19:20
3.4.2014
"Joining the European Union is like selling your soul to the devil."
This video vox pop provides sober insight into attitudes among residents of Moldova's breakaway Transdniester region toward that country's current pro-EU course:
This video vox pop provides sober insight into attitudes among residents of Moldova's breakaway Transdniester region toward that country's current pro-EU course:
18:49
3.4.2014
The UN's International Civil Aviation Organization has confirmed that air-traffic control over the Simferopol region is the responsibility of Ukraine. The statement, reported by RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service, follows a warning for civilian aircraft to avoid the area due to possible disputes or confusion over air-traffic control.
18:42
3.4.2014
The unrecognized annexation of Crimea by Russia has thrown a wrench into the process by which Ukrainian judges on the peninsula are paid, Ihor Samsin, head of the High Qualifications Commission of Judges of Ukraine, told our Ukrainian Service. Forty-six of 492 Ukrainian judges working in Crimea have requested transfers to mainland Ukraine, most of them citing a desire to be with their families.
18:21
3.4.2014
More detail from Reuters and Interfax on Moscow's recall of its top military envoy to NATO, via our newsroom:
Russian Deputy Defense Minister Anatoly Antonov said Colonel General Valery Yevnichev was being recalled to Moscow for consultations. Antonov accused NATO of deliberately "whipping up tensions" by suspending practical cooperation with Moscow following last month's Crimea annexation.
18:19
3.4.2014
From Halia Pavliva and Ksenia Galouchko's Bloomberg piece titled "Gazprom's $910 Billion Gaffe Shows Putin Economy Waning":
Back in April 2007, in the midst of the greatest commodities rally on record, OAO Gazprom’s (OGZD) deputy chief executive officer, Alexander Medvedev, was talking big.
Russia’s natural-gas export monopoly aspired to be the world’s largest company, he said while offering up a prediction: its market value would quadruple to $1 trillion in as little as seven years.
Medvedev was off by $910 billion. Since he made that forecast, no company among the world’s top 5,000 has suffered a bigger collapse in market capitalization than Gazprom, a $154 billion plunge that’s become emblematic of the malaise that has overtaken President Vladimir Putin’s economy....
Sergei Kupriyanov, a Gazprom spokesman in Moscow, said yesterday...the sanctions that the U.S. and Europe imposed on Russia following its takeover of Crimea last month have contributed to the slump in Gazprom’s share price, deepening its discount to global peers.
Russia’s natural-gas export monopoly aspired to be the world’s largest company, he said while offering up a prediction: its market value would quadruple to $1 trillion in as little as seven years.
Medvedev was off by $910 billion. Since he made that forecast, no company among the world’s top 5,000 has suffered a bigger collapse in market capitalization than Gazprom, a $154 billion plunge that’s become emblematic of the malaise that has overtaken President Vladimir Putin’s economy....
Sergei Kupriyanov, a Gazprom spokesman in Moscow, said yesterday...the sanctions that the U.S. and Europe imposed on Russia following its takeover of Crimea last month have contributed to the slump in Gazprom’s share price, deepening its discount to global peers.
18:12
3.4.2014
From our newsroom:
NATO Secretary-General Rasmussen has rejected Moscow's allegations that the alliance has violated agreements by boosting its forces in eastern Europe following Russia's annexation of Crimea.
Speaking at a joint press conference with the Estonian prime minister in Brussels, Rasmussen in turn accused Russia of "violating every principle and international commitment it has made." Russia said earlier it wanted answers from NATO on its activities in eastern Europe after the alliance promised to increase defenses for its eastern members who may feel menaced by Moscow's actions in annexing Ukraine's Crimea. But Rasmussen said he had not received any questions from Moscow and dismissed the Russian accusations about NATO's actions as "propaganda and disinformation."
Speaking at a joint press conference with the Estonian prime minister in Brussels, Rasmussen in turn accused Russia of "violating every principle and international commitment it has made." Russia said earlier it wanted answers from NATO on its activities in eastern Europe after the alliance promised to increase defenses for its eastern members who may feel menaced by Moscow's actions in annexing Ukraine's Crimea. But Rasmussen said he had not received any questions from Moscow and dismissed the Russian accusations about NATO's actions as "propaganda and disinformation."
17:52
3.4.2014
Ousted Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych, in an interview with DozhdTV from Dostov-on-Don, Russia, has rejected claims he gave orders to shoot at Euromaidan protesters in Kyiv.
"I have never issued any orders to shoot. And as far as I know, weapons have never been given to units that were involved in the protection of government offices and buildings. They were performing the duties provided to them by law. The fire was opened from the buildings, which at that period of time had been under the opposition's control."
17:49
3.4.2014
NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen speaking today next to Estonian Prime Minister Taavi Roivas in Brussels.
On comments by Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov that according to the Rome Declaration no country has the right to deploy additional troops or forces in eastern Europe:
"We haven't violated the Rome Declaration. And I am actually surprised that Russia can claim that NATO has violated its commitments because Russia is violating every principle and international commitment it has made."
On whether he has received questions from Moscow about NATO's activities in eastern Europe:
"This is just another piece of Russian propaganda and disinformation. It's based on a baseless interpretation of the NATO-Russia Founding Act, which we agreed with Russia in 1997...."
"In the founding act, NATO promised to carry out our collective defense through reinforcement rather than additional permanent stationing of substantive combat forces and that's exactly what we are doing. In the same document Russia pledged to respect territorial integrity, sovereignty, and political independence of other states and refrain from the threat or use of force."
On comments by Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov that according to the Rome Declaration no country has the right to deploy additional troops or forces in eastern Europe:
"We haven't violated the Rome Declaration. And I am actually surprised that Russia can claim that NATO has violated its commitments because Russia is violating every principle and international commitment it has made."
On whether he has received questions from Moscow about NATO's activities in eastern Europe:
"This is just another piece of Russian propaganda and disinformation. It's based on a baseless interpretation of the NATO-Russia Founding Act, which we agreed with Russia in 1997...."
"In the founding act, NATO promised to carry out our collective defense through reinforcement rather than additional permanent stationing of substantive combat forces and that's exactly what we are doing. In the same document Russia pledged to respect territorial integrity, sovereignty, and political independence of other states and refrain from the threat or use of force."
17:48
3.4.2014
Russia has recalled its top military envoy to NATO for consultations in Moscow following moves by the alliance in response to Russia's annexation of Ukraine's Crimea.
17:33
3.4.2014
RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service reports that "14 of 15 members of the Election Commission" rejected the presidential candidacy of "Darth Vader" for the Internet Party of Ukraine.
It is not the first time Luke Skywalker's father has tried to Force himself onto the political stage, as you may recall.
It is not the first time Luke Skywalker's father has tried to Force himself onto the political stage, as you may recall.