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Added on the 17/12/2014 15:25:23 - Copyright : Zoomin EN
In Luxembourg, German Finance Minister Christian Lindner says it is not yet possible for the EU to cut Russian gas imports as a sanction against Moscow's invasion of Ukraine. SOUNDBITE
French President Emmanuel Macron Macron welcomes Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to the Elysée Palace in Paris before a working dinner with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz. President Volodymyr Zelensky late evening trip to Paris Wednesday was arranged at the last minute. IMAGES
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken says he raised concerns with China about support for Russia, saying Moscow's invasion of Ukraine depended on Beijing's support. "Russia would struggle to sustain its assault on Ukraine without China's support," Blinken told reporters after his meetings with top leaders in Beijing. SOUNDBITE
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken accuses China of "fuelling" Russia's invasion of Ukraine through the transfers of dual use materials and weapons components from Chinese businesses to Russia for use in Moscow's military expansion. "If China purports on the one hand to want good relations with Europe and other countries, it can't on the other hand be fuelling what is the biggest threat to European security since the end of the Cold War," Blinken tells a press conference after a meeting of G7 foreign ministers on the Italian island of Capri where he had urged urged his European counterparts to increase pressure on Beijing. SOUNDBITE
NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg says that alliance members must guarantee long-term weapon deliveries for Ukraine, as ministers prepared to discuss a proposal for a 100-billion-euro, five-year fund. Speaking in Brussels, where NATO foreign ministers are meeting to forge a support package by a July summit in Washington, Stoltenberg says "we must ensure reliable and predictable security assistance to Ukraine for the long haul." "We must ensure reliable and predictable security assistance to Ukraine for the long haul so that we rely less on the voluntary contributions and more on NATO commitments, less on short-term offers and more on multi-year pledges," Stoltenberg says as NATO foreign ministers met in Brussels. SOUNDBITE
U.S. President Barack Obama attends an outdoor arrival ceremony in heavy rain, as the first sitting U.S. president to visit Laos. Rough Cut (no reporter narration).