75th anniversary of Babyn Yar
KYIV – Ukraine is marking the 75th anniversary of the World War II-era mass execution of 33,771 Jews at the Babyn Yar ravine with official remembrances at the killing site on the outskirts of Kyiv. The commemoration on September 29 will be attended by world leaders; Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko is hosting the events. Israeli President Reuven Rivlin, who had been on a state visit to Ukraine, had to return to Israel on September 28 following the death of Israeli statesman Shimon Peres. The September 29-30 slaughter of Jewish men, women, and children at the Babyn Yar ravine in 1941 was an early example of the industrial-scale murder the Nazis would employ in their quest to annihilate the Jews. Overall, up to 100,000 more people were executed at Babyn Yar during the Nazi occupation of Kyiv. Ukrainian Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman on September 29 called on all Ukrainians to never forget the victims of Babyn Yar. “There were Jews, Roma people, Soviet prisoners of war, and fighters of the Ukrainian liberation movement among those executed by firing squads,” Mr. Groysman wrote on his Facebook page. “We remember each of them.” Ukraine has been marking the 75th anniversary of the massacre with a weeklong observance during which the Verkhovna Rada held three hours of hearings. Among the speakers were Ukraine’s chief rabbi, Yaakov Dov Bleich, as well as parliamentary deputies and political dignitaries. Rabbi Moshe Reuven Azman of Kyiv’s Brodski Synagogue blew the traditional shofar horn on the podium in a mark of respect for the mostly Jewish victims. (RFE/RL, with reporting by RFE/RL’s Ukrainian Service, AFP, Interfax and TASS)
Court upholds ban on Tatars’ Mejlis
MOSCOW – Russia’s Supreme Court has upheld a decision by a Moscow-backed Crimean court to ban the Mejlis, the self-governing body of Crimean Tatars in the occupied Ukrainian territory. The Mejlis’ lawyer Kirill Koroteyev said the September 29 ruling by the Russian court will be appealed at the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg. On April 26, more than two years after Russia seized and illegally annexed Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula, Crimea’s pro-Russian Supreme Court branded the Mejlis as an extremist organization and officially banned it. The Mejlis had been legalized by the Ukrainian government in 1999. Crimea’s indigenous Tatars make up about 12 percent of Crimea’s population of 2.5 million people. Many Crimean Tatars fled the territory after it was seized by Russian military forces in February 2014 and illegally annexed by Moscow in March 2014. Crimean Tatars who have remained in the occupied territory complain of harassment and enforced disappearances under the Moscow-backed authorities there. Russia has been severely criticized by international rights groups and Western governments for its treatment of the Turkic-speaking Muslim minority since the annexation. (RFE/RL, with reporting by Interfax and TASS)
House OKs lethal weapons for Ukraine
WASHINGTON – The U.S. House of Representatives has backed legislation that calls for supplying Ukraine with lethal weaponry in its fight against Russia and separatists in the eastern Donbas region. Тhe bill, which passed unanimously by a voice vote on September 21, is the latest effort by Ukraine’s staunchest supporters in Washington to bolster its military forces. Kyiv has repeatedly requested from Washington more advanced weaponry – such as Javelin anti-tank missiles – to aid its fight against separatists. But President Barack Obama’s administration has resisted, fearing it would escalate the fighting. Instead, the administration has limited its supplies to things like flak jackets, night-vision goggles and radar that helps locate where mortars are fired from. The legislation, which goes to the U.S. Senate for consideration, also aims to increase funding to counter Russian propaganda. (RFE/RL)
Dnipro mourns two police officers
DNIPRO, Ukraine – The city of Dnipro (formerly known as Dnipropetrovsk) in eastern Ukraine is observing a day of mourning on September 26 to honor two traffic police officers killed in the line of duty in the city the previous day. Officials said the two police officers were shot dead by a former police officer on September 25. Police say they detained the alleged gunman, Oleksandr Puhachov, hours later in a hospital, where he was undergoing surgery in connection with a gunshot wound he apparently suffered during the shooting. Investigators say the incident took place when the traffic police officers stopped Puhachov’s vehicle for an alleged traffic violation. Mr. Puhachov then opened fire when the police officers tried to identify him, police officials said. Mr. Puhachov, a former officer of the Internal Affairs Ministry’s Tornado special police unit, was wanted on suspicion of kidnapping, creating an organized criminal group and sexual abuse. Investigators said on September 26 that Mr. Puhachov has denied the allegations. (RFE/RL, based on reporting by UNIAN and Ukrinform.ua)
Vote on visa liberalization in October
BRATISLAVA – European Parliament President Martin Schulz says he hopes the bloc will vote on visa liberalization for Ukraine in October. Mr. Schulz, speaking at a European Union summit in Bratislava on September 16, said that before the European Parliament can vote on the issue, it must be approved by the parliamentary civil-liberties committee in a vote scheduled for September 29. Ukraine, Georgia, Kosovo, and Turkey are all seeking visa liberalization to the EU’s Schengen zone this year. Earlier that month, the civil-liberties committee voted for visa liberalization for Georgia. Berlin had refused to support the measures before the summer, citing a spike of crimes allegedly committed by Georgians in Germany. The committee also voted in favor of similar move for Kosovo but it opted against opening negotiations with the EU member states until Pristina has fulfilled all criteria, including solving a border dispute with Montenegro and fighting organized crime. (RFE/RL)
Ukraine files complaint with WTO
KYIV – Ukraine has filed a complaint at the World Trade Organization (WTO) to challenge Russia over restrictions on freight transit. “This is a yet another step taken to defend Ukraine’s rights within the WTO against opaque and discriminatory restrictions by the Russian Federation,” Ukraine’s First Deputy Prime Minister Stepan Kubiv said in a September 15 statement. In its complaint, seen by Reuters, Kyiv accuses Moscow of breaking WTO rules by singling out Ukraine with trade-restrictive measures – such as requiring Ukrainian trucks to use identification seals and to move in convoy – and by putting restrictions on Ukrainian drivers entering Russia from Belarus. Ukraine says its trade to countries in Central and Eastern Asia and the Caucasus region had fallen by 35.1 percent in the first half of 2016 compared to the same months of 2015. By the end of this year Ukraine will have lost about $400 million worth of exports to Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan, it says. Kyiv’s request for consultations marks the first step in the WTO dispute system. The parties have 60 days to resolve the dispute. After that, the WTO can create a panel of experts to review the case. (RFE/RL, based on reporting by AFP and Reuters)
Court partially upholds sanctions
LUXEMBOURG – A European court has partially upheld sanctions imposed on Ukraine’s ousted former president, Viktor Yanukovych, his son Oleksandr, and the former head of the presidential administration, Andriy Klyuyev. The three challenged the European Union’s sanctions on charges of embezzlement and financial wrongdoing that meant losing access to their funds held in European banks. The European Union’s General Court “confirms the freezing of funds imposed for the period from March 6, 2015, until March 6, 2016,” the court said in a September 15 statement. The three Ukrainians can appeal against the ruling to the EU’s top court. However, the three Ukrainians won their challenge to the sanctions for the March 2014 to March 2015 period because EU governments did not provide enough proof, the court also said. The statement said the European Council provided more proof for the extension of sanctions for the following period, allowing them to stand. The EU has extended the sanctions until March 2017, which the two Yanukovyches and Mr. Klyuyev have also challenged and the case is ongoing. (RFE/RL, with reporting by Reuters)
Kyiv to host Champions League final
KYIV – The 2018 Champions League soccer final will be held in Kyiv, Europe’s soccer governing body has announced, despite concerns over the conflict in eastern Ukraine. “Ukraine will host the UEFA Champions League final on May 26, 2018,” said UEFA’s executive committee in a statement on September 15. Ukraine, which was co-host of the 2012 Euro with Poland, submitted its official bid to stage the final at Kyiv’s 70,000-seat Olympic Stadium earlier this year. The final will be held only a few weeks before Russia stages the World Cup. There are concerns over security, with Ukrainian government forces locked in a deadly conflict with pro-Russia separatists in eastern Ukraine. Another worry is Ukraine’s track record on racism, with UEFA having fined and imposed a three-match stadium ban on Dynamo Kyiv after racist behavior by its fans. Estonia’s capital, Tallinn, will host the UEFA Super Cup final on August 18, 2018. (RFE/RL, based on reporting by AFP and DPA)
Ukraine’s candidate for Oscar
KYIV – “Ukrainian Sheriffs,” a documentary directed by Roman Bondarchuk, was selected as the Ukrainian entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 89th Academy Awards. The film was selected by Ukraine’s new Oscar committee, which was approved by The U.S. Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences last month. The Oscar committee has been reformed after a scandal over the country’s Oscar selection process back in 2014. The scandal resulted in Ukraine missing the submission deadline for the 2016 Academy Awards. “The films submitted for consideration of Oscar committee were different, but all of them demonstrate the development of Ukrainian film industry, both technically and aesthetically. Each of them was worthy of representing Ukraine in the fight for Oscar, so it was obviously not easy to make the choice,” said Philip Illienko, the head of national filmmakers’ union. The world premiere of “Ukrainian Sheriffs” took place in November 2015, when the film was presented at the prestigious International Documentary Film Festival in Amsterdam and was awarded the Special Jury Prize. (Ukraine Today)