Visa-free travel begins June 11
BRUSSELS – The European Union’s decision granting visa liberalization for Ukraine has been published in the EU’s official journal, paving the way for the visa-free regime to enter into force on June 11, 20 days after its publication on May 22. The document was signed on May 17 in Strasbourg by representatives of the European Parliament and the European Council. Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, who attended the signing ceremony, called it a historic day for the nation. “It is an absolutely historic day for Ukraine, for my 45-million nation, and I am absolutely confident that this is a historic day for the European Union,” Mr. Poroshenko said at the time, adding that “Ukraine returns to the European family. Ukraine says a final farewell to the Soviet and Russian empire.” Ukrainian citizens who have biometric passports will be able to enter all EU member states other than Ireland and the United Kingdom without a visa and stay for up to 90 days during any 180-day period. The visa-free regime also applies to four Schengen Area countries that are not in the EU: Norway, Iceland, Liechtenstein and Switzerland. (RFE/RL, with reporting by Rikard Jozwiak in Brussels)
UWC urges sanctions in Sentsov case
TORONTO – The Ukrainian World Congress (UWC) is calling upon Ukrainians around the world to join the campaign urging governments to impose sanctions against individuals responsible for the unlawful imprisonment of acclaimed Ukrainian filmmaker Oleh Sentsov. Mr. Sentsov was arrested on May 10, 2014, on politically motivated charges for his peaceful protest against the illegal occupation of Crimea by forces of the Russian Federation. Three years later he continues to languish in a Russian prison having been sentenced in August 2015 to 20 years of hard labor. “The Ukrainian World Congress urges the international community, including human rights organizations, to increase pressure on the Russian Federation to secure the release of Oleh Sentsov and all illegally detained prisoners in accordance with the Minsk agreements,” stated UWC President Eugene Czolij. The UWC noted that more information on the trials of political prisoners, including guides on submitting letters of support can be found on the website of the Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group. (Ukrainian World Congress)
Language quotas OKd for TV, radio
KYIV – Ukrainian lawmakers have approved a bill that would require Ukrainian television and radio stations that broadcast nationwide to have at least 75 percent of their programming in the Ukrainian language. The bill was supported by 269 lawmakers in its second and final vote in the 450-seat Verkhovna Rada on May 23. The legislation, which would amend laws on broadcasting, culture and languages, will become law if signed by President Petro Poroshenko. The issue is controversial among Russian speakers in Ukraine, and Russia-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine claim Kyiv is deliberately curtailing the use of the Russian language. Kyiv denies the allegation. The legislation would also require local and regional TV and radio stations to have 50 percent of their content in Ukrainian. It would not affect foreign-based broadcasters, but would require foreign films aired on Ukrainian television channels to carry Ukrainian subtitles. The language quotas would be in place between 7 a.m. and 10 p.m. (RFE/RL’s Ukrainian Service, with reporting by Interfax and UNIAN)
U.S. sentences Ukrainian hacker
WASHINGTON – A Ukrainian hacker was sentenced on May 22 to 30 months in a U.S. prison for a scheme using stolen unpublished news releases to make around $30 million in profits. The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of New Jersey said Vadym Iermolovych, a 29-year-old Kyiv man, was one of several people involved in the scheme who were arrested in Ukraine and the United States for accessing more than 150,000 press releases that contained sensitive financial and corporate data that they shared with stock traders before the information was released to the public. Authorities said the traders paid the hackers for access to the overseas servers where the information was stored. They were paid, in part, a percentage of the money the traders made from their illegal trading activities. Mr. Iermolovych, who pleaded guilty in May 2016 to charges of aggravated identity theft and conspiracy to commit wire and computer hacking, was also ordered by a court in New Jersey to pay more than $3 million in restitution. (RFE/RL, with reporting by AP)
Yanukovych trial without video link
KYIV – A Ukrainian court has held a new hearing in the treason trial of ex-President Viktor Yanukovych, but an expected video link with the fugitive former leader failed to materialize. The May 18 preliminary hearing at the Obolon district court in Kyiv was dominated by sparring between the judge, the prosecutor and the defense over plans to establish a link that would allow Mr. Yanukovych to take part from Russia. Mr. Yanukovych abandoned office in late February 2014 and fled to Russia in the face of protests triggered by his decision to scrap plans for a landmark deal with the European Union and improve trade ties with Moscow instead. Dozens of people were killed when his government attempted to clamp down the Euro-Maidan demonstrations. After Mr. Yanukovych fled, Russia seized Ukraine’s Crimean peninsula and fomented separatism in eastern Ukraine, where war between the government and Russia-backed forces has killed more than 9,900 people. He is being tried in absentia on charges of high treason and complicity in Russian actions aimed to violate Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, upset its constitutional order, and wage war against the country. At the start of the hearing, Mr. Yanukovych’s lawyer Vitaliy Serdyuk asked Judge Vladyslav Devyatko to provide details on how a video link could be established. Mr. Serdyuk asserted that Ukrainian authorities must send Mr. Yanukovych a separate subpoena regarding the link-up and formally ask Russian authorities to set it up. After a break, Judge Devyatko said that the court had never intended to set up a video link for the preliminary stage of the trial. “Yanukovych’s testimony and questioning during the preliminary hearings was not under consideration,” the judge said. State prosecutor Ruslan Kravchenko appealed to the judge to conduct the trial without testimony from Mr. Yanukovych, saying that “the defendant is intentionally residing outside the country with the aim of avoiding prosecution.” He also said that Mr. Yanukovych has a right to choose to be tried by a jury or by a three-judge panel. In another development, Judge Devyatko agreed to register a defense claim that a statement by Prosecutor General Yuriy Lutsenko ahead of the initial May 4 hearing influenced preparations for the trial. The judge scheduled the next hearing for May 29. (RFE/RL, with reporting by RFE/RL’s Ukrainian Service)
Calls for new sanctions on Russia
WASHINGTON – The United States should impose new sanctions and move more aggressively to “shape Russian thinking” in response to Moscow’s actions in Ukraine and elsewhere, former top State and Defense department officials said. Michael Carpenter, who was the Pentagon’s top Russia official until January, said the measures Washington should take should include deploying an armored brigade permanently to the Baltics and restricting some Russian surveillance flights over U.S. territory now authorized under the 2002 Open Skies treaty. “If we do not check Russian aggression with more forceful measures now, we will end up dealing with many more crises and conflicts, spending billions of dollars more in the defense of our European allies, and potentially see our vision of Europe whole and free undermined,” Mr. Carpenter told a hearing of the U.S. Helsinki Commission on May 17. Mr. Carpenter, along with former State Department arms control director Stephen Rademaker, also suggested that the United States should consider returning intermediate-range cruise missiles to Europe, in response to Russia’s alleged violations of a key Cold War-era arms agreement. Mr. Rademaker told the commission that Russia will comply with important treaties like Open Skies, Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces, and Conventional Armed Forces in Europe but only when it is in Moscow’s interest. When it isn’t in Moscow’s interest, “it will seek to terminate them… or violate them while continuing to play lip service to them… or it will selectively implement them,” he said. Russia, for its part, has repeatedly denied violating the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces treaty and instead accuses the United States itself of violating the agreement. Mr. Carpenter called for more financial sanctions that leverage U.S. dominance in financial markets, for more pressure on top Russian officials, and he said that the so-called Magnitsky Act, a 2012 law that puts restrictions on alleged Russian human rights offenders, had been “vastly underutilized.” Steven Pifer, a former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine, said the list should be expanded to include relatives of Kremlin-connected oligarchs and other powerful government officials, for example, to keep their children from enrolling at U.S. colleges and universities or spouses from “going on London shopping trips.” (RFE/RL)
NBU deputy takes over for Gontareva
KYIV – The National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) says its deputy governor, Yakiv Smoliy, will temporarily take charge on May 11 as Governor Valeria Gontareva will step down that day. Ms. Gontareva, a reformist who won praise from the West, submitted a letter of resignation to President Petro Poroshenko on April 10. Ms. Gontareva took charge of Ukraine’s central bank in 2014, after Russia seized Crimea and with Ukraine in the throes of a conflict with Russia-backed separatists. Her departure leaves President Poroshenko with one fewer ally in power at a time when lenders are already questioning Ukraine’s ability to follow through on promised reforms. Ms. Gontareva’s efforts to clean up Ukraine’s financial sector irked tycoons who critics say have treated the country’s banks like their private coffers. She also came under fire from some ordinary Ukrainians who blamed her for losses they suffered after she was appointed to follow the International Monetary Fund’s advice to partially abandon state support for the Ukrainian hryvnia. (RFE/RL, based on reporting by Reuters and UNIAN)
UWC congratulates France’s Macron
TORONTO – The Ukrainian World Congress (UWC) President Eugene Czolij on May 11 sent a letter of congratulations to the president-elect of France, Emmanuel Macron, on his election on May 9. The UWC president expressed gratitude to France for its unwavering support of Ukraine at a time of considerable political uncertainty for the European continent, exacerbated by the disinformation campaign of the Russian Federation designed to discredit the European community and the Western values it represents. “The Ukrainian World Congress and its member organizations trust that the Ukrainian people can continue to rely on France in the defense of Ukraine’s territorial integrity and furthering its European integration,” Mr. Czolij stated in the letter. The UWC is the international coordinating body for Ukrainian communities in the diaspora representing the interests of over 20 million Ukrainians. The UWC has a network of member organizations and ties with Ukrainians in 53 countries. (Ukrainian World Congress)
Senate approves CUFTA implementation
OTTAWA – The Senate of Canada on May 18 unanimously adopted Bill C-31, the Canada-Ukraine Free Trade Agreement Implementation Act. “The Canada-Ukraine Free Trade Agreement [CUFTA] builds on a longstanding history of engagement and support between our two nations,” said Sen. Raynell Andreychuk. “The unanimous passage of Bill C-31 marks yet another important milestone in Canada-Ukraine bilateral relations.” The senator noted: “With the ratification of this agreement, Canada will become the first country outside of Europe and Central Asia to sign a formal trade agreement with Ukraine. In doing so, Canadian businesses will be granted unparalleled opportunities in Ukraine across all sectors.” She cited renewable energy, aeronautics and education sectors as examples. “This agreement underscores Canada’s support for advancing democracy in Ukraine amid recurring threats to the country’s sovereignty and independence,” the senator, who is a Ukrainian Canadian, added. (Office of Sen. Raynell Andreychuk)