Sentsov awarded Sakharov prize
The European Parliament has awarded Oleh Sentsov, a Ukrainian film director imprisoned in Russia after opposing Moscow’s takeover of his native Crimea, with its prestigious 2018 Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought. “Through his courage and determination, by putting his life in danger, the filmmaker Oleh Sentsov has become a symbol of the struggle for the release of political prisoners held in Russia and around the world,” European Parliament President Antonio Tajani told the legislature in Strasbourg on October 25. By awarding Mr. Sentsov the prize, the European Parliament was expressing “its solidarity with him and his cause,” Tajani added. Mr. Tajani called on Russian authorities to release Mr. Sentsov “immediately,” saying the filmmaker was in poor health after he earlier this month ended a 145-day hunger strike in a prison in northern Russia. Mr. Sentsov, a Crimean native who opposed Russia’s 2014 takeover of the Ukrainian peninsula, is serving a 20-year prison term after being convicted of terrorism in a trial that he, human rights groups, and Western governments contend was politically motivated. He is currently imprisoned in the Far Northern Yamalo-Nenets region of Russia where he started a hunger strike on May 14, demanding that Russia release 64 Ukrainians that he considers political prisoners in Russia. He ended his hunger strike on October 6, saying he had to do so to avoid being force-fed by the prison authorities. After the announcement, congratulations for Mr. Sentsov began to pour in from Ukraine and elsewhere. On his Facebook page, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said the “whole democratic world is fighting together with Ukraine for [Sentsov’s] freedom and life.” Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman said the award was “yet another turn of key to unlock the prison capturing Oleh.” Russia had hoped the Sentsov question would disappear after he ended his hunger strike, according to Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin. But now, he tweeted, “Sentsov will be for Russia who Sakharov became for the USSR.” Mr. Sentsov’s mother, Lyudmila Sentsova, broke into tears on hearing the news her son had been awarded the prestigious prize. “This is the first time I’m hearing this,” she told RFE/RL. “The only thing I want is for him to be home. There’s nothing else I want,” Mr. Sentsova added. Veteran Crimean Tatar leader Mustafa Dzhemilev said Mr. Sentsov was worthy of the award. “I’m very happy. It’s a well-deserved award. He’s done a lot to free Crimea. I hope that it can somehow quicken his release,” Mr. Dzhemilev told RFE/RL. The European Commission also congratulated Mr. Sentsov, with spokeswoman Mina Andreeva saying he “has shown incredible courage and determination and selflessness during his imprisonment and hunger strike.” In a press release, Eduard Kukan, a member of the center-right European People’s Party (EPP), called Mr. Sentsov “a prisoner of conscience, an honest and innocent man.” EPP member Michael Gahler, the Parliament’s main spokesperson on Ukraine, described Mr. Sentsov as “the voice of around 70 other innocent individuals perishing in inhumane conditions in Russian jails.” The prize ensures that EU lawmakers “are bearing testimony to the fact that they are not forgotten,” he added. “I hope this prize will help Sentsov and all Ukrainians arrested or convicted in Russia on politically motivated grounds to be free again,” said Guy Verhofstadt, who heads the Parliament’s liberal ALDE group. European Council President Donald Tusk congratulated Mr. Sentsov and echoed Mr. Verhofstadt’s call. “I renew my call on Moscow to free Sentsov and all other political prisoners following Russia’s illegal annexation of Crimea,” he tweeted. The European Parliament will award the 50,000 euro ($58,000) prize during a ceremony in Strasbourg on December 12. Mr. Sentsov had been selected as one of three finalists in an October 9 vote by members of the European Parliament’s foreign affairs and development committees. The other short-listed candidates were Moroccan activist Nasser Zefzafi and 11 NGOs that work to save the lives of migrants traveling across the Mediterran-ean Sea to Europe. The prize, named in honor of the Soviet physicist and dissident Andrei Sakharov, was established by the European Parliament in 1988 to honor individuals and organizations who defend human rights and fundamental freedoms. Sakharov, who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1975, was persecuted by Soviet authorities for his ideas promoting civil liberties and reforms. He spent six years in internal exile in the 1980s for his opposition to the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. (RFE/RL with reporting by Rikard Jozwiak in Brussels)
Putin warns of new arms race
Russian President Vladimir Putin has warned that Washington’s withdrawal from a decades-old nuclear treaty could lead to a new “arms race,” and the Kremlin said it would put the U.S. decision before the United Nations for a symbolic vote. Responding to U.S. President Donald Trump’s decision this week to pull out of the 1987 Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty, Mr. Putin said late on October 24 that the United States already abandoned the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty in 2002, while it has been unwilling to discuss renewing another major nuclear treaty – the New START treaty – which governs strategic nuclear missile launchers and is due to expire in 2021. “If all this is dismantled, then nothing will be left when it comes to limiting the increase in arms,” Mr. Putin said at a news conference after talks in Moscow with Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte. “And then the situation will be, in my view, extremely dangerous. All that will be left is an arms race.” Mr. Trump has said he is pulling out of the 1987 treaty because Russia has been violating it since at least 2014 and because it does not apply to China, which has been developing the kind of short- and intermediate-range missiles eliminated by Russia and the United States under the treaty. Mr. Putin said he wants to discuss the issue with Mr. Trump when they attend a November 11 event in Paris commemorating the end of World War I. “We are ready to work with our American partners without any hysterics,” he said. As he spoke, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said in an interview with Channel One television that the Kremlin is drafting a resolution to present to the U.N. General Assembly for a symbolic vote on preserving the 1987 treaty spurned by Mr. Trump. “We will see how countries, including U.S. allies, will react to this,” Mr. Ryabkov was quoted as saying by Russian news agencies. Mr. Ryabkov told Channel One that Mr. Trump’s moves to pull the United States out of a number of major treaties since taking office in January 2017 are what he called “alarming.” He noted that in addition to the INF treaty, Mr. Trump has moved to withdraw from the landmark 2015 climate change agreement, Iran’s 2015 nuclear deal with world powers, UNESCO agreements, and the Universal Postal Union. “We do not know if there is an end to this road,” Mr. Ryabkov was quoted as saying. (RFE/RL with reporting by AFP, Reuters, and TASS)
Putin will target nations hosting U.S. missiles
Russian President Vladimir Putin has said that, if the United States deploys intermediate-range missiles in Europe, Moscow will have to target the countries hosting them. The October 24 statement follows U.S. President Donald Trump’s announcement over the weekend that he intends to withdraw from a 1987 nuclear arms control pact over alleged Russian violations. Mr. Putin spoke on October 24, four days after U.S. President Donald Trump announced that the United States would withdraw from the 1987 Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty over alleged Russian violations. The INF treaty prohibits the United States and Russia from possessing, producing, or deploying ground-launched ballistic and cruise missiles with a range of between 500 kilometers and 5,500 kilometers. Nearly 2,700 missiles were eliminated by the Soviet Union and the United States – most of the latter in Europe – under the treaty. Mr. Trump and White House national security adviser John Bolton, who met with Mr. Putin and other top officials in Moscow on October 22-23, cited U.S. concerns about what NATO allies say is a Russian missile that violates the pact and about weapons development by China, which is not a party to the treaty. Mr. Putin said he hoped the United States wouldn’t follow up by positioning intermediate-range missiles in Europe. “If they are deployed in Europe, we will naturally have to respond in kind,” Mr. Putin said at a news conference after talks with visiting Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte. “The European nations that would agree to that should understand that they would expose their territory to the threat of a possible retaliatory strike. These are obvious things.” He continued: “I don’t understand why we should put Europe in such serious danger.” “I see no reason for that,” Mr. Putin said. “I would like to repeat that it’s not our choice. We don’t want it.” NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said October 24 that European members of the military alliance are unlikely to deploy new nuclear weapons on their soil in response to the alleged violations of the INF treaty. “We will, of course, assess the implications for NATO allies, for our security of the new Russian missiles and the Russian behavior,” Mr. Stoltenberg said. “But I don’t foresee that [NATO] allies will station more nuclear weapons in Europe as a response to the new Russian missile. Mr. Putin rejected Mr. Trump’s claim that Russia has violated the INF treaty, adding that he hoped to discuss the issue with Mr. Trump in Paris when they both attend November 11 events marking the centennial of the armistice that ended World War I. “We are ready to work together with our American partners without any hysteria,” he said. “The important thing is what decisions will come next.” (RFE/RL)
NATO exercise ‘biggest’ since Cold War
NATO has launched its largest military exercise since the collapse of the Soviet Union, mustering tens of thousands of troops in what the head of the Western alliance called a “strong display” of its capability, unity, and resolve at a time of growing danger in Europe. The main phase of the exercise Trident Juncture – involving military forces from all 29 NATO allies, plus partners Finland and Sweden, and stretching from the North Atlantic to the Baltic Sea – began in Norway on October 25 and was scheduled to run for two weeks. “This is an important day because Trident Juncture is NATO’s biggest exercise since the end of the Cold War,” NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said ahead of the drills. The exercise is drawing criticism from Moscow amid persistent tension between NATO and Russia, which seized Crimea from Ukraine in 2014 and backs separatists in an ongoing conflict in eastern Ukraine but accuses the alliance of provocative behavior near its borders. Another source of discord is what NATO says is Russia’s deployment of a missile that violates a key U.S.-Russian nuclear arms treaty and could potentially be used to target alliance members in Europe. “Trident Juncture sends a clear message to our nations and to any potential adversary: NATO does not seek confrontation, but we stand ready to defend all allies against any threat,” Mr. Stoltenberg told a news conference on October 24. The exercise “is a strong display of our capabilities and our resolve to work together,” he said. Without mentioning Russia by name, he said that “Europe’s security environment has significantly deteriorated” in recent years and that NATO has responded with the biggest adaptation of our collective defense since the end of the Cold War. Trident Juncture demonstrates that adaptation.” “Trident Juncture will include around 65 ships, 250 aircraft, 10,000 vehicles, and 50,000 personnel,” Mr. Stoltenberg said of the exercise, which will run in two phases. “It is ambitious and it is demanding,” he said. The live-field exercise is set to run from from October 25 to November 7, while a command post exercise is to follow between November 14-23. Moscow has frequently said that it views NATO’s enlargement to include former Warsaw Pact countries and the Baltic states since the 1991 Soviet collapse as provocative, and Russia and NATO have repeatedly accused each other of aggressive action repeatedly in recent years. Russia held large military exercises called Zapad-2017 (West-2017) in September 2017 in its western regions jointly with Belarus, which also borders several NATO countries, and last month conducted massive drills across its central and eastern regions. The Defense Ministry said the weeklong Vostok-2018 (East-2018) war games involved some 300,000 personnel – twice as many as the biggest Soviet maneuvers of the Cold War era. Speaking at a joint panel of the Russian and Belarusian defense ministries in Minsk on October 24, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said that “the scale of [NATO] operational and combat training near our borders is expanding, its intensity is growing. The bloc’s member states are practicing the objectives of conducting offensive combat actions.” Despite criticizing the NATO exercise, Russia has accepted an invitation to send observers to Norway, a move that Mr. Stoltenberg welcomed in the name of transparency. “As long as they behave professionally and avoid dangerous situations and behavior, I don’t think that’s a problem at all that they monitor the exercise,” the NATO chief said. Describing the exercise, Mr. Stoltenberg said the personnel will be split into “South Forces” and “North Forces” that will “take turns playing the role of the fictitious aggressor and the NATO defending forces. The exercise will test our readiness to restore the sovereignty of an ally – in this case Norway – after an act of armed aggression. “This scenario is fictitious but the lessons we learn will be real,” he said. Norway shares a short border with Russia in the Arctic. (Rikard Jozwiak of RFE/RL, with reporting by dpa)
Russia to ban some Ukrainian imports
Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev says Moscow is preparing sanctions that will ban imports to Russia of some Ukrainian products. Mr. Medvedev also said on October 23 in Kaliningrad that a list is being prepared of Ukrainian citizens and companies being targeted by Moscow’s sanctions. “The sanctions will affect many known people in Ukraine and…some certain types of goods produced in Ukraine will be banned from being imported to the Russian Federation,” Mr. Medvedev said, adding that he plans to sign documents on sanctions against Ukraine in “a very short period of time.” Medvedev did not specify which Ukrainian products would be listed under Russia’s import ban. Medvedev mentioned that despite strained relations with Ukraine, Russia “remains the largest trade partner” of Ukraine, trying to stress the possible economic impact of the sanctions. Mr. Medvedev’s statement comes a day after President Vladimir Putin signed a decree setting the stage for “special economic measures” in response to what the document called Ukraine’s “unfriendly actions” against Russian citizens and companies. In the decree signed and posted on the Kremlin website on October 22, Mr. Putin instructs the government to draft a list of Ukrainian firms and individuals to be targeted for economic sanctions The decree also orders the government to outline the sanctions and says it can be canceled if Ukraine lifts all restrictions it has imposed against Russian citizens and companies. Like the United States and the European Union, Kyiv has imposed sanctions on Russian tycoons, companies, and other entities in response to Moscow’s seizure and illegal annexation of the Crimean Peninsula in March 2014 and its support for pro-Russia armed separatists in eastern Ukraine. In June, Mr. Putin signed a law on countermeasures against the United States and other countries that have sanctions against Russia. (RFE/RL with reporting by TASS, Interfax, and RIA Novosti)
Bolton lays flowers at Nemtsov memorial
U.S. national security adviser John Bolton on October 23 laid flowers at the site where Russian opposition leader Boris Nemtsov was shot dead on February 27, 2015, as he walked across a bridge near the Kremlin. Nemtsov, who was one of President Vladimir Putin’s most vocal critics, had been working on a report examining Russia’s role in the conflict in Ukraine. Bolton is in Russia to meet Mr. Putin and other leaders. (RFE/RL)