April 1, 2016

Newsbriefs

More

Parties fail to form new coalition 

KYIV – Last-minute demands raised by former Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko’s Batkivshchyna party quashed hopes for a new governing coalition in Ukraine on March 29. The party had been reported on March 28 to be part of an imminent deal to form a new coalition and end the political crisis that has delayed Western-backed reforms and loans. But Ms. Tymoshenko, at a meeting of prospective coalition members, raised new demands, including scrapping a tax on pension payments and rolling back energy price hikes. The price hikes were a key reform demanded by the International Monetary Fund as part of Ukraine’s bailout program. Lawmakers emerged from the meeting saying the hoped-for coalition was not formed despite an announcement by Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk’s party late on March 28 of an impending new alliance with Batkivshchyna and President Petro Poroshenko’s faction in the Parliament. Ms. Tymoshenko “is demanding a stack of political laws be voted on before joining the coalition. Everyone has to go back to the drawing board,” a source in the Poroshenko Bloc told Reuters. Lawmakers in Mr. Yatsenyuk’s faction also said the three-party coalition had not been formalized, with party head Maksym Burbak saying the deal won’t be finalized until next week. Mustafa Nayyem, a lawmaker from the Poroshenko Bloc, said “Tymoshenko invented new conditions and that’s why everything has finally failed.” Batkivshchyna is the smallest party in Parliament, but the support of its 19 lawmakers would have been enough to give the three-party coalition a majority when added to the 216 lawmakers from Messrs. Poroshenko’s and Yatsenyuk’s factions. Verkhovna Rada Chairman Volodymyr Groisman, 38, an ally of Mr. Poroshenko, was expected to be put forward as a replacement prime minister by the new coalition. But that move also has been thrown into doubt or delayed along with the new coalition. Lawmakers said the longer the government fails to form a new coalition, the more likely the chaos will trigger snap parliamentary elections, something President Poroshenko hopes to avoid as that likely would boost support for populist parties that oppose Western-backed austerity measures. The lack of a stable coalition capable of pushing reforms through parliament already has derailed talks for a new $1.7 billion loan from the International Monetary Fund. (RFE/RL, with reporting by Reuters, AFP, AP, Interfax and TASS)

Kremlin: Savchenko will serve sentence

MOSCOW – The Kremlin says Ukrainian military pilot Nadiya Savchenko will serve her 22-year prison sentence handed down by a Russian court, despite Kyiv’s pushing for a prisoner exchange. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said: “With Savchenko, the situation is as simple and understandable as possible. Savchenko is a convict… She will serve her sentence.” In excerpts from a televised interview published on March 26, Mr. Peskov denied that any decision had been taken on Ms. Savchenko’s release or exchange. Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has said Kyiv was ready to swap her for Russian prisoners. Mr. Peskov said “so far, there are no such decisions” by Russian President Vladimir Putin. Mr. Peskov acknowledged that U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and German Foreign Affairs Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier had raised the Savchenko case on recent visits to Moscow. However, he downplayed their comments, saying “Kerry did not come to pressure Putin over Savchenko.” (RFE/RL, based on reporting by AFP, TASS and Interfax)
MFA concerned about Savchenko’s health

OTTAWA – On March 25, Ukraine’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs expressed “strong protest with regard to the continuation of the illegal detention by the Russian authorities of illegally sentenced citizen of Ukraine Nadiya Savchenko, which led to significant deterioration of her health and constitutes a danger to her life.” The ministry also noted: “We are outraged by the unfounded refusal of the Russian side to allow qualified Ukrainian doctors to visit Nadiya Savchenko, which indicates an attempt of the Russian authorities to conceal her real health condition and deceive the international community about her so-called satisfactory state of health. We reiterate that under the existing prolongation of the detention of illegally sentenced Nadiya Savchenko, the Russian side bears full responsibility for her health and life. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine urges Russia to immediately allow Ukrainian doctors to visit Nadiya Savchenko and to release her without delay, as stipulated by the Minsk agreements, which the Russian Federation is a signatory to.” The Foreign Affairs Ministry also called “upon the entire international community to continue its pressure on the Russian Federation with the aim of saving life of the illegally sentenced citizen of Ukraine Nadiya Savchenko and her return back to Ukraine.” (Ukrainian Canadian Congress)

Kyiv OKs Savchenko-Sentsov sanctions 

KYIV – Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council has approved targeted sanctions against 54 individuals involved in the prosecutions of Ukrainian citizens Nadiya Savchenko and Oleh Sentsov. President Petro Poroshenko’s press secretary posted the announcement on Twitter on March 25. The council posted a statement saying that the list includes “individuals responsible for abductions, illegal detentions, torture, the falsification of evidence, and the organization and pronouncement of legally void sentences.” Ms. Savchenko, a military pilot, was sentenced on March 22 to 22 years in a Russian prison after being convicted of involvement in the deaths of two Russian journalists in eastern Ukraine in 2014. She denies the charges and says she was abducted in Ukraine and illegally brought to Russia. Filmmaker Mr. Sentsov, a native of Crimea, was arrested in May 2014 on terrorism charges and later sentenced to 10 years in prison. He denies the charges and says they are retaliation for his vocal criticism of Russia’s 2014 annexation of the Ukrainian Black Sea peninsula of Crimea. (RFE/RL, with reporting by TASS)

Bild exposes Russian shadow government

OTTAWA – The German media outlet Bild has published an exclusive report on the Russian shadow government of the occupied territories of Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts, citing documents it has obtained. The report concludes: “The records of the ‘Inter-ministerial Commission for the Provision of Humanitarian Aid for the Affected Areas in the Southeast of the Regions of Donetsk and Luhansk’ from October 23, 2015, reveal what observers have long feared: The Russian government is steering all affairs of the ‘separatist areas’ in the east of Ukraine. …Russia is planning a permanent stabilization of the political, social and economic situation in the Donbas under its control. That will make the Donbas a puppet state of the Russian Federation, whose future is set to be decided exclusively in Moscow. This is confirmation of the failure of the Minsk agreement, adherence to which by Russia is merely pretence. Furthermore, the West’s demand that Ukraine should enable democratic elections in the areas not under its control is taken to the absurd by [this] revelation. The political figures up for elections in such vote would not be the ones in charge for the development of the area. Those that hold on to power are located in Moscow.” The full report is available at http://www.bild.de/politik/ausland/ukraine-konflikt/donbass-shadow-government-45102202.bild.html. (Ukrainian Canadian Congress)

Lawyer for Russian soldier found dead 

KYIV – The body of a lawyer representing a Russian serviceman on trial in Ukraine was found buried on an abandoned farm with signs of violent death, Ukrainian authorities said on March 25. Ukrainian chief military prosecutor Anatolii Matios said two men have been detained in connection with Yuriy Hrabovsky’s murder, one of whom confessed and led police to the body. Mr. Matios said Hrabovsky was drugged and kidnapped in Kyiv earlier this month, then taken to Odesa, where he was last seen. He was later taken to the countryside nearly 150 kilometers south of the capital, where he was shot and killed. Mr. Hrabovsky was representing Aleksandr Aleksandrov, a serviceman captured along with another Russian, Yevgeny Yerofeyev, last year in a part of eastern Ukraine held by Russia-backed separatists. The two men admitted they were Russian officers but Moscow said they had resigned from active duty. Russia has repeatedly denied it is supplying the separatists with equipment or recruits. Hearings in the trial of the two Russian soldiers were adjourned in early March when Mr. Hrabovsky did not show up in court. After Ukrainian pilot Nadiya Savchenko was convicted by a Russian court this week, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said he would be willing to exchange the two Russian servicemen for Savchenko. Mr. Matios told reporters that Mr. Hrabovsky’s body was found after a suspect told prosecutors about the murder and the location of his grave. Another suspect in the killing was detained later, he said. The prosecutor did not give the motive for the killing or reveal the names of the suspects. But he said they were Ukrainian citizens and one of them used a fake special service agent ID. Mr. Matios said that the suspects “had received a lot of money” for carrying out the killing and had created alibis. The Russian Foreign Ministry on March 25 blamed Ukrainian authorities for failing to protect Mr. Hrabovsky, who they said had become a victim of anti-Russian sentiment in Ukraine because of his role defending the Russian serviceman. “Despite all our warnings, Kyiv authorities were still unable or unwilling to guarantee [Hrabovskiy’s] safety,” the ministry said. Amnesty International last raised an alarm about Mr. Hrabovsky’s disappearance, saying that he and the lawyer for the other defendant had been under “sustained pressure from the Ukrainian authorities” because of their role in the trial. “The killing of a criminal defense lawyer is a hideous crime and the Ukrainian authorities must immediately take all steps necessary to begin to rectify this ultimate abuse of human rights and justice,” said Amnesty senior director Anna Neistat. (RFE/RL)

U.S. to increase rotation of combat units 

WASHINGTON – A top U.S. military commander has announced more frequent rotations of U.S. combat units to Eastern Europe beginning early next year, citing an “aggressive Russia” as the main reason for the increase. The announcement on March 30 by Air Force Gen. Philip Breedlove, commander of U.S. military forces in Europe, was the latest in a series of moves by the Pentagon to bolster units and equipment on the continent, in an effort to reassure nervous NATO allies. In a statement, Gen. Breedlove said an additional armored brigade would be begin rotating into Eastern Europe in February 2017, bringing the number of U.S. combat brigades that are constantly in the region to three. A brigade typically has between 4,200 and 4,700 troops. The rotation “continues to demonstrate our strong and balanced approach to reassuring our NATO Allies and partners in the wake of an aggressive Russia in Eastern Europe and elsewhere,” he said. Earlier this year, U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter announced a quadrupling in U.S. spending – $3.4 billion – for more operations in Europe, under a plan called the European Reassurance Initiative. Officials have said that this will include stationing some heavy equipment like tanks, combat vehicles, and artillery pieces on a permanent basis in the region. NATO allies in Eastern Europe in particular have pushed hard for a bolstered military presence, in response to Russia’s annexation of Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula and the conflict in eastern Ukraine. There are about 62,000 U.S. military troops permanently assigned to Europe. (Mike Eckel of RFE/RL)

Latvia blocks Russian propaganda

RIGA – Latvian authorities shut down Russia’s pro-Kremlin news site Sputnik on March 29, calling it a “propaganda tool” and drawing an immediate rebuke from Moscow. Latvia’s local domain registry suspended Sputnik’s right to hold the news site Sputniknews.lv, which was established only a few weeks ago to reach out to Latvia’s large Russian-speaking minority with articles in Russian and Latvian. “We don’t regard Sputnik as a credible media source but as something else: a propaganda tool,” Latvian Foreign Affairs Ministry spokesman Raimonds Jansons told AFP. Russia’s Foreign Affairs Ministry called the decision “blatant censorship” and insisted “the Russian mass media adheres to the highest standards of professionalism and ethics.” Riga “once again, with the tacit inaction of leading human rights organizations, is ignoring its convention obligations to ensure media pluralism and freedom of speech as it continues to target Russian mass media in Latvia,” the Russian ministry said. Latvia has banned Russian media before, having shut down Russian state television broadcasts for several months in 2014. The Russian Embassy in Latvia called the move against Sputnik “groundless” and said that Latvia had started “an information war.” Latvia’s domain registry decided to shut the site after receiving a letter of concern from the Latvian Foreign Affairs Ministry, which drew attention to Sputnik’s coverage of Ukraine and routine denial of the embattled nation’s territorial integrity. The ministry questioned whether the coverage might constitute a breach of European Union sanctions on Russia, which were imposed over Moscow’s annexation of Crimea in 2014. “We wrote pointing out our opinion that the fact that the head of Sputnik, Mr. [Dmitry] Kiselyov is on the sanctions list of the European Union was something that needed to be taken into account” in deciding whether to register the site, Mr. Jansons told AFP. (RFE/RL, with reporting by Reuters and AFP)
Russia’s patriotic chess star from Crimea 

MOSCOW – There’s a new patriotic Russian chess star on the block – and he’s from Crimea. Chess grandmaster Sergey Karjakin, 26, won the FIDE World Chess Candidates Tournament in Moscow on March 28, giving him the opportunity to play Norway’s Magnus Carlsen for the title of world chess champion in New York in November. Mr. Karjakin beat Italian-American Fabiano Caruana with the white pieces to clinch the candidates tournament in the 14th round, becoming the first Russian to mount a challenge for the world championship since Vladimir Kramnik in 2008. Speaking to RFE/RL on March 29, Mr. Karjakin said he was proud to have won for Russia, the country he has represented since 2009, having earlier competed for Ukraine. Born in Crimea’s capital, Symferopol, in 1990, Mr. Karjakin represented Ukraine until he was poached to play for Russia. In July 2009, President Dmitry Medvedev made Karjakin a Russian citizen by decree. Mr. Karjakin said that he decided to play for Russia in 2009 because he had been unable to get the sponsorship and coaching he needed in Ukraine, while the Russian chess federation offered him “an opportunity to work with good trainers.” He added, “After that I moved to Moscow. That was 2009. Since then, I have been in Moscow.” From his adopted home, Karjakin has been a staunch supporter of the Kremlin and Russian policy in Ukraine – which has seen revolution overthrow a Moscow-backed president, the forced annexation of the Crimean peninsula by Russia, and a separatist conflict in the east that has claimed more than 9,100 lives. Following the Russian operation in Crimea in 2014, Mr. Karjakin posted a photograph of himself on Instagram wearing a T-shirt bearing an image of Russian President Vladimir Putin and the caption: “We don’t leave our guys behind.” He explained to RFE/RL, “I ally myself entirely with Russia because Crimea, as we know, has transferred to Russia. I am actually extremely happy about this because I always considered myself Russian. I speak Russian, think in Russian, so I’m entirely a Russian person, and entirely support Russia as a state.” Of Mr. Putin, Mr. Karjakin said: “I absolutely support him in everything he does.” The chessmaster said he was saddened by the difficulties former countrymen in Ukraine have endured, however. “There has never been a revolution that led to a good life,” he said. “Since the revolution, everything has gotten worse. I am very sorry to see all the misery that has resulted. They really did support this revolution, but the people who didn’t support it became hostages in the sense that those who supported it used force to make it happen.” (Tom Balmforth of RFE/RL)

IRI poll focuses on corruption

OTTAWA – A poll released by the International Republican Institute (IRI) “shows that corruption remains a serious problem across Ukraine.” In the poll, conducted in 24 of the country’s largest cities, “an overwhelming majority of citizens rank corruption as a significant or serious problem, including more than 70 percent of people in the nation’s capital, Kyiv …While corruption remains a problem overall, trust and approval among Ukrainians of their local mayors has increased since last year. In half of the cities surveyed, more than 40 percent of respondents said they were satisfied with the October 2015 mayoral results and in some places, like Kharkiv, Lviv and Ternopil, well over 60 percent approve of the mayor’s activities and reforms.” According to the poll, one of the most popular reforms of the last year was replacing patrol police in the cities of Kyiv, Kharkiv, Lviv and Odesa. “This reform resulted in a significant boost in citizen approval ratings of the police,” IRI stated. The poll was conducted in all oblast capitals of Ukraine (excluding Russian-occupied Symferopol and Donetsk and Luhansk), as well as Mariupol and Severodonetsk on January 20-February 8. The poll was funded by Global Affairs Canada. The full results of the poll are available at http://www.iri.org/sites/default/files/wysiwyg/municipal_poll_2016_-_public_release.pdf. (Ukrainian Canadian Congress)

Comments are closed.