West keeping on to 'set on fire' post-Soviet states, seeking to nail Russia — Putin

The West has been provoking conflicts in the post-Soviet space and has never ceased attempts to finally "be done with" Russia, Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Tuesday.

Poutine précise les missions de Moscou en Syrie

La Russie œuvre pour préserver le pouvoir légitime en Syrie et mettre fin au terrorisme dans ce pays où se trouvent notamment quelque 9.000 ressortissants de la Russie et d’autres pays de l’ex-URSS, selon le président russe Vladimir Poutine.

Istanbul attackers ‘all from ex-USSR’

THE Istanbul bombers now known to be from the former USSR were captured smiling in CCTV footage, moments before the attack on Ataturk airport.

Sarkisian Says Karabakh Has Nothing to do with Azerbaijan’s Territorial Integrity

During a presentation at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government on Wednesday, President Serzh Sarkisian said that Nagorno-Karabakh has nothing to do with the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan, the presidential press service reported.

La peur dans les rues d'Athènes

« A Athènes, tu verras, la situation est plus tendue encore. Fais bien attention, il y a des quartiers où il faut éviter de s’aventurer. » J’étais prévenue. Tout le monde me chantait le même refrain. Hébergée par un ami grec, Giorgis, j’ai compris très vite.

Three Azeris dead in 'heavy fighting' over Karabakh

Armenian forces killed three Azerbaijani troops in fierce clashes overnight, Azerbaijan said Monday, as tensions spiral in the Caucasus neighbors' protracted conflict over the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh.

Ukraine undergoes reform to become "true European state" (Poroshenko)

Ukraine is aware of its responsibility and is conducting reforms to change and become a "true European state."

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko raised the Flag of Europe near the Presidential Administration on the occasion of the Day of Europe on Saturday, May 16.

Russia launches new media to lead 'propaganda war' with West (Soviet-style techniques)

Russia launched on Monday a state-of-the-art media organization with hundreds of journalists abroad intended to wean the world off what it called aggressive Western propaganda - dubbing it with echoes of the Cold War, Sputnik.

Russia to mediate Azeri-Armenian talks over border

Russian President Vladimir Putin has met Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev ahead of talks to resolve the latest outbreak of fighting on Azerbaijan’s border with the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region, the Kremlin press office said.
Putin also met Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan separately in Sochi on Saturday and the three leaders will meet for tripartite talks later.

Azerbaijan and Armenia, two former Soviet republics, fought a war over Nagorno-Karabakh between 1988 and 1994.

Gorbatschow: USA haben Vereinbarung über Verzicht auf Osterweiterung gebrochen

Michail Gorbatschow, Ex-Präsident der Sowjetunion, ist der Ansicht, dass die USA durch die Nato-Erweiterung in Zentral- und Osteuropa gegen frühere Vereinbarungen verstoßen haben.

Bei den Verhandlungen über die Wiedervereinigung Deutschlands im Februar 1990 hatte die Nato versprochen, sich nicht nach Osten zu erweitern. Seit dieser Zeit sind zehn europäische Länder, darunter die baltischen Ex-Sowjetrepubliken Estland, Lettland und Litauen, in das nordatlantische Verteidigungsbündnis aufgenommen worden.

Ahead of Ukraine elections, a generational split on nationalism

KIEV — More than two decades after the Soviet Union’s collapse gave birth to an independent Ukraine, a new generation is coming of age just as a separatist crisis is threatening to split this country in two.
Unlike their elders, however, younger people here have no memory of Soviet life, and most see themselves, despite their divided country, as Ukrainian.

That view will undergo one of its first tests Sunday when citizens go to the polls in a presidential election that could determine Ukraine’s future as a sovereign nation.

Moscow to demand return of USD20 bln debt if Kiev revives ‘zero debt’ debate. -MFA Russia

After that we would be prepared to consider the possibility of conducting talks with Ukraine on other aspects of the ‘zero option’,” the Foreign Ministry said.

Moscow will reserve the right to demand the immediate payment by Kiev of the 20 billion U.S. dollar Soviet debt if Ukraine decides to bring back the “zero option” issue, the Foreign Ministry said on Monday, March 17.
“After that we would be prepared to consider the possibility of conducting talks with Ukraine on other aspects of the ‘zero option’,” it said.

Ukraine: UN deploys human rights monitors amid ‘troubling’ signs in east, Crimea

UN, 14 March 2014 – United Nations Assistant Secretary-General for Human Rights, Ivan Šimonovic, announced today the immediate deployment of a UN monitoring team throughout crisis-torn Ukraine to help establish the facts surrounding alleged human rights violations, including in Crimea, and serve to de-escalate tensions in the country. 

Speaking via video conference from Kiev, Mr. Šimonovic told reporters in New York that during his short visit to Ukraine, he had identified chronic human rights violations; some dating from the Soviet era, and others, such as excessive use of force and arbitrary detentions, having taken place in the wake of the popular protests that erupted in the country a few months ago. 

Quatre anciens pays communistes signent un pacte militaire commun

Quatre anciens pays communistes d'Europe centrale ont signé vendredi un pacte visant à coordonner leur stratégie de défense et créer une unité de combat commune au sein de l'Otan et de l'Union européenne, en réponse à la crise ukrainienne. 

"La situation actuelle en Europe illustre que malheureusement, un conflit militaire, impensable il y a peu, pourrait avoir lieu", a déclaré le ministre polonais de la Défense, Tomasz Siemoniak, lors d'une conférence de presse à Visegrad, une ville à 40 kilomètres au nord de Budapest.

Tensions Rise in Ukraine's Crimea as Russians, Tatars Clash

SIMFEROPOL, February 26 (RIA Novosti) – Scuffles broke out Wednesday in the southern Ukrainian city of Simferopol as large crowds of opponents of the newly installed national authorities faced off against representatives of the Crimean Tatar community outside the local parliament.

The rise to power of a group of politicians whose bulk of support is drawn from the more nationalist-leaning Western Ukraine has ignited alarm among ethnic Russians in the south and east of the country.
Complicating matters, Tatar representatives have come out in support of the incoming regime, setting the stage for tensions inside the Crimean Peninsula.

Russia steps up military lifeline to Syria’s Assad. - U.S. State Department said it had no independent confirmation that Russia had increased military supplies to Syria

Reuters Exclusive
Saturday, 18 January 2014 
In recent weeks Russia has stepped up supplies of military gear to Syria, including armored vehicles, drones and guided bombs, boosting President Bashar al-Assad just as rebel infighting has weakened the insurgency against him, sources with knowledge of the deliveries say.
Moscow, which is trying to raise its diplomatic and economic influence in the Middle East, has been a major provider of conventional weapons to Syria, giving Assad crucial support during the three-year civil war and blocking wider Western attempts to punish him with sanctions for the use of force against civilians.

Senior Duma deputy warns Ukraine of ‘semicolonial dependence’ behind EU deal. -Moscow would have to protect its markets in case Ukraine enters an association agreement with the EU.-Vladimir Putin .

Signing an association agreement with the European Union would deprive Ukraine of the opportunity to cooperate with the Russia-led economic bloc Customs Union, said the head of the Lower House Foreign Affairs Committee.
“This agreement is naturally contradicting the perspective of Ukraine’s participation in the Customs Union because there are paragraphs in the association agreement that practically rule out the possibility for Ukraine to cooperate with the Customs Union member countries,” Aleksey Pushkov said at the Friday session of the Russian Lower House.
The Customs Union is a free trade organization started in 2010. It currently Unites Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan, but there are plans to include more countries that once were parts of the former Soviet Union.