Russia has concentrated more than 150,000 troops on Ukraine’s border and in annexed Crimea, the EU’s top diplomat Josep Borrell said on Monday after EU foreign ministers were briefed by Ukraine’s foreign minister.
Top advisers to the leaders of Ukraine, Russia, France, and Germany have begun consultations on holding a possible summit aimed at easing tensions over the conflict in eastern Ukraine.
Pope Francis appealed for peace in eastern Ukraine, where growing violations of a ceasefire trigger rising tensions between Kyiv and Moscow agreed between Ukrainian government forces and Russian-backed separatists. It comes while a massive Russian military buildup is underway near Ukraine’s borders and British warships preparing to sail for the Black Sea next month in support of Ukraine.
Russia expelled 20 Czech diplomats after the Czech Republic ordered 18 Russian diplomats to leave on Saturday.
Russia will block foreign warships and non-commercial vessels from transiting the Kerch Strait to access the Black Sea, according to reports from Ukrainian media. The strait lies between Crimea and Russia, and connects the Black Sea to the Sea of Azov.
U.S. President Joe Biden on Thursday expelled 10 Russian diplomats in retaliation to Moscow’s interference in last year’s presidential election and the hacking of federal agencies.
Russian President Vladimir Putin’s reason for a major military buildup on Ukrainian borders remains a mystery, U.S. intelligence officials told lawmakers.
US President Joe Biden has offered to have a face-to-face meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin, amid rising tensions over Russia’s buildup of troops close to Ukraine’s eastern border and Crimea, the Washington Times reports. Moscow has acknowledged the offer of a summit.
NATO leaders and Russia traded sharp threats Tuesday over a military standoff in Ukraine, with President Biden pressing the Kremlin to de-escalate the situation and suggesting it was time for him and Russian President Vladimir Putin to have a face-to-face talk about Russian provocations.
Russia’s Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said Tuesday that the US is an “adversary” which works to “undermine Russia’s position on the world stage,” Reuters reports. Ryabkov made his statement while two US warships prepare to sail into the Black Sea this week, an event which Russia says is “provocative.”
The recent deployment of Russian troops along Ukraine’s border and Moscow’s indication that it could intervene in the event of a full-scale war in eastern Ukraine are dimming hopes for a peaceful resolution of the conflict that has festered for seven years and cost thousands of lives.
The U.S. is expressing growing alarm over reports that Russian military forces are deploying along their border with Ukraine, as a largely frozen conflict has heated up again in recent months between the Kyiv government and separatist forces in the east strongly back by Moscow.
The United States and European allies are “discussing concerns” about Russia’s reported military buildup on the border of Ukraine, a senior State Department official said in a warning to Moscow.
Amid mounting international pressure over its perceived crackdown on dissent, Russia has expelled three diplomats from Germany, Sweden, and Poland, prompting an angry response from the European Union. Moscow says the diplomats joined unauthorized protests supporting opposition activist Alexei Navalny, who was jailed earlier this week.
Outgoing U.S. President Donald J. Trump, who became the voice to millions feeling voiceless, has trumpeted his administration’s accomplishments and wished his successor luck.
A major new Russian pipeline designed to bypass Ukraine to supply southeastern Europe got a major symbolic boost on New Year’s Day as Serbian President Alexandar Vucic officially proclaimed the first nearly 250 miles of the Balkan Stream natural gas pipeline to be open for business.
Russia says it will return an Orthodox Church icon, presented to the Russian foreign minister in Bosnia-Herzegovina where local elections were held in a strategic city on Sunday. The announcement came after the gift triggered a protest from Ukraine.
The troubled son of declared President-elect Joe Biden asked $10 million from a Chinese oil tycoon who he sent his “best wishes” from the “entire family”, new emails suggest.
As the U.S. reels from revelations that Russian hackers infiltrated sensitive American computer networks, a new report finds that Moscow in recent years built up and repositioned military forces in a key region that borders countries in Eastern Europe.
In a setback for Hungary’s self-declared anti-corruption opposition, a high ranking diplomat resigned after he was allegedly caught smuggling cigarettes through Ukraine’s border.