From Walter Russell Meade's blog:
Russia To Ukraine: Get In Line Or We Cut You In Half
President Putin’s point man for bringing Ukraine to heel is really yanking on the choke chain these days, threatening to support the dismemberment of Russia’s neighbor if it votes to move closer to the EU. The Times of London has the eyebrow-raising scoop:
Sergei Glazyev, one of Vladimir Putin’s top advisers, said that Ukraine’s Russian-speaking minority might break up the country in protest at a move that European, Russian and Ukrainian politicians see as a shift away from Moscow’s influence. He said that Russia would be legally entitled to support them....MORE
From Quartz:
China reportedly just bought 5% of Ukraine (but the Ukrainian partner denies it)
Update (9:21 a.m. ET): Ukraine’s KSG Agro released a statement today, Sept. 24, denying reports that it had reached an agreement to sell 3 million hectares to a Chinese firm. Hong Kong’s South China Morning Post had reported a deal between KSG Agro and China’s Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps, (XPCC) in which China would be able to farm the area for up to 50 years. The paper cited a statement from XPCC as the source of its report. Quartz and other media also reported on the story.+In its statement, the Warsaw-listed agricultural firm said that it is only working with its Chinese partners on a project to install drip-irrigation systems over an area of 3,000 hectares in Ukraine next year. “KSG Agro does not intend or have any right to sell land to foreigners, including the Chinese,” the statement posted on their website said. China’s XPCC could not be immediately reached for comment.Original (September 23): China has inked a deal to farm three million hectares (paywall), or about 11, 583 square miles of Ukrainian land over the span of half a century—which means the eastern European country will give up about 5% of its total land, or 9% of its arable farmland to feed China’s burgeoning population....MORE+