(Reuters) - Sweden, Finland and Denmark said they were preparing to close their airspace to Russian planes on Sunday, joining a string. Russia’s Defense Ministry said Thursday that the troops in Kazakhstan were preparing equipment for transportation and handing over state institutions they guarded to local forces. Nordic countries prepare to shut airspace to Russian planes.

On Tuesday, Tokayev declared their mission accomplished and said they would start pulling out on Thursday. The bloc sent over 2,000 troops to Kazakhstan last week. President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev has blamed the unrest on foreign-backed “terrorists” and requested assistance from the Collective Security Treaty Organization, a Russia-led military alliance of six ex-Soviet states.

Protesters stormed government buildings and set them ablaze, and dozens of people were killed in clashes with the country’s security forces. They quickly spread nationwide and descended into violence within several days. 2 in western Kazakhstan following widespread outrage over a sharp rise in fuel prices. The withdrawal comes a week after they were deployed to the ex-Soviet nation on the request of its president, who was seeking to quell violent mass protests. 'They discussed how we can gradually phase this out,' said the official.Troops belonging to a Russia-led security alliance were preparing to pull out of Kazakhstan, the Russian Defense Ministry said on Thursday. European Union officials are preparing a third round of sanctions against Russia over the attack on Ukraine, including freezing the European assets of Russian President Vladimir Putin and Foreign. They did not give more detail or say when further sanctions could be enacted.Īsked if coal imports by Poland, and EU member, from the Russia-occupied Donbass region in east Ukraine would end, the official said the matter was brought up by Baltic states during talks among the bloc's 27 national leaders late on Thursday. The third round would further eat into Russia's financial and energy sectors, the person said. 'We are moving as quickly as we can,' said the official, adding the bloc could also target 'many more' oligarchs. The official, speaking under condition of anonymity, said the third round would freeze European assets of Russian President Vladimir Putin and Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. BRUSSELS, Feb 25 (Reuters) - The European Union is preparing a third round of sanctions against Russia for invading Ukraine, an official told Reuters on Friday shortly after President Volodymyr Zelenskiy lamented what he said was an insufficient reaction from Europe.

Preparing media for blocs app