Here is a short item from our news desk on General Breedlove's statement in Washington on the state of the U.S. European Command:
NATO's top military commander says Russia could destabilize other neighboring countries if Western nations do not punish Moscow sufficiently for its actions in the Ukraine crisis.
U.S. General Philip Breedlove told a February 25 hearing of the U.S. House Armed Services Committee that "Russia is learning lessons from our responses to their actions. If they feel rewarded by the outcomes, this might embolden them to try them again elsewhere."
He said a "revanchist" Russia is "blatantly challenging the rules and principles that have been the bedrock of European security for decades."
Breedlove accused Russian forces of fighting "hard to change the facts on the ground" in eastern Ukraine ahead of a February 12 cease-fire agreement between pro-Moscow separatists and Ukrainian forces.
Russia has denied accusations from Ukraine, western countries, NATO, and others that it is backing the rebels.
It seems Vladimir Putin has been making more comments that seem bound to make the headlines (from our news desk):
Russian President Vladimir Putin has warned that Ukraine faces a natural-gas cutoff that could leave Europe with shortages while saying Kyiv's suspension of gas supplies to separatist parts of eastern Ukraine "smacks of genocide."
Putin said on February 25 that Russia hopes it will not halt the delivery of gas to Ukraine but it depends on Kyiv's "financial discipline."
Russian company Gazprom said it would stop sending gas to Ukraine on February 26 if Kyiv does not make a prepayment for more gas.
But Ukraine's state energy company Naftogaz said earlier this week it had only received about half the gas it has paid for and would not pay for new supplies until it received all the gas it is due.
Gazprom said the missing gas was being sent to rebel-controlled parts of Ukraine's eastern Donetsk and Luhansk regions that were no longer receiving gas from Ukraine.
Putin said Ukraine's reported failure to provide some areas in those regions with gas amounts to "genocide."
(Reuters, AFP, TASS, Interfax)
You can watch a live stream of General Philip Breedlove presenting his annual statement on the state of the European command here. (Needless to say, Ukraine has been figuring highly.)