Ukraine ‘has cut all ties with Russian Empire’
President Petro Poroshenko marked Ukraine’s Independence Day by announcing at the military parade in Kyiv that his country “has cut all ties with the Russian Empire and the Soviet Union.” Mr. Poroshenko also said during the August 24 event that Ukraine needs to cut all ties with the Russian Orthodox Church “that blesses” Russia’s “hybrid war against Ukraine.” He stated: “Our generation’s major goal is to make our independence irreversible, to turn Ukraine into a strong and great country without the possibility of returning to the zone of Russian influence.” (The full text of his address appears on page 3.) “The issue [of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church’s split from the Russian Orthodox Church] is of the same importance as such issues as strengthening of our army, defending our language, our struggle to join the European Union and NATO,” he said. “That is another aim of our historic path, a significant component of our independence.” Dispensing with a traditional Soviet-era military greeting used in previous years, Ukrainian Defense Minister Stepan Poltorak greeted the marching troops by declaring, “Glory to Ukraine!” The troops replied: “Glory to the heroes!” The greeting had been used by Ukrainian nationalist troops who fought for Ukraine’s independence during World War II. Mr. Poroshenko announced that he will propose that the Verkhovna Rada pass legislation to make the expression the official military greeting in Ukraine. Ukraine announced its independence from the Soviet Union on August 24, 1991, almost four months before the official dissolution of the Soviet Union. (RFE/RL’s Ukrainian Service)
Ukraine closes offices in CIS countries
Ukraine has shut down its representative offices in member countries of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), a loose grouping of former Soviet republics. CIS Executive Secretary Sergei Lebedev said on August 28 that the Ukrainian offices were closed earlier this month, adding that the grouping’s ties with Kyiv are being maintained through the Ukrainian Embassy in Minsk. “I still hope that Ukraine will preserve its presence within the [CIS],” Mr. Lebedev said. The Ukrainian move came after President Petro Poroshenko earlier this year signed a decree recalling Kyiv’s envoys from CIS bodies and announced plans to quit the organization, criticizing its “failure to denounce Russia’s aggression [in Ukraine].” Russia illegally annexed Ukraine’s Crimea region in March 2014 and is backing separatists in the country’s east in a conflict that has killed more than 10,300 people since April 2014. Mr. Poroshenko, who was elected after Russia-friendly President Viktor Yanukovych fled in February 2014 following months of mass street protests, has repeatedly said that Ukraine’s future is in Europe, and not with Russia. Ukraine has been an associate member of the CIS since the grouping was established following the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. Full members include Russia and eight former Soviet republics: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. (RFE/RL, based on reporting by TASS and Interfax)
Pompeo calls on Russia to free Sentsov
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has repeated U.S. calls for Russia to “immediately release” jailed Ukrainian writer and filmmaker Oleh Sentsov, who has been on hunger strike for more than 100 days and is reported to be critically ill. “The secretary noted our concerns about Sentsov’s health and urged Russia to immediately release Sentsov and all Ukrainian political prisoners,” State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said in a readout of Secretary Pompeo’s phone all with Russian Foreign Affairs Minister Sergei Lavrov on August 23. The Russian Foreign Affairs Ministry acknowledged that Mr. Pompeo raised the issue of Mr. Sentsov in the call and that Mr. Lavrov “explained the situation,” without providing specifics. A vocal opponent of Russia’s 2014 takeover of Ukraine’s Crimean peninsula, Mr. Sentsov was sentenced to 20 years in prison after being convicted by a Russian court in 2015 of conspiring to commit terrorist acts. The 42-year-old has been on a hunger strike at a penal colony in Labytnangi in Russia’s northern region of Yamalo-Nenets since May. He is demanding that Russia release 64 Ukrainian citizens that he considers political prisoners. Russian authorities have refused to free Mr. Sentsov, despite reports of a dramatic decline in his health and pressure from Western governments and human rights groups, which have backed the film director’s contention that the charges against him were politically motivated. The Russian Foreign Affairs Ministry also said that Mr. Lavrov in the phone call with Mr. Pompeo demanded that the United States end the prosecution and “immediately” release Russian citizen Maria Butina, who is being held on charges of acting as an agent for Moscow. She has pleaded not guilty to the charges, which include attempting to infiltrate political groups such as the powerful National Rifle Association, to advance Russian interests while reporting back to a high-ranking official in Moscow. Mr. Lavrov also told Mr. Pompeo that Washington’s “destructive” approach to ties with Moscow is responsible for impeding bilateral cooperation. Relations between Moscow and Washington have sunk to a post-Cold War low over issues including Russia’s seizure of Crimea in March 2014, its role in wars in Syria and eastern Ukraine, and its alleged meddling in the 2016 U.S. presidential election. (RFE/RL, with reporting by AFP and DPA)
European Court of Human Rights responds
The Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group (KHPG) reported that the European Court of Human Rights has responded swiftly to Ukraine’s request for urgent measures under Rule 39 regarding the state of health of four Ukrainian political prisoners: Volodymyr Balukh; Stanislav Klykh; Emir-Usein Kuku and Serhiy Lytvynov. The move is very welcome, however the number of political prisoners, especially in occupied Crimea, whose very life Russia is jeopardizing is much higher, KHPG noted. Ivan Lishchyna, Ukraine’s representative to the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR), reported on August 23 that the court in Strasbourg has given Russia until September 5 to provide information about the men’s state of health and what medical treatment they are receiving. It asks whether particular prisoners have declared a hunger strike and, if so, what measures are being taken in connection with this. Mr. Lishchyna writes that ECHR is thus breaking through the information vacuum that Russia has created around the state of health of Ukrainians whom it is illegally holding prisoner. There are particularly grave concerns about the health of Messrs. Balukh and Klykh who have been on hunger strikes. (Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group)
President on bringing Russia to justice
Ukraine’s Presidential Administration reported, that during a meeting with heads of foreign diplomatic institutions, President Petro Poroshenko emphasized that Ukrainian diplomats had made tangible results in recent years in bringing Russia to international legal responsibility. “Due to the calibrated measures, practically all influential international organizations and alliances recorded the act of aggression of Russia against Ukraine,” Mr. Poroshenko said. “The status of Russia as an aggressor state is also enshrined in Ukrainian legislation,” he added. The Ukrainian president continued: “I insist on the earliest possible creation of a coordinating body for the formation of a consolidated claim of Ukraine to Russia for the reimbursement of losses, as envisaged in my law [‘On the Peculiarities of State Policy on Ensuring the State Sovereignty of Ukraine in the Temporarily Occupied Territories in Donetsk and Luhansk Region’] adopted by the Verkhovna Rada.” He emphasized that concrete practical results of the implementation of this law had already been seen by diplomats during their recent visit to the Donbas. (Ukrainian Canadian Congress Daily Briefing)
Parubiy: Campaign won’t hinder Rada’s work
Presidential and parliamentary election campaigns in Ukraine will not interfere with the effective work of the Verkhovna Rada, Parliament Chairman Andriy Parubiy believes. “I have no doubt that this autumn and, in the end, next year, the Verkhovna Rada will work consistently and effectively,” the speaker said, asked whether the Verkhovna Rada will be able to work effectively in the period of election campaigns. Mr. Parubiy noted that during the current convocation of the Verkhovna Rada, he, as a speaker, was repeatedly persuaded that the Parliament would not work effectively, but such forecasts were not confirmed. Speaking about plans for the forthcoming session, the chairman said he would pay special attention to the issue of national security and defense. He noted that the law on national security passed earlier by the Rada is a framework act, and it requires adoption of implementing legislative acts. According to Mr. Parubiy, by October it is necessary to solve personnel issues at the Central Election Commission and consider the draft Electoral Code. (Interfax-Ukraine)
Freeland cancels visit to Ukraine
Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland, who planned to visit Ukraine on August 27-29, has cancelled her visit over urgent talks, Ukrainian Foreign Affairs Minister Pavlo Klimkin said. “It’s really a pity that Chrystia Freeland has postponed her visit because of the need for urgent negotiations. Good luck to you @cafreeland and see you soon!” the Ukrainian minister wrote on Twitter on August 28. Canada’s Ambassador to Ukraine Roman Vashchuk said that Ms. Freeland canceled her visits to Kyiv and Paris over the talks in the United States about the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). “Over the urgent events and talks about #NAFTA, Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland postpones visits to Kyiv and Paris and will travel to Washington,” the ambassador wrote on Twitter. During her visit to Ukraine it was planned that Minister Freeland would meet with the leadership of the state and the heads of several ministries, and would participate in the 13th plenary meeting of heads of foreign diplomatic institutions of Ukraine. (Interfax-Ukraine)
Germany accepts transfer of Jakiw Palij
U.S. State Department spokesperson Heather Nauert said on August 21: “The United States expresses its deep appreciation to the Federal Republic of Germany for re-admitting former Nazi slave-labor camp guard Jakiw Palij, who was removed from the United States on August 20.” She went on to note: “During World War II, Palij served as an armed guard at the Trawniki slave-labor camp for Jews in Nazi-occupied Poland. He concealed his Nazi service when he immigrated to the United States from Germany in 1949. A federal court stripped Palij of his citizenship in 2003 and a U.S. immigration judge ordered him removed from the United States in 2004 based on his wartime activities and postwar immigration fraud.” The 95-year-old Mr. Palij is not facing charges, but prosecutors are looking for more evidence that would justify criminal proceedings, reported The Washington Post. Mr. Palij has denied participating in any killings and has said that he merely guarded bridges and rivers. He said that the SS forced him to work as a guard, threatening to kill him and his family. Mr. Palij, formerly of Queens, N.Y., was taken to a nursing home in Dusseldorf. (U.S. Department of State, The Washington Post, The New York Times)
Bloodiest day in months in the Donbas
Five Ukrainian soldiers have been killed and seven others wounded in clashes with Russia-backed militants in eastern Ukraine. The Ukrainian Defense Ministry on August 23 said the casualties represented the biggest loss of life among soldiers in months. Ukrainian officials said four of the soldiers were killed in a five-hour-long battle that broke out after separatists began firing mortar shells at government troops in the eastern Luhansk region. However, the separatists said they were responding to attacks by government troops. The AFP news agency quoted Defense Ministry spokesman Dmytro Gutsulyak as saying that a fifth soldier was killed in artillery fire elsewhere in the conflict zone. Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko on August 23 said Ukrainian troops were attacked with high-caliber artillery. “The Russians… are trying to attack the positions of our troops, violating the ceasefire,” he said. Mr. Poroshenko also apologized to the country for a promise he made in 2014 that he would be able to quickly end the conflict in the Luhansk and Donetsk regions. “People perceived it as an opportunity to end the war quickly,” he said. “I am sorry to have created inflated expectations. I sincerely apologize for giving you hope that has not come true.” (RFE/RL, with reporting by AP, DPA, BBC and AFP)
Two more Ukrainian soldiers killed
Ukraine says two of its soldiers were killed and six others wounded in clashes with Russia-backed militants in the country’s east. The Defense Ministry said on August 27 that the fighting also left three separatists dead and seven wounded. The separatists violated a ceasefire 23 times during the previous 24 hours, firing artillery, machine guns, grenade launchers, and mortars, a statement said. Meanwhile, the militants claimed that Ukrainian government forces violated the ceasefire at least once, using mortars and heavy machine-guns. Since April 2014, more than 10,300 people have been killed in fighting between Kyiv’s forces and the separatists who control parts of Ukraine’s Donetsk and Luhansk regions. Ceasefire deals announced as part of the Minsk accords – September 2014 and February 2015 pacts aimed at resolving the conflict – have failed to hold. A new ceasefire agreement was reached in late 2017 and was meant to begin on December 23, but both sides have accused each other of repeated violations since then. (RFE/RL, with reporting by TASS)
UWC leader at Ukrainian schools forum
On August 17, Ukrainian World Congress (UWC) President Eugene Czolij addressed the participants and guests at the First World Forum on Ukrainian Saturday and Sunday School Studies, which began that day in Lviv. In his address, Mr. Czolij noted that the UWC has the honor of being a co-organizer of the forum and pointed out that this event represents another stage in a long-lasting process of productive cooperation between the UWC and the Lviv Polytechnic National University, as well as its International Institute of Education, Culture and Diaspora Relations, with which the UWC signed a Memorandum of Cooperation two years ago. “Ukrainian education is one of the most important factors for preserving the identity of Ukrainians abroad. This is why the Ukrainian World Congress and its International Educational Coordinating Council got involved in this Forum, which will raise the development of Ukrainian Saturday and Sunday schools to a new level,” said the UWC president. (UWC)
Agents search activist’s home in Crimea
Security officials in Russia-annexed Crimea have searched the home of a local Ukrainian activist on suspicion of having ties to “terrorist organizations” in Ukraine. The activist, Olha Pavlenko, told RFE/RL on August 29 that agents from Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) confiscated her mobile phone, flash-memory cards and notebooks that contained poems. Ms. Pavlenko, a member of the Ukrainian Cultural Center in Crimea, said the search of her home in Crimea’s capital, Symferopol, lasted three hours. “After my lawyer arrived, I allowed [the FSB officers] to enter and they showed me a warrant saying that I am suspected of having ties with terrorist organizations based in Ukraine proper,” Ms. Pavlenko related. She added that she was ordered to go to the Investigative Committee for questioning and that she will discuss with her lawyers when to report. There was no confirmation of the search by authorities. The Ukrainian Culture Center in Crimea is a group promoting Ukrainian culture and language in the region. Its activists have been under pressure since Russia annexed the peninsula in 2014. One of the center’s leaders, Leonid Kuzmin, fled Crimea in 2017 after he received threats from unknown people and was pressured by police. Russia has prosecuted and imprisoned several Ukrainians on what rights activists say are trumped up, politically motivated charges since Moscow seized the Black Sea region. In March 2017, the European Parliament called on Russia to free more than 30 Ukrainian citizens who were in prison or subject to other conditions of restricted freedom in Russia, Crimea and parts of eastern Ukraine that are controlled by Russia-backed militants. Russia seized Crimea after Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych was pushed from power by massive street protests in February 2014. Russia also fomented fighting in eastern Ukraine, where more than 10,300 people have been killed since April 2014. (Crimea Desk, RFE/RL’s Ukrainian Service)