Word: russian
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...Moon warned that further delay could "unravel" Kosovo's peace process, but there is no clear path to agreement. The current U.N. proposal, backed by the U.S. and the E.U., would recognize Kosovo as a state but put it under E.U. supervision to safeguard Serbs and other minorities. But Russian officials have said that the move would encourage separatist movements in other parts of the world, including their own backyard...
President Vladimir Putin has long promised to restore Russian greatness and build an "energy empire." But until now, his empire-building had been confined to taking control of corporations operating on his turf, buying into businesses abroad, and blackmailing former Soviet Republics who dared vote against Moscow-backed candidates, moved to join NATO or acted in otherwise uppity ways. But Putin's imperial ambitions have recently added an element of classic 19th century-style territorial expansion: Late last month, Moscow signaled its intentions to annex the entire North Pole, an area twice the size of France with Belgium and Switzerland...
...North Pole isn't the only prize in the eyes of the resurgent Russian empire - Moscow is also looking to restore control over a 47,000 sq. km (18,000 sq. mile) piece of the Bering Sea separating Alaska from Russian Chukotka. The territory was ceded to the U.S. in 1990 under the U.S.-Soviet Maritime Boundary Agreement signed by Secretary of State James Baker and Soviet Foreign Minister Eduard Shevardnadze. While the deal may have helped ease Cold War tensions, anti-reform Soviet hard-liners always opposed giving up a piece of territory rich in sea life and hydrocarbon...
...what had once been a battle cry of the nationalist opposition has now become the official line. In recent weeks, Kremlin-controlled media have berated the Agreement as a treasonous act by Shervardnadze (who later became the pro-NATO President of Georgia). Now, leading pro-Kremlin members of the Russian legislature are publicly demanding that the Agreement be reviewed, with the aim of recovering the country's riches...
...been impossible, however, to get the consensus required to implement the plan. In recent weeks, the U.S. and its European allies have revised the proposed resolution to put before the Security Council three times, but have yet to satisfy Russian objections. Neither a meeting of the G8 group of industrialized nations in Germany last month nor the recent summit between the U.S. and Russian Presidents in Kennebunkport, Maine succeeded in breaking the deadlock. Diplomats now believe that if the resolution were brought to the Security Council for a vote, Russia would veto it. The Russian foreign affairs minister Sergei Lavrov...