Free Republic

KIEV, Ukraine — The Ukrainian government dispatched its highest-level police and security officials to the eastern part of the country Monday in an effort to put down separatist violence described as inspired by Russia and following a script that played out in Crimea. “The plan is to destabilize the situation,” Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk told an emergency cabinet meeting Monday morning. “The plan is for foreign troops to cross the border and seize the country’s territory, which we will not allow.” On Sunday, pro-Russian demonstrations in the eastern cities of Kharkiv, Donetsk and Luhansk that had been orderly the last...

U.S. and European security experts have become increasingly alarmed by the actions of Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko -- in particular, his growing diplomatic, economic and military ties to global antagonists China, Iran and Russia. With the support of this new "axis of evil," Mr. Lukashenko -- Europe's last remaining dictator -- has initiated a Cold War campaign against the West and the United States Over the past year, Mr. Lukashenko has made a determined effort to strengthen his contacts with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, an avowed anti-Semite and self-proclaimed enemy of the West. Since 1993, Iran has been a key...

MOSCOW. Jan 20 (Interfax) - The Russian delegation to the January session of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe will strongly oppose any attempt to equate Communism to Nazism, Head of the Russian delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe and State Duma Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Konstantin Kosachyov said. "This is unacceptable, we are not ready to uphold any attempt to compare these ideologies as branches of totalitarianism," Kosachyov said at a Friday press conference in Moscow devoted to the upcoming on January 23 PACE winter session in Strasbourg at which a resolution condemning...

May 6, 2005 The Return of the Soviet Union by David Satter When President Bush ascends the reviewing stand in Red Square on May 9 for ceremonies marking the 60th anniversary of the victory over Nazi Germany, he may find that his presence is being used less to mark a historic anniversary than to rehabilitate the Soviet Union. The anniversary has unleashed a wave of nostalgia for the Soviet Union. A report by the RIA press agency said, "all the veterans agree that the great love that the Soviet people had for their country and their belief in the righteousness...

China and Russia here Friday issued a joint statement on a new world order in the 21st century, setting forth their common stand on major international issues, such as UN reforms, globalization, North-South cooperation, and world economy and trade. The statement was signed by Russian President Vladimir Putin and visiting Chinese President Hu Jintao after their talks. During their talks, the two leaders discussed ways to further enhance the strategic and cooperative partnership between China and Russia, and exchanged views on major regional and international issues. The joint statement said the two countries are determined to strengthen their strategic coordination...