Kyiv’s new sanctions on Russians
Ukraine has imposed economic and other sanctions on hundreds of individuals and entities for their alleged roles in the conflict between Ukraine and Russia over the Crimea region and the war in eastern Ukraine. President Petro Poroshenko on March 20 signed the order to implement the sanctions against 294 legal entities and 848 individuals, overwhelmingly Russian, as approved by the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine the previous day. Some of the sanctions target people and entities connected with the construction of the Kerch Strait bridge between Ukraine’s annexed Crimea region and Russia. Others are applied against people and entities believed to have played a role in the detention in November 2018 of two Ukrainian naval vessels and their 24 crew members by Russia near the Kerch Strait. The 24 Ukrainian sailors are still being held by Moscow. Still others are applied to people and entities that organized and held unauthorized and unrecognized “elections” within the separatist entities occupying parts of Ukraine’s Luhansk and Donetsk regions in November 2018. Others included in the new sanctions list are accused of violating Ukrainian travel legislation by visiting Crimea or of playing a role in the relocation or use of museum collections belonging to Ukraine. Some 13,000 people have been killed in the Donbas war, which the International Criminal Court ruled in November 2016 is “an international armed conflict between Ukraine and the Russian Federation.” (RFE/RL, based on reporting by UNIAN, Ukrinform and TASS)
Russia vows to respond to EU sanctions
The Russian Foreign Affairs Ministry has announced Moscow will respond to fresh sanctions action by the European Union. The EU, along with the United States and Canada, on March 15 imposed new sanctions to punish Russia for its 2018 attack on three Ukrainian naval vessels, as well as its annexation of Crimea and its support for separatists and other actions in eastern Ukraine. “The decision of the Council of the European Union shows disrespect for the Russian Federation’s right to ensure protection of its state border,” the Russian Foreign Affairs Ministry was quoted as saying by Interfax on March 16. Russia captured the three Ukrainian naval ships and their 24 crew members in November 2018 near the Kerch Strait, which links the Black Sea and Sea of Azov. Moscow alleged that the vessels had illegally entered Russian territorial waters near Crimea, which Russia occupied and annexed from Ukraine in 2014. The 24 Ukrainian sailors are still being held by Moscow. The EU action announced on March 15 targeted eight Russian officers for their involvement in the November incident. The EU sanctions list now includes 170 individuals and 44 entities. Washington also cited the Russian seizure of the Ukrainian vessels and crew in announcing its new sanctions. “Today’s action targets individuals and entities playing a role in Russia’s unjustified attacks on Ukrainian naval vessels in the Kerch Strait, the purported annexation of Crimea, and backing of illegitimate separatist government elections in eastern Ukraine,” the U.S. Treasury Department said in a March 15 statement. Six officials were targeted, along with six Russian defense companies, and two Russian energy and construction firms operating in Crimea. The six defense firms operating in Crimea were targeted for misappropriating Ukrainian state assets to provide services to the Russian military during the 2014 annexation, it said. Four of the six Russian officials targeted by the measure were involved in the attack near the Kerch Strait off the coast of Crimea, the Treasury Department said. Some 13,000 people have been killed – a quarter of them civilians – and as many as 30,000 wounded in the war in eastern Ukraine since it broke out in April 2014, according to U.N. data. (RFE/RL, with reporting by Interfax and Reuters)
Ukraine reports 11 measles fatalities
Health officials in Kyiv have said that 30,794 cases of measles have been reported in Ukraine since the beginning of the year. The Health Ministry said on March 18 that 16,969 of the victims were children and that 11 people had died of the disease. There were more than 2,000 new infections reported during the week of March 11-17. On March 1, UNICEF reported that there were 35,120 measles cases in Ukraine in 2018, a massive increase over the nearly 5,000 cases reported in 2017. Citing World Health Organization (WHO) data, UNICEF reported that just 42 percent of Ukrainian 1-year-olds had received measles vaccinations as of the end of 2016. The WHO recommends a vaccination rate of 95 percent to prevent major outbreaks. Measles cases more than tripled across Europe last year, with Ukraine accounting for most of the gain. The UNICEF report blamed the outbreak on “vaccine hesitancy” that threatens to undo decades of work to get the “highly preventable, but potentially deadly disease” under control. (RFE/RL, based on reporting by AFP and Interfax)
Canada extends Operation UNIFIER
Canada has extended Operation UNIFIER to train Ukrainian service members. “The government of Canada is extending Operation UNIFIER, the Canadian Armed Forces military training mission in Ukraine, until the end of March 2022,” reads the news release of the Department of National Defense and the Canadian Armed Forces. As noted, Ukraine’s defense and security forces continue to make considerable progress, but “ongoing insecurity in the region underscores the importance and relevance of Canada’s military mission.” The statement reads: “Through Operation UNIFIER, the Canadian Armed Forces will continue to provide military training and capacity-building assistance to Ukraine’s defense and security forces. The training provided by the Canadian Armed Forces directly helps Ukraine’s defense and security forces to uphold domestic security and territorial integrity, contributing to regional and international stability.” As the department notes, “Operation UNIFIER supports Ukraine’s broader reform agenda and contributes to current Canadian efforts that invest in democracy, human rights and the rule of law in Ukraine.” Canada deploys approximately 200 Canadian Armed Forces personnel to Ukraine under Operation UNIFIER. Since the start of the training in September 2015, Canadian Armed Forces have trained more than 10,800 Ukrainian service members. (Ukrinform)
Canada transfers 56 vehicles to Ukraine
On March 18 the Military Police (MP) units of the Ukrainian Armed Forces received 56 vehicles from the Canadian Armed Forces as part of operation UNIFIER. Canada has purchased 56 Ford vehicles of various modifications allowing Ukrainian counterparts to perform a wide range of tasks – from transportation of personnel to patrolling, as reported by the Military Police officer of Canadian Forces, Bernie Caron. The list includes: 13 4-by-4 nine-seater minivans; 12 Ford Kugas; one Ford Transit van; 12 Ford Focuses. “This is much more than transferring cars worth $1.2 million. This is the completion of a comprehensive two-year program to fully restart the Military Police training system,” commented the Canadian ambassador to Ukraine, Roman Waschuk, on Twitter. (Ukrainian Canadian Congress Daily Briefing)
UCC concerned about T-34 film
The Ukrainian Canadian Congress on February 22 expressed concern about the film “T-34” being screened in Canada at Cineplex theaters. The T-34 tank was the weapon used for four decades by the Soviet Union to keep captive the peoples of Eastern Europe. Together with its Nazi German ally, at the beginning of World War II the Soviet regime invaded and subjugated eastern Poland, the Baltic states and several other independent East European states. As Soviet forces rolled westward on T-34 tanks in the second half of World War II, they systematically committed myriad war crimes, crimes against humanity, mass rape, extrajudicial murder and ethnic cleansing, the UCC noted. Soviet tanks were subsequently used to brutally suppress uprisings for freedom in East Germany in 1953, Hungary in 1956 and Czechoslovakia in 1968. “That the current Russian regime, which funded this film, seeks to pay homage to this murderous history, speaks only to its own embrace of imperialism, aggression and belligerence,” the UCC stated. (Ukrainian Canadian Congress)