Ukrainians react to Trump victory
KYIV – Ukrainians have expressed disbelief and worry after they awoke to discover that a U.S. election outcome many had feared – a Donald Trump presidency – had become reality. “Tell me I’m sleeping and this is a terrible nightmare!” a shocked Daria Kaleniuk, executive director of the Kyiv-based NGO Anticorruption Action Center, wrote on Facebook on November 9. “Please someone tell me this is not happening…” tweeted civil activist Kateryna Kruk as it became apparent that Republican candidate Trump was closing in on a victory over his Democratic rival, Hillary Clinton. Kyiv considers Washington to be its strongest ally in its fight against a revanchist Russia, and Trump’s statements during the campaign have prompted concerns that he may be more accepting of Russia’s actions in Ukraine than the current administration. Many ordinary Ukrainians fear that Trump might end U.S. sanctions against Russia over its interference in Ukraine, formally recognize Russia’s 2014 seizure of Ukraine’s Crimean peninsula, and allow the Kremlin to restore its sphere of influence in Eastern Europe. Some want specific answers from Trump regarding his position on Ukraine, and they want their leaders to pry them from him. Lithuanian-born former Ukrainian Economy Minister Aivaras Abromavicius took an optimistic approach, tweeting: “Life goes on. Everything will be fine.” (Christopher Miller of RFE/RL)
Saakashvili quits as Odesa governor
KYIV – The boisterous former Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili resigned on November 7 as governor of Ukraine’s Odesa region, accusing the Ukrainian president of dishonesty and the central government of sabotaging crucial reforms. “This is going on quite openly,” Mr. Saakashvili told an outdoor press conference streamed live on Facebook from the port of Odesa. Then, in an apparent allusion to the continuing war pitting Russia-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine against the central government in Kyiv, he added that the “Odesa region is being handed over not only to corrupt people, but also to enemies of Ukraine.” Mr. Saakashvili, a firebrand reformer who was Georgian president from 2004 to 2013, was appointed by Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko to govern the Black Sea coastal region in May 2015. Mr. Saakashvili relinquished his Georgian citizenship to assume official responsibilities in Odesa. He had expressed increasing frustration with Mr. Poroshenko in recent months over reported efforts to root out corrupt officials and said in his resignation speech that he was tired of broken presidential promises. Looking straight at news cameras, Mr. Saakashvili directed a question at the president: “How much can you lie and cheat?” Mr. Poroshenko’s press office did not respond to Saakashvili’s accusations, saying in an e-mailed statement to RFE/RL only that “the Cabinet will submit Saakashvili’s resignation to the president, [and] he will accept this resignation.” Mr. Saakashvili said that “the last straw that broke my patience” was Ukrainian officials’ income declarations made public last week. The data exposed vast gaps between the fortunes of politicians and those they represent at a time when Ukraine is pleading with the West for financial assistance. Mr. Saakashvili vowed to reporters on November 7 to “start a new stage of the struggle” in Ukraine, although he did not provide details. “I will do everything it takes until we win a complete victory to free Ukraine from this scum, from this corrupt dirt that capitalizes on the blood of our soldiers and victims of the [Euro-Maidan], who betrayed the idea of the Ukrainian revolution and whose only motivation is to line their own pockets!” (Christopher Miller of RFE/RL)
EU adds six Duma deputies to sanctions list
RUSSELS – The European Union has added six new deputies in Russia’s State Duma – all from Crimea – to its sanctions list over Russia’s seizure and illegal annexation of the Ukrainian territory. The six blacklisted State Duma deputies won their seats in Russia’s September parliamentary elections. The EU sanctions have been imposed on individuals and entities that, according to Brussels, are responsible for actions against Ukraine’s territorial integrity. Asset freezes and visa bans were first imposed by the EU in March 2014 after Russia illegally annexed Crimea. Those sanctions have been continued and expanded by a series of additional votes by EU officials in Brussels, including the most recent vote in September that has prolonged the sanctions for another six months. The Russian Duma deputies from Crimea will be officially added to the sanctions list on November 9 when their names are published in the EU official journal. That will bring the total number of sanctioned individuals to 152 – including Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin and Dmitry Kiselyov, who many regard as the Kremlin’s chief propagandist. There also are 37 entities targeted by EU sanctions. They include companies active in Crimea and military battalions formed by Russia-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine. (RFE/RL, based on reporting by RFE/RL’s Brussels correspondent Rikard Jozwiak)
Putin unveils St. Volodymyr statue
MOSCOW – Separate crowds of nationalists and government supporters marched through the streets of Moscow on November 4 as Russia marked National Unity Day, a holiday established by the Kremlin more than 10 years ago to replace Communist-era celebrations of the Bolshevik Revolution anniversary. Outside the Kremlin, President Vladimir Putin unveiled a controversial 17-meter-high statue of Grand Prince Vladimir (Volodymyr in Ukrainian), an iconic figure who legend says converted eastern Slavs to Christianity in 988, when he was ruler of Kyivan Rus’. Mr. Putin has used the November 4 holiday to promote patriotism and seek to consolidate society and strengthen the Kremlin’s grip on a vast, diverse country. He has tried to balance messages of unity with verbal support for the ethnic Russian majority and the predominant Russian Orthodox Church. “Prince Vladimir has gone down forever in history as the unifier and defender of Russian lands, as a visionary politician,” Mr. Putin said at the event on Borovitskaya Square, which was attended by Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev and other senior officials as well as Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill, underscoring the symbolic importance Moscow placed on the event. Pro-government gatherings were held in cities across Russia as well as in Crimea, the Black Sea peninsula that Moscow seized from Ukraine in 2014. Grand Prince Volodymyr is a key part of the current struggle between Moscow and Kyiv. He has long been seen as belonging to Kyiv, where a soaring statue has been a chief symbol of the city since it was erected on “Volodymyr’s Hill,” overlooking the Dnipro River, in 1853. During the pro-government march in central Moscow, some participants held up placards like “Russia, peace, unity,” and “When we’re united, we’re unbeatable.” Also visible were banners of the orange-and-black St. George ribbon, which the state has promoted as a patriotic symbol but which many Kremlin critics and people in neighboring countries now associate with Russian military aggression. A balloon, several meters in diameter and emblazoned with the word “Antimaidan” – a sign of opposition to Ukraine’s Euro-Maidan protest movement, which drove Russia-friendly President Viktor Yanukovych from power in 2014 – floated above the procession. (Tom Balmforth of RFE/RL)
Hackers release more Surkov e-mails
KYIV – Ukrainian hackers claim to have broken into a second e-mail account linked to Vladislav Surkov, a senior aide to Russian President Vladimir Putin, releasing documents they say add to mounting evidence of the Kremlin meddling in Kyiv’s affairs. The new e-mails were obtained by RFE/RL from the hackers in advance of their public release on November 3. If authentic, they provide detail about the extent to which Mr. Surkov’s office worked to set up separatist enclaves in eastern Ukraine in 2014. The e-mails include plans that ostensibly show how associates of Mr. Surkov plotted to destabilize Ukraine’s eastern Kharkiv region, researched Ukrainian politicians who openly supported weakening central power in a bid to exploit the country’s political divisions, and helped establish the leadership of separatist groups in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions. They indicate that, in one case, a draft law on an economic zone in eastern Ukraine purportedly written by Mr. Surkov himself was sent to the office of an opposition lawmaker and later introduced in the Ukrainian Parliament. The new release comes one week after an initial batch of e-mails from an inbox allegedly associated with Mr. Surkov, a longtime Putin aide who is the point man for Ukraine in his administration. Analysts say they demonstrate careful planning by Russia ahead of the forcible annexation of Crimea in March 2014 and a direct Russian role in fomenting anti-Kyiv actions in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, which led to a war that has killed more than 9,600 people since that April and persists despite Western-brokered cease-fire deals. In both cases, the e-mails were released by a group of Ukrainian “hacktivists” who call themselves the Cyber Alliance. Independent international analysts and Ukraine’s domestic Security Service, the SBU, have said many of the e-mails in the first group appear authentic, but there were doubts about some of the documents. Several people whose correspondence with Mr. Surkov was included in the leak have confirmed they sent the messages to Mr. Surkov released by the hackers. The Kremlin has not explicitly called the e-mails or attached material fraudulent but has sought to cast doubt on their authenticity. Mr. Putin’s spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, said of one unspecified text that Surkov “doesn’t use electronic mail… so someone must have sweated quite a bit to compose this document.” Mr. Surkov himself has not commented on the matter. (Christopher Miller of RFE/RL, with reporting by Mark Krutov of RFE/RL’s Russian Service)
Ukrainian library director on trial
MOSCOW – The trial of the director of Moscow’s Ukrainian Literature Library kicked off in the Russian capital on November 2. Natalya Sharina pleaded not guilty to charges of extremism and embezzlement. Ms. Sharina was detained last October and charged with inciting extremism and ethnic hatred because her library’s collection allegedly included books by Ukrainian ultranationalist and author Dmytro Korchynsky, whose works are banned in Russia. She was placed under house arrest. In April, investigators charged Ms. Sharina with misallocating library funds, allegedly because she used library funds to pay for her legal defense in another extremism case against her that was dismissed in 2013. Her lawyer said the authorities had trumped up new charges after realizing their initial case against his client was too weak. Ms. Sharina has rejected all the allegations against her, saying they are politically motivated. (RFE/RL’s Russian Service)
U.S. to station 330 troops in Norway
WASHINGTON – The United States will deploy over 300 troops in Norway, the Norwegian government announced on October 24, in a move likely to upset neighboring Russia. The 330 Marines will be stationed at the Vaernes military base around 1,000 kilometers from the Russian border, it said. The United States already has military equipment in Norway, a NATO ally, but no troops. The stationing of U.S. troops in Norway is intended to improve “interoperability within the Alliance,” Norwegian Defense Minister Ine Eriksen Soreide said. “It is crucial for Norwegian security that our allies come here to gain knowledge of how to operate in Norway and with Norwegian forces,” she said. Oslo said the deployment, beginning in January, is a trial and will be evaluated in 2017. Last week, the Russian Embassy in Oslo expressed surprise at the idea of stationing U.S. troops in Norway, noting frequent statements from Norwegian leaders that they do not view Russia as a threat. Ms. Soereide, however, has expressed concern about Russian military activity since Moscow’s annexation of Ukraine’s Crimea Peninsula in 2014. Some domestic critics have also questioned whether it’s wise for Norway to be drawn into the renewed Cold War-style confrontation between the United States and Russia. (RFE/RL, based on reporting by Reuters and AFP)
Russia questions armed OSCE mission
MOSCOW – The Kremlin supports the idea of creating an armed police mission of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) in eastern Ukraine but cast doubt that such a force could be formed soon. Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov told journalists on October 24 that President Vladimir Putin “responded with potential consent to the idea of such a mission,” but added, “for the time being, the OSCE has no understanding of how such a mission can be formed, where it is to be deployed, and so on.” Representatives of the Russia-backed separatist movements in Ukraine’s Luhansk and Donetsk regions opposed the deployment of an armed OSCE mission, a spokesman for the separatists said the same day. The idea of such an OSCE mission was discussed during international talks in Berlin on October 20. (RFE/RL, based on reporting by TASS and Interfax)
More flights for Ukrainian airline
NEW YORK – Starting December 5, Ukrainie International Airlines (UIA) will be increasing the number of flights from the United States to Amman, Jordan. Travelers to Amman can enjoy same day flights from JFK International Airport to Amman, connecting at the ultra-modern Kyiv Boryspil International Airport, five days a week. “Jordan continues to resonate with American travelers,” noted Gregg Truman, the airline’s general manager for North America. He added, “The country is renowned for its ancient monuments, nature reserves, seaside resorts and the bucket-list destination of Petra. We hope our same day flights from New York will allow more Americans to experience the wonders of Jordan than ever before.” UIA flights depart JFK just after midnight at 12:30 a.m., and arrive in Amman the same day at 11:45p.m. The return flights depart Amman at 4:25 a.m. and arrive at JFK the same day at 1:45 p.m. In addition to Amman, UIA offers daily same day flights to many important cities in the Middle East, including Ankara, Dubai, Istanbul, Tehran and Tel Aviv, Israel. For more information see www.FlyUIA.com. In related news, UIA announced that it has successfully migrated to the Amadeus Altea Passenger Service System (GDS) and PROS Origin & Destination Revenue Management System. The airline’s transition to these state-of-the-art systems is a landmark in the airline’s development and supports their rapidly expanding business operations and to offer a vast selection of travel options to passengers. The introduction of Amadeus Altea advanced technology solution from Amadeus, the global travel industry leader, allows UIA to offer travel agents and passengers the lowest possible fares, as well as a vast selection of ancillary services, including pre-paid baggage options, pre-paid onboard meals, seat selection and more. (UIA)