From the Official Website of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation (Statements and speeches):
"The centrality given to
false claims of Russian aggression and incursions by our troops and
armoured vehicles in discussions of the crisis in Ukraine raises a
number of serious questions.
Why do those clamouring
for an urgent meeting of the UN Security Council consistently block our
proposals for a comprehensive discussion of the origins of the
Ukrainian tragedy and for collective action on a solution that serves
the interests of all Ukrainian people, and instead treat Ukraine like a
bargaining chip in unilateral geopolitical schemes?
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has
cancelled a visit to Turkey and convened an urgent national security
council meeting over the situation in the Donetsk region, the
presidential press service said on Thursday.
"I have decided to
cancel the working visit to Turkey in connection with the sharp
deterioration of the situation in the Donetsk region, in particular in
the Amvrosiyevka and Starobeshevo," he said.
Case relates to handling of $527-million state payout to disgraced tycoon....
IMF chief Christine Lagarde, one of the world's most powerful women,
announced Wednesday she had been charged with "negligence" over a
multi-million-euro graft case relating to her time as French finance
minister.
The shock announcement came a day after she was grilled
for more than 15 hours by a special court in Paris that probes
ministerial misconduct, the fourth time she has been questioned in a
case that has long weighed upon her position as managing director of the
International Monetary Fund.
WASHINGTON. —The U.S. State Department on Tuesday acknowledged for the first time it was aware of air strikes in Libya by Egypt and the United Arab Emirates in recent days.
Until now Washington would not talk about the involvement of Egypt and the UAE in the air strikes against militia in the capital Tripoli.
“We understand there were air strikes undertaken in recent days by the UAE and Egypt” in Libya, State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki told a daily briefing with reporters.
Mary McGowan Davis is third member of panel formed out of Palestinian resolution. She replaces attorney Amal Alamuddin....
A former New York judge has been appointed the third member of a United Nations panel looking into whether Israel has committed war crimes in its conflict with Hamas in Gaza.
Mary McGowan Davis was named to the panel by the head of the UN Human Rights Council, Gabon Ambassador Baudelaire Ndong Ella, the Associated Press reported.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Saturday the standoff over Ukraine could be solved only if control was tightened over the Ukraine-Russia border across which, the West alleges, Russia has been funnelling arms to help a separatist rebellion.
Merkel was visiting Kiev as a prelude to a meeting next week between the Russian and Ukrainian leaders that diplomats say is the best chance in months of a peace deal in eastern Ukraine, where government forces are fighting pro-Moscow rebels.
The United Nations Security Council is to hold emergency
consultations this evening after Russia sent an aid convoy rolling into
eastern Ukraine.
Lithuania requested the meeting to be held at 3pm local time (7pm
Irish time) to discuss the entry of scores of trucks that Ukraine has
described as an "invasion”.
The Pentagon has said the US is very concerned about the movement of
the convoy into the Ukraine and has urged Moscow to withdraw it
immediately.
UN-Generalsekretär Ban Ki-moon hat zu einer Waffenruhe in der Ukraine aufgerufen, damit russische Hilfslieferungen die notleidende Bevölkerung im Osten des Landes erreichen können.
Der Generalsekretär setze sich für einen Waffenstillstand und eine diplomatische Regelung, damit die Hilfe die bedürftigen Menschen erreichen könne, sagte Bans Sprecher Stéphane Dujarric am Donnerstag in New York. Zuvor bereits hatte Moskau das ukrainische Militär und die Milizen aufgefordert, für die Sicherheit des 1900-Tonnen-Hilfskonvois die Kämpfe einzustellen.
GENEVA - Red Cross officials entered eastern Ukraine on Wednesday to smooth the planned delivery of relief supplies aboard a Russian aid convoy, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said.
The convoy has been stuck at the Russia-Ukraine border for nearly a week due to Ukrainian concerns it could serve as a Trojan horse to infiltrate military supplies to pro-Russian separatists in the area. Moscow says the mission is purely humanitarian in support of civilians trapped by the conflict.
UN,19 August 2014 – United Nations Deputy Secretary-General Jan
Eliasson had one main message – “we must protect humanitarian workers” –
as he marked World Humanitarian Day with a special briefing to the Security Council, addressing a subject critical to people caught in conflict.
Recalling that the Day commemorates the 19 August 2003 bombing of the UN
premises at the Canal Hotel in Baghdad, Mr. Eliasson said the occasion
is “dedicated to the memory of all the staff members and partners who
have made the ultimate sacrifice in the line of duty for the
humanitarian imperative.”
ABOARD THE PAPAL PLANE (AP) — Pope Francis on Monday endorsed the use of force to stop Islamist militants from attacking religious minorities in Iraq but said the international community — and not just one country — should decide how to intervene.
Francis also said he and his advisers were considering whether he might go to northern Iraq himself to show solidarity with persecuted Christians. But he said he was holding off for now on a decision.
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has sent Kiev a written resolution confirming the examination of the cargo the Russian humanitarian convoy is carrying, the aid agency’s regional representative said on Saturday.
Pascal Cuttat, head of the ICRC’s regional delegation, said the Red Cross had not yet received Kiev’s reply as to whether it will recognise the convoy as humanitarian aid or not.
Declaration of emergency will bring in more funds and aid for those displaced by fighting in the country....
The United Nations has declared its highest level of emergency in
Iraq as fresh clashes between government troops and Sunni rebels killed
four children west of Baghdad.
Fighting erupted early on Thursday in the rebel-held city of Fallujah, about 65km west of Baghdad.
The clashes on the city's northern outskirts killed four children,
along with a woman and at least 10 fighters, said Fallujah hospital
director Ahmed Shami.
Iraq's new prime minister-designate won swift
endorsements from uneasy mutual allies the United States and Iran today
as he called on political leaders to end crippling feuds that have let
jihadists seize a third of the country.
Haider al-Abadi still faces opposition closer to home, where his
Shi'ite party colleague Nuri al-Maliki has refused to step aside after
eight years as premier that have alienated Iraq's once dominant Sunni
minority and irked Washington and Tehran.
BRUSSELS: European Commission head Jose Manuel Barroso
warned Russian President Vladimir Putin in a phone call on Monday (Aug
11) against any unilateral intervention in Ukraine, including for
humanitarian reasons.
"Speaking with President Putin, President
Barroso said that the EU would join in international efforts to assist
people in need as a result of the conflict," a commission statement
said. "President Barroso warned against any unilateral military actions
in Ukraine, under any pretext, including humanitarian," it added.
U.S. President Barack Obama said on Saturday U.S. airstrikes have
destroyed arms and equipment that Islamic State insurgents could have
used to attack Erbil, the Iraqi Kurdish capital, but warned the current
operation in Iraq could take some time.
“I don’t think we’re going to solve this problem in weeks. This is going to take some time,” Obama told reporters.
“This is going to be a long-term project,” he said during a brief news
conference before leaving Washington for a two-week vacation in
Massachusetts.
UN, 8 August 2014 – A senior United Nations human rights official today
declared the situation in Eastern Ukraine “extremely alarming” with
intensifying fighting, mounting casualties and serious damage to
infrastructure.
Briefing the Security Council, Ivan Šimonović, Assistant
Secretary-General for Human Rights, expressed concern over the “rapid
professionalization of armed groups, which are increasingly
well-organized and equipped with heavy weaponry.”
MOSCOW - Russia will impose "quite substantial" bans on the U.S. and
EU food imports and has already decided to suspend U.S. poultry imports
as part of President Vladimir Putin's order to prepare a list of food
import bans, its veterinary service said.
Putin signed a decree on
Wednesday banning or limiting imports of agricultural products from
countries which have imposed sanctions on Russia because of its support
of rebels in Ukraine.
Putin ordered his government to come up with a list of goods
to be banned for imports into Russia and to last one year, the Kremlin
said.
UN, 5 August 2014 – With thousands fleeing the intensifying violence in eastern Ukraine, the United Nations refugee agency today urged the Government to establish a central registration system which would help coordinate relief efforts for the already 117,000 internally displaced people (IDPs).
“In the past seven days more than 6,200 people have been forced from their homes,” Vincent Cochetel, the Director for the European Bureau at the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) told reporters in Geneva today.
CAIRO - Egypt asked Israel on Monday to accept a ceasefire as a first
step toward comprehensive negotiations with Palestinian factions to end
more than three weeks of fighting, Egyptian and Palestinian sources
said.
Palestinian groups, including envoys of Hamas and Islamic
Jihad, met the head of Egyptian intelligence in Cairo earlier in the day
to formulate a plan to end the violence that has displaced more than
one quarter of Gaza's 1.8 million people.
Immediately after the meeting, Egypt presented Israel with
the key Palestinian demands: a ceasefire, the withdrawal of Israeli
forces from Gaza, an end to the blockade of the impoverished enclave and
the reconstruction of the area.
An Egyptian diplomatic source said Cairo expected Israel to accept a temporary halt to the fighting to allow for talks.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu threatened on Saturday to
exact an “intolerable price” from the Gaza Strip’s dominant Hamas
Islamists should there be continued attacks from the Palestinian
territory.
Netanyahu also said that Israel will continue its
military campaign in Gaza for as long as needed and with as much force
as necessary.
“From the beginning, we promised to return the
quiet to Israel’s citizens and we will continue to act until that aim is
achieved. We will take as much time as necessary, and will exert as
much force as needed,” he said in a public address.
Meanwhile,
the Israeli Cabinet minister said there was “no point” in trying to
reach a Gaza truce with Hamas and that Israel won’t send a delegation to
planned ceasefire talks in Cairo, the Associated Press reported.
Am 100. Jahrestag des Beginns des Ersten Weltkriegs hat Wladimir Putin
davor gewarnt, dass der Friede in Europa zerbrechlich sei". Er sei nur
durch "guten Willen und Dialog" zu erreichen.
Kremlchef Wladimir Putin hat zum
100. Jahrestag des Beginns des Ersten Weltkriegs gemahnt, dass der
Friede in Europa "zerbrechlich" sei.
Ohne den blutigen Konflikt in der
Ukraine direkt zu erwähnen, sagte Putin in Moskau: "Die Menschheit
sollte längst begriffen und die wichtigste Wahrheit anerkannt haben:
Gewalt erzeugt Gewalt." Frieden und Wohlstand seien nur durch "guten
Willen und Dialog" zu erreichen. Dies seien die Lehren aus Kriegen,
sagte der Kremlchef der Agentur Interfax zufolge bei der Einweihung
eines Denkmals für die Opfer des Ersten Weltkriegs.
