US/NATO/EU and the desperate subversion of Ukraine

[John Dolva]

President Poroshenko proclaims Ukrainian as only state language

MOSCOW, June 25. /ITAR-TASS/. Russia’s fundamental position as to the developments in Ukraine has remained unchanged — Ukraine saw an anti-constitutional coup triggering an acute crisis, a senator responsible for constitutional legislation issues told a Federation Council session on Wednesday.

The Federation Council upper house of parliament cancelled on Wednesday its March 1 resolution which granted the right to the president to use Russian military forces in Ukraine. As many as 153 Russian senators voted for this decision and one lawmaker voted against it.

“This is what I want to draw your attention to: our fundamental assessment of the situation has not changed — an anti-constitutional coup took place in the country, seizure of power with the use of force, which resulted in acute crisis phenomena that Ukraine is seeing now,” the head of the upper house’s committee for constitutional legislation, Andrei Klishas, said.

Federation Council cancels resolution on using Russian military in Ukraine

He reminded parliamentarians about the initial stance of Russia, which wanted to see military activity and attempts to settle problems through the use of force giving way to a political process. “And today we see that for all the difficulties, this political process has been launched,” he added. The top parliamentarian said that the approval of Ukraine’s new constitution that would in reality protect the rights and freedoms of the whole population, was top on the agenda.

“Unfortunately, today the Ukrainian authorities forget that it is the people who are the main power holder,” Crimean senator Olga Kovitidi said for her part. “I am sure that a political constitutional reform that will take place in Ukraine, will get things straightened out,” she added.

[John Dolva]

KIEV, June 25./ITAR-TASS/. Seven blasts have gone off on railway tracks at east Ukraine’s Donetsk railway over the past day, the press service of the railway’s police department said on Wednesday.

Unidentified offenders disrupted railway traffic on railway sections from Gorlovka to Debaltsevo on June 24.

Detectives found out that high-voltage power pylons had been damaged in explosions and had blocked the railway track. Meanwhile, 70 and 15 centimetres of railway tracks were destroyed as well.

No people were injured in all blasts. Train traffic was suspended across railroad switches. Repair is underway.

On Wednesday morning, three sections of railway tracks in the city of Gorlovka were blasted. Two turnout switches and up traffic tracks were damaged in explosions. A group of detectives is working at the blast sites. No people were wounded in blasts, restoration works are in progress.

[John Dolva]

KIEV, June 25. /ITAR-TASS/. Ukrainian authorities launched an exchange of prisoners of war with the country’s south-eastern regions as the violent domestic conflict continues to rage across Ukraine, Acting Defense Minister Mykhailo Koval said on Wednesday.

Koval said that over ten people were freed as a result of the exchange plan, proposed earlier by recently elected President Petro Poroshenko.

“Everything goes in line with the scheduled plan, and there are no disruptions,” Koval said.

[John Dolva]

[John Dolva]

20:20 GMT:

About five explosions have been heard near an airfield in Kramatorsk, eastern Ukraine, a self-defense spokesperson told Itar-Tass. Flares were also seen in the sky.

Earlier, shots and explosions were reported around Slavyansk, which is located about 10 km away from Kramatorsk.

19:02 GMT:

Over 23,000 Ukrainian refugees have fled to Russian territory, Russian deputy Prime Minister Olga Golodets said.

“We have set up 262 camps for the temporary accommodation of refugees from Ukraine, and 23,286 people are staying in them," Golodets stated.

“This number is constantly changing because regions are making job offers and some refugees are changing their statuses to Russian citizenship and moving to Russian regions for permanent residence," she added.

18:58 GMT:

The destruction of a Ukrainian helicopter, which took 9 lives on Tuesday, is a tragedy that could’ve been avoided if Kiev had warned the self-defense forces of a cargo flight, Sergey Lavrov, Russia’s Foreign Minister, said.

“Of course, it’s a tragedy,” Lavrov is cited by RIA-Novosti news agency as saying. “Such things should be avoided. But when the people, who are frenzied by fighting, are holding positions around the towns with civilians and they see a helicopter flying…”

“If it was necessary to deliver pharmacy, food or other non-military supplies communication channels [with the opposing party] could’ve been used,” he added.

16:47 GMT:

Vladimir Putin has called for the ceasefire in eastern Ukraine to be extended during phone conversations with Petr Poroshenko, Angela Merkel and Francois Hollande, according to the Kremlin press service.

The Russian president expressed hope that the revocation of the permission to use force in Ukraine voted for by the Federation Council will contribute to the de-escalation of tensions in the region. Putin also suggested that warring sides should release detainees, and set up a formal negotiation process.

15:47 GMT:

7 reported cases of explosions in #Donetsk railways yesterday. No reports of victims.Movement of trains suspended - #Russian media.

— PaulaSlier_RT (@PaulaSlier_RT) June 25, 2014

14:39 GMT:

No consultations on the process of a peaceful settlement of the conflict between Kiev and the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Lugansk People's Republics are expected any time soon, their leader Aleksandr Boroday said.

“There is no and has not been any truce; the cease-fire has not been observed,” he told reporters. “For now I don’t see a possibility of continuing the dialogue. What the contact group has done has no practical meaning.”

Ukrainian, Russian and OSCE representatives gathered in Donetsk on June 23 for talks on a peaceful settlement of the conflict.

14:09 GMT:

Russia is taking “very good care” of refugees from Ukraine by helping them to cross the border and providing proper accommodation, the representative of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, Baisa Vak-Voya, has told RT, after visiting a refugee camp in the Rostov region on the Russian side of the border.

"Russia is very favorable. The government is taking care of them very well. They cross the border in a very organized way. Those who have relatives there go to their relatives. Those who don’t go to the government organized tent camp, which is run by the Ministry of Emergency. To be honest, this is one of the most equipped and well-run and professionally managed camp I have seen,” he said.

Children of refugees from the Lugansk region in the Bryansk Police Cadet Boarding School named after Hero of Russia Vasily Shkurny. (RIA Novosti / Vladimir Gorovyh)

Russia's emergency ministry says over 16 thousand refugees have been housed in camps in Russia.

President Vladimir Putin has ordered the government to draft measures to help Ukrainian citizens in the conflict zone and who come to Russia.

"I would ask you to think how we can help people, who found themselves in the conflict zone and who come to our territory. It is clear that the volume of refugees is such already that regions have difficulty coping on their own," Putin said at a meeting with government members.

[John Dolva]

Russia to Support Residents of Southeast Ukraine Until Crisis Resolved

25/06/2014

Russia will continue to accept refugees from Ukraine and send humanitarian aid to the residents of southeastern Ukraine until the situation in the region is stabilized, the speaker of the Russian upper house of parliament said Wednesday.

[John Dolva]

"RT: The ceasefire in the east appears to have been floundering from the outset. What can be done to convince both sides to stop the violence? And where does the broken ceasefire leave the peace talks on Ukraine between Kiev, the self-proclaimed regions and Russia?

AN: What I am hearing from my sources is that basically this ceasefire was announced because President Poroshenko is planning to sign the economic part of the Free Association Agreement with the EU on Friday, so it a sort of gives him a peace initiative to show to Europe and quieten down some of his critics. But, unfortunately, what some people are saying that it might be a prelude to a new much bigger operation against the anti-government forces in the East. Obviously we do not know yet, but unfortunately some signs are telling us that this might be a case because, according to some sources, there is a movement of the Ukrainian government troops, they are reinforcements on their way to the Eastern part, so we might assume that there will be more fighting coming out after this ceremony."

[John Dolva]

Observers Released in Ukraine Contacted Secret Services

Berlin, Jun 25 (Prensa Latina) Six weeks after the release of German military observers and from other member countries of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization in eastern Ukraine, it was known that those members of the observation mission held contacts with intelligence services.

In response to questions made by Socialist member of Parliament Heike Haensel, the German Defense minister admitted the Defense Intelligence Agency requested detailed information about the German soldiers.

They requested data "beyond what is expected from official reports," said a letter from the Ministry.

The ministry's admission confirms versions from pro-Russian militias in eastern Ukraine that accused the German troops of being spies.

The military observers were detained in late May in eastern Ukraine by self-defense groups that accused them of spying for Western services.

German politicians and media described the members of the group as "observers from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE); however, a high official of OSCE, Clauys Neukirch, denied that they were part of an OSCE mission.

The latest revelations are part of a series of press reports about contacts of the military observers with intelligence services.

It is said the issue will be discussed in the Parliamentary Assembly of OSCE, set for June 28- July 2 in Baku, Azerbaidzhan.

sgl/ef/rma/ga/to/hcn Modificado el ( miércoles, 25 de junio de 2014 )

[John Dolva]

Ukrainian President Threatens to Break Truce

Kiev, Jun 25 (Prensa Latina) Following the recognition of active participation by the Army in armed clashes, Ukrainian President Piotr Poroshenko reiterated that the ceasefire in the territories subjected to the military operation could be reversed.

Poroshenko, made his scathing statement following the downing of a helicopter from the Ukrainian forces involved in the operations, on the outskirts of the city of Slavyansk, in the Donetsk region.

Poroshenko asserted that the ceasefire could be reversed at any time in view of the constant breaking of the truce, without mentioning the conduct of his own troops.

Poroshenko ordered his troops to shoot without hesitation, while reports from Donbass territory confirmed the intense activities of Ukrainian army underway today, according to Russian television's Channel One and Rossia 24.

On his Facebook website, people's governor of Donbass Pavel Gubariov, urged Russia to send troops to bring peace to the territories of the People's Republics of Donetsk (PRD) and Lugansk (PRL).

Gubariov said that he respected President Vladimir Putin's decision reversing his willingness to place Russian forces in Ukraine, but he reiterated the need for troops to bring peace in the region in view of the breaking of the truce by the Ukrainian government.

The truce had been announced by Poroshenko last Friday, initially set until the evening on June 27th, with an unilateral ultimatum for militants to lay arms down and surrender.

The United Nations estimates that more than 40,000 Ukrainians have been displaced and taken refuge as consequence of the military operation in the eastern regions.

sus/sa/eav/rc/oda Modificado el ( miércoles, 25 de junio de 2014 )

[John Dolva]

MOSCOW, June 25./ITAR-TASS/. Despite yet another Putin peace initiative, the West unscrupulously demands that Russia takes new steps to settle the Ukrainian crisis, though Moscow is not involved in the conflict between Kiev and Ukraine’s southeast, say experts polled by ITAR-TASS.

On Wednesday, the Federation Council upper house of parliament approved the president’s proposal to cancel the March 1 decree entitling the president to employ Russian armed forces in Ukraine. Putin had initiated steps to ease tension in Ukraine earlier. In May, he called on Donetsk and Luhansk leaders to postpone referendums on the rebellious regions’ status, describing the presidential election as a step in the right direction.

A day before Petro Poroshenko’s inauguration, Putin met him in Normandy, France. Then, the Russian president sent Russian ambassador Mikhail Zurabov back to Kiev for trilateral negotiations between Kiev, the eastern republics and the West, starting on June 23, Deputy Director of the Center of Political Technologies Alexey Makarkin told ITAR-TASS.

“However, the West seeks to control Ukraine and prevent Moscow from protecting the interests of the Russian-speaking population in the country’s southeast,” the expert said. "While welcoming Putin’s initiative, the White House and NATO have put forward new demands - withdrawal of troops from the border with Ukraine and public condemnation of federalisation supporters in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions. Otherwise, they say, anti-Russian sanctions will not be lifted.”

But the president reiterated, speaking in Vienna on Tuesday, that Russia would always stand by “ethnic Russians in Ukraine and those who consider themselves part of the broad Russian world,” Makarkin added. “It is this position that the US, NATO and the European Union balk at as they are making joint efforts to create an environment where the confrontation in the southeast ends with Kiev’s victorious military operation. This is the reason for the West’s attempts to press Russia."

Lieutenant General Leonid Ivashov, President of the Academy of Geopolitical Problems, believes Washington will never be happy with any of Putin’s peace initiatives in Ukraine.

“The White House aims to set Russia and Ukraine at variance, stop Russian gas supplies to Europe and make the EU enter the common Euro Atlantic economic space under US rule,” he told ITAR-TASS.

The US economy can only remain afloat with large-scale conflicts and the EU in the common economic space with the US, the military expert says.

“Washington uses Ukraine as an instrument to realise its own economic interests. Hence the White House wish to isolate Russia,” Ivashov said. “As for Europe, far from all EU members are ready to publicly support US plans to control Ukraine. The key EU players, Germany and France, are aware of the danger posed by Washington’s ambition to dominate the European market.”

Director of the Institute of CIS Countries, Konstantin Zatulin, believes the West wants to harm Putin, whose popularity is at its peak in Russia and who has been recognised as one of the world’s most influential politicians after Crimea’s accession to the Russian Federation.

“If the Russian authorities now accepted Washington and Brussels' demands and entirely abandoned support for Ukraine’s Russian speakers, the West’s next ultimatum would inevitably be to give Crimea back to Ukraine,” the expert said in an interview with ITAR-TASS. “Washington wants Russia to be completely indifferent to the fate of the Russian-speaking population in Luhansk and Donetsk. Instead of supporting the negotiating process in eastern Ukraine, the West imposes total surrender on the leaders of Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics through its stooges in Kiev.”

However, contemporary history of Transdnistria, Karabakh and Cyprus indicates that even unrecognised republics can participate in negotiations, so West-and Kiev-imposed stamps of "separatists and terrorists" for the self-proclaimed republics are counter-productive, Zatulin believes.

“The West is trying to disrupt the trilateral talks on a peace settlement in Ukraine’s east that started on June 23. Washington aims to clear the Donetsk and Luhansk regions of the militia and turn Ukraine into Russia’s consolidated foe,” the expert told ITAR-TASS.

Russia is struggling to prevent realisation of this prospect, he added.

“If the government in Kiev escalates advance of its forces in eastern Ukraine once the truce has expired on June 27, Putin’s peace initiative to cancel use of armed forces (in Ukraine) will lose its meaning, and other measures will need to be sought,” Zatulin said.

[John Dolva]

Thursday, June 26

10:20 GMT:

The commander of the Idar battalion, created under the authority of the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense, ordered the shelling that killed two Russian journalists, stated the Russian investigative committee. Rossiya TV journalists, Igor Kornelyuk and Anton Voloshin, died while on professional duty in the Lugansk region in eastern Ukraine on June 17.

[John Dolva]

MOSCOW, June 26. /ITAR-TASS/. Russia's Investigative Committee has sent materials for arrest of Governor of central Ukraine’s Dnipropetrovsk Region Ihor Kolomoisky to court, spokesman of Russian Investigative Committee Vladimir Markin told ITAR-TASS on Thursday.

Kolomoisky was earlier named a defendant in masterminding several crimes, including murders, use of banned ways and instruments of war, obstruction to professional activity of journalists and abductions.

“As long as the court rules on a measure of restraint to Kolomoisky, the Investigative Committee will give necessary instructions to law enforcement agencies to immediately find the location of the defendant and place him under arrest,” Markin said.

In his words, the Investigative Committee will also send to court materials for arrest of Ukrainian parliament-appointed Interior Minister Arsen Avakov.

Investigation of the criminal case continues. ..

[John Dolva]

11:19 GMT:

Loved ones say goodbye to killed #RossiyaTV journalist http://t.co/0dQVlOOcrd #Ukraine

— Ruptly (@Ruptly) June 26, 2014

11:08 GMT:

A Ukrainian military armored column has approached a settlement 21km from Lugansk in eastern Ukraine, self-defense forces say. It came to stop near Zheltoye settlement before noon, and, according to a spokesman representing the Defense Ministry of the Lugansk People's Republic, the military are “sealing off Lugansk.” The situation is currently calm in the city, and there has been no fighting between self-defense forces and the Ukrainian military so far.

11:02 GMT:

#UKRAINE: Ukr authorities decide 2 revive the previously dissolved "Aidar" battalion,reportedly involved in the Russ journos murder.

— PaulaSlier_RT (@PaulaSlier_RT) June 26, 2014

10:51 GMT:

Self-defense forces in Donetsk and Lugansk Regions have confirmed they will take part in trilateral talks between Russia, Ukraine and the OSCE, according to Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, speaking at a PACE session.

“There’s a confirmation now that half an hour ago they demonstrated interest in participation,” Poroshenko said.

He added that if the key elements of the peace plan are rejected at the June 27 talks, Kiev will make “a very important decision.”

[John Dolva]

12:55 GMT:

The Ukrainian military are barring volunteers, who are trying to help with the evacuation of Slavyansk residents, from the city, one of them told media. According to Pyotr Dudnik, cars loaded with food and medicine are being stopped at National Guard checkpoints. It is impossible to evacuate women and children from the city, where “starvation is imminent.” Slavyansk has received no money transfers to the budget for two months; people have to survive without water, gas and electricity supplies.

[John Dolva]

Thursday, June 26

23:13 GMT:

The Ukrainian military has confirmed that self-defense forces took over an army base in Donetsk after a seven-hour shootout.

The commander of the battalion is now being held captive. The rest of the soldiers have been transferred to another military base.

22:23 GMT:

Four OSCE observers who have been detained since the end of May have now been released, a Donetsk People’s Republic spokesperson told RIA Novosti. The released observers are being transported to Donetsk.

22:04 GMT:

Ruptly’s footage shows cars with the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) logo driving by the Kramatorsk administration building on Thursday.

18:16 GMT:

The OSCE mission has visited the devastated eastern Ukrainian city of Slavyansk to inspect the humanitarian situation there, and will prepare a report to help create an “objective picture” of its state, a member of the mission, Viktor Likhachyov, told LifeNews.

“The picture is grim, there is a lot of destruction. The experts have witnessed signs of mortar shelling, destroyed residential homes and infrastructure. I had seen Slavyansk a month before – it was totally different,” Likhachyov said.

According to the ‘people’s mayor’ of Slavyansk, Vladimir Pavlenko, only some 50 percent of the city’s houses have had their electricity supply restored and the pumps responsible for water supply cannot be restarted without enough electricity.

17:48 GMT:

Forces of the self-proclaimed People's Republic of Donetsk (DNR) have taken control of an interior troops division in central Donetsk. The DNR's press service said it had learned that the Ukrainian Defense Ministry ordered the military unit to attack DNR forces. Shooting was heard in the area, but there have been no reports of casualties thus far.

However, the National Guard insist they retain control of the division and claim that five militants have been injured in the fighting.

17:31 GMT:

Ukrainian radicals stormed the Tourist Hotel in central Kiev. Several hundred people dressed in camouflage clashed with police and smashed windows and doors. The election of a new head of Ukrainian trade unions was to take place in the building. The hooded young people said they were there to rally and prevent regional officials from their planned "arbitrary actions in the vote."

While the Right Sector officially declared they did not take part in the assault, they voiced their approval of the "activists."

Earlier this week, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that the current negotiations on the Ukrainian crisis should not just focus on stopping military actions. "Radical elements like the Right Sector and other radical [groups] are not yet disarmed, despite repeatedly talking about that and basically promising that illegal groups will lay down arms,” he said.

17:30 GMT:

The Ukrainian army shelled with mortars the city of Kramatorsk in the Donetsk region, hitting a residential apartment block, the local militia told Itar-Tass.

"One shell hit a house on the crossing of Dvortsovaya and Yubileynaya streets. The explosion demolished several balconies and shattered windows," the representative of the self-defense forces said. He added that another mortar hit a wastewater treatment plant.

Military clashes are ongoing near Kramatorsk airfield, which is currently controlled by the National Guard, according to the local militia. The militia also claim they have captured two Kiev's APCs.

17:03 GMT:

Clashes between self-defense forces and the Ukrainian army in Donetsk have been ongoing for about an hour, according to RIA Novosti. The local militia reportedly attempted to negotiate with the military for its troops to end the fighting. However, upon failure, the self-defense fighters stormed the army's camp. The local militia said that around 150 Right Sector fighters have arrived at the camp – which houses a large quantity of weapons and ammunition – over the past two days.

13:23 GMT:

A bus evacuated dozens of women and children from Donetsk, where the military operation is ongoing, to the Russian city of Perm on Wednesday. The eastern Ukrainian city has been a target of Ukrainian shellfire, and thousands of people are fleeing the region.

Over 16,000 refugees have been housed in camps, organized by the Russian government. They will also receive noncurrent monetary assistance, the Russian Deputy PM Dmitry Kozak said on Thursday.