Foreign Affairs
Related: About this forumRussia Skips Meeting With US, EU, Other Countries To Discuss 2016 Nuclear Security Summit
Russia chose not to attend a meeting on Monday to plan the 2016 Nuclear Security Summit, The Associated Press, or AP, reported citing officials from the United States and European Union. Relations between Russia, the U.S. and EU have been frayed in recent months over the conflict in eastern Ukraine.
Officials said that it was not clear if Russias move was a precursor to boycotting the summit or if it was only making its displeasure felt about the sanctions imposed on it by the U.S. and EU because of its decision to annex the Crimean peninsula and its alleged role in fomenting crisis in Ukraine. Russia is one of the five recognized nuclear powers in the world and, according to AP, about three to four meetings are scheduled to be held in preparation for the summit, which is planned for spring of 2016.
"The Russians, besides the United States, are the biggest possessor of nuclear material so if they are not involved in this, it sends a terrible signal about their prioritization," Said Luongo, head of the Washington-based Partnership for Global Security, said according to AP, adding: "And it sends a terrible signal about the 20-plus year cooperation between the United States and Russia on this agenda."
Since 2010, a series of summits have been planned in an effort led by U.S. President Barack Obama to help keep nuclear weapons and material away from terrorists. And, the number of countries that have enough material to build nuclear weapons has also fallen to 25 from 39 since then, AP reported.
http://www.ibtimes.com/russia-skips-meeting-us-eu-other-countries-discuss-2016-nuclear-security-summit-1718266
bemildred
(90,061 posts)KIEV Ukraines government still has options after separatist elections showed its helplessness against a Russian-backed rebellion. The problem: theyre all bad.
Analysts and officials paint a grim scenario facing Ukraines pro-Western government as it ponders how to respond to the separatists tightening grip on the industrial southeastern Donbass region.
Sundays leadership elections approved by Moscow despite intense Western pressure were only the latest addition to a growing sense that rebel areas have slipped near permanently from Kievs control.
Recapturing rebel-held cities in Donbass like Donetsk and Luhansk is widely accepted as being beyond the small Ukrainian militarys capabilities. The rebels are no rag-tag force, boasting units that resemble a heavily armed, regular army even if Moscow denies Western allegations that those units are in fact Russian soldiers.
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2014/11/04/world/politics-diplomacy-world/ukraine-still-options-fight-rebellion-bad/
bemildred
(90,061 posts)ERLIN (AP) -- German Chancellor Angela Merkel underlined her displeasure over Russia's role in eastern Ukraine on Tuesday and said there is no reason yet to lift European Union sanctions.
Russia supported rebel-organized elections in eastern Ukraine that the West says undermine a much-violated cease-fire deal signed in Minsk in September.
Merkel said her aim remains a diplomatic solution, but the weekend's events show "how difficult it is even to maintain agreements that have been made, if we look at the illegal elections."
"Russia isn't yet contributing in the way we would like, particularly regarding Luhansk and Donetsk" in eastern Ukraine, Merkel told a conference held by the German employers' organization in Berlin. "The Minsk agreement should be the basis. So the economic sanctions were inevitable and there is no reason at the moment to lift them."
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/E/EU_GERMANY_RUSSIA?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2014-11-04-06-02-10
bemildred
(90,061 posts)Petro Poroshenko proposed scrapping a law, agreed under the 5 September truce deal, which gives special status to the eastern Donetsk and Luhansk areas.
Under the truce, the regions were to hold Ukraine-run elections in December.
The two pro-Russian separatist leaders declared to have won Sunday's polls are being sworn in.
Western states say the rebel-held elections were illegal but Russia backed them.
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-29891556