19 killed in rampage in Crimea
Russian authorities say 19 students and faculty members at a college in Crimea have been killed, many of them teenagers, in a bomb-and-gun attack they say was carried out by a student who fatally shot himself after the assault. It was not clear whether the death toll included the alleged attacker. At least 50 others were injured in the October 17 attack at a polytechnic college in the city of Kerch, the only major outbreak of violence in Crimea since Russia seized the Black Sea peninsula from Ukraine in 2014. News of the bloodbath unfolded quickly and chaotically, with some initial reports saying it was a gas blast and authorities later saying that it was a bomb and that they were treating it as a terrorist act. But Russia’s main investigative agency later said authorities believe an 18-year-old student at the college rampaged through the building with a rifle, shooting students and faculty members. Investigative Committee spokeswoman Svetlana Petrenko said authorities believe the suspect, fourth-year student Vladislav Roslyakov, fatally shot himself after the attack. She said investigators had recategorized the probe into the attack as a case of murder rather than terrorism. There was no immediate word on a possible motive. Most or all of the victims appeared to have died of gunshot wounds, according to Ms. Petrenko, who also said that a shrapnel-packed bomb exploded at the college. Interfax and state-run RIA Novosti news agencies quoted sources as saying a second explosive device was found and defused at the college by bomb-disposal crews. The Russian-imposed head of Crimea, Sergei Aksyonov, said that the suspect acted alone, but some eyewitnesses spoke of at least two attackers. In a video posted on the Internet, a woman identified as college director Olga Grebennikova said there were “many corpses, many corpses of children” and called it “a real terrorist act.” The woman, speaking on a mobile phone, suggested that multiple assailants attacked the college, throwing explosive devices and firing guns shortly after she left for a meeting elsewhere. “They ran up to the second floor with automatic rifles – I don’t know with what – and opened doors… and killed everyone they could find,” she said, seeming to choke back tears at times. Journalist Yekaterina Keizo told RFE/RL that when she got to the scene at about 12:30 p.m. local time, “they were carrying the injured out of the building.” She said that eyewitness told her that “two men” had entered the college and that “one blew himself up in the cafeteria” while the other “walked around the rooms and shot everybody indiscriminately. He just shot everyone he saw.” In other harrowing accounts, several students spoke of gunfire at the college but not a bomb blast. The Russian newspaper Komsomolskaya Pravda quoted student Semyon Gavrilov as saying he woke up to the sound of shooting after falling asleep in a lecture and then saw a young man firing at people with a rifle. “I locked the door, hoping he wouldn’t hear me,” the paper quoted Gavrilov as saying. He said he saw dead bodies on the floor and charred walls, presumably from a fire or explosion, after police arrived about 10 minutes later to evacuate people from the building. The regional Emergency Situations Ministry declared a state of state of emergency in Crimea and said security was being increased. A three-day mourning period was announced by the Russian authorities who control the Black Sea peninsula. Meanwhile, residents of Kerch started to lay flowers at the site of the attack and a memorial service for the victims took place in the Crimean capital of Simferopol, TASS news agency reported. Russian President Vladimir Putin voiced condolences to victims and their loved ones and ordered the authorities to evacuate badly injured victims by air to “leading” hospitals in Moscow and other cities, the Kremlin said. Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko took to Twitter to express his condolences to those who lost their loved ones in the tragedy. “The Crimea is a Ukrainian territory and Ukrainians living on the peninsula are citizens of our state,” he wrote. “When Ukrainian citizens perish, wherever this happens, this is a tragedy.” (Crimea Desk, RFE/RL’s Ukrainian Service, with reporting by Christopher Miller in Kyiv, RFE/RL’s Russian Service, RIA, TASS, Interfax, Mediazona, Dozhd and Reuters)
Two pilots die in fighter jet crash
A two-seat Ukrainian fighter jet has crashed during a joint exercise with NATO air forces, killing both the pilot and co-pilot, Ukraine’s military says. “A Sukhoi-27 plane crashed at around 5 p.m. local time during a training flight,” the Armed Forces General Staff said in a statement on October 16, adding that “the bodies of the two pilots have been found.” The circumstances of the crash – which occurred in the Khmelnytskyy region, around 180 kilometers southwest of Kyiv – have yet to be clarified, it added. The U.S. Air Forces in Europe and Africa said that it was aware of “reports claiming a U.S. casualty.” A statement said it “can confirm a U.S. service member was involved in this incident,” but stopped short of confirming the American’s death. Personnel from the United States and seven other NATO member states are taking part in the Clear Sky drills, which run until October 21. Members of a California Air National Guard unit are among the participants. (RFE/RL, based on reporting by AP and AFP)
Volker on ‘illegitimate elections’ in Donbas
The U.S. special envoy for Ukraine negotiations has said that elections planned by Russia-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine are illegitimate and urged Moscow not to endorse them. “We urge Russia not to have these elections go forward. We think this is completely illegitimate for several reasons,” Kurt Volker told Current Time TV on October 11. Ceasefire deals announced as part of the Minsk agreements – September 2014 and February 2015 accords aimed at resolving the conflict – have failed to hold. Although Russia denies involvement in the conflict, Moscow has provided military, economic and political support to the breakaway movements controlling parts of Ukraine’s Luhansk and Donetsk regions. The separatists have vowed to hold elections to choose the region’s Parliament and a new leader after separatist chief Aleksandr Zakharchenko was assassinated by a bomb blast in a Donetsk city cafe on August 31. Denis Pushilin, the chairman of the “people’s council” was selected as the acting head until the November 11 vote to select a new leader. “First, you can’t hold a legitimate election in a territory occupied by foreign forces,” Ambassador Volker told Current Time, which is run by RFE/RL in cooperation with VOA. “Second, these are not legitimate authorities. These are illegal armed groups and political entities that were created by Russia and they have no place in the Minsk agreements, in the Minsk process. This is a step against the Minsk agreements,” Mr. Volker said, adding that, if Russia recognizes the election, it “doesn’t change anything.” He noted: “What the Minsk agreements call for is security, a ceasefire, the withdrawal of heavy weapons, a removal of all illegal armed militias of which these [that want to hold elections] are part. … And then the restoration of the territory to Ukrainian control. That’s what the Minsk agreements call for, that’s what we are supporting.” Ambassador Volker said that, although Russia has said it wants Ukraine to take steps in the direction of implementing a special status for the region, Kyiv can’t do that as long as Moscow “occupies the territory.” He said a peacekeeping force could establish security, create conditions of freedom of movement and peace, and protect the local population. Ukraine has been pressing for the introduction of United Nations peacekeepers in eastern Ukraine as long as they are placed along the border with Russia to monitor and ensure Russian troops and weapons do not come over the border to aid the separatists. Mr. Volker said the idea of having a peacekeeping force deployed in the region “is very viable” and would facilitate the implementation of the Minsk agreements. “We have proposed this, Ukraine supports it, the Normandy group [of foreign affairs ministers from Germany, France, Russia and Ukraine] supports it, the European Union, NATO, Canada, and Britain, everyone is in favor of sending in a U.N.-mandated peacekeeping mission. Only Russia is really blocking this,” said Mr. Volker. He pointed out that Moscow’s argument is that a peacekeeping force should be negotiated with the de-facto separatist authorities, but since those authorities are there “only by Russia’s hand, we need to be negotiating with the Russians, that’s how we see it.” (Current Time TV)
Ukraine, Hungary in diplomatic tit-for-tat
Ukraine has declared a Hungarian consul persona non grata and demanded he leave the country within 72 hours. The Foreign Affairs Ministry on October 4 accused the diplomat, who is based in the western Ukrainian town of Berehove near the Hungarian border, of “activities incompatible with the status of a consular officer.” The move comes after Kyiv accused Hungary’s Consulate in Berehove of illegally issuing passports to ethnic Hungarians in Ukraine. In response to Ukraine’s decision, Hungarian Foreign Affairs Minister Peter Szijjarto told a press conference that his country was expelling a Ukrainian consul in Budapest. Mr. Szijjarto also reiterated a threat to block Ukraine’s accession to the European Union and NATO. In a Facebook post, Ukrainian Foreign Affairs Minister Pavlo Klimkin warned on October 3 that “the events around the distribution of Hungarian citizenship in Berehove, let’s say, do not add joy.” He added, “They only complicate the already not perfect relationship between the two countries.” In its statement, the Foreign Affairs Ministry expressed hope that the Hungarian side “will refrain from any unfriendly steps toward Ukraine in the future, and that its officials will not violate Ukrainian legislation.” It said that Kyiv considered Ukrainian citizens of Hungarian origin as a “unifying factor” in the two countries’ relations, and called on Hungary “to do the same.” There are almost 200,000 ethnic Hungarians living in Ukraine’s Zakarpattia region, where Berehove is located. Speaking during a visit to Moscow, Mr. Szijjarto on October 3 accused Kyiv of “constantly” violating the rights of the country’s Hungarian minority. The expulsion is the latest in a series of diplomatic rows between Ukraine and Hungary, an EU and NATO member. The latest tensions were triggered by a video that surfaced last month allegedly showing ethnic Hungarians being handed Hungarian passports in the consulate in Berehove. (RFE/RL, with reporting by Reuters, AFP, and TASS)
Cousin worries Sentsov may not survive
Ukrainian filmmaker Oleg Sentsov, who ended his nearly five-month hunger strike in a Russian prison earlier this month, may not survive because of damage to his health, his cousin says. “Almost all his organs are severely affected,” including liver, heart, and brain, Natalya Kaplan told journalists in Kyiv on October 16. “The end of the hunger strike is a serious procedure, no one can say now whether Oleh will survive,” she added. Russian authorities have not commented publicly on Ms. Kaplan’s statement. Mr. Sentsov, a Crimean native who opposed Russia’s 2014 takeover of the Ukrainian peninsula, is serving a 20-year prison term in Russia’s far northern Yamalo-Nenets region on trumped-up charges of terrorism. The filmmaker started a hunger strike on May 14, demanding that Russia release 64 Ukrainians whom he considers political prisoners in Russia. He ended his protest action on October 6, saying he had to do so to avoid being force-fed by the prison authorities. At the end of his hunger strike, during which he was kept alive with nutrients administered via a drip, Mr. Sentsov had lost 20 kilograms. Ms. Kaplan said her cousin was being treated in an intensive-care unit in the Yamalo-Nenets region. “Unfortunately, his recent letters are quite pessimistic. He wrote a testament in which he asks not to abandon his children,” she also said. (RFE/RL, based on reporting by AFP, 24 Kanal and RBK-Ukraina)
Three soldiers killed in Ukraine’s east
Ukraine said on October 17 that two of its soldiers were killed and one wounded as a result of clashes with Russia-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine. The Defense Ministry said separatist fighters violated a ceasefire 19 times during the previous 24 hours by firing machine guns, grenade launchers, and mortars. It said Ukrainian government forces killed three militant fighters and wounded two. The “separatists” said Ukrainian government forces violated the ceasefire 27 times, using the same type of weapons. A day earlier, Ukraine said one of its soldiers had been killed and three wounded. The Defense Ministry said on October 16 that militant fighters violated a ceasefire 37 times during the previous 24 hours by firing machine guns, grenade launchers, and mortars. It said Ukrainian government forces killed two militants and wounded six. The Russian-backed “separatists” said Ukrainian government forces violated the ceasefire 33 times, using the same type of weapons. Since April 2014, more than 10,300 people have been killed in fighting between Kyiv’s forces and the Russian-backed militants who control parts of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions. (RFE/RL, with reporting by Interfax and TASS)
Fugitive from Ukraine held in France
A “high-profile fugitive” from Ukraine who faked his death and lived a “lavish lifestyle” in France has been arrested, the European Union law enforcement agency Europol says. Three sources told RFE/RL on October 16 that the man arrested in France is Dmytro Malynovskyy, an Odesa businessman who reports say has been wanted by police in Ukraine since 2015 on suspicion of large-scale fraud and forgery in a case involving Defense Ministry property in the Black Sea port city. The sources – a senior Ukrainian official, a Ukrainian diplomat based in the European Union, and a senior official in the EU – spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the subject. Meanwhile, Ukrainian prosecutors announced they had sent an extradition request to the French authorities for a 36-year-old Ukrainian citizen accused of fraud. Europol said that the man, whose name it did not release, was detained near the eastern city of Dijon earlier this month, together with three alleged accomplices. More than 4.6 million euros ($5.3 million) in assets, including “a castle, a vintage Rolls Royce Phantom, and three works of art by Salvador Dali,” were seized in the October 5 raid, a press release said. It said the man was thought to be behind “a complex case of international fraud and money laundering.” Europol said that the French authorities launched in January an investigation into alleged suspicious transactions surrounding the purchase of a 3 million-euro ($3.5 million U.S.) castle in the Burgundy region by a Luxembourg-based company. It was later established that the ultimate beneficial owner was wanted in Ukraine for alleged “corruption at a large scale” who managed to evade justice by producing “forged death certificates,” Europol said. One of the Ukrainian sources who confirmed Mr. Malynovskyy was the person arrested recalled how he had approached him in person in 2016. “He came to me when I was in Strasbourg, asking for assistance in fighting for justice,” the source told RFE/RL, adding that Mr. Malynovskyy had bragged to him about buying “a castle in Burgundy, knowing I like wine from the region.” Electoral records show that Mr. Malynovskyy ran for Odesa City Council in 2006 on the ticket of the Party of Regions, whose leader Viktor Yanukovych became president in 2010 and fled to Russia when he was pushed from power by pro-EU protests in 2014. (Christopher Miller of RFE/RL)
U.S.: Kyiv passes key Minsk hurdle
U.S. State Department spokespersons Heather Nauert on October 11 released a press statement noting that Ukraine had passed a key hurdle in the implementation of the Minsk agreements. She stated: “The United States congratulates Ukraine’s Parliament and Ukrainian leadership on extending the law on special status for Russia-controlled areas of eastern Ukraine. Extending this law, which would have expired yesterday, demonstrates Ukraine’s continued commitment to a peaceful resolution of the conflict and implementation of the Minsk agreements. Ukraine’s brave step towards peace stands in sharp comparison to Russia’s continued failure to fulfill its Minsk commitments.” Ms Nauert also said: “We call on Russia to join Ukraine in pursuing peace. Russia and the forces it arms, trains, leads, and fights alongside have yet to follow through on repeated commitments to cease hostilities, withdraw foreign fighters, exchange detainees, or disband the illegal armed formations. Moscow should institute a full and comprehensive ceasefire and cancel the illegal sham elections it is organizing in the Russia-controlled parts of eastern Ukraine. The United States continues to support the efforts of France and Germany in the Normandy Format to advance implementation of the Minsk agreements and we remain open to dialogue with Moscow on avenues for restoring Ukraine’s territorial integrity within its internationally recognized borders.”
Twin Brothers Banned From Tennis
Ukrainian twin brothers Gleb and Vadim Alekseenko have been banned from tennis for life and fined $250,000 each for allegedly fixing multiple matches. Independent anti-corruption hearing officer Richard McLaren found the brothers guilty on October 15 based on an investigation by the Tennis Integrity Unit. The brothers, both 35, who are both ranked outside the top 1,000 in the world, were found guilty of the offenses at lower level Futures tournaments in Romania, Russia, Germany and Turkey between June 2015 and January 2016. The brothers were found to have breached sections of the tennis anti-corruption code that deals with soliciting a third-party to place a bet on matches in which they then contrived the outcome. “The findings of guilt and imposition of the lifetime suspensions means that, with immediate effect, both players are prohibited from playing in or attending any sanctioned events organized or recognized by the governing bodies of the sport,” the tennis organization said in a statement. (RFE/RL, based on reporting by AP and Reuters)