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☆ Opinion: In tough times, Russia turns to a Cold War comrade
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-20 | by ( Opinion Jeremi Suri | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +10 min

CNN —After decades of somewhat distant relations, Russia and Cuba are working closely together again — this time, as part of Vladimir Putin’s war in Ukraine. Cuba's Minister of Foreign Affairs, Bruno Rodriguez, and Russian Foreign Minister, Sergey Lavrov, meet in Havana on April 20, in a show of deepening ties between the countries. In addition to deepened connections with Russia, Cuba has allowed China to build a secret espionage facility on the island. Washington will respond to Russian military escalation in Cuba with its own escalating force, as it already has done with the recent deployment of a nuclear submarine. Military escalation around Cuba is a dangerous temptation for Russia and a difficult trap for the US.

Persons: Jeremi Suri, Mack Brown, America’s, Vladimir Putin’s, Jeremi Suri Korey Howell, Nikolai Patrushev, Igor Sechin, Rosneft, Sergey Lavrov, —, Manuel Marrero Cruz, Putin, Alvaro Lopéz Miera, Sergei Shoigu, Shoigu, ” Shoigu, ”, Gerardo Peñalver, Bruno Rodriguez, Ramon Espinosa, Miguel Diaz, Canel, Obama, White, Nikita Khrushchev, John F, Kennedy, Khrushchev, Biden, — Khrushchev Organizations: Leadership, Global Affairs, University of Texas, History Department, LBJ School, Democracy, CNN, Russian Security Council, Cuban, Russian, Cuba's, Foreign Affairs, Russian Foreign, Getty Images, year’s, Russian Navy, Caribbean Military, Trump, Biden, Soviets, Pentagon, US, USS, Cuban Ministry of Foreign Affairs, US Navy, West, Washington, Hulton, Getty, White, Republican, Russia, Ukraine, Twitter, Cuban Missile Locations: Austin, Russia, Cuba, Ukraine, Russian, Havana ., — Venezuela, Nicaragua, Moscow, Caribbean, Washington, Havana, Getty Images Cuba, America, China, Lourdes, USS Pasadena, Guantanamo, American, Soviet, West Berlin, Europe, Putin, Florida, Afghanistan, Turkey

☆ Russia says Ukrainian attack on Crimea Bridge kills two, orphaned daughter injured
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-17 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

Blasts were reported before dawn on the 19-km (12-mile) road and rail bridge linking Russia to Crimea, which Russia annexed from Ukraine in 2014. Russia blamed Ukraine for an attack on the bridge last October, saying it was organised by Ukrainian military intelligence and its director, Kyrylo Budanov. After the October attack, Russia launched strikes against Ukrainian cities including power supplies in retaliation. Crimea was transferred from Soviet Russia to Soviet Ukraine in 1954 by then Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev and recognised by Russia in 1994 after the collapse of the USSR. Footage taken from a train crossing the bridge showed passengers gasping as they saw the damage to the road.

Persons: Vladimir Putin, Putin, Vyacheslav Gladkov, Kyrylo, Sergei Mironov, Arkady Rotenberg, Nikita Khrushchev, Vladimir Saldo, Lidia Kelly, Guy Faulconbridge, Kim Coghill, Michael Perry, Lincoln, Nick Macfie Organizations: UN, Ukraine's Security Service, Mercedes, Russia, Thomson Locations: Russia, Ukrainian, Ukraine, KERCH, Crimea, Belgorod, Kyrylo Budanov, Russia's, Moscow, Soviet Russia, Soviet Ukraine, Soviet, USSR, Russian, Kherson, Melbourne

☆ Khrushchev's great-granddaughter on Wagner Group's short-lived revolt in Russia
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-26 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: 1 min

Share Share Article via Facebook Share Article via Twitter Share Article via LinkedIn Share Article via EmailKhrushchev's great-granddaughter on Wagner Group's short-lived revolt in RussiaNina Khrushcheva, great-granddaughter of former Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev and New School professor, joins 'Squawk on the Street' to discuss Wagner Group's short-lived revolt in Russia, Vladimir Putin's grip on power, and more.

Persons: Wagner, Russia Nina Khrushcheva, Nikita Khrushchev, Wagner Group's, Vladimir Putin's Organizations: New School Locations: Russia

☆ State Dinners: Who Gets Them, Who Doesn’t and Why They Matter
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-22 | by ( Zolan Kanno-Youngs | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

As President Biden welcomes India’s prime minister to the White House, the two leaders will be looking for more than a fine vegetarian meal and a night of glitzy entertainment. Under the guise of pomp and pageantry, state visits are a chance for presidents to push foreign dignitaries to align with American interests. “These are not just dinners,” said Matthew Costello, a senior historian for the White House Historical Association. Before President Barack Obama hosted President Xi Jinping of China, the two countries negotiated for weeks over an arms control accord for cyberspace. President Ulysses S. Grant held the first state dinner for King David Kalakaua of Hawaii to strengthen trade.

Persons: Biden, ”, Matthew Costello, “, Dwight D, Eisenhower, Nikita Khrushchev, Barack Obama, Xi Jinping, Ulysses S, Grant, King David Kalakaua of Organizations: White, Historical Association, White House, Sputnik Locations: Washington, Soviet Union, China, King David Kalakaua of Hawaii

[1/3] A view shows the Nova Kakhovka dam that was breached in the course of Russia-Ukraine conflict, in the Kherson Region, Russian-controlled Ukraine, June 6, 2023. What is the dam, what happened - and what do we not know? THE KAKHOVKA DAMThe dam, part of the Kakhovka hydroelectric power plant, is 30 metres (98 feet) tall and 3.2 km (2 miles) long. The dam bridged the Dnipro River, which forms the front line between Russian and Ukrainian forces in the south of Ukraine. Creation of the 2,155 sq km (832 sq mile) Kakhovka reservoir in Soviet times forced around 37,000 people to be moved from their homes.

Persons: Alexey Konovalov, Josef Stalin, Nikita Khrushchev, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, Zelenskiy, Peskov, Vladimir Rogov, Maxar, Rafael Grossi, Grossi, Guy Faulconbridge, Michael Perry, Peter Graff, Jon Boyle Organizations: REUTERS, TASS, Nova, International Atomic Energy Agency, Thomson Locations: Russia, Ukraine, Kherson Region, Russian, Soviet, Dnipro, Ukrainian, Crimea, Salt, U.S ., Utah, Zaporizhzhia, Nova Kakhovka, Kherson, CRIMEA, Crimean

LUXEMBOURG, April 24 (Reuters) - Recent remarks by China's ambassador to France questioning the sovereignty of former Soviet states such as Ukraine are totally unacceptable, several EU foreign ministers said before a meeting on Monday. "It is totally unacceptable", Czech Foreign Minister Jan Lipavsky said ahead of the Luxembourg meeting of the bloc's foreign ministers. It was unclear when Fu Cong, the Chinese ambassador to the EU, gave the interview to the Chinese news outlet The Paper. But its publication came hard on the heels of the remarks by China's ambassador to France. Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani said he disagreed with Lu's comments, while Luxembourg's foreign minister Jean Asselborn called Lu's remarks a "blunder" and said efforts were being made to calm things down.

☆ France, Baltic states dismayed after China envoy questions Ukraine sovereignty
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-23 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

PARIS, April 23 (Reuters) - France and the Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania expressed dismay after China's ambassador in Paris questioned the sovereignty of former Soviet countries like Ukraine. "These ex-USSR countries don't have actual status in international law because there is no international agreement to materialize their sovereign status," Shaye added. "On Ukraine specifically, it was internationally recognized within borders including Crimea in 1991 by the entire international community, including China," a foreign ministry spokesperson said. The spokesperson added that China will have to clarify whether these comments reflect its position or not. The three Baltic states, all formerly part of the Soviet Union, reacted along the same lines as France.

☆ Putin drives across Crimea bridge in a Mercedes
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-05 | by ( Guy Faulconbridge | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/4] Russian President Vladimir Putin visits a bridge connecting the Russian mainland with the Crimean Peninsula across the Kerch Strait, December 5, 2022. Sputnik/Pool via REUTERSMOSCOW, Dec 5 (Reuters) - President Vladimir Putin on Monday drove a Mercedes across the Crimean Bridge linking southern Russia to the annexed Crimean peninsula, less than two months since an explosion tore through one of the Kremlin chief's showcase infrastructure projects. The 12-mile (19 km) road and rail bridge, which was personally opened by Putin in 2018, was bombed on Oct. 8 in an attack Russia said was carried out by Ukraine. "We are driving on the right hand side," Putin said, as he drove across the bridge. The blast also destroyed several fuel tankers on a train heading towards the annexed Crimean peninsula from neighbouring southern Russia.

☆ Putin's war in Ukraine looks more and more like a failure. Past Russian leaders haven't survived similar mistakes.
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-04 | by ( Joy Neumeyer | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +12 min

Instead, Russia's failing war effort has raised doubts about Putin's hold on power. For now, Putin looks secure, but past Russian leaders have suffered at home for blunders abroad. By the following summer, the Germans had taken huge swathes of Russian-controlled territory and a million Russian soldiers were dead. Captured Russian soldiers after the defeat at Tannenberg, in present-day Poland, on August 30, 1914. After an ineffectual troop surge, Gorbachev gave up on trying to improve the situation, and the last Soviet troops left Afghanistan in February 1989.

☆ Russia's Lavrov needles Biden over Cuban missile crisis and Ukraine
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-30 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

LONDON, Oct 30 (Reuters) - President Vladimir Putin's foreign minister on Sunday needled Joe Biden over Ukraine, saying that he hoped the U.S. president had the wisdom to deal with a global confrontation similar to the 1962 Cuban missile crisis. Russia's invasion of Ukraine has triggered the biggest confrontation between Moscow and the West since the Cuban crisis when the Soviet Union and United States came close to nuclear war. In an interview for a Russian state television documentary on the missile crisis, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said there were similarities to 1962, largely because Russia was now threatened by Western weapons in Ukraine. "I hope that in today's situation, President Joe Biden will have more opportunities to understand who gives orders and how," Lavrov said. Asked what Russia should do now in the current crisis, Lavrov said: "The readiness of Russia, including President Vladimir Putin, for negotiations remains unchanged."

Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com Register"For the moment, Putin is hanging in there," said Anthony Brenton, a former British ambassador to Russia. In power since 1999, Putin has weathered numerous domestic crises and wars, and more than once faced down large street protests before effectively outlawing any real opposition. The Kremlin says Putin is backed by an overwhelming majority of Russians and won a landslide re-election victory in 2018. said Weiss, who has had various policy roles on the U.S. National Security Council and has written a book about Putin. A senior European official said Putin would have to demonstratively lose the war to be unseated.

☆ 60 years after the Cuban missile crisis, the nuclear dangers posed by the war in Ukraine are 'far worse,' experts warn
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-16 | by ( John Haltiwanger | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +8 min

October marks 60 years since the Cuban missile crisis, when the US and USSR were on the brink of nuclear war. "The current crisis is far worse than the Cuban missile crisis," one historian recently told Insider. But today's simmering Ukraine war poses 'far worse' nuclear dangers, experts say. "The current crisis is far worse than the Cuban missile crisis, in part because during the Cuban missile crisis both Kennedy and Khrushchev were willing to discuss a way of walking back the confrontation. "This crisis is more dangerous than the Cuban missile crisis," Andy Weber, a former assistant secretary of defense for nuclear, chemical and biological programs, recently told Politico.

☆ Russian roulette: Is Putin serious about nuclear war, or bluffing?
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-14 | by ( Jason Corcoran | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +14 min

On Oct. 26, President Vladimir Putin appeared on Russian state television overseeing a practice run of Russia's strategic nuclear deterrence forces. The conflict has revived Cold War-era fears of nuclear war across the region. In August, a Ukrainian official said that 9,000 Ukrainian military personnel had been killed, though another source said the number could be far higher. (President Zelensky previously estimated that 30% of Ukraine's power stations have been damaged or destroyed, although the figure is now likely to be greater.) In a wide-ranging answer, Putin had offered, almost as an aside, that Russian victims of nuclear war "will go to heaven as martyrs" while Western citizens would perish without having "time to repent."

Putin cautioned it was no bluff, and Western politicians, diplomats and nuclear weapons experts are divided. Some say he could use one or more smaller, tactical nuclear weapons to try to stave off military defeat, protect his presidency, scare off the West or intimidate Kyiv into capitulation. And those who try to blackmail us with nuclear weapons should know that the weathervane can turn and point towards them," he said. Such blunt Kremlin rhetoric is very different to the much more nuanced nuclear signals preferred by late Soviet leaders after Nikita Khrushchev took the world to the brink of nuclear war in the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis. Burns, though, said U.S. intelligence had no practical evidence that Putin was moving towards using tactical nuclear weapons imminently.

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