Europe

BELGRADE, March 10. /TASS/: The North Atlantic Treaty Organization has written Ukraine off so the Ukrainian authorities should search for a solution to the conflict in direct talks with Moscow, Serbia’s Parliament Speaker and former Foreign Minister Ivica Dacic said on Thursday.

LONDON, March 10. /TASS/:The UK expanded anti-Russia sanctions on Thursday, putting another seven Russian citizens on the blacklist. Rosneft CEO Igor Sechin, Gazprom CEO Aleksey Miller, VTB CEO Andrey Kostin, the owner of London’s Chelsea FC Roman Abramovich, businessman Oleg Deripaska (EN+ Group), Chairman of Bank Rossiya board Dmitry Lebedev and Transneft president Nikolay Tokarev were placed under sanctions, according to the statement released by the Foreign Office.

MOSCOW, March 10. /TASS/: Prolonging the life cycle of the International Space Station till 2030 will require colossal funding, or else the station will "fall apart," the CEO of Russia’s space corporation Roscosmos, Dmitry Rogozin, said at a meeting with the LDPR faction in the State Duma.

VERSAILLES, France, March 10 (Reuters) - It is important that Ukraine has applied for membership of the European Union, but there is no fast-track procedure for accession, Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte said on Thursday.

Ukraine applied for fast EU membership shortly after the Russian invasion two weeks ago.

"What's important is that Ukraine has asked to be member of the EU (...) there is no fast track procedure to become member of the EU," Rutte told reporters on entering a summit of EU leaders.

LONDON, March 10 (Reuters) - Britain has urged Myanmar's former ambassador to leave the official London residence where he has continued to live since he was ousted for criticising last year's military coup, citing pressure from the junta, according to emails seen by Reuters.

Kyaw Zwar Minn was locked out of his embassy last April by his own staff after calling for the release of Myanmar's civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi, detained alongside most of her government in the Feb. 1 coup. 

March 10 (Reuters) - Russia's energy ministry said on Thursday that Belarusian specialists had restored electricity supply to the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in Ukraine.

Chernobyl lost power amid fighting between Russian and Ukrainian forces, after Russia invaded Ukraine.

March 10 (Reuters) - President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday that sanctions imposed against Russia would rebound against the West, including in the form of higher food and energy prices, and Moscow would solve its problems and emerge stronger.

Putin said there had been no alternative to what Russia calls its special military operation in Ukraine and that Russia was not a country which could accept compromising its sovereignty for some sort of short-term economic gain.

BUDAPEST, March 10 (Xinhua) -- The Hungarian parliament on Thursday elected Katalin Novak as the country's first female president for a five-year term, winning over economist Peter Rona in a vote split along party lines.

Novak, nominated by the ruling Fidesz Party, which with its ally, the Christian Democratic People's Party, holds 133 seats in the 199-member parliament, won the election in a vote of 137 to 51, and will take office on May 10.

BELGRADE, Serbia (AP) — For some European countries watching Russia’s brutal war in Ukraine, there are fears that they could be next.

Western officials say the most vulnerable could be those who aren’t members of NATO or the European Union, and thus alone and unprotected — including Ukraine’s neighbor Moldova and Russia’s neighbor Georgia, both of them formerly part of the Soviet Union — along with the Balkan states of Bosnia and Kosovo.

LONDON (AP) — European and world soccer champion Chelsea was among the assets of Roman Abramovich frozen by the British government on Thursday after he was sanctioned for his close relationship with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Team activities from selling new tickets to signing players were instantly restricted. The merchandise store at the Stamford Bridge stadium in west London was rapidly closed with a sign on the doors telling supporters it was “due to the latest government announcement.”