Arrested man reportedly planned Paris attack
KYIV – The Ukrainian Border Guard has confirmed a media report that a Frenchman with a cache of weapons and explosives to be used allegedly in a planned attack in France was arrested on the Ukrainian-Polish border in late May. French broadcaster M6 reported on June 3 that the 25-year-old was arrested by Ukrainian border guards with an arsenal of weapons and explosives including rocket launchers and Kalashnikov assault rifles in his vehicle. A spokesman for the Ukrainian Border Guard, Oleh Slobodyan, on June 4 confirmed the arrest. The head of the Ukrainian Security Service (SBU) says the French national was planning to stage 15 terrorist attacks during the 2016 European Soccer Championship in France. SBU chief Vasyl Hrytsak told reporters on June 6 that the man intended to blow up “a Muslim mosque, a Jewish synagogue, tax-collection organizations, police patrol units, and numerous other locations.” Mr. Hrytsak said the man “obtained five Kalashnikov rifles, more than 5,000 bullets, two antitank grenade launchers, 125 kilograms of [explosive material,] 100 detonators, 20 balaclavas, and other things.” According to Reuters, the man was being held by Ukrainian authorities pending a possible extradition request from Paris. The French Interior Ministry said the case is being handled by judicial officials. Security officials in Europe are on high alert after gunmen killed 130 in Paris in November last year and suicide bombers blew themselves up at Brussels airport and on the metro in March, killing 32. (RFE/RL, based on reporting by Reuters and www.20minutes.fr, Reuters, AP and UNIAN)
Poroshenko appeals for Euro 2016 visas
KYIV – Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has appealed to his French counterpart to “facilitate the issuance of visas” for Ukrainian soccer fans planning to travel to France for the Euro 2016 soccer tournament. Mr. Poroshenko’s office says he made the appeal to Francois Hollande during a telephone call on June 6. The monthlong European Championship finals start in Paris on June 10. A dozen people gathered outside the French Embassy in Kyiv on June 6 in protest against delays in getting the visas. In a petition to French Ambassador Isabelle Dumont, protesters said 100 applications had been rejected and 1,000 people were still waiting for an answer. In April, the European Commission proposed short-stay visa-free travel in Europe to Ukrainians with biometric passports. The proposal still needs to be adopted by the European Parliament and the European Council. (RFE/RL, based on reporting by AFP and Interfax)
MH17 probe at ‘very advanced stage’
AMSTERDAM – Dutch prosecutors say an international joint probe into the downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 over eastern Ukraine is “at a very advanced stage” and that the investigators will present their first results “after this summer.” That part of the investigation, which was initially due to be concluded before the second half of the year, concerns “the weapon which was used to shoot down” the plane and “the exact launch site of the weapon.” The airliner crashed in territory held by Russia-backed separatists on July 17, 2014, killing all 298 people onboard. Two thirds of them were Dutch. The Dutch Safety Board concluded last year that the plane, flying from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur, was shot down by a Russian-made surface-to-air Buk missile. In a June 3 statement, the Dutch Public Prosecutor’s Office said the joint investigation team is “still waiting for information from the Russian Federation about Buk installations.” It said the investigators won’t publish their results in a report, but will eventually include them “in a criminal file, which is intended for the hearing of the case in a court or a tribunal.” The investigators are from the Netherlands, Australia, Malaysia, Belgium, and Ukraine. Their governments have pledged to bring those responsible for the crash to justice. (RFE/RL)
Poroshenko condemns leak of personal data
KYIV – President Petro Poroshenko condemned the leak of personal data about thousands of reporters that has triggered international concerns about press freedoms in the country. In a wide-ranging news conference in Kyiv on June 3, the president condemned the website Myrotvorets for publishing the data about more than 4,000 journalists that it said were illegally accredited by Russia-backed separatists in Ukraine’s eastern regions of Donetsk and Luhansk. But he added that “unfortunately, I have the information that some of these journalists have prepared negative comments or negative articles about Ukraine,” adding, “I kindly ask you: please, do not do that.” His comments come amid mounting criticism of the treatment of news media in Ukraine. A day earlier, ambassadors to Ukraine from the Group of Seven countries voiced concern about the Myrotvorets leak, saying it violates “the spirit and the letter of Ukrainian law” on personal data, as well as Kyiv’s “international commitments.” The G-7 ambassadors said, “We acknowledge the investigations launched by the government of Ukraine on this matter and hope the results will be shared with the public,” adding that they are “particularly concerned that threats are being made against individuals as a result” of the leak. Myrotvorets, which claims to target those it considers enemies of the Ukrainian state under the country’s Constitution, said it felt it was necessary to publish the list “because these journalists collaborate with fighters from terrorist organizations.” Anton Herashchenko, an adviser to Ukrainian Internal Affairs Minister Arsen Avakov, subsequently published the list on his public page. The G-7 ambassadors said that the characterization of all listed journalists as “collaborators with terrorists” endangers the personal security of those affected and Ukraine’s hard-won media freedom. Mr. Poroshenko went out of his way to distinguish some Russian journalists whose contact information was revealed by the website from others who were targeted in the leak. “If you are talking about Russian journalists, some of them [have been] making criminal things,” he said in an apparent reference to Russia media outlets backing the Kremlin’s messaging in the conflict. Kyiv’s efforts to restrict journalists it considers instruments of Russian propaganda have drawn fire from rights watchdogs as well. New York-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) this week criticized Poroshenko’s May 27 decree banning 17 Russian journalists and media executives from entering Ukraine through the end of 2017. “Ukraine is legitimately concerned about the effects of Russian propaganda, but cracking down on media freedom is a misguided, inappropriate response to whatever disagreement the Ukrainian government may have with Russia’s media coverage about Ukraine,” HRW researcher Tanya Cooper said. (RFE/RL, with reporting by RFE/RL’s Ukrainian Service and AP)
U.S. to guarantee more Ukrainian loans
WASHINGTON – The United States has announced it has signed a major new loan guarantee with Ukraine aimed at helping Kyiv stabilize its weakened economy. The $1 billion commitment is the third of its kind issued by Washington since the Euro-Maidan revolution brought down Ukraine’s Russia-backed president in February 2014. The pledge is to provide Ukraine with more affordable access to international capital markets and fill its gaping budget hole. “The guarantee sends a strong signal of the United States’ continued support for Ukraine as it pursues reforms that fulfill the Ukrainian people’s aspirations for a prosperous and democratic future,” U.S. Ambassador Geoffrey Pyatt said in a statement on June 3. Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said the U.S. move indicates that the United States is “a reliable strategic partner for Ukraine.” The new U.S. assistance is part of a $40-billion global rescue package agreed by Ukraine and the International Monetary Fund in March 2015. (RFE/RL, based on reporting by AFP)
Moody’s changes outlook for Ukraine
OTTAWA – Moody’s Investors Service changed the outlook for Ukraine’s banking system to stable from negative. Moody’s stated: “The change in outlook reflects our view that the economy will begin to emerge from a deep recession in the coming 12-18 months, which will help contain further asset quality deterioration. Improved funding conditions will support core lending, and the local currency’s recent stabilization will help slow the decline in banks’ solvency. …Moody’s considers that rising local currency deposits and limited refinancing needs will improve banks’ funding over the next 12-18 months, supporting the stable outlook. Improving confidence in the hryvnia and falling inflation expectations led to a 12 percent rise in local currency deposits between March 2015 and March 2016, marking a turnaround from the past two years, when local currency deposits declined sharply.” (Ukrainian Canadian Congress)
U.N.: Eastern Ukraine still ‘volatile’
GENEVA/KYIV – The situation in eastern Ukraine after two years of conflict “remains volatile and continues to have a severe impact on human rights,” according to the latest report on Ukraine by the Office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights. Its release on June 3 follows a recent seven-day visit to the country by U.N. Assistant Secretary-General for Human Rights Ivan Simonovic, who warned the “crisis is far from over.” He noted: “The increase in heavy weaponry near the contact line, and the hostilities around Avdiyivka and Yasynuvata, in the Donetsk region since early March, are all indicators that the crisis is far from over and should not fall off the radar of the international community.” The report focused on the plight of the 2.7 million people living in armed group-controlled areas, saying they are facing severe curtailing of their freedoms of expression, assembly and association, as well as tough living conditions. It also updated casualty figures for the conflict, saying some 9,371 people have been killed and 21,532 others injured since fighting began in April 2014. (RFE/RL’s Ukrainian Service)
Ceasefire violations continue to increase
KYIV – On June 8, it was reported that last week the Special Monitoring Mission (SMM) of the Organization for Security ad Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) had recorded a 10 percent increase in ceasefire violations compared to the previous week. The previous week in itself had seen a 50 percent increase over the week before that. Three-quarters of all ceasefire violations last week were recorded in the Avdiyivka-Yasynuvata-Donetsk airport area. The sides also fail to withdraw weapons from the security zone. That was according to Alexander Hug, first deputy chief monitor of the OSCE’s SMM in Ukraine. “On June 5, in government-controlled Pervomaisk, for instance, monitors saw craters caused by 120-millimeter mortars, one just four meters from a kindergarten building and another in the adjoining playground. In the DNR-controlled Dokuchayevsk, our monitors saw a tree in a children’s playground – 35 meters from a residential building – cut in two by a powerful impact”, elaborated Mr. Hug. He said people in the western Luhansk region told the monitors that they were prevented by the so-called “Luhansk People’s Republic” (LPR) from reaching Novooleksandrivka, the closest settlement. “This restriction on their basic right to move freely within their own country – and even within their own locality – means they have trouble accessing food and medicine,” he commented, adding that the same goes for the hundreds of people at checkpoints. “Our monitors were also in government-controlled Mariyinka, just south-west of Donetsk. With more than 100 vehicles lined up at the Ukrainian armed forces checkpoint there, our monitors heard a burst and seven single shots of small-arms fire coming from military positions 10-20 meters from the checkpoint,” he stated. Mr. Hug said that gas pipeline repairs in Mariyinka have been completed, with gas pressure testing to be finalized. Potentially over 30,000 people on both sides of the contact line will benefit. “Worryingly, however, we have recently noted heavy fighting in the area. On June 6, for instance, our monitors recorded 117 explosions there,” he added. He noted also that near Mayorsk, north of Horlivka, the SMM monitors had observed that the DPR had built another checkpoint just over a kilometer from Ukrainian armed forces positions. (Ukraine Crisis Media Center)
Protest in Crimea over beach access
KYIV – Police in Russia-controlled Crimea have forcibly broken up a protest by locals upset over amusement rides being set up near the shores of the Black Sea that they say obstruct access to the beach. Among those hauled away at the June 4 gathering in the city of Alushta, some 50 kilometers from Crimea’s capital, Symferopol, was local lawmaker Pavel Stepanchenko, who resisted police officers’ demands to halt what they called an “unsanctioned” public meeting. The officers dragged away Mr. Stepanchenko and other protesters who stepped in to defend him amid chants of “shame” from the crowd of protesters that numbered in the dozens. The crowed also reportedly yelled criticism of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s ruling United Russia party and called the police officers “Banderovtsy,” which in Russia – including on state-run television – is used as a derogatory term to describe Ukrainian nationalists. Mr. Stepanchenko managed to get away, while three other demonstrators were reportedly detained and charged with minor offenses, including participating in an unsanctioned rally and resisting police. (RFE/RL’s Ukrainian Service, with reporting by echo.msk.ru)