Putin sends congratulatory message to Obama on the occasion of 4th of July

#4thofjuly #putin #Obama #WhiteHouse #Ukraine Only the other day the two Presidents had talked over the phone – President Putin had rung u student Obama in the White House and had a one-to-one talk on various issues. Since the relation between the two super powers was not so cordial, observers had seen signs of a thaw in the relationship.
Therefore, the latest contact between Putin and Obama on the occasion of 4th of July can be said to be quite significant.
This has been reported in foxnews.com dated 5 July 2015.

The Russian President has sent a congratulatory Fourth of July message to President Obama and expressed confidence that their respective countries can work together on global issues including terror threats, according to news agencies.
It may be noted that the two countries are not just world powers but frequent rivals as well and have been at particular odds since the uprising in Ukraine that resulted in Russia last year annexing the country’s eastern Crimea region. Moreover, Russia is continuing to provide military support to government-opposition forces.
The conversation of June 25 had laid focus on the Ukraine situation and included discussions about the Iran nuclear negotiations, the need to stop the Islamic State terror group and developments in the Middle East that included the “increasingly dangerous situation in Syria.”
(Image courtesy wikmediacommons.org)

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Russia’s idea to connect London to NYC by a 13,000-mile superhighway via Russia

#yakunin #putin #russianrailways #chunnel #nome It is a plan mooted by one of most powerful tycoons of Russia and who happens to be a close friend of President Vladimir Putin. The plan is to build a 13,000-mile highway that connect Great Britain to Alaska, via Mother Russia.
The major roadblock for this plan which would be an inter-state, inter-civilization, project is money, not feasibility. This has been reported in news.sky.com dated 26 March 2015.

The plan has been outlined by Russian Railways boss Vladimir Yakunin. He has presented the plan to Russian Academy of Science. It was the plan for the Trans-Eurasian belt Development and its cost would run into “trillions” of dollars.
Broadly speaking, this superhighway would connect thousands of miles of existing byways and bridges all across Russia. It would be a span of over 6,000 miles. From the west, it could then connect to roads in Europe, including the Chunnel Tunnel, which in turn, connects Great Britain and France.
The eastern end of the highway would be in Siberia’s Chukotka region which is just 55 miles across the Bering Sea from the isolated Alaskan city of Nome. In case a connection to Nome was followed by a U.S.-built road to Fairbanks, the global journey could become a reality.
The project, once completed, would cover the entire length of Russia and, by linking existing networks in Europe and Asia, would lead to the first-ever modern route from the Pacific Ocean in the east to the Atlantic Ocean in the west. In the opinion of Yakunin, it could generate innumerable new jobs, allow new cities to be created and, simultaneously, spur the development of Siberia and the Far East.

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Putin mobilizes Northern Fleet, could use nuclear weapons, if necessary, to gain territory

#northernfleet #putin #ukraine #NATO #jointviking #arcticcircle There were rumors about the health and whereabouts of Russian President Putin but, he is very much alive, active and kicking and has ordered complete mobilization of the Northern Fleet as a part of a huge Russian military drill. This has been reported in nzherald.co.nz date 17 March 2015.
While speaking in a television documentary he has apparently said that he was prepared to use nuclear weapons to gain the territory "if necessary".
Brushing aside any clarification on his absence of 10-days, President Putin has ordered a range of military exercises in which Russia's entire Northern Fleet would participate. The fleet consists of 40,000 troops, more than 41 warships, 15 submarines and 110 aircraft.
President Putin met Kyrgyzstan leader Almazbek Atambayev in St Petersburg and appeared to be in good health. The five days drills is expected to be one of the Kremlin's biggest displays of military power since the Ukraine crisis which resulted in deterioration in relations with the West to depths that have not been seen since the Cold War. The Northern Fleet stands in full combat readiness in Russia's Arctic north and observers feel the exercise is aimed at dwarfing military drills in neighboring Norway which is a member of NATO.
Incidentally, Norway is conducting its "Joint Viking" drills that involve 5,000 troops in Finnmark, a county bordering Russia in the resource-rich Arctic Circle where both countries are vying for influence. The Olso government has clarified that its military drills had been planned before the Ukraine crisis.

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Ukraine peace deal agreed upon with Putin – rebels to withdraw heavy artillery

#ukraine #minsk #putin #ceasefire It was a marathon session with people who mattered and who had met to resolve the crisis in Ukraine that appeared to be gradually going out of control. Present were President Vladimir Putin, President Petro Poroshenko, Chancellor Angela Markel and President Francois Hollande - and, at the end of the day, it was possible to secure a ceasefire in Ukraine's war with pro-Russian separatists.
The negotiations in Minsk, the capital of Belarus, to halt the spiraling bloodshed went on through the night and finally President Vladimir Putin emerged from the summit with Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko and the French and German leaders to announce that an agreement had been reached on the 'main' points as reported in dailymail.co.uk dated 12 February 2015.
The Russian President indicated that a ceasefire would take effect on Sunday and that heavy weapons would be withdrawn from frontlines of the conflict. Already over 5,300 people have been killed in the violence.
French President Francois Hollande and Ukraine President Petro Poroshenko stressed that separatist leaders had signed the truce and this would replace an earlier ceasefire agreement that had been reached in Minsk in September but rarely observed.
At one point of time there were signs that all was not well but, finally, better sense appears to have prevailed and, one can only hope that the ceasefire will be honored this time.