Estonia To Build Fence Along Russian Border
Estonia says it plans to build a fence along part of its eastern border with Russia to safeguard its security and protect the EU's passport-free Schengen Area.
Interior Ministry spokesman Toomas Viks told the French AFP news agency on August 27 that construction would begin in 2018 and be completed by 2019.
He said the information gathered by around-the-clock surveillance could "be used as evidence in cases of cross-border crime, be it illegal border crossing, smuggling, [or] human trafficking."
According to Estonia's border guards, the 2.5-meter-high barbed-wire fence will span nearly 110 kilometers.
The announcement comes amid regional tensions over the conflict in Ukraine.
The Baltic states, including Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania, have been rattled by Russia's actions in eastern Ukraine, where Moscow-backed separatists have been fighting government forces since April 2014.
Based on reporting by AFP
Some 30,000 to 50,000 “volunteers” took part in the fighting in Donbas, claimed former so-called DPR Prime Minister Aleksandr Borodai.
To unite them, Borodai will create a Union of Donbas Volunteers in Russia. Borodai says the organization won’t have a political agenda and will rely on private funding. However, Borodai said that the members of the future union will be ready for mobilization, if needed.
“We don’t intend to fight the 'fifth column' or search for it. We hope that the internal situation in Russia won’t bring about serious consequences … Although, if it is necessary, we won’t go anywhere. We are Russian patriots and we will defend Russia,” said Borodai.
His statement was met with sarcasm by some Twitter users.
“That’s what a civil war looks like,” reads this tweet.
Russian finance minister says will demand full debt repayment from Ukraine - state TV
MOSCOW, Aug 27 (Reuters) - Russia will demand full repayment from Ukraine of a $3 billion Eurobond that comes due in December, Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov told the state-run Rossiya 1 television channel.
"We have always insisted and will continue to demand from Ukraine a full implementation of the (Eurobond) terms," Siluanov said.
"We insist on a full repayment in December of this year of $3 billion, including interest payments."
He added that Ukraine's debt to Russia is not a commercial debt.
"The question of managing debt of official creditors, of countries such as Russia, should be considered completely separately (from commercial debt)," Siluanov said.
NATO, Georgia open joint military training centre near Tbilisi
Moscow (dpa) -- NATO and Georgia on Thursday opened a joint military training centre outside the Georgian capital Tbilisi, in an effort to improve the country's forces as it aspires to NATO membership.
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg hailed the country as a "strong and reliable contributor to our shared security" at the inauguration ceremony alongside Georgia's top leadership, according to a NATO statement.
Georgian troops will train alongside NATO allies at the facility at the Krtsanisi military base in the southern Caucasus mountains, the statement said.
Georgia, which joined NATO's Partnership for Peace in 1994, considerably ramped up efforts to join the bloc after losing a five-day war with Russia over two breakaway territories in 2008.
NATO has conducted several large military exercises in Georgia, Ukraine and Moldova this year, all former members of the Soviet Union.
But NATO is wary about giving Georgia full membership because the bloc would then be obligated to defend Georgia in case of renewed hostilities with Russia.
The new training facility in Georgia "will help make Georgia and Georgian forces even more capable and more modern, and it will also strengthen cooperation between NATO and partner nations," Stoltenberg said.
"So there is more Georgia in NATO and more NATO in Georgia," he added.
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko and European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker confirm that the Free trade zone between the European Union and Ukraine will begin functioning on January 1, 2016.
Russia does not comply with the Minsk agreements, said European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker.
“Both sides must fully fulfill the Minsk agreements … This applies mainly to Russia, because it doesn’t seem that the Russian side fulfills its commitments to stability in Ukraine,” he said.
Here's an MH17 update from our news desk:
The Dutch Safety Board has announced that the final report into the downing of Malaysian Airlines flight MH17 over eastern Ukraine last year will be published on October 13.
All 298 people on board the plane, travelling from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur, were killed in the crash last year.
Two thirds of the victims were Dutch, and the country is leading the judicial and air safety investigations into the crash.
In a preliminary report last year, the Dutch Safety Board blamed the crash on "high energy objects" striking the aircraft.
Western governments have said they believe it was downed by a ground-to-air missile fired in error by Moscow-backed separatists.
Russia contests that claim, and has variously attributed the crash to an unidentified Ukrainian fighter aircraft and a Ukrainian-launched anti-aircraft missile.
Last month, Russia vetoed a UN Security Council resolution to establish an international tribunal to find and try those responsible for the Boeing 777's downing.
(Reuters, AFP)