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BRUSSELS (AP) — The European Union on Tuesday agreed fresh sanctions to impose on Russia, notably targeting almost 200 ships from the shadow fleet illicitly transporting oil to skirt Western restrictions imposed over the war on Ukraine. The 27-nation bloc targeted 189 ships in all, and imposed asset freezes and travel bans on several officials as well as on a number of Russian companies. The measures were endorsed by EU foreign ministers in Brussels. EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said that while President Vladimir “Putin feigns interest in peace, more sanctions are in the works. Russia’s actions and those...

The foiled attack came as the European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas paid a visit to Israel and the occupied Bank on Monday, where she met with both Israeli and Palestinian officials. The Israeli military on Monday said it intercepted a long-range missile launched from Yemen over Jerusalem, triggering air raid sirens and explosions over the city. Local officials said they believed the missile to be from Houthi rebels in Yemen, where a handful of long-range missiles have been fired from in recent days following the resumption of war in Gaza by Israeli forces. There was no immediate claim...

Poland, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia intend to withdraw from the Ottawa Convention banning the use and stockpiling of anti-personnel mines, the defense ministers of the four countries have announced in a joint statement. The ministers said that since signing the treaty, “the security situation in our region has fundamentally deteriorated.” Leaving the 1997 treaty, which has been ratified or acceded to by more than 160 nations but not by Russia, will allow Poland and the three Baltic countries to start stockpiling landmines again. The ministers highlighted the threat posed by Russia since its invasion of Ukraine, describing the situation as...

Italy and Spain said it was “too early” to double the EU’s military aid to Ukraine to €40 billion ($43.6 billion), saying it was necessary to wait for the results of US-Russia ceasefire negotiations, Reuters reported. On Tuesday night, US President Donald Trump and Russian leader Vladimir Putin held a two-hour phone conversation in which Putin agreed to cease attacks on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure. However, within hours of the call, Russia launched an airstrike on Ukrainian energy infrastructure in the Donetsk region city of Slovyansk. EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs Kaja Kallas proposed that each EU country contribute to...

Support Free Republic Money is tight right now this month five years ago the floodgates of inflation were released I knew back then these days were coming. But in spite of the money crunch I hope some can join me... Newsdump Alert: European Union Foreign Policy Chief Says Free World Needs A New Leader After Trump Demands Peace In Ukraine "The free world needs a new leader" Those words from the former Prime Minister of the Baltic nation of Estonia now European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas... "...The philosophy of self-sufficiency is not paying off..." Alcoholics Anonymous "Twelve and...

The European Union’s top diplomat Kaja Kallas, a legend in international diplomacy (kidding), lashed out at President Trump after Volodymyr Zelensky’s disgraceful and rude display on Friday in the Trump White House.Earlier today, ungrateful Ukrainian President Zelensky waltzed into the Trump White House and treated President Trump and the American people with total disdain.President Trump ended the talks after several minutes due to Zelensky’s rude behavior.Secretary of State Marco Rubio and NSA advisor Michael Waltz then went into the Roosevelt Room to ask Zelenskyy to leave, Rubio made it clear that any further engagements today would be counterproductive. Waltz told...

The EU's top diplomat said Thursday that NATO offered the best security guarantee for Ukraine, accusing President Donald Trump of falling for a Russian narrative by closing the door.In an interview with AFP on a visit to Washington, Kaja Kallas also warned that the Europeans would not be able to assist in an eventual ceasefire deal in Ukraine's three-year conflict with Russia unless they are included by Trump, who has reached out directly to Russian President Vladimir Putin.Kallas, a former prime minister of frontline state Estonia, said NATO countries have never attacked Russia which instead was "afraid of democracy."

Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas is tipped to become the European Union's next foreign policy boss, but her tough stance on Russia may raise doubts as to whether she can represent views from across the bloc. EU leaders' informal talks on Monday, their first since the European Parliament election, focus on the appointments for the bloc's top jobs, with European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen expected to secure a second term and EU diplomats saying Kallas is in line for the foreign affairs role. Kallas, who turns 47 on Tuesday, has made her name as an eloquent critic of...

Russian police have put Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas, Lithuania's culture minister and members of the previous Latvian parliament on a wanted list, according to the Russian Interior Ministry's database. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Kallas was wanted for the "desecration of historical memory". Russian state agency TASS said the Baltic officials were accused of "destroying monuments to Soviet soldiers", acts that are punishable by a 5-year prison term under the Russian criminal code. -snip- Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said: "This is only the beginning." "Crimes against the memory of the world's liberators from Nazism and fascism must...