Dmitry Rogozin reacts to being barred by saying that he will return in a military aircraft next time Romania has asked Moscow for an explanation after Russia's deputy prime minister, Dmitry Rogozin, reacting to being barred from its airspace, tweeted he would return in a TU-160 strategic bomber. Rogozin, one of the senior Russian officials sanctioned by the European Union and United States after Moscow...
Amid volatility, governments in south-east Europe are starting to use technology to involve people in policymaking One of the biggest problems with government communications as a profession in general and especially in the so-called young democracies of south-east Europe is that more often than not it's not really about communication. Getting one's message across is still widely seen as the holy grail...
The Dniester river between Moldova and Transnistria seems destined to be the new Berlin Wall, and the west needs to know what the stakes are Alexandru Ursu did his bit to bridge the political divide across the river Dniester. A Romanian-speaking cop from Moldova, he bought an apartment across the border in the breakaway Russian enclave of Transnistria . To understand why that turned...
Foreign ministers consider holding joint exercises with Azerbaijan, Armenia and Moldova after annexation of Crimea Nato has drawn up plans to strengthen military co-operation with the former Soviet states on Russia's southern flank after the Kremlin's seizure of Ukraine's Black Sea peninsula of Crimea. Nato foreign ministers were meeting in Brussels on Tuesday to discuss the alliance's response to...
Deputy national security adviser says Russian troop buildup on border is 'deeply concerning' Jon Swaine ...
Philip Breedlove says large force on eastern border of Ukraine could easily move into Trans-Dniester if the decision was made Nato's most senior military commander said on Sunday that Russia had amassed a large military force on Ukraine's eastern border, and warned that Moldova's separatist Trans-Dniester region could be the Kremlin's next target. General Philip Breedlove, Nato's supreme allied commander,...
Moldova's breakaway region of Trans-Dniester is supported by Russia, whose supply lines to the area run through Ukraine It's a state that lived under Moscow's aegis for decades with a leadership that favours closer EU ties and a chunk of pro-Russian territory in the east that wants to secede. But it's not Ukraine. Moldova's perilous geopolitical situation has become more urgent in the wake of the...
s Day, UNDP leader and former prime minister of New Zealand Helen Clark picks seven women who are leading positive change all over the world Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, chairperson, African Union In 2012, Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma was the first woman to be elected African Union (AU) chairperson since its inception in 1963. In this role, she is driving the AU's decade of the African Woman (2010 to 2020). She...
s takeover of the Crimean peninsula Russia's takeover of the Crimean peninsula has drawn condemnation from the west, but reaction has been more varied in the 14 former Soviet republics in Russia's "near abroad". Many have played a balancing act between Russia and the west, and almost all have significant Russian-speaking populations – like the one that served as a justification for Moscow's intervention...
s post-facto request on Saturday to the upper house of the Russian parliament to approve the use of military forces in Ukraine should not really have come as much of a surprise. There were few who had any doubts that the uniformed men who seized airports on the Crimean peninsula on Friday were Russian forces. The big question, however, is: what does Putin actually want? Attempting to explain the idea...
s a rather flippant introduction to a weighty subject. Vladimir Putin's dream of a Eurasian Union, a vast trade and political bloc stretching from China to the edge of the EU, began taking shape in 2010 with the ECU, a free-trade customs union binding Russia, Kazakhstan and Belarus. A carelessly worded ECU regulation on the absorbency of non-natural materials has sparked colourful protests from wearers...
s] old-fashioned detective work in a digital age," Adam Palmer, a senior expert in cybercrime and emerging crimes at UNODC, told IPS. Though official figures on human trafficking are notoriously hard to come by due to the crime's secretive nature, the International Labour Organisation estimates that 21 million people worldwide are forced into labour, including 4.5 million victims of forced sexual exploitation....
s politicians consider the geopolitical and economic benefits of closer ties with the European project or Moscow In a flea market in Moldova's capital you can buy busts of Lenin, furry Russian army hats and gold icons. Next door the Russian language theatre is staging several productions of Chekhov. Billboards in Cyrillic proclaim the sponsor: the local Russian embassy. Just round the corner, however,...
Flight records suggest Vitalie Proca returned from London to Moldova via northern Italy, flying three days after his alleged attempt on the life of a Russian businessman. The Moldovan is also accused of carrying out another failed hit – this time in Romania's capital, Bucharest ...
s life and being a hired killer for mafia network active across east Europe On 1 March 2012 Vitalie Proca slipped out of his native Moldova. It was night. He crossed the border into Romania and went across the Prut river by coach. From there he travelled to Italy. Moldovan police believe Proca used a fake passport to reach his ultimate destination – an address in east London. Proca's alleged mission...
s media focused on Morari , who had already come to public attention. In December 2007, she had been expelled from Russia where she had lived for five years, after she wrote about corruption there. "I should send a postcard to the FSB the Russian security services to thank them," she laughed. The 2009 protests brought elections and the formation of an Alliance for European Integration, which encompassed...
s two decades since the USSR broke up. But what happened to those Soviet countries? Here's the key data They were three days that shook the world - and shook the Soviet Union so hard that it fell apart. But for better or worse? Twenty years on from the Soviet coup that ultimately ended Mikhail Gorbachev's political career and gave birth to 15 new states, The Guardian was keen to explore just how well...
s Eurovision entry, despite finishing 12th, had Twitter abuzz Did you see it? The Moldovan entry for last weekend's 2011 Eurovision Song Contest? So Lucky , by the veteran Gypsy punk band Zdob si Zdub, sounded a bit like the Knack's My Sharona as rendered by Madness, if Camden's nutty boys had been reared on some strange east European version of ska. The band were as much of a visual as an aural treat....
ideological decision' that 'will reduce funding by 60% per victim' A charity that pioneered specialist services for victims of sexual trafficking, providing refuge and therapeutic support for hundreds of abused and exploited women, faces an uncertain future after ministers withdrew its funding. Eaves Housing has accused ministers of taking an "ideological decision" after they awarded a £6m contract...
groundbreaking' settlement A woman who was a repeated victim of sex trafficking and suffered severe sexual degradation is to be paid substantial damages by the Home Office after it returned her to Moldova, where she faced grave dangers. The "groundbreaking" settlement was reached on the eve of a high court hearing of her claim against the Home Office for failing to take steps to protect her and for...