had again presented to Foreign Minister Lavrov at the meeting at the Hague earlier this week, and […]
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(Kremlin.ru – March 29, 2014) Vladimir Putin had a telephone conversation with President of the United States of America Barack Obama. The two leaders continued exchanging views on the crisis in Ukraine. Vladimir Putin drew Barack Obama’s attention to continued rampage of extremists who are committing acts of intimidation towards peaceful residents, government authorities and law enforcement agencies in various […]
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MOSCOW, March 28 (RIA Novosti), Daria Chernyshova – The slump in US President Barack Obama’s approval rating is not surprising and the President’s hawkish stance encourages disenchantment among Americans, experts believe. The situation in Ukraine has simultaneously led to both the steep decline for the US president and a sharp rise in Russian President Vladimir Putin’s approval rating, which has […]
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(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – March 27, 2014) U.S. spying could cost software companies said Communications and Mass Media Minister Nikolai Nikiforov, in a message attached to an Instagram shot of a recent Wall Street Journal article detailing renewed U.S interest in spying on Russia. “U.S. security services have put an end to the further use of U.S. computer software […]
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(The White House – Office of the Press Secretary – For Immediate Release – March 25, 2014) On the occasion of the third Nuclear Security Summit in The Hague, the United States and Ukraine today reaffirm their strategic partnership and emphasize the important role of nuclear nonproliferation in that relationship. The United States values its 20-year partnership with Ukraine on […]
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(The White House – Office of the Press Secretary – For Immediate Release – March 24, 2014) 1. We, the leaders of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, the United States, the President of the European Council and the President of the European Commission met in The Hague to reaffirm our support for Ukraine’s sovereignty, territorial integrity and […]
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(Stratfor.com – Geopolitical Weekly – George Friedman – Tuesday, March 25, 2014 – 03:08) As I discussed last week, the fundamental problem that Ukraine poses for Russia, beyond a long-term geographical threat, is a crisis in internal legitimacy. Russian President Vladimir Putin has spent his time in power rebuilding the authority of the Russian state within Russia and the authority of […]
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MOSCOW. March 22 (Interfax) – Moscow restaurants are introducing sanctions against U.S. President Barack Obama. Notices saying an “entry ban” has been imposed on Obama have been put up at the entrances to Dolma restaurants in central Moscow, an Interfax correspondent reported. The manager of a Dolma restaurant, Lasha Churgulia, said that, “the ban only applies to Obama for now.” […]
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(Defense.gov – American Forces Press Service – Jim Garamone – WASHINGTON – March 20, 2014) Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoygu assured Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel that Russian troops along the Russia-Ukraine border are there solely for exercise purposes and will not cross over into Ukrainian territory, Pentagon Press Secretary Navy Rear Adm. John Kirby said today. At a Pentagon news […]
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(“Let Georgia be a lesson for what will happen to Ukraine; My country’s ordeal in 2008 suggests Crimea’s referendum is a trick for Russia to cement its territorial and military grip” – Mikheil Saakashvili, former President of Georgia – The Guardian – March 15, 2014) Mikheil Saakashvili, former President of Georgia, writes in The Guardian about the crisis in Ukraine, […]
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ST. PETERSBURG. March 13 (Interfax) – Former Russian finance minister Alexei Kudrin is apprehensive about possible Western sanctions against Russia and said limitations in the banking sector have already begun. “I can say quite definitely: credit line limits for Russia are being closed,” said Kudrin, who is currently a member of the Presidential Economic Council. “Our corporate sector currently has […]
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(The White House – Office of the Press Secretary – For Immediate Release – March 12, 2014) We, the leaders of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, the United States, the President of the European Council and the President of the European Commission, call on the Russian Federation to cease all efforts to change the status of Crimea […]
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(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Gabrielle Tétrault-Farber – March 13, 2014) The U.S. and European Union moved closer to imposing sanctions on Russia on Wednesday, as a discrepancy in a U.S. interpretation of President Vladimir Putin’s rhetoric about the Ukrainian crisis opened itself up to Russian attacks. The U.S. House of Representatives overwhelmingly passed a nonbinding resolution on Tuesday that […]
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(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Oleg Sukhov – March 11, 2014) Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told President Vladimir Putin on Monday that Russia and the West were continuing to butt heads over the Ukraine situation after the U.S. submitted “unsatisfactory” proposals based on the notion that there was a “conflict between Russia and Ukraine.” At a meeting with Putin […]
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KYIV. March 10 (Interfax) – The United States will support any president the Ukrainian people will elect, U.S. Ambassador in Kyiv Jeffrey Payette said at a news conference on Monday. The U.S. will support anyone, who will win during the democratic elections and who will be elected by the Ukrainian people, the ambassador said. The most important thing is that […]
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(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Matthew Bodner – February 28, 2014) U.S. Vice President Joe Biden has told new Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseny Yatsenyuk in a telephone conversation that the interim government in Kiev has Washington’s full support. The White House said in a statement that Biden congratulated Yatsenyuk on his appointment on Thursday and said that the U.S. will […]
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(RIA Novosti – Valday, Novgorod Region, September 17, 2013) The parts of Soviet-made munitions found by UN inspectors near Damascus belong to projectiles used in multiple-launch missile systems that the Syrian army took out of service long ago and have probably been improvised to carry chemicals, the director of the Centre for Analysis of Strategies and Technologies, Ruslan Pukhov, has […]
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