Russian-Backed Rebels Claim to Have Control of Strategic Donetsk Airport

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MOSCOW — Leaders of a Russian-backed rebel movement in eastern Ukraine claimed on Friday to have captured the Donetsk city airport, a symbolically important and long-sought prize, although central government officials denied this was the case.

A senior leader for the rebels, the pro-Russian Donetsk People’s Republic, described the fight as the start of a new offensive to push Ukraine out of the east.

Despite a cease-fire that was signed on Sept. 5, the sides have fought in the rubble of the airport terminals for months. The rebels have repeatedly claimed to have captured the site, even though Ukrainian forces have been able to hold onto pockets inside the terminal. A major escalation in shelling preceded the latest claim.

If the claim is true, it would signal the first significant territorial advance by the rebels since the signing of the cease-fire pact.

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/17/world/europe/russia-ukraine-donetsk-airport.html

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1. Daily Sabah: Russia tells Europe to take it or leave it

EU officials are trying to come to grips with Russia's clear declaration on Wednesday that the natural gas supplied through Ukraine would be cut and diverted to the planned pipeline toward Turkey and that Europe would have to extend its network to the Turkish-Greek border if it wanted to continue purchasing the gas.

The move comes after Russian President Vladimir Putin announced on Dec. 1 in Turkey that the South Stream Project, which was supposed to transfer gas via Bulgaria, would be dropped. He said it would be replaced by a pipeline project through Turkey. With the South Stream being discarded, Russia and the EU had initiated talks on the future of energy relations. According to the written statement disclosed by the Russian Energy Ministry, Energy Minister Alexander Novak negotiated European Commissioner for Energy Union Maros Sefcovic on the resumption of energy talks between Russia and the EU.

http://www.naturalgaseurope.com/russia-europe-take-it-leave-it

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2. Clash in East Ukraine Kills 11, Including Six Soldiers

Fierce fighting in east Ukraine has killed at least 11 people over the past 24 hours, officials said today, as government forces and pro-Russian rebels battled for control of an airport.

A military spokesman reported six soldiers killed and 18 others wounded over the past day, adding that a civilian was left dead in a rebel strike on a checkpoint near Fashchivka in the Lugansk region.

City officials in hard-hit Donetsk earlier said four civilians died after shelling sparked a fire at a warehouse there.

"In the past day, six Ukrainian soldiers were killed. Eighteen more were wounded," military spokesman Andriy Lysenko said.

http://www.outlookindia.com/news/article/Clash-in-East-Ukraine-Kills-11-Including-Six-Soldiers/877569

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3. Greece Backs Russia’s Decision to Scrap Gas Transit via Ukraine

MOSCOW, January 16 (Sputnik) – Moscow’s decision to shift the transit of gas through Ukraine to Turkey is fair and will prove beneficial for Greece, Greek officials told Sputnik on Friday.

“Russia’s decision to change the gas route to Turkey sounds entirely justified. Russia cannot be held ‘hostage’ by stupid and illogical EU politics. It is Europe who has to stop Ukrainian provocations in Donetsk and Luhansk regions and by doing so guarantee regular gas supplies to Europe”, member of the Council of the Greek-Russian Chamber of Trade Dimitris Velanis told Sputnik.

“The EU has imposed sanctions on Russia that undermine the development of bilateral energy cooperation, but at the same time it accuses Russia of refusing to supply gas. This is where a double standard in policy can be seen, and in the end it will boomerang on Europe”, he added.

The expert underlined that the Greek government is ready “to support any Russian decision concerning gas supplies to Greece and through Greece to other European countries”.

http://sputniknews.com/europe/20150116/1016989664.html

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4. Asia Times: Russia's 'Turk Stream' move against Europe

Russia continues to play hardball with natural gas for the European Union, trying to get Brussels to sacrifice Ukraine in return for the promise of better relations with Moscow.

The European Commission's vice-president for energy union, Maros Sefcovic, visited Russia on January 14 to ask exactly what Moscow's intentions were about the now-cancelled South Stream pipeline. Russian President Vladimir Putin had announced late last year a Russian plan to substitute for it a huge 63 billion cubic meter per year (bcm/y) pipeline project under the Black Sea to Turkey and then up to the Turkish-Greek border.

Moscow Tries to Turn the Natural Gas Pipeline Screw: Sefcovic was told that Russian shipments of natural gas through Ukraine would end and that if the EU wanted the gas, then it would have to get it through the new planned pipeline, which Russia has suggested could be called "Turk Stream".

http://www.naturalgaseurope.com/russias-turk-stream-against-europe

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5. . nt