Washington. The leaders of the world's major developed economies condemned Russia for destabilizing Ukraine on Wednesday and warned it faces still tougher sanctions if it does not change course, AFP reported.
"Russia still has the opportunity to choose the path of de-escalation, which would lead to the removal of these sanctions," the G7 powers said, in a joint statement released by the White House.
"If it does not do so, however, we remain ready to further intensify the costs of its adverse actions."
The G7 - Britain, France, Canada, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United States - issued the statement one day after Washington and the European Union announced increased sanctions on Moscow.
EU sanctions against Russia must be stepped up, the
Ukrainian border closed to halt arms flows from Russia, and the bodies
of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 crash victims returned, MEPs insisted
in today’s debate with Ukraine’s foreign minister Pavlo Klimkin. Mr
Klimkin called on the EU to show its solidarity now, as Ukraine is
“being punished for its EU aspirations”. The debate opened with a
minute’s silence for victims of the 17 July crash.
Téhéran est prêt à compenser la baisse de la production pétrolière en
Irak due à l'aggravation de la situation dans ce pays, rapporte samedi
l'agence IRNA, citant le ministre iranien du pétrole Bijan
Namdar-Zangheneh.
D'après le ministre, suite aux opérations
armées lancées par le groupe djihadiste Etat islamique en Irak et au
Levant (EIIL), les prix du pétrole ont augmenté de 5%. Selon des
informations publiées la semaine dernière, les islamistes ont attaqué
une grande raffinerie de pétrole dans la ville de Baïdji (nord de
l'Irak). Ils ont pénétré sur le territoire de l'entreprise et détruit
plusieurs réservoirs de pétrole.
BRUSSELS - President Barack Obama said on Thursday Russian President Vladimir Putin must recognize and work with Ukraine's new government and stop "provocations" along its border, or face tougher sanctions from members of the G7 group of nations.
Russia seeks to resolve the South Kurile Islands issue, Russia’s President Vladimir Putin has said.
Answering a Japanese journalist’s question on the South Kurile problem, Putin said, “Both Russia and Japan sincerely wish the problem be solved.”
At the same time, he said this problem should not encroach upon the interests of each other.
An acceptable compromise should be reached so that no party felt lost, Putin said.
Russia will be obliged to take retaliatory measures if the West continues its sanctions policy, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Wednesday.
“If the West continues these absolutely non-professional hysterical policies, we would have to think what we can do in return,” Lavrov said during an English-language interview with Bloomberg.
The minister, however, emphasized that Russia was not looking for confrontations and would not like to parrot Western countries’ behavior.
“We are not looking for confrontation and we don’t want to mimic the hectic gestures made by Washington, Brussels, some other capitals, reluctantly most of them, by the way,” Lavrov stressed.
As two of the most tense regions in eastern Ukraine prepare to vote
on declaring sovereignty, the country's acting president has warned them
against self-destruction.
Ukrainian acting president Oleksandr Turchynov, in comments posted on
the presidential website on Saturday, said the pro-Russian supporters
of independence for the Donetsk and Luhansk regions "don't understand
that this would be a complete destruction of the economy, social
programs and general life for the majority of the population".
"This is a step into the abyss for the regions," Turchynov said.
US-Vizefinanzminister David Cohen, Unter-Staatssekretär für Terrorismus und Finanzaufklärung, reist in dieser Woche nach Deutschland, Frankreich und Großbritannien. Ziel der Besuche sei die Erörterung weiterer Sanktionen gegen Russland, teilte das US-Finanzministerium am Montag in Washington mit.
„Wir werden mehrere uns zur Verfügung stehende Instrumente detailliert planen. Es geht unter anderem um erweiterte Maßnahmen gegen Unternehmen in verschiedenen Branchen der russischen Wirtschaft, die ergriffen werden, sollte Russland sein gesetzwidriges und destabilisierendes Verhalten fortsetzen“, hieß es in der Mitteilung.
Moscow believes that the maintenance of embargo against Cuba is totally unacceptable, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said after a meeting with his Cuban counterpart, Bruno Rodriguez.
“We think the maintenance of the embargo against Cuba contrary to the will of a vast majority of UN member-states is absolutely unacceptable,” he said.
Sanctions against Cuba were introduced in 1960 in response to the expropriation of Americans’ properties. They were expanded later on up to a virtually full commercial and economic blockade of the island.
BRUSSELS. -NATO has decided to limit access to its Brussels headquarters to Russian diplomats from Tuesday.
“The
formerly extensive access to NATO headquarters will be denied to all
representatives of the Russian Mission, except the Russian Ambassador,
his Deputy Head of Mission, and two support staff”, according to a NATO
official statement on Monday.
The Alliance said that other staff
from the Russian mission requiring access for official business would
have to be announced, registered and escorted during their visit.
E. VENIZELOS: Thank you. I am here just to welcome publicly Cathy Ashton
and my counterparts from the other European countries, hosting the
Gymnich Council, this Informal Meeting of Ministers for Foreign Affairs.
It is a great pleasure and a great opportunity for every European
Presidency, because of the high level of debates, and I think that will
be quite clear from what Cathy Ashton has to say by way of introduction
and from our discussion with you.
C. ASHTON: Can I begin by
thanking you very much, Deputy Prime Minister and your team, for the
excellent organization of this Meeting and this wonderful venue.
Visa bans, freezing assets, boycotts: There is no lack of suggestions of
how to tone down Russian aggression. But what good would sanctions do?
Politicians are growing increasingly skeptical. DW takes a look.
The European Union has said it is halting visa talks with Russia
following an emergency summit of the bloc's leaders where they discussed
ways to punish Russia for its recent exploits on the Crimean Peninsula.
If Russia continues to reject negotiations, further measures are to be
taken, which could entail economic sanctions.
MOSCOW, March 7 (RIA Novosti) – Russian Foreign Minister Sergei
Lavrov warned Washington on Friday against "hasty and reckless” steps
over the crisis in Ukraine that could harm Russia-US relations.
In a telephone call initiated by the American side, Lavrov told US
Secretary of State John Kerry that any sanctions against Russia “would
inevitably hit the United States like a boomerang.”
US President Barack Obama on Thursday announced the first set of
sanctions against Moscow to punish Russia for perceived violation of
Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity.
President Barack Obama says new sanctions will "impose a cost" on Russia for its military move into Crimea and that a planned referendum on whether the peninsula should join Russia violates international law and Ukraine's constitution.
Mr. Obama told reporters at the White House an executive order he signed Thursday authorizes sanctions, including visa restrictions, on those who violate Ukraine's territorial integrity or steal the assets of the Ukrainian people.
He said that the steps were taken in "close coordination" with America's European allies, adding that he was "pleased that our international unity is on display at this critical moment."
PARIS. -French President Francois Hollande and
German Chancellor Angela Merkel demanded European Union's sanctions
against Ukraine, following recent acts of violence in Kiev.
25
people, including nine police officers and one journalist, are reported
dead in clashes between security forces and opposition groups in last
two days in Kiev.
Hollande and Merkel held a joint press
conference in Elysee Palace in Paris on Wednesday after the 16th
France-Germany joint ministerial council.
Iran is to curb its nuclear activities, initially for six months, in return for limited relief from sanctions.
US President Barack Obama welcomed the deal, saying it
included "substantial limitations which will help prevent Iran from
building a nuclear weapon".
But Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif has insisted Iran retains its right to enrich uranium.
La position du guide suprême iranien, l'ayatollah Ali Khamenei, sur la
France et Israël complique la négociation sur le programme nucléaire de
l'Iran, rapportent mercredi les médias français, se référant à la
porte-parole du gouvernement français, Najat Vallaud-Belkacem.
"Les
propos de Khamenei sont inacceptables et compliquent la négociation", a
déclaré lors de son point de presse hebdomadaire Mme Vallaud-Belkacem,
ajoutant que la position de Paris dans cette négociation était "ferme
mais pas fermée".
L'ayatollah a désigné la France comme le
responsable numéro un de l'échec des pourparlers de Genève sur le
nucléaire iranien entre Téhéran et les Six (Etats-Unis, Chine, Russie,
Grande-Bretagne, France et Allemagne), le 10 novembre dernier.
JERUSALEM, Nov. 8 (Xinhua) -- Israel will not be bound to any agreements reached between Iran and the six world powers, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry prior to his departure from Israel on Friday.
Netanyahu met with Kerry at the airport on Friday morning, just before Kerry was to continue on to Geneva to join the talks between Iran and the Western countries.
The meeting was described as "tense" with Netanyahu saying before it that Israel vehemently opposes the apparent deal that seems to come into play on the Iranian nuclear plan.
Iran has slapped a ban on oil and gas exports to the European Union,
even though the EU has already forbidden Iranian petrochemicals from
entering its territory.
“Despite many requests by EU countries on buying oil and gas from Iran, Iran will not sell any oil and gas to those countries,” Oil Ministry Spokseman Alireza Nikzad Rahbar told the official Mehr news agency.
It is not clear what “requests”
Nikzad Rahbar was referring to, as the EU stopped importing crude oil
in July last year, and gas under the latest round of sanctions that came
into force earlier this month.
It comes as fresh restrictions are
being implemented by the EU, preventing Iranian banks from dealing
with Europe, unless for humanitarian purposes. The embargoes are aimed
at hindering Tehrans nuclear program, which Brussels believes is aimed
at developing a nuclear weapon.
PYONGYANG, Jan. 25 (Xinhua) -- The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) vowed Friday to take "strong physical countermeasures" if South Korea is directly involved in the UN sanctions, which would be seen as "a declaration of war" against Pyongyang.
"We declare complete nullification of the Joint Declaration on
Denuclearization on the Korean Peninsula adopted in 1992 and its total
invalidity," the Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of Korea said
in a statement.
As long as the South Korea persistently pursues a hostile policy, the DPRK will never negotiate with anyone, it said.
