Russia’s election on day of Crimea’s seizure
MOSCOW – Russia is preparing to move the date of the 2018 election that is expected to hand President Vladimir Putin a new term from March 11 to March 18 – the day Russia celebrates its seizure of Crimea from Ukraine. The State Duma approved a bill on the date change on April 12 in the first of three votes on the issue in the lower house of Parliament. It is certain to pass. Russian law says that presidential elections are held on the second Sunday in March unless that is a working day, in which case the voting must be held a week earlier. The authors of the bill said that March 11 was likely to be a working day after the March 8 International Women’s Day holiday. But instead of holding the election a week earlier, they proposed March 18. Observers suspect the Kremlin hopes holding the vote on March 18 will boost turnout and attract more votes for Mr. Putin because that was the date, in 2014, on which he signed a treaty that Moscow claims made the Crimean Peninsula part of Russia. Kyiv, the United States and most other countries reject that assertion. They consider Crimea, which Russia seized after sending in troops and staging a referendum denounced as illegitimate by 100 states, to be part of Ukraine. Mr. Putin, in power as president or prime minister since 1999, has not announced plans to run for a new six-year term but is widely expected to do so. (RFE/RL, with reporting by RIA Novosti, Interfax and TASS)
Ukraine seen as valued NATO partner
OTTAWA – NATO’s press office reported that NATO Deputy Secretary General Rose Gottemoeller reaffirmed the alliance’s strong support for Ukraine in a speech on April 6. Speaking at Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv, she said a recent meeting of the NATO-Ukraine Commission underscored the alliance’s ongoing and steadfast support for Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity. The deputy secretary general said Ukraine is a valued NATO partner and that, “NATO does not, and will not, accept Russia’s illegal and illegitimate annexation of Crimea. And we condemn Russia’s ongoing destabilization in eastern Ukraine.” Ukraine has been an important NATO partner for many years, having joined the North Atlantic Cooperation Council in 1991 and NATO’s Partnership for Peace program in 1994. Ms. Gottemoeller said the country is making a great deal of progress on its reform agenda and it could rely on NATO’s continued support on this issue. Ms. Gottemoeller highlighted NATO’s Comprehensive Assistance Package for Ukraine, which includes more than 40 tailored support measures and six different multi-million-euro Trust Funds. After her speech, Ms. Gottemoeller met Ukraine’s President Petro Poroshenko, Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman, Deputy Prime Minister Ivanna Klympush-Tsintsadze and other senior government figures. (Ukrainian Canadian Congress Daily Briefing)
Semena trial adjourned after brief hearing
KYIV – The trial of RFE/RL contributor Mykola Semena, a Crimean journalist who is fighting what he says is a politically motivated separatism charge on the Russian-controlled peninsula, has been adjourned until May 3 after a brief hearing on April 18. A single witness for the prosecution testified in the latest session of the start-and-stop trial in the Crimean capital, Symferopol, while two other prosecution witnesses failed to appear. Mr. Semena faces up to five years in prison if convicted by Russia, which has jailed several Crimeans who have opposed or criticized Moscow’s 2014 seizure of the Black Sea peninsula from Ukraine. The charge against the 66-year-old journalist stems from an article he wrote for RFE/RL’s Krym.Realii (Crimea Realities) website in 2015. The Kremlin-installed authorities in Crimea have charged that the article called for the violation of Russia’s territorial integrity. Mr. Semena contends that he is innocent, saying that he has the right to openly express his opinions and that Crimea’s status was and remains in dispute. He told RFE/RL on April 17 that the charge against him is “not legal but political.” He said that while the Russian Constitution guarantees the freedom of expression, “in fact people are being prosecuted for that.” The witness who appeared in court on April 18, Yulia Kozhemyakina, testified that she had seen the article that led to the charges against Mr. Semena. She had been enlisted by investigators to be present as a witness when they were examining the article on a web page. But a lawyer for Mr. Semena, Emil Kurbedinov, said that Ms. Kozhemyakina was unable to answer some of the questions from the defense and did not appear to fully understand the witness statement that she had signed. “When we asked, ‘Do you know what this technical term means?’ the witness said [she] did not,” Mr. Kurbedinov said. In March, the European Parliament called on Moscow to free more than 30 Ukrainian citizens who are in prison or face other conditions of restricted freedom in Russia, Crimea, and parts of eastern Ukraine that are controlled by Russia-backed separatists. The European Parliament has urged Russia to allow Mr. Semena and the others listed to travel freely. Mr. Semena is barred from leaving Crimea and must seek permission from the Russian-imposed authorities to travel outside Symferopol. In September, RFE/RL President Thomas Kent described the case against Semena as “part of a concerted effort by Russian and Russian-backed authorities to obstruct RFE/RL’s journalistic mission to provide an independent press to residents of Crimea.” The Semena trial began on March 20, but was swiftly adjourned until April 3 and was then adjourned again until April 18. The next trial date, May 3, is the U.N.-designated World Press Freedom Day. (Crimean Desk, RFE/RL’s Ukrainian Service)
Russia won’t broadcast Eurovision
MOSCOW – Russian state television broadcaster Channel One says it won’t show this year’s Eurovision Song Contest after Ukraine banned Russia’s entry in the competition. “Channel One considers the refusal by Ukraine absolutely groundless,” a news anchor announced on April 13. “It is an attempt by Ukraine to politicize the competition.” Russia selected singer Yulia Samoilova as its contestant earlier this month. But Ukraine says she is barred from entering the country because she violated Ukrainian law by performing in Crimea in 2015. Russia illegally annexed the Ukrainian peninsula in 2014. Russia slammed Kyiv’s ban and rejected a compromise under which Ms. Samoilova would be allowed to compete via satellite link. Channel One said it took its decision after receiving a letter from the contest’s organizer, the European Broadcasting Union, saying it had been “unable to resolve the issue.” Ukraine won the right to host the Eurovision contest by winning last year. The final is set for May 13. (RFE/RL, based on reporting by AFP and DPA)
Manafort to register as foreign agent
WASHINGTON – U.S. President Donald Trump’s former campaign chairman will register as a foreign agent for lobbying work he did on behalf of pro-Russian political interests in Ukraine, his spokesman has said. Paul Manafort’s decision to register comes amid investigations by the FBI and Congress into the Trump campaign’s contacts with Russia. Manafort spokesman Jason Maloni said on April 12 that Mr. Manafort’s lobbying for ousted Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych’s party between 2012 and 2014 was not done on behalf of Russia. Mr. Yanukovych fled to Russia in 2014 amid massive protests against his rule. By registering retroactively with the Justice Department, Mr. Manafort will be acknowledging that he failed to previously disclose his work as required by U.S. law. Mr. Maloni said there was nothing improper about Mr. Manafort’s political consulting for Mr. Yanukovych’s political party, including how he was paid, and the lobbying ended before Mr. Manafort began working on Trump’s campaign in March 2016. Mr. Manafort resigned from the Trump campaign in August, after revelations that he was paid millions of dollars to lobby on behalf of Mr. Yanukovych and his party. AP reported that U.S. prosecutors have been looking into Mr. Manafort’s work for years as part of an effort to recover Ukrainian assets stolen after Mr. Yanukovych fled the country. (RFE/RL, based on reporting by AP and Reuters)
Canada’s Senate adopts Magnitsky law
OTTAWA – On April 11, Canada’s Senate adopted Bill S-226 – Justice for Victims of Corrupt Foreign Officials Act (Sergei Magnitsky Law), introduced by Sen. Raynell Andreychuk. The senator stated: “Bill S-226 signals internationally that Canada cannot be used to enable or shelter gross violators of internationally recognized human rights. Through amendments to the Special Economic Measures Act and the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act, Bill S-226 would allow for the Canadian assets and property of foreign nationals to be seized, frozen or sequestered, if those foreign nationals are deemed responsible for, or complicit in, gross violations of internationally recognized human rights. The Senate has done its duty in carefully considering this legislation. It is now the responsibility of the House of Commons to further Canada’s ability to exercise, defend and promote internationally recognized human rights and freedoms using one more valuable foreign policy tool.” A concurrent bill, C-267, was introduced by Member of Parliament James Bezan (Selkirk-Interlake-Eastman, Manitoba) in the House of Commons in May 2016. On April 6, the Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Development tabled a report to the House of Commons titled “A Coherent and Effective Approach to Canada’s Sanctions Regimes: Sergei Magnitsky and Beyond.” The report recommends that “In honor of Sergei Magnitsky, the government of Canada should amend the Special Economic Measures Act to expand the scope under which sanctions measures can be enacted, including in cases of gross human rights violations.” The House tabled the bill on April 13. MP Bezan stated: “We must work in concert with our allies to ensure that there are mechanisms in place in order to sanction individuals who are responsible for, or complicit in, gross violations of internationally recognized human rights and are abusing their positions of authority.” (Ukrainian Canadian Congress Daily Briefing)
KHPG: Russia forces Crimeans to serve
KHARKIV, Ukraine – The Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group (KHPG) reported, “Nearly 5,000 young Crimeans are to be conscripted into Russia’s army in 2017, with Russia thus openly flouting the U.N. General Assembly and the Fourth Geneva Convention. For the first time since Russia invaded and annexed Crimea, Crimeans will be sent to regions of the Russian Federation. Criminal liability and other measures have also been increased since April 1 against those unwilling to do such ‘military service,’ ” The KHPG also noted: “The Crimean Human Rights Group has long warned that any conscription of Crimeans breaches international humanitarian law, and specifically the Geneva Convention relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War. Article 51 of this convention states unequivocally that ‘The Occupying Power may not compel protected persons to serve in its armed or auxiliary forces. No pressure or propaganda which aims at securing voluntary enlistment is permitted.’ Article 49 prohibits ‘individual or mass forcible transfers, as well as deportations of protected persons from occupied territory to the territory of the Occupying Power or to that of any other country, occupied or not.’ This, of course, applies also to Russia’s continuing imprisonment in Russia of Ukrainian political prisoners and its ‘deportation’ of Crimean Tatars. Russia’s denial that it is occupying Crimea has been rejected by the entire democratic world. The full report from Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group is available at http://khpg.org/en/index.php?id=1491741696. (Ukrainian Canadian Congress Daily Briefing)
17 arrested in assassination plot
WASHINGTON – Prosecutors say that 17 people have been detained in Moldova and Ukraine in a suspected plot to assassinate Vladimir Plahotniuc, one of Moldova’s most powerful politicians. Vitalie Busuioc of the Moldovan Prosecutor’s Office for Organized Crime said on April 8 they had seized money and weapons, including grenade launchers, that were to be used in plot to kill Mr. Plahotniuc, a businessman who is also the head of the Democratic Party, the largest partner in Moldova’s pro-European governing coalition. Eight of the suspects were arrested in Moldova, while the nine others were in Ukraine, according to Mr. Busuioc. Ion Iachimov of the Moldovan National Investigation Inspectorate said two Moldovans, one of whom is currently in Moscow, ordered the murder in exchange for $200,000. The Democratic Party said in a statement that it “firmly condemned this criminal act.” Ukraine’s Internal Affairs Ministry said on April 7 that the authorities had thwarted an assassination attempt against Mr. Plahotniuc. (RFE/RL)
NATO-Ukraine working group meets
OTTAWA – The annual meeting of the NATO-Ukraine Joint Working Group on Defense Reform took place in Brussels on April 13. Ukraine’s Mission to NATO reported. “Ukraine’s progress in reforming the defense and security sector, and the state of implementation of a Comprehensive Assistance Package for our country were discussed during the meeting,” the mission explained. “Attention was paid to the improvement of Ukrainian legislation, in particular to the drafting of the Law ‘On National Security,’ reform of the Internal Affairs Ministry of Ukraine and gender issues.” Ukraine’s mission to the alliance also reported that “NATO’s representatives positively assessed the progress of Ukraine in reforming the security and defense sector. Allies emphasized that they will continue to provide Ukraine political support and practical help during its fight with Russian aggression.” (Ukrainian Canadian Congress Daily Briefing)
Poroshenko urges British investment
KYIV – During an official visit to the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, President Petro Poroshenko met with representatives of business circles of the country, the press service of the Ukrainian president has said. The Ukrainian president spoke about the introduction of reforms in Ukraine over the past three years and the main results that have been achieved to date. Considerable attention was paid to creating a good investment climate, conducting judicial reform, fighting corruption, and reforming the banking and energy sector. The president said he believes in the promising future of the trade and investment between Ukraine and the U.K. According to him, the U.K. has become one of the largest foreign investors in Ukraine with more than $2 billion invested and tens of thousands of jobs created. Mr. Poroshenko noted the successful cooperation of the Ukrainian company Antonov and the British company Dowty Propellers in the creation of the An-132D transport aircraft. The president also welcomed the interest of British companies in Ukraine, in particular, the international company Unilever, which opened a tea factory in the Kyiv region, and the international company Hutchison Ports, which plans to enter the domestic container shipping market in the short term. “The success of these projects in our country will certainly be a good example for other investors, as well as an important signal of confidence in Ukrainian reforms,” Mr. Poroshenko said. (Interfax-Ukraine, based on the Presidential Administration of Ukraine)