Ukraine’s MFA protests Kerch bridge
Ukraine’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) on May 15 expressed “its strong protest in connection with the opening of the bridge through the Kerch Strait and in turn emphasizes the illegality of Russia’s construction of this infrastructure facility without the consent of Ukraine.” A statement issued by the MFA went on to say: “Such actions by Moscow are fundamentally contrary to generally accepted norms and principles of international law, grossly violate the U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea, 1982, and bilateral contractual obligations towards Ukraine. In the face of Russian armed aggression against Ukraine and the temporary occupation of the Crimean peninsula, it is actually an attempt to legitimize the annexation of part of the sovereign territory of Ukraine. Construction of the bridge, as well as any other actions of the Kremlin occupation authorities, can in no way change the status of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol as an integral part of the territory of Ukraine in its internationally recognized borders. The Russian Federation, as an invading state, is fully responsible for the consequences of its internationally wrongful acts and will reimburse the damage. Ukraine will consistently work on extending national and international sanctions on persons and companies involved in the illegal construction of the bridge crossing through the Kerch Strait.” (Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine)
Three leaders discuss extending sanctions
Ukraine’s Presidential Administration reported on May 10 that during a working visit to Germany, President Petro Poroshenko held a trilateral meeting with President of France Emmanuel Macron and Chancellor of Germany Angela Merkel. “We had a very ambitious agenda. We discussed the issue of prolonging sanctions. We expressed serious concern over the escalation of hostilities by the Russian Federation against Ukrainian troops. Last day in the Katerynivka area, we lost one Ukrainian hero, five were wounded,” Mr. Poroshenko noted. The Ukrainian president also noted that he had informed the leaders of France and Germany in detail about the situation in the Donbas. “We clearly emphasize and insist that the truce that was announced before Easter must be strictly followed by Russian terrorist troops,” he stressed. Mr. Poroshenko raised the issue of the de-occupation of Crimea. “Obviously, we discussed the deoccupation and the imposition of sanctions for the illegal conduct of the elections. I spoke about it from the very beginning,” Mr. Poroshenko commented. “We coordinate actions. The package of sanctions on the implementation of the Minsk agreements and cessation of Russia’s aggression in the Donbas is inextricably linked to the package of sanctions for the illegal annexation of Crimea.” (Presidential Administration of Ukraine)
Ukrainians warned on travel to World Cup
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine has recommended that citizens of Ukraine refrain from traveling to the Russian Federation to attend the final of the Football World Cup in connection with serious threats to personal security. “The stay of Ukrainian citizens on the territory of the Russian Federation is associated with serious threats to personal security. Russian law enforcement agencies and punitive agencies resort to detentions and charges of espionage or terrorist activities, carry out other provocative acts against Ukrainians,” the Foreign Ministry said in its statement posted on the ministry’s website on May 15. Ukrainian diplomats noted that Russia resorts to a vicious practice of restricting or denying access to detained Ukrainian citizens for consuls and lawyers. The Foreign Affairs Ministry reported that “the incitement of anti-Ukrainian sentiments through Kremlin propaganda is an additional risk factor” for the stay of Ukrainian citizens on the territory of the Russian Federation. “Any demonstration of one’s belonging to Ukraine can provoke purposeful aggression on the part of Russian fan groups, most of which do not hide their hostile attitude towards Ukrainians,” the MFA said. The ministry also called on foreign partners to politically boycott the final part of the FIFA World Cup in Russia. “We believe that the refusal to send official delegations to the Russian Federation will be an important demonstration of international solidarity in the rejection of the aggressive policy of the Russian Federation and the commission of crimes against human rights,” the diplomats said. (Interfax-Ukraine)
Donbas forces use latest weapons
The Russian-led forces in the Donbas have started using the latest weapons against the Armed Forces of Ukraine. A few days ago, the enemy launched the newest rockets to shell Ukrainian positions near the Ukrainian-controlled strategic port city of Mariupol, the press center of the Ukrainian Joint Forces Operation said on May 15. The rockets had high-explosive warheads and left large-diameter craters behind. All their remnants were collected after the attack and sent to a specialized laboratory for tests. “We’ve found the tails of rockets that are not typical of conventional ammunition. Unlike Soviet models, which were previously used by the Russian occupation troops, such tailing looks completely different and its fitting is different. We’ve also found fragments with [ammunition] markings. Everything has been documented and sent to the special departments of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine,” one of the Ukrainian soldiers noted. Ukraine’s General Staff said that the Russian occupation forces are also engaged in a large-scale campaign to plant prohibited anti-personnel mines in eastern Ukraine, including in the so-called “gray zone.” (UNIAN)
Balukh on trial again in Crimea
Volodymyr Balukh, an imprisoned pro-Kyiv activist who has been on hunger strike for 55 days and whose release has been demanded by Washington, is on trial again in Russian-controlled Crimea. The trial of Mr. Balukh, one of dozens of Crimeans prosecuted by Russia in what rights groups say has been a persistent campaign to silence dissent since Moscow seized the Ukrainian region in 2014, began at Rozdolne district court on May 15. Mr. Balukh was sentenced in January to three years and seven months in a penal colony, where convicts live close to an industrial facility or a farm where they work, after being convicted on a weapons-and-explosives-possession charge. Mr. Balukh’s initial sentence to the same prison term in August 2017 had been annulled by an appeals court and returned for additional investigation. Mr. Balukh insists the case against him was politically motivated. In March, a new case was launched against Mr. Balukh after a warden in a local detention center in Crimea claimed that Mr. Balukh attacked him. Mr. Balukh denies the charge, saying the warden attacked him. On May 3, the United States said that Mr. Balukh is a political prisoner and called on the “Russian occupation authorities in Crimea” to release him. “Unacceptable for Russia to jail a Ukrainian citizen for flying a Ukrainian flag in Crimea and deny him medical care,” State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said on Twitter. Mr. Balukh was arrested in December 2016, after the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) said explosives and 90 bullets were found in the attic of his home. The search was conducted shortly after Mr. Balukh planted a Ukrainian flag in his yard and affixed a sign to his house that read 18 Heavenly Hundred St. Rights groups say Crimean residents who opposed Russia’s takeover have faced discrimination and abuse at the hands of the Moscow-imposed authorities. In 2017, the European Parliament called on Moscow to free more than 30 Ukrainian citizens who were in prison or under other conditions of restricted freedom in Russia, Crimea and parts of eastern Ukraine that are controlled by Russia-backed separatists. (Crimea Desk, RFE/RL’s Ukrainian Service)
Five sanctioned for election in Crimea
The European Union on May 14 sanctioned five people who, according to the bloc, helped organize the Russian presidential election in the annexed Ukrainian region of Crimea in March. The EU said the election was not legitimate and violated Ukraine’s sovereignty. The five people sanctioned include Natalya Ivanovna Berzruchenko, who was the deputy chairwoman of the Crimea Electoral Commission, and the secretary of the commission, Inna Nikolayevna Guzeyeva. The chairman of the Sevastopol Electoral Commission, Aleksandr Yurevich Petukhov, his deputy, Miroslav Aleksandrovich Pogorelov, and its secretary, Anastasiya Nikolayevna Karpranova, were also sanctioned. All five people face visa bans and asset freezes in the EU. They were sanctioned for “actively supporting and implementing policies that undermine the territorial integrity, sovereignty, and independence of Ukraine,” the European Council said in a statement. Russian Foreign Affairs Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said Moscow “retains the right to react appropriately to the latest hostile step by the EU.” The anti-Russian sanctions “have turned into ritual demonstrations of ‘solidarity’ within the EU,” Ms. Zakharova said. “Their only practical result is the build-up of ‘irritants,’ hindering the establishment of mutually profitable dialogue and cooperation with Russia in the interests of our citizens.” In previous rounds of sanctions, the EU has already frozen the assets of and slapped visa bans on 150 Russian officials and Moscow-backed separatists, as well as 38 entities that according to Brussels are responsible for actions violating Ukraine’s territorial integrity. The EU first imposed sanctions in March 2014 after Russia occupied and annexed Crimea. The sanctions have been periodically updated with new names and prolonged every six months, most recently in March. (RFE/RL, with reporting by AFP and RFE/RL Brussels correspondent Rikard Jozwiak)
Merkel slams ceasefire violations
German Chancellor Angela Merkel has expressed deep concern about repeated violations of a ceasefire between Ukrainian forces and Russia-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine. Ms. Merkel’s remarks on May 12 in Italy, where she was awarded a peace prize, came as the warring sides remain locked in a four-year conflict showing few signs that the violence might end soon. Since April 2014, more than 10,300 people have been killed in fighting between Kyiv’s forces and the separatists who control parts of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions. Ceasefire deals announced as part of the Minsk accords – September 2014 and February 2015 pacts aimed to resolve the conflict – have failed to hold. “Ukraine is worrying us,” Chancellor Merkel said after receiving the Lamp of Peace of St. Francis award in the Italian town of Assisi. “We try to enforce the Minsk agreements, but every night there is a violation of the truce, every day human losses,” she added. A new ceasefire agreement between Ukraine and the Russia-backed separatists was reached in late 2017 and was meant to begin on December 23. But both sides have accused one another of repeated violations since then. (RFE/RL, based on reporting by AFP and Bloomberg)
Bellingcat IDs Mariupol attack perpetrators
The Bellingcat Investigation Team has determined conclusively that the artillery attack on the Ukrainian town of Mariupol on January 24, 2015, which resulted in at least 30 civilian deaths and over 100 injuries, came from Russia-controlled territory. Bellingcat has also determined that the shelling operation was instructed, directed and supervised by Russian military commanders in active service with the Russian Ministry of Defense. Furthermore, Bellingcat has determined that two artillery batteries of Multiple Launch Rocket Systems (MLRS) were transported from Russia into Ukraine the day before the Mariupol operation. In the early morning of January 24, 2015, these batteries were deployed near the village of Bezimenne exclusively for the shelling of targets in and around Mariupol, after which they were repatriated back into Russia. The investigation was made possible due to access to raw video and audio data that is being submitted by the Ukrainian government to the International Court of Justice as part of an ongoing legal case. Bellingcat and its media partners analyzed a large volume of intercepted calls from and to participants in the armed conflict located in the area of Bezimenne at the time of shelling. A detailed analysis permitted the identification of persons and military units, and the reconstruction of events leading up to the shelling of residential areas in Mariupol. Bellingcat’s investigation is the first to fully detail and identify the role of active Russian military units, as well as the direct commanding role of active Russian army officers in this military operation. The Russian officers who were in charge on high and lower levels of the MLRS batteries on the day of the shelling at Mariupol, or provided target instructions from another location in eastern Ukraine, have been identified by Bellingcat as: Maj. Gen. Stepan Stepanovich Yaroshchuk, Alexander Iozhefovich Tsapliuk (“Gorets”), Alexander Anatolevich Muratov, Maksim Vladimirovich Vlasov (“Yugra”), Sergey Sergeyevich Yurchenko (“Voronezh”) and Alexander Valeryevich Grunchev (“Terek”). The Russian officers who were in charge of selecting and sending artillery commanders and artillery equipment to eastern Ukraine have been identified as: Col. Oleg Leargievich Kuvshinov, Maj. Gen. Dmitry Nikolaevich Klimenko and Col. Sergey Ivanovich Lisai. The two Russian and Ukrainian militants in direct charge of the artillery units that shelled Mariupol have been identified as: Alexander Mikhailovich Evtody (“Pepel”) and Grayr Manukovich Egiazaryan (“Shram”). (Bellingcat Investigation Team)
Court extends Savchenko’s detention
Kyiv’s Shevchenkivsky District Court has extended the detention of Ukrainian National Deputy Nadiya Savchenko until July 13. According to an Interfax-Ukraine reporter, at a session on May 15 the court granted a petition from Ukraine’s Chief Military Prosecutor’s Office. It was reported that on March 22 the Verkhovna Rada approved the Prosecutor General’s recommendation and gave its consent to prosecute, detain and arrest Ms. Savchenko. She is suspected of preparations to violently change or dismantle the constitutional system or for the seizure of power, preparations for assassinating a statesperson or a public figure, preparations for a terrorist attack, the establishment of a terrorist group or a terrorist organization, and the illegal handling of weapons, ammunition or explosives. Kyiv’s Shevchenkivsky District Court ruled on March 23 to place Ms. Savchenko under arrest pending trial for 59 days, until May 20. Ms. Savchenko announced a hunger strike that same day. On March 29, the Kyiv Appeals Court turned down an appeal lodged by Ms. Savchenko’s defense team contesting the Shevchenkivsky District Court’s ruling on taking her into pretrial custody. Ms. Savchenko underwent a forensic psychological evaluation and a lie detector test on April 17. (Interfax-Ukraine)
Anti-sanctions bill passed in Russia
The Russian Parliament’s lower chamber, the State Duma, has approved in its first reading a bill that provides for the jailing for up to four years of Russians who adhere to economic sanctions imposed by the United States. The lawmakers unanimously approved the bill on May 15. The bill, which needs two more votes in the Duma and one in the upper house, the Federation Council, before being signed into law by President Vladimir Putin, is seen as an effort to respond to U.S.-imposed asset freezes and financial restrictions on Russian officials, tycoons, and companies associated with Mr. Putin. Those April 6 sanctions, the latest in a series imposed by the United States, European Union and other countries since Russia seized Crimea and has been backing armed separatists in eastern Ukraine in 2014, were meant to punish Moscow for alleged interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election and other “malign activity around the globe.” The legislation would enable a court to impose a prison term of up to four years on any individual or representative of a legal entity in Russia who refuses to supply services or do business with a Russian citizen due to sanctions. Offenders could also be fined up to 600,000 rubles ($9,710 U.S.). Under the bill, helping foreign governments impose sanctions on Russia by providing advice or information would also be a criminal offense, punishable by up to three years in prison and a fine of up to 500,000 rubles ($8,090). (Current Time TV, with reporting by Meduza)