Trudeau: Russia not ‘positive partner’
KYIV – Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says Russia has not been a “positive partner” as regards its obligations in international efforts to end a Moscow-backed separatist conflict in eastern Ukraine. Speaking in Kyiv on July 11, Mr. Trudeau said “it is obvious that Ukraine has made some extremely important and difficult steps in Parliament and in their institutions to live up to their responsibilities on [the] Minsk [ceasefire agreement].” He added, “And it’s also clear that [in terms of] the security side of the Minsk implementation, Russia has not been a positive partner.” The prime minister, who was in Kyiv on a two-day official visit, pledged $13 million in new humanitarian assistance to Ukraine. He also announced an increase in the number of Canadian observers for the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) in eastern Ukraine. During Mr. Trudeau’s visit to Kyiv, Ukraine and Canada formally signed a free trade agreement. Negotiations for the deal were concluded last year and the agreement needs to be ratified by both countries’ parliaments before it can come into force. (RFE/RL, based on reporting by Reuters, AP and AFP)
UCC welcomes signing of CUFTA
KYIV – The Ukrainian Canadian Congress (UCC) welcomed the July 11 signing of the historic Canada-Ukraine Free Trade Agreement (CUFTA), which it said launches a new chapter in relations between Canada and Ukraine. The CUFTA was signed during the official visit to Ukraine of Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on July 11-12. “I congratulate Canada and Ukraine on the signature of this historic deal, a win-win for both our countries,” stated UCC National President Paul Grod, who was leading a delegation of Ukrainian Canadian community leaders accompanying the prime minister during his visit to Ukraine. “This deal will open up significant trade and investment opportunities between Canada and Ukraine, and provide stimulus for further important economic reforms in Ukraine.” (Ukrainian Canadian Congress)
Poroshenko on Ukraine and NATO
NEW YORK – In a July 7 op-ed in The Wall Street Journal, Ukraine’s President Petro Poroshenko wrote: “The North Atlantic Treaty Organization was created to defend the peace and global order that emerged out of the chaos of World War II. As world leaders gather in Warsaw for the NATO summit on Friday [July 8], it will be important to remember these origins. Appeasement is not a solution. Russia has been deliberately inciting instability wherever it can, hoping to divide the West and advance its own geopolitical agenda. …Russia’s aggression on the eastern flank of NATO territory is an aggression not only against Ukraine, but the Western world. Yet no NATO member state has actual battlefield experience engaging with the modern Russian army. Ukraine does.” He also noted: “We are grateful for the support the West has given us so far. NATO has held firm in its stance against Russia’s aggression in Crimea and Donbas, and continues to support the building of a strong army and a successful democratic state. …Yet this reactive strategy, imposing sanctions after violations have taken place, has largely exhausted itself. In Donbas, the Kremlin has turned to a war of attrition. …So long as the Kremlin can continue to ignite minor conflagrations in certain areas such as the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, it will use them as leverage to bully other countries. Only a deeper partnership between NATO and Ukraine will foster stability in Ukraine, Eastern Europe, the Black Sea region and the trans-Atlantic area as a whole. NATO’s support is a necessary part of the solution for defense and security threats in Ukraine.” The Ukrainian president argued that “there is little value in talks with a negotiating partner who thinks in terms of geopolitical ambitions rather than saving human lives, and who shows no respect for legal commitments on his part,” and underscored: “Pressure on the aggressor must be intensified until the Kremlin fulfills its obligations under the Minsk agreements, reverses the illegal and illegitimate self-declared annexation of Crimea, and comes back under the rule of law. (The Wall Street Journal)
Moscow on ‘non-existent’ threat
MOSCOW – Russia has slammed NATO for focusing on what it called a “nonexistent” threat from Russia at a summit in Warsaw. During the two-day conference, alliance leaders endorsed new major troop deployments in Eastern Europe in response to Russia’s forcible annexation of Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula in 2014 and its backing for armed separatists in Ukraine. “A preliminary analysis of the results of the meeting shows that NATO continues to exist in some sort of military-political looking-glass world,” the Russian Foreign Affairs Ministry said in a statement on July 10. The statement added: “Contrary to the objective interests of maintaining peace and stability in Europe… the alliance concentrates its efforts on deterring a nonexistent threat from the east.” The spokeswoman for the Foreign Affairs Ministry, Maria Zakharova, said that Moscow will seek explanations for the alliance’s plans at a meeting of the NATO-Russia Council on July 13. The ministry also said it will seek an explanation from NATO for a Finnish plan to improve air defenses over the Baltic Sea. NATO has previously said it is looking to step up defense cooperation with Finland and Sweden by way of more joint exercises and increased information-sharing following increased activity by the Russian military in the air and the sea. Part of the NATO summit, which concluded on July 9, was dominated by the formal authorization of plans for multinational battalions of up to 1,000 troops each to be stationed on a rotating basis in Poland and the Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. The battalions will be led by the United States, Canada, Britain, and Germany. NATO officials termed the deployment a direct response to Russian belligerence and the biggest such move by the alliance since the end of the Cold War. NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said on July 9 that a “more assertive” Russia has built up its military capabilities, modernized its armed forces, and tripled its defense spending in recent years. He also said Moscow has been “willing to use military force against neighbors, against Ukraine, illegally annexing Crimea, and destabilizing eastern Ukraine.” (RFE/RL, with reporting by Reuters, AFP and TASS)
NATO, Russia disagree on Ukraine
BRUSSELS – NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg says that NATO and Russia remain at loggerheads over Ukraine but are considering a proposal to lessen the risk of accidental military confrontations in Baltic airspace. Speaking after NATO ambassadors briefed Russian envoys on July 13 in Brussels about NATO’s July 8-9 summit in Warsaw, Mr. Stoltenberg said that “there was not a meeting of the minds today” about Ukraine. But he said NATO allies would “carefully” study a Russian proposal to use warplanes’ transponders for risk reduction in Baltic airspace. The meeting at NATO’s headquarters in Brussels was the first of the NATO-Russia Council since the alliance agreed at the Warsaw summit to bolster its troop presence in Eastern Europe in response to Moscow’s aggression in Ukraine. Russia has been strongly critical of the NATO decision, accusing the alliance of aggression and warning that it will react to the deployment of forces near its borders. (RFE/RL, based on reporting by AP, Reuters, AFP and TASS)
Ministries to begin work on CUFTA
OTTAWA – Ukraine’s Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman has instructed ministries to start work on preparations for the immediate implementation of the Canada-Ukraine Free Trade Agreement after its ratification by the Verkhovna Rada. A statement from the Cabinet of Ministers noted: “The prime minister has ordered First Vice Prime Minister, Minister of Economic Development and Trade of Ukraine Stepan Kubiv to coordinate the work of the ministries and departments in this issue.” Mr. Groysman has also stressed the need to foster dialogue with Canadian business to attract investment in Ukraine. The Cabinet’s statement reported: “The prime minister said he had a substantive conversation with Prime Minister of Canada Justin Trudeau on possible areas of cooperation. According to him, Ukraine and Canada have a lot of directions for development, including: aircraft construction, railway sector, agricultural sector, IT sector, pharmaceutical market.” (Ukrainian Canadian Congress)
Mandate of OSCE mission extended
VIENNA – The Permanent Council of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe on July 7 extended the mandate of the OSCE Observer Mission at the Russian border checkpoints Gukovo and Donetsk. The mandate has been extended until October 31. The mandate of the mission remains unchanged. Operating under the principles of impartiality and transparency, the observers will monitor and report on the situation at the two Russian checkpoints, as well as on the movements across the border. As of March, the Observer Mission is composed of 21 border observers, including the chief observer. The mission is supported administratively by the OSCE Secretariat in Vienna. Flavien Schaller, the chief of the Observer Mission, will continue to provide regular reports through the chairmanship to the Permanent Council. The mission has been on the ground since July 29, 2014, following a consensus decision of the OSCE Permanent Council. On June 23 it reported the border crossing of the 52nd convoy of Russian vehicles – 38 cargo vehicles and seven support vehicles into Ukraine. All but three of the cargo trucks bore the inscription “Humanitarian help from the Russian Federation,” the mission noted. (OSCE)
Crimean activists listed as ‘terrorists’
MOSCOW – Authorities in Moscow have listed 22 people who were born on Ukraine’s Crimea Peninsula as “terrorists and extremists.” The list, published on July 12 by Russia’s Federal Financial Monitoring Service (Rosfinmonitoring), includes journalists, civil activists and political prisoners who have criticized Moscow’s occupation and illegal annexation of Ukraine’s Crimea region. Among those named is Mykola Semena, a contributor to a news site about Crimea that is run by Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. Mr. Semena has been charged by officials in Russia-annexed Crimea with using media to make separatist calls. Also on the list is blogger Yuriy Ilchenko, who was recently arrested over an article condemning Russia’s seizure and annexation of Crimea. The list also names several Ukrainian prisoners held in Russia – including Oleh Sentsov, Oleksander Kolchenko, Oleksiy Chemiy, and the recently freed Hennadiy Afanasyev. Rosfin-monitoring was created by a decree from President Vladimir Putin and reports directly to the Russian president. The United States, the European Union, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe and international media rights groups have all expressed concern about a clampdown on independent journalists and activists in the Russian-occupied territory. (RFE/RL’s Ukrainian Service)
EU rejects changes to association pact
KYIV – The European Union will not make any changes in its Association Agreement with Ukraine to address Dutch voters’ concerns, but may issue a declaration clarifying that the agreement brings Ukraine no closer to membership, EU diplomats said. A majority in the Netherlands voted against the Ukraine trade and association agreement in a non-binding referendum back in April, making the Netherlands the only EU member not to ratify the agreement. Jan Tombinski, head of the EU delegation to Ukraine, told reporters in Kyiv on July 6 that European leaders at a summit late last month told Dutch leaders that they should not propose any change in the Association Agreement’s text that would force other EU members to have to ratify the agreement again. Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte said at the time he was seeking “legally binding” assurances that the EU would address Dutch voters’ concerns. Rather than change the agreement itself, EU leaders offered to issue a declaration clarifying that the agreement does not bring Ukraine any closer to EU membership, diplomats said. Mr. Rutte was asked to come up with language for such a declaration, and bring it back for consideration at future EU summits, Mr. Tombinski and other EU diplomats said. (RFE/RL, based on reporting by Reuters, DPA and Interfax)
‘Moscow Avenue’ named for Bandera
PRAGUE – One of Kyiv’s main streets, Moskovskyi Prospekt, or Moscow Avenue, is about to lose its name. Instead, the street will be named after Stepan Bandera, a Ukrainian nationalist resistance leader who fought both Soviet and Nazi forces during World War II. The renaming was supported by 87 of the Kyiv city council’s 97 members. A comment published on Facebook shortly after the vote by Yuriy Syrotyuk, the head of the Svoboda party’s faction at the council, suggested that the remaining 10 members had abstained rather than vote against the proposal. The renaming is part of a massive “decommunization” campaign to rid Ukraine of Soviet-era symbols in the wake of Russia’s annexation of Crimea and its support of pro-Russian separatists in the country’s east. Under legislation adopted in May 2015, Ukraine formally categorizes the Communist government that ruled between 1917 and 1991 as a criminal regime. Along with Moscow Avenue, the Kyiv city council also voted to rename three other Kyiv streets honoring famous Russians: a street and a lane named after Mikhail Kutuzov, a renowned field marshal of the Russian Empire; and a street named after 18th-century Russian military leader Aleksandr Suvorov. The council agreed to name the streets after Oleksa Almazov, a general of the Ukrainian National Army; Ukrainian writer, journalist and poet Yevhen Hutsalo; and Mykhaylo Omelyanovych-Pavlenko, supreme commander of the Ukrainian Galician Army. The resolution must now be approved by Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko, who appears likely to give it the green light. Mr. Klitschko himself has suggested renaming the street where the Russian Embassy is located after slain Russian opposition leader Boris Nemtsov, a fierce critic of President Vladimir Putin. (Claire Bigg of RFE/RL)
Sentsov turns 40 in Russian prison
PRAGUE – Supporters in Ukraine and beyond are marking Oleh Sentsov’s 40th birthday on July 13 – the third consecutive birthday the Crimean film director is spending behind bars in Russia, which convicted him of conspiring to commit terrorism on the annexed peninsula. Mr. Sentsov, who denies guilt and says he was unfairly prosecuted by the “occupiers” of Crimea, is serving a 20-year sentence at a high-security Russian prison following a trial described by Amnesty International as “fatally flawed.” Messrs. Sentsov and Kolchenko were convicted on charges that include burning down the office of a pro-Kremlin political party and plotting to blow up a statue of Bolshevik leader Vladimir Lenin in Symferopol, the regional capital. Both have consistently denied the accusations. The trial of Sentsov and Kolchenko drew international condemnation, with politicians, officials, and cultural luminaries calling for their release. The case is widely seen as an attempt to crush dissent in Crimea, which Russia took over after sending in troops and staging a referendum dismissed as illegitimate by 100 U.N. members. Some of Europe’s most prominent film directors, including Ken Loach, Wim Wenders and Mike Leigh, have signed an open letter to Russian President Vladimir Putin demanding that Mr. Sentsov be freed and his torture allegations be investigated. Top Russian directors such as Aleksandr Sokurov and Andrei Zvyagintsev have also joined the appeals. Best known for his 2011 film “Gamer,” Mr. Sentsov says his jailing is punishment for his involvement in the Euro-Maidan movement that led to the ouster of Russia-friendly president Viktor Yanukovych and for his public opposition to Russia’s takeover of his native peninsula. On July 12, authorities in Moscow listed Mr. Sentsov and 21 other people born in Crimea as “terrorists and extremists.” (Claire Bigg of RFE/RL)