POLITICS
Obama-Putin meeting makes sense
However distasteful he may find it, President Obama has no choice but to try to work with President Vladimir Putin if there is to be an end to the Syria debacle, just as Obama had no choice but to work with the Russian on the Iran deal. The editorial board of The New York Times writes in its article titled "An Obama-Putin...
Syria conflict: Russia wants ‘co-ordination’ against IS
Russian President Vladimir Putin has called for a regional "co-ordinating structure" against Islamic State (IS). Mr Putin reiterated his support for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, who Western countries and the Syrian opposition have said must go. The crisis is expected to be high on the agenda as world leaders...
Poroshenko: Each day of Donbas war costs Ukraine about $5 mln
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko announced at the UN Sustainable Development Summit on Sunday that each day of the war in Donbas costs the country around $5 million. "Each day of the war in Donbas costs us around $5 million that we could have invested into sustainable development. And the crisis with internally...
France carries out first airstrikes against ISIS in Syria
France has carried out its first airstrikes on Islamic State positions in Syria, the Élysées Palace said in a statement. "Our country thus confirms its resolute commitment to fight against the terrorist threat represented by Daesh . We will strike each time that our national security is at stake," the...
Estonia’s Kohver exchanged with Russia for officer convicted of spying
Estonian Internal Security Service officer Eston Kohver, imprisoned by Moscow on espionage charges, has been exchanged for a former officer of the Estonian security police Alexei Dressen convicted for transferring secret data to Russia, Russian information agency TASS reported referring to the public relations center of the...
Local man arrested in Chernihiv: weapons, ammo, pro-Novorossiya leaflets seized
Chernihiv police with the assistance of the local security service division have detained a 62-year-old resident of a northeastern Ukrainian city of Chernihiv, discovering and seizing explosives, ammunition and a set of pro-separatist leaflets, according to the Chernihiv regional police office. During the investigation the law...
Ukraine crisis: Kiev bans Russian airlines’ flights
Ukraine has said it will ban Russian airlines from flying into the country as part of sanctions over Moscow's support for rebels in the east. Kiev said the measures would take effect on 25 October and would include major Russian airlines Aeroflot and Transaero. Russian transit flights will also be banned if the planes carry...
Estonia launches anti-Russian propaganda channel
An anti-Russian propaganda channel in Russian-language is preparing for launch in Estonia, while the officials say they hope it will tempt the country's large Russian-speaking minority to tune in to locally produced, rather than Russian-owned, news programming. "For more than 20 years, have people here in...
1 in 3 ‘Syrian’ refugees have fake IDs, German authorities admit
Practically a third of asylum seekers coming to Europe have forged Syrian passports and IDs to make naturalization easier, the German government admits as it deploys troops to handle the refugee crisis. Some 527,000 migrants have arrived in Germany this year. About 30 percent of these pretending to be Syrians come from...
Europe gets 8,000 refugees from Iraq and Syria daily — UN
A daily flow of about 8,000 Syrian and Iraqi refugees to Europe is likely to continue, the United Nations warns. The figure came from UN regional coordinator for refugees, Amin Awad, in comments quoted by Reuters news agency. More than 5,000 refugees are arriving daily in Greece. That flow could continue during the winter...
White House: Obama and Putin to meet in NY
U.S. President Barack Obama and Russian President Vladimir Putin will meet in New York next week at a time of high tension in Europe and the Middle East, but the Kremlin and the White House disagreed on Thursday over the top priority for the talks, Reuters has reported. The White House insisted the meeting would focus on...
Russia, Iran and Syria set up military coordination cell in Baghdad
Russian, Syrian and Iranian military commanders have set up a coordination cell in Baghdad in recent days to try to begin working with Iranian-backed Shia militias fighting the Islamic State, Fox News has reported. Western intelligence sources say the coordination cell includes low-level Russian generals. U.S. officials say it...