U.S. President Barack Obama and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin have traded barbs about Ukraine (among other things) at the UN General Asembly. Here is an excerpt from our report on the two men's speeches in New York:
Obama and Putin also clashed over Russia's annexation of the Crimea peninsula from Ukraine in March 2014.
Obama said the land grab could fuel expansionism elsewhere in the world if the international community did not respond decisively to Moscow's actions.
"We recognize the deep and complex history between Russia and Ukraine. But we cannot stand by when the sovereignty and territorial integrity is flagrantly violated. If that happens without consequence in Ukraine, it could happen to any nation gathered here today," he said.
Kyiv and the West also say Russia has sent troops and weapons to fuel the separatist conflict that has killed more than 7,900 people in Ukraine's east since April 2014. Moscow denies the charges.
Ukrainian and rebel forces have blamed each other for repeated breaches of a cease-fire agreement reached in Minsk in February, but both sides are now broadly respecting a renewed truce that came into effect on September 1.
Obama said Washington does not want to isolate Russia. U.S. sanctions targeting Moscow in response to the Ukraine crisis are intended to deter the redrawing of borders and are "not part of a desire to return to a Cold War," he said.
He added that Russia's actions have driven Ukrainians into seeking deeper integration with Europe and harmed its own interests.
"Sanctions have led to capital flight, a contracting economy, a falling ruble and the emigration of more educated Russians," Obama said. "Imagine if instead Russia had engaged in true diplomacy and worked with Ukraine and the international community to ensure its interests were protected. That would be better for Ukraine but also better for Russia and better for the world."
Putin, meanwhile, echoed the Kremlin's longstanding accusations that the United States is exporting revolutions in countries of the former Soviet Union.
He blamed NATO and its expansion into Eastern Europe and former Soviet states for creating tensions that led to the mass upheaval in Ukraine that culminated in the ouster of President Viktor Yanukovych in February 2014.
"They offered the poor Soviet countries a false choice: either to be with the West or the East," Putin said. "Sooner or later this logic of confrontation was bound to spark a grave geopolitical crisis. This is exactly what happened in Ukraine, where the discontent of the population with the current authorities was used and a military coup was orchestrated from outside that triggered a civil war as a result."
Read the entire report here
Controversial pro-Russian journalist Graham W. Phillips has apparently been offered a job by VICE. Some of the Twitterati are not happy about this:
It seems Russia is now hitting back at Ukraine for its ban on Russian airlines (from RFE/RL's news desk):
Russia is closing its airspace to Ukrainian airlines starting October 25 in reprisal for a ban that Ukraine imposed last week on Russian airlines.
The Russian transport agency said September 28 that it is imposing the ban on instructions from Russian Prime Minister Dmitri Medvedev.
The measure is in response to a decision by Ukrainian authorities September 25 to ban Aeroflot, Transaero, and other Russian air companies from flying into Ukraine, also starting October 25.
Kyiv, whose ban is aimed at punishing Russia for its annexation of Crimea and backing of Ukrainian separatists in the east, also is barring Russian transit flights if the aircraft carries military personnel or dual-use goods.
Moscow branded Kyiv's move at the time as an "act of madness."
Also earlier this month, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko expanded a list of sanctions against Russian companies and individuals, targeting 400 officials and 90 companies.
(AP, AFP, TASS)
