Category: Євросоюз

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 …

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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. …

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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 …

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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 …

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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 …

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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 …

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After renowned journalist Pavel Sheremet was killed in a car bombing in central Kyiv last year, Ukraine’s president promised all-out efforts to solve the case. But as of Thursday’s anniversary of his death, there has been no visible progress.   Instead, say Ukrainian journalists, the case is mired in either incompetence or deliberate inaction. In a country where violence against journalists is frequent, reporters feel more in danger than ever.   The killing of 44-year-old Sheremet, who was driving in central Kyiv to appear on a morning radio show on July 20, 2016, was a shock that resonated far beyond …

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Europe’s top human rights court ruled on Thursday that online videos considered by a Belgian court to be Islamist hate speech were not protected under free speech provisions. Fouad Belkacem is a Belgian national currently imprisoned for his activities as the head of Sharia4Belgium, an organization banned for recruiting foreign fighters to participate in militant activities in the Middle East. The European Court of Human Rights evaluated Belkacem’s argument that his remarks in a series of videos on online platform YouTube fell within his freedoms of expression and religion and were not meant to incite violence. In the videos, Belkacem …

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Germany on Thursday told all citizens traveling to Turkey to exercise caution following the jailing of a human rights activist who had no previous links to the country, which Germany’s foreign minister said shows that “every German citizen in Turkey” could suffer the same fate. Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel said he also can’t see how the German government can continue to guarantee German companies’ investments in Turkey in light of the threat of “arbitrary expropriations for political reasons.” He added that Berlin will talk with its European Union partners about the future of pre-accession financial aid for Ankara, which is …

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France’s military head has resigned after a clash with President Emmanuel Macron over budget cuts. The resignation has revealed the pressures facing Macron’s new government as he tries to balance the books while maintaining military commitments at home and overseas. Henry Ridgwell reports. …

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Russia outfoxed European Union sanctions by delivering gas turbines made by Germany’s Siemens to the annexed Ukrainian region of Crimea. Now for the hard part, switching them on. No Russian company, according to Reuters data, has ever got a Siemens turbine working without the help of the manufacturer. In this case, Siemens said the turbines were shipped to Crimea behind its back and is refusing to be involved, leaving Moscow to work out how to start them up to fulfill President Vladimir Putin’s promise to give Crimea a stable power supply. Siemens has filed a lawsuit against its Russian customer …

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Thirty-five European children have died from measles in the past 12 months in what the World Health Organization calls an “unacceptable” tragedy. The deaths could have been prevented by a vaccine. A measles outbreak in Minnesota sent nearly two dozen people to the hospital. Still, some parents in developed countries continue to believe false reports that the measles vaccine causes autism. VOA’s Carol Pearson reports. …

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The U.S. State Department is urging Russia to reconsider their new ban on the Jehovah’s Witnesses. Monday, the Russian Supreme Court rejected an appeal on an earlier ruling that labeled the group extremist, ordering the Christian denomination to disband immediately on Russian territory. The State Department called the court decision “the latest in a disturbing trend of persecution of religious minorities in Russia.”   It said, “Religious minorities should be able to enjoy freedom of religion and assembly without interference as guaranteed by the Russian Federation’s constitution.” The State Department urged Russian authorities to lift the ban on the Jehovah’s …

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Germany has called terrorism accusations against one of its citizens in Turkey absurd and demanded the “immediate release” of the activist. “The Turkish government needs to immediately and directly hear the German government’s outrage and incomprehension as well as its crystal-clear expectations in the case of Peter Steudtner, and this time without diplomatic niceties,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Martin Schaefer said.  After a meeting Wednesday with Turkey’s ambassador, Schaefer said he told the envoy “in no uncertain terms” the detention of Steudtner was “unacceptable” and said the German sentiment would be delivered to Ankara. Turkey earlier this month jailed six human-rights …

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A German newspaper publisher says it has filed an appeal to Turkey’s highest court against the incarceration for the past five months of a German-Turkish reporter. Deniz Yucel, who works for the daily Die Welt, was arrested Feb. 14 in Istanbul. Turkish authorities accuse him of disseminating terrorist propaganda and inciting hatred, as well as espionage and ties to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK –  allegations Yucel denies. He hasn’t been formally charged. Die Welt’s publisher, WeltN24 GmbH, said it filed a complaint Tuesday to the Constitutional Court in Ankara against Yucel’s continued imprisonment and violation of its …

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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was caught Wednesday by a live microphone railing against the European Union’s “crazy” insistence on resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as a precondition for closer ties with the 28-state bloc, and trumpeting Israel as essential to its prosperity and survival. Netanyahu was meeting with leaders of Poland, Hungary, the Czech Republic and Slovakia at a regional summit, where a conversation with his Czech and Hungarian counterparts discussing Iran, Syria, the Islamic State, and EU-Israel relations was accidentally broadcast to journalists covering the conference. Netanyahu also made a rare public admission that Israel has struck Iranian arms …

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The pro-Russian rebel leader of a breakaway region in eastern Ukraine proposed on Tuesday replacing Ukraine with a new federal state, in comments that could further undermine a 2015 peace deal that is already faltering. Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko rejected the idea, describing Alexander Zakharchenko, leader of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic (DNR), as part of “a puppet show,” with Russia pulling his strings in order to relay a message. France and Germany, which are involved in diplomatic efforts to end the Ukraine crisis, also condemned the proposal. However, the Kremlin said it warranted analysis, though it declined to discuss …

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Poland’s parliament moved closer on Tuesday to giving itself the power to appoint Supreme Court judges, ignoring opposition assertions that the move would politicize the judiciary. Lawmakers from the ruling nationalist Law and Justice (PiS) party and their coalition partners passed the bill in its first reading and moved immediately to the second and final reading, amid frequent opposition cries of “Shame!” and “Cowards!” Opposition deputies vowed to extend the all-day debate as long as possible to delay the bill’s passage into law. Since winning an election in 2015, PiS has sought to increase the government’s influence over courts and …

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Turkey announced a new school curriculum Tuesday that excluded Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution, feeding opposition fears President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is subverting the republic’s secular foundations. The chairman of a teachers’ union described the changes as a huge step in the wrong direction for Turkey’s schools and an attempt to avoid raising “generations who ask questions.” Education Minister Ismet Yilmaz said the main elements of evolution already underpinned the science curriculum, but there would be no mention of Darwin’s landmark theory until university. “Because it is above the students’ level and not directly related, the theory of evolution is …

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Croatia’s defense minister, Damir Krsticevic, offered to resign on Tuesday after the president said the army was too late in helping firefighters tame a fierce forest fire. The blaze, which spread over 20 km near the Adriatic city of Split, threatened the city suburbs late on Monday. The fire was largely under control on Tuesday. President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic said on Tuesday during a visit to Austria that the army could have turned out faster to help the firefighters. “The size of the fire was such that every helping hand was needed,” she said. However, Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic rejected the …

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