December 11, 2015

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Over 9,000 killed in Ukraine’s east

KYIV – A United Nations report released on December 9 says the confirmed death toll from the conflict in eastern Ukraine now exceeds 9,000, despite a “significant reduction of hostilities in certain parts” of the region. The report by the U.N. Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine attributed the decrease in hostilities to the withdrawal of “certain heavy weapons by the Ukrainian military” and pro-Russian separatist fighters. But it warned that weapons and fighters are still pouring into rebel-held areas of eastern Ukraine from Russia. It said the death toll since fighting began in April 2014 had reached 9,098 in mid-November with another 20,732 people injured. The casualty toll includes civilians, Ukrainian government troops, and pro-Russian armed groups. The report says there were 47 civilian deaths in eastern Ukraine between August 26 and November 15. It said most of those deaths were caused by “explosive remnants of war and improvised explosive devices, underscoring the urgent need for extensive mine clearance and mine awareness actions on both sides of the conflict line.” (RFE/RL)

Russia threatens to sue Ukraine 

MOSCOW – Russian President Vladimir Putin has instructed the Finance Ministry to take Ukraine to court if the country defaults on its $3 billion debt to Moscow. “Go ahead, take it to court,” Mr. Putin told Finance Minister Anton Siluanov at a government meeting on December 9. “If Russia sues Ukraine, we are ready to fight Russia in court,” Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk said later. The comments come a day after the International Monetary Fund revised its policy, allowing the Washington-based institution to continue lending to countries that fail to pay debts held by other countries. That means financial aid to Ukraine may continue if the country doesn’t repay the $3 billion Eurobond Russia bought in December 2013. Last month, Moscow offered to restructure the bond, which matures on December 20, by spreading out payments over three years. But Ukraine wants the bond to be restructured under an agreement reached with its commercial creditors that would write down the principal of the debt. (RFE/RL, based on reporting by AFP, TASS and Bloomberg)

Russia says U.S. refused guarantees

MOSCOW – Russia says it has received an official refusal from the U.S. government to provide guarantees for Ukraine’s debts and that Moscow will sue Kyiv if it doesn’t pay its debt on time, according to December 5 news reports. The Russian Finance Ministry says that without Washington’s guarantee for Ukraine’s debt, Moscow cannot restructure the $3 billion loan and will sue Kyiv if it doesn’t repay the debt by December 20, when it is due. Russia had offered to restructure Ukraine’s Eurobond loan in equal installments over the next three years if the West agreed to provide guarantees. But Ukraine has included the Russian loan among several loans that are to be restructured in a deal with a group of its largest creditors, in effect spurning Russia’s restructuring offer. The Russian Finance Ministry claimed that its restructuring offer had better terms for Ukraine than the International Monetary fund (IMF) loan terms. Ukraine is restructuring its debts under an IMF-led $40 billion bailout program. The Eurobond was issued by the government of former President Viktor Yanukovych in 2013. (RFE/RL, based on reporting by Reuters and TASS)

Putin promises more electricity 

SYMFEROPOL, Ukraine – Russian President Vladimir Putin promised to deliver new electricity supplies to power-short Crimea in a surprise visit to the disputed territory on December 2. Mr. Putin attended a ceremony to launch an undersea cable project that he called an “energy bridge” bringing a new supply of power to the Black Sea peninsula, which gets most of its electricity from Ukraine. He also vowed that Russia will help make Crimea more energy independent by 2018. “In 2017-2018, its own [power output] will be larger than that received from Ukraine,” Mr. Putin said. The territory’s 2 million residents have been beset by power cuts since Crimea’s four main pylons in Ukraine were blown up late last month. No one has claimed responsibility for the sabotage. Russian and Crimean authorities blame Ukraine for the outages, but Kyiv insists it does not know what caused the explosions. Mr. Putin “went to Symferopol, where he inaugurated the first phase of the energy bridge that will provide Crimea’s power supply from Russia,” Crimea’s deputy Prime Minister Ruslan Balbek said. “The first electricity line should have been operational on December 20, but the works have been speeded up… It is a historic day for Crimea, which has won its energy independence from Ukraine,” he said. The electricity cables linking Russia to Crimea are now expected to be up and running on December 15, Mr. Balbek said. Mr. Putin meanwhile warned residents of Crimea that “there may still be some problems,” adding, “I hope the second phase will be launched soon.” (RFE/RL, with reporting by AFP, Interfax and TASS)

Ukraine’s MFA protests Putin visit 

OTTAWA – The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine voiced its strong protest of Russian President V. Putin’s visit to Russian-occupied Crimea on December 2, the Ukrainian Canadian Congress reported in its daily briefing on the crisis in Ukraine. “We stress once again that the Autonomous Republic of Crimea, and the city of Sevastopol are and will remain integral parts of Ukraine within its internationally recognized borders. This is recognized by the entire civilized world, which has provided a proper assessment of the actions of the Russian side and continues to implement appropriate restrictive measures,” the MFA stated. (Ukrainian Canadian Congress)

Power supply to Crimea is resumed

KYIV – Ukrainian officials say they are starting to resume electricity supplies to Crimea more than two weeks after power lines to the disputed territory were sabotaged, causing widespread blackouts. The power cuts have severely disrupted the lives of 2 million Crimeans and exposed how dependent the peninsula remains on Ukraine a year and a half after it was annexed by Russia. “We are in the process of resuming energy supplies,” said Igor Boska, regional head of Ukrenergo, the Ukrainian electric utility. While the utility appeared close to restoring functioning of the Kakhovska power substation, which supplies much of the Kherson and Mykolayiv regions, three other damaged power transmission lines remain offline. Crimea depends on Ukraine for most of its electricity. After the power lines went down, pro-Ukrainian activists, including many ethnic Tartars who opposed Crimea’s annexation, prevented repairs by blocking access for engineers to pylons in Kherson in southern Ukraine. But after negotiations, Tatar leader Lenur Islamov said that the engineers have been allowed to work. (RFE/RL, based on reporting by Reuters, TASS and Interfax)

Firtash predicts fall of government 

VIENNA – Ukrainian billionaire Dmytro Firtash said the Ukrainian government is politically bankrupt and will probably fall early next year. Mr. Firtash, a former supporter of ousted pro-Russian President Viktor Yanukovych, shelved a plan to return to Ukraine after officials there said they would act on a U.S. warrant for his arrest on suspicion of bribery and money-laundering. Speaking from his base in the Austrian capital, Mr. Firtash said he had lost faith in the ability of the government to conduct meaningful reform, and had decided Ukraine needed a movement that would push for political change. (Reuters)

WHO on polio outbreak in Ukraine

KYIV – The World Health Organization on December 1 urged Ukraine’s Ministry of Health to declare a state of emergency due to a polio outbreak, a move meant to prompt more action from the government in Kyiv. In September, Ukraine announced two polio cases – the first in Europe since 2010. The U.N. health agency recommended that Ukraine declare a state of emergency and “respond to the polio outbreak as quickly and effectively as possible,” Dorit Nitzan, head of the WHO’s office in Ukraine, told journalists. Half of Ukraine’s children have not been vaccinated against polio. (Associated Press)

Russian military implicated in torture

KHARKIV, Ukraine – The Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group (KHPG) reported on December 1 that “Ukrainian human rights activists believe that over 87 percent of Ukrainian soldiers and 50 percent of civilians taken prisoner by Kremlin-backed, pro-Russian militants in Donbas have been subjected to torture or ill-treatment. What is more, in over 40 percent of the so-called ‘interrogations’ and control over them, key roles were played by mercenaries from the Russian Federation or people who identified themselves as Russian military personnel.” The Kharkiv group reported that the Justice for Peace in Donbas coalition had issued a report titled “Those who Survived Hell” that is based mainly on a survey of 165 people held prisoner by the militants. The full report is available at http://khpg.org/en/index.php?id=1448852051. (Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group)

Linkevicius for visa-free travel for Ukraine

NEW YORK – Writing in the Wall Street Journal on December 1, Lithuania’s Foreign Affairs Minister Linas Linkevicius argued: “Two years after the demonstrations on the Maidan in Kyiv …gave birth to a new Ukraine, a new society determined to join Europe and ready to die for it. This same society later sent its sons and daughters to defend against the Russian aggression in Crimea and eastern Ukraine. …The country has delivered on both economic prosperity and good governance, all the while fighting a war against an aggressor nearly four times its size. …We need to acknowledge Ukraine’s efforts.” Mr. Linkevicious went on to state: “They need the EU, but the EU also needs them. They fought for European values so Europeans wouldn’t have to fight for them ourselves. The EU must now send a strong signal of support to the Ukrainian people, showing them that they belong with us. They should be allowed to see the dream they died for. They should be welcomed as part of the EU’s visa-free regime. …During the Revolution of Dignity on the Maidan, Ukrainians fought bravely for the values that the EU represents. Now it’s time for the EU to show that it was worth the fight.” (The Wall Street Journal)

Two sentenced for attacks on Maidan 

KYIV – A court in Kyiv has sentenced two Azerbaijani citizens for attacks against Maidan activists during the early 2014 protests that brought down Ukraine’s former President Viktor Yanukovych. The Obolon District Court found the two men, whose names were not released, guilty on charges of hooliganism, robbery, violent attack and threatening to kill others. They were sentenced on December 9 to four years in jail each. The sentence for one of the men was suspended for three years. Investigators said during their trial that the two attacked and severely beat two activists of pro-European Maidan protests in Kyiv in January 2014. They were convicted of robbing one victim and taking part in the kidnapping of another Ukrainian activist that was held in captivity for two hours. They also were convicted of beating the man they helped to kidnap and threatening to kill him. (RFE/RL, based on reporting by UNIAN and Interfax)

Stolen art found in eastern Ukraine 

HOORN, The Netherlands – A collection of stolen Dutch masterpieces dating from the 17th century have resurfaced in rebel-held eastern Ukraine 10 years after they had been stolen. The Westfries Museum in the northwestern Dutch city of Hoorn said on December 7 that two men approached the Dutch Embassy in Kyiv in July offering to sell the 24 paintings back. The men claimed they found the collection in a villa in eastern Ukraine and asked 5 million euros ($5.4 million) for it – half its value when it went missing in 2005. But an art expert, who has been hired as an intermediary, estimated the collection’s current cost at a maximum 500,000 euros ($545,000), noting the paintings’ current poor shape. Westfries Museum Director Ad Geerdink warned that the works were in danger of being sold on the black market after its own efforts to retrieve them failed. (RFE/RL, based on reporting by Reuters and AFP)

Saakashvili slams revocation of citizenship

KYIV – Mikheil Saakashvili, the Georgian ex-president who now governs the Odesa Oblast in Ukraine, says Tbilisi’s decision to strip him of his Georgian citizenship is politically motivated. Mr. Saakashvili, who started the Odesa job in May, told RFE/RL hours after the move was announced that Georgia’s current authorities “are afraid” of him. And he vowed to return to Georgia, passport or not. “No one can strip me of my unlimited love for Georgia; we will definitely come back [to Georgia] and we will win,” he added. Georgian President Giorgi Margvelashvili revoked Mr. Saakashvili’s citizenship on December 4, one day after Justice Minister Tea Tsulukani recommended the action. Tbilisi cites a ban on dual citizenship and the Ukrainian citizenship that Mr. Saakashvili took on earlier this year in order to take up the Odesa job for his friend, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko. “That is clearly a political decision, and there are several reasons to think that way,” Mr. Saakashvili said. “First, there is a two-year period given by the Ukrainian laws for revoking a previous country’s citizenship. And the Georgian government was well aware of it. There are many of our [Georgian] citizens working at different official posts here, and they also obtained Ukrainian citizenship. However, there is no [such] decision on them.” He defended his work as governor in Ukraine. “Today, me and my friends are serving the Georgian cause; we are serving Georgia’s future [by working in Ukraine],” Mr. Saakashvili said. “Our common future. That’s why they can take away my passport but nobody can deprive me of my Georgianness.” He added that “salvation and progress in Ukraine will result in the salvation and progress of Georgia.” Mr. Saakashvili and his United National Movement party in Georgia suggested the move was aimed at preventing his possible participation in Georgia’s parliamentary elections, scheduled for next year. “Although I have never said I would take part in the polls,” Saakashvili added. Tbilisi had asked Kyiv to extradite Saakashvili earlier this year, but Ukrainian officials call the accusations against him politically motivated. (RFE/RL, with reporting by Apsny.ge, TASS and Interfax)

OSCE opens patrol base in Horlivka

DONETSK, Ukraine – The Special Monitoring Mission (SMM) to Ukraine of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) on December 9 opened a new forward patrol base to house a small group of monitors in the city of Horlivka, an area currently not under government control in the eastern region of Donetsk. Principal Deputy Chief Monitor Alexander Hug was to spend the first night in the newly established base together with the team. “This base will enable us to follow up on reports about incidents faster and will help us perform our mandated tasks more efficiently, and in parity on both sides of the contact line,” Mr. Hug said. He added that the monitors’ permanent presence in the area should help motivate the signatories to adhere to their obligations under the Minsk agreement more effectively. The SMM announced its intention to open a number of forward patrol bases in the area two months ago and has asked those in effective control to provide security guarantees for its unarmed civilian monitors. Residents of Horlivka have in the past told the SMM that they wanted the mission to have a permanent presence in their city, which has been seriously affected by the conflict. The SMM has already opened two forward patrol bases in Ukrainian government-controlled areas – in Volnovakha (Donetsk region) and in Novoaidar (Luhansk region). A third base is currently operating in Stakhanov, a city in an area of the Luhansk region that is outside of government control. The SMM is looking to open more such bases on both sides of the contact line to ensure that monitoring is carried out in parity. (OSCE)

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