"We hope NATO's increased presence in the Baltic region is not just temporary and limited to reinforced air patrols," Estonian Defence Minister Sven Mikser said on state radio this week.
Mikser, who is to meet with NATO chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen in Brussels on Monday, added that talks are ongoing "about having NATO rotating land units in our region".
NATO already conducting air drills close to Ukraine's borders
Poland's Jaroslaw Kaczynski, leader of the right-wing opposition, says he believes installing US military bases in his country would be the only way to counter Russian President Vladimir Putin's "expansionist ambitions".
Associated Press: 11. April 2014
US troops may be sent to Eastern Europe
NATO's top military commander in Europe Gen. Philip Breedlove
NATO's top military commander in Europe has said American troops could be deployed to alliance member states in Eastern Europe.
US Air Force Gen. Philip Breedlove told The Associated Press he wouldn't "write off involvement by any nation, to include the United States."
Foreign ministers of the 28-nation alliance have given Breedlove until Tuesday to propose teps to reassure NATO members nearest Russia that other alliance countries have their back.
Tens of thousands of Russian troops are massed on the border with Ukraine for a potential invasion
"Essentially what we are looking at is a package of land, air and maritime measures that would build assurance for our easternmost allies."
Breedlove told the AP. "I'm tasked to deliver this by next week. I fully intend to deliver it early."
Asked again if American soldiers might be sent to NATO's front-line states closest to Russia, the four-star U.S. general said, "I would not write off contributions from any nation."
[Associated Press]
AFP: 11. April 2014
The NATO alliance's chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen
Russia is "more and more" isolated over its actions in Ukraine
Russia is "more and more" isolated over its actions in Ukraine, NATO said on Thursday, while calling for beefed up alliance deployments to defend its eastern members.
"Nobody wants to isolate Russia but Russia is isolating itself internationally more and more every day," the alliance's chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen said Friday, as tensions remain high over the annexation of Crimea.
The warning shot came a day after NATO released satellite pictures showing up to 40,000 Russian troops massed along the Ukraine border. [AFP]
AFP: 11. April 2014
Ukraine crisis could unite US and EU
German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble on Friday portrayed the Ukraine crisis as an opportunity for the European Union and the United States to revamp their relationship after the fallout of the NSA spying scandal.
"I am confident that the Ukraine crisis will help us to strengthen transatlantic ties and rediscover our common interests," Schaeuble said in a speech on the sidelines of the annual IMF/World Bank spring meetings.
Moscow's "backslide into patterns from the previous century" has caused both sides of the Atlantic to move closer together, he said.
"Like no two actors on the global stage, the United States and Europe share common values, common strengths and common interests when it comes to shaping the global order of the 21st century."
Schaeuble contrasted the Western embrace for a globalized world based on cooperation and equal partnership with the "hegemonic" attitude on display during Russia's annexation of Crimea.
"Globalization and empires don't go together," Schaeuble told an audience at the Council on Foreign Relations.
[AFP]
AFP: 11. April 2014
US warns Russia of more sanctions over Ukraine
US Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew warned his Russian counterpart Thursday of more sanctions if Moscow "continues to escalate" the crisis in Ukraine.
Lew also expressed to Finance Minister Anton Siluanov concerns about reports that Moscow was discussing an oil-for-goods trade deal with Iran, the Treasury said in a statement.
In a meeting on the sidelines of IMF/World Bank spring meetings in Washington, Lew told Siluanov that "Russia's ongoing occupation and purported annexation of Crimea is illegal and illegitimate."
Lew told him that "in addition to the sanctions already imposed in response to Russia's occupation and purported annexation of Crimea, the United States is prepared to impose additional significant sanctions on Russia if it continues to escalate the situation in Ukraine," the statement said.
Echoing calls from President Barack Obama's administration, Lew said that the United States believed that Russia can resolve the crisis with Ukraine diplomatically.
[AFP]
Reuters: 11. April 2014
Russia suspended from the Council of Europe's parliamentary assembly of European human rights watchdog
Russia was suspended from the parliamentary assembly of European human rights watchdog the Council of Europe on Thursday in protest at Moscow's behaviour towards Ukraine and the annexation of Crimea.
The 18 Russian parliamentarians who were suspended will not be able to vote in the 318-head assembly, have representation in its main committees or take part in its election observation missions.
But the body, whose members come from 47 European states, stopped short of withdrawing their rights for good, arguing that would not help efforts to resolve the biggest crisis betweenthe West and Russia since the fall of the Berlin Wall. [Reuters]
AFP: 11. April 2014
Low expectations from US, EU & Ukraine upcoming meeting with Russia
The United States said Tuesday it was going into an upcoming meeting with Russia, Europe and Ukraine on the crisis in the former Soviet republic with low expectations.
"I have to say that we don't have high expectations for these talks but we do believe it is very important to keep that diplomatic door open and will see what they bring," said Victoria Nuland, assistant secretary of state for European affairs.
US and EU diplomats have agreed with Russia to hold four-way negotiations involving Ukraine next week to de-escalate the worst European security crisis in decades.
An EU diplomat said the talks would likely be held on April 17 in Vienna. US Secretary of State John Kerry on Tuesday accused Moscow of sending agents into eastern Ukraine to stoke a secession crisis in ethnic Russian areas of the country. [AFP]
Associated Press: 11. April 2014
Putin's new threat to Ukraine
President Vladimir Putin has threatened that Russia's state-owned gas company could ask Ukraine to pay for gas in advance, according to Russian state news agencies.
In a meeting Wednesday with government ministers, Putin said that asking for advance payments "corresponded with the contract" between Ukraine and Russia, but asked that state energy giant Gazprom refrain from such drastic measures until "additional consultations" between both sides.
Russia has tightened the economic screws on Ukraine since its Russia-leaning president Viktor Yanukovych was ousted from power in February after months of street protests. Last week, Gazprom said it would be scrapping all discounts on gas to Ukraine, meaning a 70 percent price hike that will add to Ukraine's $2.2 billion in gas arrears. [AP]
AFP: 11. April 2014
Putin's new threat to Ukraine (2)
Russian President Vladimir Putin threatened on Thursday to cut off Ukraine's gas unless Europe drummed up the cash to help cover its debts in an intensifying standoff over the splintered ex-Soviet state.
The veteran strongman's most direct warning about deliveries on which European nations also depend came with Ukraine facing a secession crisis and relations between Moscow and the West plumbing new post-Cold War lows.
The latest sign of the Kremlin's growing isolation came with a decision by the Council of Europe's human rights body to strip Russian lawmakers of their voting rights through the end of the year over Moscow's annexation of Crimea.
Ukraine's embattled leaders meanwhile tried to keep what was left of their nation of 46 million people whole by vowing to amnesty pro-Russian separatists occupying eastern state buildings if they laid down their arms and halted a four-day siege. [AFP]
Reuters: 11. April 2014
An urgent meeting of The United States Congressional Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe
The United States Congressional Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe is to meet in Washington to debate Ukraine.
The witness is Assistant Secretary of State Victoria Nuland. The US has recently stopped cooperating with Russia through organizations such as the G8 and even NASA because of the annexation of the peninsula.
Sanctions against senior Russian officials are also in place. President Obama has said that the next step, should Russia move further into Ukraine, would be harsher economic sanctions, even though that would begin to effect the worldwide economy, not just Russia’s.
Military action has been ruled out, even though the NATO commander in Europe says that the Russian Army have the capability to cross into eastern Ukraine and take key objectives within five days.
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