Browsing: Ukraine

“I think by offering this course and making it permanent, Baylor is offering an important counterweight to the excessive focus that has existed for Russia for decades … at this institution,” Kudelia said. “The war is only a reminder of how significant this region is for the world, but Russia is not going to go away, and Ukraine is not going to go away. And the problem that we have in Russian and Ukrainian relationships are problems that will not be solved easily over the next couple of months or years.”

The top Republican and Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee on Tuesday called for $1 billion in lethal defensive aid to Ukraine as Congress increased pressure on President Barack Obama to help Ukraine defend itself against Russian-backed rebels.

The United States and its European allies hit more than two dozen Russian government officials, executives and companies with new sanctions Monday as punishment for their country’s actions in Ukraine, yet the penalties stopped short of targeting Russia’s broader economy and it remained unclear if they would work. In Moscow, there was relief that the sanctions were not as far-ranging as feared.

Ukraine’s interim authorities on Thursday accused fugitive President Viktor Yanukovych of ordering snipers to open fire on protesters and getting help from Russian security agents to battle his own people, but they provided no evidence directly linking him to the bloodbath in Kiev that left more than 100 people dead.

NATO foreign ministers moved Tuesday to beef up the defenses of front-line alliance members feeling menaced by a more assertive Russia, with Secretary of State John Kerry proclaiming the U.S. commitment to their security is “unwavering.”

In a gilded Kremlin hall used by czars, Vladimir Putin redrew Russia’s borders Tuesday by declaring the Crimean Peninsula part of the motherland — provoking a surge of emotion among Russians who lament the loss of empire and denunciations from Western leaders who called Putin a threat to the world.

There is an adage I find myself quoting often — “Laws matter so long as they are enforced” — and when I apply this sentiment to the current situation in the Crimea region of Ukraine I am appalled by the intrusion of Russian forces.

WASHINGTON — The Obama administration signaled Monday it no longer recognizes Viktor Yanukovych as Ukraine’s president. The shift of support for opposition leaders in Kiev came even as U.S. officials sought to assure Russia that it does not have to be shut out of a future relationship with a new Ukrainian government.