Month: July 2017

As Vice President Mike Pence prepares to visit Montenegro for talks with Western Balkan leaders, a senior State Department official says U.S. engagement in the region remains strong. The comments by Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Europe and Eurasia, Hoyt Brian Yee, come amid concerns that deep cuts in the proposed State Department budget could diminish Washington’s role in fragile democracies exposed to Russian interference. On issues where U.S. and Russian interests align in the region, such as counterterrorism, Yee said the United States will try to work closely with Russia. “But where Russia and the United States do …

READ MORE

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan starts a two-day tour of Gulf states Sunday in an effort to resolve a crisis involving Qatar, and four Arab states accusing the small peninsular nation of supporting terrorism. Saudi Arabia, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain have severed relations with Qatar. They are enforcing a land and sea embargo, accusing the oil-rich nation of supporting extremist groups and destabilizing the region, allegations Qatar has denied. “Turkey is trying to contribute to efforts to facilitate toward peace and stability,” said Mithat Rende, a retired Turkish ambassador to Qatar. “Erdogan will try to bring people …

READ MORE

U.S. allies in eastern Europe and Ukraine are worried that Russia’s planned war games in September could be a “Trojan horse” aimed at leaving behind military equipment brought into Belarus, the U.S. Army’s top general in Europe said on Thursday. Russia has sought to reassure NATO that the military exercises will respect international limits on size, but NATO and U.S. official remain wary about their scale and scope. U.S. Army Lieutenant General Ben Hodges, who heads U.S. Army forces in Europe, told Reuters in an interview that allied officials would keep a close eye on military equipment brought into Belarus …

READ MORE

U.S. President Donald Trump nominated Obama’s China ambassador for the U.S. top envoy in Russia. Jon Huntsman, a Republican, served as U.S. ambassador to Singapore during the first Bush administration and was elected twice as governor of Utah. In 2011 he resigned from his post in Beijing to enter the race for the Republican presidential nomination, but soon dropped out. VOA’s Zlatica Hoke has more about Trump’s nominee for a high profile diplomatic post. …

READ MORE

A powerful earthquake shook the Greek resort island of Kos early Friday morning, damaging older and historic buildings and the main port, killing at least two people and causing more than 120 injuries, authorities said.   The 6.5-magnitude quake rattled other islands and Turkey’s Aegean coast as well, but Kos was nearest to the epicenter and appeared to be the worst hit, with all of the deaths and injuries reported there.    A wall collapsed on a building dating to the 1930s, and it crushed people who were at the bar in the building’s lower level, according to Kos Mayor …

READ MORE

U.S. allies in Eastern Europe and Ukraine are worried that Russia’s planned war games in September could be a “Trojan horse” aimed at leaving behind military equipment brought into Belarus, the U.S. Army’s top general in Europe said Thursday. Russia has sought to reassure NATO that the military exercises will respect international limits on size, but NATO and U.S. official remain wary about their scale and scope. U.S. Army Lieutenant General Ben Hodges, who heads U.S. Army forces in Europe, told Reuters in an interview that allied officials would keep a close eye on military equipment brought to Belarus for …

READ MORE

NATO should permanently deploy anti-aircraft weapons in the Baltics to deter Russia, Lithuania’s president said Thursday as the United States put Patriot missiles on display after including them in an exercise in the region for the first time. The permanent deployment of the advanced air defense system would be the next step in NATO’s new deterrent in the Baltics and Poland, which includes ground troops on rotation. Moscow says it is an unjustified military buildup on its borders. “It would be really meaningful to have such weapons in the Baltic region. It would ensure a greater security for all our …

READ MORE

A spokesman for the Ukrainian military says nine soldiers died over the past day in the east where Ukrainian forces and Russia-backed rebels have been fighting for more than three years. Although full-scale offensives in the war have ebbed, both sides report artillery fire or small clashes almost daily. The death toll reported Thursday by military spokesman Col. Andriy Lysenko was notably high for a single day.   Lysenko said four of the deaths came in tank and mortar fire near Krasnohorivka, in the Donetsk region. Another was killed in rebel firing in Novohorodske, also in the Donetsk region, he …

READ MORE