Russo-Ukrainian War – Johnson's Russia List

RUSSIALINK: “Ukraine’s Election Result Pleases Both Russia’s Opposition and the Kremlin; The two sides have for once found something they agree on – for different reasons” – Moscow Times

April 22, 2019 JRL Russia List Ukraine

Map of Commonwealth of Independent States, European Portion

(Moscow Times – Evan Gershkovich – April 11, 2019 – themoscowtimes.com/2019/04/22/ukraines-election-result-pleases-both-russias-opposition-and-the-kremlin-a65325) Volodymyr Zelenskiy, a comedian and actor with no political experience, swept to victory on Sunday in the second round of Ukraine’s presidential election, in a race that has fascinated the country’s looming neighbor to the north. The victory triggered speculation in Russia on Sunday that relations between the neighboring […]

JRL NEWSWATCH: “Why frustrated Ukrainians may elect a comedian as president” – Christian Science Monitor/ Fred Weir

April 22, 2019 JRL Russia List JRL NewsBlog, Ukraine

Map of Ukraine, Including Crimea, and Neighbors, Including Russia

Whom do voters turn to when elected leaders disappoint? Ukraine President Petro Poroshenko looks set to be trounced in elections Sunday, but not because of approval for his opponent, a TV comedian. “… Ukrainians seem ready to overwhelmingly elect a political novice, a comedian whose main claim to fame is that he played a president on TV …. Many in […]

JRL NEWSWATCH: “Hacked Emails Appear To Reveal Russia Is Backing Comedian Likely To Be Ukraine’s Next President” – Newsweek/ Cristina Maza

April 18, 2019 JRL Russia List JRL NewsBlog, Spy Allegations, Spies, Security Agencies, Ukraine

“… hacked emails suggest … Zelenskiy may have a powerful patron of his own: the Kremlin. … Ukraine’s security services … are investigating whether Zelenskiy’s campaign received financing from members of the Russian security service … supporting the leadership of the Donetsk People’s Republic … self-proclaimed, pro-Russian separatist proto-state in Ukraine’s eastern Donbas region. … [A] Ukrainian hacking group associated […]

Could a Zelensky Presidency Prove a Breakthrough for Conflict Resolution in the Donbas?

April 16, 2019 JRL Russia List Ukraine

(Kennan Institute – wilsoncenter.org/program/kennan-institute – Serhiy Kudelia – April 11, 2019 – wilsoncenter.org/blog-post/could-zelensky-presidency-prove-breakthrough-for-conflict-resolution-the-donbas) Serhiy Kudelia is an associate professor of political science at Baylor University, where he teaches courses on ethnopolitical conflicts, terrorism, political regimes, and post-Soviet politics. Five years since the start of the armed conflict in Donbas, its resolution remains the top concern of most Ukrainian voters, with […]

Interview: U.S. Ambassador Reaffirms Support For Ukraine’s Integrity, Calls On Russia To Talk

April 16, 2019 JRL Russia List Politics, Government, Protests, Elections

File Photo of John Huntsman, Men in Military Uniforms and Others, adapted from image at army.mil

(Article text ©2019 RFE/RL, Inc., Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty – rferl.org – April 13, 2019 – article text also appeared at rferl.org/a/russia-u-s-ambassador-huntsman-reaffirms-support-ukraine-s-integrity-talks/29878614.html) The U.S. ambassador to Russia said Washington was committed to defending Ukraine’s territorial integrity, saying the issue of Moscow’s annexation of Crimea and the conflict in eastern Ukraine was “a core part of our estrangement with Russia.” In […]

JRL NEWSWATCH: “Is Russia Safe? U.S. Adds to New Kidnapping Threat List Along With Iran, Venezuela and These Other Countries” – Newsweek/ Tom O’Connor

April 12, 2019 JRL Russia List Corruption, Law, Police, Courts, Crime, Terrorism, Ukraine, United States, U.S.-Russian Relations

“The United States has named Russia in a list of nearly three dozen countries where it warned its citizens risk being kidnapped …. State Department’s travel advisories for 35 nations featured a ‘K’ that signifies ‘the risks of kidnapping and hostage taking by criminal and terrorist actors …’ The department said that the use of a new indicator … was […]

JRL NEWSWATCH: “Ukraine’s TV President Is Dangerously Pro-Russian; Volodymyr Zelensky could become the country’s next real-life leader. If his show is any guide, Ukrainians should be worried.” – Foreign Policy/ Alexander J. Motyl

April 3, 2019 JRL Russia List JRL NewsBlog, Ukraine

“… Unforgivable is the absence from [Zelensky’s television] show of Russia or … Putin. In its alternate universe, Crimea and Donbass are not occupied. There is no war. … no deaths. … no mention of Russian attempts to quash Ukrainian independence …. suggest[ing] either … Zelensky, who serves as the show’s executive producer, has no idea how to deal with […]

RUSSIALINK: “Ukrainian voters tired of atmosphere of hatred in country – Center for Current Politics director on outcome of first round of election” – Interfax

April 2, 2019 JRL Russia List Ukraine

MOSCOW. April 1 (Interfax) – The outcome of the first round of the presidential election in Ukraine shows that voters are tired of the atmosphere of hatred and have a demand for a solution to vital internal problems, Alexei Chesnakov, Director of the Center for Current Politics, said. “The results received are a call on the political elite to stop […]

RUSSIALINK: “War in Donbas will end ‘when last piece of Ukrainian land is liberated'” – Interfax

April 1, 2019 JRL Russia List Military, Ukraine

Petro Poroshenko file photo, with additional men in background, adapted from image at state.gov

KYIV. March 30 (Interfax) – Peace in Donbas will come after “the last piece of Ukrainian land and the last prisoner-of-war” are liberated, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said on Ukraine television on Friday. “Write down and remember: the war will be over the day the last piece of Ukrainian land is liberated, the day the last prisoner-of-war is freed,” Poroshenko […]

RUSSIALINK TRANSCRIPT: “[Putin at] Meeting with Government members [Re: Crimea]” – KremlinRu

March 21, 2019 JRL Russia List Ukraine

(Kremlin.ru – March 20, 2019 – en.kremlin.ru/events/president/transcripts/60116) The President held a regular meeting with Government members. President of Russia Vladimir Putin: Good afternoon, colleagues. I have something to tell you before we begin. We are aware of the political events that are unfolding in a neighboring country, which is our closest ally. They are about changes in the political leadership. […]

Russia’s Missed Opportunity: Five Years Since Crimea’s Annexation

March 19, 2019 JRL Russia List Ukraine

(Kennan Institute – wilsoncenter.org/program/kennan-institute – Maxim Trudolyubov – March 18, 2019 – wilsoncenter.org/blog-post/russias-missed-opportunity-five-years-crimeas-annexation) Maxim Trudolyubov is a Senior Fellow at the Kennan Institute and the Editor-at-Large of Vedomosti, an independent Russian daily. The logic of Russian politicians who made an unexpected decision five years ago to annex the Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea was not economic or political. It was a […]

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JRL NEWSWATCH: “Ukraine Candidate Urges Talks to End Conflict in East” – AP

March 2, 2019 JRL Russia List JRL NewsBlog, Ukraine

“A comedian leading Ukraine’s presidential race says the country needs to negotiate with Russia to put an end to fighting in the east. Volodymyr Zelenskiy … plays the nation’s president in a popular TV series [and] has surged ahead of … Poroshenko and … Tymoshenko [in a poll] …. He said he would encourage the United States and Britain to […]

JRL NEWSWATCH: “Poroshenko’s team hit by defence industry corruption scandal, Tymoshenko starts impeachment process” – bne Intellinews

March 1, 2019 JRL Russia List Corruption, Law, Police, Courts, Crime, Military, Ukraine

“… Poroshenko rivals in the upcoming presidential election are accusing him of ‘profiting from blood’ after an investigation revealed that the son of the president’s close business partner has been selling arms to separatist rebels in the breakaway eastern region of Donbas … [according to] a report broadcast on Ukrainian TV …. Former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, who leads the […]

From ‘Not Us’ To ‘Why Hide It?’: How Russia Denied Its Crimea Invasion, Then Admitted It

February 27, 2019 JRL Russia List Politics, Government, Protests, Elections

(Article text ©2019 RFE/RL, Inc., Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty – rferl.org – Carl Schreck – February 26, 2019 – article text also appeared at rferl.org/a/from-not-us-to-why-hide-it-how-russia-denied-its-crimea-invasion-then-admitted-it/29791806.html) In the darkness of the morning on February 27, 2014, heavily armed men wearing green uniforms with no identifying insignia stormed the regional parliament in Simferopol, the capital of Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula, and raised the […]

RUSSIALINK: “Russia and Ukraine: A Lethal Codependency” – Carnegie Moscow/ Gleb Pavolvsky

February 14, 2019 JRL Russia List Newslinks, Ukraine

“The Russia-Ukraine conflict has moved from cozy mutual exploitation to lethal hostility. Neither side is prepared to admit its deep dependence on the other. Five years after the Ukraine crisis began, and as the presidential campaign gets under way in that country, it is conventional to see Russia’s intervention there and Ukraine’s response as a modern example of interstate power […]

RUSSIALINK: “Some 70% of Ukrainians approve possible compromises with Russia, DPR, LPR for sake of peace – poll” – Interfax

February 14, 2019 JRL Russia List Ukraine

KYIV. Feb 13 (Interfax) – Seventy-two percent of Ukrainians believe that there is a war between Ukraine and Russia, while 15% disagree, according to a nationwide opinion poll conducted by the Ilko Kucheriv Democratic Initiatives Foundation and the Razumkov Center and a regional survey conducted in the districts of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions controlled by Kyiv. Thirty-nine percent of […]

JRL NEWSWATCH: “Ukraine’s Civil War: Would Accepting This Terminology Help Resolve the Conflict? [Excerpt]” – PONARS Eurasia

February 12, 2019 JRL Russia List Military, Ukraine

(PONARS Eurasia – Jesse Driscoll – February 2019) Associate Professor, Political Science; Chair, Global Leadership Institute, University of California San Diego [Full text: ponarseurasia.org/memo/ukraines-civil-war-would-accepting-terminology-help-resolve-conflict] (PONARS Policy Memo) Since Ukraine is the site of both an invasion (Crimea) and a civil war (in the Donbas), there is no academic consensus on what to call the crisis in Ukraine. Russians usually call […]

Desperately Seeking A Postwar President In Ukraine

January 27, 2019 JRL Russia List Ukraine

(Article text ©2019 RFE/RL, Inc., Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty – rferl.org – Christopher Miller – KYIV, Jan. 25, 2019 – article text also appeared at rferl.org/a/desperately-seeking-a-postwar-president-in-ukraine/29730680.html) Ukrainians say the biggest problem facing their country ahead of a crucial presidential election in March is the same one that ushered in the current head of state in the first place: war. It’s been […]

JRL NEWSWATCH: “Ukraine Says Will Send Naval Ships Through Kerch Strait Soon” – AP

December 7, 2018 JRL Russia List Military, Ukraine

“Ukraine’s defense ministry warned Russia on Friday that it will soon send navy ships through the Kerch Strait where Russia fired on and seized three Ukrainian vessels two weeks ago. The announcement sets up another possible flashpoint in the long-simmering conflict between Russia and Ukraine that erupted in 2014 with Russia’s annexation of the Crimean peninsula … [O]n Nov. 25 […]

RM Picks: What to Read on the Kerch Strait Crisis

December 4, 2018 JRL Russia List Military, Ukraine

(Russia Matters – russiamatters.org – RM Staff – November 30, 2018) [Article also appeared, with different images, at russiamatters.org/blog/rm-picks-what-read-kerch-strait-crisis] Looking to make sense of the events between Russia and Ukraine in the Sea of Azov and their implications? RM recommends the following articles: “Why Putin Is Pressuring Ukraine. The United States needs to decide how much of a threat Moscow’s […]

RUSSIALINK: “Peskov says Russia not obstructing Ukrainian ships’ passage through Kerch Strait” – Interfax

December 3, 2018 JRL Russia List Politics, Government, Protests, Elections

Dmitry Peskov file photo adapted from image at kremlin.ru/wikimedia commons

MOSCOW. Dec 3 (Interfax) – Russia has not been obstructing the passage of Ukrainian ships through the Kerch Strait, but traffic gets suspended from time to time, mostly for weather reasons, according to presidential press secretary Dmitry Peskov. “They [the allegations of Kyiv’s representatives that Russia is hindering the passage of Ukrainian ships through the Kerch Strait] are not true. […]

NEWSLINK: “Putin Will Understand Only One Response: Escalation; Russia’s president cannot be allowed to attack another country to solve his own domestic problems” – Bloomberg/ Eli Lake

November 27, 2018 JRL Russia List Military, Newslinks, Ukraine

NEWSLINK: “Trump’s weakness begets Russian aggression” – Washington Post/ Jennifer Rubin

November 27, 2018 JRL Russia List Newslinks, Politics, Government, Protests, Elections, Ukraine, United States, U.S.-Russian Relations

File Photo of Kremlin Tower, St. Basil's, Red Square at Night

NEWSLINK: “Russia’s latest attack on the Ukrainians is a warning to the West; Moscow is counting on our passivity” – Washington Post/ Anne Applebaum

November 27, 2018 JRL Russia List Military, Newslinks, Ukraine

RUSSIALINK: “Poroshenko fails to make speech on martial law after several factions block Rada rostrum” – Interfax

November 26, 2018 JRL Russia List Military, Ukraine

KYIV. Nov 26 (Interfax) – Several factions in Ukrainian parliament blocked its plenary session on Monday, preventing President Petro Poroshenko from explaining his proposal to impose nationwide martial law, the Petro Poroshenko Bloc faction said. “A number of factions decided to block the rostrum without even allowing the president to reveal what exactly is happening in the Sea of Azov […]

JRL NEWSWATCH: “Russia-Ukraine Standoff Intensifies Over Captured Vessels; Kiev has troops on military alert and demands Moscow releases the ships and crew members” – Wall Street Journal/ Thomas Grove, Ann M. Simmons, Emre Peker, Georgi Kantchev

November 26, 2018 JRL Russia List JRL NewsBlog, Military, Ukraine

“Ukraine’s defense ministry put its troops on military alert … a day after Russian forces fired on and detained three Ukrainian naval vessels near the Black Sea peninsula of Crimea, a move that threatened to reignite tensions between Moscow and Kiev. … Poroshenko has called for martial law – that could last for 60 days after being enacted and give […]

RUSSIALINK: “Ukrainian Security Council proposes martial law until Jan 25, 2019” – Interfax

November 26, 2018 JRL Russia List Military, Ukraine

KYIV. Nov 26 (Interfax) – The Ukrainian National Security and Defense Council proposes in its resolution of November 26 that President Petro Poroshenko declare martial law for 60 days, until January 25, 2019. The Council resolved “to propose that the president of Ukraine declare martial law in Ukraine for 60 days, from 2:00 p.m. November 26, 2018 until 2:00 p.m. […]

JRL NEWSWATCH: “Poll: 63% of Ukrainians see Russia as aggressor” – UNIAN (Kyiv)

November 14, 2018 JRL Russia List JRL NewsBlog, Ukraine

“Almost two-thirds of the citizens of Ukraine, or 63%, consider the Russian Federation to be an aggressor country vis-à-vis Ukraine, according to a nationwide poll conducted by the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology, the Oleksandr Razumkov Ukrainian Centre for Economic and Political Studies and the Rating sociological group …. ‘We asked … “Is Russia seen as an aggressor country vis-à-vis […]

RUSSIALINK: “Kremlin treats elections in self-proclaimed Donbas republics ‘with understanding’ – Peskov” – Interfax

November 12, 2018 JRL Russia List Ukraine

MOSCOW. Nov 12 (Interfax) – The Kremlin treats the elections in the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics (DPR and LPR) held on Sunday “with understanding,” as the republics have no choice but to organize themselves due to Ukraine’s rejection of them, Russian presidential press secretary Dmitry Peskov said. “We treat the fact of these elections with understanding. You know […]

Ways to End the Donbas Conflict. Interview with Serhiy Kudelia.

September 27, 2018 JRL Russia List Military, Ukraine

(PONARS Eurasia – Maria Lipman, Serhiy Kudelia – Sept. 24, 2018 – ponarseurasia.org/point-counter/ways-to-end-donbas-conflict-interview-serhiy-kudelia) Sergiy Kudelia is Associate Professor of Political Science at Baylor University. His areas of expertise are Ukraine, Institutions, Civil Society, Conflict Resolution, Political Science, Historical Institutionalism, and Post-Socialist Societies. Political scientist Serhiy Kudelia has studied the conflict in Donbas since its very early stages. In a recently […]

JRL NEWSWATCH: “In breakaway Ukraine, those who live by the sword are dying by it; Could an anonymous cull of Donbass’ violently charismatic separatists precede a peaceful solution?” – Asia Times/ Giovanni Pigni

September 26, 2018 JRL Russia List Assassinations, Beatings, Threats, JRL NewsBlog, Military, Ukraine

“Yet another leader in Ukraine’s breakaway Donbass region has met a kinetic end: … leader of the so-called Donetsk People’s Republic, Aleksandr Zakharchenko … assassinated by … outdoor bomb blast on August 31. Reaction to his death was predictably mixed. Thousands of supporters gathered in [Donetsk] streets … to honor [his] memory …. [while] in Kiev, Ukrainian nationalists celebrated the […]

JRL NEWSWATCH: “Putin’s war is transforming Ukraine” – Washington Post/Anne Applebaum

September 24, 2018 JRL Russia List JRL NewsBlog, Ukraine

“… [I]ntegration of … Donetsk refugees into schools and communities in the central and western parts of the country is … part of a broader story: the integration of the war into the consciousness of Ukrainians. … the Russian-Ukrainian war continues. One of the Russian-backed separatist leaders was killed in a bomb attack in August. Skirmishes take place most days, […]

RUSSIALINK: “International investigators to study Russia’s new info on MH17 crash – statement” – Interfax

September 17, 2018 JRL Russia List Military, Terrorism, Ukraine

Ukraine Air Crash Scene with Uniformed Security Personnel, Flames, Smoke

BRUSSELS. Sept 17 (Interfax) – The Joint Investigation Team (JIT) probing the downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 (MH17) in Donbas in 2014 has taken note of the information concerning the crash publicized by the Russian Defense Ministry on Monday. “The JIT has requested the Russian Federation to provide all relevant information” since 2014, the JIT said in a statement […]

More Lethal Weaponry Possible For Ukraine, U.S. Envoy Tells RFE/RL

September 15, 2018 JRL Russia List Ukraine, United States, U.S.-Russian Relations

File Photo of Kurt Volker and W. Bruce Weinrod, adapted from image at defense.gov with photo credit to Senior Airman Nathan Lipscomb

(Article ©2018 RFE/RL, Inc., Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty – rferl.org – Christopher Miller – KYIV – Sept. 14, 2018 – also appeared at rferl.org/a/more-lethal-weaponry-possible-for-ukraine-u-s-envoy-says/29489463.html) The United States is considering sending more lethal weaponry to Kyiv to build up its naval and air defenses, Washington’s special envoy for Ukraine said, as concerns mount that Russia may be stepping up operations in coastal […]

NEWSLINK: “Russia is advancing on Ukraine again – and Ukraine isn’t going quietly; President Petro Poroshenko tells the Post how he wants the war to end” – Washington Post/ Lally Weymouth

September 14, 2018 JRL Russia List Corruption, Law, Police, Courts, Crime, Military, Newslinks, Ukraine

“When Ukrainians took to the streets in the 2014 Maidan revolution, they ousted President Viktor Yanukovych and selected Petro Poroshenko as his successor to begin a period of reform. Poroshenko is up for reelection next spring, and polls show that Ukrainians are disappointed with him, particularly for what they see as his failure to clean up corruption. In a rare […]

RUSSIALINK: “Three fourths of Ukrainians believe military conflict in Donbas most urgent problem for country” – Interfax-Ukraine

August 28, 2018 JRL Russia List JRL NewsBlog, United States, U.S.-Russian Relations

“… 77 percent of respondents polled by Seetarget believe that the most urgent problem for Ukraine is the military conflict in the eastern part of the country. … half of the respondents believe that corruption and bribes are the main problem facing the country, one third … pointed to the unemployment rate, 19 percent – low salaries and pensions, and […]

Poroshenko Declares Ukraine ‘Has Cut All Ties With Russian Empire’

August 24, 2018 JRL Russia List Ukraine

(Article ©2018 RFE/RL, Inc., Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty – rferl.org – KYIV, August 24, 2018 – also appeared at rferl.org/a/poroshenko-declares-ukraine-has-cut-all-ties-with-russian-empire-/29451039.html) President Petro Poroshenko has marked Ukraine’s Independence Day by announcing at a military parade in Kyiv that his country “has cut all ties with the Russian Empire and the Soviet Union.” Poroshenko also said during the August 24 event that Ukraine […]

RUSSIALINK: “Poroshenko apologizes to Ukrainians for giving ‘excessive expectations’ in 2014” – Interfax

August 24, 2018 JRL Russia List Military, Ukraine

KYIV. Aug 23 (Interfax) – Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has apologized for mistakenly forecasting a rapid completion of the military operation in eastern Ukraine in 2014. “I said over four years ago that the ATO [anti-terrorist operation] would take hours instead of months. The context of my statement is irrelevant. […] I am sorry for giving excessive expectations. I sincerely […]

When Does Vladimir Putin’s Russia Send In Troops?

August 9, 2018 JRL Russia List Foreign Policy, Security, Visas, Military

(Russia Matters – russiamatters.org – Simon Saradzhyan – August 7, 2018) Simon Saradzhyan is the founding director of the Russia Matters Project at Harvard Kennedy School’s Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs. [Text with links and chart russiamatters.org/analysis/when-does-vladimir-putins-russia-send-troops] This month marks the tenth anniversary of Vladimir Putin’s first military intervention abroad, in Georgia. Since then there have been two […]

JRL NEWSWATCH: “Don’t forget Ukraine’s rural Donbas; War has taken its toll on rural areas under Ukrainian government control in Luhansk region. There’s little sign of relief or policy.” [Excerpt] – OpenDemocracy.net/Brian Milakovsky

July 25, 2018 JRL Russia List JRL NewsBlog, Ukraine

“The armed conflict in Ukraine’s Donbas has divided the region into government- and separatist-controlled areas. In Luhansk Oblast, the frontline for most of its length is the Siversky Donets River, which is also a historical dividing line. To the south is the coal-rich Donets Upland, the ‘true Donbas’ that was largely unsettled before industrial development in the 19th century. Today […]

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JRL NEWSWATCH: “Putin Tells Diplomats He Made Trump a New Offer on Ukraine at Their Summit” – Bloomberg/Ilya Arkhipov

July 20, 2018 JRL Russia List JRL NewsBlog, Ukraine

“… Putin told Russian diplomats that he made a proposal to … Trump at their summit … to hold a referendum to help resolve the conflict in eastern Ukraine …. White House officials didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. … Leaders of so-called people’s republics in Donetsk and Luhansk held referendums in May 2014 that declared independence. The votes […]

JRL NEWSWATCH: “Ukraine’s army advances slowly at Russian front” – Kyiv Post/Illia Ponomarenko, Volodymyr Petrov

July 10, 2018 JRL Russia List JRL NewsBlog, Military, Ukraine

“For the Ukrainian military, this heavy strike by Russian-led forces, who hold ground just three kilometers to the south, came as no surprise. Despite dozens of cease-fires having been agreed at the negotiating table in Minsk (the latest one was supposed to start on July 1), the relentless stalemated warfare in the Donbas still drags on, with exchanges of fire […]

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Ukraine’s ‘Creeping Advances’: A Win-Win Tactic? For more than two years Ukraine has been quietly “de-occupying” a grey zone between its troops and Russian-backed separatists. No matter how Russia and the West respond, Ukraine’s leadership stands to benefit.

July 6, 2018 JRL Russia List Military, Ukraine

(Russia Matters – russiamatters.org – Huseyn Aliyev – July 5, 2018 – https://www.russiamatters.org/blog/ukraines-creeping-advances-win-win-tactic) Soon after the start of Russia’s official military involvement in Syria, another army, hundreds of miles away, ramped up its activity: Ukraine’s armed forces became emboldened in their war with separatists in the east. Under the radar, they have been retaking control of a narrow strip of contested, […]

RUSSIALINK: “Cessation of hostilities in Donbas Ukrainians’ biggest expectation from next president – poll” – Interfax

June 26, 2018 JRL Russia List Military, Ukraine

KYIV. June 26 (Interfax) – A cessation of fighting in eastern Ukraine is the prevailing requirement of the country’s citizens for the next president of Ukraine, being backed by 63% of respondents in a poll conducted by the Rating sociological group on June 14-24. Forty-nine per cent are expecting more efforts to fight corruption, 40% want a revival of manufacturing, […]

JRL NEWSWATCH: “An outrageous penalty; As the World Cup begins, Russia should free Oleg Sentsov; A film-maker locked up for protesting against the annexation of Crimea is on hunger strike” – The Economist Editorial

June 15, 2018 JRL Russia List Corruption, Law, Police, Courts, Crime, Human Rights, JRL NewsBlog, Politics, Government, Protests, Elections, Ukraine

Oleg Sentsov file photo, adapated from image at csce.gov

“… Oleg Sentsov, a Ukrainian film director serving a 20-year sentence … in Siberia. … was jailed for protesting against … Putin’s illegal annexation of Crimea and the war Russia’s president unleashed in eastern Ukraine …. Sentsov started a hunger strike demanding the release of all 64 Ukrainian political prisoners from Russian jails. The … World Cup … June 14th […]

JRL NEWSWATCH: “Putin says he’s making Russia great again. In reality, it’s crumbling; The country has been bolstered by European disunity but that obscures a multitude of ills” – The Spectator (UK)/Owen Matthews

June 12, 2018 JRL Russia List Politics, Government, Protests, Elections

“[Despite the World Cup and] … patriotic hype over grand multi-billion dollar infrastructure projects like a new bridge to Crimea and shiny stadiums, Russia is crumbling. … [Russia’s own statistics indicate] 68,100 schools in 2000; 41,100 now. … 10,700 hospitals [when Putin took power, now reduced to] 5,400. … living space declared unfit for habitation has more than doubled … […]

NEWSLINK: “A political prisoner in Russia is starving. The world should take notice” – Washington Post Editorial

June 8, 2018 JRL Russia List Corruption, Law, Police, Courts, Crime, Human Rights, Politics, Government, Protests, Elections, Ukraine

“Four years after Russia invaded and illegally annexed the Crimea region of Ukraine … a courageous activist and filmmaker named Oleg Sentsov … imprisoned in a Siberian penal colony above the Arctic Circle, embarked on a hunger strike to demand the release of 64 Ukrainian political prisoners held by Russia … his health has seriously deteriorated … he has lost […]

Reporter’s Notebook: After A ‘Death’ And ‘Resurrection’ In Kyiv, Confusion And A Desire For Answers

June 4, 2018 JRL Russia List Assassinations, Beatings, Threats, Media, Internet, Social Media, Television, Military, Spy Allegations, Spies, Security Agencies, Ukraine

(Article ©2018 RFE/RL, Inc., Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty – rferl.org – Christopher Miller – KYIV, June 1, 2018 – article also appeared at rferl.org/a/reporters-notebook-after-death-and-resurrection-in-kyiv-confusion-and-desire-for-answers/29266391.html) The news arrived with a soft ping that hit like a ton of bricks: “Arkady was just killed.” Dozens of members of a Facebook Messenger group for journalists in Ukraine and Russia understood at once it […]

NEWSLINK: “Don’t Be Fooled – Ukraine Is Not a Frozen Conflict. There are signs of escalation in the simmering conflict.” – The National Interest/Lyle Goldstein

June 4, 2018 JRL Russia List Politics, Government, Protests, Elections

“With the North Korea and Iran pots both simultaneously coming to a boil, it’s naturally hard for national security specialists to take on any more complex and dangerous issues. Yet Syria and Yemen demand major attention as human rights catastrophes. … U.S. troops are still somehow mired in Afghanistan – ‘the forever war’ …. there is the seeming possibility of […]

NEWSLINK: “Who Killed the Kiev Protesters? A 3-D Model Holds the Clues. A team of civilian investigators used cellphone videos, autopsy reports and surveillance footage to reconstruct a virtual crime scene.” – New York Times Magazine/Mattathias Schwartz

May 30, 2018 JRL Russia List Assassinations, Beatings, Threats, Human Rights, Military, Newslinks, Ukraine

“… Most of the deaths occurred within half an hour along a few hundred feet of streetscape. The scene unfolded before dozens of cameramen, smartphones and security cameras. But these recorded fragments from the day were overshadowed by a fight over what they really showed: The claims of grief-stricken activists, who blamed the Ukrainian paramilitary for shooting the protesters, collided […]

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