Calls for law enforcement officials’ ouster
Dozens of Ukrainian human rights groups and civic organizations have called for the resignation of the country’s top law enforcement officials after anti-corruption activist Kateryna Handzyuk succumbed to wounds suffered during an acid attack. In an open letter published by the Kyiv-based Center for Human Rights Information on November 5, 75 Ukrainian organizations said they were “outraged” by the state of the investigation into a wave of attacks against Ukraine’s civic activists. Ms. Handzyuk, who was known for her scathing criticism of police corruption, was doused with sulfuric acid outside of her Kherson home on July 31. The 33-year-old activist died on November 4 in a Kyiv hospital where she was being treated for burns from the attack. Five suspects, including a law enforcement officer, have been arrested for their alleged involvement, but the mastermind of the attack remains unknown. The 75 human rights groups and civic organizations wrote in their joint letter that the attack against Ms. Handzyuk was meant to “intimidate” those who “rebel against decades of rooted corruption and organized crime.” The groups demanded “the dismissal of the leadership of the Kherson police,” which they said “from the very beginning sabotaged the investigation into the attack.” They also called for the resignation of Prosecutor General Yuriy Lutsenko and Internal Affairs Minister Arsen Avakov, saying they have “sabotaged reform of law enforcement agencies” in the country. The offices of Messrs. Lutsenko and Avakov did not immediately respond to the letter. The United States, Britain, and Germany are among the countries that have condemned the attack and called for a thorough, independent investigation. “The death of this fearless civil-society activist must spur the Ukrainian authorities into providing a credible answer to the question on everyone’s lips: who killed Kateryna Handzyuk?” Amnesty International’s Ukraine director, Oksana Pokalchuk, said. “This answer will only come through an impartial, effective, and transparent investigation, the type of which we have not seen in so many cases.” Ms. Pokalchuk said the authorities “have so far chosen to focus on a few individual cases and ignored the wider pattern and numerous specific instances, but this must now change.” Reformist lawmaker Mustafa Nayyem wrote on the Novoye Vremya news site: “These killers, potential and actual, will be stopped only by real actions, not virtual ones. …Whether they will continue to drench us with acid, slaughter us in doorways, and shoot us in the back in our own country depends on how and what we do now.” His brother, Masi Nayyem, a lawyer representing Ms. Handzyuk’s interests, told RFE/RL that the “very first thing” needed to bring her killers to justice is political will. (Christopher Miller of RFE.RL)
Ukrainian soldier, ‘separatists’ killed
Ukraine’s government says one of its soldiers has been killed and four wounded as a result of clashes with Russia-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine. The Defense Ministry in Kyiv said on November 5 that separatist fighters violated a ceasefire 18 times during the previous 24 hours by firing machine guns, grenade launchers, and mortars. It said Ukrainian government forces killed three pro-Russia fighters and wounded four others. Russia-backed “separatists,” meanwhile, accused Ukrainian government forces of violating the ceasefire 21 times during the previous 24 hours using guns, grenade launchers, and mortars. Since April 2014, more than 10,300 people have been killed in fighting between Kyiv’s forces and the separatists who control parts of Ukraine’s eastern regions of Donetsk and Luhansk. (RFE/RL, with reporting by Interfax and TASS)
Poroshenko, Bartholomew sign agreement
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko and the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew have signed an agreement on cooperation and interaction between Kyiv and the Patriarchate of Constantinople that paves the way for the establishment of an independent Ukrainian Church, a plan which has angered Moscow. The agreement was signed after a meeting between the patriarch and the president in Istanbul on November 3. The meeting came after a synod of the Ecumenical Patriarchate chaired by Patriarch Bartholomew, who is considered the leader of the 300-million-strong worldwide Orthodox community, decreed on October 11 to “proceed to the granting of Autocephaly to the Church of Ukraine.” Ukraine currently has three Orthodox denominations: the Ukrainian Orthodox Church – Moscow Patriarchate, which remained subordinate to Russia after the break-up of the Soviet Union; the Ukrainian Orthodox Church – Kyiv Patriarchate, led by Patriarch Filaret; and the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church, led by Metropolitan Makariy. The agreement signed with the ecumenical patriarch lays out conditions for “the granting of the [autocephaly] Tomos” – a formal decree on the Ukrainian Orthodox Church’s independence from the Russian Orthodox Church – “to proceed absolutely in strict accordance with the canons of the Orthodox Church,” Mr. Poroshenko told reporters after the meeting. He called the day historic and thanked the patriarch for the warm “meeting filled with wisdom.” After signing the agreement, Patriarch Bartholomew said, “I am sure the autocephaly decision will lead to the unity and unification of all Orthodox believers in Ukraine.” President Poroshenko was on a visit to Istanbul during which he was to hold talks with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. The Ecumenical Patriarchate is based in Istanbul, the former Constantinople – the capital of the Byzantine Empire before the Ottoman Muslim conquest of 1453. (RFE/RL, based on reporting by kyivpost.com, Interfax and TASS)
OSCE mission’s drone shot down
Germany and France say Russia-backed “separatists” in eastern Ukraine likely shot down a drone being used by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe’s (OSCE) monitoring mission, demanding that those responsible “be held accountable.” In a joint statement on November 1, Berlin and Paris also noted that in recent weeks, the drone had observed convoys entering Ukrainian territory across a nonofficial border crossing from Russia on “multiple occasions” and spotted a surface-to-air missile system before the loss of communication. Russia has repeatedly denied financing and equipping the separatist forces despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary, insisting that the fighting was a civil, internal conflict. Germany and France, which have been working with Moscow and Kyiv as part of the so-called Normandy Format to bring an end to the conflict, said the drone operated by the OSCE’s Special Monitoring Mission (SMM) disappeared in the early hours of October 27. The incident occurred while the long-range drone was following a convoy of trucks near the town of Nyzhnokrynske close to the Russia-Ukraine border, an area controlled by the militants, the statement said. It said evidence assembled by the SMM “suggests Russia and the separatists it backs bear responsibility” for the downing of the unmanned aerial vehicle. The “severe” incident “stands in clear violation” of the SMM mandate as adopted by participating states of the OSCE mission, Germany and France said. The mission said in March it was reintroducing its long-range drone program more than 18 months after it was halted due to repeated shoot-downs. (RFE/RL, with reporting by AP and DW)
Russia imposes sanctions on Ukrainians
Russia has imposed sweeping financial sanctions on 322 members of the Ukrainian elite and 68 companies owned by prominent Ukrainian businessmen. President Petro Poroshenko, whose son Oleksiy is among individuals targeted by the sanctions announced on November 1, likened Russian sanctions to badges of honor for Ukrainians and called on Moscow to return the Crimean peninsula to Kyiv and withdraw from eastern Ukraine. The Russian sanctions target a slew of prominent Ukrainians, including former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, who has announced plans to run for the Ukrainian presidency in March 2019. Ukraine, like the United States and the European Union, has imposed sanctions on Russian businesspeople, companies and other entities in response to Moscow’s seizure of Crimea in March 2014 and its support for militants in eastern Ukraine. The Russian sanctions were announced in a decree signed by Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev published on the government’s website on November 1. According to the decree, the goal of the measure is “to counter Ukraine’s unfriendly activities toward Russian citizens and entities, and to normalize bilateral relations.” The sanctions include the freezing of assets and property on Russia’s territory. Prominent among Ukrainians sanctioned are: Internal Affairs Minister Arsen Avakov; Security Service chief Vasyl Hrytsak; Deputy Prime Minister Ivanna Klympush-Tsintsadze; businessman Victor Pinchuk; former Prime Ministers Yulia Tymoshenko and Arseniy Yatsenyuk; the secretary of Ukraine’s Council for National Security and Defense, Oleksandr Turchynov; Defense Minister Stepan Poltorak; Deputy Defense Minister Anatoliy Petrenko; the chief of the Ukrainian Army’s General Staff, Viktor Muzhenko; deputy chair of the Verkhovna Rada Iryna Herashchenko; and the veteran leader of the Crimean Tatars, Mustafa Dzhemilev. Among those affected are also judges of Ukraine’s Constitutional Court, Ukrainian lawmakers, oligarchs, officials of the presidential office, executive officials and major Ukrainian companies. At a meeting with German Chancellor Angela Merkel in Kyiv, President Poroshenko brushed aside Russia’s move, saying, “In Ukraine to be on this list is like receiving a state award – this is how it is seen. And it is very disappointing for those who did not get on the list.” He added: “Instead of saber-rattling on the frontline and through sanctions, Russia should do one very simple thing: leave Ukraine, pull out its troops, take away its weapons, and restore the territorial integrity of Ukraine.” (RFE/RL)
Defense minister now civilian
Ukraine’s President Petro Poroshenko has accepted the resignation from military service of Defense Minister Stepan Poltorak, who will continue leading the ministry as a civilian. “Stepan Tymofiyovych Poltorak has written a letter of resignation and, honestly, it was with a very heavy heart that I accepted this letter about the resignation of the Ukrainian Army Gen. Stepan Poltorak from military service,” Mr. Poroshenko said during festivities honoring the Ukrainian military in Kyiv on October 13. By law, the ministry must be led by a civilian starting from January 1, 2019, he said. “Appreciating… Stepan Poltorak’s contribution to the revival of the Ukrainian Armed Forces and, before that, the restoration and formation of the National Guard of Ukraine, I made the decision so that he continues leading the Defense Ministry, only as a civilian minister now,” the president said. (Interfax-Ukraine)
UCC questions ballet tour in Russia
The Ukrainian Canadian Congress (UCC) said on October 18 that it is disappointed by the National Ballet of Canada’s partnership with Gazprom, Russia’s state gas monopoly, and Russia’s Ministry of Culture in the ”Context. Diana Vishneva” ballet festival in Russia. In June 2015, the government of Canada imposed sanctions on Gazprom OAO and Gazprom Neft OAO. Gazprom subsidiary Gazprombank OJSC was sanctioned by the government of Canada in July 2014. Gazprom and the Russian Ministry of Culture are listed as “supporters” of the ”Context.Diana Vishneva” ballet festival, at which the National Ballet of Canada is participating. “It is disappointing that the National Ballet of Canada has seen fit to partner with the Russian government, which is responsible for the invasion of Ukraine and the death of thousands of people,” stated Paul Grod, national President of the UCC. “The UCC calls on the National Ballet and all taxpayer-supported organizations in Canada to exercise greater discretion in seeking appropriate partners and venues for cultural events.” The National Ballet, which receives grants from the Department of Canadian Heritage, was touring Russia on October 15-19. On February 27, the National Ballet of Canada Endowment Foundation received $659,575 from the government of Canada through Endowment Incentives – Canada Cultural Investment Fund. The UCC has called on international artists and cultural figures who choose to tour Russia despite Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine and horrendous human rights record, to ask Russian officials about the plight of Ukrainian citizens illegally jailed by the Russian regime, such as Oleh Sentsov, Volodymyr Balukh, and dozens of others. (Ukrainian Canadian Congress)