From our news desk:
Pentagon Seeking $3.4 Billion To Counter 'Russian Aggression'
U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter says the Pentagon is requesting $3.4 billion for 2017 to counter "Russia's aggression," a fourfold increase from the fiscal year of 2016.
"We're reinforcing our posture in Europe to support our NATO allies in the face of Russia's aggression," Carter said in Washington on February 2.
He added that the funding would help boost the U.S. presence in eastern European nations as well.
"That'll fund a lot of things. More rotational U.S. forces in Europe, more training and exercises with our allies, more prepositioned warfighting gear, and infrastructure improvements to support it," Carter said.
Washington and its allies in Europe and elsewhere have targeted Russian with several rounds of sanctions in response to Moscow's annexation of Ukraine's Crimea territory in 2014 and its support for pro-Russian separatists that are fighting Kyiv’s forces in eastern Ukraine.
The increased funding to counter Russia is part of a $582.7 billion defense budget that Carter said the Pentagon would seek for 2017 to deal with five major challenges faced by the U.S. military.
Carter said those challenges are Russia, China, North Korea, Iran, and the Islamic State militant group.
Based on reporting by AFP and Reuters
Merkel Presses Putin On Ukrainian Separatists
German Chancellor Angela Merkel has urged Russian President Vladimir Putin to use Moscow's influence with separatists in eastern Ukraine to help secure progress toward a political solution of the crisis.
Merkel's office said the two leaders spoke by phone on February 2 at Putin's request.
The call came one day after Merkel met Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko in Berlin and nearly one year after Germany and France helped to broker the Minsk peace deal for Ukraine.
Merkel said the security situation in eastern Ukraine must be improved, a cease-fire observed, and international observers given unrestricted access to the conflict zone to enable further progress.
Merkel said on February 1 that she doesn't see grounds for lifting economic sanctions against Russia at the current time.
In December, the European Union extended the sanctions through July 31.
More than 9,100 people have been killed in eastern Ukraine since government forces and Russia-backed separatists began fighting in early 2014.
Based on reporting by AP, AFP, and TASS
Here is today's map of the security situation in eastern Ukraine, according to the National Security and Defense Council (CLICK TO ENLARGE):
