Tag: Ukraine

(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Diana Kulchitskaya – May 15, 2014) Having despoiled Crimea’s harvest, Ukraine’s water war with Russia may take more victims, with two major Crimean chemical plants near closure because of a water shortage, a Crimean official said Wednesday. The Krimsky Titan and Krimsky Sodoviy factories, which are situated in the northern part of Crimea, may soon […]

(Business New Europe – bne.eu – Crisis Group – May 15, 2014) Ukraine needs a government of national unity that reaches out to its own people and tackles the country’s long overdue reforms; both Russia and Western powers should back a vision for the country as a bridge between East and West, not a geopolitical battleground. In its latest report, Ukraine: […]

(Russia Beyond the Headlines – rbth.ru – Dmitry Ofitserov-Belsky, political analyst, special to RBTH – May 14, 2014) Dmitry Ofitserov-Belsky is an associate professor at the Higher School of Economics. Russia’s lukewarm response to the results of the referendums on political independence in eastern Ukraine and its volte-face on the presidential elections scheduled for May 25 should be seen as […]

(Interfax – May 14, 2014) Approximately 68 percent of Ukrainians consider Russians a friendly people, while 22.8 percent said they do not, according to the findings of a poll conducted by the Razumkov Center said. Sixty-two percent of respondents see Russians as a fraternal nation; 28 percent have disagreed, according to the poll. The view that Russians are a friend […]

MOSCOW, May 14 (RIA Novosti) – The United Nations is in talks with authorities in Kiev who apparently have been using UN-marked helicopters in a military operation against Ukraine’s restive southeastern territories, according to the RT news channel. “It is the responsibility of troop-contributing countries that provide contingent-owned equipment to peacekeeping missions to remove all logos and signage bearing the […]

KIEV, May 14 (RIA Novosti) – The Ukrainian parliament will not restart discussions on holding a decentralization referendum alongside presidential elections on May 25, a Ukrainian lawmaker said Wednesday. “I think we won’t return to this issue,” said Andriy Senchenko, a lawmaker from the Batkivshchyna faction. The Ukrainian government proposed a bill last week to hold a nationwide referendum on […]

(Business New Europe – bne.eu – Graham Stack in Lugansk – May 13, 2014) Pro-Russian separatist groups holding power in Lugansk and Donetsk declared independence for these two easternmost Ukrainian regions on May 12, a move they claim was endorsed by the unofficial referenda held the previous day. There is still no clarity on what the separatists plan next, with […]

(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Ivan Nechepurenko – May 13, 2014) When President Vladimir Putin reminded the public in April that he could use military force to protect Russia’s interests in eastern Ukraine, western policymakers and pundits sounded the alarm about an imminent Russian invasion. But as Putin called on protesters in Donetsk and Luhansk to postpone their separatist referendums last […]

(Interfax – May 9, 2014) The Ukrainian leadership is initiating national-unity roundtable discussions, involving all political forces representing all regions, as well as public figures and experts. “We are announcing today our initiative to hold all-Ukrainian national-unity roundtable discussions. We are prepared to join dialogue with all the parties that pursue legitimate political goals and intend to defend them using […]

(Interfax – May 8, 2014) Presidential election in Ukraine will be considered legitimate only if the “punitive operation” in the country’s southeast stops, Russian President Vladimir Putin’s spokesman Dmitriy Peskov told privately-owned news agency Interfax on 8 May. “Election (in Ukraine – Interfax), as President Putin said yesterday, is a move in the right direction, but they may be legitimate […]

MOSCOW. May 8 (Interfax) – Russia is ready to take its part honestly and consistently to search for compromises regarding foreign assistance measures to resolve the domestic crisis in Ukraine, the Russian Foreign Ministry said. “But our Western partners should fulfill their obligations and ensure the Kyiv authorities stop dealing solely with the attempts to make themselves legitimate and start […]

(Russia Beyond the Headlines – rbth.ru – Igor Rozin, RBTH – May 8, 2014) The shocking events of May 2 in the Ukrainian port, in which at least 46 people were killed, continue to be the most discussed topic not only in the Ukrainian, but also the Russian mass media. The background to the incident is now becoming clearer as […]

MOSCOW, May 8 (RIA Novosti), Daria Chernyshova – Western politicians will say upcoming referendums in Ukraine are a Russian provocation, proving they do not understand the dynamics of the unfolding protests in the country, Asia Times correspondent Pepe Escobar told RIA Novosti Thursday. “The ‘international community’ of US, Canada, Japan and a few European politicians will of course say the […]

(Russia Beyond the Headlines – rbth.ru – Yuri Paniyev, special to RBTH – May 7, 2014) Events in Ukraine became the central focus of the 124th session of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe in Vienna on May 6, with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov questioning the appropriateness of holding elections in the current climate and calling […]

(Interfax – Moscow, May 7, 2014) If the 11 May referendum votes on independence from Kiev, Donetsk Region may unite with other southeast regions of Ukraine into an independent Novorossiya, co-chairman of the government of the Donetsk people’s republic Myroslav Rudenko has said. “An independent Donetsk republic is an element necessary for creating a new state. After the referendum, if […]