Eurasia

THE HAGUE (Reuters) – The U.N. war crimes tribunal acquitted Kosovo’s former Prime Minister Ramush Haradinaj on Thursday of charges of torturing and murdering Serbs during the 1998-99 war.

BUCHAREST (Reuters) – Just how many troops does NATO need in Afghanistan? Despite repeated calls for more forces to be sent to fight Taliban insurgents, alliance leaders — meeting on Thursday at a summit in Bucharest — have been reluctant or unable to give a consistent figure for how many …

BUCHAREST (Reuters) – Russian President Vladimir Putin plans to focus on areas of agreement rather than discord at talks with NATO leaders on Friday, in efforts to keep ties with the West on a relatively even keel before he steps down.

MOSCOW (Reuters) – A Russian Foreign Ministry official said on Thursday the entry of Ukraine and Georgia into NATO would be a “huge strategic mistake” after alliance leaders pledged to offer them membership one day.

MINSK (Reuters) – Belarussian President Alexander Lukashenko said on Thursday it was only a matter of time before NATO took in Ukraine and Georgia, and called for joint efforts with Russia to counter the alliance’s expansion.

BUCHAREST (Reuters) – Macedonia announced it was leaving a NATO summit early on Thursday after Greece prevented alliance leaders from inviting it into the military pact because of a row over its name.

BUCHAREST (Reuters) – A delay in inviting Macedonia to join NATO could encourage radicals and fuel instability in the Balkans, Albania’s prime minister said, urging compromise to allow a last-minute deal at an alliance summit on Wednesday.

BUCHAREST (Reuters) – President George W. Bush set the stage for a clash at his final NATO summit on Wednesday by pressing reluctant west European allies to set former Soviet republics Georgia and Ukraine on a path to membership.

MINSK (Reuters) – The former Soviet republic of Belarus, subject to Western sanctions over its human rights record, said on Wednesday it was staying away from a NATO summit in Bucharest because of restrictions on who could attend.

MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russia would respond pragmatically to any further NATO expansion by strengthening its defenses and economic might, Russian news agencies quoted Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov as saying on Wednesday.