U.S. on Ukraine’s asset declarations
WASHINGTON – Washington has welcomed Ukrainian officials’ public declaration of their wealth as a step toward increasing citizens’ confidence in elected officials. U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch told RFE/RL in an interview on November 2 that the asset declaration system is “an important first step” toward increasing transparency in government. She said the declarations are necessary in order for Ukrainians to “have confidence that their public officials don’t have conflicts of interest and that their wealth is acquired in a legitimate manner.” She added that the asset declarations are now being looked at by journalists and anticorruption agencies in Ukraine and that scrutiny is an important second step to the process. Officials had until October 30 to upload details of their assets and income in 2015 to a publicly searchable database, part of an International Monetary Fund-backed drive to boost transparency and modernize Ukraine’s recession-hit economy. The online declarations of wealth online have exposed a vast difference between the fortunes of politicians and those they represent. Some senior officials declared millions of dollars in cash. Others said they owned fleets of luxury cars, expensive Swiss watches, diamond jewels and large tracts of land. (RFE/RL’s Ukrainian Service)
Deputies nix bill to double their salaries
KYIV – Ukrainian lawmakers have rejected a bill that would have at least doubled their own salaries amid media reports about wealth and incomes of government officials and members of Parliament. On November 1, a majority of lawmakers in Kyiv voted to reject the October 20 proposal. The legislation would have increased the monthly salaries of lawmaker to more than 40,000 hrv (about $1,500). The average salary for Ukrainians is currently between $200 and $300 per month. October 30 was the last day for Ukrainian officials to fill out electronic income declarations. Media reports from preliminary data obtained from those declarations placed President Petro Poroshenko and several lawmakers from his political party on a list of the richest individuals in Ukraine with assets in cash and property valued at millions of dollars across the country. (RFE/RL’s Ukrainian Service)
Poroshenko meets with UWC president
OTTAWA – Ukraine’s President Petro Poroshenko met on November 1 in Kyiv with Ukrainian World Congress President Eugene Czolij. The meeting focused on joint efforts dedicated primarily to furthering the ratification by the Netherlands of the European Union-Ukraine Association Agreement; the imperativeness of pressuring the Russian Federation to comply with the Minsk agreements and renewing economic sanctions against the Russian Federation until it fully complies with them; the deployment by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe of a police mission in eastern Ukraine to enhance compliance of the Russian Federation with the Minsk agreements; the implementation of a visa-free regime for Ukrainian citizens travelling to EU member states taking into account the fulfillment by Ukraine of all criteria; international support for the U.N. General Assembly resolution on the human rights violations in Crimea, as initiated by Ukraine; the importance of a Tomos of Autocephaly for the Ukrainian Orthodox Church – Kyiv Patriarchate; and UWC support for the economic development of Ukraine. The UWC delegation also included UWC Vice-President and Chair of the UWC Committee in Support of the Economic Development of Ukraine Olena Koszarny and Director of the UWC Mission to Ukraine Serhiy Kasyanchuk. (Ukrainian Canadian Congress Daily Briefing, based on a Ukrainian World Congress release)
UCCA asks Netherlands to ratify agreement
NEW YORK – In support of the Ukrainian World Congress (UWC) initiative, the Ukrainian Congress Committee of America (UCCA) penned a letter to the Prime Minister of the Netherlands, Mark Rutte, urging ratification of the EU-Ukraine Association Agreement. The UCCA’s October 27 letter not only underscored the main purpose of the Association Agreement, which is to strengthen trade ties and assist Ukraine in implementing reforms, but also highlighted the fact that ratifying the agreement would open up a new market of 45 million people to the Netherlands. The Netherlands is the second largest investor in Ukraine, and ratifying this agreement would strengthen the Dutch economy by enhancing further opportunities for Dutch businesses, the UCCA noted. The UCCA also respectfully reminded the prime minister that it was the EU Association Agreement that served as the catalyst for the Euro-Maidan. The UCCA’s letter stated that hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians “unequivocally defended their right to embrace European values – values Ukrainians unfortunately continue to defend to this day, not only for themselves, but for the whole of Europe.” The UCCA is calling on members of the Ukrainian American community to contact the Embassy of the Netherlands in Washington, as well as the Dutch Consulates in 22 cities throughout the United States and offer support for the UWC and UCCA by calling for full ratification of the EU-Ukraine Association Agreement. (Ukrainian Congress Committee of America)
Dutch leader not optimistic about deal
AMSTERDAM – Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte said he is not optimistic about reaching a deal that would pave the way for a trade agreement between the European Union and Ukraine, which was rejected by Dutch voters in a referendum in April. All of the EU’s other members have approved the free-trade agreement, but the fate of the deal has been complicated by the Dutch vote. EU leaders asked Mr. Rutte to come up with a political compromise at their summit on October 20-21 in Brussels, with the goal of preserving the trade deal while assuaging voter fears it could lead to deeper military and financial ties with Ukraine in the future. But Mr. Rutte said he told EU leaders on October 20 that he was not optimistic about finding a compromise that would satisfy all parties, though he said he will keep trying in negotiations with the Dutch Parliament, Ukraine and the EU. While the Dutch vote against the trade deal was nonbinding, Mr. Rutte said he feels he must honor it. Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, meanwhile, said as he visited Holland on October 20 that he was optimistic the trade deal eventually will be ratified by all EU members. (RFE/RL, based on reporting by AP and Reuters)
Canada, EU support Ukraine’s sovereignty
OTTAWA – Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau met with President of the European Council President Donald Tusk and European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker on October 30 at the 16th EU-Canada Summit. In the EU-Canada Summit Joint Declaration, they stated, “We remain firmly committed to Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, and reiterate the need for a complete implementation by all parties of the Minsk agreements to bring a sustainable and peaceful solution to the conflict. We do not recognize and continue to condemn the illegal annexation of Crimea and Sevastopol by the Russian Federation. We also remain committed to implement a policy of non-recognition. We continue to closely cooperate and coordinate our actions as regards restrictive measures which will remain clearly linked to the complete implementation of the Minsk agreements and respect for Ukraine’s sovereignty. We will also continue our efforts to assist Ukraine in the implementation of agreed reforms, including civilian security sector reform, as an essential element of Ukraine’s progress towards greater democracy, openness and accountability.” (Ukrainian Canadian Congress Daily Briefing)
MFA demands release of Karpyuk, Klykh
KYIV – In a statement issued on October 26, Ukraine’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) said it “strongly condemns the Russian Federation Supreme Court decision on October 26, 2016, to leave without changes the sentences handed to the citizens of Ukraine Mykola Karpyuk and Stanislav Klykh who have been sentenced by the Russian authorities to 22.5 and 20 years, respectively, in [a penal] colony based on fabricated accusations of establishing an armed grouping and felonious homicide of Russian servicemen during combat operations in the Chechen Republic in 1994-1995.” The MFA noted: “Politically motivated criminal cases concerning Mykola Karpyuk and Stanislav Klykh, as well the Russian Federation Supreme Court’s defiance of the facts, presented by the defending party, which prove falsification of the case and numerous and severe irregularities in judicial proceedings are still more evidence of the absence in the Russian Federation of true and fair justice.” The MFA went on demand that Russia immediately release Messrs. Karpyuk and Klykh, as well as other citizens of Ukraine who are illegally detained in the Russian Federation under fabricated accusations. “We call on the international community and human rights institutions to take all possible legal, political and economic actions in order to release and bring back to Ukraine its citizens who have become political prisoners of the Kremlin, resulting from Russia’s military aggression and illegal occupation of the sovereign territory of Ukraine,” the ministry underscored. (Ukrainian Canadian Congress Daily Briefing, based on a release from Ukraine’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs)
Russia refuses to hand over Sentsov
KYIV – Ukraine says Russia is refusing to hand over jailed Ukrainian filmmaker Oleh Sentsov. Ukrainian Deputy Minister of Justice Serhiy Petukhov posted a copy of the refusal letter on Facebook on October 21, in which Russia’s Justice Ministry says it is “impossible” to transfer Mr. Sentsov to Kyiv because he holds Russian citizenship. Mr. Sentsov became a Russian citizen in March 2014, when a Russian law conferred citizenship on all residents of the Crimean Peninsula, according to the letter. Crimea’s Russia-backed authorities convicted Mr. Sentsov in 2015 of conspiring to commit terrorism on the annexed Ukrainian peninsula, and sentenced him to 20 years in prison. Mr. Sentsov, a native of Crimea, was a vocal opponent of Russia’s annexation of the peninsula in March 2014. Amnesty International described his trial as “fatally flawed.” (RFE/RL, based on reporting by AP and Interfax)
Sentsov sent to isolation cell
KHARKIV – The Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group (KHRPG) said that Russian prison authorities in Yakutia have placed Ukrainian filmmaker Oleh Sentsov in an isolation cell for 15 days. The group reported: “His cousin Natalya Kaplan knows no details, but has also just received threats directed at Mr. Sentsov on Facebook and is understandably concerned. All of this comes after the news on October 21 that Russia’s Justice Ministry has refused to return Sentsov and civic activist Oleksandr Kolchenko to Ukraine, claiming falsely that the two men are Russian citizens. …That news, in turn, followed a clear indication from the Kremlin that it is denying its obligation under the Minsk agreement to release Sentsov, Kolchenko and all Ukrainians illegally held.” On October 20, a day after Russian President Vladimir Putin took part in new talks with the leaders of Ukraine, France and Germany, his press secretary stated that Mr. Putin does not agree that the release of prisoners held in Russia falls under provisions of the Minsk agreement. “Putin has consistently behaved and talked like a kidnapper and is quite openly using the Ukrainians as hostages,” the KHRPG noted. (Ukrainian Canadian Congress Daily Briefing, based on information from the Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group)
Russia asks to observe U.S. voting
WASHINGTON – Russia has asked several U.S. states for permission to send observers to polling places on November 8 to monitor voting in the presidential and legislative elections, but at least three states have said “no.” The U.S. State Department said on October 21 that Russia is welcome to observe the elections, but Moscow turned down an invitation from the United States to be included on a team from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), which monitors elections in the United States as well as Europe. “We told the Russian government that they were welcome to observe our elections,” State Department spokesman John Kirby said. “There’s nothing for us to fear from having Russian observers observing our election. We’re very confident in the stability, the security, and the strength of our electoral process. There’s no need to hide from that,” he said. But Mr. Kirby added that “the fact that they have chosen to not join the OSCE observation mission makes clear that this issue is nothing more than a PR stunt.” Speaking on October 22, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov accused U.S. officials of treating the issue of observers in an “absolutely anti-Russian vein.” “If we are deprived of this for political reasons, we will draw our own conclusions,” he warned in an interview with the RIA Novosti news agency. “Our American colleagues shouldn’t count on us simply forgetting this in the future,” he added. Meanwhile, the Russian Embassy has asked at least three U.S. states for permission to send monitors to polling stations, and the states have denied the requests. Oklahoma, Texas and Louisiana all said they rejected requests from Russia to host observers. The Russian newspaper Izvestia quoted a Russian official on October 21 saying the requests were turned down because of “Russophobic tendencies.” Russia’s interest in the U.S. voting process comes amid charges that Russian-backed hackers have been leaking Democratic party e-mails and documents in an effort to influence the election in favor of Republican candidate Donald Trump, whose views toward Russia are seen as more favorable than those of his Democratic opponent, Hillary Clinton. (RFE/RL with reporting by AP, AFP and Reuters)