U.N. court hears detained sailors’ case
Ukraine has called upon the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea to order the immediate release of 24 Ukrainian sailors and three naval ships that were seized by Russia near the Kerch Strait off the coast of Russia-occupied Crimea in November 2018. At the start of the May 10 hearing in the Hamburg-based court, Ukrainian Deputy Foreign Minister for European Integration Olena Zerkal said the tribunal should use “interim measures that require Russia to immediately release the Ukrainian naval ships and their crew members and return them to Ukraine.” Russia claims the Ukrainian Navy ships illegally entered Russian territorial waters near Crimea, which Russia seized and annexed from Ukraine in 2014. The first day of the hearing on May 10 was devoted to Ukraine’s arguments. The judges are expected to rule in the case on May 25. Russia is not taking part in the trial. The Kremlin has said the U.N. court does not have jurisdiction over its military activities. Ukraine has been seeking the release of the sailors and ships since Russian forces attacked and seized them near the Kerch Strait, which links the Black Sea with the Sea of Azov. In January, the European Union reiterated its call for Moscow to release all the detained Ukrainian citizens, including the sailors, that Russia is holding. Brussels maintains that the sailors were “illegally detained” by Russia within the territorial waters of Ukraine’s Russian-occupied Crimean peninsula. Outgoing Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko insists the sailors are “prisoners of war” and has said Moscow’s actions are “blatant proof that Russia continues to show cynical disrespect for human rights.” (RFE/RL’s Ukrainian Service, with reporting by UNIAN and the Kyiv Post)
Latvia recognizes Crimean Tatars’ genocide
The Latvian Parliament has recognized the deportation of Crimean Tatars in 1944 by the government of the Soviet Union as an act of genocide. The resolution on the issue, approved by Latvian lawmakers on May 9, says it was adopted to “commemorate the 75th anniversary of the Crimean Tatar deportations” and to support “the policy of nonrecognition of the illegal annexation of Crimea” by Russia in 2014. The document stressed that “a set of historical sources refers to the purposeful pursuit of genocide by the Soviet authorities against… Crimean Tatars as an ethnic group to destroy their cultural and social heritage and their historical affiliation with the Crimean peninsula.” In May 1944, Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin ordered the mass deportation of the entire Crimean Tatar population from the region to Central Asia, collectively accusing the community of collaborating with Nazi Germany. Tens of thousands of Crimean Tatars died while being transported on cattle trains or during the first few months after they arrived in Central Asia. Survivors and offspring of the survivors began unauthorized returns to Crimea in the late 1980s. Ukraine’s Crimean peninsula was seized and illegally annexed by Russia in 2014. Since then, the Crimean Tatar community has been subjected to repression by the Russia-installed authorities for voicing opposition to the annexation. (RFE/RL)
Crimean Tatar memorial vandalized
Unknown vandals on May 9 desecrated a memorial outside the city of Sevastopol in Ukraine’s Crimea region to Crimean Tatars who died during World War II. The Crimean Tatar community on May 9 published photographs of the monument, which consisted of two black marble tablets inscribed with the names of 64 local people – including 57 Crimean Tatars – who died during the war. The memorial was erected just three days earlier in the village of Orlovka by the Crimean Tatar community. Tens of thousands of Crimean Tatars died during their mass deportation by Joseph Stalin in May 1944 and the first severe months in Kazakhstan and other remote parts of the Soviet Union. They were only allowed to begin returning to Crimea in the late 1980s under Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev. The de facto authorities in Crimea have not reacted to desecration of the Orlovka monument. (Crimea Desk, RFE/RL’s Ukrainian Service)
Verkhovna Rada chair signs language law
Verkhovna Rada Chair Andriy Parubiy on May 14 signed the new law on Ukrainian as a state language. The signing ceremony took place during a plenary meeting of the Parliament. “Today is a historic day – I’m signing the law on ensuring the functioning of Ukrainian as a state language. In the coming hours, or days, the president of Ukraine will sign it. It will be published in Holos Ukrainy [the parliamentary newspaper] and will become law,” Mr. Parubiy stated. National deputies applauded the signing of the document. The law establishes the National Commission on Standards of the State Language and introduces the post of the commissioner for the protection of the state language. In particular, the law introduces a state program for promotion of study of the Ukrainian language, which is approved by the Cabinet of Ministers. At the same time, the law notes that Ukrainian language courses for adults are to be organized at the state level. Ukraine’s Parliament adopted the law on April 25, with 278 national deputies voting in support. President Petro Poroshenko has promised to sign the document as soon as he receives it. (Ukrinform)
Poroshenko signs language law
President Petro Poroshenko signed the Ukrainian language law on May 15. The signing ceremony, which was streamed live on the president’s Facebook page, was held in the presence of Verkhovna Rada Chairperson Andriy Parubiy and representatives of Parliament and the public. “Today, on May 15, I as president of Ukraine, Petro Poroshenko, have the high honor and a unique opportunity to sign the law of Ukraine ‘On Ensuring the Functioning of the Ukrainian Language as a State Language.’ I am signing a carefully balanced language law,” Mr. Poroshenko said. He emphasized that signing this law “is one of the most important acts for the formation of Ukrainian statehood” since the language is the platform and foundation on which the state is being built. I emphasize that this law does not affect the languages of national minorities living in Ukraine.” The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine adopted the law on April 25, with 278 lawmakers voted for its adoption. However, members of the Opposition Bloc registered draft resolutions on the abolition of the language law. On May 14, the Parliament rejected those draft resolutions, which had been blocking the signing of the law, and Verkhovna Rada Chairperson Andriy Parubiy immediately signed the law. That same day, the law was sent to the president for his signature. (Ukrinform)
Poland for closer ties with Eastern Partnership
The Polish foreign affairs minister has called for an upgraded Eastern Partnership, including closer ties with the European Union and the creation of a free-trade zone among the six member nations. Jacek Czaputowicz was speaking on May 14 at a conference in Brussels celebrating the 10th anniversary of the partnership that aims to bring Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine closer to the EU without giving direct assurances of eventual membership. Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine already have concluded Association Agreements with Brussels that include free-trade pacts, and they have achieved visa-liberalization agreements for their citizens with most EU member states. But none of the countries appears close to joining the EU, and the next steps for Eastern Partnership nations remain uncertain. Mr. Czaputowicz, whose country initiated the Eastern Partnership together with Sweden, said that “as far as institutionalization of relations is concerned, I think we can envisage creating some instruments.” First, he said, would be a permanent secretariat of Eastern Partnership countries in Brussels, “with diplomats delegated to the secretariat who will take care of already existing systems and try to coordinate their policy and also contacts with European Union institutions.” He also suggested a rotating presidency of Eastern Partnership countries to deal directly with the six-month rotating EU presidencies. “Of course, it is difficult, but my main message is that these countries should take more responsibility for the coordination of their work for themselves – not to wait for what we can do – and demonstrate to the European Union that they are organized.” He cited the experience of the four Visegrad countries – the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, and Slovakia – which created a Central European Free Trade Agreement (CEFTA) between them before joining the EU in 2004. “We started to cooperate before we joined the European Union, demonstrated to the European Union that we can do it. And it was a great advantage for us. Why not to create such a CEFTA for these countries?” he said. The ideas put forward by Mr. Czaputowicz are set to be discussed when the European Commission later this year launches a public consultation about how to take the Eastern Partnership forward in the next decade. He cautioned that some EU member states might not be overly enthusiastic about his proposals. “Within the European Union, it might be a problem. Some countries would be hesitant to support the Eastern Partnership,” he said. “So we have to discuss openly about that. It is due to different reasons. They may be oriented more to the south, or they may be also assessing differently the role of Russia and particularly how we should deal with Russia.” (Rikard Jozwiak of RFE/RL)
Pompeo to Russia: reach out to Zelensky
U.S. Secretary of State Michael Pompeo called on Russia’s leadership to find common language with Ukrainian President-elect Volodymyr Zelensky. He stated this at a joint press conference with Russian Foreign Affairs Minister Sergei Lavrov in Sochi, Russia, on May 14. The event was broadcast by C-Span. “I urged Russia to reach out to Ukraine’s new president to demonstrate leadership by taking steps towards breaking the stalemate,” Secretary Pompeo said. He also stressed that President Donald Trump’s administration has been clear that the United States does not recognize Russia’s attempted annexation of Crimea and added that the U.S. planned to keep in place the sanctions related to Russia’s aggression against Ukraine. Mr. Pompeo also said the United States would welcome the release of Ukrainian sailors detained by Russia near the Kerch Strait last year. In addition, he said that the two sides had discussed the implementation of the Minsk agreements and “how we might move forward in obtaining a ceasefire in the Donbas region.” According to the secretary of state, other topics discussed during the meeting were the situations in Syria, Venezuela and Afghanistan, North Korea’s nuclear program, threats of terrorism and other issues. (Ukrinform)
EU, Eastern Partners downgrade statement
Foreign affairs ministers from the European Union and the six Eastern Partnership countries have downgraded a celebratory statement marking the 10th anniversary of the partnership that aims to bring Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine closer to the bloc without the concrete offer of EU membership. Sources told RFE/RL that the change came because Azerbaijan was unhappy that the text did not mention the issue of territorial integrity. The text of the statement remains the same. But instead of being signed by all participants, it was approved only by the chairperson of the meeting – EU foreign-policy chief Federica Mogherini. Tensions have long been high between Armenia and Azerbaijan over Azerbaijan’s breakaway Nagorno-Karabakh region. The region, which is populated mainly by ethnic Armenians, declared independence from Azerbaijan amid a 1988-1994 war that claimed some 30,000 lives and displaced hundreds of thousands of people. Since 1994, when a ceasefire agreement was reached, it has been under the control of ethnic Armenian forces that Baku says include troops supplied by Armenia. In the lead-up to negotiations on the text, Georgia and Ukraine also expressed dissatisfaction that the text did not include Brussels’ acknowledgement of some eastern partners’ “European aspirations.” But Tbilisi and Kyiv accepted wording that referred to older texts such as previous Eastern Partnership summit statements. “We reaffirm the joint commitments enshrined in the Eastern Partnership Summit declarations; and to underline our firm intention to carry them forward,” the celebratory statement said. The Eastern Partnership was launched in 2009 and has held summits for EU and Eastern Partnership heads of state and government every other year since then, with the last summit being held in Brussels 2017. (RFE/RL, with reporting by Rikard Jozwiak in Brussels)
Giuliani cancels plans to visit Ukraine
U.S. President Donald Trump’s personal attorney, Rudy Giuliani, says on May 10 that he was canceling plans to visit Ukraine to encourage investigations by the country’s incoming government that he thinks would help Mr. Trump politically. Speaking on the U.S. television channel Fox News, Mr. Giuliani said late on May 10 that he was not going because he thinks he would be “walking into a group of people that are enemies of the president… in some cases enemies of the United States.” Democrats have criticized Mr. Giuliani’s plans to visit Ukraine over the weekend after The New York Times quoted Mr. Giuliani as saying he wanted to encourage two investigations by the government of incoming President Volodymyr Zelensky. One is the origin of U.S. Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian election interference and the other is the involvement of 2020 Democratic presidential hopeful Joe Biden’s son in a gas company owned by a Ukrainian oligarch. Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-N.Y.), the head of the House Judiciary Committee, said U.S. politics is in “a sorry state” if the president’s lawyer can seek foreign interference in a U.S. election. (RFE/RL, based on reporting by AP, Reuters, Fox News and The New York Times)
Hundreds of UNR documents declassified
The Foreign Intelligence Service of Ukraine declassified almost 350 documents from its archive on the activities of the Ukrainian National Republic (UNR), as reported by Ukrainian media. Among the documents now open to the public are diplomatic and financial papers, orders, resolutions, regulations, letters, and photographs that cover the activities of the UNR authorities. Some of the documents describe the activities of UNR government in exile and efforts to restore the Kozak movement in Ukraine. “Of particular interest are the materials related to the assassination of Symon Petliura,” reads the agency’s statement referring to the supreme commander of the Ukrainian Army and UNR presiwdent during Ukraine’s short-lived sovereignty in 1918-1921. (Ukrainian Canadian Congress Daily Briefing)
Russia frees two Ukrainian fishermen
Two Ukrainian fishermen detained last year by Russian border guards after their boat broke down off the coast of the Crimea Peninsula have been released. Lyudmyla Denisova, the human rights ombudsman for Ukraine, said in a post to her Facebook page on May 7 that she had been informed that Ruslan Kondratyuk and Andriy Morosov “are now on the way back to their families in the Kherson region.” Ms. Denisova said Russian border guards detained the fishermen in September 2018 after their motorboat broke down, forcing them to land the craft in Crimea, the Black Sea peninsula that Russia annexed in 2014. An official with the Russia-backed government in Crimea confirmed to the Russia news agency TASS that the fishermen had been released. Lyudmila Lubina, identified as a Crimean human rights ombudsman, said a court had fined the men an undisclosed sum, although she said they had faced up to five years in prison. Meanwhile, Russia continues to hold 24 Ukrainian seamen who were jailed after Russian border guards seized their vessels near the Kerch Strait between Russia and Crimea in a flare-up of tension in November 2018. Moscow accused them of illegal entry into Russian territorial waters, which they deny, and they are formally charged with illegal border crossing. (RFE/RL’s Ukrainian Service)
Facebook removes more fake pages
Facebook said it has removed more pages and accounts that are believed to have originated in Russia and were involved in “coordinated inauthentic behavior.” In an announcement posted on its corporate blog on May 6, the world’s largest social-media company said it targeted groups and pages that were being deceptive about who was behind them and what they were up to. The takedown included accounts on its Instagram photo-sharing platform, Facebook said. “We found two separate, unconnected operations that originated in Russia and used similar tactics, creating networks of accounts to mislead others about who they were and what they were doing,” Nathaniel Gleicher, Facebook’s head of cybersecurity policy, wrote in the post. The “coordinated inauthentic behavior” was “part of a small network emanating from Russia that focused on Austria, the Baltics, Germany, Spain, Ukraine and the United Kingdom,” he said. Ukraine was the focus of 97 Facebook accounts, pages, or groups removed from the social network, he wrote. Posts by the account typically involved local and political news, the military conflict in eastern Ukraine, the war in Syria, and Russian politics. Facebook did not disclose the identities of those behind the accounts. The move is part of the latest effort by the social-media giant to cut down on the number of false and deceptive accounts that have proliferated on the platform in recent years. U.S. intelligence agencies say Facebook and other social-media platforms were used by a Russian company called the Internet Research Agency to sow discord and spread misinformation in the run-up to the 2016 U.S. presidential election. Special Counsel Robert Mueller indicted the company, its purported owner, and several others for their use of fake Facebook accounts during the 2016 election. (RFE/RL)
75,000 Russian soldiers in Crimea, Donbas
About 75,000 ranking members of the Russian military are now stationed in occupied Crimea and certain areas of the Luhansk and Donetsk regions. Former Ukrainian Joint Forces Commander Serhiy Nayev said there are “40,000 members of [Russian] military in Crimea, 35,000 – in certain areas of Luhansk and Donetsk regions.” He added: “In the occupied territories of the Donbas, Russians hold all the key military positions and are members of units of so-called ‘pinpoint action.’ Special units, instructors are from Russia. There are from 2,100 to 2,300 of them. And about 11,000 Russian citizens (this is even before the start of the issuance of Russian passports) are in the ‘ranks of the army.’ Local residents make up the rest of the personnel.” He made those comments in an interview with the TSN Ukrainian television news service. The fact that the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation keep the commanders of the so-called 1st Army Corps [of Donetsk] or the 2nd Army Corps [of Luhansk] out of the public eye partially confirm that Russian generals hold these positions, Mr. Nayev added. When asked whether Russians perceive their assignment in the occupied Donbas as a punishment or a promotion, the ex-commander of the Joint Forces noted that Russian officers have different opinions on that issue. “The senior commanders, generals, understand that there will be no front movement, so they calmly hold their positions. However, not very good sentiments prevail among company officers,” he said. (Ukrinform)
At the start of the May 10 hearing in the Hamburg-based court, Ukrainian Deputy Foreign Minister for European Integration Olena Zerkal said the tribunal should use “interim measures that require Russia to immediately release the Ukrainian naval ships and their crew members and return them to Ukraine.” Russia claims the Ukrainian Navy ships illegally entered Russian territorial waters near Crimea, which Russia seized and annexed from Ukraine in 2014. The first day of the hearing on May 10 was devoted to Ukraine’s arguments. The judges are expected to rule in the case on May 25. Russia is not taking part in the trial. The Kremlin has said the U.N. court does not have jurisdiction over its military activities. Ukraine has been seeking the release of the sailors and ships since Russian forces attacked and seized them near the Kerch Strait, which links the Black Sea with the Sea of Azov. In January, the European Union reiterated its call for Moscow to release all the detained Ukrainian citizens, including the sailors, that Russia is holding. Brussels maintains that the sailors were “illegally detained” by Russia within the territorial waters of Ukraine’s Russian-occupied Crimean peninsula. Outgoing Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko insists the sailors are “prisoners of war” and has said Moscow’s actions are “blatant proof that Russia continues to show cynical disrespect for human rights.” (RFE/RL’s Ukrainian Service, with reporting by UNIAN and the Kyiv Post)
Latvia recognizes Crimean Tatars’ genocide
The Latvian Parliament has recognized the deportation of Crimean Tatars in 1944 by the government of the Soviet Union as an act of genocide. The resolution on the issue, approved by Latvian lawmakers on May 9, says it was adopted to “commemorate the 75th anniversary of the Crimean Tatar deportations” and to support “the policy of nonrecognition of the illegal annexation of Crimea” by Russia in 2014. The document stressed that “a set of historical sources refers to the purposeful pursuit of genocide by the Soviet authorities against… Crimean Tatars as an ethnic group to destroy their cultural and social heritage and their historical affiliation with the Crimean peninsula.” In May 1944, Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin ordered the mass deportation of the entire Crimean Tatar population from the region to Central Asia, collectively accusing the community of collaborating with Nazi Germany. Tens of thousands of Crimean Tatars died while being transported on cattle trains or during the first few months after they arrived in Central Asia. Survivors and offspring of the survivors began unauthorized returns to Crimea in the late 1980s. Ukraine’s Crimean peninsula was seized and illegally annexed by Russia in 2014. Since then, the Crimean Tatar community has been subjected to repression by the Russia-installed authorities for voicing opposition to the annexation. (RFE/RL)
Crimean Tatar memorial vandalized
Unknown vandals on May 9 desecrated a memorial outside the city of Sevastopol in Ukraine’s Crimea region to Crimean Tatars who died during World War II. The Crimean Tatar community on May 9 published photographs of the monument, which consisted of two black marble tablets inscribed with the names of 64 local people – including 57 Crimean Tatars – who died during the war. The memorial was erected just three days earlier in the village of Orlovka by the Crimean Tatar community. Tens of thousands of Crimean Tatars died during their mass deportation by Joseph Stalin in May 1944 and the first severe months in Kazakhstan and other remote parts of the Soviet Union. They were only allowed to begin returning to Crimea in the late 1980s under Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev. The de facto authorities in Crimea have not reacted to desecration of the Orlovka monument. (Crimea Desk, RFE/RL’s Ukrainian Service)
Verkhovna Rada chair signs language law
Verkhovna Rada Chair Andriy Parubiy on May 14 signed the new law on Ukrainian as a state language. The signing ceremony took place during a plenary meeting of the Parliament. “Today is a historic day – I’m signing the law on ensuring the functioning of Ukrainian as a state language. In the coming hours, or days, the president of Ukraine will sign it. It will be published in Holos Ukrainy [the parliamentary newspaper] and will become law,” Mr. Parubiy stated. National deputies applauded the signing of the document. The law establishes the National Commission on Standards of the State Language and introduces the post of the commissioner for the protection of the state language. In particular, the law introduces a state program for promotion of study of the Ukrainian language, which is approved by the Cabinet of Ministers. At the same time, the law notes that Ukrainian language courses for adults are to be organized at the state level. Ukraine’s Parliament adopted the law on April 25, with 278 national deputies voting in support. President Petro Poroshenko has promised to sign the document as soon as he receives it. (Ukrinform)
Poroshenko signs language law
President Petro Poroshenko signed the Ukrainian language law on May 15. The signing ceremony, which was streamed live on the president’s Facebook page, was held in the presence of Verkhovna Rada Chairperson Andriy Parubiy and representatives of Parliament and the public. “Today, on May 15, I as president of Ukraine, Petro Poroshenko, have the high honor and a unique opportunity to sign the law of Ukraine ‘On Ensuring the Functioning of the Ukrainian Language as a State Language.’ I am signing a carefully balanced language law,” Mr. Poroshenko said. He emphasized that signing this law “is one of the most important acts for the formation of Ukrainian statehood” since the language is the platform and foundation on which the state is being built. I emphasize that this law does not affect the languages of national minorities living in Ukraine.” The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine adopted the law on April 25, with 278 lawmakers voted for its adoption. However, members of the Opposition Bloc registered draft resolutions on the abolition of the language law. On May 14, the Parliament rejected those draft resolutions, which had been blocking the signing of the law, and Verkhovna Rada Chairperson Andriy Parubiy immediately signed the law. That same day, the law was sent to the president for his signature. (Ukrinform)
Poland for closer ties with Eastern Partnership
The Polish foreign affairs minister has called for an upgraded Eastern Partnership, including closer ties with the European Union and the creation of a free-trade zone among the six member nations. Jacek Czaputowicz was speaking on May 14 at a conference in Brussels celebrating the 10th anniversary of the partnership that aims to bring Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine closer to the EU without giving direct assurances of eventual membership. Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine already have concluded Association Agreements with Brussels that include free-trade pacts, and they have achieved visa-liberalization agreements for their citizens with most EU member states. But none of the countries appears close to joining the EU, and the next steps for Eastern Partnership nations remain uncertain. Mr. Czaputowicz, whose country initiated the Eastern Partnership together with Sweden, said that “as far as institutionalization of relations is concerned, I think we can envisage creating some instruments.” First, he said, would be a permanent secretariat of Eastern Partnership countries in Brussels, “with diplomats delegated to the secretariat who will take care of already existing systems and try to coordinate their policy and also contacts with European Union institutions.” He also suggested a rotating presidency of Eastern Partnership countries to deal directly with the six-month rotating EU presidencies. “Of course, it is difficult, but my main message is that these countries should take more responsibility for the coordination of their work for themselves – not to wait for what we can do – and demonstrate to the European Union that they are organized.” He cited the experience of the four Visegrad countries – the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, and Slovakia – which created a Central European Free Trade Agreement (CEFTA) between them before joining the EU in 2004. “We started to cooperate before we joined the European Union, demonstrated to the European Union that we can do it. And it was a great advantage for us. Why not to create such a CEFTA for these countries?” he said. The ideas put forward by Mr. Czaputowicz are set to be discussed when the European Commission later this year launches a public consultation about how to take the Eastern Partnership forward in the next decade. He cautioned that some EU member states might not be overly enthusiastic about his proposals. “Within the European Union, it might be a problem. Some countries would be hesitant to support the Eastern Partnership,” he said. “So we have to discuss openly about that. It is due to different reasons. They may be oriented more to the south, or they may be also assessing differently the role of Russia and particularly how we should deal with Russia.” (Rikard Jozwiak of RFE/RL)
Pompeo to Russia: reach out to Zelensky
U.S. Secretary of State Michael Pompeo called on Russia’s leadership to find common language with Ukrainian President-elect Volodymyr Zelensky. He stated this at a joint press conference with Russian Foreign Affairs Minister Sergei Lavrov in Sochi, Russia, on May 14. The event was broadcast by C-Span. “I urged Russia to reach out to Ukraine’s new president to demonstrate leadership by taking steps towards breaking the stalemate,” Secretary Pompeo said. He also stressed that President Donald Trump’s administration has been clear that the United States does not recognize Russia’s attempted annexation of Crimea and added that the U.S. planned to keep in place the sanctions related to Russia’s aggression against Ukraine. Mr. Pompeo also said the United States would welcome the release of Ukrainian sailors detained by Russia near the Kerch Strait last year. In addition, he said that the two sides had discussed the implementation of the Minsk agreements and “how we might move forward in obtaining a ceasefire in the Donbas region.” According to the secretary of state, other topics discussed during the meeting were the situations in Syria, Venezuela and Afghanistan, North Korea’s nuclear program, threats of terrorism and other issues. (Ukrinform)
EU, Eastern Partners downgrade statement
Foreign affairs ministers from the European Union and the six Eastern Partnership countries have downgraded a celebratory statement marking the 10th anniversary of the partnership that aims to bring Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine closer to the bloc without the concrete offer of EU membership. Sources told RFE/RL that the change came because Azerbaijan was unhappy that the text did not mention the issue of territorial integrity. The text of the statement remains the same. But instead of being signed by all participants, it was approved only by the chairperson of the meeting – EU foreign-policy chief Federica Mogherini. Tensions have long been high between Armenia and Azerbaijan over Azerbaijan’s breakaway Nagorno-Karabakh region. The region, which is populated mainly by ethnic Armenians, declared independence from Azerbaijan amid a 1988-1994 war that claimed some 30,000 lives and displaced hundreds of thousands of people. Since 1994, when a ceasefire agreement was reached, it has been under the control of ethnic Armenian forces that Baku says include troops supplied by Armenia. In the lead-up to negotiations on the text, Georgia and Ukraine also expressed dissatisfaction that the text did not include Brussels’ acknowledgement of some eastern partners’ “European aspirations.” But Tbilisi and Kyiv accepted wording that referred to older texts such as previous Eastern Partnership summit statements. “We reaffirm the joint commitments enshrined in the Eastern Partnership Summit declarations; and to underline our firm intention to carry them forward,” the celebratory statement said. The Eastern Partnership was launched in 2009 and has held summits for EU and Eastern Partnership heads of state and government every other year since then, with the last summit being held in Brussels 2017. (RFE/RL, with reporting by Rikard Jozwiak in Brussels)
Giuliani cancels plans to visit Ukraine
U.S. President Donald Trump’s personal attorney, Rudy Giuliani, says on May 10 that he was canceling plans to visit Ukraine to encourage investigations by the country’s incoming government that he thinks would help Mr. Trump politically. Speaking on the U.S. television channel Fox News, Mr. Giuliani said late on May 10 that he was not going because he thinks he would be “walking into a group of people that are enemies of the president… in some cases enemies of the United States.” Democrats have criticized Mr. Giuliani’s plans to visit Ukraine over the weekend after The New York Times quoted Mr. Giuliani as saying he wanted to encourage two investigations by the government of incoming President Volodymyr Zelensky. One is the origin of U.S. Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian election interference and the other is the involvement of 2020 Democratic presidential hopeful Joe Biden’s son in a gas company owned by a Ukrainian oligarch. Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-N.Y.), the head of the House Judiciary Committee, said U.S. politics is in “a sorry state” if the president’s lawyer can seek foreign interference in a U.S. election. (RFE/RL, based on reporting by AP, Reuters, Fox News and The New York Times)
Hundreds of UNR documents declassified
The Foreign Intelligence Service of Ukraine declassified almost 350 documents from its archive on the activities of the Ukrainian National Republic (UNR), as reported by Ukrainian media. Among the documents now open to the public are diplomatic and financial papers, orders, resolutions, regulations, letters, and photographs that cover the activities of the UNR authorities. Some of the documents describe the activities of UNR government in exile and efforts to restore the Kozak movement in Ukraine. “Of particular interest are the materials related to the assassination of Symon Petliura,” reads the agency’s statement referring to the supreme commander of the Ukrainian Army and UNR presiwdent during Ukraine’s short-lived sovereignty in 1918-1921. (Ukrainian Canadian Congress Daily Briefing)
Russia frees two Ukrainian fishermen
Two Ukrainian fishermen detained last year by Russian border guards after their boat broke down off the coast of the Crimea Peninsula have been released. Lyudmyla Denisova, the human rights ombudsman for Ukraine, said in a post to her Facebook page on May 7 that she had been informed that Ruslan Kondratyuk and Andriy Morosov “are now on the way back to their families in the Kherson region.” Ms. Denisova said Russian border guards detained the fishermen in September 2018 after their motorboat broke down, forcing them to land the craft in Crimea, the Black Sea peninsula that Russia annexed in 2014. An official with the Russia-backed government in Crimea confirmed to the Russia news agency TASS that the fishermen had been released. Lyudmila Lubina, identified as a Crimean human rights ombudsman, said a court had fined the men an undisclosed sum, although she said they had faced up to five years in prison. Meanwhile, Russia continues to hold 24 Ukrainian seamen who were jailed after Russian border guards seized their vessels near the Kerch Strait between Russia and Crimea in a flare-up of tension in November 2018. Moscow accused them of illegal entry into Russian territorial waters, which they deny, and they are formally charged with illegal border crossing. (RFE/RL’s Ukrainian Service)
Facebook removes more fake pages
Facebook said it has removed more pages and accounts that are believed to have originated in Russia and were involved in “coordinated inauthentic behavior.” In an announcement posted on its corporate blog on May 6, the world’s largest social-media company said it targeted groups and pages that were being deceptive about who was behind them and what they were up to. The takedown included accounts on its Instagram photo-sharing platform, Facebook said. “We found two separate, unconnected operations that originated in Russia and used similar tactics, creating networks of accounts to mislead others about who they were and what they were doing,” Nathaniel Gleicher, Facebook’s head of cybersecurity policy, wrote in the post. The “coordinated inauthentic behavior” was “part of a small network emanating from Russia that focused on Austria, the Baltics, Germany, Spain, Ukraine and the United Kingdom,” he said. Ukraine was the focus of 97 Facebook accounts, pages, or groups removed from the social network, he wrote. Posts by the account typically involved local and political news, the military conflict in eastern Ukraine, the war in Syria, and Russian politics. Facebook did not disclose the identities of those behind the accounts. The move is part of the latest effort by the social-media giant to cut down on the number of false and deceptive accounts that have proliferated on the platform in recent years. U.S. intelligence agencies say Facebook and other social-media platforms were used by a Russian company called the Internet Research Agency to sow discord and spread misinformation in the run-up to the 2016 U.S. presidential election. Special Counsel Robert Mueller indicted the company, its purported owner, and several others for their use of fake Facebook accounts during the 2016 election. (RFE/RL)
75,000 Russian soldiers in Crimea, Donbas
About 75,000 ranking members of the Russian military are now stationed in occupied Crimea and certain areas of the Luhansk and Donetsk regions. Former Ukrainian Joint Forces Commander Serhiy Nayev said there are “40,000 members of [Russian] military in Crimea, 35,000 – in certain areas of Luhansk and Donetsk regions.” He added: “In the occupied territories of the Donbas, Russians hold all the key military positions and are members of units of so-called ‘pinpoint action.’ Special units, instructors are from Russia. There are from 2,100 to 2,300 of them. And about 11,000 Russian citizens (this is even before the start of the issuance of Russian passports) are in the ‘ranks of the army.’ Local residents make up the rest of the personnel.” He made those comments in an interview with the TSN Ukrainian television news service. The fact that the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation keep the commanders of the so-called 1st Army Corps [of Donetsk] or the 2nd Army Corps [of Luhansk] out of the public eye partially confirm that Russian generals hold these positions, Mr. Nayev added. When asked whether Russians perceive their assignment in the occupied Donbas as a punishment or a promotion, the ex-commander of the Joint Forces noted that Russian officers have different opinions on that issue. “The senior commanders, generals, understand that there will be no front movement, so they calmly hold their positions. However, not very good sentiments prevail among company officers,” he said. (Ukrinform)