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Finnish MPs have got the ball rolling on a week that's expected to culminate in a tectonic shift in Nordic security — Finland and Sweden's decision to apply for Nato membership. All-but-one of the 17 members of the Finnish parliament's defence committee ...

Brussels is to wave goodbye to Russian lobbyists under new sanctions, ending a 20-year era of influence peddling in Europe. The Russia PR ban is included in the small print of more drastic EU measures, including an oil embargo, due to enter into force ...

The EU is to blacklist Russia's most senior cleric, Patriarch Kirill, as well as going after Kremlin oil revenue in its latest sanctions. The 75-year old priest, Vladimir Gundayev from St Petersburg, in his recent sermons "blessed the Russian soldiers ...

The internal EU gulf on press freedom has widened, as France prepares new measures to protect journalists. Greece slid to 108th place in the world after the murder last year of crime journalist Giorgios Karaivaz, according to an index published Tuesday (3 ...

Far-right extremists — often loners inspired by online content — are becoming an ever-bigger terrorist threat in Europe, according to EU intelligence and police services. "Several European countries face a growing threat from violent right-wing extremists ...

The economic shock of the Ukraine war appears to be a greater threat to Moldova than the eruption of violence in its breakaway region for now, its foreign minister has said. Shots heard being fired near a huge, Russian-guarded ammunition dump in the ...

Independent media, such as EUobserver, and NGOs, should have less to fear in future from malicious lawsuits, after the EU Commission put forward a new law to shield them on Wednesday (27 April). Billionaires, big corporations, and autocrats have, in recent ...

Russian threats will not stop Finland joining Nato, a senior Finnish official has indicated, amid memories of its 'Winter War' with the Soviet Union. "Finland is a sovereign state" and it will make decisions "based on real-time evaluation of our security ...

Robust oil and gas revenue enabled Russia to go on a military spending spree ahead of its Ukraine invasion, according to researchers in Sweden. The Kremlin's military budget had dwindled between 2016 and 2019, but began going up again as oil and gas prices ...

European leaders welcomed France's re-election of centrist president Emmanuel Macron Sunday (24 April) as a vote of confidence in the EU. "Your constituents voiced a strong commitment to Europe today," German chancellor Olaf Scholz said on Twitter after ...

Washington has signalled that any firms worldwide doing business with Russia could in future be cut off from US trade — the same way they were over Iran in the past. Wendy Sherman, the US deputy state secretary, issued the warning in Brussels on Thursday ( ...

Russia is already losing oil income due to the threat of a future EU embargo and there is no evidence of large-scale sanctions evasion, the EU Commission has said. Some form of oil embargo will "certainly be part of" the upcoming, sixth round of EU ...

Four failed candidates in French elections have urged their voters to back president Emmanuel Macron in the second round to keep out far-right contender Marine Le Pen. That was the message from centre-right candidate Valérie Pécresse, Green contender ...

There is a major new battle coming in east Ukraine and Russia's war could drag out for "years", Nato secretary general Jens Stoltenberg has said, dampening optimism over Russia's recent pull-back from Kyiv. Russian president Vladimir Putin could end the ...

Europe is closing its doors to adult relatives of the Russian regime in reaction to its brutality in Ukraine, including president Vladimir Putin's daughters. The president's daughters — 36-year old Maria Vorontsova and 37-year old Ekhaterina Tikhonova — ...

Italy, Denmark, Spain, and Sweden have joined the EU's mass-expulsion of Russian diplomats after reports of Russian atrocities in Ukraine. Italy, one of the most pro-Russian EU countries, threw out 30 Russians on Tuesday (5 April), saying it was needed " ...

Foreign mobsters, illicit weapons, and drugs could enter the EU on the back of the Ukraine war posing a threat to law and order in the bloc. "The heads of criminal organisations could take advantage of the situation to enter the Schengen area [an EU ...

China will continue "normal" trade with Russia it said one day after the EU urged Chinese leaders not to undermine Western sanctions. "China is not a related party on the crisis of Ukraine. We don't think our normal trade with any other country should be ...

Belgian police used tasers to stun a panda which vaulted the gates of the Chinese EU embassy in Brussels and wreaked havoc in neighbouring gardens early Friday (1 April) morning. The visibly distressed bear, weighing over 100kg, had also romped through ...

Belgium's trade in Russian diamonds could become a source of shame for the symbolic EU country, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky has warned. "Here, we fight against the tyranny which wants to divide Europe which wants to destroy those for whom ...

China has redoubled its political support for Russia's war in Ukraine, auguring badly for EU efforts to break their new axis. Mounting evidence of war crimes and killing of civilians by Russian forces in Ukraine had done nothing to stop Russia and China ...

Beijing will face EU pressure to abandon its support for Russia when Chinese leaders hold a virtual summit with top EU officials on Friday (1 April). That was the message sent out by EU and Nato leaders meeting in Brussels last week. "China has a choice," ...

Nato leaders have redoubled warnings for Russia not to use chemical weapons or worse in Ukraine amid concern the damage could spill over into neighbouring countries. "Any use by Russia of a chemical or biological weapon would be unacceptable and result in ...

The last time I interviewed Russia's EU ambassador Vladimir Chizhov he was doing what he does best — lying about Russian aggression and mocking its victims. It was about two months before Russia launched a bloody, all-out war on its peaceful neighbour ...

"What are we, for people like them?" asked Antoniusz Zawadzki, a Ukrainian refugee, speaking of political leaders in both Russia and the West. "We're nothing to them. Our governments don't take care of us. Our lives are worth nothing." Zawadzki spoke while ...

Russia on Monday (14 March) claimed responsibility for an attack using 30 cruise missiles against a Ukrainian military complex in Yavoriv, west Ukraine at the weekend that killed 35 people and injured 134 others. Moscow said it had targeted foreign ...

Every now and again you catch a faint smell of coffee in the air as you wander round the Unesco-designated old town in Lviv, western Ukraine. Things look normal. Many shops are open. People are out with children. And church bells ring the hours. But the ...

A wall of noise; people everywhere; volunteers in neon vests handing out stew in plastic cups, SIM cards, nappies; elderly people slumped in chairs, surrounded by bags; children playing, darting back and forth; journalists snapping photos; armed police in ...

Rzeszów, a small city in southeast Poland known for its volleyball team, normally attracts Polish tourists heading to ski in the nearby mountains or investors with interests in local firms. Since war broke out across the Ukraine border, just 65km away, it ...

Some 129,000 people fled the war into Poland on Saturday (5 March) the Polish interior ministry said Sunday, compared to 106,000 people the day before. The total number of refugees in Poland now stands at 922,000 and rising. People have also escaped to ...