February 19, 2016

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Poroshenko denounces Russian aggression

MUNICH – Speaking on February 13 at the 2016 Munich Security Conference, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko stressed that his country needs unflagging support from the West, saying that the security of Europe and the world are at stake in Ukraine. At a presidential panel at the Munich conference, he addressed angry remarks to an absent Russian President Vladimir Putin. “Mr. Putin, this is not a civil war in Ukraine, this is your aggression… this is your soldiers who have entered my country,” Mr. Poroshenko said in English. Fighting in eastern Ukraine has decreased dramatically since September 2015, but central aspects of the Minsk II deal have gone unfulfilled amid mutual recriminations. Mr. Poroshenko said that it is “not only Ukraine, not only Ukrainian security” that is at stake. “This is European and global security.” He warned that Mr. Putin is threatening Europe and its values, saying there is an illiberal “alternative Europe” and its “name is Vladimir Putin.” (RFE/RL)

Kerry warns Russia of continued sanctions

MUNICH, Germany – U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry accused Russia of “repeated aggression” and said sanctions will stay in place until the Minsk II agreement to resolve the conflict in eastern Ukraine is fully implemented. The United States and the European Union have imposed economic sanctions on Russia in response to its support for separatists who control parts of eastern Ukraine and have fought government forces in a devastating war. Sanctions will remain in place until “the sovereignty and integrity of Ukraine is protected in full implementation of the Minsk agreements,” Mr. Kerry said at the Munich Security Conference on February 13. He said “Russia faces a simple choice: fully implement Minsk” or face continued sanctions. He added that implementation includes the withdrawal of Russian forces – which Western governments say are in Ukraine despite Russian denials – and restoration of Ukrainian control over the entire Ukrainian-Russian border. Mr. Kerry spoke of joint and “unwavering support for a democratic Ukraine” by the United States and the European Union, and called for Ukraine to do more to fight corruption. (RFE/RL)

Kerry meets with Poroshenko

WASHINGTON – U.S. State Department Spokesperson John Kirby on February 13 released the following information about Secretary of State John Kerry’s meeting with Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko. “Secretary Kerry met today on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference with Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko. The secretary reaffirmed the strong support of the United States for full implementation of the Minsk agreement. He urged unity among Ukraine’s leaders, and faster progress on reform and against corruption, especially those urgent steps recommended by the IMF.” (U.S. Department of State)

UOC-KP evicted from Crimean cathedral

KYIV – At a recent press conference in Kyiv, Archbishop Klyment of Symferopol and Crimea of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church – Kyiv Patriarchate announced that the Russian Arbitration Court in Crimea had ruled that premises belonging to the Crimean eparchy of the UOC-KP would be seized and confiscated. The archbishop explained that the ruling concerned the Cathedral of Ss. Volodymyr and Olha in the center of Symferopol. “We’ve been asked to pay half a million rubles to the Ministry of Property and Land Relations, vacate the premises within 10 days and prepare for the fact that the building will be confiscated because all communications, water, light, power and heat supplies are located on these 112 square meters,” he said. “The leadership of the Crimean Diocese of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church – Kyiv Patriarchate will not leave the Church and will continue to stand up for its rights. We’ve been fighting for our Church with the Property Fund of Crimea for over 20 years and we’ll continue.” He told Krym.Realii that the number of premises belonging to the UOC-KP in the Crimea has dropped from 20 to 10 since the start of the occupation. He added that activists of Crimean Ukrainian communities had left mainly because their children were not allowed to study in their native language. Despite many statements and evidence of harassment on religious grounds presented by human rights organizations, Russian authorities deny everything and claim that believers of all religions faiths are treated equally in Crimea. (Euromaidan Press)

Russia files lawsuit against Ukraine 

MOSCOW – Russia has filed a lawsuit against Ukraine after Kyiv failed to repay a $3 billion Eurobond. Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov said the lawsuit was filed on February 17 at the High Court in London. “This lawsuit was filed after repeated unsuccessful attempts to engage Ukraine in constructive dialogue about restructuring the debt and to admit the fact that Russia-owned Eurobonds are an official loan,” Mr. Siluanov said in comments quoted by Russian media. The Eurobond was issued by the government of former President Viktor Yanukovych in late 2013 and bought by Russia in its entirety. The bond was issued just two months before Mr. Yanukovych fled Ukraine amid street protests triggered by his seeking to halt Ukraine’s swing toward European integration in favor of closer economic ties with Russia. Ukraine, which has separately reached an agreement with private creditors to restructure its sovereign and sovereign-guaranteed debt, insists the Eurobond is a commercial debt and that it cannot offer Russia a better deal than other creditors. (RFE/RL, based on reporting by AFP and Reuters)

Deputy procurator-general resigns 

KYIV – Ukrainian Deputy Procurator General Vitalii Kasko, known for his pro-reform stance, has resigned. Mr. Kasko told journalists in Kyiv on February 15 that “the straw that broke the camel’s back” was a move by Prosecutor-General Viktor Shokin to take all of Kasko’s activities under his control. “The Procurator General’s Office today is a dead institution, in independence and efficiency, that nobody believes in anymore,” Mr. Kasko said. U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Geoffrey Pyatt wrote on Twitter after Mr. Kasko’s announcement that “Kasko was a champion of reforms in the prosecutor-general’s office in Ukraine. His resignation will interrupt the progress of reforms in Ukraine.” Earlier in February, another reformist member of the government, Aivaras Abromavicius, resigned from the post of economy minister. Mr. Abromavicius said his resignation was born out of frustration over the “sharp escalation in efforts to block systemic and important reforms.” (RFE/RL’s Ukrainian Service)

Viktor Shokin reportedly resigns 

KYIV – Ukrainian media and a pro-Western member of Ukraine’s Parliament say Procurator General Viktor Shokin resigned on February 16 after President Petro Poroshenko asked him and Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk to step down. Mr. Shokin’s deputy, meanwhile, said the prosecutor had taken a three-day vacation, but did not specify whether in fact he had resigned. Mr. Shokin has faced accusations of stalling high-profile corruption cases against allies of Viktor Yanukovych, the former president who was toppled by protests in February 2014. The newspaper Ukrayinska Pravda cited an unidentified source in Mr. Shokin’s office as saying that the procurator general had tendered his resignation following a February 16 statement by President Poroshenko that Messrs. Shokin and Yatsenyuk should quit “in order to restore trust in the government.” The Ukrainian news portal lb.ua also cited an unidentified source as confirming Shokin’s resignation. National Deputy Mustafa Nayyem wrote on his Twitter feed that Mr. Shokin had resigned but did not indicate a source for this information, which could not be immediately confirmed. U.S. officials, including the U.S. ambassador in Kyiv, have long made clear their position that Mr. Shokin should resign, and in Washington, Mr. Poroshenko’s call for Mr. Shokin to go was welcomed. “The announcement to replace [Shokin] is a signal of Ukraine’s seriousness about its reform process,” U.S. State Department spokesman Mark Toner told reporters on February 16. “It’s important to restore the confidence of the Ukrainian people in their justice system, but clearly there is an immense amount of work yet to be done in countering corruption, including in the prosecutorial service,” Mr. Toner said. (RFE/RL, with reporting by pravda.com.ua, lb.ua, RFE/RL’s Ukrainian Service and Reuters)

Tymoshenko party quits coalition 

KYIV – Batkivshchyna, an ally in Ukraine’s ruling coalition, has quit, calling the alliance a “clans’ coalition that brought the nation to the extreme point of destruction.” The leader of the party, Yulia Tymoshenko, made the announcement on February 17 and urged other lawmakers to also walk out of the coalition. The move came after lawmakers representing Batkivshchyna and Samopomich boycotted a parliamentary session to protest against Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk’s survival in a no-confidence vote. Samopomich called the February 16 Parliament vote “a cynical overthrow of the government” and accused President Petro Poroshenko of taking part in it. Mr. Yatsenyuk survived the no-confidence vote on February 16, hours after Mr. Poroshenko called on him to resign “in order to restore trust in the government.” Mr. Yatsenyuk said on February 17 that it was essential to reshuffle the ruling coalition, adding that he was in discussions with political groups, including the populist Radical party. (RFE/RL, with reporting by Reuters)

Three soldiers reported killed in east 

KYIV – Ukraine said on February 16 that three of its servicemen have been killed and seven wounded in fighting with Russia-backed separatists in the past 24 hours. Military spokesman Oleksandr Motuznyak said the fighting had taken place on the front line near the village of Zaitseve, some 50 kilometers north of the separatist stronghold of Donetsk. Meanwhile, the separatists said shelling from the Ukrainian government side had hit Zaitseve and Donetsk suburbs. More than 9,000 people have been killed in fighting between government forces and rebels in eastern Ukraine since April 2014, and a year-old ceasefire agreement has failed to completely stop the violence. On February 14, the head of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), Lamberto Zannier, told RFE/RL that fighting had flared up in eastern Ukraine and the humanitarian situation was “dire.” (RFE/RL, based on reporting by Reuters and Interfax)

Lawyer: Afanasiev’s health worsening 

MOSCOW – A Ukrainian who testified in the Russian trial of filmmaker Oleh Sentsov and later recanted his testimony has been transferred to a harsh punishment cell and is being denied medical care despite worsening health. Hennadiy Afanasiev’s lawyer told RFE/RL that Mr. Afanasiev, who is serving a seven-year prison sentence after being convicted on charges widely seen as fabricated, had requested a transfer to another facility so he could get treatment for a blood infection, but that has been rejected. Earlier this month, they moved him to a punishment cell, his lawyer, Aleksandr Popkov, said, after allegedly finding contraband items including a cell phone SIM-card and, earlier, a razor blade. Mr. Afanasiev denied the items were his. “They’re seriously squeezing him,” Mr. Popkov said. “They’re using the full power of the repressive machine against him. This, most likely, worries him most. One thing after another is piling up: problems with his health, problems with the [prison] director, who is reprimanding him without cause.” Mr. Afanasiev was arrested in Crimea in May 2014, along with Mr. Sentsov and two other men, and was accused of being part of a terrorist conspiracy on the Black Sea peninsula, which had been annexed by Russia two months earlier. Mr. Afanasiev initially provided testimony that helped convict Sentsov and his co-defendant Oleksandr Kolchenko. But he later retracted his statement, saying he had been tortured by Russian security agents. He was sentenced in December 2014 by a Moscow court, and sent to a prison colony in the northern Russian region of Komi. Mr. Popkov said Afanasiev had also been barred from receiving telephone calls, and relatives reported he hadn’t been receiving mail since December. (RFE/RL, with reporting by Igor Bubnov from RFE/RL’s Russian Service)

Prosecutor seeks closure of Tatar Mejlis 

SYMFEROPOL, Ukraine – The prosecutor in Russian-occupied Crimea has filed a request with that territory’s Supreme Court to ban the Crimean Tatars’ self-governing body, the Mejlis. The Mejlis has refused to recognize Russia’s forced annexation of the peninsula from Ukraine nearly two years ago and played a key role in the consolidation of efforts on behalf of Crimean Tatars. Natalya Poklonskaya signed the request on February 15 to brand the Mejlis “an extremist organization,” Russian news agencies reported. The reports say Poklonskaya handed a copy of the legal challenge to a leader of the Mejlis, Nariman Celal, the same day. Many Crimean Tatars fled Crimea during or after its military seizure by Russia in early 2014, and others who remained have complained of harassment or even disappearances under the Moscow-backed authorities on the peninsula. The European Parliament this month overwhelmingly approved a resolution to condemn Russia for its treatment of the minority group, which one member said, “have been persecuted from the very beginning of the Russian invasion.” Ms. Poklonskaya’s move came four days after the Russian authorities who control Crimea arrested several Crimean Tatars on suspicion of belonging to Hizb ut-Tahrir, an Islamist political organization that is banned across Central Asia and Russia. Crimean Tatars activists rejected the charges, saying that they were politically motivated. Established in 1991 and legalized by the Ukrainian government in 1999, the Mejlis has been known as an organ that addressed issues related to Crimean Tatars to Kyiv and international bodies. Crimean Tatars are native to the Black Sea peninsula but were deported to Central Asia by Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin in 1944. They began returning in large numbers to Crimea in the late 1980s and now comprise more than 12.5 percent of Crimea’s population of 2.5 million. (RFE/RL, with reporting by TASS and Interfax)

Donbas not ready for elections

DONETSK, Ukraine – Russia-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine say that local elections mandated by the Minsk process on ending the conflict in the region can only be held toward the end of this year. Separatist official Vladislav Deinego said in the Ukrainian city of Donetsk on February 14 that first the political situation must “stabilize” and economic concerns must be addressed. “It will take at least half a year to complete constitutional reform and at least a month to adopt a law on elections and begin preparing,” he said. “It turns out it will take at least 10 months.” Russian Foreign Affairs Minister Sergei Lavrov, speaking in Munich on February 13, urged Kyiv to adopt “constitutional reform that will reinforce the permanent status of Donbas.” In an interview with TASS on February 14, Lamberto Zannier, secretary-general of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), said his organization was prepared to facilitate elections on the separatist-held territory. He said he had discussed with Ukrainian officials the possibility of creating an international police mission to “help creating a secure environment for the elections.” (RFE/RL, based on reporting by TASS and Interfax)

Ukraine flu death toll tops 280 

KYIV – The death toll of the influenza epidemic in Ukraine has reached 286, the Health Ministry has said. According to the ministry on February 15, two pregnant women and four young people under 17 years of age were among those killed by the flu since late September. The largest number of deaths from the flu has been registered in the regions of Kyiv and Odesa. On January 26, Health Minister Aleksandr Kvitashvili officially announced a flu epidemic in the country. (RFE/RL, based on reporting by UNIAN and DailyLviv.com)

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