May 27, 2016

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Russia, Putin named in MH17 claim 

STRASBOURG, France – A law firm in Australia has filed a compensation claim against Russia and President Vladimir Putin on behalf of victims of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 (MH17), shot down in 2014. Reports on May 21 said 33 next of kin were named in the claim filed on May 9 by the law firm LHD Lawyers in the European Court of Human Rights, based in Strasbourg, France. It seeks $10 million in compensation per passenger. The jetliner crashed in Ukraine in Russia-backed separatist-held territory on July 17, 2014, killing all 298 people on board, including 28 Australians. The aircraft, flying from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur, was shot down by a Russian-made surface-to-air missile, the Dutch Safety Board concluded in its final report late last year. The board was not empowered to address questions of responsibility. Fighting was raging in eastern Ukraine between Russian-backed separatists and Ukrainian government forces when the aircraft was downed and many Western experts and governments blamed the rebels. “So far we don’t have [such information]” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told the Interfax news agency when asked to comment on reports of the compensation claim. (RFE/RL, based on reporting by Reuters and Interfax)

Seven Ukrainian soldiers killed

KYIV – Ukraine said on May 24 that seven of its servicemen were been killed and nine others wounded in the country’s east during the previous 24 hours. National Security and Defense Council Chairman Oleksandr Turchynov said on May 24 that it is the highest number of casualties in the region in a single day during 2016. Mr. Turchynov said Russia-backed separatists had intensified attacks on government troops using heavy weapons and accused Moscow of doing everything to “torpedo a peaceful way to solve the conflict.” Meanwhile, separatists accused government forces of shelling the western outskirts of Donetsk late on May 23, damaging eight residential buildings. The statements came as the leaders of Russia, France, Germany and Ukraine spoke by telephone on May 24 about ways to settle the conflict. Fighting between Ukrainian government forces and Russia-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine has killed more than 9,300 people since April 2014. A February 2015 ceasefire agreement brokered by France and Germany in Minsk has helped reduce the violence, but sporadic clashes have continued. (RFE/RL, based on reporting by AFP, Reuters and Interfax)

Leaders discuss ways to settle conflict 

PRAGUE – The leaders of Russia, France, Germany and Ukraine spoke by telephone on May 24 about ways to settle the conflict in eastern Ukraine. The Kremlin said Russia offered proposals which it “coordinated” with Russia-backed separatists on holding elections in the Donbas region and granting amnesty to combatants in the conflict. After the call, the leaders issued a statement “recalling their commitment to the Minsk peace accords and their determination to do everything to ensure they are implemented in full as quickly as possible,” according to French President Francois Hollande’s office. The Kremlin said the leaders emphasized the need to observe a ceasefire and discussed raising the efficiency of a monitoring mission by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe. The Kremlin said the leaders discussed giving the OSCE mission additional powers. (RFE/RL, based on reporting by AP, AFP and TASS)
Tatar activist reported missing 

KYIV – Crimean Tatar activist Ervin Ibragimov has gone missing, his colleagues say. Nariman Celal, deputy chairman of the Crimean Tatars’ self-governing body, the Mejlis, told RFE/RL on May 25 that Mr. Ibragimov disappeared overnight. Mr. Ibragimov’s relatives have not been able to locate him. Crimea’s Russia-controlled authorities have not given any official statements regarding the activist’s fate. Mr. Ibragimov is a former Bakhchysarai City Council deputy and a member of the executive committee of the World’s Congress of the Crimean Tatars. Several Crimean Tatars went missing after Russia forcibly annexed the Ukrainian peninsula in March 2014. Some of them were later found dead. The majority of the Crimean Tatars, the peninsula’s indigenous Turkic speaking people, have openly protested the annexation. (Crimean Desk, RFE/RL’s Ukrainian Service)

Trudeau plans Ukraine visit

KYIV – Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is planning to pay an official visit to Ukraine this summer, reports Ukrinform citing its own source. The details of the visit are yet to be agreed, but the most probable date is early July. Ukraine and Canada plan to sign a free trade agreement during Mr. Trudeau’s visit. The document will provide for gradual reduction of import duties, and would eventually see near-elimination of duties on goods coming into Canada from Ukraine. (Ukraine Today)

Mogherini expects extension of sanctions

BERLIN – European Union foreign-policy chief Federica Mogherini says she expects sanctions against Russia over its actions in Ukraine to be renewed in July. “The heads of state and governments had required that the sanctions be lifted when the Minsk agreement is fully implemented,” Ms. Mogherini said in an interview published on May 19 by Germany’s Die Welt newspaper. “But, that’s something that we haven’t achieved yet.” The Minsk deal signed in February 2015 has helped reduce fighting between Ukrainian government forces and Russia-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine, but sporadic clashes have continued. The EU imposed sanctions targeting Russia’s oil, defense, and banking sectors in 2014, and they are due to expire at the end of July. Some EU countries have suggested sanctions might be eased in an effort to defuse tensions with Moscow. (RFE/RL, based on reporting by AFP and Reuters)

IMF mission: Kyiv making progress

KYIV – A mission from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has said at the conclusion of an eight-day visit to Kyiv that Ukraine has made considerable progress in restoring macroeconomic stability during the past year, despite difficult circumstances faced by the war-torn country. The IMF mission said on May 18 that it was important for the Ukrainian government to boost its efforts to ensure fiscal and financial stability. It said Kyiv also needed to “decisively enhance transparency and the rule of law,” and to reform a large and inefficient sector of state-owned enterprises. The mission said implementation of strong measures in those areas would clear the way for the IMF executive board to consider the resumption of a $17.5 billion loan program that has been held up since October amid concerns about corruption. Ukraine’ s mew prime minister, Volodymyr Groysman, has pledged to maintain the momentum of reforms with a focus on fulfilling commitments to the IMF. (RFE/RL, based on reporting by Reuters and AP)

Ukraine renames Dnipropetrovsk 

KYIV – The Ukrainian Parliament has voted to change the name of the country’s third-largest city from Dnipropetrovsk to Dnipro. Lawmakers voted 247-97 on May 19 for renaming the eastern city of more than 1 million residents as part of a decommunization campaign. The city was originally known as Katerynoslav. It was named Dnipropetrovsk in 1926 after the Dnipro River and Ukraine’s Soviet Communist Party leader Hryhorii Petrovsky. Under legislation adopted in May 2015, the Communist government that ruled between 1917 and 1991 is condemned as a criminal regime. Its symbols and propaganda are banned – a measure that requires the removal of all Communist monuments not related to World War II and renaming public places and landmarks bearing Soviet names. The legislation applies the same treatment to the Nazi German regime, which occupied and controlled much of Ukraine during World War II. (RFE/RL’s Ukrainian Service)

Petition on Eurovision winner rejected

GENEVA – The European Broadcasting Union has responded to a petition calling on the EBU to alter the results of the 61st Eurovision Song Contest. The petition had called on the organizers of the contest to declare Russia the winner of the contest after Sergey Lazarev topped the televote. In a statement the EBU said that: “The Eurovision Song Contest is a much-loved competition now in its 61st year. There can only be one winner. We understand that the outcome of the Eurovision Song Contest will always create conversation and a difference of opinion. However in a competition where the results are decided based on a subjective appreciation of music, this will always be the case. The winner of the 2016 Eurovision Song Contest was decided by music industry professionals and viewers at home, each with a 50 percent stake in the result. Ukraine’s Jamala won, thanks to broad support from both the juries as well as televoters. She did so with an outstanding performance of an emotional song, telling a personal story. The result of the 2016 Eurovision Song Contest remains valid and was reached in accordance with the rules agreed by each participating broadcaster and artist and known to every dedicated fan. Ukraine is, and will remain, the winner of the 2016 Eurovision Song Contest. We call upon those who signed this petition to accept the result, valid in accordance with the rules, and to continue a constructive dialogue about how to further strengthen and improve the Eurovision Song Contest as it enters its seventh decade.” (Eurovoix)

RFE/RL’s Crimea website is unblocked

KYIV – RFE/RL’s Crimean news desk, Krym.Realii, has welcomed Moscow’s decision to unblock its news website in Russia and Moscow-annexed Crimea. A spokesman for Russia’s media regulator, Roskomnadzor, Vadim Ampelonsky, said on May 13 that Krym.Realii (Crimea.Realities) was unblocked after RFE/RL’s Crimean news desk followed a request by Russia’s Prosecutor General’s Office to remove from the site “materials that contain illegal information.” However, RFE/RL’s Crimean desk says it removed no content from the site in response to the May 12 blocking of its website by Russian Internet providers. RFE/RL’s Crimean desk chief Volodymyr Prytula said that “we received no demands from Roskomnadzor calling for the removal of any kind of content. So we removed no content.” He added, “Crimea.Realities will continue providing unbiased information to the people of Crimea, considering the blockage of information and the tremendous pressure on information.” (RFE/RL, with reporting by Interfax)

Hacker admits guilt in trading scheme 

NEWARK, N.J. – A Ukrainian computer hacker has become the first to plead guilty to what U.S. authorities called the biggest hacking scheme ever to game global markets, reaping $100 million in illegal profits. Vadym Iermolovych, 28, of Kyiv, on May 16 joined three financial traders in admitting they hacked into thousands of corporate news releases before they were published and used the stolen information to make money through illegal insider trades on top company stocks. Three hackers and seven traders, many with ties to Russia, have been charged by U.S. prosecutors for stealing unpublished news releases from Business Wire, Marketwired, and PR Newswire between February 2010 to August 2015. Authorities say the traders gave the hackers “shopping lists” of releases they wanted to see in advance, including ones with market-sensitive financial results, and then traded the stocks, including Caterpillar, Home Depot, Las Vegas Sands and Panera Bread. The hackers were routinely paid a cut of the profits. Mr. Iermolovych, who pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud, conspiracy to commit computer hacking and aggravated identity theft, faces up to 20 years in prison. Other accused hackers include Ukrainians Oleksandr Ieremenko and Ivan Turchynov. Their whereabouts are not known. (RFE/RL, based on reporting by AP and Reuters)

Held for ‘membership’ in banned group 

SYMFEROPOL, Ukraine – Russia-backed Crimean authorities have detained four Crimean Tatars on suspicion of being members of an Islamic group that is banned in Russia. Crimea’s de facto prosecutor-general, Natalia Poklonskaya, said the four men detained on May 12 were suspected members of Hizb ut-Tahrir, which Russia designates a terrorist organization. She said three were being investigated for participating in the activities of a terrorist organization, and one was being investigated for organizing terrorist activities. A leader of the Crimean Tatars, Zair Smedlya, and human rights lawyer Emil Kuberdinov condemned the detention of the four men, calling it the “continuation of repression against the Crimean Tatars” by pro-Russia authorities in the Ukrainian peninsula. The arrests occurred during a visit by Russia’s recently appointed presidential human rights ombudsman, Tatyana Moskalkova, to the peninsula. Several Crimean Tatars were arrested earlier this year for allegedly being Hizb ut-Tahrir members, a move Tatar activists called “politically motivated.” Hizb ut-Tahrir, a London-based Sunni political organization, seeks to unite all Muslim countries into an Islamic caliphate. It says it does not advocate violence. (RFE/RL’s Ukrainian Service)

Ombudsman wants closure of website 

KYIV – Ukraine’s ombudswoman Valeria Lutkovska urged the country’s authorities on May 12 to shut down a Kyiv-based website for “violating Ukrainian laws on information and personal data.” The website Myrotvorets revealed the personal information of more than 4,000 journalists who it said were illegally accredited by Russia-backed separatists in Ukraine’s eastern regions of Donetsk and Luhansk. Ms. Lutkovska’s call came a day after the representative on freedom of the media of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, Dunja Mijatovic, expressed concerns about the safety of journalists in Ukraine following the leaks, after which some of the journalists on the list received threats. On May 11, Kyiv’s city prosecutor’s office said it had launched investigations into the leaks, calling the matter an “obstruction of the professional activities of journalists.” (RFE/RL’s Ukrainian Service)

Moscow to upgrade coastal artillery 

MOSCOW – The Russian Defense Ministry has opened bids on a contract to repair and upgrade a Black Sea coastal artillery system that is adjacent to the Russia-occupied Crimean peninsula. The 130-millimeter self-propelled Bereg artillery system is based near the village of Utash in Russia’s southern Krasnodar region. It is operated by forces from Russia’s Black Sea naval base at Novorossiisk. The artillery vehicles are positioned where they can attack ships passing through the Kerch Strait that links the Black Sea with the Sea of Azov. With a range of 20 kilometers, the Bereg artillery system is designed to destroy small and medium-sized warships, as well as provide support for ground troops and counter an amphibious assault. Worth an estimated 5 million rubles, the contract calls for repairs and upgrades to four of the wheeled vehicles that carry the coastal gun mounts, along with a command-and-control vehicle and combat support vehicles. (RFE/RL, with reporting by TASS and Interfax)

France gives visa to blacklisted minister 

PARIS – France’s Foreign Affairs Ministry has confirmed that Paris granted an entry visa to Russia’s Agriculture Minister Aleksandr Tkachev, despite his appearance on a European Union sanctions blacklist imposed in response to Moscow’s illegal annexation of Ukraine’s Crimea Peninsula in 2014. Politico.com quoted a ministry spokesman as saying the decision to grant the visa was permitted because Mr. Tkachev was traveling to an international event in Paris. Mr. Tkachev headed a Russian delegation at an assembly of the World Organization for Animal Health in Paris that began on May 22. His name was added in mid-2014 to a list of Russian individuals banned from entering the EU. He had been the head of Russia’s southern Krasnodar region at the time and was awarded a medal “for the liberation of Crimea” by the acting head of Crimea’s Russian-controlled government for support he provided during Russia’s seizure, occupation, and illegal annexation of the Ukrainian territory. Some politicians in France have since voiced support for lifting sanctions against Russia. Last month, France’s lower house of Parliament voted to lift sanctions against Moscow in a nonbinding vote that went against the Socialist government’s recommendation. (RFE/RL, based on reporting by Reuters and TASS)

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