Category: Ukraine

Russia launched new military exercises near its border with Ukraine on Thursday, showing no sign of backing down on plans to annex its neighbor’s Crimea region despite a stronger than expected drive for sanctions from the EU and United States. In an unusually robust and emotional speech, German Chancellor Angela Merkel warned of "catastrophe" unless Russia changes course, while a man was killed in Ukraine in fighting between rival protesters in a mainly Russian-speaking city. At the U.N. Security Council, the United States circulated a draft resolution that would declare illegal Sunday’s planned referendum on independence for Ukraine’s Crimea region. But Russia, one of the Security Council’s five veto-wielding permanent members, made clear it opposed the draft. "Russia announced they will kill it," a senior Western diplomat told Reuters. In Berlin, Merkel removed any suspicion she might try to avoid a confrontation with Russian President Vladimir […]

Click here to view full article at www.reuters.com

Russia’s intervention in Ukraine signals trouble for OAO ‘s bid to buy Morgan Stanley ‘s oil-trading unit, according to people involved in the deal and others familiar with the U.S. government’s approval process. The proposed acquisition by Russia’s biggest oil producer, which is state-controlled, needs U.S. government approval by the Committee on Foreign Investment. CFIUS, a secretive government body, weighs national security risks and can sink deals. One person familiar with the deal said that if U.S.-Russia relations deteriorate further the companies would reassess whether they can proceed. Rosneft is paying several hundred million dollars for the business, the person familiar with the deal said, adding the companies are still months from seeking official U.S. government approval. A Rosneft spokesman said the companies "are working together according to an agreed schedule." Morgan Stanley said it wasn’t deterred. "We intend to submit the transaction for all necessary regulatory approvals, and […]

Click here to view full article at online.wsj.com

With little hope of halting a vote to separate a strategic Ukraine peninsula from the rest of the country, the West is readying to impose harsh sanctions on Russia for what U.S. officials described as Moscow’s insistence in undermining the new upstart government in Kiev, and fueling tensions among those who oppose it. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry flew to London on Friday to meet with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in a last-minute bid to stave off a new chapter in the East-West crisis over Ukraine. On Sunday, Ukraine’s pro-Russian Crimea region will vote whether to secede, and perhaps join Russia, in anger over new leaders in Kiev who seek to forge stronger economic ties with Europe. European and U.S. leaders have repeatedly urged Moscow to pull back its troops in Crimea, and stop encouraging local militias there that are hyping up the vote […]

Click here to view full article at hosted.ap.org

President Obama and Ukraine’s interim prime minister opened the door on Wednesday to a political solution that could lead to more autonomy for Crimea if Russian troops withdraw, as the United States embarked on a last-ditch diplomatic effort to defuse a crisis that reignited tensions between East and West. The tentative feeler came as Mr. Obama dispatched Secretary of State John Kerry to London to meet with his Russian counterpart on Friday, two days before a Russian-supported referendum in Crimea on whether to secede from Ukraine. Mr. Obama said the world would “completely reject” what he called a “slapdash election,” but added he still hoped for a peaceful settlement. In a show of solidarity for the […]

Click here to view full article at www.nytimes.com

By moving forces into the Crimea region, the Russian president caused a jump in natural… By moving forces into the Crimea region, the Russian president caused a jump in natural gas prices from the U.K. to Germany, highlighting Europe’s dependence on gas piped through Ukrainian territory. Close Close Open Photographer: Vincent Mundy/Bloomberg By moving forces into the Crimea region, the Russian president caused a jump in natural gas prices from the U.K. to Germany, highlighting Europe’s dependence on gas piped through Ukrainian territory. Vladimir Putin’s play to wrest control of Ukraine is accentuating divisions in the European Union over how to balance climate and energy policies, driving a wedge between and its eastern neighbor Poland. By moving forces into the Crimea region, the Russian president caused a jump in natural gas prices from the U.K. to Germany, highlighting Europe’s dependence on gas piped through Ukrainian territory. […]

Click here to view full article at www.bloomberg.com

German chancellor Angela Merkel on Thursday accused Russia of resorting to “the law of the jungle” in the Crimea crisis, in a tough speech to parliament in which she warned that the EU would go ahead with its planned sanctions unless Moscow changed course. In the strongest language she has ever employed in her dealings with Russia, Ms Merkel said: “In a period of great uncertainty in Ukraine, Russia has not proven to be a partner for stability in a neighbouring country to which it is historically, culturally and economically closely related, but exploits its weaknesses.” Moscow had acted illegally, using the methods of the 19th and 20th centuries, she said. ”The law of the jungle is placed against the strength of the law, unilateral geopolitical concerns against understanding and co-operation.” Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2014. You may share using our article tools. Please don’t cut articles from […]

Click here to view full article at www.ft.com

Of course it is all about surrounding the last truly free countries that can actually stop the Empire. Russia and China. If they can get Russia out of their Crimean navy base, they have locked them into only North Atlantic/Arctic/North Pacific Ocean access. Plus, it allows NATO (US) missiles to be based on Russia’s border. If they (the Elite) think that Russia is going to give it up without a fight, they are badly mistaken or what I see is totally BS. This could eventually bring out the nukes as Obama has already said he will strike first if he wants to. Putin may just beat him to the red button. I give it 50:50 at this point. Another Cuban missile crises in the works. Are you prepared? Arthur on Wed, 12th Mar 2014 […]

Click here to view full article at peakoil.com

Four Central European nations are urging the United States to boost natural gas exports to Europe as a hedge against the risk that Russia could cut its supply of gas to Ukraine, but the White House says such a move would take more than a year. Ambassadors from Hungary, Poland, Slovakia and the Czech Republic made their appeal Friday in a letter to John Boehner, the Republican speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives. A similar letter was expected to be sent to Harry Reid, the Democratic leader of the Senate. The letter from the four nations, known as the Visegrad Group, asks for Congress to support speedier approval of natural gas exports. It notes that the "presence of U.S. natural gas would be much welcome in Central and Eastern Europe." The ambassadors say the unrest in Ukraine has revived Cold War memories, and energy security […]

Click here to view full article at www.rigzone.com

Four Central European nations are urging the United States to boost natural gas exports to Europe as a hedge against the risk that Russia could cut its supply of gas to Ukraine, but the White House says such a move would take more than a year. Ambassadors from Hungary, Poland, Slovakia and the Czech Republic made their appeal Friday in a letter to John Boehner, the Republican speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives. A similar letter was expected to be sent to Harry Reid, the Democratic leader of the Senate. The letter from the four nations, known as the Visegrad Group, asks for Congress to support speedier approval of natural gas exports. It notes that the "presence of U.S. natural gas would be much welcome in Central and Eastern Europe." The ambassadors say the unrest in Ukraine has revived Cold War memories, and energy security […]

Click here to view full article at www.rigzone.com

Russian oligarchs are facing the prospect of economic fallout from the crisis. Credit Uriel Sinai for The New York Times MOSCOW — When Vladimir V. Putin returned to the Russian presidency in 2012, one of the first messages he sent to his political elite, many of them heads of banks and large corporations, was that the times had changed: Owning assets outside Russia makes you too vulnerable to moves by foreign governments, he told them. It is time to bring your wealth home. Nearly two years later, those words seem almost prophetic. After a week of escalating tensions between Russia and the United States, it has become clear that the conflict over Ukraine will move to the battlefield of finance. Those same business titans are now contemplating the damage that the crisis could inflict on Russia’s economy. Twenty years into the project […]

Click here to view full article at www.nytimes.com