McCain Turns Down Ukraine Post
U.S. Senator John McCain has said, 'Thanks, but no thanks,' to a job offer from Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko.
The Ukrainian leader had asked McCain, among other leading officials, to join an advisory council to help Ukraine craft reforms and secure global support.
But in a statement on his website, McCain said constitutional constraits prohibited from accepting the offer.
In declining the offer, McCain said he will "continue to do everything" he can to stop what he called Russian President Vladimir Putin's "unabated agression" against Ukraine.
McCain has been one of the most vocal backers for sending U.S. arms to Ukraine.
The Advisory International Council of Reforms is to be headed by Mikheil Saakashvili, the former president of Georgia, and will also include Elmar Brok, a member of the European Parliament, and economist Anders Aslund.
Based on reporting by AFP and TASS
France offers Russia 785 mn euros to ditch warship deal: report
Moscow, May 15, 2015 (AFP) -- France has offered Russia 785 million euros ($890 million) to scrap a contentious contract to supply two warships that was suspended due to the Ukraine crisis, a report said Friday.
Russian defence sources told Kommersant newspaper that the documents are now "being studied" by the Russian government, defence ministry and other relevant parties which participated in the 2011 deal.
But the daily reported that Moscow was not happy with the French offer, with the defence ministry claiming that Russian firms have now incurred 1.16 billion euros of costs associated with the ships.
The fate of the two Mistral helicopter carriers has plagued French-Russia ties for over a year, following the decision by Paris to put the 1.2 billion euro deal on ice as the West slapped sanctions on Russia over its annexation of Crimea and alleged backing for separatist rebels in Ukraine.
Russian President Vladimir Putin last month played down the importance of the ships and claimed that Russia ordered them mostly to help the French shipyard.
The Kremlin strongman, however, made clear Moscow would still like its money back.
"We are not planning to demand any penalties or exorbitant fines but all expenses should be returned," he said.
While Kommersant reported France is proposing to return only the cash that was paid on the deal, Russia would like to have other expenses reimbursed, such as training costs of 400 sailors for the crews and building port infrastructure in Vladivostok, where the first of the two ships was to be based.
"The option of returning the sum in the French offer categorically does not work for us," a source told Kommersant.
The first ship was due for delivery in 2014, while the second, called Sevastopol, was to be delivered this year.
A senior MP in the Duma lower house Vladimir Komoyedov, a former commander of the Black Sea fleet who now heads the defence committee, further said France actually owes Russia nearly twice what it is offering.
"It is necessary to demand 1.5 billion euro compensation from France, not just for breaking the contract but for all the costs, for preparing the 400-strong crew, for all transportation, including the fact that we had to send a ship to collect the crew" from the Saint Nazaire shipyard, he told RIA-Novosti agency.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov refused to comment on the discrepancy of the French and Russian calculations Friday, reiterating Putin's comments that Russia is ready to receive either the ships or the money.
Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, asked about the deal Friday, indicated that the issue is no longer a diplomatic one.
"The issue has moved to the legal and commercial sphere," he said during a press conference in Belgrade, adding that political aspects have "long been clarified."
Ukrainian Side Dnipro Reach Europa League Final
Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk have reached the final of the Europa League, the Ukrainian side's first European final.
Behind a goal from Yevhen Seleznyov, Dnipro beat Napoli 1-0 on May 14 in a packed Olimpiyskiy Stadium in the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv.
The Ukrainian side won the two-game series on a 2-1 aggregate and will now face Sevilla in the final in Warsaw on May 27.
The Spanish side, last season's Europa League champs, won 2-0 in the second leg to beat Fiorentina 5-0 on aggregate.
Dnipro's success is all the sweeter given the challenges the club has faced.
Due its proximity to the confict in eastern Ukraine, the club has been unable to play in their home stadium, moving games to either Kyiv or Lviv.
Other clubs in eastern Ukraine, including Shakhtar Donetsk, have done the same thing.
Based on reporting by AP and Reuters
US House set to pass defense bill opposed by Obama
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Republican-led House of Representatives is on track to pass a nearly $612 billion defense policy bill, a measure that usually garners bipartisan support but this year has drawn a veto threat from President Barack Obama and angered a Shiite cleric in Iraq.
A vote is expected Friday on the bill to fund the U.S. military. Obama has issued several veto threats since Republicans took full control of Congress in January.
Overall, the House bill authorizes $515 billion in spending for national defense and another $89.2 billion for the emergency war-fighting fund for a total of $604.2 billion. Another $7.7 billion is mandatory defense spending that doesn't get authorized by Congress. That means the bill would provide the entire $611.9 billion desired by the president, but he still opposes it.
Obama and Democratic lawmakers are against the measure because it ignores automatic spending caps imposed by Congress in 2011 to address federal deficits, the result of a prolonged partisan battle over federal spending. The bill increases defense spending by padding the emergency war-fighting fund, which is not affected by the caps. Democrats argue that the Republicans want to ignore spending caps when it comes to funding the military, but wants to adhere to them when it comes to other domestic spending.
The White House is pushing back against a host of provisions of the bill, including one that would make it harder for Obama to close the military prison for terror suspects at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
On Ukraine, it calls for arming Ukrainian forces fighting Russian-backed separatists, a move the Obama administration has so far resisted.