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But certainly, we have all sorts of new questions that Putin is going to have to address in the weeks and months ahead," Blinken told NBC's "Meet the Press" program. Blinken described the turmoil as an "internal matter" for Putin. "It may be that Putin didn't want to debase himself to the level of negotiating directly with Prigozhin," Blinken said. "To the extent that the Russians are distracted and divided it may make their prosecution of aggression against Ukraine more difficult," Blinken told ABC. Senator Ben Cardin said the weekend turmoil in Russia does not ease Washington's need to continue aiding Ukraine as it launches its long-awaited counteroffensive against Russia.

Persons: Vladimir Putin, Wagner, Antony Blinken, Blinken, Putin, Yevgeny Prigozhin, NBC's, Prigozhin, Alexander Lukashenko, debase, Mikhail Klimentyev, Mike Turner, Turner, Philip Breedlove, Breedlove, Ben Cardin, Cardin, Don Bacon, he's, Bacon, David Morgan, Hannah Lang, Tyler Clifford, Scott Malone, Chizu Nomiyama, Mark Porter, Chris Reese Organizations: U.S . Congress, Russian, Press, REUTERS Forces, ABC, of, CBS, U.S . Air Force, . European Command, U.S, Democrat, Senate Foreign Relations, Fox News, Republican, House Armed Services Committee, NBC, Thomson Locations: U.S, Russia, Poland, Baltic, Ukraine, Russian, Kremlin, Russia's, Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania

Blinken said tensions that sparked the action had been growing for months and added that the threat of internal turmoil could affect Moscow's military capabilities in Ukraine. Blinken described the turmoil as an "internal matter" for Putin. "It may be that Putin didn't want to debase himself to the level of negotiating directly with Prigozhin," Blinken said. "To the extent that the Russians are distracted and divided it may make their prosecution of aggression against Ukraine more difficult," Blinken told ABC. Senator Ben Cardin said the weekend turmoil in Russia does not ease Washington's need to continue aiding Ukraine as it launches its long-awaited counteroffensive against Russia.

Persons: Vladimir Putin, Wagner, Antony Blinken, Blinken, Putin, Yevgeny Prigozhin, NBC's, Prigozhin, Alexander Lukashenko, debase, Mike Turner, Turner, Ben Cardin, Cardin, Don Bacon, he's, Bacon, David Morgan, Hannah Lang, Tyler Clifford, Scott Malone, Chizu Nomiyama, Mark Porter Organizations: U.S . Congress, Russian, Press, Forces, ABC, of, CBS, Democrat, Senate Foreign Relations, Fox News, Republican, U.S . Air Force, House Armed Services Committee, NBC, Thomson Locations: U.S, Russia, Poland, Baltic, Ukraine, Russian, Russia's, Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania

☆ Check out this $110 million tech campus being built in Lithuania — the largest in Europe
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-23 | by ( Ryan Browne | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +5 min

The development, from Lithuanian infrastructure firm Tech Zity, is inspired by British renovation projects like the Battersea Power Station and Tate Modern art gallery. Tech ZityLithuania is building a huge tech campus — Europe's largest — in the capital of Vilnius, as it looks to become the new tech capital of the Baltics. Lithuania's growing tech sceneLithuania's tech ecosystem has grown dramatically over the past decade, Darius Zakaitis, Tech Zity's founder, told CNBC. Tech Zity manages three tech campuses in Vilnius, including Tech Park, Tech Loft, and Tech Spa, which are home to companies like Google, Bored Panda and Kilo Health. Currently occupying 20,000 square meters, Tech Zity plans to reach 80,000 square meters over time, considering new campuses, existing locations, and other projects.

Persons: Darius Zakaitis, Zakaitis, Tech Zity, Daniel Ek, Tom, Kevin, Vineted Organizations: Tech, Battersea Power, Tate, Tech Zity, New, Vilnius, Tech Zity's, CNBC, Nord, Google, Kilo Health, Tech Zity U.S, Netflix, Spotify, Nord Security, Summit, Accel Locations: Lithuanian, Battersea, Tech Zity Lithuania, Vilnius, Baltics, Lithuania, Paris, Europe, Baltic, Nord, France, Germany, Lisbon, Portugal, EQT, Russia

☆ Ukraine meets 2 of 7 conditions to launch EU membership talks -sources
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-19 | by ( Gabriela Baczynska | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

But the EU set seven conditions - including on judicial reform and curbing endemic corruption - to launch accession negotiations. Two senior EU officials who were briefed on the report, which has not been made public, said Ukraine has met two of the criteria by now. The 27 member countries have the final say on whether and when to open membership talks with Kyiv. To qualify, Ukraine would have to align its laws with many extensive EU standards ranging from climate to labour. In practice, Ukraine's road to membership is bound to take years, and few believe the country can join while at war with Russia.

Persons: Gabriela Baczynska, Mark Heinrich Our Organizations: EU, Ukraine, Kyiv's, Kyiv, Constitutional, Corruption, Thomson Locations: BRUSSELS, Ukraine, Russia, Kyiv's Soviet, Brussels, Stockholm, Poland, Baltic, France, Germany, Netherlands

The United States should take note. After praising Poland as one of the United States’ “great allies,” Mr. Biden stressed the importance of defending freedom and democracy. The party’s newly burnished international image as steadfast friend to Ukraine only helps to entrench such support. The United States, for one, exerts considerable influence in Poland. What’s more, Washington could make financial assistance — last year, the United States invested $288.6 million in Poland’s military — conditional on compliance with democratic standards and the rule of law.

Persons: genuflection, Donald Tusk, Biden, United States ’ “, ” Mr, What’s, — Organizations: Nazi, Soviet, Poland, United, Law, Justice, hasn’t Locations: —, Ukraine, Poland, Finland, Baltic States, Romania, United States, Warsaw, India, Turkey, Rwanda, Russia, China, Washington

☆ Ukrainian firms venture abroad for growth as war hits home
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-19 | by ( Olena Harmash | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +6 min

The ongoing conflict has prompted several Ukrainian firms to focus abroad to reduce their reliance on a shrinking home market and to tap into the millions of people who have left. Ukraine, which had a pre-war population of about 40 million, has seen its domestic economy turned upside down, with corporate investments and growth now rare. "Our choice was to go to Poland, mainly because Poland hosts now the highest number of Ukrainians who fled from the war." In September, 8.5% of all companies opened in Poland had Ukrainian capital, compared with 0.8% in January 2022. "The main goal is to grow abroad much faster than we planned for ourselves in the pre-war period," Vovk said.

☆ NATO reaches back to Cold War past with first major defense plans
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-18 | by ( Sabine Siebold | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

[1/6] The Chair of the NATO Military Committee, Admiral Rob Bauer listens during an interview in Tallinn, Estonia September 16, 2022. By outlining what it calls its regional plans, NATO will also give nations guidance on how to upgrade their forces and logistics. Finland's accession last month has alone doubled NATO's border with Russia to some 2,500 km, forcing a more flexible approach to deployments than in the past, when Germany was seen as the main battlezone. "We don't envision the type of war that the Cold War was, where allied forces ... would be hit simultaneous with large-scale Warsaw Pact attacks," he said, pointing rather to regionalised conflicts that needed to be contained by quick force deployments. NATO agreed in 2022 to put 300,000 troops on high alert, up from 40,000 in the past.

☆ NATO reaches back to Cold War past with first major defence plans in decades
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-18 | by ( Sabine Siebold | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

☆ Russia scrambles jet as France, Germany conduct NATO patrols
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-15 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

May 15 (Reuters) - Russia's defence ministry scrambled a fighter jet on Monday after it said it detected French and German patrol aircraft flying towards Russian airspace, the ministry said in a statement. France and Germany said its planes - a French Atlantic 2 maritime patrol aircraft and a German P-3C Orion - were conducting regular flights as part of a NATO exercise and behaved in accordance with international law. Russia said its Su-27 jet returned to base after the French and German ones turned away from Russia, the defence ministry said, adding that it had scrambled the jet to "prevent the Russian state border being violated." "There was never any intention to enter Russian airspace, these aircraft always keep a safe distance. "As part of a NATO exercise, a Russian Su-27 fighter jet interacted with an Atlantic 2 maritime patrol aircraft off the Baltic States today.

☆ Little Lithuania Stands Tall Against Russia and China
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-06 | by ( Tunku Varadarajan | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +1 min

Wonder Land: China, Russia and Iran are turning the Ukraine conflict into a test that the autocratic alliance believes the West is going to fail. Images: AP/Getty Images/Zuma Press Composite: Mark KellyLithuania is a Baltic country of just under 2.8 million people, a million fewer than live in the city of Los Angeles. It won its independence from the Soviet Union in 1991 and existed for the next three decades on the margins of international attention, patronized in the European Union (which it joined in 2004) by heavyweights like France and Germany. The war in Ukraine changed all that, redrawing the moral and diplomatic map of Europe in significant ways. In doing so, they’ve earned the wrath of Russia, which they regard as proof of a moral duty well done.

☆ Denmark to make $250 mln donation to Ukraine for military use
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-02 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

COPENHAGEN, May 2 (Reuters) - Denmark will donate military equipment and financial support to Ukraine worth 1.7 billion Danish crowns ($250 million), the Nordic country's Defence Minister Troels Lund Poulsen said on Tuesday. The minister also said Denmark will reduce its military presence in Iraq starting in early-2024 and instead focus on the Baltic countries, offering NATO a battalion to defend the region. The rest of the year, the troops will remain in Denmark, ready to be deployed to the Baltic states in case of a crisis, the ministry of defence said. "We must be prepared for the Danish presence in the Baltics to be long-term, and there is a need for balancing between having soldiers on the ground and being ready to deploy them from Denmark," Poulsen said. ($1 = 6.8051 Danish crowns)Reporting by Louise Breusch Rasmussen, editing by Terje SolsvikOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Zelensky, who has long expressed interest in speaking with Xi, said he had “a long and meaningful phone call” with the Chinese leader. Wednesday’s phone call is the first time Xi has spoken to Zelensky since Russia invaded Ukraine in February last year. China’s positioning as a mediator was also viewed critically as Xi visited Moscow but had still yet to speak with Zelensky. “Xi Jinping doesn’t want to put political capital behind an effort that then blows up in his face. In this case, this could mean Putin indicated to Xi that he was willing to talk to Kyiv, Menon added.

☆ Tennis Polish airline says it refused boarding to Russian tennis player
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-25 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Tennis player Vitalia Diatchenko said on Monday she was refused boarding to a LOT flight in Cairo, with German airline Lufthansa then also refusing to sell her a ticket. The European Union has banned all flights from Russia and has agreed to limit issuing free-travel Schengen zone visas. In September, Finland joined the Baltic states and Poland in closing its borders to Russian tourists. Unlike many other sports, tennis did not introduce a blanket ban on players from Russia and its ally Belarus after the invasion of Ukraine. Russian and Belarusian players have been competing on the tours and at the other Grand Slams as neutral athletes.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning said China respects the sovereign status of the former Soviet republics. Photo: Andy Wong/Associated PressChina said that it respected the sovereignty of former Soviet republics, seeking to contain a diplomatic uproar after Beijing’s ambassador to France appeared to question their status under international law. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning said there had been no change in Beijing’s position after three Baltic states—Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia—said they would summon Chinese officials over the ambassador’s remarks, which suggested that the former Soviet republics weren’t legitimate.

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.

☆ China walks back ambassador's claim that ex-Soviet states aren't real countries, a position that played strongly into Putin's hands
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-24 | by ( Sinéad Baker | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

China's foreign ministry walked back ambassador's comments dismissing ex-Soviet states' sovereignty. Other former Soviet Union countries include Ukraine and Moldova, as well as Central Asian countries that Russia has retained closer ties to. And Lu's comments seemed to suggest that China's foreign policy was inching closer to that of Russia. The Baltic countries have already questioned China's efforts to play peacemaker in Ukraine, and Lu's comments appear to have made them even more concerned. Estonia's foreign minister said Lu's comments were "false and a misinterpretation of history," and Latvia's foreign minister called them "completely unacceptable."

☆ Chinese ambassador sparks European blowback over post-Soviet states comment
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-24 | by ( Simone Mccarthy | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

Several leaders in former Soviet states, including Ukraine, were quick to hit back following the interview, which aired Friday on French station LCI. Beijing has formal diplomatic relations with post-Soviet states, which include Russia. Ties have soured as Europe has uneasily watched China’s tightening relationship with Russia and its refusal to condemn Putin’s invasion. Voices in former Soviet states, where many remember being under Communist authoritarian rule, have been among those in Europe critical of such an approach. For Russia, giving up control of Crimea is widely seen as a non-starter in any potential peace settlement on Ukraine.

☆ Morning Bid: Tech tally in focus, China alarms Europe
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-24 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

Otherwise, a packed earnings season dominates this week's investment radar as more than a third of S&P500 companies report. Including Intel (INTC.O), those five tech stocks have accounted for two-thirds of the S&P500's gains this year - with the Artificial Intelligence craze sparked by the emergence of ChatGPT adding a new non-cyclical attraction to the sector. But before markets get a taste of Q1 tech profits, the reverberations from last month's banking blow-up are still being absorbed. European stocks were slightly negative and U.S. stock futures also marginally in the red ahead of Wall Street's open. The dollar was mixed - up against Asian currencies but off against European currencies amid hawkish European Central Bank soundings on interest rates.

☆ Front-line NATO allies worry they could be next after Russia's invasion of Ukraine and are getting ready for a fight
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-23 | by ( Sinéad Baker | Jake Epstein | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +13 min

These countries along the military alliance's front line are now scrambling to make sure they're protected should the Russian military ever come knocking. "There is an imminent need of a stronger NATO presence in our region," Estonia's Foreign Minister Urmas Reinsalu said. For nearly 14 months, the Russian military has been bogged down by its grinding war in Ukraine. More boots on the groundSome leaders in the Baltic countries have said that they ultimately want to host more NATO troops, including permanent brigades, in the years to come. So as the threat landscape continues to shift, the Baltic defense has adapted along with it, Townsend said.

☆ 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.

☆ Germany, Poland and others are pushing for new sanctions on Russia's nuclear energy
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-19 | by ( Silvia Amaro | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Germany, Poland and a few other EU nations are pushing for sanctions on Russian nuclear energy, as the bloc looks at new ways to hurt the Kremlin's revenues amid Moscow's invasion of Ukraine. The 27 European nations have sanctioned Russian seaborne oil, coal and significantly cut purchases of natural gas from Moscow in the wake of its war with Ukraine. "The nuclear sector is still outstanding. Nuclear technology is an extremely sensitive area, and Russia can no longer be seen as reliable partner within it," he said. "Between March and December 2022, Russia exported just over $1 billion-worth of materials and technology of relevance to the nuclear energy sector," the Royal United Services Institute, a think tank, said in a report in February.

☆ Finland starts fence on Russian border amid migration, security concerns
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-14 | by ( Anne Kauranen | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Project manager Ismo Kurki said on Friday that, while it is not intended to stop any invasion attempt, the fence will have surveillance equipment. Meanwhile, there has so far been little human activity along the border, which stretches to 1,300 km in all. Last year, Finland detected only 30 illegal crossings there, while Russian border guards stopped some 800 attempts to enter Finland, the Finnish Border Guard said. "But in this totally changed (security) situation, Finland must have more credible and more independent border control. And Finland needs to be less dependent on the Russian border control," he added.

☆ The Russian economy is much worse than it appears as Moscow's data is a 'collection of lies and distortions,' economist says
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-10 | by ( Filip De Mott | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Russia's economic data is full of 'lies and distortions,' economist Alexei Bayer wrote. "Russian economic statistics are a collection of lies and distortions," he wrote in the Jerusalem Post. But those estimates are based on official data from the Russian government, said Bayer, who pointed to consumer inflation numbers. "During the Cold War, the CIA concluded, using Soviet statistics, that the Soviet Union had the world's second-largest economy," he wrote. "When communism collapsed, Russia's economy turned out to be not much larger than Portugal's."

☆ Armsmaker Rheinmetall sets up maintenance hub in Romania for Ukraine weapons
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-02 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

April 2 (Reuters) - German armsmaker Rheinmetall (RHMG.DE) is building a military maintenance and logistics hub in Satu Mare, Romania, expected to begin operation this month to service weapons used for the war in Ukraine, the company said on Sunday. "The service hub should play a central role in maintaining the operational readiness of western combat systems in use in Ukraine and ensuring the availability of logistical support," a spokesperson for the company said. The hub, located near the border with Ukraine, will service self-propelled howitzers, Leopard 2 and Challenger tanks, Marder infantry fighting vehicles, Fuchs armoured transport vehicles and military trucks. "It is a key concern for us at Rheinmetall to provide the NATO forces and Ukraine with the best possible support," Chief Executive Armin Papperger said in a statement. Rheinmetall founded a similar center in Lithuania in June 2022 to provide support to NATO vehicles in the Baltic states.

☆ US F-35 fighter jets sent to NATO's front line as Russia invaded Ukraine were out looking for missiles able to threaten planes
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-31 | by ( Jake Epstein | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

As Russia invaded Ukraine, the US Air Force sent F-35 fighter jets to NATO's front line — the alliance's eastern edge. "The jet is always sensing, gathering information," a wing commander told Air Force Times. "We are facing a dynamic environment, and the deployment of F-35s to NATO's eastern flank enhances our defensive posture and amplifies the Alliance's interoperability," the commander of US Air Forces in Europe – Air Forces Africa said at the time. We're not shooting anything or dropping anything," 388th Fighter Wing Commander Col. Craig Andrle told Air Force Times in a recent interview. Andrle told Air Force Times that one example of this involved Russia's S-300, which are long-range surface-to-air missiles systems.

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