Category: Rubrique

Ukraine’s President Petro Poroshenko says he has agreed with Russian President Vladimir Putin by phone on a “permanent ceasefire” with rebels.

“Their conversation resulted in agreement on a permanent ceasefire in the Donbass region [the regions of Donetsk and Luhansk],” his office said.

“They reached a mutual understanding on steps leading to peace.”

The announcement comes as US President Barack Obama meets Baltic leaders in Estonia ahead of a Nato summit.

He is due to hold talks in the capital Tallinn with the presidents of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, all former Soviet states which joined Nato a decade ago.

The Nato summit in Wales is expected to back plans for a rapid response force.

More than 2,600 civilians and combatants have been killed and more than a million people have fled their homes since fighting erupted in eastern Ukraine in April, when pro-Russian separatists there declared independence.

Russia has denied accusations by the West and the Ukrainian government that it is sending troops and military equipment over the border to support the separatists, who recently gained the upper hand against government forces.

In another development, the death of a Russian photojournalist in Ukraine last month has been confirmed.

Rossia Sevodnya news agency photojournalist Andrei Stenin was killed on 6 August in a Ukrainian government ambush on a convoy of rebels and refugees near Donetsk, Russia’s Investigative Committee announced. His charred remains have only now been identified.

agencies

Russia is to alter its military doctrine as a result of the Ukraine crisis and Nato’s presence in eastern Europe, a top Russian official says.

Mikhail Popov, a Kremlin adviser, said that deteriorating relations with the US and Nato would be reflected in the updated military strategy.

Nato said on Monday it would boost its presence in eastern Europe to protect its members.

Ukrainian troops are battling pro-Russian rebels in east Ukraine.

About 2,600 people have died since fighting began in April.

Ukraine’s defence minister on Monday accused Russia of launching a “great war” that could claim tens of thousands of lives – claims dismissed by Russia, which denies actively supporting the rebels.

‘Aggravating tensions’

Mr Popov, deputy secretary of Russia’s National Security Council, told Russia’s RIA news agency that “the military infrastructure of Nato member states” was “getting closer to [Russian] borders, including via enlargement”.

Nato’s actions were one of the key “external threats” to Russia, he said.

“Nato’s planned action… is evidence of the desire of US and Nato leaders to continue their policy of aggravating tensions with Russia”, Mr Popov said.

There were no details on how the doctrine might change.

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Nato Secretary-General Rasmussen: “We must face the reality that Russia does not consider Nato a partner”

Nato announced its plans on Monday for a rapid response force of several thousand troops to protect eastern European members against possible Russian aggression.

The force, to be made up of troops provided by member states on a rotating basis, would be able to be deployed within 48 hours, Nato secretary general Anders Fogh Rasmussen said.

Military equipment and supplies would be pre-positioned in member states in the east so the force could “travel light, but strike hard if needed”, he added.

Mr Rasmussen insisted that the plans would not breach the 1997 Nato-Russia Founding Act, which forbids the presence of permanent bases in eastern and central Europe.

The new measures are set to be approved at a Nato summit in Wales this week.

‘Runway destroyed’

The Nato security alliance covers 28 member states, including eastern European countries such as Poland and the Czech Republic. It does not include Ukraine.

Ukraine’s Prime Minister Arseny Yatsenyuk has said that he aims to put the country on the path towards Nato membership.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Tuesday said such efforts were “undermining” attempts to reach a peace deal with the rebels.

Crisis talks between Ukraine officials, rebels and Russian envoys ended without agreement on Monday.

Ukraine’s army has been forced to retreat amid a series of gains by pro-Russian rebels in both the Luhansk and Donetsk regions, and further south around the port of Mariupol.

On Monday, Ukraine’s army said it had been forced to withdraw from Luhansk airport after it was attacked by Russian tanks.

The acting Luhansk region administration chief Irina Verihina told Ukraine’s 112 TV: “Our troops have withdrawn, but the runway is completely destroyed. There’s no way planes can land there.”

The UN’s refugee agency estimates that at least 260,000 people have been displaced inside the country, with most of those affected from eastern Ukraine.

‘I can take Kiev’
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has accused Russia of “direct, overt aggression against Ukraine”.

Russia has repeatedly denied Ukrainian and Western accusations that it is providing troops and equipment to the rebels.

Meanwhile, a Russian official responded to allegations that Russian President Vladimir Putin had commented: “If I want to, I can take Kiev in two weeks”.

The reported comments were said to be made in a phone call to European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso, and were reported in Italy’s La Repubblica newspaper.

Kremlin adviser Yuri Ushakov said that whether or not the words were spoken, the quote “was taken out of context and had a totally different meaning”, Russia’s Itar-Tass news agency reported.

BBC

Russian President Vladimir Putin called on Sunday for immediate talks on the “statehood” of southern and eastern Ukraine, although his spokesman said this did not mean Moscow now endorsed rebel calls for independence for territory they have seized.

The Kremlin leader’s remarks, two days after a public appearance in which he compared the Kiev government with Nazis and warned the West not to “mess with us”, came as Europe and the United States prepared possible further sanctions to halt what they say is direct Russian military involvement in the war in Ukraine.

Germany aired suspicions that Moscow might be trying to create a land corridor to supply Crimea, which it annexed from Ukraine in March, while the four-month conflict moved onto the sea for the first time on Sunday.

The separatists said they had fired on a Ukrainian vessel in the Azov Sea using land-based artillery, and a military spokesman in Kiev said a rescue operation was under way.

Ukrainian troops and local residents were reinforcing the port of Mariupol on Sunday, the next big city in the path of pro-Russian fighters who pushed back government forces along the Azov Sea this past week in an offensive on a new front.

Ukraine and Russia swapped soldiers who had entered each other’s territory near the battlefield, where Kiev says Moscow’s forces have come to the aid of pro-Russian insurgents, tipping the military balance in the rebels’ favor.

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In Pakistan Anti-government protesters have broken into the building of state television PTV in central Islamabad and cut transmissions of the broadcaster’s news services in Urdu and English for 45 minutes.

Protesters, led by religious leader Tahir-ul-Qadri and politician Imran Khan, have been trying to reach government buildings for the last three days. They have been calling for the resignation of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.

The South Asian nation’s powerful military said that further use of force to resolve an escalating political crisis would only worsen the situation.

Reporters in Islamabad, said that Pakistan Rangers and paramilitary soldiers have arrived at the building and cleared it without any clashes taking place at the scene.

“There were no clashes with the Rangers as protesters appeared to listen to them and back down. Rangers are now protecting the building. PTV News is back on air now, after being off-air for about 45 minutes,” Hashim said.

Before the arrival of the soldiers, local media showed live footage of a crowd of men streaming into the building after breaking through its gate.

In the footage, protesters were inside the building, with broken glass and other damage visible. Baton-wielding protesters were seen walking through the corridors.

Both channels went dark, before having their transmission replaced by another non-news state-run channel called PTV Home.

aljazeera

Chinese authorities have ruled out open nominations for elections to choose Hong Kong’s leader.

Authorities said two to three candidates will be nominated by a “broadly representative” committee.

The decision is expected to limit elections to a selection of pro-Beijing candidates and is likely to trigger protests from pro-democracy activists.

Some of them have threatened mass disobedience if elections in the former British colony are not opened up.

The pro-democracy Occupy Central movement is expected to hold a rally later on Sunday to discuss its reaction to the decision.

The election for Hong Kong’s chief executive is due in 2017 and will be the first time the holder of the post is directly chosen by voters.

On Saturday China warned foreign countries against “meddling” in Hong Kong’s politics, with an article in a state-run newspaper accusing some in Hong Kong of “colluding” with unnamed “outside forces”.

A foreign ministry spokesman was quoted as saying this would “absolutely not be permitted”.