Europe

ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Greece’s government is seeking parliamentary approval Tuesday for a 3 billion euro ($3.4 billion) agreement for three new French-made frigates that defense officials say are vital for addressing ongoing tensions with neighboring Turkey.

Lawmakers are also debating whether to add six new Rafale fighter jets to an existing order for 18 planes ‒ six of them newly built and 12 that were previously in service in the French air force.

BERLIN (AP) — Diplomatic efforts to head off what U.S. officials have warned could be an imminent Russian attack on Ukraine entered a new round on Monday. Russia’s top diplomat advised President Vladimir Putin to continue talks and Germany’s chancellor met the Ukrainian president.

Nonetheless the U.S. announced it is closing its embassy in Ukraine and moving all remaining staffers there to a city near the Polish border.

COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — The head of the World Health Organization’s Europe office said Tuesday that health officials are turning their attention to growing rates of COVID-19 infection in Eastern Europe, where six countries — including Russia and Ukraine — have seen a doubling in case counts over the last two weeks.

Dr. Hans Kluge said the 53-country region, which stretches to former Soviet republics into central Asia, has now tallied more than 165 million confirmed coronavirus cases and 1.8 million deaths linked to the pandemic — including 25,000 in the last week alone.

BERLIN (AP) — Russian President Vladimir Putin hosted Germany’s chancellor on Tuesday after the Kremlin signaled that it was still possible for diplomacy to head off what Western officials have said could be an imminent invasion of Ukraine.

In another possible sign that the Kremlin would like to lower the temperature, Russia announced that some units participating in military exercises would begin returning to their bases.

But much remains unclear about Russia’s intentions and how the crisis over Ukraine will play out.

LONDON (AP) — If forced to choose, Novak Djokovic said he would skip the French Open and Wimbledon, foregoing the chance to overtake Rafael Nadal’s record haul of 21 Grand Slams titles, rather than get vaccinated against COVID-19.

And the No. 1-ranked tennis player is also still smarting about being deported last month from Australia in a drama about his vaccination status that polarized opinion worldwide.

MOSCOW (AP) — While the U.S. warns that Russia could invade Ukraine any day, the drumbeat of war is all but unheard in Moscow, where pundits and ordinary people alike don’t expect President Vladimir Putin to launch an attack on its ex-Soviet neighbor.

The Kremlin has cast the U.S. warnings of an imminent attack as “hysteria” and “absurdity,” and many Russians believe that Washington is deliberately stoking panic and fomenting tensions to trigger a conflict for domestic reasons.

MOSCOW (AP) — Russia said Tuesday that some units participating in military exercises would begin returning to their bases, adding to glimmers of hope that the Kremlin may not be planning to invade Ukraine imminently. But it gave no details on where the troops were pulling back from, or how many.

KIEV, February 14. /TASS/: The issue of Ukraine’s membership in any alliances is not on the agenda, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said on Monday after talks with Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky in Kiev.

KIEV, February 14. /TASS/: The issue of Ukraine’s membership in any alliances is not on the agenda, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said on Monday after talks with Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky in Kiev.

MOSCOW, February 14. /TASS/: Large-scale movements of troops are observed in Ukraine near the territories of the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics (DPR and LPR) , which only escalates tensions in the region, Russian presidential press secretary Dmitry Peskov said on Monday.