Oh, those Russians...

When the people of Tromso in Norway's northern reaches awoke to the sight of a giant blue and white spiral of light hanging in the still dark sky above them, they were understandably shocked. It didn't look like the northern lights. Was it a meteor? A UFO?
Calls flooded in to radio stations and air-traffic control towers. Astronomers were baffled. Extra-terrestrial enthusiasts got on their blogs. "It looked like a rocket that spun around and around and then went diagonally across the heavens," said Totto Eriksen, who saw the display while driving his daughter to school. And when an explanation finally came, he wasn't far wrong. It turned out to be a failed Russian nuclear-capable missile test launch.
The new Bulava missile was fired from the nuclear submarine Dmitry Donskoi, the Russian defence ministry confirmed. The White Sea, close to Norway's Arctic region, is Russia's standard missile-testing site. This one failed at the third stage.

The Bulava can carry up to 10 individually targeted nuclear warheads and has a maximum range of 8,000km (5,000 miles). It is the sea-based version of the Topol-M, Russia's land-based intercontinental missile, which entered service in 2006. New Borei submarines were developed primarily to launch it.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/

See a unique video taken by Jan Peter Jorgensen at

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newsvideo/weirdnewsvideo/6781790/Strange-spiral-light-not-UFO-but-a-failed-Russian-missile.html

Poroshenko and Clinton discussed strategic partnership issues of Ukraine and USA

Kyiv (UNIAN). Foreign Minister of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko and US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton discussed strategic partnership issues of both countries. According to an UNIAN correspondent, their meeting took place in Washington during the working visit of the Foreign Minister of Ukraine to USA. Particularly, leaders of the foreign policy departments of Ukraine and USA discussed issues of American guarantees concerning security of Ukraine because of renewal of the treaty between USA and Russia concerning strategic arms reduction and also renewal of cooperation of Ukraine and USA in dismantlement of Skad missiles. Hillary Clinton thanked Ukraine for contribution into international peacemaking missions in Kosovo, Liberia, Sudan and also in Afghanistan. In his turn P. Poroshenko thanked USA for support of Ukraine and efficient dialogue in range of issues.

President Yuschenko is not interested in the position of the Ukrainian prime minister

Kyiv (Ukrainian News Agency). President Viktor Yuschenko is not interested in the position of the Ukrainian prime minister should he lose at the presidential elections, he told the ICTV channel. "I won't be the prime minister. I'd like to calm down all those lying advertising campaigns," he said. Yuschenko said that he will never take part in the intrigues not aiming national interests of Ukraine. He confirmed his confidence in the victory at the presidential elections. As Ukrainian News earlier reported, Verkhovna Rada deputy of the Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc Valerii Kalchenko considers that Yuschenko is interested in the prime minister or vice prime minister's post for humanitarian issues should the leader of the Party of Regions Viktor Yanukovych win at the forthcoming presidential elections. Yuschenko considers that Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko and the leader of the Party of Regions Viktor Yanukovych would prefer the position of the prime minister to the post of the Ukrainian president.

Russia attempts to meddle in the process of election of the president of Ukraine

In an interview with a Polish newspaper Rzeczpospolita President Viktor Yuschenko has highlighted Russia's stronger interference with the political situation in Ukraine. "Today Russia interferes with the political situation in Ukraine in a more outright and cynical manner then ever. Starting from critical letters and finishing with clearing-ups and explanations of who should or should not be supported in the Ukrainian elections," the Ukrainian president complained.
The head of state believes this to humiliate the Ukrainian people. At the same time Yuschenko emphasised, Russia's position cannot have much influence on the progress and outcome of the presidential ballot. As Ukrainian News earlier reported, Yuschenko is September said he anticipated Russia's attempts to meddle in the process of election of the president of Ukraine. Ukraine is electing its president on January 17, 2010.

Newly appointed U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine has arrived in Kyiv

Kyiv (INTERFAX) Newly appointed U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine John Tefft has arrived in Kyiv. Tefft presented copies of his credentials to Ukrainian Foreign Minister Petro Poroshenko on Wednesday evening. The U.S. Senate appointed Tefft as U.S. ambassador to Ukraine on November 20, 2009. Tefft has been a career Foreign Service officer for 37 years, the White House reported. He most recently served as U.S. Ambassador to Georgia from 2005-2009. Prior to that assignment, Tefft served as Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs and was responsible for U.S. relations with Russia, Ukraine, Belarus and Moldova. From 2003-2005 Tefft was the International Affairs Advisor at the National War College in Washington, DC. He served as the U.S. Ambassador to Lithuania from 2000 to 2003. He was Deputy Chief of Mission at the U.S. Embassy in Moscow from 1996 to 1999, and served as Charge d'Affaires from November 1996 to September 1997. His other Foreign Service assignments include: Jerusalem, Budapest and Rome. William Taylor was the former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine. His diplomatic career ended in May 2009. Ukrainian President Viktor Yuschenko decorated him with the order of merit of the third degree.

Ukraine will remain NATO's reliable partner

KYIV, December 4 /UKRINFORM/. After the presidential elections, Ukraine will remain a reliable and consistent partner of the North Atlantic Alliance, Foreign Minister Petro Poroshenko said during the Ukraine - NATO Commission meeting in Brussels Thursday.
In his words, this year was of a particular importance for relations between the Alliance and Ukraine, because NATO foreign ministers decided last December to open a new format of bilateral relations. Thanks to this decision, Ukraine launched the development of her annual target plan, and certain results of this work have been already summed up. “Implementation of the 2009 target program conformed to expectations of the Alliance. And we want to thank you for this. This result is also satisfactory to us. The annual target plan helped step up reforms in the military and civil areas, make relations with the Alliance more intensive,” Poroshenko said. He pointed out that the decision of the Bucharest summit and the following decisions by the NATO foreign ministers' meeting on Ukraine's future membership were correct and profitable for relations between NATO and Ukraine. On December 12 the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine decided to triple the strength of the Ukrainian peacekeeping contingent in Afghanistan.

The autumn 2009 conscription campaign in Ukraine is finished

Kyiv (INTERFAX) December 7, 2009. The autumn 2009 conscription campaign has ended in Ukraine, with a total of 26,450 people being drafted into the Ukrainian army in October-November, the Ukrainian Defense Ministry's press service reported on Monday.
The last groups of young conscripts were sent from the collecting stations of regional military commissariats to the armed forces and other military formations, the press service said.
A total of 19,500 people were sent to the Armed Forces of Ukraine, which is 500 less compared to this spring, 5,700 to the interior troops of the Ukrainian Interior Ministry, and 1,250 to the state special transport service. A total of UAH 3.267 million was allocated from the state budget under a government decision to hold the conscription campaign.