EU envoys favor extending sanctions
BRUSSELS – The ambassadors of the European Union member states decided on June 6 to prolong the bloc’s investment ban against Crimea for another year, punishing Russia for its armed takeover of the Ukrainian region. The measures include an EU-wide ban on imports from Crimea unless they have Ukrainian certificates; a prohibition of the purchase by EU companies of property and companies on the Black Sea peninsula; and a ban on cruise ships flying the flag of an EU member state or controlled by a member state to call at ports there. Goods and technology for the transport, telecommunications and energy sectors cannot be exported to Crimean companies or for use in Crimea. The sanctions were adopted in 2014 as a response to Russia’s invasion and annexation of the Ukrainian peninsula, and have been extended on a yearly basis. EU foreign ministers are likely to confirm the decision by the ambassadors when they meet in Luxembourg on June 19. (Rikard Jozwiak of RFE/RL)
CUFTA granted royal assent
OTTAWA. The Ukrainian Canadian Congress (UCC) on June 2 welcomed the granting of royal assent to the act implementing the Canada-Ukraine Free Trade Agreement (CUFTA). David Johnston, governor general of Canada, signed the CUFTA Implementation Act (C-31) on June 1. ”This historic agreement is a win-win for both Canada and Ukraine. I congratulate everyone who worked for its adoption,” stated Paul Grod, national president of the UCC. “This deal will provide significant new opportunities for both Canadian and Ukrainian investors and businesses, and will further stimulate economic growth in Ukraine and Canada.” The Canada-Ukraine Free Trade Agreement will enter into force 30 days after the exchange of ratification documents. (Ukrainian Canadian Congress)
Bellingcat on convoy’s link to MH17
PRAGUE – A team of open-source researchers investigating the crash of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 (MH17) has published reports linking the movements of Russian military equipment to the plane’s downing. The reports, released on June 5 by Bellingcat, track the locations of vehicles including the Buk missile launcher that the British-based research group says was involved in the July 2014 downing of MH17. Focusing on information gleaned from drivers, Bellingcat published censored photos of drivers and the convoys of trucks that it alleges moved the equipment into place in the weeks before the airliner crashed during a flight from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur, killing all 298 passengers and crew. “An uncensored version of the report including full names and uncensored photographs has been shared with the MH17 Joint Investigation Team (JIT),” Bellingcat said, referring to the international team that has investigated the crash. Bellingcat’s previous reports had already identified Russia’s 53rd Anti-Aircraft Missile Brigade as being the likely source of the missile that investigators say brought down the jet. But the new reports add to a growing body of circumstantial evidence suggesting Russian complicity. This includes personal information about Russian military officers and enlisted soldiers who Bellingcat alleges specifically knew of, and possibly even manned, the Buk-M1 surface-to-air missile system believed to have brought down MH17. International media, including the Associated Press, have pinpointed Buk-M1 systems in the eastern Ukrainian town of Snizhne on the day of the plane’s downing, and accompanying soldiers who spoke with accents that seemed to be from Moscow and other regions in Russia. Russia has strenuously denied the fighters it supports in eastern Ukraine were responsible or that it supplied the missile system. A leading separatist commander initially appeared to take credit for firing a missile and downing a Ukrainian jet, but those claims on social media were later removed. (RFE/RL)
Semena trial resumes, then adjourns
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, resumed on June 5 in the Crimean capital, Symferopol. Mr. Semena’s lawyer, Aleksei Popkov, told RFE/RL that materials linked to the prosecution were read out at the session on June 5. The judge then adjourned the trial until June 14. Mr. Semena faces up to five years in prison if convicted by Russia, which has jailed several people from Crimea who have opposed or criticized Moscow’s 2014 seizure of the Black Sea peninsula from Ukraine. The Semena trial has been adjourned several times for different reasons since it started on March 20. The charge against 66-year-old Mr. Semena 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 maintains he is innocent. He has said that Crimea’s status was and remains in dispute, and that he has the right to openly express his opinions. The United States, the European Union, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), and international media watchdogs have expressed concern about Mr. Semena’s prosecution. Activists say his trial is part of a persistent Russian clampdown on independent media and dissent in Crimea since Moscow’s takeover. RFE/RL President Thomas Kent has described the case against Mr. 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.” (Crimean Desk, RFE/RL’s Ukrainian Service)
EBRD opens regional office in Odesa
OTTAWA – The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) opened a new regional office in Odesa on May 30. The office is EBRD’s third regional office outside Kyiv and will serve as a hub for the southern regions of Ukraine. “The operational expansion is supported by the European Union through the EU4Business Initiative. Southern Ukraine has always played an important role in EBRD operations in the country, especially in sectors such as agribusiness, logistics, transport and infrastructure. The new office will allow the EBRD to work closer to local clients and will offer access to expert advice for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs),” the EBRD stated. Ambassador Hugues Mingarelli, head of the European Union’s delegation to Ukraine, said: “We are coming closer to businesses in the regions. Opening a regional EBRD office in a business hub like Odesa is a logical choice and we are pleased to support this through the EU4Business initiative. The EBRD is our strategic partner, which will support the Ukrainian SMEs by providing them with expert advice on how to access the EU market as well as lending directly to them to meet for their growth needs. I am confident that soon we will also be able to enjoy very concrete results of this cooperation in southern Ukraine.” (Ukrainian Canadian Congress Daily Briefing)
U.S. at OSCE notes escalating violence
OTTAWA – Speaking at a meeting of the Permanent Council of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) on June 1, U.S. Chargé d’Affairs Kate Byrnes stated: “The level of violence in eastern Ukraine continues to escalate. Ukrainian casualties, both civilian and military, continue to increase. The number of Ukrainian soldiers killed in action is one third higher this year compared to the same period in 2016. The fighting is getting worse, not better. Russia and the so-called ‘separatists’ it backs demonstrate – on a daily basis – their willful disregard for civilian lives, which have been lost at dramatic rates.” She also noted that the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission “reports of shells fired by Russia-led, trained and equipped ’separatists’ near a hospital and school in government-controlled territory are deeply troubling. …Indiscriminate shelling of civilian areas is unacceptable, and the targeting of school children unthinkable.” Ms. Byrnes stated: “We reiterate our demand that Russia take steps to implement fully the Minsk agreements, the first of which is to uphold a genuine and lasting ceasefire. …The United States and the international community have consistently raised concern about the deterioration of the situation in Crimea since the Russian Federation occupied and purported to annex the peninsula in 2014. Crimean Tatars and others who oppose the occupation have been subjected to serious abuses. For three years, Russia has relentlessly weakened and dismantled authentic institutions, including the Mejlis, the Crimean Tatars’ representative body. Courts are corrupt and trials are mostly predetermined theater, albeit theater of the absurd. …Crimea remains an integral part of Ukraine within its internationally recognized borders. We call on all OSCE participating States to reject Russia’s occupation and purported annexation of Crimea.” (Ukrainian Canadian Congress Daily Briefing)
KHPG: Balukh a political prisoner
KHARKIV, Ukraine – The Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group (KHPG) stated on May 29: “It has long been clear that Russian-controlled courts provide the sentences demanded in politically motivated trials. In Russian-occupied Crimea, if there are orders not to release a Ukrainian activist they also act as prosecutor.” The group cited the case of Volodymyr Balukh, 46, who has been imprisoned for six months “on charges so obviously falsified that human rights groups declared him a political prisoner almost immediately.” KHPG continued: “The list of gross infringements in his case is already huge, but increased on May 23 with the ‘judge,’ Maria Alexandrovna Berditskaya from the Razdolne District Court, ignoring the failure by the prosecutor to provide even one reason for holding Balukh in custody, and remanding him in custody until September 4. As Balukh’s lawyer Dmitry Dinze pointed out, this was not just a formal infringement of procedure. The charges against Balukh are of medium severity, and detention for over six months is permitted only under exceptional circumstances. The prosecutor had failed to think up any ‘exceptional’ justification, so Berditskaya simply took over and extended his imprisonment anyway.” Mr. Balukh is facing a potential four-year prison sentence “on insultingly implausible charges,” the KHPG said. He was arrested on December 8, 2016, after the Russian Security Service (FSB) carried out searches of his home and his mother’s. The FSB claimed to have found 90 bullets and several explosive devices in Mr. Balukh’s attic. On November 29, 2016, Mr. Balukh had nailed a plaque renaming his home No. 18 Heroes of Nebesna Sotnya St. in memory of the over 100 Maidan activists who were killed during the Euro-Maidan. The KHPG noted: “The FSB arrived just over a week after Balukh ignored demands from the head of the local council for the sign to be removed. In recognizing Balukh as a political prisoner, the Memorial Human Rights Center pointed to both the total implausibility of the charges and a whole litany of procedural irregularities.” (Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group)
Crimean lawyer gets rights award
KYIV – Crimean lawyer and human rights activist Emil Kurbedinov on June 1 received an award from the international human rights organization Front Line Defenders, which protects human rights advocates who work in conditions threatening to life, health and freedom. This is the first presentation of this award in Ukraine. “This award is very important to everyone working in Crimea. This is not my award, this is an award to all human rights defenders, civil society activists working both here and in Crimea, who are not afraid to do their job and give a strong impetus not only to people in Crimea, but also in Russia: that you can and should fight, by peaceful means, openly and publicly,” stated Mr. Kurbedinov at a press briefing held at the Ukraine Media Crisis Center. “For me and my colleagues, it means recognition of our work, and a signal to Russia that international organizations monitor the situation in Crimea, watch the work of human rights defenders and know about persecution taking place in Crimea,” he added. Mr. Kurbedinov noted that pressure on civil society activists and human rights defenders in Crimea is only increasing. He cited the imprisoned journalists, activists and human rights defenders whose proceedings are continuing and those who have been sentenced to imprisonment. Now it is not unusual to see that the cases of political prisoners are set for trial behind closed doors, allegedly because of a high level of social and political instability and terrorist threats, he explained. “This is a violation of international and national law,” he emphasized. “Human rights defenders resist intimidation. Human rights defenders, civic activists and relatives of political prisoners unite and continue their work.” He added that Russian intelligence services closely monitor the work of human rights defenders in Crimea and outside Crimea. Mr. Kurbedinov stressed that support from mainland Ukraine, from journalists, human rights activists and ordinary citizens is very important to all those who face persecution in Crimea. (Ukraine Crisis Media Center)
Envoy: Moscow will respond to NATO
BRUSSELS – Russia’s ambassador to NATO says Moscow will respond to the alliance’s military deployment in Eastern members. Aleksandr Grushko was speaking in Brussels on June 1, as NATO countries are deploying some 4,600 troops to Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, and Poland. NATO describes the deployment as a deterrent move in the face of a more-assertive Russia after its illegal 2014 annexation of Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula and its support for separatists in eastern Ukraine. Moscow accuses the alliance of threatening its security. “NATO is building a new military security situation that we cannot ignore, that we should address using our own military instruments,” Mr. Grushko told journalists. He stated that “NATO’s movements will not be left without a response in terms of military planning,” without indicating what kind of measures Russia might take. (RFE/RL, based on reporting by AP and Reuters)
U.S. statement on Georgia’s National Day
WASHINGTON – U.S. Secretary of State Rex W. Tillerson on June 6 released a statement on the occasion of Georgia’s National Day. “On behalf of the Government of the United States of America, I want to congratulate the people of Georgia as you celebrate 26 years since the restoration of your independence. This important date also marks 25 years of bilateral relations between Georgia and the United States. We value Georgia’s steadfast partnership and look forward to continuing to advance our shared interests and values,” he stated. “The United States is deeply grateful for the sacrifice of Georgia’s troops serving with us in Afghanistan and elsewhere around the world. Together, we celebrate Georgia’s successes and mourn those who have perished in the fight against terrorism.” The secretary of state also noted that “Georgia continues to inspire others with its leadership and commitment to our shared belief in the power of democratic principles. The United States strongly supports Georgia’s sovereignty and territorial integrity within its internationally recognized borders as well as its choice to chart its own future within the community of free nations. We look forward to many years of continued cooperation and friendship to advance stability and prosperity for our two countries.” (U.S. Department of State)
Montenegro bars 149 for Crimean role
PRAGUE – Montenegro has reportedly barred 149 Russians and Ukrainians from entering the country in response to recent bans Moscow placed on Montenegrins traveling to Russia. Those placed on the Montenegrin blacklist were selected because of their role in Russia’s illegal annexation of Ukraine’s Crimea in 2014 in violation of Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, local media reported on June 2, citing government officials. The “undesirable” list reportedly includes Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin, head of intelligence services Nikolai Patrushev, Republic of Chechnya leader Ramzan Kadyrov, tycoon and owner of Tsargrad TV Konstantin Malofeyev, and the deputy secretary-general of the ruling United Russia party, Sergei Zheleznyak. In 2014, Montenegro joined EU sanctions against Russia imposed over its aggression in Ukraine, a factor cited by Russian authorities in barring entry of a lawmaker from Montenegro’s ruling Democratic Party of Socialists, Miodrag Vukovic, on May 28. Following that incident, Montenegrin officials said Russia had a secret list of about 50 Montenegrin leaders it is banning, including Prime Minister Dusko Markovic, President of the Assembly Ivan Brajovic and the leader of the ruling party, Milo Djukanovic. (RFE/RL, based on reporting by B92.net, Blitz, Interfax, Beta, and Pobjeda)
Chechen accused in Putin plot survives
KYIV – A Chechen man whom Russian authorities accuse of plotting to kill President Vladimir Putin was shot and wounded in Kyiv in what Ukrainian police say was an assassination attempt. The Ukrainian Ministry of Internal Affairs said Adam Osmayev was shot late on June 1 by a man who had introduced himself a day earlier as a French journalist and asked for an interview. When Mr. Osmayev and his wife, Amina Okuyeva, were in a car with the man, he pulled out a pistol and shot Mr. Osmayev twice, the ministry said. Ms. Okuyeva then shot the assailant with her own gun, it said. Both men were hospitalized in serious condition. Mr. Osmayev, a native of Russia’s Chechnya region who was educated in Britain, was arrested in Ukraine in February 2012 and charged with illegal possession of explosives, damaging private property and forgery. At the request the Russian authorities, he was later charged with plotting to kill Mr. Putin. In November 2014, after Russia’s seizure of Crimea and support for separatists in eastern Ukraine severely damaged relations between Moscow and Kyiv, Ukrainian authorities dropped the attempted assassination charge against Mr. Osmayev and sentenced him to time served in pretrial detention after convicting him of other crimes. Both Mr. Osmayev and Ms. Okuyeva have subsequently fought on the side of Kyiv’s forces against the Russia-backed separatists in a conflict that has killed more than 9,900 people since April 2014. (RFE/RL’s Ukrainian Service, RFE/RL’s Russian Service)
Russian pranksters pose as Poroshenko
PRAGUE – Two leading politicians in Montenegro have fallen victim to Russian pranksters who posed as the president and prime minister of Ukraine in telephone calls last week, officials in the Balkan country say. Montenegrin Prime Minister Dusko Markovic and his predecessor, Milo Djukanovic, were tricked by Vladimir Krasnov and Aleksei Stolyarov, pranksters known as Vovan and Lexus, according to officials in the government and the ruling Democratic Party of Socialists. They said the calls were a Russian provocation and part of a series of efforts by Moscow aimed at discrediting officials in Montenegro, whose successful bid to join NATO has angered Moscow. The recorded conversations with the pranksters, who have fooled prominent people, including Elton John, in the past, were broadcast on Russian state TV. Their authenticity was confirmed by the government and the ruling party, which is chaired by Mr. Djukanovic. Mr. Markovic’s Cabinet said he spoke to a prankster posing as Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko for 17 minutes on May 24, the day before a NATO meeting at which Montenegro was welcomed as its newest member. Mr. Markovic’s office said he would not change a word of what he said. Mr. Djukanovic spoke to a prankster posing as Ukrainian Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman for a little longer, Montenegrin officials said. Montenegrin officials allege that Serbian and Russian nationalists plotted to take over Parliament during the October 2016 elections, assassinate then-Prime Minister Djukanovic and install a pro-Russian leadership to keep the country out of NATO. (RFE/RL’s Balkan Service)
Umerov goes on trial for separatism
SYMFEROPOL – A Crimean Tatar leader who has criticized Russia’s seizure of the Black Sea peninsula from Ukraine has gone on trial on June 7. Russian authorities who control Crimea have charged Ilmi Umerov – deputy chairman of the Crimean Tatars’ self-governing body, the Mejlis, which was banned by Moscow – with separatism. He was charged in May 2016, after he made public statements opposing Russia’s armed takeover of Crimea in March 2014. He denies the charges, saying he has the right to express his opinions freely. The 59-year-old is one of several critics of the takeover who have faced what rights activists say are politically motivated criminal charges at the hands of the Russian state. Dozens of relatives and supporters came to the courthouse in the Crimean capital, Symferopol, in hopes of attending the trial. Authorities allowed only about 15 spectators into the courtroom, citing space concerns. Aleksandr Podrabinek, a well-known Soviet-era dissident and journalist, came from Moscow to help defend Mr. Umerov. Mr. Umerov’s lawyer, Mark Feigin, told RFE/RL on June 7 that it was likely to be a lengthy trial. He said that, despite health problems, his client wanted an open trial so that he can speak publicly about the problems faced by Crimean Tatars under Moscow’s rule. The Moscow-based Memorial Human Rights Center has called the case against Mr. Umerov “illegal and politically motivated.” Mejlis Chairman Refat Chubarov has called the case part of a campaign of persecution by the Russia-installed authorities against Crimean Tatars. (Crimean Desk, RFE/RL’s Ukrainian Service)