KIEV, April 25 (RIA Novosti) – Dozens of Russian special service agents have been detained in Ukraine, Sergei Pashinsky, the acting head of the Ukrainian presidential administration, said Friday. “We have detained dozens of agents of Russian special services and some of them have already testified,” Pashinsky said at a press briefing, adding that protesters in the east of the […]
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… 10. BBC: Vitaliy Shevchenko, Video clues aid verification amid confusion in Ukraine.
11. The Independent (UK): Kim Sengupta, Ukraine crisis: A moment of dignity for the dead then the recriminations fly.
12. Wall Street Journal: Ukraine’s Divisions Extend to East Itself. History Helps Explain Country’s Dichotomy, but Doesn’t Necessarily Mean People Living Near Russia Want to Secede. …
… 1. www.huffingonpost.com: Stephen Blank, Russia’s Lurch Toward Fascism.
2. Los Angeles Times: Jaak Treiman, Juris Bunkis and Daiva Navarrette, Vladimir Putin’s shopping list: Which country could be next? Plenty of Russia’s neighbors are worried. And Article 61 of Russia’s Constitution leaves him a world of room in which to maneuver.
3. The National Interest: Steven Pifer, John Herbst, and William Taylor, Does Putin Want a War? …
(Business New Europe – bne.eu – Concorde Capital – April 24, 2014) The Russian Energy Ministry has offered EU Energy Commissioner GYnther Oettinger to convene negotiations with EU and Ukraine on “natural gas issues” in Moscow on April 28, Interfax reported on April 23 citing a ministry representative. “We are ready to discuss with partners the place and time of […]
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(Russia Beyond the Headlines – rbth.ru – Yulia Kudinova, special to RBTH – April 24, 2014) As Ukraine is tearing itself apart, it is also facing an artificially fuelled competition between Russian and Ukrainian, two languages that are nevertheless linguistically very similar. Benjamin Franklin once wrote: “Tongue double brings trouble”. That saying might have resonated with the members of Ukraine’s […]
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(Interfax – April 24, 2014) The USA and the EU have tried to carry out a “colour revolution” in Ukraine, Russia Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has said, as reported by privately-owned news agency Interfax on 24 April. Speaking at the Moscow State Institute for International Relations, Lavrov sai d: “Let’s call a spade a spade, the USA and the EU […]
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MOSCOW, April 24 (RIA Novosti) – The West, first and foremost the United States, is pretending that it can ignore Russia’s opinion in Eu ropean affairs and is harming Moscow’s interests, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Thursday. “Our Western partners, first and foremost the US, have attempted to behave like they were the winners in the ‘Cold War’ and […]
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MOSCOW. April 24 (Interfax) – The self-defense forces of Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region claim that their roadblocks came under fire on the outskirts of Slovyansk on Thursday. They have also reported disruptions to cell phone services in Slovyansk. “About 40 minutes ago, an armed clash erupted on the outskirts of Slovyansk. Reports of one fatality and one injured perso n […]
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ST. PETERSBURG. April 24 (Interfax) – The Kyiv authorities are not disarming radicals but are legalizing them, contrary to the agreements signed recently in Geneva, Russian President Vladimir Putin said. “We took part in the meeting in Geneva and signed certain agreements there, which stipulate that people need to be disarmed on both sides, administrative buildings vacated, and so on. […]
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MOSCOW, April 24 (RIA Novosti), Daria Chernyshova – The US has done nothing to persuade Kiev authorities to follow the agreement reached in Geneva last week to de-escalate the crisis in Ukraine, Jon Hellevig, co-author of the book “Putin’s New Russia,” told RIA Novosti. “The Americans have not done anything to persuade the Kievan regime to follow the road map […]
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(Window on Eurasia – Paul Goble – Staunton, April 24, 2014) The Russian language and Russian culture are today “the main unifying factor[s]” for the citizens of the Russian Federation, unlike history which continues to be a source of divisions given that different groups have different understandings of past events, according to the Valdai International Discussion Club. The Moscow Higher […]
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(Bloomberg – bloomberg.com – Joe Carroll, Nicole Gaouette and Julianna Goldman – April 23, 2014) Ukraine’s best hope for keeping furnaces and factories running through next winter is to store as much natural gas as it can after a U.S. aid pledge fell far short of the nation’s needs. Energy supplies have given Russian leader Vladimir Putin powerful economic leverage […]
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(Interfax – Groznyy, April 23, 2014) Russia and NATO countries have reached a level of direct confrontation, Nikolay Bordyuzha, secretary-general of the CSTO [Collective Security Treaty Organization], told journalists on Wednesday [23 April]. “In effect, thanks to the actions of certain NATO states, we have reached a level of direct confrontation,” Bordyuzha told journalists in Groznyy on Wednesday after a […]
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KIEV, April 24 (RIA Novosti) – A group of OSCE military observers is present at a Ukrainian checkpoint at the border with Russia that is surrounded by federalization supporters, the press center of the Ukrainian Security Service said Thursday. “An inspection team of OSCE military observers has been working on the site of the Luhansk border detachment over the past […]
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MOSCOW, April 24 (RIA Novosti) – Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu announced Thursday that Russia will conduct military drills in response to the developing situation in Ukraine’s southeast, where a special operation has targeted the country’s own citizens. “We are forced to react to such a development in the situation,” Shoigu said. “Starting today, exercises of battalion tactical groups from […]
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… 1. Atlantic Council: Intelligence Chief: 100 Russian Officers Are Leading Ukraine’s Uprisings. Ukrainian Security Agency Seeks to Arrest Russian Army Colonel Coordinating Subversion.
2. USAToday.com: Ukraine: Three Russian military intel officers detained.
3. The Daily Telegraph (UK): Russia ‘supported torture of Kiev politician.’ Ukraine’s acting president calls for ‘anti-terrorist operation’ against pro-Moscow separatists after body of a murdered town councillor is found.
4. The Daily Mail (UK): The face of Putin’s Ukrainian thugs: The sinister masked men behind eastern pro-Russian ‘people’s mayors’
5. Reuters: Ukraine’s leaders say have U.S. backing to take on ‘aggressors’ ….
(Business New Europe – bne.eu – Harriet Salem in Donetsk – April 23, 2014) Following an escalation of violence in eastern Ukraine over the past few days despite the four-way Geneva agreement reached between Russia, Ukraine, the US and EU, acting Ukrainian President Oleksander Turchynov said late April 22 that the government will re-launch its anti-terror operation in the region. […]
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(RFE/RL – rferl.org – April 22, 2014) Ukraine’s acting President Oleksandr Turchynov has called for the relaunch of an “antiterrorist” operation against pro-Russian rebels in eastern Ukraine, citing the death of a politician from his party in the region. Turchynov said in a statement that two “brutally tortured” bodies were found near the rebel-held city of Slovyansk on April 22. One was that of […]
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(Window on Eurasia – Paul Goble – Staunton, April 23, 2014) The best way to understand the events of the last several months, Stanislav Belkovsky argues, is to view them as a repetition of the August 1991 coup with only this difference: the leader of this coup is Vladimir Putin and the target of his radical shifts is the Putin […]
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(opendemocracy.net – Valery Kalnysh – April 21, 2014 Valery Kalnysh is editor of the Kommersant Ukraina newspaper There is a war on in Ukraine – and, moreover, it’s a pilot project for a new kind of war. History books we’ve read or lessons learned in school have given us a fixed image of what war is: the opposing sides send their tank […]
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(Window on Eurasia – Paul Goble – Staunton, April 22, 2014) It is a measure of just how worried the leaders of countries bordering Russia are about the possibility that Vladimir Putin will build on his Crimean Anschluss by moving against their states that even Alyaksandr Lukashenka feels the need to deny that Mensk is oppressing ethnic Russians and to […]
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… 30. New York Times: Under Russia, Life in Crimea Grows Chaotic.
31. Brookings Institution: Putin Trying to Make a Basket Case out of Ukraine. (interview with Strobe Talbott)
32. Washington Post editorial: President Obama, disregarding his own red line, dithers on Ukraine. …
The White House Office of the Vice President For Immediate Release April 21, 2014 Background Press Briefing on Vice President Biden’s Trip to Ukraine Aboard Air Force Two En Route Kyiv, Ukraine 2:00 P.M. (Local) MR. SPECTOR: Just a reminder at the top this is on background as a senior administration official. He will give some brief remarks at the […]
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The White House April 22, 2014 REMARKS BY VICE PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN AT A MEETING WITH UKRAINIAN LEGISLATORS Rada Kyiv, Ukraine 10:03 A.M. (Local) THE VICE PRESIDENT: Thank you, Mr. Ambassador. And I want to thank my colleagues for bringing me back home. For 36 years I sat in our legislature, and I used to actually have this seat in […]
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(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – April 21, 2014) Only one in eight Russians think that President Vladimir Putin represents the interests of “ordinary people” in the country, a recent poll showed, even though a vast majority have said that they “trust” their leader. The most popular choice in a question that allowed for multiple answers was that Putin represented the […]
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(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Anna Dolgov – April 21, 2014) Four physicists have announced their resignation from the academic council of one of Russia’s top research institutes, accusing it of failing to defend a prominent colleague who was fired for “truancy” after attending a workshop at Stony Brook University in the U.S. The dismissal of Alexander Gorsky from the […]
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(Bloomberg – bloomberg.com – Kateryna Choursina – April 20, 2014) At least three people were killed in a clash in Slovyansk in eastern Ukraine, the nation’s Interior Ministry said, as a top security official accused Russia of exploiting the violence to prepare grounds for an invasion. Three “activists” were shot to death while on duty at a roadblock in an […]
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(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – April 19, 2014) The State Duma’s ethics committee will investigate Liberal Democratic Party leader Vladimir Zhirinovsky after the firebrand politician directed a particularly crude and offensive outburst at reporters on Friday. After being asked whether Russia should retaliate against the travel restrictions placed on Russian men by Ukraine, Zhirinovsky went on a foul-mouthed tirade and […]
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(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – April 22, 2014) President Vladimir Putin has signed into law a bill that requires foreigners to prove their ability to speak Russian while also giving his seal of approval to a separate bill that will make it easier to grant citizenship to Russian-speakers in former Soviet states. The new immigration rules for foreign citizens, published […]
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MOSCOW, April 22 (RIA Novosti) – The proportion of “grey capital” outflow from Russia in 2012-2013 reached 20 percent to 40 percent, Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said Tuesday during his annual report in the country’s lower house of parliament. “One of the forms of outflow comes from those who are looking for more attractive markets for their money. And […]
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(opendemocracy.net – Louise Hallman – April 22, 2014) Louise Hallman is the Editor at Salzburg Global Seminar, an independent non-profit organization based in Salzburg, Austria with a mission to challenge current and future leaders to solve issues of global concern Russia’s foreign agents law caused a great deal of controversy when it was introduced late last year. But the woes […]
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(Russia Beyond the Headlines – rbth.ru – Georgy Manaev, RBTH – April 20, 2014) In 1867, Russia sold the territory of Alaska to the U.S. for $7.2 million. A mere 50 years later, the Americans had earned that amount back 100 times over. How could the imperial officials have given up such a choice parcel? RBTH sorts out the muddled […]
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(opendemocracy.net – Louise Hallman – April 21, 2014) Louise Hallman is the Editor at Salzburg Global Seminar, an independent non-profit organization based in Salzburg, Austria with a mission to challenge current and future leaders to solve issues of global concern. Direct aid givers, civic activists, and political activists spend as much time arguing amongst themselves as they do building civil […]
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MOSCOW, April 22 (RIA Novosti) – The continuation of chaos in Ukraine could lead to a negative outcome not only for the country itself, but also for the US and Europe, a former special assistant to President George W. Bush said Monday. “We don’t have a consolidated Ukrainian state and it’s been remarkable how rapidly the state disappeared,” said Thomas […]
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(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Ali Sar – HOLLYWOOD, April 22, 2014) An image of young women clad in colorful outfits peeping through ski masks while being detained and clobbered by the police has been a part of evening newscasts in the U.S. for some time, most recently during the Sochi Olympics. Casual viewers have little understanding of the motivation […]
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MOSCOW, April 22 (RIA Novosti) – The current situation with unstable world markets, Western sanctions against Moscow over Crimea, and the country’s own economic problems is a great opportunity to create a new foundation for an industrial-based economy, Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said Tuesday. “The current situation for our government is not only a challenge, but also a great opportunity […]
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(Interfax – Moscow, April 21, 2014) The situation in Ukraine, the deployment of a missile defence system by the USA and the expansion of NATO are increasing the number of threats to Russia’s security, the secretary of the Russian Security Council, Nikolay Patrushev, has said. “The scale of challenges and threats is expanding steadily. Today we are especially concerned about […]
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MOSCOW, April 22 (RIA Novosti) – Ukrainian presidential candidate Oleh Tsarev claims the country’s interim authorities offered members of the disbanded elite Berkut police force up to $200,000 to return to duty, the Moskovskiy Komsomolets newspaper reported Tuesday. “They will not come back,” Tsarev said in an interview published Tuesday. “They were offered big money to return … $100,000-200,000.” The […]
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DONETSK, April 22 (RIA Novosti) – The leaders of pro-federalization protesters in the eastern Ukrainian region of Donetsk will meet with representatives from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) on Tuesday, a source from the federalist camp told RIA Novosti. The meeting is scheduled for 2:00 pm local time (11:00 GMT) in the Viktoria Hotel in Donetsk, […]
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MOSCOW, April 22 (RIA Novosti) – Kiev has sent Moscow a note on the implementation of last week’s Geneva agreement aimed at resolving the crisis in Ukraine, the country’s acting Foreign Minister Andrii Deshchytsia wrote on Twitter Tuesday. “We sent a note to the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs on measures for the implementation of the Geneva accords taken by […]
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MOSCOW, April 22 (RIA Novosti) – A senior Russian lawmaker told RIA Novosti Tuesday that a campaign to capture pro-Russian activists by Ukrainian authorities was launched at the behest of the United States. “The same reward was offered in the US in times of McCarthyism, during the ‘witch hunt’ and as the US controls the Maidan, they expanded this practice […]
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(opendemocracy.net – Sarah Lindemann-Komarova – April 21, 2014) A summary of the results of the recent Salzburg Global Seminar ‘Russian Civil Society Symposium: Building Bridges to the Future’ is simple: no easy answers, more questions. But that does not mean it was a failure. [Chart here http://www.opendemocracy.net/od-russia/sarah-lindemannkomarova/russian-civil-society-is-25yearold-work-in-progress] A summary of the results of the recent Salzburg Global Seminar ‘Russian Civil […]
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MOSCOW, April 21 (RIA Novosti) – The Russian Finance Ministry has forecast this year’s capital outflow from Russia as reaching $70-80 billion, the director of long-term planning at the ministry said Monday. “We are certain that it won’t jump to $100 billion this year. A more reasonable estimate would be around $70-80 billion,” Maxim Oreshkin said. “The prognosis we have […]
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(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – April 21, 2014) While the U.S. is yet to officially nominate its next ambassador to Moscow, the Russian media have widely reported that the likely candidate for the job, former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine John Tefft, would take up the position. “John Tefft, Ukraine expert, appointed new U.S. ambassador to Russia,” ran a headline on […]
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(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – John Freedman – April 21, 2014) Did this actually happen or am I imagining it? It’s no big event or turning point, that is for sure. But it did feel for a moment last week that the temperature of the flames burning around us dipped just a little. In recent times we have grown accustomed […]
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(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – D. Garrison Golubock – April 21, 2014) A favorable comment made by President Vladimir Putin during his annual call-in show on Thursday seems to have triggered a change of fortune for embattled independent television channel Dozhd, which is threatened with closure after being dropped by numerous major television operators. “If the disappearance of Dozhd from […]
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MOSCOW, April 21 (RIA Novosti), Daria Chernyshova – Relations between Russia and the US will normalize within the next seven years as the two countries bear significant global responsibilities and must cooperate on numerous international issues, the director general of the Eurasian Communication Center told RIA Novosti. “I believe the situation will normalize in 3-7 years,” Alexei Pilko said. “Russia […]
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MOSCOW, April 21 (RIA Novosti) – The United States runs the risk of making a huge foreign policy blunder by simultaneously antagonizing two major world powers, Russia and China, a senior Russian lawmaker said Monday. “For the United States, Russia is an enemy and China is a potential enemy. But the confrontation course with both major powers is a strategic […]
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(Window on Eurasia – Paul Goble – Staunton, April 21, 2014) The Geneva accords represent “a complete victory” for Vladimir Putin and “the complete capitulation of Europe and Ukraine,” which when translated out of diplomatic language gives the Kremlin leader “a mandate” to seize as much of Ukraine as he wants, according to Yuliya Latynina. On her Saturday evening program […]
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(opendemocracy.net – Roman Osharov – April 14, 2014) Roman Osharov is a Moscow-based freelance journalist. His work has appeared in Voice of America’s Russian Service, The New Times magazine and Slon.ru Ukraine’s border and security officials are applying a restrictive policy on Russians entering the country, particularly male Russians of military age, and reporters In early February Andrei Yurov, a […]
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