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Львівський Акт проголошення відновлення Української Держави 30 червня 1941 р. приблизно з 1959 р. (рік вбивства Степана Бандери) став об’єктом дезінформації і провокацій, запущених Москвою проти Українського визвольного руху ОУН-УПА. У цю діяльність, звичайно, була підключена п’ята колона і різної масти недруги України і українців. Така ситуація триває і по сьогодні. Проте найбільш ефективним методом протистояти дезінформації і провокаціям є мова документів про боротьбу українського визвольного руху проти двох головних окупантів України, тобто, нацистської Німеччини під час ІІ світової війни та історичного ворога України – Росії. З німецьких документів про Акт 30 червня 1941р.: Берлін, 3 липня 1941р.: “Айнзацгрупа Б повідомляє 2 і 3 червня 1941 р. про спроби…

Galvanized by the results of recent American polls and the popularity of Russian President Vladimir Putin with Fox News and its audiences, the Kremlin is proceeding with a new charm offensive targeting Western conservatives. Russia cannot offer much in terms of gun rights, freedom of speech, or standard of living—at least not for those excluded from Putin’s mob-like circle of trust. Rather, the Kremlin intends to attract Western converts with another type of currency—bigotry—turning Russia into the land of ultimate political incorrectness, the world’s anti-woke capital. On Monday, Russia’s Foreign Affairs Minister Sergey Lavrov published an op-ed that left many readers scratching their heads. “In a number of Western countries, students learn at…

Eastern Europe and the Caucusus are the central theatres of Russian aggression. Georgia, Armenia, Belarus, Moldova, and Ukraine — all former Soviet Republics — have all either lost territory to or largely ceded government control to Russia during Putin’s reign. Putin’s vision is the renewal of the former Russian empire by coercion if possible and by force if necessary. Among those territories, Ukraine is most critical to the Russian vision. Its loss to the West would be the biggest blow. Russian activity in Ukraine should be viewed in this context. If Slavic and Orthodox Christian Ukraine becomes a normal successful democratic and western-oriented country, the renewal of the Russian empire is impossible. Further, just as the Soviet empire unraveled…

Світова Федерація Українських Жіночих Організацій, вшановуючи Акт відновлення Української Держави в день 30 червня 1941 року у Львові, вітає українців усього світу з 80-ю річницею цієї ключової в історії України події. Акт був оголошений з ініціативи ОУН у Львові, коли Україна опинилася перед загрозою втрати надій на державність, коли відважні сини і дочки українського народу – борці за волю України, жертвуючи своїм життям, змагалися з найбільшими тоталітарними режимами – фашистською Німеччиною та більшовицькою червоною Росією. На початку Другої світової війни, опинившись під окупацією двох найжорстокіших імперій, українці оперлися на власні сили і вдалися до…

Ukrainian soldiers are taught to drop in their trench position and stay down for at least 15 minutes if a sniper’s bullet misses them. The hope is the sniper will believe them dead. But elite Russian snipers usually don’t miss. In a hand-dug trench a half-mile from the front line in the restive Donbas region on eastern Ukraine, bright green grass grows and red poppies flower just inches above the heads of Ukrainian soldiers manning their position. The nearby village of Hranitne is like many in post-industrial eastern Ukraine. A showy, Soviet-era rectangular City Hall, an abandoned agricultural factory converted to…

To mark the eightieth anniversary of Nazi Germany’s attack on the Soviet Union, Russian President Vladimir Putin wrote a commentary in the German weekly newspaper Die Zeit. Putin’s commentary is an attempt to woo Germany back to its once-cozy relationship with Russia, blame NATO expansion eastward for undermining European security, and point the finger at the United States for the “armed coup” in Ukraine in 2014. With a German audience in mind—and especially with German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Emmanuel Macron now anxious to reset EU relations with Russia—Putin presses all the right buttons. He praises how West Germany “concluded the deal of the…

Сьогодні, 29 червня, депутати Верховної Ради 318 голосами підтримали в першому читанні законопроєкт про основи національного спротиву. У цей час ветерани російсько-української війни та волонтери вийшли під стіни ВРУ на акцію “Ветерани підтримують національний спротив. Проголосуй за законопроєкт № 5557”. Організатор заходу – Український центр безпеки та співпраці. Серед учасників акції були ветерани російсько-української війни, зокрема командир 24-го окремого штурмового батальйону “Айдар” Євген Пташник, командир підрозділу батальйону “Січ”, член Консультативної ради з питань захисту прав і свобод захисників України при Президентові України Станіслав Торкін, радник керівника Офісу Президента України з питань АТО Андрій Ляхович та…

Організація Українських Націоналістів, її воєнно-політична програма та ідеологія були закономірним наслідком втрати державності і окупації України, після поразки визвольних змагань 1917-1921 років. Вважаючи українське питання ключовим у встановленні стабільності в Центрально-Східній Європі, націоналісти намагалися спиратися на власні сили та використати усі сприятливі геополітичні обставини для відновлення української державності. У 1920-1930-х роках західноукраїнські землі стали епіцентром визвольної боротьби українського народу. В цей період у національному русі виділилося дві основні політичні течії. Легальні політичні партії займали позицію мирного тиску на урядові структури, широко використовуючи у цьому парламент, легальну пресу, санкціоновані мітинги та…

«В чім є історичне значення Акту 30 червня 1941 року – проголошення відновлення незалежної України, опанованої двома великодержавами?» – цим питанням, сформульованим Дмитром Донцовим в передмові до праці Ярослава Стецька «30 червня 1941», переймалося багато дослідників, політичних діячів та відвертих критиканів. Останні безапеляційно намагалися применшити, або й зовсім заперечити значення цієї події, втім, як заперечували і взагалі доцільність національно-визвольної боротьби. Спробуємо й ми, з відстані 80 років, поглянути на події буремної доби. Українськими очима. Власне об’єктивна оцінка подій такого історичного значення, як Акт 30 червня…

В історії України Акт 30 червня у Львові вписується в той ряд важливих політичних чинів, які творять один безперервний державотворчий континуум: від держави Київської Руси і держави Козацько-Гетьманської Доби, через Акти незалежності УНР і Соборності 22 січня 1918 і 1919 років, проголошення Української Карпатської Республіки 1939 року, через Акт відновлення державності 30 червня 1941 року та Маніфест Української Головної Визвольної Ради 1944 року, підходячи таким чином аж до новітнього Акту проголошення незалежності України 24 серпня 1991 року, – 30-ліття якого цього року відмічуємо. Напередодні своєї смерті 5 липня 1986 року – 35 років тому – голова Українського Державного Правління (УДП) Ярослав Стецько у…

While international attention tends to focus on the anti-Russian sanctions imposed by the West, Ukraine and Russia are locked in their own cycle of increasingly harsh sanctions measures that plays an important role in the ongoing seven-year hybrid war between the two countries. Russia typically initiates these exchanges, but eventually Ukraine responds. On June 24, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy signed off on expanded and extended sanctions against Russia that target 538 people and 540 entities. The same day, Zelenskyy issued another decree sanctioning 55 Russian state…

Among the gravest security concerns for Ukraine aside from the obvious Russian imperialism is a much less obvious and surreptitious infiltration by the US intelligence community of the Ukrainian American community. This is not a recent phenomenon. In 1966 then President of the Ukrainian Congress Committee of America Dr. Lev Dobriansky inquired with the both the Central Intelligence Agency and the Federal Bureau of Investigations whether the Supreme Ukrainian Liberation Council was receiving financial support from the United States Government. The Council was operating within the…

Серед найсерйозніших проблем безпеки для України, окрім очевидного російського імперіалізму, є набагато менш очевидна та прихована інфільтрація американською розвідувальною спільнотою української американської спільноти. Це явище давнього часу. У 1966 році тодішній президент Українського конгресового комітету Америки доктор Лев Добрянський запитав як Центральне розвідувальне управління, так і Федеральне бюро розслідувань, чи отримує Українська головна визвольна рада фінансову підтримку від уряду США. Рада діяла в Сполучених Штатах через дослідницький-видавничий дім “Пролог”. У статті українського радянського видання “Літературна Україна” вказувалося, що президент Пролога Микола Лебедь та…

Russia has exacerbated a shortage of European natural gas supplies that has driven prices to a 13-year high by quietly limiting top-up sales to customers, according to executives and analysts. Pipeline exports of natural gas from Russia’s state-backed monopoly Gazprom to continental Europe have dropped roughly one-fifth in 2021 on pre-pandemic levels despite a sharp rebound in demand and low stockpiles of the important fuel. The imbalance has helped send prices in Europe to the highest levels since 2008, increasing energy costs for homes and businesses. The rise in prices comes during a period of…

French President Emmanuel Macron thinks his fellow leaders from Poland and the Baltics are Russophobic, and that they insist on an unnecessarily tough policy toward Moscow out of misplaced paranoia. Leaders in Warsaw, Tallinn, Riga and Vilnius, by contrast, see themselves as Russo-realistic and the French president as dangerously deluded in his soft approach to President Vladimir Putin. In Paris, malign activities like election meddling or extra-territorial assassinations are part of a more complex relationship with Russia, a country that is also the land of ballet and the Hermitage Museum, and the obvious supplier of caviar, the perfect accompaniment to champagne. But in Central and Eastern Europe, Russia is the…

One of the downside risks of President Biden’s decision to invite Vladimir Putin to a summit in Geneva was that it created a permission structure for European allies who would want to orchestrate similar meetings with the Russian leader. “If the Americans are taking the initiative to speak to Putin, why can’t Europe?” as one European diplomat told the Financial Times. On Wednesday, the leaders of Germany and France did just that, proposing that the EU hold a summit with Putin. The timing of the overture from Berlin and Paris was less than ideal. The same day the Germans and French proposed a summit with Putin, Russian vessels and military aircraft threatened a British warship, the HMS Defender, traveling in the Black Sea. The Defender was…

Russian President Vladimir Putin used this week’s eightieth anniversary of Nazi Germany’s WWII invasion of the Soviet Union to give his Ukraine conspiracy theories a fresh airing. In an op-ed entitled “Being Open Despite the Past” published on June 22 by German newspaper Die Zeit, Putin accused the United States of staging an armed coup in Ukraine seven years ago with the active backing of the European Union. “Why did America organize a coup, and why did the countries of Europe gutlessly support it?” he asked. This is nothing new. Ever since millions of…

The announced withdrawal of troops does little to allay concerns about Russia’s strategic intentions, as the Kremlin’s quest to challenge the West in the Black Sea theatre continues unabated. The Russian-Ukrainian conflict has been back in the limelight since late March, with Russian troops massing near Ukrainian borders and in occupied Crimea. The Russian Ministry of Defence’s announcement on 22 April that it would pull back forces from Ukrainian borders after the successful finalisation of a ‘combat readiness check’ was met with palpable relief. But this optimism was misplaced: the widely welcomed de-escalation did not in…

The essential issue here is whether democratic processes in fledgling often corrupt economic societies are conducive or preventative to governmental and societal corruption. A specific case on point for this discussion is dichotomy of Ukraine and and its northern neighbor, Belarus both arising from the ashes of the USSR. Both are corrupt predictably. Ukraine is democratic, Belarus is autocratic, yet their corruption ranking is hugely disparate in favor of Belarus. According to Transparency International Belarus ranks 63rd globally, Ukraine ranks a dismal 117th out of 180 countries. Accepting these rankings on their face an objective observer may be disposed to say…

Основне питання тут полягає в тому, чи сприяють демократичні процеси у молодих корумпованих економічних суспільствах чи запобігають корупції уряду та суспільства. Конкретним випадком для цієї дискусії є роздвоєність України та її північного сусіда Білорусі, що виникають із попелу СРСР. Обидва корумповані передбачувано. Україна демократична, Білорусь – автократична, проте їхній рейтинг корупції дуже різний на користь Білорусі. За даними Transparency International, Білорусь посідає 63 місце у світі, Україна посідає похмуре 117 місце зі 180 країн. Приймаючи ці…

On Wednesday, war almost broke out in the Black Sea. Or so it seemed, as news outlets, Twitter users, and state media conveyed accounts of a Royal Navy ship being fired upon by Russian ships off the Crimean coast. The June 23 almost-war dramatically illustrates the power of disinformation – and everyone’s responsibility to check facts. A British tabloid published a dramatic account of the events by a reporter aboard the destroyer, which was en route from Odesa toward Georgia. “The angry thud of cannon fire rings out on the port side of HMS Defender as I crouch beside the bridge in my hastily adorned flame retardant gloves and balaclava,” it read. Russia’s Ministry of Defence tweeted…

We always suspected it. We tried to tell reporters, politicians, police investigators, even a few of those ranged against us in the public arena about what we were certain was true — but they wouldn’t believe us. I can’t blame them. There was no hard proof, not in the 1980s, to confirm Soviet agents of influence had initiated “active measures” to undermine the anti-Communist Ukrainian community in the West Now there is. Code-named Operation Payback, this plan was cynically orchestrated to exploit the understandable desire of the Jewish diaspora to see perpetrators of some of the greatest atrocities of the 20th century — the Nazis — brought to justice. By the late 1960s, quite alarmingly from a Soviet point of view, Jewish and Ukrainian émigrés had…

Adolf Hitler looms largest in the pantheon of evildoers. As Sean McMeekin notes in his massive and indispensable new book “Stalin’s War: A New History of World War II,” “Hitler still haunts our nightmares as an all-purpose bogeyman, with remembrance of the horrors he unleashed uniting us in denunciation of Fascism, anti-Semitism, racism, and the other evils of Nazism.” In the West, Hitler and the Nazis occupy the farthest reaches of human depravity: You’re bad, you’re really bad, and then, finally, you’re Hitler. As McMeekin points out, the farther East the focus shifts, the more Joseph Stalin and Soviet…

The ongoing crisis in Belarus was barely mentioned during last week’s hotly anticipated summit meeting in Geneva between US President Joe Biden and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin. While Belarus reportedly featured on the American leader’s agenda going into the talks, it seems the Russian side had no interest in discussing the issue. This apparent reluctance reflects Putin’s view of Belarus as belonging exclusively to the Kremlin’s sphere of interest. Nevertheless, there had been considerable speculation ahead of the June 16 summit that the Russian leader might actually be prepared to sacrifice Lukashenka in return for concessions from the West. According to this scenario, Putin would agree to…

Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty reported on June 23, “Congressional lawmakers are ratcheting up the pressure on the White House, demanding more be done to force the extradition of a powerful Ukrainian tycoon from Austria to the United States. In a letter released by a bipartisan group of House of Representatives lawmakers on June 22, they also suggested that Austria’s judiciary had been corrupted by Dmytro Firtash, one of Ukraine’s wealthiest businessmen. The demand was the latest development in the…

UK Secretary of State Ben Wallace stated, “On Wednesday 23 June 2021, HMS DEFENDER (a Type 45 Destroyer), left the Ukrainian port of Odesa en route to the Georgian port of Batumi in the Black Sea. HMS DEFENDER conducted innocent passage through Ukrainian territorial waters via a direct route using a traffic separation scheme (TSS), as is the right of the United Kingdom (and all nations) under international maritime law. This TSS is governed by the International Maritime Organisation and is designed to assist vessels in safely transiting congested waterways. The United Kingdom does not recognise any Russian claim to these waters, nor do we recognise the assertion from the Russian Ministry of Defence that HMS DEFENDER was in violation of the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). At 0950 BST, HMS DEFENDER entered the…

I was an uncoordinated athlete, although I did play sports, quite poorly. My best sport in retrospect if, in fact, it is a sport was pool or billiards. That was due probably to the environment where the game was played. The opposition was mostly intoxicated and I still think that the buzz enabled me. In any event while being a poor athlete I was a most avid fan to the point of fanaticism. My fandom was never predicated on the skill of an athlete or the team, but on the politics predicated entirely on geography. I was and remain a local fan invariably supporting the teams where I live. I broke barriers of many recognized team sport fans as dictated by experts by being a fan of both the Metropolitans and Yankees, Giants and Jets, Knickerbockers and Nets, Rangers, Islanders and even the Devils. Soccer was largely an anathema for me although I participated, once again poorly, because…

Я був некоординованим спортсменом, хоча і займався спортом, але досить погано. Мій найкращий вид спорту в ретроспективі, якщо насправді це спорт був більярд. Можливо, це було пов’язано з оточенням, де проводилася гра. Опозиція в основному була в нетверезому стані, і я досі вважаю, що мій власний кайм мені допомагав. У будь-якому випадку, будучи поганим спортсменом, я був найзапеклішим фанатом до фанатизму. Мій фендом ніколи не базувався на майстерності спортсмена чи команди, а на політиці, що повністю ґрунтувалася на географії. Я був і залишаюсь місцевим уболівальником, який незмінно підтримував команди, де я живу. Я подолав бар’єри багатьох визнаних шанувальників командного спорту, як того продиктували експерти, будучи…

The British government remains far too comfortable with the presence of Russian illicit finance on its soil. However, on Wednesday, Britain educated the Biden administration on how to deal with Russian aggression. The lesson came via the Royal Navy’s deployment of its Type-45 air defense destroyer, the HMS Defender, within 12 nautical miles of the Crimean coast. Twelve miles marks the delineation point between international waters and sovereign waters. Since its military seizure of Crimea in 2014, Russia has asserted that the territory is Russian. Put another way, that the 12 miles of water surrounding Crimea are as Russian as the 12 miles of water off Vladimir Putin’s home city, St. Petersburg. The point of…

Нещодавно прес-секретар Білого дому Джен Псакі була змушена виступити із заявою про допомогу Україні щодо її безпеки, нібито спростовуючи звинувачення чи чутки про те, що допомогу Україні в безпеці стримували. Прямо вона назвала це нісенітницею. Вона підкреслила, що напередодні американсько-російського саміту було передано150 мільйонів доларів, включаючи летальну допомогу, і що зараз (18 червня 2021 року) була виділена вся сума, призначена Конгресом США. Потім вона…

The Ukrainian Canadian Congress (UCC) welcomes the reaffirmation by NATO leaders that Ukraine will become a member of the Alliance. Ukraine’s authorities must take advantage of this opportunity and strengthen efforts to implement reforms necessary to accede to NATO. The UCC looks forward to working with the Government of Canada to enhance support for reforms in Ukraine. On June 21, Canada’s Prime Minister, the Right Honourable Justin Trudeau, wrote in a letter to the UCC: “Canada’s commitment to Ukraine’s sovereignty, security, and territorial integrity remains unwavering and our position on Russia is unequivocal. Canada will continue to hold Russia to account for its unacceptable behaviour. […] Canada has…

At his summit with Vladimir Putin in Geneva, Switzerland last week, President Biden pressed his Russian counterpart on a number of critical issues. He stressed the importance of protecting U.S. infrastructure from Russian cyberattacks — and signaled that the White House was prepared to take retaliatory measures in response to continued Russian cyber-mischief. He emphasized his support for Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, the U.S. broadcaster whose continued functioning and independence within Russia is now being threatened by the Kremlin. And he warned of “devastating consequences” for Russia if opposition critic…

“I did what I came to do,” President Joe Biden said at his press conference after his Geneva summit meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin. And that is what Mr. Biden did. The problem is, so did Putin. Biden went to Geneva to restore predictability and stability to the U.S.-Russia relationship by reducing tensions and exploring potential areas of cooperation, whether on general issues—arms control, climate change, the Arctic—or more discrete ones, like humanitarian relief in Syria, where Russian forces have greatly contributed to atrocities and human suffering. He also went to explain to Putin the “consequences” that the Russian would risk by his continued bad behavior. Putin went to Geneva to show…

The LCBO is discontinuing a brand of vodka after advocacy groups noted it was named for Josef Stalin, the infamous dictator of the former Soviet Union. A post made on the Ukrainian Canada Facebook page called for the removal of Stalinskaya Vodka at stores, citing problematic ties to Stalin’s involvement in the genocide of Ukrainians. Ihor Michalchyshyn, the CEO of the Ukrainian Canadian Congress’ (UCC), said when people heard about the liquor being sold at the stores, they reached out to LCBO, asking them to review the company’s community standards for names of alcohol. Following the review, they found the vodka “does not meet the LCBO’s name and labelling standards and is no longer available for sale,” an LCBO spokesperson told the Star. Michalchyshyn said he appreciates the…

Before embarking on his first meeting with Vladimir Putin as commander in chief, President Biden touted the steps he took to punish the Russian president for a range of alleged actions including interference in the 2020 election, the poisoning of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny and the hacking of U.S. government agencies by Russian cyber spies. “I checked it out,” Biden told reporters at a news conference in Brussels before he left for Wednesday’s summit in Geneva. “[Putin] was engaged in those activities. I did respond and made it clear I’d respond again.” In almost immediately leveling economic sanctions against Russia and ruling out a major “reset” in relations, Biden has become the first U.S. president since the fall of the Soviet Union to…

White House press secretary Jen Psaki was compelled recently to issue a statement on Ukraine Security Assistance, ostensibly refuting allegations or rumors that Ukraine’s security assistance had been held back. Plain and simple she called it nonsense. In fact she stressed that in the run up to the US-Russia Summit $150 million including lethal assistance had been extended and that now (June 18, 2021) the entire amount appropriated by Congress had been provided. She then went on to quote President Biden at the NATO Summit, that we would keep putting Ukraine “in the position to be able to continue to resist Russian physical aggression.” Finally she…

he Swiss company that is building Nord Stream 2 – the new pipeline connecting German gas consumers, with supply from the Russian behemoth Gazprom – issued a statement last week announcing that it was beginning preparations to bring it into service. There are, of course, many hurdles still to clear, but the project is inching ever closer to completion. Germany’s local elections at the weekend suggest the Greens’ appeal is waning, so domestic opposition looks unlikely to stymie development. Even the United States, which has opposed Nord Stream 2 under three successive administrations, has recognized it is now effectively a “fait accompli.” Nord Stream 2 is remarkable in three…

We are in our land. A rally inconceivable under Russian occupation but which this bill, once adopted, will help to make possible again On 18 May this year, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky tabled a vital new bill in the Verkhovna Rada on Indigenous Peoples. Just how important it is has been demonstrated by the unhealthy reaction from Russian President Vladimir Putin and other Russian politicians, and by their almost comical attempts to conceal the real reasons for their opposition to the bill. Draft Law No. 5506 was rightly designated as ‘urgent’, but mainly because it should have been…

Russia’s spring 2021 saber-rattling on the Ukrainian border helped guarantee that Ukraine would be high on the international agenda during June’s G7, NATO, and US-Russia summit meetings. Fears of a major military escalation also served as a reminder that this unresolved European conflict remains at the heart of international affairs. Ever since the onset of Russian aggression against Ukraine in early 2014, the undeclared war between the two countries has unfolded alongside an avalanche of deliberate disinformation. Most of this has come from Russian state media or the Kremlin itself, but an…

EU leaders weren’t present when Joe Biden met Vladimir Putin in Geneva this week but their territory will be a testing ground for whether Moscow has decided to change its ways. Aggressive Russian espionage inside the EU has become increasingly public in recent years, with European governments openly accusing Russian agents of carrying out assassination attempts, sabotaging arms depots and hacking into political institutions with impunity. Some European intelligence officials say Russian spies have become more brazen, caring much less about whether their work is exposed. Others say Russian agents have always been…

The Kyiv Post reported on June 20, “Ukraine’s most controversial court on June 18 blocked an order to fire the new CEO of state hydrocarbon monopoly Naftogaz, Yuriy Vitrenko. In April, the Cabinet of Ministers fired former Naftogaz CEO Andriy Kobolev and replaced him with Vitrenko. Naftogaz and Ukraine’s western partners criticized the dismissal, saying it violated Ukraine’s corporate governance norms. On June 15, the National Agency for Preventing Corruption (NAPC) ruled that Vitrenko’s hire was unlawful and ordered the Cabinet to cancel it. Days later, the Cabinet successfully appealed the ruling in the Kyiv District Administrative Court, which is headed by the notorious judge Pavlo Vovk. Vovk has been charged with graft in multiple criminal cases. The government fired Kobolyev on…

More than two months ago, Russia unilaterally built up its military forces in occupied Crimea and along Ukraine’s borders to levels unseen since its invasion in 2014. To date, Russia has failed to provide this Permanent Council with any reasonable explanation for its actions. While Russia has repositioned its military forces and equipment, its force posture remains elevated along the Russia-Ukraine border and on Ukrainian soil in Crimea, under Russia’s occupation. Last week, our Russian colleague made a spirited effort to defend an indefensible position. From his Statement, we could gather Russia is frustrated with the complications resulting from…

When Russia’s Gazprom and European partners announced plans to expand pipelines carrying Russian gas to Europe, eight European Union members and the Obama administration raised objections. Not only would Nord Stream 2 make Europe more dependent on Russian gas but, by rendering the existing pipeline across Ukraine redundant, the deal would also enable Russia to stop paying its southern neighbor transit fees and further exacerbate Kiev’s financial crisis. The German government, however, stood defiant. “Some things the Europeans need to decide for themselves,” Peter Wittig, the German ambassador to the United States, declared, suggesting that…

At this former Soviet military base located some 750 miles to the west of Ukraine’s eastern war zone, the sounds of tank shots, machine guns, and small arms fire snarl throughout the course of this sweltering June afternoon. The Yavoriv International Peacekeeping and Security Centre was once a major meeting place for military leaders of the Warsaw Pact, the Soviet-led military alliance that opposed NATO during the Cold War. Some 30 years after the Soviet Union’s demise, the base is now home to a profoundly different mission. Under the watchful eye of about 130 US Army National Guardsmen, Ukrainian troops are training for combat against Russia, their former Soviet ally, as well as to operate alongside NATO militaries. For the Ukrainians, the…

The heads of state and government of the North Atlantic Organization’s (NATO) 30 member countries held a summit at the Alliance’s Brussels headquarters on June 14. NATO summits usually take two days. This year’s vast agenda—reflected in an unusually long communiqué—clearly would have needed the accustomed two days for deliberation. United States President Joseph Biden’s first-time participation concentrated much of the attention at this NATO summit. Biden was the only participating head of state to hold a press conference at the summit’s conclusion, during which he adopted a notably cautious tone vis-à-vis Russia. He went on to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin two days later in Geneva (June 16), at Biden’s solicitation. As part of…

The takeaway for Ukraine is…The Biden-Putin Summit in Geneva apparently did take place. There were two press conferences, one by each of the principals to prove that. Apparently the only tangible result was the renewed exchange of ambassadors. For the American cynic this was a far cry from Helsinki and thus a major victory for the American side. But success cannot be measured by Trump years. Putin at his press conference was aggressive criticizing the United States for its disorder but acknowledging that the meeting was not hostile. Putin was speaking from a current position of…

Pro-Kremlin propaganda in Ukraine is changing. Praising Putin is a harder sell in the country since Russia’s 2014 invasion, so nowadays the Kremlin and its proxies are focused less on boosting Russia and more about making the West look just as bad. These efforts rely on an array of conspiratorial disinformation themes including US Biolabs experimenting on unsuspecting Ukrainians, creepy lackeys of billionaire financier George Soros secretly controlling the government, and the IMF coming for Ukraine’s sacred farmland. How effective is this propaganda, and what can be done about it? Over the last year, the Arena project has worked with partners at the University of Zurich, Cardiff University, Internews Ukraine, and…

President Joe Biden was cranky by the time his whirlwind Euro tour ended in Geneva Switzerland. He ended his appearance by uncharacteristically snapping at a reporter who repeated a question as he left his press conference following his summit with Vladimir Putin. His flash of anger was in sharp contrast to Putin’s press conference which finished with a softball question from a Canadian journalist who asked him to describe for her nine-year-old daughter what the summit was all about. Putin probably couldn’t believe his good fortune and launched into a soliloquy that the two leaders were simply trying to protect little kids and others from being hurt by…

The Biden White House has temporarily halted a military aid package to Ukraine that would include lethal weapons, a plan originally made in response to aggressive Russian troop movements along Ukraine’s border this spring. The aid package would be worth up to $100 million, according to four people familiar with internal deliberations. The National Security Council directed officials to put the package together, as Washington grew increasingly concerned over a massive Russian military buildup near the border with Ukraine and in the Crimean Peninsula, according to three of the people, who like the others asked not to be named in order to speak candidly about internal discussions. Officials at the State Department and…

У царині звірят є певний розподіл на хижаків та мирних. Цей розподіл інколи характеризується способом відживлення — м’ясом чи рослинами. Звірята родяться такими якими вони є. Хоча є хижаки які перетворюються на мирних і увічливих, наприклад перетворення вовків на песиків. Чи таке можливе з москалями? Думаю що ні. Церква каже, що відрізняє людей від звірят це душа. Я вірую-чий, але у це не вірю в абсолютних вимірах. Є люди без душі. Можливо москальський президент Владимір Путін родивсь з душею але він її втратив через атрофію – брак користування нею. Під риском називатися ксенофобом я припускаю, що…

Винос для України – це … Саміт Байдена-Путіна в Женеві, мабуть, відбувся. Для підтвердження цього було проведено дві прес-конференції, по одній від кожного з учасників. Очевидно, єдиним відчутним результатом став оновлений обмін послами. Для американського циніка це було далеко від Гельсінкі і, отже, головною перемогою американської сторони. Але успіх не можна виміряти роками Трампа. На своїй прес-конференції Путін агресивно критикував США за безладдя, але визнаючи, що зустріч не була ворожою. Путін говорив з сильної позиції : ціни на енергію дуже високі, і Росія нещодавно активізувала “Північний потік-2” певною мірою…

Під час відвідування Львівського національного аграрного університету, випускником якого був Степан Бандера, Митрополит Київський і всієї України, предстоятель Православної церкви України Епіфаній висловив свою думку, що українці пишаються, коли їх називають нащадками Бандери. Про таке повідомили на сайті ПЦУ. “Історія університету засвідчує, з-поміж його випускників було багато тих, які насправді, не словом, а ділом, любили свою українську землю та її народ. Серед них варто відзначити та згадати генія українського національного і націєтворчого духу Степана Бандеру. Він є славним випускником саме вашого університету. І коли нас називають бандерівцями, то ми цим пишаємося”, – наголосив…

Few countries were as anxious as Ukraine ahead of Wednesday’s summit meeting in Geneva between US President Joe Biden and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin. Since 2014, Ukraine has been the victim of an ongoing Russian military intervention and partial occupation that has plunged the international community into what many now regard as a new Cold War. While the democratic world has imposed sanctions on Russia and consistently backed Ukrainian sovereignty, fears remain that as the conflict drags on, Western leaders may seek to reach a compromise with the…

Ukraine is prepared to take legal action against Gazprom to unblock natural gas supplies from central Asia, a move that could ensure it has sufficient domestic supply and transit revenues even if Russia’s nearly completed Nord Stream 2 pipeline comes on stream this year. Gazprom controls the flow of gas through its pipelines into Ukraine from central Asia. It has blocked these flows for 15 years and if it does not approve them, the head of Ukraine’s state gas company says he is ready to appeal to the EU’s competition authorities and take the Russian energy giant to international arbitration. “It will be a…

We reiterate the decision made at the 2008 Bucharest Summit that Ukraine will become a member of the Alliance with the Membership Action Plan (MAP) as an integral part of the process; we reaffirm all elements of that decision, as well as subsequent decisions, including that each partner will be judged on its own merits. We stand firm in our support for Ukraine’s right to decide its own future and foreign policy course free from outside interference. The Annual National Programmes under the NATO-Ukraine Commission (NUC) remain the mechanism by which Ukraine takes forward the reforms pertaining to its aspiration for NATO membership. Ukraine should make full use of all instruments available under the NUC to reach its objective of implementing NATO principles and standards. The…

The Ukrainian Week met with Dr. Phillip Karber, the head of the US think tank The Potomac Foundation, to discuss new US policies, countering authoritarian regimes, and Ukraine’s strategic importance to European security What is the current mood in Washington? What could Ukraine expect from President Biden? There are several points. Since 2014, The United States has not had a strong enough strategy when it comes to tempering Russian aggression in Ukraine. The US does not have an ambassador to…

The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) meets today (June 14) and is a military alliance of 30 nations created in 1949 to provide collective defense against the Soviet Union. But since the Soviet empire fell apart in 1992, and Vladimir Putin took over Russia in 1999, NATO members have been outmaneuvered, attacked, and demoralized – militarily, politically, and digitally. Putin’s “hybrid warfare” has damaged democracies and has been slowly clawing back its old communist empire. NATO now faces a crisis and must pivot in order to rescue Europe’s two most threatened and vulnerable nations — Ukraine and Georgia. Both should immediately be granted Major Non-NATO Ally Status, as has been done with 17 countries including Australia, Israel, and South Korea. This will provide access to equipment and loans, collaboration, and…

У 2008 році саміт НАТО дозволив Росії, сам того не підозрюючи, відновити свою сферу впливу над Україною, Грузією та більшістю інших колишніх радянських республік. Більше десяти років потому ця слабка відповідь на імперські зазіхання Росії та відсутність чітких червоних ліній мала нищівні наслідки, адже на тепер понад 14 000 осіб загинуло на окупованій частині східної України внаслідок військової інтервенції Кремля, що і досі триває. Під час майбутнього саміту 14 червня в Брюсселі, лідери країн НАТО мають можливість змінити ситуацію – підтримати мир і демократію в Європі, погодившись надати Україні та Грузії План дій щодо членства (ПДЧ). Цей дороговказ, але все ще не гарантія членства в НАТО, може стати важливим кроком для країни, яка…

When NATO blinked over Membership Action Plans for Ukraine and Georgia in 2008, it provided Russia with an unintended green light to re-establish its sphere of influence over the post-Soviet space.More than a decade later, the disastrous consequences of this weak decision are self-evident. Entire regions of Georgia and Ukraine are currently under Russian occupation, while more than 14,000 Ukrainians are dead as a result of the Kremlin’s ongoing military intervention in eastern Ukraine. During the upcoming summit on June 14 in Brussels, NATO leaders have an opportunity to support peace and democracy in Europe by agreeing to provide Ukraine with a Membership Action Plan (MAP). This…

President Joe Biden plans to hold a major “summit” with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Geneva, Switzerland, this week. In my view, he should not hold this meeting because it would add to Putin’s prestige and, because of the president’s style of diplomacy, Biden will be giving the Russian leader gifts of diplomatic gains and adding to the latter’s leverage in the world. The proposed meeting comes at a time in which Russia is likely behind significant cyberattacks against the U.S. infrastructure and while Putin’s opponents are being suppressed. Putin’s meeting with the leader of the free world lends him legitimacy, while Russians dedicated to freedom in Russia are being oppressed. Putin’s principal political opponent, Alexei Navalny, has…

President Biden is on his America-is-back tour of Europe, in Britain to meet the queen and Prime Minister Boris Johnson and for a Group of 7 (G7) conference over the weekend, then to Brussels for NATO and EU summits early next week and culminating with a showdown with Russian leader Vladimir Putin in Geneva on Wednesday. The president’s agenda is full but almost certainly bereft of the kind of practical and traditional diplomatic initiatives needed for a coherent foreign policy. In particular, the administration is likely to downplay the most critical issue for sustaining peace and reviving prospects for…

In the discussion of Ukraine’s security concerns some so called experts, who pay little attention to details, have suggested a special option for Ukraine. This should serve as an alternative pursuant to U.S. legislation and resulting from American, German, French reluctance to somehow offend the Russians and allow for Ukraine’s NATO membership. This so called option is Major Non-NATO Ally Status (MNNA). People genuinely concerned with Ukraine’s security may be fooled by this status similarly to assurances given under the Budapest Memorandum of 1994. The U.S. law on MNNA is not an option for Ukraine nor is it an alternative to NATO membership. Frankly…

Під час обговорення питань безпеки України деякі так звані експерти, які приділяють мало уваги деталям, запропонували спеціальний варіант для України. Це повинно служити альтернативою відповідно до законодавства США та внаслідок небажання Америки, Німеччини та Франції хоч якось образити росіян і дозволити вступ України до НАТО. Цей так званий варіант – статус головного союзника, що не входить до НАТО (MNNA). Люди, які справді стурбовані безпекою України, можуть бути обдурені цим статусом, подібно до запевнень, наданих Будапештським меморандумом 1994 року. Закон США про МNNA не є вибором для України і не є альтернативою членству в НАТО. Чесно кажучи, це хитрість. Цю спробу обдурити…

Член Конгресу США з штату Міннесота, Ілган Омар, сомалійського походження, член Демократичної партії провокувала трохи, порівнюючи США та Ізраїль до терористичних організацій Гамасу та Талібану. Це викликало велике обурення від члена Конгресу США, Лі Зелдена з штату Нью Йорк, Республіканськоі партії, єврейського походження. Дуже цікавим було те, що його першою реакцією було назвати її, свою колегу по Конгресі, просто антисемітом. Чому цікавим? Бо Амар вперше хіба образила США, а щойно потім Ізраїль. Мабуть хтось йому згодом підказав, що ти американець та ще до того…

The United States has long been one of the staunchest supporters of Ukraine’s bid for NATO membership, but even Washington seems to be wavering in its patronage lately. Thirteen years after Kyiv was first promised eventual membership in the Alliance during the 2008 Bucharest Summit, Ukrainian accession seems as elusive as ever, while the country’s security situation has only worsened. In the face of increased Russian aggression and recent Western concessions to Putin, the US should grant Ukraine Major Non-NATO Ally (MNNA) status to solidify the strategic partnership between Washington and Kyiv and send a clear signal to…

I am an American citizen who supported your candidacy personally and through a coalition named Ukrainian Americans for Biden at the last election. The coalition was formed because many Ukrainian Americans felt that based on your record on Ukraine when you were Vice President, your expertise and commitment would be most helpful in Ukraine’s struggles. This, of course, was in addition to your overall record in Washington for some 50 years and your reputation as a man of principle and integrity. This appeal, however, is a personal one. You are currently on your European trip which includes for me two very important stops, one at the NATO Summit in Brussels and your meeting with President Vladimir Putin in Geneva. My last…

Я громадянин США, який активно підтримав вашу кандидатуру особисто та через коаліцію, названу українцями-американцями за Байдена на останніх виборах. Коаліція була сформована тому, що багато українських американців вважали, що, виходячи з ваших записів про Україну, коли Ви були віце-президентом СЩА, ваша експертиза та прихильність будуть найбільш корисними в українському змаганні не тільки у війні проти агресора Москви але також у розбудові демократичних структур і вільного життя. Це, звичайно, доповнювало Ваш загальний рекорд у Вашингтоні за 50 років та Вашу репутацію як людини принципової та…

A set of guidelines, known as the Nuremberg Principles, were created by the UN’s International Law Commission at the end of the Second World War. They were first utilized during the Major War Criminals Trials that began 20 November 1945 and ended 1 October 1946. Of the 24 Nazis indicted, 12 were sentenced to death by hanging, one in absentia, and the rest given prison sentences ranging from 10 years to life behind bars. Ten went to the noose on 16 October 1946. Remarkably, Reichsmarschall Hermann Göring managed to cheat the hangman by taking a cyanide pill, the night before. In May 1988, in Brussels, I had the privilege of…

Two weeks after the Biden administration waived congressionally mandated sanctions on Nord Stream AG, the company behind the Nord Stream 2 pipeline, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced that the first link of the subsea line is completed and ready for testing (Vesti.ru, June 4). But the Russian president knows it is too early for a victory dance. Amidst a flurry of sharp reactions to the sanctions’ waivers from US Congress and most Central-East European states, and the ongoing US-German talks on mitigating the potential negative impact of the pipeline completion on Ukraine, the future of the pipeline remains uncertain. The Nord Stream 2 pipeline consists of two parallel strings, each with a capacity of…

This could be the most important week for Ukraine since Vladimir Putin ordered his troops into Crimea in 2014. We will finally discover how serious President Joe Biden is about defending the Ukrainians from Russian aggression. Biden called to reassure Ukraine’s president that he would stand up for them before taking off for a whirlwind European tour that will take in summits with NATO, the European Union, the Group of 7, and finally a head-to-head with Putin himself. Ukraine will be high on the agenda at all of them, and Moscow and Kyiv will be listening closely. The meetings will take place with Russian troops and military hardware looming over the border in eastern Ukraine. Earlier in the year, Putin even ordered what looked like an invasion force up to the…

Isaac Newton’s Third Law of Motion stipulates that for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. Unfortunately, this irrefutable law of physics is often disregarded by the West’s inconsistent reactions to the aggressive and destructive actions of Russian President Vladimir Putin and his cronies, namely the Belarusian pariah Alyaksandr Lukashenka. Perhaps the best examples include the following: The odd combination of concurrent Western sanctions against Russia for invading Crimea and portions of eastern Ukraine, and Western support for the Kremlin’s Nord Stream 2 project that will provide billions of…

The June 16 summit between Joe Biden and Vladimir Putin is like a sporting event on steroids: pre-game posturing, muscle flexing, girding for battle and goading. But the difference this time is that the trash-talking started in mid-March when Biden agreed with an interviewer that Putin was a “killer”, which he is, and Putin got mad. The very next day, an angry Putin invoked America’s murderous track record, and then wished Biden “good health”, which is Kremlin-speak for you’d-better-hire-a-food-taster. Then he started throwing punches weeks before the match. Frankly, the very notion of a summit – initiated by Biden – was foolish in the first place. “I condemned the idea of a summit between a leader of the free world and the dictator of a terrorist mafia state,” wrote Garry Kasparov, Russian pro-democracy activist and chess champion. “We don’t know what the U.S. gets out of a summit. The U.S. needs…

I traveled to Eastern Europe last week with a small, bipartisan group of senators to meet with the leaders of Ukraine, Lithuania and Georgia. These former Soviet republics have become reliable U.S. allies as their citizens have sought a democratic future with greater freedom and prosperity. But they need our help. What I found most troubling on this trip was the renewed Russian effort to destabilize these young democracies. Each is facing increasing pressure from Russia, including military threats on their borders, cyberattacks and political disinformation campaigns. In Ukraine and Georgia, Russia continues to occupy and militarize territory it annexed illegally. The U.S. must continue to stand with…

U.S. Senator Bob Menendez (D-N.J.), Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, today took to the Senate Floor to deliver remarks on the state of U.S.-Russia relations and the need to respond to the Kremlin’s continued aggressions. The Chairman’s speech came in advance of next week’s summit in Geneva at which President Joe Biden will meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin. “I appreciate the Biden administration’s desire for a stable and predictable relationship with Russia but sometimes, we don’t get to choose the circumstances of our engagement. And when we take stock of Russia’s behavior in recent years, we see that in every arena, Putin has chosen escalation over stability and predictability,” Senator Menendez said, calling for the…

Тема Криму останні дні стала обговорюваною як в Україні, так і в державі-агресорі. На цей раз дискусія щодо окупованого півострова розгорнулася довкола контроверсійних заяв Єрмака та Арестовича стосовно ймовірної подачі води до Криму, та Держдуми Росії щодо українського проекту закону про корінні народи. Ми ж дізналися, що ж з цього приводу думають українські експерти. Вода в Крим Директор Центру зовнішньополітичних досліджень ОПАД ім. О. Никонорова Сергій Пархоменко: “Що в Арестовича на язиці, тe у Єрмака на умі. Влада ще…

The Kyiv Post reported on June 8, “Gianni Buquicchio, head of the European Commission for Democracy through Law (the Venice Commission), on June 8 criticized Ukraine’s two main judicial reform bills and called for a bigger role for foreign experts. Buquicchio made his remarks at Democracy in Action: Zero Corruption, a conference organized by the Anti-Corruption Action Center and other civil society groups. ‘The bill (on the High Qualification Commission) does not meet the Venice Commission recommendations and we do not support it,’ he said. The High Council of Justice needs to be vetted before it is entrusted with the setting up of the High Qualification Commission. This is imperative or judicial reform will be doomed.’ The bills, which have been…

Placate Germany. Park Russia. Prioritise China. That is the Biden administration’s flinty foreign policy agenda. This month, the US president will visit Britain for the G7 summit in Cornwall, schmooze with Nato in Brussels, and head to Switzerland for a face-to-face with Vladimir Putin. There will be warm words for friends and cold ones for the Russian leader. But American deeds will tell another story. Putin has little to fear, for Europe is a backwater: the greatest contribution that allies here can make is not to distract American power and attention from the existential question of constraining the power of the Chinese party-state. Only four months ago it looked different. Democrats had spent four years as fire-breathing critics of Kremlin meddling and mischief. President Biden came into office hoping to…

The prospect of NATO and US-Russia summits in mid-June is creating anxiety in Ukraine, which finds itself in the role of bystander despite the nation’s prominent position on the agendas for both meetings. The news on June 7 that US President Joe Biden has invited his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelenskyy to visit the White House later this summer is certainly welcome, but many concerns remain. “I would have preferred it if Biden met with our president before meeting with Putin, but it is better than no meeting. It’s a good sign and important because Ukrainians felt abandoned. At least we are…

US Places Sanctions on Russian Disinformation Platforms That Have Targeted Canada If there was ever any doubt about whether the Russian government and its intelligence agencies have targeted Canada with disinformation, they have now been utterly dispelled. Four media platforms have been placed on the US sanctions list after having been identified as being under the control of Russian intelligence services. DisinfoWatch’s analysis of the content published on these platforms indicates that they have published stories discrediting Canadian elected officials from Stephen Harper to Chrystia Freeland and Justin Trudeau. They…

Secretary of State Antony Blinken called completion of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline from Russia to Germany a “fait accompli” and said the U.S. is now working with Germany to limit how dependent Europe’s energy system will be on Russia after it is finished. “The physical completion of the pipeline was, I think, a fait accompli,” Blinken told the House Foreign Affairs Committee on Monday, saying that about 90% of the pipeline was completed during the Trump administration. “I think we have an opportunity to make something positive out of a bad hand that we inherited when we came into…

With the NATO Summit in Brussels approaching on June 14, 2021, it’s a good time to look back at the declaration involving the April 3, 2008 summit in Bucharest, Romania. The declaration clearly states: “NATO welcomes Ukraine’s and Georgia’s Euro-Atlantic aspirations for membership in NATO. We agreed today that these countries will become members of NATO. Both nations have made valuable contributions to Alliance operations. We welcome the democratic reforms in Ukraine and Georgia and look forward to free and fair parliamentary elections in Georgia in May. MAP is the next step for Ukraine and…

The U.S. branch of an important Russian diaspora organization is under investigation by the FBI, according to five sources familiar with the matter. The investigation has included the questioning of dozens of people associated with the group, as well as home and office searches, the sources told The Daily Beast. The group being investigated, the Coordinating Council of Russian Compatriots of the U.S. (known colloquially by its Russian acronym KSORS), is part of a network of organizations committed to advancing the interests of Russian-speakers throughout the world. Some experts say that this…

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky says he learned through the press — not any direct heads-up — that President Biden had decided to stop trying to block a Russian pipeline that Ukraine sees as a dire national security threat. Driving the news: Zelensky used an hourlong Zoom interview with Axios on Friday to beseech Biden to meet with him face to face before a June 16 summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin — offering to join him “at any moment and at any spot on the planet.” The embattled leader spoke of Putin’s psychological pressure campaign; his own anger-turned-disappointment at the U.S.; and…

Ukraine provoked Moscow’s ire Sunday as its football federation unveiled Euro 2020 kits that feature Russian-annexed Crimea and popular nationalist slogans. Postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic, Euro 2020 will be played from June 11 to July 11 across 11 cities including Saint Petersburg. Russia’s second city will host seven matches, including a quarter-final. In a statement on Facebook, Andriy Pavelko, the president of the Football Federation of Ukraine, said Ukrainian players will wear “special uniforms” and posted photos of the jerseys in the blue-and-yellow colours of the…

Повірте, це не сумні почування, а радше радісні з мого життєвого шляху, які залишаться на ціле життя бо я вже не молодий, а можу заявити недвозначно, що окрім моїх батьків найбільший вплив на мене мала ця установа. Належу я від мабуть п’ятого року життя до одної організації молодечої та виховної яка зветься Спілка Української Молоді. Це молодеча організація, а я сьогодні старий і напевне досмертний її член. Вона повстала ще у 1925 році у місті Києві, але сьогодні мова не про те, а про її друге втілення чи відновлення у 1946 році в Аугсбурзі, Німеччина. Напевно відомо або можна домислитися, що цій організації сьогодні 75 років. Чому для мене ця структура така дорога, що…

The agency told Grasset, a popular science blogger, that it would pay him a “colossal” amount of money if he publicly cast doubt on the effectiveness of Pfizer’s coronavirus vaccine. The agency, Fazze, asked Grasset to publish videos to his social media channels suggesting, falsely, that the western-made vaccine had caused over 1,000 deaths. The deal required that Grasset not reveal any sponsorship for the posts and would not ask who the client was making the request. The Wall Street Journal later reported that Fazze — which contacted at least two other influencers — had ties with Russia. French counterintelligence authorities believe the campaign may have had…

Ukrainian director Sergei Loznitsa’s documentary film “Babyn Yar. Context” has been selected to premiere at the Cannes Film Festival in July. The 120-minute long film is based entirely on archival footage uncovered by Loznitsa, which depicts the events leading up to and the aftermath of the Babyn Yar massacre in September 1941. In a period of two days—from Sept. 29-30—33,771 Jewish victims were shot to death by the Nazis and left in a ravine. Tens of thousands of Ukrainians, Roma, the mentally ill and others were later shot there throughout the Nazi occupation of Kyiv. The estimated number of victims murdered at Babyn Yar is around 100,000, making it Europe’s largest mass grave. “Babyn Yar. Context” is Loznitsa’s seventh film to…

Along with United States President Joseph Biden greenlighting Gazprom’s Nord Stream Two project, and Secretary of State Antony Blinken giving Ukraine’s concerns the short shrift preparatory to Biden’s meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin (see Part One in EDM, May 27), the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) has unexpectedly toned down its endorsement of Ukraine’s ambition to join the Alliance in the future; while Germany and France have given Kyiv reason to conclude that their position is weakening vis-à-vis Russia in the “Normandy” negotiations on the war in Ukraine’s east. NATO has scrapped the meeting of the NATO-Ukraine and NATO-Georgia commissions that had been envisaged to be held during the Alliance’s June 14 summit in Brussels. The…

Russian President Vladimir Putin recently surged nearly 100,000 troops, along with significant numbers of aircraft and equipment, to his country’s common border with Ukraine. His message was clear: the continued existence of a vibrant, democratic, and independent Ukraine will always be threatened by Moscow’s whims. With barely disguised Russian proxies occupying significant portions of eastern Ukraine, as well as the Crimean Peninsula, it is a message to be taken seriously. Having just returned from Kyiv and the line of…

Закінчився Майдан. Прийшли москалі. Забрали Крим. Вторгнулись у Донбас. Почалась війна. Україна з 6500 воїнів не була готовою до війни. Народ України обрав нового президента в одній турі. Ним став олігарх Петро Порошенко. Порошенко повернувся до політики культурного національного розвитку Ющенка, що успішно відбилося на структурах таких як Інститут Національної Пам’яті, Держкіно, тощо, а також до повної Євроінтеграції. Порошенко був засадничо оптимістичний балакун, часто прогнозуючи успіхи котрі були понад його силу, закінчення війни, вступ до…

A significant fund was set aside by the federal government this week, providing for indigenous groups to engage in research leading to the location and hallowing of the remains of children who died while at Canada’s residential schools. This is long overdue for our indigenous brothers and sisters. UCCLA applauds the federal government for starting to atone for the forced relocation and suspension of liberties our First Nations, Métis and Inuit peoples suffered via that system. It is a precedent. Between 1914 and 1920, thousands of Ukrainians and other Europeans were branded “enemy aliens,” forced to labour for the profit of their jailers, disenfranchised, and subjected to…

The Kyiv Post reported, “President Volodymyr Zelenskyy submitted a de-oligarchization bill to the Verkhovna Rada on June 2. Figures who are officially recognized as oligarchs will be banned from donating directly or indirectly to political parties and taking part in the privatization of state assets, according to the bill. Zelenskyy launched what he calls a ‘de-oligarchization campaign’ in early 2021. The bill seeks to create an official legal definition for oligarchs. Oligarchs are defined as persons meeting at least three of four criteria: involvement in political activities, considerable influence on…

A group of U.S. senators says President Joe Biden should warn his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, at a summit this month that he will be held accountable for his actions against the United States. The three U.S. senators — Chris Murphy (Democrat-Connecticut), Rob Portman (Republican-Ohio), and Jeanne Shaheen (Democrat-New Hampshire) — told RFE/RL in Kyiv that while Washington and Moscow have areas where they agree, such as the New START treaty and denuclearization efforts, Biden should press the point during the meeting with Putin that his subversive actions against the…

Продовження міркувань у 30 років незалежності. Безперечно суб’єктивний огляд на підставі власних спостережень та зустрічей. Вони — ці Віктори- не могли бути більш різними. Одначе історія пов’язувала їх бодай шість років, що глибоко відбилося на суспільство України і на її історію. Одна з більших подій тридцять літної історії відновленої Української держави привела Віктора Андрійовича Ющенка на Банкову вулицю у ролі Президента України. З моєї точки зору це був перший президент України якого можна було уважати Європейською, а не радянською людиною. Він був і є патріотом який намагався передусім надати національний зміст молодій державі. За нього відкрилися рішучо архіви Служби Безпеки України колишнього архіву…

In April, Russia conducted a massive military buildup about 100 miles from its border with Ukraine, which increased tensions, stoked fighting between Ukrainian and separatist forces, and worried many that another invasion was imminent. The buildup included over 100,000 troops, over 1,000 military vehicles, 200 aircraft, and some 60 warships — including vessels from as far away as the Northern Fleet and Caspian Flotilla. The force was “certainly bigger” than the one that invaded Ukraine in 2014, according to the Pentagon. The moves, which Russian officials said were…

Ukraine’s president said Wednesday that Russia has maintained a massive military presence near his country’s borders. Speaking during a meeting with a group of visiting U.S. senators, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy charged that Moscow had withdrawn only a fraction of the forces it concentrated near Ukraine in April, a buildup that worried the West as well as Ukraine. The Russian buildup came amid regular cease-fire violations in the conflict between Ukrainian forces and Russia-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine, and fueled fears that full-scale hostilities would resume. The Russian military announced…

I was one of the Russian opposition members who met then-Vice President Joe Biden at the U.S. ambassador’s residence in Moscow on March 10, 2011. Mr. Biden arrived fresh from his meeting with Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, who, as we knew, was preparing to return to the president’s chair after lending it to his marionette, Dmitry Medvedev. “I told Putin not to run again,” Mr. Biden said, “that it would look bad for Russia and for him.” The vice president’s expansive candor alarmed his American colleagues, who were visibly unhappy at the turn of the conversation. I broke the awkward silence and pointed out that to Mr. Putin, Mr. Biden and President Obama were beggars who had to…

Інж. Богдан Федорак був провідним довголітнім діячем на громадському, зовнішньо-політичному і дипломатичному полях у США і в міжнародних структурах, які мали за мету повалення більшовицької тюрми народів – СССР, і відновлення незалежних держав поневолених націй. Серед його численних посадових обов’язків були: голова дирекції відомого Українського Культурного Центру (м. Воррен, Мічиган), голова Американських Приятелів Антибільшовицького Блоку Народів (АБН), в.о голови Українського Державного Правління (УДП) 1941 року (після смерті Голови – Ярослава Стецька). Водночас був членом Надзвичайної Конґресової Комісії США по дослідженню Голодомору 1932-1933 рр. в Україні і почесним консулом Української Держави на штат Мічиган. В останньому зверненні з…

32-year-old Czech national Martin Kantor has been sentenced to 20 years’ imprisonment for fighting on the side of the Russian and pro-Russian Donbas militants. The trial before the Prague Municipal Court was in absentia, but is important both as a clear deterrent to others, and because Kantor was found guilty on 1 June 2021 of terrorism and involvement in a terrorist organization. This is not the first trial of pro-Russian Czech fighters and judging by the recent arrest of five other individuals on terrorist charges, is unlikely to be the last. In the case brought by Ukraine against Russia at the European Court of Justice on violations of the International Convention for the…

In mid-April, I came across an article on the European Council on Foreign Relations website entitled “War of Unreality” that struck a deep personal nerve. The piece, authored by ECFR Fellow Gustav Gressel, was written as both an observation and a warning. The observation was that Russia was engaged in creating an “alternate reality” – constantly positing a narrative of current events that flatly contradicted the way that the West (read: the global community of democracies) thought about the world. The warning was that Russia’s attempts at ontological contrariness would sooner or later have dire consequences. While the piece left a distinct mark on me, it did so in a strangely unsettling way. I knew the observation was accurate and that the warning was valid, but for a time, I could not somehow shake off the…

The refrain from Washington is, now is not the time. This is a reverberating refrain from the White House and the Department of State which is heard loud and clear in Kyiv and Moscow. Ruminations and puzzlement ensue. Why not? When will be the time? Ukraine’s NATO membership is the most paradoxical issue of our time. Ukraine is the most logical NATO ally. Frankly, Bucharest 2008 was not the timeline. The timeline goes way back to the beginning of the Cold War and even before to FDR and Uncle Joe which led generations astray. Appeasement of aggressors is the most disproven strategy of the last two centuries. It did not work with Nazi Germany, the USSR or…

Приспів з Вашингтона є, зараз не час. Це рефрен Білого дому та Державного департаменту, який голосно і чітко звучить у Києві та Москві. Слідують роздуми та спантеличення. Чому ні? Коли буде час? Членство України в НАТО є найбільш парадоксальним питанням нашого часу. Україна є найбільш логічним союзником НАТО. Чесно кажучи, Бухарест 2008 року не був часовою шкалою. Графік починається з початку “холодної війни” і навіть до FDR та дядька Джо, які звели покоління в оману. Заспокоєння агресорів – це найбільш спростована стратегія останніх двох століть. Це не спрацювало з нацистською Німеччиною, СРСР чи Росією. Раціонально, коли…

Given Russia’s cyberattack on the US and others this week to access foreign policy positions just before the vital NATO Summit, G7, and the first bilateral talks between the US and Russia’s presidents, it’s time for a serious Russia reckoning. There has been little to indicate that this will be the case. Unless President Joseph Biden has something up his sleeve he should use the Nobelium cyberattacks to withdraw from the June 16 meeting in Geneva. Although America initiated the meeting, more than likely President Vladimir Putin initiated the cyberattack to obtain intelligence on and to set the tone of the meeting. The cyber hack—Russia’s denials notwithstanding– clearly shows that…

Russia is facing a cut in staffing at its diplomatic missions in the Czech Republic so severe that it will likely deal an irreversible — although not fatal — blow to Kremlin espionage efforts in the country. The development comes amid the worst diplomatic row between the two former communist countries in decades, and centers on the Russian Embassy in Prague — long suspected of being a nest of spies — and consulates in the cities of Brno and Karlovy Vary. Prague has given Moscow till the end of May to send home most of its diplomatic staff — orders that came in response to Czech intelligence findings that…

Significant numbers of Russian military forces remain in place along the Russia-Ukraine border, in Russia-occupied Crimea, and in eastern Ukraine along the Line of Contact within Ukraine. It has been nearly two months since Ukraine invoked the Vienna Document’s paragraph 16 risk reduction mechanism with respect to Russia’s aggressive and unilateral build-up of military forces in March and April. Moscow refused to provide a substantive response. Russia has increased tensions in an already volatile region. Thanks to Ukraine’s restraint in the face of Russia’s military activity, the conflict in the Donbas did not escalate, though violence continues on a daily basis. It is…

Hackers linked to Russia’s main intelligence agency surreptitiously seized an email system used by the State Department’s international aid agency to burrow into the computer networks of human rights groups and other organizations of the sort that have been critical of President Vladimir V. Putin, Microsoft Corporation disclosed on Thursday. Discovery of the breach comes only three weeks before President Biden is scheduled to meet Mr. Putin in Geneva, and at a moment of increased tension between the two nations — in part because of a series of increasingly sophisticated cyberattacks emanating from Russia. The newly disclosed attack was also…

Within the last three weeks, a series of decisions by leading Western powers seem to indicate a downgrading of Ukraine on the scale of Western policy priorities. Taken partly in deference to Russia, these decisions risk demotivating Ukrainian reform efforts (hesitant though these are) and eroding Western credibility in Ukraine. The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) has scrapped the meeting of the NATO-Ukraine and NATO-Georgia commissions that had been envisaged to be held during the Alliance’s upcoming summit in…

This week we observed cyberattacks by the threat actor Nobelium targeting government agencies, think tanks, consultants, and non-governmental organizations. This wave of attacks targeted approximately 3,000 email accounts at more than 150 different organizations. While organizations in the United States received the largest share of attacks, targeted victims span at least 24 countries. At least a quarter of the targeted organizations were involved in international development, humanitarian, and human rights work. Nobelium, originating from Russia, is the same actor behind the attacks on SolarWinds customers in 2020. These attacks appear to be a continuation of multiple efforts by Nobelium to target government agencies involved in foreign policy as part of…

Over the past couple months, Russia and the West (the European Union and the United States) have mutually expelled more than 150 diplomats—high numbers in quick succession that, some observers argue, “did not even happen during the Cold War” (Newsru.com, April 24). And those numbers of expelled and counter-expelled diplomats continue to grow, extending to more and more countries. From the European Union, the Czech Republic (Czechia), Poland, Slovakia, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Romania, and Bulgaria, as well as EU candidate North Macedonia, all became participants of…

The Cold War 2.0 just got a whole lot worse with the hijacking of a commercial jetliner in order to abduct, torture, then imprison an exiled 26-year-old, baby-faced Belarusian activist named Roman Protasevich. It was the act of Putin’s proxy – Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko – and reinforces the need for President Joe Biden to reverse his recent decision to pull his punches in stopping Putin’s pet project, Nord Stream 2. This was another Putin-linked attack that must be addressed. “Like every puppet leader, [Belarus President] Lukashenko doesn’t use…

As the Army builds its cyber and electromagnetic spectrum forces and capabilities, it has leaned heavily on lessons from operations in Ukraine and other theaters. The Army is paying close attention to writings that came out of the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, Lt. Gen. Stephen Fogarty, commander of Army Cyber Command, said Tuesday at the Cyber and Electromagnetic Activity conference by the Association of Old Crows. “We’re actually trying to discern what lessons learned we need to draw from this, what conclusions that we need to draw that will shape investments both in organization and equipment and capabilities and TTP [tactics, techniques and procedures] as we move forward.” Three years ago, the Army announced it was…

The ongoing pandemic disaster of coronavirus erupted with the first confirmed cases in Wuhan, China, in December 2019, caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV2) novel coronavirus, the disease referred to as coronavirus disease 2019, or COVID-19. The World Health Organization (WHO) confirmed the outbreak and determined it a global pandemic. The current pandemic has infected nearly 300 million people and killed over 3 million. The current COVID-19 pandemic is smashing every public health barrier, guardrail, and safety measure in underdeveloped and the…

Ukraine says it should have been invited to the June summit of NATO members as it faces aggression from Russia. During a meeting with the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe Secretary General Helga Schmid in Kyiv, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba questioned why Ukraine was left out given spiking tensions with its eastern neighbor. “We understand the desire of the Allies to hold their own summit to discuss Trans-Atlantic unity. There are examples of such summits, including one in Brussels, in 2017. To be honest though, we don’t understand at all how a closed-format NATO summit could be held against the background of the aggressive actions by the Russian Federation targeting Ukraine in the…

One of the most frustrating aspects of the coronavirus pandemic is seeing all of the false information circulating around social media. I was inspired to write this article after reading unfortunate (and inaccurate) comments on a local Georgia school district’s Facebook page after they announced that three of its high schools were transitioning back to digital learning. It was breathtaking to see so many inaccurate claims about efficacy of face masks, fatality rates, or comparisons to the flu. My Forbes contributions are typically about weather and climate, but I am often inspired to make connections with other aspects of science too. There are striking similarities between repetitive false information about coronavirus and…

The announcement by Russia’s Defence Minister, Sergey Shoygu, on 22 April that Russia would be withdrawing the forces it had assembled for the ‘snap exercises’ launched on 7 April has been met by as much confusion as relief. In the time that has passed since that announcement, statements by the Biden administration and the proposed Biden-Putin summit have increased confusion rather than dispelled it. The augmentation of forces on Ukraine’s borders and in the illegally annexed Crimean Peninsula raised dramatically and by an order of magnitude the level of concern prompted by steadily rising tensions (and Ukrainian casualties) on the…

This open letter is signed by dozens of Ukrainian politicians, CEOs, and experts in response to US President Biden’s decision to waive congressionally-mandated sanctions on Nord Stream AG, a company building the controversial Nord Stream 2 pipeline, as well as on its executive Matthias Warnig, an ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin. Nord Stream 2, a pipeline that would take gas from the Russian Arctic under the Baltic Sea to Germany, bypassing Ukraine’s gas transit system, is more than 95% complete. Without a halt in its construction, it is expected to start operation this year. Critics maintain that if Ukraine loses its status as a transit country and there will be no Russian gas flow through Ukraine, Russia will have no losses when…

After taking an appropriately hard line toward the Putin regime in its early months, the Biden administration seems to be going wobbly. Early on, the administration coupled sanctions on Russian officials for the poisoning and arrest of opposition leader Aleksei Navalny, the SolarWinds hack, and interference in U.S. elections with rhetoric indicating the United States would oppose Russia’s malign influence around the globe. More recently, however, it waived sanctions over the controversial Nord Stream 2 pipeline and is preparing for a summit between President Biden and President Vladimir Putin—two concessions that Putin has not earned and that do not advance American interests. The administration’s decision to waive sanctions on…

When I was young my mother dragged me to Church for Recollections. The guest speaker was Father Mudryj who later became bishop. He said much of note but the only phrase that left an impression on this teenager at the time was, if you see something wrong and you do nothing, this is a sin. Frankly I have tried to comfort myself according to these words ever since. Unarguably the single most important issue for Ukraine is NATO membership. This requires consensual action on the part of the thirty NATO member countries affording Ukraine a Membership Action Plan. A NATO Summit is scheduled for Brussels on June 14, 2021. Prior to that the G7 will meet in London on June 11, 2021. To date…

Коли я був молодим, мати потягла мене до церкви на Реколекції. Запрошеним доповідачем був отець Мудрий, який згодом став єпископом. Він сказав багато, але єдиною фразою, яка справила враження на цього підлітка на той час, було те, що якщо ви бачите щось не так і нічого не робите, це гріх. Чесно кажучи, з тих пір я керував себе цими словами. Безперечно, найважливішим питанням для України є членство в НАТО. Для цього потрібні дії згоди з боку тридцяти країн – членів НАТО, які повинні надати Україні План дій щодо членства. Саміт НАТО запланований в Брюсселі на 14 червня 2021 р. До цього “Велика сімка” проведе засідання в Лондоні 11 червня 2021 р. На сьогоднішній день порядок денний…

It was refreshing when Joe Biden was asked whether he thought Vladimir Putin was a “killer” and he said, “um hum, I do”. Then, when asked what he thought of Putin’s pet project, the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline to Germany, he said bluntly “I think it’s a bad deal for Europe”. So why one must ask, has he refused to impose all the severe sanctions he inherited from Congress to shut down Putin’s pipeline? Why let Putin off the hook for the Dominion Pipeline hack when his fingerprints were all over it? Why turn around the warship in the Black Sea after Putin escalated by amassing troops and warships on all of Ukraine’s borders? Biden is dealing with a ruthless despot, not an intransigent Republican or wayward Democrat who can be bought off with a bridge project in Kentucky or Mississippi or summit. Putin has…

Russia amassed more than 100,000 troops on Ukraine’s eastern border and in illegally annexed Crimea in April. It billed these provocative movements as snap readiness exercises and eventually announced their withdrawal. To date, however, most of them remain, appearing poised to invade Ukraine. Whether Moscow is preparing for an invasion in earnest, posturing in anticipation of NATO’s Defender Europe 21 exercise that began this month, testing the new Biden administration, diverting attention from Russia’s domestic troubles, or some combination of the above remains unclear. One thing is certain: Russia has a superior military force and…

Despite his oft-stated resolve to repel Vladimir Putin’s anti-Western campaign, President Joe Biden is in danger of being hoodwinked by the Kremlin. This “Putinization” process has been evident in the early days of each U.S. administration and is based on three misplaced virtues — faith, hope, and charity. Namely, the faith that American and Russian interests are compatible; the hope that summits and agreements will bring durable cooperation; and the conviction that charitable concessions will satiate the Kremlin’s appetite. Two recent decisions by the Biden administration indicate that the pattern of previous administrations may be…

Розробляючи алгоритм демократизації нової незалежної держави, такої як Україна, яка існує лише трохи більше чверті століття після століть переслідувань та експлуатації з боку авторитарного правління іноземних гнобителів, може бути корисним краще розуміння більш ефективної допомоги у вирішенні певних характеристик нині активних демократій із певним терміном довголіття, незважаючи на те, що вони самі мають суттєві недоліки. Вищезазначені теми є внутрішньо пов’язаними і про них слід відкрито говорити у справді демократичних суспільствах або…

Директор Центру зовнішньополітичних досліджень ОПАД ім. О.Никонорова Сергій Пархоменко звернувся до Ради національної безпеки і оборони, Служби безпеки України, Національного антикорупційного бюро з прохання перевірити інформацію щодо можливої причетності заступника голови Державної Митної Служби Руслана Черкасського та його оточення до контрабанди, співпраці з агресором та фінансування тероризму. «Руслан Черкасський володіє багатомільйонним майном за кордоном. Щонайменше, 2 квартирами та паркомісцем у місті Дубаї (ОАЕ) в елітних житлових комплексах в районі Marsa Dubai. Але можна припустити, що у офіційних деклараціях неточно зазначені дані про майно (не згадується паркомісце) та вказана інша недостовірна інформація…

In 1987, Antony Blinken, the current U.S. Secretary of State, wrote a book on the topic of pipelines. Part of his study was the Reagan administration’s policy toward the Siberian gas pipeline that connected the Asian regions of the Soviet Union with West Germany. Blinken analyzed the Reagan administration decision not to sanction West Germany for their role in building the pipeline together with the Soviets. President Reagan recognized the unity of the West as more important than West German-Soviet relations and their consequences for the security of the continent. He decided to protect that unity at all costs. Secretary Blinken’s analysis from 1987 was clearly the inspiration for current U.S. policy toward Nord Stream 2. Only that…

Much has been made of President Biden’s comment that “Nord Stream 2 is a bad deal for Europe.” Yet with the announcement by Secretary of State Antony Blinken that Nord Stream 2 sanctions are not in the U.S. national interest and will be waived, the Russian-financed European pipeline should glide to a speedy completion. There remains only German regulatory approval before Nord Stream 2 will become operational, unless Germany’s September elections yield some major surprises. The Biden administration’s rationale appears to be that President Trump treated major ally Germany roughly, so we should give Germany what it wants — Nord Stream 2. Let our other European allies simmer; Trump hurt their feelings less than Germany’s, so they don’t count. And, besides, maybe a magnanimous gesture will bring…

We are a group of acting and former diplomats, military and intelligence officials, and experts who have dedicated our careers to supporting Transatlantic security. We hail from countries on both sides of the Atlantic and represent a wide spectrum of political parties from our nations of origin. Over the past decade, the Government of the Russian Federation has engaged in a litany of malign activities aimed at upending liberal democratic norms across Europe and North America. The shocking poisoning of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny by a variant of the weapons-grade nerve agent Novichok shows that Moscow has not been deterred by Western actions and…

In late April, thousands of Chicagoans of Ukrainian descent breathed a sigh of relief after Russia began withdrawing 150,000 troops massed along Ukraine’s border. Until President Joe Biden and other Western leaders imposed new sanctions against Russia and reaffirmed their support for Ukraine, war had seemed imminent. This August, Ukrainians will celebrate the 30th anniversary of their independence. But Ukraine’s sovereignty remains under siege. A friend who lived in Ukraine for many years once told me that to understand the relationship between Ukraine and Russia we need to imagine the abused eх-wife of an alcoholic husband. After nearly 300 years of a forced marriage in which her citizens were constantly brutalized, Ukraine formalized her…

By mid-April 2021, the Russian military had amassed more than 100,000 troops at Ukraine’s border. Although some have since been removed, the bulk of Russian forces still remain. Russia’s intentions are unclear, but the menacing specter of an all-out invasion has sent tensions soaring in Kyiv and beyond. These recent events are part of a long-standing conflict in the region. Ukraine has been defending itself in an unequal struggle with Russia since 2014, when unmarked Russian troops moved in to occupy Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula. In its early phase, the conflict erupted into a hot war between Russian proxy forces and…

Concerned about U.S. apathy toward Ukraine, the American attorney Victor Rud, in his capacity as chair of the foreign advisory council for the Ukrainian National Association, composed a letter to the incoming Secretary of State: “I am writing concerning the ongoing developments in Ukraine. Even though Ukraine is the largest European country, the size of Germany, England and Hungary combined, it has been forever a terra incognita for Americans, citizens and policymakers alike. That, together with Ukraine’s sudden and stunning appearance on the international scene, requires a studied reassessment of America’s mindset about “Russia” that has dominated for now almost a century. This is especially so because, regardless of the…

President Biden has talked tough about Vladimir Putin, but his policy response has been mixed. This week’s sanctions decision on the Nord Stream 2 natural gas pipeline provides more reason for concern. Axios reported Tuesday that the State Department will send a report to Congress listing entities that should face sanctions over their association with the $11 billion gas pipeline. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said at his confirmation hearing that he was “determined to do whatever we can” to stop the project. Turns out that’s not entirely true. While the Biden Administration wants to target…

U.S. Senator Rob Portman (R-OH), co-chair of the Senate Ukraine Caucus and member of the Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee on European and Regional Security Cooperation, issued the following statement after Congress received the mandatory report from the State Department concerning sanctionable activities by builders of the Nord Stream 2 Pipeline. The Biden administration has announced that it will cite U.S. national security interests and waive congressionally-imposed sanctions on the Nord Stream 2 AG holding company and its CEO, Mattias Warnig. “I am opposed to the Biden administration’s decision to …

Ukrainian journalist, commentator and writer Vitaly Portnikov wrote for espreso.tv , “Thedecisions of the US State Department to partially waive sanctions against Nord Stream II – the actual sanctions remain in place and are strengthened but a waiver was issued on sanctions against the company operating the project and its CEO Matthias Warnig – are difficult to call a victory for Ukrainian diplomacy. These decisions are rightly called a victory for German diplomacy. It is no coincidence that Germany Foreign Minister Heiko Maas, who spoke about the situation around Nord Stream 2 with US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken, called the American decision ‘constructive.’ And this means that the White House considers improving relations with Germany and…

Having read Per Anders Rudling’s article ‘They Defended Ukraine’: The 14.Waffen-Grenadier-Division der SS (Galizische Nr. 1) Revisited, I am reminded why, a half century ago, I chose to study Engineering rather than the “Humanities” to which my aptitude tests should have steered me. Even at that tender age I understood the lack of objectivity, truth and reality in the Humanities. I knew that my marks would always depend on currying favor with professors; and being a born contrarian, that was never going to happen. The article in question purports to be a…

Senator Bob Menendez (D-N.J.), Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, issued the following statement after Congress received a mandatory report from the State Department regarding entities involved in sanctionable activity by the builders of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline. Citing U.S. national security interests, the Biden Administration announced it would waive mandatory sanctions on the company Nord Stream 2 AG and its CEO Matthias Warnig. “I am opposed to the decision by the Biden Administration to waive sanctions on NS2 AG and Matthias Warnig. I urge the…

Recent behavioral developments within the Biden administration has caused concern and requires personal introspection – was I wrong in not only voting for Joe Biden but actively advocating his candidacy. To set aside any delusions by Trumsheviks, the alternative was egregiously historically awful, but an introspective and informed voter should take stock of his decision making after the smoke and hoopla of victory have cleared and the new president has had an opportunity to prove himself. And his voters. President Joe Biden has disappointed in several ways including by spending like a drunken sailor. However, since the national debt is by many accounts simply a scare tactic for future generations…

Нещодавні зміни в поведінці в адміністрації Байдена викликали занепокоєння і вимагають особистого розгляду – чи помилився я, не лише проголосувавши за Джо Байдена, але активно виступаючи за його кандидатуру. Щоб відкинути будь-які омани трамшевиків, альтернатива була надзвичайно історично жахливою, але самовизначений та обізнаний виборець повинен підвести підсумки свого прийняття рішень після того, як дим і шуми перемоги пройшли, і новий президент мав можливість проявити себе. Президент Джо Байден розчарував у декількох напрямках, в тому числі витратившись як п’яний моряк. Однак, оскільки державний борг, за багатьма оцінками, є просто лякальною тактикою для…

The ongoing pandemic disaster of coronavirus erupted with the first confirmed cases in Wuhan, China in December 2019, caused by the SARS-CoV-2 novel coronavirus, the disease referred to as “COVID-19.” The World Health Organization (WHO) confirmed the outbreak and determined it a global pandemic. The current pandemic has infected nearly 100 million people and killed over 2 million. The current COVID-19 pandemic is smashing every public health barrier, guardrail and safety measure in underdeveloped and the most developed countries alike with peaks and troughs across time. Greatly impacted are those regions experiencing conflict and war. Morbidity and mortality increase logarithmically for those communities at risk and…

The Biden administration will waive sanctions on the corporate entity and CEO overseeing the construction of Russia’s Nord Stream 2 pipeline into Germany, according to two sources briefed on the decision. Why it matters: The decision indicates the Biden administration is not willing to compromise its relationship with Germany over this pipeline, and it underscores the difficulties President Biden faces in matching actions to rhetoric on a tougher approach to Russia. Driving the news: The State Department will imminently send its mandatory 90-day report to…

There are almost 200 different countries in today’s world. The most successful among them share certain common traits. They have all learned to offer the international community something unique and useful, and they have all established constructive domestic relationships between citizens and government. These two ideas are at the very heart of our vision for the transformation of Ukraine. In order to succeed, Ukraine must become a rule of law democracy that works in the interests of the many rather than the few. This is not currently the case. Since the 1990s, a small handful of Ukrainians have dominated…

Mykola Riabchuk is one of Ukraine’s most published essayists. He is the president of the Ukrainian PEN-center and a senior research fellow with the Institute of Political and Nationalities’ Studies at the Academy of Sciences of Ukraine in Kyiv. Published not only in Ukrainian, but English, Polish, German and even unfamiliar languages such as Catalonian (native to the northeastern regions of Spain), Riabchuk’s essays are among the most known Ukrainian humanitarian voices. As he himself admits, he follows the rules of the genre established by one of the leading intellectuals of the French Renaissance, Michel de Montaigne. He maintains that each essay should have a central protagonist that acts…

Oleksiy Danilov, the Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council (NSDC) in Ukraine, has stated that forming a new “cybertroops” force in the country is only a matter of time now. The official informed the public during a TV interview, stating that the decision was taken unanimously during the recent NSDC meeting. A cybersecurity plan for the next five years was also discussed. As such, President Volodymyr Zelensky is expected to issue a relevant decree soon. The political tensions between Ukraine and Russia are going through another period of clashes unfolding on all levels, from thorny statements to…

Russian President Vladimir Putin’s government has branded the United States an “unfriendly” nation, putting a new legal stamp on tensions with Washington in advance of high-level meetings with President Joe Biden’s administration. Russian officials included the Czech Republic on the list alongside the United States, a pairing that points to last month’s dispute over an alleged spy scandal as the cause of the designation. Czech Foreign Minister Jakub Kulhanek ordered Moscow to withdraw dozens of officials from the Russian Embassy in Prague, a crackdown that could force Russia to slash its spy presence at an embassy widely perceived as a regional hub for Russian intelligence operations. “This is their…

It is seven years since the Russian occupation regime first banned remembrance events on the anniversary of the 1944 Deportation of the entire Crimean Tatar people from their homeland. That ban remains, with Russian-controlled enforcement officers running around Crimea over recent days, issuing members of the Crimean Tatar self-governing bodies and other prominent figures with formal ‘warnings against extremist activity’. This year Russia has added one new, cynical, element. On 18 May, the most sombre of anniversaries for any Crimean Tatar, hearings have been scheduled in four political trials, most of them targeting Crimean Tatar civic activists and journalists. It is no accident that Crimean Tatars increasingly speak of…

Under President Vladimir Putin’s rule, the annual May 9 grand military parade on Red Square in Moscow has transformed into the main ideological prop to legitimize his regime. Changes have already been made to the Russian constitution and additional legislation is being introduced making it a felony to publicly question or rewrite the official version of the events of World War II (Interfax, May 5). According to Putin, continued efforts to alter the history of World War II are being sponsored by the West (the United States), “who, after the end of the Cold War, believed they won and want to overturn the post-war global order and, for that, need to…

TIU Canada, a major foreign investor in Ukrainian solar energy, filed a motion today to dismiss the three-judge panel set to hear its appeal in the illegal disconnection of the Nikopol Ekoteknik solar power plant case. The judges have all previously ruled in favor of US government sanctioned oligarch Igor Kolomoyskyi against Ukraine’s state-owned Privatbank in another court decision1. The three judges that ruled in favor of Kolomoyskyi were V.A. Korsack, O.V. Popikova, and O.O. Yevsikov. The motion seeks to replace the potentially biased judges with objective judges. “There is no illusion of an impartial hearing when the judges have a track record of lockstep rulings in favor of a notorious oligarch who is…

Vladimir Putin will attack Ukraine not from land, but from the Black Sea, blocking or seizing its ports and creating a land corridor to connect Crimea with Russia. NATO will condemn the Kremlin’s actions, but will not intervene. After all, Ukraine is not a member of the alliance and is not covered by the guarantees of Article 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty, which assures the members of their collective defense. This is the gist of a recent Bloomberg Opinion column by retired US Admiral James Stavridis, NATO’s former supreme allied commander in Europe. The leaders of the so-called Bucharest Nine bloc of…

The Biden administration billed Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s May 6 visit to Kyiv as showing support for Ukraine’s struggle against Russian aggression. Instead, Blinken served up only rhetorical pablum, retreating from what senior Trump officials (although not Trump himself) did to back Ukraine and returning to Obama-era blandishments. Vladimir Putin must be delighted. Inexplicably, moreover, Blinken equated Russia’s belligerence with Ukraine’s admittedly substantial corruption problems, stating that there is “aggression from outside and, in effect, aggression from within.” This moral equivalence is…

Ukraine’s leading pro-Kremlin politician, Viktor Medvedchuk, has been charged with treason and placed under house arrest as the Zelenskyy administration escalates its efforts to counter Russian influence in the country. Medvedchuk faces up to fifteen years in prison if convicted. This week’s treason charge is the latest step in an ongoing campaign and comes following the February decision to block three Kremlin-tied Ukrainian TV channels believed to be controlled by Medvedchuk. Weeks after the channel closures, personal sanctions were imposed against the opposition politician and his wife. Throughout the past seven years of undeclared war between Russia and Ukraine, Medvedchuk has made no secret of…

Fifty years ago I was in the City of Philadelphia on the other side of the fence of a special ceremony at the Ukrainian Catholic Cathedral there: the elevation of two relatively young Ukrainian priests to bishops. I did not know the two men but was opposed to their elevation because I felt, like many others particularly of the Patriarchate persuasion, that their designation should have been by the Patriarch of the Ukrainian Catholic Church Cardinal Josef Slipyj and not the Pope. I still believe that, but I have gotten to know at least one of the men quite well. In fact after only several years I acknowledged that no better choice for the Ukrainian people could have been made by the…

П’ятдесят років тому я був у місті Філадельфія з іншого боку огорожі спеціальної церемонії тамтешнього Українського католицького собору: піднесення двох відносно молодих українських священиків до єпископів. Я не знав обох чоловіків, але був проти їх піднесення, оскільки я відчував, як і багато інших, особливо вмовляння Патріархату, що їх призначення повинен був робити Патріарх Української Католицької Церкви кардинал Йосиф Сліпий, а не Папа Римський. Я все ще вірю в це, але я досить добре познайомився з принаймні одним із чоловіків. Насправді лише через кілька років я визнав, що кращого вибору для…

Today, the Congressional Ukraine Caucus Co-Chairs Representatives Marcy Kaptur (D-OH), Andy Harris (R-MD), Mike Quigley (D-IL), and Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA), sent a letter to Secretary of State Antony Blinken expressing deep concern with the state of energy security in Ukraine and Central and Eastern Europe. In the letter, the Members called on the Department of State to increase efforts to bolster energy resilience by fully sanctioning Nord Stream 2 as mandated by PEESCA as amended and consistent with Congressional intent, increase diplomatic action to counter the purging of Naftogaz leadership, and strengthen efforts to…

This report deconstructs 16 of the most prevalent myths and misconceptions that shape contemporary Western thinking on Russia. It explains their detrimental impact on the design and execution of policy, and in each case outlines how Western positions need critical re-examination to ensure more rational and effective responses to Russian actions. Underpinning our analysis is the essential argument that, contrary to wishful thinking on the part of many Euro-Atlantic politicians and policymakers, there is little prospect of Russia becoming a more constructive and cooperative partner for Western governments in the foreseeable future. Well-meaning efforts to ‘improve’ the relationship with the Kremlin are…

Американський історик Джеймс Мейс (1952-2004) зарахований до провідних у всесвітньому масштабі вчених-дослідників Голодомору. Він був корінним американцем ірландсько-індіанського походження, який, за його словами, “став українцем”, бо “мeні судилася така доля, що ваші мертві вибрали мене…” Під його керівництвом комісія конгресу США по вивченню голоду в Україні (1985-1988) дійшла висновку, що Голодомор був геноцидом, за який відповідальна совєтська влада. За свій вагомий внесок у наукове вивчення Голодомору і українського народу як “постгеноцидного суспільства” був посмертно нагороджений урядом України державним орденом ім. Ярослава Мудрого. Св.п. Джеймс Мейс похований на Байковому цвинтарі у Києві…

Russia has proven, time and again, that it’s willing to flout international law, invade neighbouring states, target civilian aircraft, and use chemical and radioactive weapons, endangering the lives of hundreds of people. As this pattern of destruction wrought by Putin’s regime becomes clearer, one wonders how many more attacks the Russian government is responsible for that we don’t know about yet. Most nations define terrorism as an act committed “in whole or in part for a political, religious, or ideological purpose, objective, or cause,” with the intention of intimidating the public “with regard to its security, including its economic security, or compelling a person, a government, or a domestic or an international organization to do or to refrain from…

In the document, the highest legislative body of the EU demands from Russia to withdraw troops from the Ukrainian border, to stop escalation in Donbas, to adhere to the regime of silence, to fulfill the Minsk agreements, to unblock ship entry in the Black Sea. The European Parliament has adopted a resolution on Russia, which provides for the strengthening of sanctions against Moscow in the form of an embargo on oil and gas exports, and disconnection from the SWIFT system in case of an invasion of Russian troops in Ukraine. The text of the resolution on Russia, the case of Alexei Navalny, the military build-up on Ukraine’s border and Russian attacks in the Czech Republic (2021/2642 (RSP)) is published on the website of the European Parliament. The document states, among other…

David Kennedy, a former National Security Agency hacker, argued that Russian President Vladimir Putin is connected to the actions of DarkSide, the group allegedly behind the cyberattack on Colonial Pipeline. The FBI on Monday said DarkSide was behind the ransomware attack that forced Colonial Pipeline to shut down approximately 5,500 miles of pipeline, leading to a disruption of nearly half of the nation’s East Coast fuel supply. Darkside has claimed it’s not political and only wants to make money without causing problems for society. The Russian embassy didn’t immediately respond to…

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken visited Kyiv on May 6 in what was widely touted as a show of support designed to underline ongoing US backing for Ukraine amid fears over a possible escalation in the country’s seven-year war with Russia. Blinken was the first senior member of the Biden administration to visit the Ukrainian capital. His arrival was particularly welcome as it came following weeks of heightened tensions sparked by a major Russian military buildup on the Ukrainian border. Although Moscow announced plans to begin withdrawing its forces on April 22, intelligence reports in early May indicated…

It’s all about geopolitics. The Tsardom of Muscovy, the predecessor of the Russian Empire, was a land-locked country. Muscovy’s first access to the sea was in the far north, but for much of the year the waters there were frozen. Access to warm-water ports became the major goal of Muscovy and later Russia. After gaining access to the Baltic Sea in the west, Russia set out to reach the Black Sea in the south. There it confronted the Ottoman Empire against which Muscovy/Russia conducted a series of wars from the mid-seventeenth to late eighteenth century. As long as Russia persisted, sooner or…

Politico reported on May 10, “U.S. officials suspect that a notorious Russian spy agency may be behind alleged attacks that are causing mysterious health issues among U.S. government personnel across the world, according to three current and former officials with direct knowledge of the discussions. Officials do not have a smoking gun linking Russia’s military intelligence unit, the GRU, to the suspected directed-energy incidents, said the people, who were not authorized to speak publicly. The intelligence community has not…

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the Biden administration will consider Ukraine’s expected request to buy American missile defense systems and other weaponry in the wake of a Russian military buildup on its border. In an interview with Radio Free Europe on Thursday, amid his one-day visit to Ukraine, Blinken said the Pentagon is in the midst of “a very active consideration” of how to boost security assistance to Ukraine. The comments from America’s top diplomat came after Ukrainian Foreign Affairs Minister Dmytro Kuleba told CNN he planned to discuss a “list” of U.S. military support with…

The Kyiv Post reported, “Pro-Russian Ukrainian lawmakers Viktor Medvedchuk and Taras Kozak were charged with high treason, dealing a blow to the Kremlin’s lobby in Ukraine. Prosecutor General Iryna Venediktova announced on May 11 that she authorized high treason charges against two lawmakers, whom she only identified as ‘M’ and ‘K.’ A Kyiv Post source with the knowledge of the charges confirmed that the two were Medvedchuk and Kozak. On the same day, Ukrainian media reported that the State Security Service was searching the house of Medvedchuk in Kyiv. Medvedchuk is a personal friend of Russian President Vladimir Putin and has long been the unofficial representative of his interests in Ukraine. Medvedchuk and his ally Kozak are…

The Bulgarian prosecution service has found a connection between four blasts at ammunition depots in Bulgaria between 2011 and 2020, as well as a Russian connection, and suspect that all four explosions were intended to disrupt ammunition supplies to Ukraine and Georgia. At a special news conference in Sofia on Wednesday, the Prosecutor General’s spokesperson, Siika Mileva, said that the four cases were joined and were being probed by the Specialized Prosecution Office. Ammo depot explosions have come to the limelight after the Czech authorities blamed agents of Russian military intelligence, GRU, for two explosions on their territory in 2014. According to press reports, the presumed purpose was to…

Bellingcat first reported on the presence of members from GRU Unit 29155 in Bulgaria at the time when a Bulgarian arms manufacturer collapsed into a coma following what was identified as poisoning by an unknown substance. At that same time, the entrepreneur’s son and the production manager of his factory were also poisoned. A possible second poisoning – again with overlapping trip to Bulgaria by members of GRU Unit 29155 – appeared to have been attempted a month later, days after Gebrev and his son were released from hospital. We have previously identified and described operations of an…

Russia is sliding deeper into a kind of kleptocratic neo-orthodox fascism while obsessively celebrating a victory over fascism that was achieved by a different country more than seven decades ago. As things get progressively grim, you often hear people in Russia decry the loss of freedom: We had our chance to build a Western-style democracy but we were too complacent, we believed too easily that there was no way back and we permitted Vladimir Putin to sweep Russian politics clean of opposition and establish a dictatorship. This is another legend. It is a counterpoint to the one peddled by Putin and…

In the wake of Russia’s Victory Day military parade on Sunday, Russian lawmakers plan to ban any comparisons between the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany. The parade marks the 76th anniversary of the end of World War II and, as is traditional, will be held in Red Square. The bill follows President Vladimir Putin’s orders to prohibit publicly equating the role of the two collaborationist powers during the war. Such moves illustrate that Putin’s expansionist ambitions not only involve the revision of post-Cold War borders but also the rewriting of European history. The key event in Putin’s restoration mythology is the “Great Patriotic War” that ended in…

On May 8, 1945, Nazi Germany surrendered to the Western Allies and the Soviet Union, World War II ended in Europe. On May 8, 1945, for the first time in almost six years, the guns of Europe fell silent. For the first time since September 1939, when together Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union invaded and occupied Poland, peace returned to the continent. On May 8, we pause in commemoration of the millions of victims of this terrible war. We stand united in condemning the scourges of racism, anti-Semitism, totalitarianism and imperialism. We recall our eternal gratitude to the men and women who served…

Saturday marks the 76th anniversary of VE Day, the day when the unconditional surrender of Nazi Germany inaugurated peace throughout the Second World War’s European theatre. While Westerners tend to see the war through the lens of events such as D-Day or the Battle of Britain, it was a conflict largely won by the Soviet Union. An incredible eight out of 10 German war casualties occurred on the Eastern Front. As German chancellor Angela Merkel said in 2015 “the Red Army played the decisive role in liberating Germany.” For this, the Soviet Union paid dearly: An estimated ten million military dead (approx. 50% Ukrainian), more than…

I recently observed a semi academic conference regarding Ukraine’s security and the EU and NATO. The conference was academic in that it was hosted by an institution of higher learning, but only semi since none of the speakers or moderator were academics. This is a trend today to make academia seem more relevant. This proclivity has many manifestation including academic writing in readable or similar to fictional format, sometime even liberating themselves from those onerous facts. Unfortunately often the result is that the work is neither scholarly nor literary, but some hybrid resulting in the reader’s confusion instead of satisfaction. The subject conference was problematic since…

Нещодавно я спостерігав напів академічну конференцію з питань безпеки України та ЄС та НАТО. Конференція була академічною, оскільки її приймав вищий навчальний заклад, але лише напівфабрикат, оскільки жоден з доповідачів чи модератор не був академіком. Сьогодні ця тенденція робить наукові кола більш актуальними. Ця схильність має багато проявів, включаючи академічну писемність у читабельному чи подібному до вигаданого форматі, іноді навіть звільняючись від цих обтяжливих фактів. На жаль, часто результатом є те, що робота не є ні науковою, ні літературною, а…

Antony Blinken, US secretary of state, reaffirmed Washington’s support for Ukraine during a two-day visit to Kyiv in which he pledged to “stand by” the country’s side in the face of Russian aggression. The visit, one of the diplomat’s first foreign trips as secretary of state, comes weeks after Russia amassed more than 100,000 troops along Ukraine’s eastern border and in Russian occupied Crimea. Addressing Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelensky on…

We continue to closely monitor Russia’s announced ‘drawdown’ of its military equipment and personnel from Ukraine’s eastern border. It’s worth noting that Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces and General of the Army Gerasimov confirmed Moscow’s recent military activity included “300,000 servicemen, 35 thousand units of weapons, military and special equipment…80 ships and boats, as well as about 900 aircraft, including 15 long-range aircraft and 40 military transport aircraft.” It is concerning that Russia attempted to bolster its own political agenda by threats and intimidation. Unfortunately, this…

Ukrainians breathed a collective sigh of relief last month when Russian President Vladimir Putin said he would withdraw the majority of more than 100,000 troops that had been shifted to the Russian-Ukrainian border. So did the U.S., NATO and the rest of Europe. But nobody should be breathing easy: Putin isn’t one to stay on the retreat. So, where should we expect his next provocation? Very likely, the waters of the Black Sea. Russia invaded Ukraine in 2014 and carved off the strategically vital peninsula of Crimea, the largest land grab from a sovereign state in this century. Since then, he has supplied money, training, arms and military advisers to separatist forces in the Donbas region of southeast Ukraine. The recent buildup was…

We, the Foreign and Development Ministers of the Group of Seven (G7), and the High Representative of the European Union, are meeting today at a critical juncture for our people, our planet, our security and our future prosperity. Democracy is under pressure globally; the pandemic continues to pose acute global challenges; new technological threats are mounting; and the catastrophic effects of climate change are increasing. We commit to strengthening open societies, shared values, and the rules-based international order. We affirm that free and fair trade, and the free and secure flow of capital, data, knowledge, ideas and talent is essential to our long-term prosperity. We affirm that liberal democracy and free and fair markets remain the best models for inclusive, sustainable social and…

Russia has withdrawn only a few thousand troops from the border with Ukraine, senior Biden administration officials said, despite signals from Moscow last month that it was dialing down tensions in the volatile region. Senior Defense Department officials said that close to 80,000 Russian troops remained near various strips of the country’s border with Ukraine, still the biggest force Russia has amassed there since Moscow annexed Crimea in 2014. The Russian military did order some units back to their barracks by May 1 — and they did move from the border — the officials said. But many of the units left their…

Painted a camouflage patchwork of gray and green, Ukrainian coastguard Boat 23 cuts through the rolling swell of the turbulent Sea of Azov. At the stern, a gunner tightly grips the handles of a single heavy machine gun bolted to the rear, carefully scanning the horizon for any threat. An hour into the coastal patrol, in rough seas about 5 nautical miles off the Ukrainian coast, a crackled radio message cuts through the dull drone of the diesel engines and the lightly armed vessel abruptly comes about. “Boat 23, this is Boat 444,” says a stern Russian voice across the airwaves. “We are reminding you to keep a…

The U.S. sanctions imposed in April against several Russian banks, technology companies, individuals, and part of its sovereign debt were another step in the ongoing effort by Washington and its European allies to punish the Kremlin for reckless and aggressive acts against Russia’s neighbors and the West. Similar stringent measures are gaining traction in Europe. Last week, by an overwhelming vote of 569 to 67, the European Parliament resolved that in the event of renewed Russian aggression against Ukraine, “Russia should be excluded from the SWIFT payment system, and all assets in the EU of oligarchs close to the Russian authorities and…

The Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate still denies military aggression on the part of Russia. The Primate of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine, Metropolitan Epifaniy, said this in an interview with Radio Svoboda (Liberty), RBC-Ukraine reports. “It is clear that there is a recognized Orthodox Church of Ukraine, and there is a church whose center is located in the aggressor country. Tell me, who will this church work for? They only call themselves the “Ukrainian Orthodox Church”. But this is not really the case. They are an integral part of the Russian Orthodox Church. And if the governing centre is…

У підготові до відзначення 30 років відновлення держави яка має ім’я Україна слід проаналізувати ключові її постаті. Я почав з Леонідом Кучмою кілька тижнів тому принагідно піднявши його книгу. Одначе аналіз слід починати від першого президента. Тому я продовжую аналіз президентів України. Його називали лисом як друзі так і противники. Очевидці на З’їзді Народного Руху України бачили, кажуть, як йому причепили тризуб до піджака. Він спокійно прийняв, сказав “гаряче”, скинув піджак і сів. 24 серпня 1991 сірі кардинали – Рухівці внесли до залу Верховної Ради України синьо-жовтий прапор, підставили йому документ проголошення…

The former Polish foreign minister and current Law and Justice (PiS) MEP, Witold Waszczykowski, said that Russia continuously violates international norms and participates in imperialist actions, but Germany will take no action due to its strong ties to Russia. Waszczykowski spoke in context of the conflict in Ukraine and Russia’s engagement with it. “Ukraine will not win a war with Russia through military means. This is why, in addition to ensuring defensive measures for the country, we should also spend time on supporting Ukraine politically,” he said in an interview for Polish Radio. He explained that one of the methods of strengthening Ukraine politically would be the imposition of harmful sanctions on Russia and…

22 квітня Міністерство культури та інформаційної політики України, Національний музей Голодомору-геноциду, Світовий Конґрес Українців та Міжнародний благодійний фонд Музею Голо­домору підписали Меморандум про партнерство у проєкті творення Другої черги Національного музею Голодомору-геноциду та відкриття для відвідувачів у 2023 році, з нагоди 90-их роковин Голодомору, основної експозиції новозбудованого сучасного музею. До 30-ої річниці Незалежности України уряд має на меті завершити реконструкцію першої черги Національного музею Голодомору-геноциду, продовжувати будівництво другої черги та розпочати роботу над створенням основної експозиції музею. Меморандум є…

Bent on keeping the initiative in a perceived tug of war with the West, Russian President Vladimir Putin really pushed his luck this spring when he faked a mass invasion of Ukraine. Mr. Putin amassed in excess of 150,000 troops on Ukraine’s eastern border, heavy on tanks and assault aircraft. Understandably, he had the world’s attention as Ukrainian leaders and their Western allies, including the United States, tried to guess his intention. Those most likely included testing the new Biden Administration and prodding it to go easy on sanctions. The plan was to give President Biden a…

With Russia building up its troops in the border with Ukraine, Archbishop Borys Gudziak, the current head of the Ukrainian Catholic Archeparchy of Philadelphia, is warning the conflict is not only a threat for the region, but for the world. Russian President Vladimir Putin, Gudziak argued, “is trying to make Ukraine fail as a state, bleed the country, through the invasion, economic undermining, and very importantly, information.” Gudziak spoke with Crux over the phone on Tuesday, after Pope Francis’s Sunday appeal for a de-escalation of the conflict in Eastern Ukraine at the end of his weekly Regina Coeli prayer. What follows are excerpts of that conversation. How did you react when you found out that…

Ukraine spent much of April in the international headlines as global audiences watched to see if a massive Russian military build-up along the Ukrainian border would become a precursor to a major escalation in the simmering seven-year conflict between the two countries. Fears of an imminent Kremlin offensive appeared to ease on April 22 when Russia announced plans to begin withdrawing troops from border zone positions. However, few are taking anything for granted. At present, it remains far from clear whether Russia’s declared withdrawal will include the vast amounts of military equipment concentrated close to the Ukrainian border. Even if the…

The Primate of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine, Metropolitan Epifaniy, says the tomos of autocephaly, granted to the OCU by the Ecumenical Patriarchate in Constantinople, implies that all parishes in the country belong to the new church, which is independent of Russian influence. Therefore, he explained to RFE/RL’s Ukrainian service, that their management by the Moscow Patriarchate is canonically incorrect. At the same time, the metropolitan said further transition of religious communities to OCU control was recently suspended. “But here we need to understand deeper the essence of the issue. Perhaps we even speak incorrectly about transitions as such. Why? The thing is, according to the tomos, according to the…

A two-page letter was delivered on April 30, 2021 to the Embassy of Germany to be forwarded to Chancellor Angela Merkel. The letter calls on Chancellor Merkel to halt immediately all construction on Nord Stream 2 (NS2) until Putin takes steps to stand down in Ukraine, stops intimidating Europe, and frees Alexei Navalny. The letter– part of a worldwide appeal to stop NS2 before Russia expands its control of Europe’s energy supply– was delivered to German embassies and consulates in Washington, Berlin, Paris, Sydney, Ottawa and elsewhere. The organizers, a global ad hoc coalition concerned with Russia’s expansionism, particularly in Europe, believes the pipeline is Russia’s way of splitting Germany away from the…

The top U.S. commander in Europe on Tuesday said he is confident Ukraine could repel a new Russian invasion “over time” even though Moscow has massed a large force around the country. The Russian force “mirrors the size and scope and scale of the infiltration of forces that occurred back in 2014,” when Moscow annexed Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula, U.S. European Command’s Gen. Tod Wolters said during a Senate budget hearing. Wolters said while his command remains “very, very vigilant,” Russia’s rapid buildup in recent weeks is a great concern. Wolters, who was in Washington to testify before the Senate Armed Services Committee, also said Ukraine “and their partners in the region are doing all they can to improve their posture each and…

Netflix has released a new American series “The Art of Espionage”, which also tells about the events in Ukraine. This was reported by the BBC. In particular, the second series talks about the poisoning of OUN leaders Lev Rebet and Stepan Bandera, as well as the third president, Viktor Yushchenko. The series is reportedly based on the plot of the book of the same name by former CIA Technical Service Office Director Robert Wallace and historian Keith Melton, starring writer and journalist Henry Schlesinger. Wallace and Melton are executive producers and co-authors of the film, and they are among the experts who tell the secrets of the secret services on the screen. According to the publication, the…

As the subject of Russian disinformation comes increasingly to the fore, it is worth remembering Herb Romerstein, who headed the U.S. Information Agency’s Office to Counter Soviet Disinformation and Active Measures from 1983 to 1989 and was the foremost American expert on this important subject. Herb, who died in 2013, had been a “kid communist” in New York during his teen years in the late 1940s, an experience that led him to be a dedicated anti-communist the rest of his life. He knew the communist system, and its influence techniques, from firsthand experience. After 18 years as an investigator and professional staff member on the Hill, including five years with the House Permanent Select Committee on…

В біблійній історії людини та людства подія воскресіння Христового займає центральне місце, вона має переломне значення. Для християн історія людства поділена на два періоди – до і після воскресіння Христового. Ця історія проходить в реальному часі: вона розвивається від народження Ісуса, коли Син Божий з’являється у Вифлеємі в людській подобі, як він навчає людей про Царство Боже, котре наближається, і завершується після страсного тижня в Пасхальну неділю перемогою над смертю . Ісус навчає людей про праведне і згубне для душі людини. Згубний для людини шлях відкривається широким і веде до загину. А праведний шлях, який веде до…

Whenever Western governments confront Moscow’s aggression and state terrorism, they stand accused of “Russophobia.” This misleading epithet is intended to rally ordinary Russians around the Kremlin as the purported victims of international conspiracies. In countering such disinformation, Western policymakers must expose Moscow’s international terrorism and make clear distinctions between Vladimir Putin’s regime and the Russian people. The evidence for the Kremlin’s game is clear. In a blatant attempt at deception to hide a deadly terrorist attack, Russia’s Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova accused the Czech government of “unbridled Russophobia” after it expelled 18 staff from the Russian Embassy in Prague. Following…

Arthur Volodymyrovych ducked his head down as he walked along the bottom of a trench last week, hoping to avoid sniper fire from Russia-backed separatists positioned less than 900 feet away. He has been stationed here as a soldier with Ukraine’s armed forces for five months—the trenches for far longer. The rules of engagement are simple. “When they attack us with fire, we respond with fire. And so it goes on,” said Mr. Volodymyrovych, whose unit’s sleeve patch reads, “Ukraine or Death,” emblazoned over a skull. “I don’t see an end to this war soon,” he said. Seven years ago, pro-Russia separatists in the…

Australia’s Ukrainian community is joining an international campaign sending a strong message to German Chancellor Merkel to take immediate measures to halt all construction on the Nord Stream 2 Pipeline (NS2). This will send a strong message to President Putin that economics, human rights, aggression in eastern Ukraine and the annexation of Crimea are interconnected. Some values and principles cannot be bought. Why protest in Australia? Because the values, principles and aspirations of the international community have no…

The pattern of reconquest – and further expansion – of the domains of the former Tsarist Russian empire, reconstituted again as a Russia-centered empire now under the guise of the “Union of Soviet Socialist Republics”, was straightforward: destruction of the national, political and cultural elites; the national Church; wholesale executions and mass deportations of that strata of society deemed as “enemies of the people”; and, finally, the decimation of the rural population by a man-made famine in order to dismantle the intrinsic national, social, cultural and economic fabric of the nation. Alarmed by the possibility of “losing Ukraine,” Moscow also…

The U.S. Coast Guard cutter Hamilton is en route to the Black Sea to train alongside NATO allies and partners in the region amid heightened tensions between Russia and the West over its buildup of forces along Ukraine’s border. The U.S. Navy’s 6th Fleet announced Tuesday that the vessel is headed to the Black Sea, after operating alongside the guided-missile destroyer Roosevelt in the Aegean Sea this week. The news comes the same day that Russia began its naval combat exercise, moving its Moskva cruiser into the region for live-fire drills, Reuters reported. Earlier this month, the U.S. was considering moving two ships into the Black Sea after Russia announced it was sending 10 vessels there amid its troop increase along Ukraine’s eastern border…

Putin gave nothing, achieved everything he wanted, and the door remains open to more. Approximately three weeks ago, Russia suddenly embarked on the most extensive build-up of military forces in and around Ukraine since its seizure of Crimea and attacks in the Donbas in 2014-2015. Estimates ranged as high as 100,000 troops capable of massively expanding Russia’s ongoing attacks on Ukraine at short notice. The forces came from as far away as Siberia and the Caspian Sea (via the Volga-Don canal) and included diverse and sophisticated weaponry, such as attack aircraft, tanks, paratroopers, amphibious landing vessels, and nuclear-capable short-range missiles. Russia closed off vast areas of the…

З Великим Святом Христового Воскресіння вітаю моїх національних братів і сестер всіх українців в Україні та у діаспорі, тих котрі святкують Свято за Старим Юліанським календарем і тих котрі як я, вже відсвяткували за Новим Грегоріанським. Нехай Воскреслий Ісус дарує Вам щастя і здоров’я та тримає нас усіх особисто, родинно і як націю у своїй опіці Велике значення Великодня для нашого народу не можна переоцінити. Це свято нових бажань і надій і не тільки у релігійному але також у національному зрозумінні. Довгими роками наш народ святкував Великдень у неволі, у підпіллі з надією на Ісуса Христа символу воскресіння нашого народу. Про це писали наші великі поети. Наші в’язні по таборах відзначали Великдень…

We appeal to you, Madam Chancellor, to take immediate measures to halt all construction on Nord Stream 2 (NS2) until Putin removes all Russian troops from Ukraine’s territory, and Alexei Navalny is freed. Furthermore, we urge you to maintain a moratorium on NS2 pending reconsideration by an independent commission of experts on its impact on Germany’s and Europe’s energy security in light of the ever-growing threat from a neo-fascist Russia. Lastly, we strongly recommend that you work with the new American Administration in a welcoming and trusting framework for mutual support and cooperation of Euro-Atlantic efforts in…

Російська агресія, яка нині триває проти України, Грузії, Білорусі, Балтійських держав та решти Східної Європи, продовжуватиме зростати із завершенням будівництва газогону “Північний потік-2”. Світовий Конґрес Українців (СКУ) закликає Німеччину, Сполучені Штати Америки та усю міжнародну спільноту вжити усіх можливих заходів задля негайної зупинки цього російського енергетичного проєкту, що наближається до свого завершення. “Північний потік-2” проляже в обхід і позбавить значення критично важливий газогін між Росією та Західною Європою, який…

The vast and empty Chernobyl Exclusion Zone around the site of the world’s worst nuclear accident is a baleful monument to human mistakes. Yet 35 years after a power plant reactor exploded, Ukrainians also look to it for inspiration, solace and income. Reactor No. 4 at the power plant 110 kilometers (65 miles) north of the capital Kyiv exploded and caught fire deep in the night on April 26, 1986, shattering the building and spewing radioactive material high into the sky. Soviet authorities made the catastrophe even worse by failing to tell the public what had happened — although the nearby plant workers’ town of Pripyat was evacuated the next day, the 2 million residents of Kyiv weren’t informed despite the…

The battle continues to determine US policy towards Russia’s strategically important Nord Stream 2 pipeline. America has led calls for the pipeline to be scrapped, but the incoming Biden administration has been slow to implement agreed sanctions measures. The outcome of this policy struggle in Washington DC is set to determine the fate of Vladimir Putin’s pet energy project. In December 2020, then US President Donald Trump and Congress approved additional measures sanctions to stop construction of Putin’s USD 11 billion pipeline, a project connecting Russia and Germany across the Baltic Sea, that newly elected US President Joe Biden had previously branded as a “bad deal for Europe.” Just five days after Biden’s…

Independent journalists have used a Russian railway tracking service to confirm how Moscow sent thousands of tons of ‘explosive substances’ to occupied Donbas in early 2015 and to identify the Russian military sites from which they were sent. Although the smoking gun stops on the Russian side of the border with occupied Donbas, it ends at a place inhabited by around one thousand people, and no evidence that any of these vast loads were returned to sender. Denis Kazansky, a Ukrainian journalist originally from Donetsk, explains that, “for obvious reasons”, he cannot reveal the identity of the other…

On 22 April, Russia’s Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu issued an order to pull back troops deployed to the Russian-occupied Crimean peninsula (southern Ukraine), near the occupied eastern regions, and near Ukraine’s northeastern border south of the Russian city of Voronezh. However, the announced troop pullback didn’t convince experts of Russia’s peaceful intentions: not everything is being pulled back, Russia has rehearsed many tricks, and previous announced withdrawals were covers for invasions. Announcing withdrawal On 22 April in occupied Crimea, Sergei Shoigu announced the drawdown of the exercise – the massive military build-up on Ukrainian borders was officially a snap test of combat readiness – and assured that the…

President Vladimir Putin’s annual address to the Russian Federal Assembly (parliament), delivered last Wednesday, April 21, following a long delay, was anticipated to present a whole host of major surprises, but the speech turned out to be surprising only for its extraordinarily low content (see EDM, April 22). Many local commentators mused that the firmly entrenched leader seemingly has nothing left to say to Russia’s disillusioned society (Forbes.ru, April 21). Despite the need to devote greater attention to the country’s social and economic problems, Russian economists were disappointed with the…

26 квітня увесь світ відзначає 35 роковини Чорнобильської катастрофи та підтримує Україну у вшануванні пам’яті жертв трагедії, а також відважних ліквідаторів. Їхні страждання та посвята ніколи не будуть забуті. У 1986 році, Світовий Конґрес Українців (СКУ) та його складові організації допомагали викрити радянську владу в приховуванні та запереченні найстрашнішої ядерної катастрофи в історії людства. Відразу після трагедії світові українські громади надавали екстрену допомогу та робили все, щоб залучити міжнародну підтримку. Впродовж наступних десятиліть СКУ та його…

Toomas Hendrik Ilves, former President of Estonia, and Keir Giles, Senior Consulting Fellow at Chatham House, wrote for Chatham House, “The disclosure of a direct attack by Russia on a NATO and EU member state – a massive explosion in an ammunition depot in the Czech Republic back in 2014 – is an action to which a failure to respond assertively would be both inexcusable and highly dangerous. As Tom Tugendhat – chair of the UK House of Commons Foreign Affairs committee and a British Army reservist with operational experience – says, ‘if that is not a war-like act, frankly I don’t know what one is.’ Continued failure by Europe to respond adequately to the…

In 2018, Bellingcat and its investigative partner The Insider identified the two persons whom UK police charged with the Novichok poisoning of Sergey and Yulia Skripal as GRU officers Col. Alexander Mishkin and Col. Anatoly Chepiga. In 2019 Bellingcat identified a third GRU officer implicated in the poisoning operation, Maj. Gen. Denis Sergeev. In a subsequent investigation Bellingcat identified Denis Sergeev as the senior operative from GRU’s Unit 29155 who oversaw the 2015 poisoning operation of Emilian Gebrev, a Bulgarian arms manufacturer. In 2020, Bellingcat announced that…

Vladimir Putin’s decisions in favor of Russia’s military territorial expansion were as rational, in terms of domestic and foreign power politics, in Georgia in 2008 as they were in Ukraine in 2014. A third such decision in the coming weeks or months would be equally so. In 2008, no sanctions by the West followed the de facto Russian occupation of South Ossetia and Abkhazia. The European Union’s only relevant sanctions package related to the Ukraine conflict was adopted less than two weeks after Russia had shot down a Malaysian passenger plane over eastern Ukraine on July 17, 2014. The sanctions that the EU adopted as a result, which remain in place to this date, and that have had a moderate impact on Russia’s economy, were not so much a…

Ukraine twice officially addressed YouTube to shut down pro-Russian TV channels. YouTube has shut down pro-Russian TV channels, namely 112 Ukraine, NewsOne, and ZIK, that are associated with the MP from the Opposition Platform – For Life Party, Viktor Medvedchuk. The TV channels can still be found in the search, but broadcasting is halted. Earlier, Ukrainian Minister of Culture and Information Policy, Oleksandr Tkachenko, said Ukraine had twice officially addressed YouTube to shut down pro-Russian TV channels, since they were sanctioned in Ukraine. Sanctions against Medvedchuk On February 2, 2021, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky enforced a…

According to Lyubov Tsybulska, the main task of the Russian Orthodox Church is to keep as many people as possible in the informational, cultural and political orbit of the aggressor country. Lyubov Tsybulska , head of the Center for Strategic Communications and Information Security, said that the Moscow Patriarchate was a major project to spread the “Russian world,” a powerful tool in Russia’s hybrid war against Ukraine. Tsybulska stated this in an interview with Ukrinform. “I am convinced that the Moscow Patriarchate is a very big project to spread the” Russian world”, a powerful tool in Russia’s hybrid war against Ukraine. We need to…

Russia this week began huge military exercises in Crimea and along the border with Ukraine, using more than 100,000 troops – backed by heavy armor, airpower, and naval units in the Black Sea – in what many feared was a prelude to an invasion of Ukraine. Then Russian President Vladimir Putin announced he would pull back those troops. No one knows what his next move will be. But if Russia were to invade, how likely would it be that it could “win”? We asked some experts who have studied both militaries for an assessment. Russia’s military, like its population, is more than triple the size of Ukraine’s. But…

We need more. The recent Russian apparent pullout provides time and opportunity for reassessment. No one believes that hostilities between Russia and the rest of the world have ended, least of all Ukrainians. What has become more apparent is that fortunately the Western world is more sensitive and prepared to oppose Russian aggression, albeit to what extent remains unclear, in this case fortunately. What is also clear is that Ukraine’s President Zelensky may be a neophyte yet he is not a clown actor but a leader with a clear agenda even if that agenda is not fully embraced by the global civilized community. Throughout the recent crisis President Zelensky has lobbied seeking Western commitment to the defense of Ukraine. In that…

Russian aggression against Ukraine is mounting quickly on Ukraine’s eastern border and in its partial Black Sea blockade. Russian ground and air forces are massing for what the Russians say are training exercises but may be a prelude to a full-scale invasion. President Biden has assured Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky of our “unwavering support” for Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity. But Mr. Biden’s words are not supported by any serious action. Mr. Biden did institute economic sanctions against Russia earlier this month but they are clearly inadequate to change Russian President Vladimir Putin’s behavior. Mr. Biden and Secretary of State Antony Blinken have said…

Ukraine has struggled since 1991 to get away from its Soviet past, and this year — as many of its anti-corruption efforts have been coming to fruition — Russia threatened its existence once more. Earlier this week, Moscow amassed more troops along Ukraine’s borders than it did before it invaded the country in 2014. It also stopped diesel fuel shipments and restricted flights over Crimea and the Black Sea. These aggressive moves put the world on edge, but U.S. President Joe Biden vowed to support Ukraine, and Britain dispatched two warships to the region. On April 21, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky warned his people that war may be imminent and requested a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin to avert…

An old textbook rule for authoritarians says: when you have troubles at home, divert attention elsewhere. Since the occupation of Crimea and start of the undeclared war with Ukraine, the Russian authorities have increasingly focused Russians’ attention on alleged Ukraine-connected extremists and terrorists, sentencing them in fabricated cases. A recent escalation in this campaign has coincided with the recent build-up of Russian troops and hardware at the Ukrainian border. What can this hunt for the Ukrainian “enemy” tell us about Russia’s plans? The “spies” and the “terrorists” In late March this year, the Military Court in the city of Rostov-on-Don sentenced Oleg Prykhodko, a 63-year-old Ukrainian living in Crimea, to 5 years in a high-security prison. The…

Ambassadors Çevik and Grau, the United States welcomes you back to the Permanent Council. We are grateful for your tireless efforts to bring about a peaceful resolution to the Russia-led conflict in eastern Ukraine. Chief Monitor Çevik, you opened your most recent report with a concise state of play, noting that the situation on the ground, while improved if compared to ceasefire violations prior to July 27, 2020, is increasingly fragile; that civilians suffer hardships due to the prolonged closure of entry-exit crossing points; and that the Special Monitoring Mission faced considerable impediments to its movement, overwhelmingly in areas controlled by Russia-led forces. 93%, in fact, of the reported movement…

President Joe Biden overcame a stutter, bullies, and personal losses to become the most powerful man in the world. He is tough and not to be underestimated, but he has more than met his match, so far, when it comes to Vladimir Putin and possibly China’s Xi Jinping. This may be due to the fact that two of Biden’s top advisors —Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Climate Change Envoy John Kerry — are unaccustomed to street fighting and have been mostly immersed in the world of politesse, diplomacy, and policy. But America is up against a thuggish Putin who has been mobilizing militarily around Ukraine, and, in…

The US Senate Foreign Relations Committee advanced the Ukraine Security Partnership Act. The Committee stated, “This legislation increases and improves U.S. military support to Ukraine and sends a message that the United States will continue to support the people of Ukraine, their ability to defend themselves, and the country’s democratic transition.” Committee Chairman Senator Bob Menendez (D-N.J.) stated, “I am glad that the Committee overwhelmingly signaled the United States’ unwavering, bipartisan dedication to our friends in Ukraine, who are on the frontlines of Russian aggression, with the passage of this bill. As Putin continues to escalate the situation along the border with Ukraine, we are…

When Yuliy Mamchur, a Ukrainian air force colonel, tried to fend off a Russian attack on his base on the Crimean peninsula in 2014, his troops were hardly equipped for their mission. “We stood for a month surrounded by well-armed elite troops. We had only pistols and three machine guns to defend the air base,” Mamchur recalled. The pitiful state of Ukraine’s military was exposed seven years ago when Russia seized the peninsula and later stirred up a separatist war in Donbas, eastern Ukraine. Troops lacked flak jackets and wore old Soviet helmets incapable of stopping bullets. Tanks and many…

The international community has focused on Moscow’s buildup of forces on land adjoining Ukraine, concerned that such a concentration of Russian military power will be used against its neighbor (see EDM, April 8, 15, 19). But as Moscow routinely insists, it has the right to shift its forces about on its own territory. In its view, these units would only be a problem if the Russian government were to send them across the border. In contrast, in the waters off Ukraine, Russia, by its latest actions, is already in violation of international law: Moscow has announced that it is unilaterally closing the Kerch Strait between the…

The White House is weighing requests from Kyiv to send additional weaponry to Ukraine as it faces the biggest military buildup of Russian forces on its border in nearly a decade. Consideration of the request is in its early stages, according to people briefed on the internal deliberations. The administration has been reluctant to provoke Moscow on the military front, and scrapped plans last week to send two Navy warships to the Black Sea amid rising tensions in the region. In recent weeks, Russia has built up roughly 120,000 troops along Ukraine’s eastern border, intruded into…

Russia has moved warplanes to Crimea and bases near Ukraine to an extent greater than has previously been disclosed, adding to its capability for political intimidation or military intervention, according to commercial satellite photos of areas being used for the military buildup. The photos, which were reviewed by The Wall Street Journal, show Su-30 fighters lined up on a runway at an air base in Crimea. The aircraft, which are shown in a satellite photo from April 16, hadn’t been there in late March. Other Russian military units on the Crimean peninsula include airborne troops, motorized rifle and armored units, attack helicopters, smoke generators, reconnaissance drones, jamming equipment and a military hospital, the photos indicate. Those forces and…

Russia’s continuing threats to invade Ukraine, or otherwise traumatize it by military force, are predicated on Russia maintaining its asymmetric edge over Ukraine in several key areas of non-nuclear military capability. Russia’s Soviet-derived military thinking emphasizes moving only when the correlation of forces offers enough of an advantage that a decisive outcome is produced. While many Western observers see the invasion of 2014 to have been an outstanding success for Russia and defeat for Ukraine, against Russia’s sought objectives in the Novorossiya campaign, this is not really the case. The…

The leader of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church said his countrymen are living in constant terror of an attack as Russian troops gather at the border. In an interview with ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner, Major Archbishop Sviatoslav Shevchuk said: “We live in constant psychological terror and, according to the latest polls, 60% of the Ukrainian population lives in fear of a military attack by the Russian side.” “On behalf of the Ukrainian people, I ask you to pray for peace in Ukraine, and for the involvement of the international community to resolve the conflict and to prevent a worldwide blaze exploding from this fuse,” the 50-year-old major archbishop said. Ukraine is a…

Royal Navy warships will sail for the Black Sea next month as tensions continue to rise between Ukrainian and Russian forces. Putting the ships off the coast of Ukraine is intended to show solidarity with Kyiv and Nato allies in the region after President Biden decided to cancel the deployment of two American warships to the Black Sea last week for fear of escalating the crisis over the massing of Russian troops. One Type 45 destroyer armed with anti-aircraft missiles and an anti-submarine Type 23 frigate will peel off from the Royal Navy’s carrier task group in the Mediterranean and head through the…

However much Western leaders may claim that they are not at war with Russia, Russian President Vladimir Putin has made it crystal clear that Russia is at war with the West. A series of aggressive actions over the past decade leave no doubt that the Kremlin is battling Western interests and aims to expand the Russian state at the expense of its neighbors. The arms build-up next to Ukraine’s borders and in occupied Crimea are a continuation of the war against Russia’s most prized neighbor. An independent and successful Ukrainian state not only dents Russia’s imperial ambition; it also serves as a democratic model that can inspire Russia’s citizens to replace their kleptocratic autocracy. In response to Moscow’s cyber and…

The Russian Ministry of Defense announced today (April 13) that Moscow is sending 15 naval vessels from its Caspian Flotilla to waters off Ukraine to take part in military exercises there. Earlier, Russian and Ukrainian media had reported stories about a smaller number. Although the vessels must pass through a 100-kilometer-long canal with more than 13 locks, they will likely be able to arrive before other ships, sent from Russia’s Baltic Fleet, make it to the Black Sea basin. Moreover, although the ships are smaller and less heavily armed than the ones coming from the Baltic, the Caspian Flotilla has, over the last…

There are plenty of topics to tackle, and I’ve devoted my last two newsletters to writing about Vladimir Putin, Ukraine, and Alexei Navalny. Today I’m returning to these issues because I believe what’s going on in Eastern Europe is not a neighborhood squabble nor is it random. This is about a trillionaire with a nuclear arsenal whose fascist playbook is not about rapprochement nor peace. Putin disdains and damages the World Order and wants to replace it and yet the world’s leaders — led by President Joe Biden — do not fully understand who and what they are up against. Last week, Biden blinked. He inexplicably sent two warships to the Black Sea and turned them around. Then he made a speech declaring America’s “unwavering” support for…

Serbs who fought for Moscow-backed militias in the conflict in eastern Ukraine say they are ready to take up arms again as a massive Russian military build-up on the border raises fears of more violence. As the simmering conflict in Ukraine heats up again, there have been indications that volunteer fighters from the Balkans have been heading back to the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine again to fight for Russian-backed separatist forces. Amid the rising tensions, Serbian volunteer Dejan Beric, who served with Russian-backed forces in the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic as a…

On Thursday, the Biden administration imposed new sanctions on Russia for its role in actively interfering in the 2016 presidential election. You probably heard about that. But what you likely missed was that, as part of the justification for the sanctions, the Treasury Department released a whole trove of findings about what happened in 2016 and beyond. We knew — thanks to special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation — that Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort and his deputy, Rick Gates, passed along internal polling and other strategy documents to a man named Konstantin Kilimnik, a Russian-linked intelligence operative. And, we…

Angela Merkel and Emmanuel Macron have told Vladimir Putin to pull his forces back after the Ukrainian navy threatened to shoot Russian FSB boats harassing Ukrainian ships near the Kerch Strait. The European leaders’ demands came as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky called for a summit with his Russian counterpart and a new ceasefire. French President Macron hosted Zelensky for talks in Paris – later joined by German Chancellor Merkel by video conference – in a show of support for his pro-Western government in the face of Moscow’s assertive stance. The tensions have escalated seven years after the…

The United States joins other participating States in expressing our continued and considerable concern over Russia’s military activities near Ukraine’s border and in Russia-occupied Crimea. These provocations only threaten to further destabilize an already tense and fragile security situation. We regret that Russia has to date refused to participate in this joint FSC-PC meeting and a previous meeting with Ukraine, and that Moscow has not clarified the situation on the ground regarding the location, dates, and purpose of the military activity and information on the forces involved, as requested by Ukraine under Vienna Document Chapter III, Risk Reduction. The provision of such…

On a chilly Monday morning, the first day of March, airport workers in Košice, Slovakia, unloaded crates marked “Sputnik V” and stamped with the accompanying boast “the first registered COVID-19 vaccine,” from a military cargo plane that had just landed from Russia. Slovakia’s Prime Minister Igor Matovič, a media mogul in office for only a year who had earned a reputation as a showman while heading the anticorruption Ordinary People and Independent Personalities party, staged a press conference in front of the plane to unveil the surprise that he’d negotiated in secret with Russian President Vladimir Putin’s government: 200,000 doses of Sputnik V — with another 2 million doses on order. Telling reporters that Slovakia couldn’t afford to…

Якось принагідно потрапила мені у руки у моїй домашній бібліотеці книжка другого президента України Леоніда Кучми “Україна не Росія” з його особистим підписом. Леонід Кучма найдовше був президентом України, і, мабуть, здійснив в Україні найбільше державно значущих заходів. За нього Україна перейшла від просто незалежної невизначеної устроєво держави до Конституційної демократичної республіки, правда, з більш і менш успішними моментами. Так, не завжди успішними, бо договори чи у Будапешті 1994 року про…

The Pentagon has scrapped a potential Black Sea transit by two Navy destroyers this week due to concerns about escalating tensions between Russia and Ukraine, according to two U.S. officials familiar with the plans. Earlier this month, the Navy notified Turkey, which manages traffic through the Bosporus and Dardanelles straits leading to the Black Sea under the 1936 Montreux Convention, that they were tentatively planning a routine transit by the two destroyers, according to a U.S. defense official. The tentative transit, first reported by CNN, was not unusual or designed to send any particular new…

House Foreign Affairs Committee Lead Republican Michael McCaul has released the following statement in response to the Biden administration’s new sanctions against Russia for the Putin regime’s widespread SolarWinds cyber hack, attempts to influence U.S. elections and other malign activity. “I appreciate the Biden Administration’s actions today to punish dozens of Russian individuals and entities that enable the Putin regime’s destabilizing behavior and to enhance U.S. efforts with allies and partners to bolster our collective resilience to Russia’s sophisticated cyber tools. However, the…

Russia’s rapid military buildup in recent weeks has sparked fears that a large-scale invasion of Ukraine looms, but confusion over Moscow’s aim has the U.S. and its European allies grasping for a coherent strategy to avert a potential crisis. U.S. military officials and security analysts say that the Russian military force assembled is as large as the one put together in 2014, when Moscow annexed Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula in a move that altered the security landscape in Europe. Events in Ukraine have high stakes for the U.S. military. It was forced to recommit thousands of forces to the…

Over the past two weeks, Russian military movements and deployments near Ukraine’s border have increasingly caught the attention of the West. In late March, such movements were occurring to Ukraine’s east, north, and south – including through the deployment of some Belarusian troops – but, last week, the centre of gravity of Russia’s military build-up shifted towards the occupied Crimean peninsula and the Krasnodar region, which borders Donbas. As the situation is still developing, there are varying estimates of the size of Russia’s deployments. But it deployed many of the Southern Military District’s manoeuvre brigades and…

In advance of the meeting of the EU Foreign Ministers, which is to take place on April 19 in Brussels, the UWC President Paul Grod addressed the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Josep Borrell, and Ministers for Foreign Affairs of the EU member states with an official letter. On behalf of the UWC, Paul Grod thanked Mr. Borrell and all Foreign Ministers for their continued support of Ukraine’s European aspirations. Considering the alarming situation in the east of Ukraine, particularly the massing of Russian forces at Ukraine’s border and permanent violations of the ceasefire agreement by Russian proxy forces in the…

President Joe Biden’s withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan was a smart move. His reaction to Vladimir Putin’s impending invasion of Ukraine wasn’t. Putin holds Alexei Navalny and Ukraine hostage, but Biden called him to reiterate America’s support for Ukraine, then invited him to a summit in a few months. A date wasn’t announced nor was a pledge by Russia that it would not invade Ukraine or kill Navalny. Biden blinked. Putin won. Biden is simply the latest American President to be…

The White House reported, “The Biden administration has been clear that the United States desires a relationship with Russia that is stable and predictable. We do not think that we need to continue on a negative trajectory. However, we have also been clear—publicly and privately—that we will defend our national interests and impose costs for Russian Government actions that seek to harm us. Today the Biden administration is taking actions to impose costs on Russia for actions by its government and intelligence services against U.S. sovereignty and interests. Today, President Biden signed a new sanctions executive order that provides strengthened authorities to demonstrate the Administration’s resolve in responding to and deterring the…

Should Russia invade, a national network of Ukrainian irregular military units is prepared to wage a protracted, guerrilla resistance campaign. Ukraine’s Territorial Defense Forces comprise about 100,000 reservists and civilian volunteers assigned to 25 brigades scattered across the country — at least one unit is assigned to each of Ukraine’s 24 regions, or oblasts. These unconventional forces fall under the Ukrainian military’s chain of command. With the Russian military massing on its frontiers, Ukraine has activated the Territorial Defense Forces in its southern regions. According to Ukraine’s armed forces, those units conducted exercises along the Black Sea coastline and the border with Russian-occupied Crimea to resist an…

On April 13, 1941, Japan’s foreign minister, Yosuke Matsuoka, and the Soviet commissar of foreign affairs, Vyacheslav Molotov, signed a neutrality pact, valid for five years. Although less notorious than the 1939 Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact between the Soviets and the Nazis, which plunged Europe into war, the Soviet-Japanese neutrality pact had similar consequences in Asia. As the London News Chronicle observed in reporting on the agreement: “What better guarantee [for Stalin] against Japanese hostility than Japan turning south and crossing swords with the United States? Moscow will feel secure in the Far East only when the Japanese and American navies engage.” Matsuoka and Stalin vowed Japan and…

Russia is building up its forces on the Ukrainian border and in Crimea. At the latest count, the build-up is approaching 100,000, far more than necessary for any “military exercise.” It is also adding to its military potential in the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine that the Kremlin effectively controls through proxies in parts of Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts. Presumably, the Russian build-up is conceived as a test for the new Joe Biden administration, but, as in Crimea, Vladimir Putin might take advantage of perceived weakness to go farther. A likely target would be the capture of the “land bridge” territory between Donetsk/Luhansk and Crimea, which includes the key metallurgical center of Mariupol. Such losses would further…

The Kyiv Post reported, “President Volodymyr Zelensky on April 13 submitted to parliament a bill seeking to liquidate the notorious Kyiv District Administrative Court, headed by controversial judge Pavlo Vovk. Vovk, who has been charged in a graft case, and other judges of the court are seen by civil society as the epitome of judicial corruption and impunity in Ukraine. On April 6, the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) also arrested Vovk’s brother as an…

The Ukrainian air force hasn’t acquired a new manned warplane since 1991. Its 125 Cold War-vintage fighters, attack planes and combat helicopters are old and getting older—and the air force with its $300-million-a-year budget simply can’t afford to replace them. Nor should it replace them, advised Tom Cooper, an independent aviation expert. Huge numbers of modern Russian warplanes are just a short flight away. Russian surface-to-air missiles are so close they could target Ukraine’s aircraft while they’re taking off. For Kiev, buying new manned warplanes is “neither economic, nor makes sense,” Cooper said. Instead, the Ukrainian air force should convert to drones and loitering munitions, Cooper said. In the event of a major war, Ukraine’s robots could swarm Russian army formations, overwhelming…

The international community has expressed growing alarm in recent weeks over a major Russian military build-up along the Ukrainian border. Fears of an imminent escalation in the simmering seven-year war between Russia and Ukraine have been further fueled by the menacing rhetoric coming out of the Kremlin, with Moscow officials accusing Kyiv of preparing an offensive of its own and predicting grave consequences for Ukrainian statehood. It is easy to understand why footage of the Russian Army massing so close to Ukraine has unnerved Western leaders. However, the decisive deployment in this…

Currently, there is a serious threat of a Russian strike on Ukraine. Russia’s aggression against Ukraine is a challenge not only for Ukraine but the international community. The bigger the footprint in Ukraine, the more dangerous the situation for Europe and internationally. A broad coalition of countries must send strong, united messages to deter Russian aggression. Actions speak louder than words. A critical player must be the United States of America. President Joe Biden has expressed his support for Ukraine. The Russian military build-up on the borders is growing. Russia continues to exert eternal pressure via…

The buildup of Russian troops on the Ukrainian border is a very alarming signal. Although, the Russian operation can be just used as a distraction, said the former commander of the United States Army Europe, Lieutenant General Ben Hodges, in an interview with Espresso TV. He drew attention to the fact that the transfer of Russian military equipment and soldiers is accompanied by a stream of disinformation from the Kremlin. “The speaker of the Russian Foreign Ministry, who…

Thirteen years ago, NATO leaders decided at their summit in Bucharest that Ukraine and Georgia should at some point in the future become members of the alliance. It was the first time the alliance had formally recognized the membership prospects of the two post-Soviet countries, which had shown their willingness to assume the responsibilities of NATO allies. The Bucharest summit was undoubtedly a historic event, but the allies stopped short of granting Ukraine and Georgia membership action plans, used previously in NATO’s enlargement in Central and Eastern Europe. NATO membership action plans represent a commitment from the countries aspiring to join to make comprehensive reforms. They also reflect the alliance’s promise that these reforms will…

Joe Biden agreed a few weeks ago that Vladimir Putin was a “killer”, and Putin is about to prove it. He is slowly executing Alexei Navalny, his most successful opponent thus far, as he rots in a Gulag on trumped-up charges. Simultaneously, Putin amasses troops, ships, missiles, and tanks on the northern, eastern, and southern border of his other punching bag, Ukraine, a nation-state that has striven since 1991 to wrest free from the Soviet system. Putin maintains that Ukraine is really Russian, which is untrue, and intended to recapture its eastern half in 2014 but failed. Putin only grabbed 12.5 percent of the country — about the size of West Virginia — because millions of Ukrainians miraculously withstood the…

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy visited Istanbul over the weekend to mark the 10th anniversary of his country’s strategic partnership with Turkey and shore up support from his Black Sea neighbour as tensions escalate with Russia over Ukraine’s simmering war in Donbas. “Turkey’s support for the restoration of our sovereignty and territorial integrity is extremely important,” Zelenskyy stated in a joint news conference with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. While Turkey spars with the United States and other Western European leaders over the purchase of the Russian-made S-400 missile system and the conflict in Syria, the aspiring NATO country of Ukraine has developed strong ties with Ankara. Saturday’s visit marks the…

In early February 2021, Margarita Simonyan, head of the Russian disinformation outlet RT.com, called upon the Russian leadership to violate the country’s obligations to international law, bilateral agreements and human decency: Mother Russia, bring Donbas home! Mother Russia, represented by the official spokespeople of the Kremlin and Russia’s ministry of foreign affairs quickly distanced themselves (and Mother Russia) from Ms. Simonyan’s pathos. While Simonyan is State employed manager and had the appeal broadcast on a State financed and controlled channel, the words were nothing but her own…

Western countries knocked Russia for failing to attend talks intended to tamp down violence in Ukraine amid a military buildup on the border by Moscow. “Russia declined to participate in today’s OSCE meeting with Ukraine to explain its unusual military buildup on its borders with Ukraine and in occupied Crimea. We regret that Russia did not avail itself of this opportunity to address concerns and reduce risks,” the U.S. Mission to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) tweeted. Ukraine had called for the talks at the OSCE amid a rise in violence at the border between…

Barely a week ago, I alerted in my column to the fact that Berlin and Paris had held talks behind the backs of Kyiv with Moscow. I emphasized that this was neither diplomatically tactful nor particularly helpful in the situation. Now Germany’s leader has gone further and followed up with a shameful de facto hugging session with the chief enemy of Europe’s unity and of Ukraine as a sovereign state – Russia’s President Vladimir Putin. On April 8, Chancellor Angela Merkel held a telecom with Putin, in which, according to Moscow’s account, he lectured her that Ukraine is responsible for the escalation of security concerns on the…

Russia’s military buildup near the border of Ukraine continued this week, deepening global concern about Moscow’s ultimate intentions as senior Russian officials and state media dial up their incendiary rhetoric. What seemed like a show of force to the new Biden administration has become, perhaps, something bigger. Videos posted on social media appear to show convoys of military vehicles arriving in the region from as far away as Siberia, according to an analysis by the open-source investigative group, the Conflict Intelligence Team. Troops are massing just south of the Russian city of Voronezh, some 155 miles away…

The Government of Canada has made several recent changes to Canadian sanctions legislation to impose new sanctions against the People’s Republic of China (China) and designate additional individuals and entities under existing sanctions targeting Crimea, Russia and Myanmar. CHINA SANCTIONS On March 22, 2021, Canada imposed new sanctions under the Special Economic Measures Act (SEMA) to target four Chinese individuals and one Chinese entity (Listed Persons) in connection with gross and systemic human rights violations alleged to have been committed in the Xinjiang region of China. The sanctions have been implemented by the Special Economic Measures (People’s Republic of China) Regulations (China Regulations), made under SEMA, and apply to persons in Canada and to…

The Ukrainian Diaspora is one of the more tireless diasporas. Richard Nixon once complemented Ukrainians in the United States by comparing the effectiveness of the Ukrainians to Jews in America, That may have been a stretch, but there is little doubt that Ukrainians are dedicated and hardworking. At the same time, it is also quite disorganized, at least on issues if not on ideology or structure. In most matters we do attempt to find common ground among the diaspora elite since all are patriotic essentially. Ideology is not an issue since most do not address or understand what ideology is except that…

Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty reported on April 8, “A senior U.S. State Department official has said it is time for Ukraine to tackle corruption and weak institutions, including going after Dmytro Firtash, whose natural-gas holdings have made him one of the country’s most notorious, and powerful, oligarchs. The April 8 comments by George Kent, the deputy U.S. assistant secretary of state who oversees Ukraine, come as President Joe Biden makes Kyiv’s progress on reforms a greater priority in the bilateral relationship. Speaking at a meeting of the U.S.-Ukraine Business Council, Kent said graft and a weak judiciary made up an ‘internal threat’ in Ukraine, and he compared it with the external threat Kyiv faced from…

Open-source intelligence specialist at Janes Thomas Bullock identifies fourteen ground troop units and Iskander short-range ballistic missile systems at the Ukrainian border. Janes has identified at least fourteen Russian Ground Troop units that have moved or are moving to the Ukrainian area of operations since late March through open-source intelligence. Janes has identified an influx of Central Military District troops from the 74th and 35th Motorised Brigades, 120th Artillery Brigade and the 6th Tank Regiment, equipped with tanks, infantry fighting vehicles (IFVs), and long-range artillery…

Russia’s build-up of forces on its border with Ukraine is not only a challenge to Ukraine. It also marks the latest phase of a campaign of pressure on the EU. The weaknesses and contradictions of the EU’s response have emboldened Russia to pose a more severe test now. This is a dangerous moment for Europe and the transatlantic alliance. The campaign began in early February when EU High Representative Josep Borrell visited Moscow and was humiliated at every turn. Borrell concluded that “Russia is progressively disconnecting itself from Europe and looking at democratic values as an existential threat”. Yet on the three issues that dominate its relations with Russia, Europe has shown inconsistency and weakness…

Українська діаспора є однією з найбільш невтомних діаспор. Річард Ніксон колись похвалив українців у США, порівнявши ефективність українців з євреями в Америці, що, можливо, було розтяжкою, але мало хто сумнівається, що українці віддані і працьовиті. При цьому українці також досить дезорганізовані, принаймні з питань, якщо не з ідеології чи структури. У більшості випадків ми намагаємося знайти спільну мову серед еліти діаспори, оскільки всі вони є патріотичними по суті. Ідеологія не є проблемою, оскільки більшість не вирішує і не розуміє, що таке…

Russia is running full steam ahead to make occupied Crimea more habitable, and it appears that foreign companies are helping achieve this once again. Official footage from the opening of a pumping station on 18 March 2021 revealed its water pumps were produced by Germany’s Siemens and Denmark’s Grundfos, sparking suspicions of a sanctions breach. A new water conduit station near Simferopol, the capital of Ukraine’s Crimea peninsula which Russia occupied in 2014, is sporting water pumps jointly produced by the EU companies Grundfos and Siemens. This became apparent from Russian state reports from the opening of the station on the 7th anniversary of Russia’s illegal annexation of Crimea, 18 March 2021. After Russia’s annexation of…

Kyiv Post editorials represent the staff leadership’s position on key issues facing Ukraine. Russian dictator Vladimir Putin sent a chemical assassination squad after his main opponent, Alexei Navalny, and poisoned him with a Novichok chemical agent, almost killing him. After Navalny recovered from coma, he was jailed on trumped-up charges as soon as he returned to Russia. Now he says he’s being tortured in prison. This is what Putin does. Navalny’s poisoning is just the latest in about 20 assassinations and mysterious deaths of Putin’s critics. And even that is only a fraction of Putin’s atrocities. The would-be president-for-life has also invaded Georgia, Ukraine and Syria, killing easily tens of thousands of people — many of them innocent and…

Amid escalating Russian aggression against Ukraine, the Ukrainian Canadian Congress (UCC) met today with the Honourable Marc Garneau, Canada’s Minister of Foreign Affairs. In the last week (April 1- 8) six Ukrainian soldiers have been killed and five wounded in 77 attacks by Russian and proxy forces, 19 of which involved use of heavy weapons – mortars and artillery. This increase in attacks has been coupled with significant Russian troop and materiel movements, which have raised concern among NATO and G7 allies about a possible further Russian invasion. The UCC delegation, led by…

Over the last few weeks Putin has put Ukraine back in the news with his propaganda and massive military buildup in northern Crimea and along Ukraine’s eastern border. None of this should be a surprise. Putin tests the United States and the West and makes his malevolent decisions based upon the reactions he sees. A new American President, a new test, all quite predictable. What should not be predictable is the American reaction and the Ukrainian reaction. Admittedly cynical and not completely accurate, the…

The Russian government is escalating its confrontations with the West in order to test the Biden administration’s resolve. Contrary to some assertions, however, we are not witnessing a second Cold War. The Cold War was essentially a stalemate until the Soviet empire imploded. Instead, President Vladimir Putin is engaged in an intimidating international offensive to regain world stature, reconstruct a Muscovite empire, and divide the West. Russia is reinforcing its military deployments along Ukraine’s borders and raising the prospect of another invasion. It has increased its maritime presence in the Arctic and persistently provokes its Western adversaries through overflights of U.S. and NATO ships in the Baltic and Black seas and…

Democracies must be relieved that Russia’s military buildup is getting pushback: The United States is, finally, on board. It’s been a long time coming. In the interim, President Vladimir Putin has escalated his criminal activities: invading sovereign countries, murdering opponents, meddling in foreign elections, paralyzing cyber, faking news, and plying on the hearts and minds of democrats in order to erode trust in their governments and institutions. Unchecked—adequately– Russia has nearly doubled its military power along its border with Europe. The US military’s European Command had raised the…

Four Ukrainian soldiers have died in combat against Russian-backed forces in Ukraine’s eastern Donbas region during the past two days. The deaths come amid heightened military tensions between Kyiv and Moscow following a recent uptick in violence in Ukraine’s eastern war zone that parallels the ongoing mobilization of Russian forces — including thousands of troops, armor, and artillery — along Ukraine’s frontiers. Two Ukrainian soldiers died during a battle on Monday. “Two servicemen received fatal gunshot wounds amid enemy shelling,” the Ukrainian military announced on Facebook, adding that its units returned fire on Monday after intense fighting broke out at several places along the roughly 250-mile-long, entrenched front line in the Donbas. Two more Ukrainian soldiers were killed in…

Over the past ten days, two U.S. military transport aircraft and a cargo ship chartered by the Pentagon have unloaded military supplies in Ukraine. The General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces reports that both sides are preparing for a joint training exercise to repel aggressive attacks if Russia launches an offensive. At least three large military cargoes have been delivered by American aircraft and ships to Ukraine over the past few days. On 25 March, the general cargo ship Ocean Glory arrived at Odesa from Charleston, USA; it was chartered by the Military Sealift Command (organization that controls the replenishment and military transport ships of…

The Kyiv Post reported, “Law enforcement searched a Kyiv apartment full of bundles of cash, antiques and documents allegedly belonging to the notorious Judge Pavlo Vovk on April 6. The detectives confiscated around $5 million USD, including $3.7 million USD, 840,000 euros, 20,000 pounds, 230,000 hryvnias, and 100 Israeli shekels, the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) said on April 7 commenting on the search. Apart from cash, there were antiques in the apartment. One of the pieces resembles an Aladdin’s lamp. The documents found in the apartment belong to Vovk and his relative, according to…

The current escalation of tensions around eastern Ukraine is dangerous and may appear untimely and inopportune while Europe and Russia seek to focus on managing the latest COVID-19 pandemic wave as well as addressing its accumulating economic and social consequences. Nevertheless, a deliberate political choice is dictating the uptick in violence in the Donbas war zone, raising the risk of renewed major military conflict. This choice is being made in the Kremlin, and the rationale becomes comprehensible only within the context of the ongoing transformation of President Vladimir Putin’s regime into an autocratic police state (VTimes, March 31). The latest spike in frontline clashes…

Ukraine is back in the international headlines thanks to alarm over a major Russian military build-up close to the Ukrainian border. This latest scare is a reminder that Russian aggression against Ukraine is far from over. While combat operations peaked in 2014-15, the conflict continues to simmer and remains very much unresolved. Over the past seven years, the international community has provided Ukraine with considerable support, but this backing has yet to persuade Russia to end its hybrid campaign against Ukrainian statehood. Ukraine’s Western partners are understandably reluctant to enter into an armed confrontation with Russia, and have also been extremely cautious about providing the Ukrainian military with the…

Over the past few weeks, Russia has been conducting a sizable military buildup along its border with Ukraine and in occupied Crimea. Most of these Russian deployments seem to be spontaneous and unrelated to any scheduled training exercises. Over the same time period, fighting has increased in eastern Ukraine. So far in 2021, 20 Ukrainian soldiers have been killed and another 57 wounded while fighting Russian and Russian-backed forces. Russia’s plan is unclear, but one thing is certain: Moscow is testing the Biden Administration. During this sensitive time, the United States should immediately show its…

A fiercely patriotic young man, Vyacheslav Kyrylov, call sign “Kozak”, came home one day in February 2014 and told his family that he was going to fight with the Azov Battalion as a volunteer. One year later, during a so-called ‘ceasefire’ decreed by the Minsk Protocol, Vyacheslav was killed while repelling an enemy attack on Shyrokyne, a strategic coastal resort situated between Mariupol and Novoazovsk. Vyacheslav’s Azov Battalion eliminated 10 militants of the occupying enemy forces, but suffered their own heavy losses – 7 dead and 50 wounded. The Positive Cossack Vyacheslav Yuriyevych Kyrylov. Call sign “Kozak” (Cossack). These words reflect the entire life of a man whose breath was abruptly cut short. It’s extremely difficult to write about a…

Russia has deployed troops and armor near Ukraine’s eastern border and in Crimea, sparking fears of a wider war after years of stalemated trench combat in Ukraine’s eastern Donbas region. Amid the mounting crisis, US President Joe Biden and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy shared their first phone call on Friday. The subject of the call, according to multiple news reports, focused mainly on the conflict with Russia. A White House readout of the call said Biden “reaffirmed the United States’ unwavering support for Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity in the face of Russia’s ongoing aggression in the Donbas and Crimea.” Ukrainian Chief of Staff Ruslan Komchak said on March 30 that Russia shifted an additional 25 battalion tactical groups toward…

Recent ceasefire violations by Russian-backed forces in Ukraine and reinforcements of regular troops on the Russian side of the border don’t mean Moscow is preparing a major advance or even seriously trying to move the line of conflict, Ukraine officials and experts said. But they do show Vladimir Putin’s continued efforts to exercise control over Kyiv’s affairs and peel off its international support. Over the last several weeks, unverified social media posts show Russian heavy equipment moving closer to the Ukrainian border, including howitzers, advanced anti-aircraft missiles and radar, and even an advanced air assault division. The moves prompted a Friday phone call between the U.S. President Joe Biden and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, as…

Russian President Vladimir Putin, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Emmanuel Macron conferred on March 30 by video-conference on multiple international issues, including the intensification of the “internal conflict in Ukraine” (according to Putin) or “conflict in Ukraine” (Merkel and Macron, though still not naming Russia). Thus, three members of the Normandy Four group discussed the other member, Ukraine, in Ukraine’s absence. Amidst a military conflict (see EDM, March 11, 24), moreover, Berlin and Paris held talks with one belligerent while bypassing the other belligerent. Furthermore…

The battle for the right to create a Holocaust museum at the location in Kyiv where the Nazis massacred Jews, Babyn Yar (Babi Yar), is proving no less hot than the “live” battles in Donbas. Two projects, one Ukrainian and the other Russian, are competing for the right to build a Holocaust museum there. While the project backed by Russian-linked oligarchs Mikhail Friedman, Pavel Fuks, and German Khan has already rented land on the site of the massacre, the Ukrainian historians’ project must rely on public support and the protected status of the land. The competition took a new turn on 19 March 2020 as 30 MPs submitted their draft resolution to parliament forbidding Russian influence over the Babyn Yar memorialization process. At the same time, a…

The Ukrainian World Congress, the global voice for 20 million Ukrainians who live abroad, is “deeply concerned with Russia’s recent build-up of military forces at Ukraine’s border and violation of its cease-fire agreement,” the organization said in an April 2 statement. “Equally troubling are the series of provocative statements by Russian President Vladimir Putin, other officials, and Russian media personalities regarding Ukraine. All these developments have raised the prospect that Moscow might launch a new offensive in Ukraine. The organization notes that, in recent weeks, Russia has been amassing unprecedented forces along the…

Russia has warned Nato against sending any troops to help Ukraine, amid reports of a large Russian military build-up on its borders. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Russia would take “additional measures” if Nato were to make such a move. Sporadic, low-level clashes continue in eastern Ukraine between Ukrainian troops and Russian-backed separatists. US forces in Europe are now on higher alert, citing “escalations of Russian aggression” in the area. A Nato official told Reuters news agency that Russia was undermining efforts to reduce tensions in eastern Ukraine and Nato ambassadors had…

Nothing subverts Western response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine as the oldest of all reality reversals – a “1000-year history of Russia” beginning in Kyiv, and “Ukraine is a historic part of Russia.” Had Russia invaded Poland or the Baltic states, Western reaction would not have been as feckless–and not because of their NATO status. Ukraine is “different.” During the 2012 U.S. presidential campaign, although candidate Mitt Romney identified Russia as America’s greatest geopolitical foe, even he then wrote in the Wall Street Journal of the legitimacy of “Russia’s influence in Kyiv.” This breeds Western ambivalence that emboldens Putin’s war against the West. Ukraine was never on Western radar for the same reason, despite being the fulcrum in the formation and fall of the USSR. The U.S. State Department in 1948: “Any long-term U.S. policy must be…

Відомі дипломати, науковці, військові, громадські діячі – серед яких Володимир Огризко, Данило Лубківський, Роман Безсмертний, Сергій Квіт, Михайло Гончар та інші звернулися до органів державної влади з вимогою дати рішучу відповідь Росії в умовах загострення безпекової ситуації. «Вимагаємо від Ради національної безпеки та оборони і від Уряду України зосередити всю увагу на посиленні обороноздатності держави на рубежах з агресором. Закликаємо провести позачергове засідання Верховної Ради України для розгляду безпекового становища і переговорного процесу на всіх рівнях. Вимагаємо…

Dmitry Kozak, the Kremlin’s representative to negotiations over the war in Eastern Ukraine, in Beijing in 2019 (Source: Kyiv Post) The Kremlin’s representative to negotiations over Russia’s war in Ukraine’s east, Dmitry Kozak, is undoubtedly the source of the outpouring of secret documents to the Russian daily Kommersant (March 24), revealing the negotiating positions of the parties to the Normandy process (Germany, France, Russia, Ukraine). Kozak has, in recent months, urged Kyiv, Berlin and Paris to turn the negotiators’ informal, give-and-take position papers into official documents, under the envoys’ respective signatures, and make them public. His stated goal (Interfax, March 18) is to expose Kyiv’s “obstructive” attitude and blame the deadlock on Ukraine. On the…

So now the cat is out of the bag. We now know a lot more of the truth about what has been happening behind the scenes in the dealings of Ukraine’s “partners” in the Normandy Four quartet – Germany and France, with the aggressor in Crimea and eastern Ukraine, Putin’s Russia. Moreover, details have emerged of a proposed “peace plan” that Berlin and France have recently prepared and placed on the table for discussion in the Normandy Four format. And what we are discovering is certainly distasteful and worrying. The implications are not good for Ukraine, nor for that matter the unity of Europe, or even the Trans-Atlantic Alliance. On March 30, the leaders of…

Philanthropist George Soros leads a cabal that controls the country’s economy on behalf of globalist interests. A liberal conspiracy seeks to feminize men, defeminize women, destroy traditional families, and empower homosexuals and transgender people. Government officials are complicit in a scheme to harvest the organs of dying soldiers on behalf of wealthy clients. Foreign powers help elect pliant politicians who will open the door to corporations that pillage the economy. Local plutocrats enrich themselves by pushing for endless wars. These are not just QAnon tropes in the United States. They are the conspiracy theories that, for several years now, have been flooding the airwaves and social media in Ukraine. Their intensity and…

President Joe Biden and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky spoke on Friday morning for the first time since Biden took office, according to two people familiar with the call, amid reports of a Russian military buildup in eastern Ukraine that has alarmed U.S. and Ukrainian officials. The leaders spoke for 30 to 40 minutes, according to one of the people, and Biden reiterated his commitment to Ukraine and said in his heart and mind he is a great believer in the country. The conversation follows at least three high-level calls between the U.S. and Ukraine this week between Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Mark Milley, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and…

In the last several weeks, Russia has significantly escalated aggression in its war against Ukraine. Reports of Russian troop movements towards Ukraine’s borders in the east and in occupied Crimea have increased. Shelling and attacks by Russian forces on Ukrainian positions on the eastern front have escalated. On March 26, four Ukrainian soldiers were killed defending Ukraine. The UCC applauds Canada and the United States for their swift reaction and unequivocal condemnation of this recent Russian escalation. Yesterday, the Honourable Marc Garneau, Canada’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, unequivocally condemned Russian actions that…

Дозвольте мені передувати мої зауваження з застереженням. Це особистий аналіз, але не анекдот з кількома стереотипними прикладами і висновками і, на жаль, деяким упередженням. Крім того, це дуже чутлива тема, яка може образити навіть деяких моїх хлопців, які євреями, тих, хто дуже тонкої шкіри. Тим не менш, паркани або відстань роблять добрих сусідів, а українці та євреї довгий час були близькими сусідами без парканів. Однак близькість житла не пояснює сьогоднішнє існуюче, хоча, можливо, неактуальне клопотання. Чому між двома народами так багато ворожнечі, в основному по…

Провід Організації Українських Націоналістів (бандерівців) із занепокоєнням констатує виразне намагання Кремля загострити ескалацію збройної агресії проти України як шляхом неприхованого нарощення російських збройних сил на кордонах з Україною, так і очевидною активізацією промосковської «п’ятої колони» всередині нашої держави. Москва цілеспрямовано загострює становище на тимчасово окупованих територіях, влаштовуючи провокації, наслідками яких є смерті наших захисників. Метою активізації агресора є посилення тиску на Україну, розпалювання внутрішніх конфліктів і непорозумінь та змушення української влади та наших союзників до поступок агресору…

Let me preface my remarks with a caveat. This is a personal analysis but not anecdotal with few stereotypical examples and conclusions and, unfortunately, some bias. Also this is a very sensitive topic which may offend even some of my fiends who are Jewish, those who are very thin skinned. Nevertheless, fences or distance make good neighbors and Ukrainians and Jews were close neighbors with few fences for a long time. However, that proximity of habitation does not explain today’s existing albeit perhaps irrelevant conundrum. Why is there so much animosity between the two peoples, mostly on the Jewish side? For most Ukrainians contemporary irrelevance has healed old wounds. After all they are not…

Russia has begun mobilizing troops along its border with Ukraine, presenting a fresh challenge at the Biden administration and threatening to upend a cease-fire between Ukraine and pro-Russian fighters. The move follows escalated fighting along the demarcation line inside Ukraine, where one attack last week killed four Ukrainian soldiers and wounded two. In response, Ukraine said Tuesday it had put its own forces on alert and was reinforcing units in eastern Ukraine and on the border with the Russian-occupied peninsula of Crimea. While Mr. Biden has wrestled with Kremlin machinations such as a…

Russia is moving thousands of military personnel and a great deal of equipment towards the southeastern Ukrainian border area held by Russian-allied forces. The deployments are likely to portend a new offensive by Russia. While Russia’s Southern Military Theater command had previously announced major exercises were to be held, the scale and combined arms diversity of the particular units deployed is striking. This includes a heavy emphasis on infantry fighting vehicles, rapid mobility airborne and special forces, air force fighter and bomber units, and logistics trains. Moving these forces is expensive and complex, and…

“As of March 30, twenty-eight battalion tactical groups of the enemy are stationed along the state border of Ukraine and the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine. Lately, the Russian Armed Forces have been building up troops near Ukraine’s border in the north, in the east and in the south, namely in the Bryansk and Voronezh regions and in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea, pulling forces from different regions of the Russian Federation under the guise of control exercises for the winter period of training, maintaining combat alert and general combat readiness for the upcoming West 2021 strategic exercises,” Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine…

Fighting between the Ukrainian army and Russia’s pet separatists in the East has intensified. Russian tanks and guns are pouring over the Kerch Strait Bridge. NATO just held an urgent meeting in which allies “shared concerns about Russia’s recent large-scale military activities” in eastern Ukraine and the Black Sea, so we’d bet on “not fake.” EUCOM, too, has raised its watch level from “possible crisis” to “potential imminent crisis” (the highest level). Oddly, this doesn’t seem to be headline news in the United States. Since 2014, Russia and Russian-backed forces have occupied parts of the Donetsk and…

Hot information war, creeping escalation and other warnings and developments indicate that Russia is moving towards another attack on Ukraine. Will it be annexation of Donbas, a launch of full-scale military operations or insertion of Russian ‘peacekeepers’? More than six years have passed since the so-called Minsk II accords brought an end to the last high-intensity military conflict in Ukraine. But it would be unduly complacent to suppose that this hiatus will last much longer. Since the Package of Measures for the Implementation of the Minsk Agreement [of 5 September 2014] was signed by the representatives of Russia, Ukraine, the OSCE and the unrecognised leaders of the two self-proclaimed Donbas republics on 12 February 2015, more Ukrainian servicemen have been killed in the ensuing low-intensity conflict than…

Ukrainian diplomats have raised the alarm this week over news of Russian plans to hold Ukraine peace talks without Ukraine’s participation. The Kremlin gambit has revived concerns that Moscow aims to bypass Kyiv and reach agreement directly with the West over Ukraine’s geopolitical future. Speaking in Moscow on March 29, Kremlin Spokesperson Dmitry Peskov confirmed to reporters that preparations were currently underway for a video conference between Russian President Vladimir Putin and fellow Normandy Format leaders German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Emmanuel Macron, with the conflict in Ukraine set to…

In February 2021, Russia’s hybrid war against Ukraine entered its eighth year. During this period, the Kremlin has succeeded in occupying Crimea and a large swathe of territory in eastern Ukraine’s borderland Donbas region. At the same time, Russian influence over the remaining 92.8% of Ukraine has plummeted to lows not witnessed for more than three hundred years. Although there remains no end in sight to the ongoing war, it is already becoming increasingly obvious that the events of the past seven years have led to Ukraine’s decisive departure from Russia’s sphere of influence. Evidence of this historic shift can be…

Today marks the 75th anniversary of the Lviv pseudo-sobor, which took place from 8–10 March 1946. In the past 25 years, few English works have revealed new information in its regard. Based on recently declassified Vatican archival sources, this article seeks to make a modest contribution by revealing what, when, and how the Apostolic See of Rome learned of events leading up to this event. During the Soviet occupation of eastern Poland (western Ukraine) 1939–1941, Stalin fell back on old Tsarist plans to suppress the Greek-Catholic Churches. But attempts to entice clergy to defect floundered on the moral authority enjoyed by Metropolitan Andrey Sheptytsky. When the…

Australia has imposed targeted financial sanctions and travel bans against a Russian individual and four Russian companies connected to the construction and operation of the Kerch Strait Railway Bridge linking Russia to the illegally annexed territories of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol, Ukraine. The Kerch bridge is an attempt to consolidate Russia’s control of the illegally annexed Crimean Peninsula. By virtue of their activities, this individual and the entities are complicit in seeking to legitimise Russia’s illegal annexation of Crimea and Sevastopol and support separatist activities in…

The Kyiv Post reported, “Bellingcat, the international online investigation group, has helped identify three alleged guards serving at Izolyatsiya, the notorious secret detention camp in the Russian-occupied city of Donetsk. The camp is known for widely-reported illegal imprisonment and torture. The information was published on March 29 by journalist and author Stanislav Aseyev who was imprisoned in the camp for two years until he was freed as part of Russia’s prisoner swap with Ukraine in late 2019. According to Aseyev, the three men are…

Canada’s Department of Global Affairs stated on March 29, “The Honourable Marc Garneau, Minister of Foreign Affairs, today announced new sanctions against 2 individuals and 4 entities, under the Special Economic Measures (Russia) Regulations and the Special Economic Measures (Ukraine) Regulations, in response to Russia’s illegal occupation and annexation of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea. Since its illegal occupation and annexation of Crimea in 2014, the Government of Russia has continuously violated the sovereignty, territorial integrity and independence of Ukraine. Russia has…

I’m appalled to learn that Germany and France have, according to Moscow, chosen to speak directly to Vladimir Putin’s Russia over the heads of, and without, Ukraine. Whatever their intention, and however scrupulously packaged as another well-meaning effort, it has already drawn a virtual protest response from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine. And this comes shortly after Berlin and Paris reportedly prepared a “peace plan,” without Ukraine, and submitted it to Moscow. Is this because they are fed up with the long-standing impasse and their failure to make a difference? Because of…

Russian President Vladimir Putin’s Decree No. 201 came into effect on March 20, 2021. The executive edict adds Crimea and Sevastopol to “the list of Russia’s border territories where foreign citizens, stateless persons, and foreign legal entities cannot own land.” As such, non-Russians, including Ukrainian citizens who still reside in occupied Crimea but who refused to obtain a Russian passport, can now be stripped of their property. One year ago, Putin imposed a ban on land ownership in Crimea, thereby legitimizing the state’s appropriation of Ukrainian government assets and private property there. Foreign citizens legally had…

“Among the many different examples of factually wrong claims that have come out of the Kremlin and media outlets loyal to its line since 2014, the case of Crimea’s annexation stands out as perhaps the most blatant and geopolitically most critical” – EU vs Disinformation wrote back in 2018, on the 4th anniversary of the illegal annexation of the peninsula. Now, another three years later, these words stand as relevant as ever. The illegal annexation of Crimea along with the “little green men” – Russian soldiers without insignia, who invaded and took control of the peninsula – have shown how disinformation can support hostile operations on the…

The Kyiv Post reported on March 26, “Private military companies (PMCs) are illegal in Ukraine. But it has rarely stopped people with deep enough pockets, who are fond of solving their business issues with a kind word and a gun. Late on March 24, the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) raided and disarmed a training camp run by DBC Corp., a security contractor founded by former soldiers and officers of the paramilitary Donbas Battalion, which used to fight Russian-sponsored forces in the Donbas. According to the SBU, the…

У грудні 1994 року Україна з третім за величиною ядерним арсеналом у світі погодилася відмовитися від нього і приєднатися до довгого списку країн, що приєдналися до Договору про нерозповсюдження ядерної зброї. Звичайно, коли Україна підписала відповідний Будапештський меморандум, вона вважала, що, відкинуши свій ядерний арсенал, вона буде захищена від нападу з боку всіх інших країн-підписантів. Українців раніше багато разів обманюли, але ми не вчимося на минулих помилках. Чи лежить цього разу провина за наївність президента Кучми України чи підтексту президента Клінтона з США, незрозуміло. У будь-якому випадку Будапештський меморандум у ретроспективі не дав…

In December 1994 Ukraine with the world’s third largest nuclear arsenal agreed to give it up and join a long list of nations acceding to the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty(NPT). Mistakenly of course when Ukraine signed the relevant Budapest Memorandum attendant thereto, it believed that having given up its nuclear arsenal it would be protected from attack by all the other signatory countries. Ukrainians had been fooled many times before, but we do not learn from past mistakes. Whether this time the fault lay with the naivete of President Kuchma of Ukraine or mendacity of President Clinton of the United States is not clear. In any event the…

The Biden Administration issued an open threat on March 8 to several Russian media outlets. Over the last few months, the U.S. had been monitoring their campaign of “disinformation” about COVID-19 vaccines, and it now intended to push back “with every tool we have,” the White House said. But that statement did little to deter its most prominent target: an obscure operation called News Front, which has styled itself as a group of “fighters in the information war.” The site’s editor, Konstantin Knyrik, says the warnings from the White House had little effect, other than to draw some fresh attention to his platform. “We’re growing. We’re posting. We’re reaching new…

Collaboration between Russia and China to undermine the global influence of the United States is a marriage of strategic convenience. It is likely to culminate in a shot-gun divorce as Russia’s internal problems and China’s external aspirations accelerate. Beijing will be at the forefront among Russia’s many neighbors in claiming territories that were once seized by Moscow. In its Tsarist, Soviet, and Putinist guises, Muscovite Russia has been an expansionist imperial structure. But every empire assembled through conquest and colonization faces contraction or collapse at some point in its history, including the current Russian Federation. Russia’s state failure will be accelerated by renewed claims on…

Ukraine has placed sanctions on dozens of Russian officials and entities, including businesses and media. President Volodymyr Zelenskiy signed a decree on March 23 targeting 26 foreigners and 81 legal entities, blocking their assets and restricting travel or operations in the country. The sanctions, announced after a decision by Ukraine’s national security body, also target Russian state-controlled media RT, the TASS news agency, Gazeta.ru, Lenta.ru, and others. In the case of media, the sanctions also restrict or terminate the use of telecommunications services. The list of companies targeted include…

Canada slapped sanctions on nine Russian government officials for the poisoning and prosecution of Kremlin critic Alexey Navalny, joining other Western allies who acted earlier. “The Russian government has repeatedly shown its unwillingness to respect the basic rights of its own people and address concerns raised on multiple occasions by the international community,” Foreign Affairs Minister Marc Garneau said in a statement. “Alongside our partners, Canada will continue to increase pressure on the Russian government to unconditionally release Mr. Navalny and his supporters who have been unlawfully detained. Russia’s gross human rights violations will not go unanswered.” Mr. Navalny, 44, one of…

On the eve of the next meeting of the National Security and Defense Council, I would like to draw its members’ attention to the influential and financially powerful agent network of the Russian Federation in Ukraine. We are referring to a branch of the so-called ROC, the UOC-MP. “Firstly, this entity was created by the Communist Party banned in Ukraine, headed by the butcher Stalin (there are enough archival documents). Secondly, in all the years of Ukraine’s independence, this child of the NKVD, hiding behind religious slogans, conducts targeted anti-state activities (there are many facts, including those documented by the SBU),” he said. According to him, with the…

Ukraine has been changing and undergoing a transition to democracy since 1991. However, political stability is necessary for the continued existence of a democratic state, and Ukraine cannot claim to have reached this level. Despite so many different protests, and namely the Revolution of Dignity, when Ukrainians united to defend their basic freedoms, Ukrainian society is still somewhat polarized – into western Ukraine and eastern Ukraine. This state of affairs is dangerous, because a country divided into several hostile camps does not evolve, but only defeats itself. Conflicts and quarrels within Ukrainian society have simmered over the past few years for many different reasons, but mainly due to revelations about the crimes perpetrated by the…

Ihor Kozlovsky smiled happily while taking pictures of a crowd that chanted Ukraine’s national anthem in mid-April 2014. Although there was already little to smile about in Donetsk, a multicultural city of one million in Ukraine’s southeast. Europe’s hottest armed conflict would soon turn it into a depopulated bastion of neo-Stalinism. Kozlovsky, a university professor and head of the ecumenical Christian-Muslim Dialogue Center, helped organise multi-confessional “prayer marathons” for Ukraine’s unity that went on for months, even after armed pro-Russian separatists held an “independence referendum” on May 11, 2014. Twenty months later, Kozlovsky was detained and barely survived what he, other survivors and…

Germany’s Greens have confirmed plans to block Russia’s Nord Stream 2 pipeline if, as expected, they form part of the new German coalition government following Bundestag elections in September 2021. The Biden administration last week reignited hopes that it is going to implement US sanctions designed to prevent completion of the Kremlin’s geopolitically important Nord Stream 2 pipeline to Germany. “The Biden Administration is committed to complying with that [sanctions] legislation,” stated US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on March 18. He confirmed that the US State Department is currently evaluating information about potential targets connected to Nord Stream 2 and “reiterates its warning that any entity involved risks…

On Feb. 25, Amnesty International stripped away the status of imprisoned Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny as a prisoner of conscience. By singling him out, the move was a blunder, one that undermines the Russian people’s fight against Putinism. If international attention remains focused only on the person rather than the protest movement, this will hinder the development of an opposition movement in Russia and inhibit the democratic world’s response to Putin’s authoritarianism. Russian security services know it is easier to tarnish and eliminate a man rather than a movement. Amnesty’s announcement has aided the Kremlin’s desire to incapacitate the most serious challenge to the Putin regime in almost a decade. Now, with…

Ukraine has announced preparations for the Crimean Platform summit, scheduled for 23 August 2021. Amongst its objectives, Ukraine aims to consolidate and properly organize sanctions mechanisms related to occupied Crimea in both the domestic and international spheres. The domestic part is arguably the most problematic of these two: it turns out Ukraine currently lacks any comprehensive sanctions policy towards occupied Crimea. A new analysis of the dealings of Viktor Medvedchuk, Vladimir Putin’s top-tier ally in Ukraine, reveals many of these shortcomings. On 19 February 2021, the Ukrainian Security and Defence Council (RNBO) imposed sanctions that block the legal entities of Viktor Medvedchuk and Taras Kozak, two Ukrainian MPs of the…

On Jan. 27, 2021, Ukraine and Canada celebrated the 29th anniversary of establishing diplomatic relations. After the proclamation of the Act of Independence of Ukraine, Canada was one of the first countries that recognized its independence in 1991. In less than six months, it established official relations with Ukraine. Throughout the history of Ukrainian independence, it is not easy to cite an example of more friendly and reliable relations aimed at the development of Ukrainian statehood without infringing on its sovereignty. However, our relationship, like any existing process, needs constant development. The article reviews the three most important tracks of these relations and …

As Ukraine (at least, regions of Ukraine) heads into a third lockdown period due to record numbers of new coronavirus cases, an analysis of how we got here, and the lessons the government can learn from highlighting their failures, is necessary. This is not criticism for the sake of grumbling. Lives are being cut short. People are dying, and there is no acceptable level of premature death. Hopefully, someone in the Ministry of Health and in government and on Bankova Street will pay attention to this constructive criticism, and do more to be pro-active about fighting this virus when citizens and residents of Ukraine emerge from the three weeks of isolation that we are about to undergo to play our part. Because the government has to…

Німецькі органи далі вивчають обставини і наслідки варварського нападу на могилу С.Бандери на цвинтарі «Вальдфрідгоф» у Мюнхені. Нагадуємо, що 6 березня ц.р. адміністрація цвинтаря повідомила, що група замаскованих осіб розлила невідомий червоний розчин на могилі Бандери, й цю подію зафіксувала відеокамера, встановлена дирекцією цвинтаря біля могили, яка не раз уже зазнала ворожої наруги. До розслідування нападу були залучені поліція, пожежники та органи Державної безпеки Німеччини. Слідчі дії мають за мету виявити, чи за цим актом немає також політичної мотивації. На основі такої…

The National Intelligence Council has released an unclassified report assessing, retrospectively, foreign threats to the 2020 election. It has a few twists and turns: The Iranian government attempted to run some kind of online influence campaign; the Chinese government considered doing the same but then dropped the idea. But most of the report is about Russia. Unlike in 2016, Russian intelligence operatives weren’t in the business of hacking and leaking this time around. Instead they concentrated on planting what they would call kompromat. The NIC focuses in particular on the activity of Andriy Derkach, a Russian agent and Ukrainian citizen who used former President Donald Trump’s lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, to spread disinformation about Joe Biden and his family. The report also mentions Konstantin Kilimnik, another…

The water reservoirs satisfying the needs of large cities in occupied Crimea are rapidly disappearing. As a result, their residents have problems with access to safe fresh water. As the Crimea Realities platform reports, about a dozen large water reservoirs in Crimea have become shallow or completely depleted. The first significant problems with the water arose in the occupied city of Simferopol and nearby areas in the summer of 2020. Against the background of depletion of reservoirs, Simferopol city and its district have been receiving water according to the schedule – for three hours in the morning and the…

President Biden has landed the first punch in an escalating contest between a reviving America and a revisionist Russia by publicly affirming that Russian President Vladimir Putin is a killer. Biden could have gone even further by naming Putin as a terrorist for his complicity in the bombing of apartment blocks in Russia in 1999 and a war criminal for the slaughter of tens of thousands of civilians during Moscow’s attack on Chechnya that same year. Regardless of such charges, words have to be followed with deeds or Putin will not take the new U.S. administration seriously. Moscow’s interventions in U.S. elections and periodic cyberattacks, most notably the Solar Winds hack, must be viewed in a broader context. The Kremlin is engaged in a multi-pronged campaign to…

President Vladimir V. Putin dryly wished President Biden “good health” on Thursday after the American leader assented to a description of his Russian counterpart as a “killer,” and long-running tensions morphed into a furious exchange of trans-Atlantic taunts. The previous evening, Russia took the rare step of recalling its ambassador to Washington after Mr. Biden’s comments in a television interview, warning of the possibility of an “irreversible deterioration of relations.” On Thursday, seated in a gilded chair on the seventh anniversary of Russia’s annexation of Crimea, Mr. Putin all but…

На сході Румунії є місто і порт Галац. 28 жовтня 1962 року там, за активної участі московських агентів КДБ, руйнували собор святого Георгія. За інформацією експосла України в Румунії Антона Бутейка, робота була непростою – храм стояв на фундаментах стародавньої генуезької фортеці і знищенню не піддавався. Варвари застосували рідкісний метод – упродовж декількох ночей під великим тиском під фундамент помпували солону морську воду. За два тижні таких пекельних зусиль у стінах з’явилися тріщини і відбулося осідання, але собор продовжував стояти. Завершити цей акт…

Any successful relationship requires both parties to do their part. This maxim applies to the U.S.-Ukraine partnership as it does to any other. While there is still plenty of work ahead, the prospects are encouraging. The Biden administration is making solid initial efforts to do its part in not only restoring, but strengthening the U.S.-Ukraine relationship. President Biden and his team have made crystal clear – in a way that was sorely absent from the previous president – that Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity matter. Mr. Biden said so directly to Mr. Putin in a…

U.S. Senators Bob Menendez (D-N.J.) and Jim Risch (R-Idaho), Chairman and Ranking Member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Rob Portman (R-Ohio), Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), John Barrasso (R-Wyo.), and Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.) today re-introduced the Ukraine Security Partnership Act to provide security assistance and strategic support to Ukraine. “In the seven years following Russia’s invasion, Ukrainian service members have selflessly and courageously continued to defend their homeland against Russian ground, sea, and cyberspace assaults that violate Ukrainian sovereignty and security,” Chairman Menendez said. “In the interest of supporting Ukraine’s defense against Russian aggression and advancing American values and…

When Volodymyr Zelenskyy won the Ukrainian presidency two years ago, his election owed much to promises of ending the country’s undeclared war with Russia. Many of Zelenskyy’s supporters hoped the charismatic comic and political outsider would be able to move beyond the hostility that had poisoned bilateral ties since 2014 and reach a negotiated settlement with Vladimir Putin. He certainly seemed to be cut out for such a role. In contrast to the vocal patriotism of his predecessor Petro Poroshenko, Zelenskyy had made a name for himself as a Russian-speaking Ukrainian celebrity with a following throughout the former USSR. He boasted a Kremlin-friendly record of repeatedly poking fun at the symbols of…

The recent decision by the Biden administration to send $125 million in military aid for Ukraine is a welcome site in Kyiv, but the country needs and deserves much more, according to a former chief adviser to Ukraine’s defense minister. “It is clear that Ukraine is not unique among the list of countries who are supported by the U.S. government,” Oleksandr Danylyuk, now chairman of the Ukrainian Center for Defense Reforms think tank, said in a recent telephone interview from Kyiv. “But it is also clear that Ukraine provides a lot of security for the U.S.” The package, announced March 1, included…

The text of the following statement was released by the G7 foreign ministers of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States of America and the High Representative of the European Union: We, the G7 Foreign Ministers of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States of America and the High Representative of the European Union, are united in our condemnation of Russia’s continued actions to undermine Ukraine’s sovereignty, territorial integrity and independence. Today, seven years after…

U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Bob Menendez (D-N.J.), today took to the Senate Floor to discuss the publication of a report by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) which confirmed the Russian Federation favored Donald Trump’s re-election and sought to influence the outcome of the 2020 election by amplifying attacks on Joe Biden and his family. “This is not about party. This is about the durability of our democracy, and everyone in this body has an important role to play in rejecting foreign interference and restoring trust in our election process. While the…

З початку 2021 року в Україні почастішали випадки самогубств серед дітей. Школярі ковтають таблетки і стрибають із висоток, а батьки здебільшого не розуміють, що могло підштовхнути їхню дитину до такого страшного кроку. Якщо в 2020 році трапилося 137 дитячих суїцидів, а спроб – майже тисяча, то цьогоріч ситуація ще серйозніша. Події двох з половиною місяців змусили стискатися серця багатьох українців. Начальниця управління ювенальної превенції Національної поліції України Лариса Зуб розповіла OBOZREVATEL, що після НП у Київській області (коли дві учениці ліцею наковталися пігулок і одна дівчинка померла) кількість спроб…

Ukraine has launched an international platform to unite and coordinate interstate efforts for the de-occupation of Crimea. Called the Crimean Platform, its first summit is planned for 23 August 2021, the eve of Ukraine’s 30th anniversary of independence. The president of Ukraine has invited over 100 foreign heads of state and government to attend. The platform has gained real significance after the first countries confirmed their participation and preparation for the summit commenced with a presidential decree. Meanwhile, Russia has intensified its efforts to discredit the platform or prevent international partners from taking part. This proves that the platform can create more problems for the…

Clad in a light-brown sheepskin overcoat that fell over his wool felt boots, Vladimir Putin strode from a dacha outside Moscow across the thick snow. It was 17 degrees below zero on the morning of January 19. Putin disrobed, draping the coat over a wooden railing, and stepped out of his boots. Wearing just a pair of blue swimming shorts, he descended through a crucifix-shaped hole cut in the six-inch-thick ice, wading into the frigid water. A 10ft-high cross, carved from clear ice, towered over the pool as Putin crossed his chest with his hand and crouched down to rapidly submerge his head three times. Like millions of Russians that…

For decades, German foreign policy toward the Soviet Union, and then the Russian Federation, has been based on the Ostpolitik concept of “Wandel durch Handel” or “Change through Trade.” Reinvigorated in the early 2000s by the then German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, this concept states that by increasing trade relations with authoritarian regimes like Putin’s Russia, Western regulatory norms and rule of law would naturally flow upstream, slowly transforming kleptocracies into liberal democratic states. More than 15 years after Schroeder left office, there has been a lot of “Handel” without much Kremlin “Wandel” to show for it. Over the past decade, Moscow has…

Dear Secretary Blinken: We write to you to request information on the Biden Administration’s implementation plans for the Nord Stream 2 sanctions required under the Protecting Europe’s Energy Security Act (PEESA), as amended by the Protecting Europe’s Energy Security Clarification Act (PEESCA). As you know, PEESCA became law with bipartisan support through the enactment of the Fiscal Year 2021 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) on January 1, 2021. The updated law clarified the mandatory sanctions on the Nord Stream 2 pipeline project to include vessels engaged in…

The ceasefire on the line of control in the breakaway Donbas region of eastern Ukraine is unraveling. In July 2020, both sides—the Ukrainian Armed Forces (UAF) and the Moscow-backed forces—agreed to enforce a “full suspension of hostilities.” Both sides withdrew heavy weapons from the frontline starting on July 27, while small arms skirmishes and combat casualties fell dramatically. The ceasefire had been essentially holding until February 2021, when the number of ceasefire violations registered by observers from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) again began to grow. Heavy weapons are…

To my personal dismay since I have been hoping to see a Catholic from Western Ukraine elected President of Ukraine, on its thirtieth anniversary, Ukraine has been a model of diversity which has not included my own preference. Ukraine has had presidents from Volyn, Chernihiv by way of Dnipro, Sumy , Donetsk, Vinnytsia and Dnipro. Their religions have been not designated, if any, as well as Orthodox Christianity, a converted and baptized Jew and currently a practicing Jew. While disappointed, I do not condemn Ukraine for its bigotry in not electing a Catholic from Western Ukraine, preferably Ivano Frankivsk or Ternopil. Lviv will do. I remember sitting in…

На пропозицію Тернопільської міської ради перейменувати Тернопільський футбольний стадіон імені Романа Шухевича зареагували дві нації з довгою та брутальною історією проти української нації, євреї та поляки. Що спонукало таку гостру реакцію до відносно нормального адміністративного почину одної з міських рад України?. Правда тут могли зареагувати також москалі, бо ці три нації історично скоїли найбільше злочинів проти українців. Польська жорстокість включно навіть з її ксьондзами доволі відома. Єврейська роль у найгірших акціях переведених радянськими спецслужбами також доволі відома. Тут не будемо перечисляти москальські злочини супроти українців бо це…

Concern is mounting that aggressive lobbying by German industrialists has struck a chord with mid-level officials in the US State Department and National Security Council, who are delaying the implementation of sanctions to stop Putin’s pet project, the Nord Stream 2 pipeline. The delay not only ignores a forthright Congressional directive, but could enable Russia to complete the 90 percent finished pipeline soon, possibly as early as June. This possibility has angered and frustrated both Democratic and Republican lawmakers who say the draconian sanctions that were approved in…

Ukraine is set to nationalise Motor Sich, one of the world’s top makers of engines for cargo aircraft and helicopters, to prevent a long-running Chinese takeover attempt that has been strongly opposed by the US. “The Motor Sich enterprise will be returned to the Ukrainian people, it will be returned to the ownership of the Ukrainian state in a legal, constitutional manner in the near future,” said Oleksiy Danilov, Ukraine’s national security chief, on Thursday. “This is being done for the national security of our country,” he added. Danilov was speaking shortly after the country’s defence council, which he heads, formally approved the nationalisation plan. Legislation enforcing the move is expected to be…

In 2001, Prof. Zenon Kohut, the former director of the Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies (CIUS) at the University of Alberta, founded the Canada-Ukraine Baturyn Archaeological Project. He directed it until 2015 and currently serves as its academic adviser. Archaeologist Dr. Volodymyr Mezentsev, research associate of CIUS Toronto Office, is the Canadian executive director of the Baturyn project. The 2019 excavations in Baturyn involved 45 students and scholars from the National University of “Chernihiv Collegium”, Hlukhiv Lyceum of enhanced military training, and the Institute of Archaeology at the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine in Kyiv. Past summer, the archaeological expedition there increased to 75 members thanks to…

Since its independence in August 1991, Ukraine has used a variety of Soviet Cold War tanks including the T-64, T-72 and T-80, while it also developed the improved T-80 as the T-84. However, as Ukraine’s military has sought to chart its own course away from legacy Soviet equipment, the Eastern European nation has begun to develop domestically produced equipment that includes a new main battle tank (MBT). This month Defence-Blog’s Dylan Malyasov posted renderings of what could be Ukraine’s next-generation indigenously-built tank that is part of the “secret” Object 744 project. Developed by the Ukrainian state-owned company Kharkiv Morozov Design Bureau (KMDB), few details of the new tank have been…

We believe that President Joseph Biden and the new US administration represent an opportunity to further deepen the strategic partnership and commitments between the United States and Ukraine and advance the interests of both nations. President Joseph Biden has been an ardent supporter of the Ukrainian people and their democratic aspirations and understands the significance of a secure, independent, and prosperous Ukraine, firmly embedded in a Euro-Atlantic community that is “whole, free and at peace.” President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Ukrainian officials have made clear their interest in and…

9 березня, 2021 р. ОТТАВА, ОН. Сьогодні українці всього світу відзначають 207-у річницю з дня народження Великого Кобзаря, Тараса Шевченка. Неможливо переоцінити внесок Шевченка в розвиток української культури, національної ідентичності, та національної свідомості. Впродовж двох століть, український Кобзар надихає усі покоління. Щороку в Канаді учні рідних шкіл декламують вірші поета, хори виконують його твори, громади збираються на перегляди та обговорення фільмів. У світі Тарасові Шевченку встановлено більше тисячі пам’ятників, його твори перекладені майже всіма мовами світу, а його іменем…

Dragging his heels about calling Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who cozied up to Donald Trump for four years, was one thing. But for Joe Biden to stiff Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky, is another. Recall that Trump dangled an Oval Office visit in exchange for a bogus investigation that was meant to ensure his reelection, but the savvy Ukrainian president refused to play ball. Now Biden has an opportunity to reset the relationship with Kyiv—and score a major win for his democracy agenda. Biden should offer far more than platitudes. He has three tasks. First, he must convince Zelensky to trust him. Second, he should reassure the Ukrainian president that Washington has his…

Russian intelligence agencies have mounted a campaign to undermine confidence in Pfizer Inc.’s and other Western vaccines, using online publications that in recent months have questioned the vaccines’ development and safety, U.S. officials said. An official with the State Department’s Global Engagement Center, which monitors foreign disinformation efforts, identified four publications that he said have served as fronts for Russian intelligence. The websites played up the vaccines’ risk of side effects, questioned their efficacy, and said the U.S. had rushed the Pfizer vaccine through the approval process, among other false or misleading claims. Though the outlets’ readership is…

U.S. Senator Ted Cruz (Republican-Texas) says he is holding up the confirmation of the next Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) chief in order to pressure President Joe Biden to stop Russia’s Nord Stream 2 pipeline. ‘I’ll release my hold when the Biden admin meets its legal obligation to report and sanction the ships and companies building [Russian President Vladimir] Putin’s pipeline,’ Cruz said in a tweet on March 6 as he confirmed an earlier Bloomberg story. Biden in January picked William Burns, a career Foreign Service officer who served as ambassador to Russia in the 2000s, to be the next head of the CIA. The 64-year-old was…

У німецькому Мюнхені могилу українського націоналіста і провідника ОУН Степана Бандери облили невідомою речовиною. Про це повідомив у Twitter посол України в Німеччині Андрій Мельник, пише “Європейська правда”. “І знову зухвалий акт вандалізму на могилі Степана Бандери у Мюнхені. Огидні покидьки облили її невідомою речовиною”, – написав український дипломат. Посол закликав поліцію знайти і покарати винних. “Який сором, що демонізацією Степана Бандери займається не лише московська пропаганда, а й поважні німецькі історики”, – додав посол, не пояснивши, кого має на увазі. Це не перший випадок вандалізму на…

President Volodymyr Zelensky on Thursday, March 4, put into effect the decision of the National Security and Defense Council on countering threats in the field of citizenship issues. The head of state has signed the corresponding decree, No. 85/2021, the President’s Office reports. The NSDC decision of February 26 stipulates that the Cabinet, together with the Central Election Commission and the SBU security agency, shall within two months complete an inventory and analyze legislation on issues related to dual (multiple) citizenship. In particular, it is necessary to establish legal certainty of the ban for…

Ukraine finally has a chance to create a strong counterintelligence service and shed the Soviet standards of the old KGB. The Ukrainian parliament recently passed the first reading of a bill to reform the Security Service of Ukraine, known as the SBU. This is a crucial step in efforts to remake the SBU into a modern security service guided by Western democratic standards. This process owes much to the US Congress. In 2019, Congress voted to condition half of American defense assistance to Ukraine on adoption of a bill on national defense that laid the groundwork for future security service reform. In 2021, the United States will…

Minister of Culture and Information Policy Oleksandr Tkachenko stated that one of the parts of the hybrid war of the Russian Federation against Ukraine is the informational influence, which seems to be fake, misinformation, and half-truths hidden in the texts. Tkachenko wrote about this in the Telegram. “The goal is one – to cause Ukrainians fear, uncertainty in the future, aggression towards each other. The greater this impact, the more nutritious the soil for sowing propaganda. We must confront this information threat. But we need to start with the basics. To maintain both our own and Ukraine’s common media hygiene. In order to have a lasting effect that…

Lawmakers are ramping up pressure on the White House to try to halt the construction of a major Russia-to-Germany gas pipeline, as administration officials debate how to stymie the project quickly without alienating a key European ally. At least one senator is delaying the confirmation of a top official to make it happen. The pipeline, known as Nord Stream 2, is a project of the Russian state company Gazprom. Lawmakers have noted that its construction would place Russian infrastructure inside NATO territory and thereby threaten its member states, and make some European countries more dependent on Russian energy. But the pipeline is more than 90 percent complete and proceeding quickly, putting the Biden administration on a…

The long-lasting drama of Motor Sich, the Zaporizhia-based major aircraft engine manufacturer, is taking an unexpected turn towards the company’s possible nationalization amid ongoing standoff with Chinese investors seeking to obtain the controlling stock of shares despite fierce opposition from the United States. In a sudden move, David Arakhamia, the head of the ruling 248-seat parliament faction Servant of the People, asserted on March 4 that a draft bill on Motor Sich nationalization would be submitted to the Verkhovna Rada “this week.” “This is a matter of national defense capability,” the…

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken called out billionaire Ukrainian oligarch Ihor Kolomoisky on March 5, accusing him of “involvement in significant corruption.” Blinken made the public designation as the U.S. imposed a ban making Kolomoisky and his immediate family ineligible to travel in the United States. Kolomoisky faces a U.S. criminal investigation into laundering money from the $5.5 billion he allegedly stole while owning Ukraine’s largest bank, PrivatBank, which had to be nationalized in December 2016 and receive a taxpayer bailout. He also faces numerous civil lawsuits in jurisdictions, including…

Three decades after the fall of the Berlin Wall, the West is yet again engaged in an increasingly tense confrontation with the Kremlin. One point of friction, central to the Kremlin’s narrative of grievance, has been NATO’s role as a guarantor of security and stability in Europe and the sovereignty of its member states. Moscow’s leaders, in seeking to undercut and eliminate that role, argue that their country has been a victim of an expansionist Western strategy to isolate and weaken Russia. But a recently compiled trove of historical documents constitutes a profound rebuttal of that false narrative, contradicting Moscow’s complaints about NATO through the words of…

The United States cannot independently approve a decision on Ukraine’s integration into NATO, but nothing prevents it from granting the country the status of a major non- NATO ally, former U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine William Taylor has said. He stated this during the webinar “U.S.-Ukraine Security Dialogue XII” on Wednesday, March 3, according to an Ukrinform correspondent. Taylor also said this last week as he spoke with a U.S. government team dealing with the issue; several people mentioned a Membership Action Plan (MAP), which would ensure Ukraine’s accession to NATO. He noted that there were difficulties in this matter as there are NATO members who still need to be convinced that Ukrainians are ready for the MAP. However, the diplomat said that this…

Nord Stream 2 is far from the only Russian pipeline we should be targeting. The lesser-known TurkStream is equally important to Moscow as a source of leverage and influence over Central and East European governments. This pipeline, conceived in 2014 as a way of isolating Ukraine from Europe, depriving it of influence over Russian gas exports, and of circumventing EU rules, builds upon its previous incarnation, South Stream, to augment Russian influence in the Balkans, facilitate Russian clients’ ability to capture key roles in Balkan governments, and undermine democracy and Western influence in…

Western media is greeting the Biden administration’s Russian sanctions as “signaling a tougher stance on Russia than under former President Donald Trump.” Vladimir Putin likely thinks otherwise. It looks as if the Biden administration has blinked on Putin’s key foreign policy objective — the completion and operation of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline, delivering Russian gas to Europe. The sanctioning of a few Kremlin officials is petty change compared to the decade-long profitable effects of Russian pipeline politics. Indeed, the new U.S. sanctions do freeze foreign assets and impose travel restrictions on a…

The Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group (KHPG) reported, “A Russian court has sentenced 62-year-old Oleh Prykhodko to five years of harsh regime imprisonment, with the first year to be served in a prison, the worst of all Russian penal institutions. The sentence was significantly lower than that demanded by the prosecutor, but then the judges can have been in no doubt that they were sentencing an innocent man to a term of imprisonment that he may not survive. The defence had demonstrated over and over again that the charges against the 62-year-old who had never concealed his opposition to Russia’s occupation of Crimea had been brazenly fabricated. There was never any possibility of…

The Ukrainian Canadian Congress (UCC) calls on the Government of Canada to implement sanctions against Russian and occupation officials in Russian-occupied Crimea who are responsible for egregious human rights violations of Ukrainian citizens. Last week the UCC provided the Government with a list of 16 Russian and occupation officials involved in three prominent cases of human rights abuses. “The Magnitsky Act, adopted in 2017, gives our government the authority to implement sanctions against officials responsible for gross violations of internationally recognized human rights,” stated Alexandra Chyczij, National President of the UCC. “To date, the…

Life is tough when the whole world is pitted against you, or when you think that it is. This week, the disinformation reflects this mood, radiated by the pro-Kremlin media. Let’s begin with the coverage of the Davos Forum. According to pro-Kremlin media, Western media silenced the speech of President Putin, although it was covered by the FT, The Washington Post, Time Magazine, Bloomberg, Deutsche Welle, South China Morning Post, The Moscow Times, Le Monde, El País, Corriere Della Sera and Süddeutsche Zeitung, to name a few. Furthermore, the World Economic Forum and Reuters streamed it live. The…

The Pentagon announced a $125 million aid package for Ukraine on Monday, including a commitment to continue lethal weapons deliveries to enable the embattled post-Soviet country “to more effectively defend itself against Russian aggression.” A day later the Biden administration announced that the US and the European Union would jointly impose sanctions on seven Russian officials over the poisoning of opposition leader Alexei Navalny. The US and the European Union have already levied sanctions on Moscow for its 2014 invasions of Ukrainian territory in Crimea and the Donbas, as well as for the poisoning of a…

В літописах сучасної української історії такі організації, як молодіжна організація “Пласт”, формування колишніх військових під прапором Української військової організації (УВО), її наступника, що складалася з двох поколінь з Пласту та УВО, Організація українських націоналістів ОУН) та Українська повстанська армія (УПА) залишили незгладимий слід в українському суспільстві, який віддзеркалюється і сьогодні. Свідками цього були два найвидатніші її керівники Роман Шухевич та Степан Бандера, за винятком того, що замість УПА Бандера був політичним в’язнем у нацистському концтаборі. Зокрема, ці структури відіграли найвизначнішу роль у…

A Russian military intelligence agent was detained in Kharkiv, Ukraine, while trying to access the technical documentation of a Ukrainian-made T-84BM Oplot tank. The news was confirmed by the Ukrainian media, as well as by the online military site Defense Blog. The Ukrainian security service, known as the SBU, prevented the attempt of the Russian military agent to obtain the documentation about the Ukrainian tank. The Ukrainian media reported that the captured Russian military spy had acted as an agent of the General Staff of the Armed Forces (GRU) of the Russian Federation. According to the SBU, the…

The US Department of Defense stated on March 1, “The Department of Defense announces a new $125 million package for the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative that includes training, equipment, and advisory efforts to help Ukraine’s forces preserve the country’s territorial integrity, secure its borders, and improve interoperability with NATO. This action reaffirms the U.S. commitment to providing defensive lethal weapons to enable Ukraine to more effectively defend itself against Russian aggression. The USAI package includes two additional armed Mark IV patrol boats to enhance Ukraine’s capacity to patrol and…

Пишу це коротке звідомлення для взаємного пошанування дуже важливої української молодечої виховної організації та особливого покоління яке її оформлювало і виховувалося у ній. А також визначного члена тієї організації та покоління який до значної міри змінив курс нашої історії, або бодай був одним з основних персонажів цієї історії. Про цю історію знають багато людей в Україні так і її діаспорі, але досі існують незрозумілі контроверсії надумані нашим ворогом для того щоби нас ділити і таким шляхом над нами панувати. Український молодечий виховний Пласт заснований 1911 року, тобто 110 років тому, у ранному ХХ столітті в…

On the morning of February 20, one of Ukraine’s most powerful men awoke to find himself on a sanctions list issued by his own country. Sanctioning one of your own is a serious step that should only be considered in the most unusual and extreme of circumstances. This is exactly what we currently face in Ukraine. Viktor Medvedchuk may not be a name that is particularly well-known to most Americans. In Ukraine, however, he is a towering figure. A businessman, politician, and TV mogul, Medvedchuk is co-chairman of Ukraine’s largest pro-Russian political party. He is a personal friend of Russian President Vladimir Putin, who…

On February 22, the Biden administration took its first actions in response to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s long list of aggressive and repressive actions: imposing sanctions related to the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline. Critics observed that these were a mere reapplication of sanctions previously imposed by the Trump administration. In fact, the Biden administration is reportedly thinking through stronger options for pushing back against the Kremlin, and these initial measures were likely just the opening gambit ahead of sanctions in the coming weeks that will be more responsive to Russia’s most recent aggressions—in particular, the…

U.S. President Joe Biden said the United States will continue to back Ukraine against Russian aggression and will never recognize the Kremlin’s annexation of its neighbor’s territory. Biden made the comments of support on February 26 as Ukrainians mark the seventh anniversary of Moscow’s steps to seize Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula. “The United States does not, and will never, recognize Russia’s purported annexation of the peninsula, and we will stand with Ukraine against Russia’s aggressive acts. We will continue to work to hold Russia accountable for its abuses and aggression in Ukraine,” Biden said. Russia…

There were two iconic moments in the abortive August 1991 coup whose failure hastened the collapse of the Soviet Union — three if you count the telling press conference of the plotters, with self-declared “acting president” Gennady Yanayev’s hands trembling as if he had steeled himself for the spotlight with some vodka shots. One, of course, was Boris Yeltsin, recently elected president of Soviet Russia, standing defiantly on a tank outside parliament and calling for mass resistance against the putsch. The other was the removal of the statue of “Iron Feliks” Dzerzhinsky, founder of the Bolshevik secret police, from the square that bore his name outside the headquarters of the KGB — a towering and unmistakable symbol of the…

In the annals of Modern Ukrainian history, organizations like the youth organization Plast, the formation of former military personnel under the banner of the Ukrainian Military Organization (UVO), its successor consisting of the two generations from the UVO and Plast. the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN) and the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA) have left an indelible mark on Ukrainian society which reverberates even today. Two of its most prominent leaders Roman Shukhevych and Stepan Bandera were witness to this except that instead of UPA, Bandera was a political prisoner in a Nazi concentration camp. In particular, these structures played a most prominent role in…

Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) reported, “Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has officially appointed former Finance Minister Oksana Markarova as the country’s new ambassador to the United States as he seeks improved ties with Washington. In a February 25 statement announcing her appointment, Zelenskyy called Markarova a ‘high-caliber professional’ and said he hoped she would not only strengthen political relations with Washington but help attract foreign investment to the country. Markarova’s appointment comes as Zelenskyy seeks to build strong bonds with the new Biden administration following troubled relations with his predecessor, Donald Trump. Biden and Zelenskyy have yet to speak. Foreign Minister…

The Biden administration is preparing sanctions and other measures to punish Moscow for actions that go beyond the sprawling SolarWinds cyber­espionage campaign to include a range of malign cyberactivity and the near-fatal poisoning of a Russian opposition leader, said U.S. officials familiar with the matter. The administration is casting the SolarWinds operation, in which government agencies and private companies were hacked, as “indiscriminate” and potentially “disruptive.” That would allow officials to claim that the Russian hacking was not equivalent to the kind of espionage the United States also…

February 25, 2021 marks the 150th anniversary of the birth of Lesia Ukrainka, one of Ukraine’s most outstanding writers and dramatists, but also a poet and an ardent political and feminist activist. Throughout history, Lesia Ukrainka has often been portrayed as a sorrowful, brooding figure, chained to her disease and fighting to stay alive. But, what was she really like? Fortunately, her prolific correspondence has been preserved, and with it, her innermost thoughts and sentiments, as well as the history of Ukrainian literature and Ukraine’s cultural elite at the turn of the 19th-20th centuries. Thanks to these archives, we can study Lesia Ukrainka and her…

Late last year, on December 16, the Ukrainian parliament took up a new draft bill (#4504) on territorial defense (Rada.gov.ua, December 16, 2020). The proposed legislation, written by a group of lawmakers headed by Andrii Sharaskin, is based on recommendations from domestic experts as well as foreign advisors on how to reform Ukraine’s outdated system of territorial defense (TD). The bill draws on the experience of foreign countries like Estonia, Poland and Lithuania. Currently, Ukrainian Territorial Defense Forces operate according to Chapter 3 of the Law on National Defense, based mainly on Soviet-era doctrines. The last time it came under review was back in December 2008 (Rada.gov.ua, October 24, 2020). In 2014, all rapidly established TD units were…

Deutsche Welle reported on February 23, “At least 18 European companies have either terminated their participation in the Nord Stream 2 pipeline or have pledged to withdraw from the project over threats of US sanctions, according to a US State Department report for Congress. This shows that the legislative goals and our actions have been successful,’ said Ned Price, a spokesman for the US State Department. ‘We continue to monitor companies involved in potentially sanctionable acts.’ The State Department submitted a report on the pipeline to Congress on Friday, in a document which has not yet been publicly released. The US has threatened sanctions against several other companies involved in the construction and certification of the…

In his first meeting with NATO allies, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin asserted that Russia is a threat that will be held to account for its “reckless and aggressive actions.” As the world’s strongest organization, both militarily and politically, NATO can indeed effectively counter Russian President Vladimir Putin’s regime. The centerpiece of that countering effort remains NATO’s assurance of the national independence of all European states. The Kremlin’s fears about the NATO alliance are rooted in profound anxieties about Putin’s political future. Putin has increasingly anchored his domestic legitimacy on restoring Russia’s great power status and dominating wayward neighbors. Such neoimperial aspirations are blocked when countries enter NATO and…

“He plants trees which will be of use to another age,” said the Roman poet Caecilius Statius. This phrase captures the idea of a far-sighted leader who is focused on the distant future beyond their own lifetime. As Viktor Yushchenko celebrates his sixty-seventh birthday this week, those words may well be applied to Ukraine’s much maligned and often misunderstood third president. As someone who has done extensive focus group work in Ukraine since 2004, I can confirm that Viktor Yushchenko conjures up very mixed emotions. Whenever I have asked Ukrainians for their impressions of Yushchenko, the…

When Robert Conquest, a historian, was working on a new edition of “The Great Terror”, his seminal text on Stalin’s crimes, he was told to come up with a new title. The book had described the horrors of the Soviet Union at a time when apologism for it was still rife. By the time of the new version, freshly opened archives had vindicated Conquest’s account. His friend Kingsley Amis, a novelist, suggested a pithy new title: “I told you so, you fucking fools”. Head east in Europe today and it is easy to find similar sentiments about Russia. The Baltic states and Poland warned Josep Borrell, the EU’s foreign-policy chief, against visiting Moscow in the wake of its imprisonment of Alexei Navalny, Russia’s leading opposition politician. They…

Demand for Ukrainian tech services was high last year despite the pandemic. The country’s export of information technology services grew by 20% to $5 billion in 2020 — a slightly slower rate of growth than in 2019 when annual tech exports expanded by 30% to $4.17 billion, according to data from the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU). Local companies that provide tech services were more resilient to the coronavirus crisis than those that work in transport, tourism or financial industries, according to the Ministry of Economy. While IT export grew by $853 million over the year, the country’s overall service…

The Biden administration is understandably attempting to repair what it perceives as damage done to relationships with some of America’s closest European allies. But there is a cost, often substantial, to pleasing one’s allies when there is no clarity of reciprocity. New rumored arrangements to protect Germany and others in the EU from U.S. sanctions on the Russian Nord Stream 2 pipeline will be pocketed by those governments which now will be even more convinced that doing business with Russia—and for that matter, China, the EU’s latest go-at-it-alone venture—will have no negative impact on their relations with the United States. There is only one victor of this arrangement designed to sanitize Nord Stream 2: Vladimir Putin. The loser, transatlantic relations. The supposition behind all of…

U.S. Senator Jim Risch (R-Idaho), ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, today released the following statement on the Biden Administration’s congressionally mandated report that was supposed to identify all entities actively involved in the construction of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline. The report was due to Congress on February 16, but was not delivered until today, February 19. “I am deeply troubled and disappointed by the State Department’s report on Nord Stream 2 activities and their decision to forgo additional sanctions on other entities involved in its construction. Congress has passed multiple bipartisan laws…

kraine has accused Russia of the “targeted assassinations” of “perceived opponents” in a case filed at the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR), the latest in a series of legal complaints against Moscow. The case, filed last week and published on the court’s website on February 23, accuses Moscow of carrying out assassinations “in Russia and on the territory of other states… outside a situation of armed conflict” in what Kyiv says is a violation of the “right to life” as stipulated in Article 2 of the European Convention on Human Rights. In the application, Ukraine also alleges that Russia’s failure to investigate such alleged assassinations amounts to “an administrative practice” that is also sustained through “deliberately mounting cover-up operations aimed at …

Is reconciliation possible? Two Ukrainians deported from Poland in 1944 recall mass killings, explain current Polish-Ukrainian relations. The occupation of Eastern Europe in 1944–1945 by the Red Army and the establishment of communist regimes in the region involved means of large-scale repressions, deportations, and the subjugation of the population. To establish the Soviet-Polish border and resolve territorial disputes, on 9 September 1944 representatives of the Ukrainian SSR and the Polish People’s Republic signed an “Agreement on the Evacuation of the Ukrainian Population from Poland and…

Throughout the Black Sea Peninsula’s history, it has been invaded and colonised a great many times by the Greeks, the Romans and the Ottoman Empire to name just a few. In the 20th Century it was an autonomous republic of the Soviet Union, settling finally as a region of Ukraine in 1954, which it remained a part of upon Ukraine’s independence in 1991. Seven years ago yesterday, a new colonisation – this time under the direction of Russian President Vladimir Putin – was underway, and we should not let the anniversary pass unnoticed, events in Crimea have an immediate resonance in Scotland too. Crimeans were again to be centre stage of…

Few things seem to be as recurring on the diplomatic landscape as efforts to reset relations with Russia. The Obama administration started out with its famous reset in 2009, even coining the concept itself. Since then, European politics has been littered with the ruins of attempts to reset the relationship with Vladimir Putin’s Russia. In 2010, a very ambitious Partnership for Modernization was launched between the European Union and Russia, and the next year, German Chancellor Angela Merkel launched the Meseberg initiative to build a closer and more structured relationship on security issues between the E.U. and Russia. The Russian aggression against Ukraine in 2014 set back these efforts, but not for long. Thereafter, the…

Ukraine’s success remains as strategically important to the West as ever. Now is the time for the United States to renew its engagement and support. Secretary Blinken’s call with Foreign Minister Kuleba was a good start. Next should be a call from President Biden to President Zelenskyy, and the launch of a renewed strategic partnership across the full range of issues. Official Washington is rightly focused on battling coronavirus and reinvigorating the economy, along with dealing with racial and social justice issues. Dealing with great power competition, notably from China, dominates national security thinking. The rest of the world has great hope for a return to traditional models of American engagement and leadership, but recognizes it will take time for the new administration to get settled. In Ukraine, however, anxieties are…

Ukraine demands that Russia stop its aggression, respect international law and liberate the temporarily occupied territories of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol, as well as parts of Donetsk and Luhansk regions, according to a statement released by the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry on the occasion of the 7th anniversary of the beginning of Russia’s armed aggression against Ukraine. The ministry said that the illegal attempt to annex the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol, as well as the beginning of the armed conflict in Donbas were the…

From January 21 through February 14, Russian and proxy forces killed 13 Ukrainian soldiers and wounded at least another 19 along the frontline in Ukraine’s Donbas. Most of these casualties were inflicted by snipers, some of whom were apparently deployed from Russia’s interior for a stint of combat training in Donbas (Radio Free Europe, February 3; Ukrinform, February 12, 17). Sniper fire killed two Ukrainian soldiers on February 11, the day when President Volodymyr Zelenskyy took the G-7 countries’ Kyiv ambassadors on a visit to the frontline (UKrinform, February 11). The enemy command had, apparently, been aware of the…

Two weeks ago, the leading medical journal The Lancet published glowing results for Russia’s Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine, triggering a wave of optimism in the EU that the jab might help fill a gap where Western manufacturers had overpromised but underdelivered. Some EU leaders, including foreign policy chief Josep Borrell, sought to congratulate Moscow on its success — only to see Russia humiliate him on its home turf. Now, some Kremlin watchers say the report in The Lancet should have sounded alarm bells instead, and prompted the EU to apply closer scrutiny. They warn that Sputnik is a geopolitical tool that Moscow is using to manipulate Western democracies, exacerbate divisions and present Russia as a pandemic savior. “It’s a nightmare,” said…

On February 20, Ukraine and Ukrainians around the world mark the Day of Commemoration of the Heroes of the Heavenly Hundred (Nebesna Sotnya). In late 2013, the Ukrainian people rose up in protest against the corrupt, authoritarian Yanukovych regime. In the Revolution of Dignity, the Ukrainian people defended their freedom and their inalienable right to have their voices heard by their government. The regime responded to the peaceful demonstrations with brutality and violence. On February 18-20, 2014 the Yanukovych regime opened fire on its own people. Over 100 people – the Heavenly Hundred – were killed on Kyiv’s Maidan (Independence Square) defending the…

20-го лютого Україна та українці всього світу вшановують День пам’яті Героїв Небесної Сотні. Наприкінці 2013-го року, український народ вийшов на протест проти корумпованого, авторитарного режиму Януковича. Під час Революції Гідності, український народ обороняв свою свободу та невід’ємне право бути почутим своєю владою. Режим відповів на мирні демонстрації насильством. 18-20 го лютого, 2014 р, режим Януковича відкрив вогонь проти власного народу. Більш ніж 100 людей – Небесна Сотня – були вбиті на Майдані, обороняючи право українського народу на свободу та справедливість. Ми…

Reuters reported, “The Biden administration is expected to name as early as Friday the companies it believes are helping build Russia’s Nord Stream 2 pipeline, five sources said, a move that could eventually prompt sanctions on the nearly completed project. The State Department report to Congress, which may come on Friday, is expected to list companies the administration believes are helping to complete the natural gas pipeline that Russia’s state energy company Gazprom says is more than 90% complete. Sanctions law that went into effect on Jan. 1 would require the administration to sanction named companies, but President Joe Biden could take advantage of a consultation period with allies to delay imposing any measures that…

No western country’s relationship with Russia is more burdened with history than Germany’s. In June will fall the 80th anniversary of the Nazi invasion of the Soviet Union, prelude to titanic battles and wartime atrocities that still affect Germany’s self-image and weigh heavily on official attitudes to Russia. None of this serves as an excuse, however, for some ill-judged remarks that Frank-Walter Steinmeier, Germany’s president, made last week on German-Russian relations. In a newspaper interview, he defended the Nord Stream 2 pipeline project, intended to deliver Russian gas to Germany across the…

President Biden will be making his first appearance as president before a largely European audience, albeit virtually, when he delivers remarks for the Munich Security Conference on Friday. With transatlantic relations frayed after the Obama and Trump administrations, Biden should address the tensions in the relationship directly while recommitting to working cooperatively and closely with America’s European allies. He could do so by saying something like this: I’m pleased to return, even if remotely, to the Munich Security Conference, a forum I have attended many times when I was a U.S. senator and as vice president. I fondly recall traveling to Munich many…

The Ukrainian parliament has adopted a statement recognizing Euromaidan, or the Revolution of Dignity, “as one of the key moments of Ukrainian state-building and expression of the national idea of freedom.” This happened on 17 February, before the seventh anniversary of the tragic shooting on Maidan, when law enforcement killed at least 118 people commemorated as the Heavenly Hundred. Condemning the actions of Yanukovych’s regime and commemorating the protesters who perished during the revolution, the statement offers a legislative rebuttal to pro-Russian propagandists spreading the…

Рішенням Ради національної безпеки й оборони передбачено по 5 заборон через санкції за фінансування тероризму проти нардепа ОПЗЖ Віктора Медведчука та його дружини Оксани Марченко. Деталі: Санкції щодо Марченко та Медведчука на три роки передбачають: Блокування активів – тимчасове обмеження права особи користуватися та розпоряджатися належним їй майном; Обмеження торгівельних операцій; Зупинення виконання економічних та фінансових зобов’язань; Анулювання або зупинка ліцензій та інших дозволів, одержання яких є умовою для…

I remember like yesterday being in Kyiv on the evening of November 21, 2013 for the Holodomor Commemoration. It was around 10 p.m. and I was walking with the Australian delegation through Maidan. On this cold night, Kyiv officials arrived on the Maidan to erect the public Christmas tree, which eventually became known as the Yolka. The tree was decorated with the flags of the world to symbolize that all parts of Ukraine and the international community would not allow former President Viktor Yanukovych to abuse the nation any further. A small group of…

Ким для нас, українців 21-го століття є Патріарх Йосиф Сліпий? На жаль, на 30-му році новітньої Української держави абсолютна більшість пересічних українців не згадають хто ж Він? А насправді, сама згадка про великого Патріарха наводить страх серед українофобів, які вкотре знищують невелику меморіальну дошку на колишній тюрмі у Харкові, в якій НКВД гноїло Патріарха. Бо є Він оберегом української самосвідомості, символом незламності українського духа, особистістю не тільки всеукраїнського, а планетарного масштабу. Його звільнення із енкаведистько-кагебіських тюремних затінків відбулося в результаті процесу переговорів з…

The Korolevo archeological site [Королевська стоянка; Korolevska stoianka] is a multi-occupational archeological site of the Paleolithic Period situated on the left bank of the Tysa River near the town of Korolevo in Vynohradiv raion, Transcarpathia oblast. Discovered in 1974 during an expedition organized by the Institute of Archeology of the Academy of Sciences of the Ukrainian SSR headed by Vladyslav Hladylin, Korolevo is the site of the oldest Paleolithic occupation not only in Ukraine, but in all of eastern Europe. The excavations (to the depth of 12 meters) of an area of 1,500 sq m on the high terrace…

Мені весело, коли я чую, як мої американські співвітчизники говорять про американську винятковість. Мені так само було весело, коли я чув і продовжую чути свого кандидата в президенти, а нині президента Джо Байдена, посилаючись на події за часів перебування його попередника про те, що насправді ми, американці, кращі за це. Ми нi. Ми – нація, яка складається як з хороших, так і злих, принципових і безпринципних, благородних духом і скупих. Здається, нам подобається зважати на поведінку інших держав і панувати над ними, називаючи наших власних конституційних організаторів майже святими. Для мене в цьому плані особливо відчувається біль, бо ми…

U.S. Senators Jim Risch (R-Idaho), ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.), chair of the Subcommittee on Europe and Regional Security Cooperation, today sent a letter to President Joe Biden in support of the full implementation of Nord Stream II-related legislation passed into law last Congress that aims to bring an end to the Nord Stream II pipeline project. “We write to reiterate our support for the full implementation of the Protecting Europe’s Energy Security Act (PEESA), as amended by the Protecting Europe’s Energy Security Clarification Act (PEESCA). This is important legislation that was…

Two months ago, a Russian pipe-laying ship called the Akademik Cherskiy left the Baltic island of Rügen to finish the last few miles of the most controversial gas pipeline in the world. Germany hopes that Nord Stream 2 will improve its access to Russia’s vast reserves of natural gas. In America, however, the project is seen as a way for Moscow to exert influence over Europe. Its completion marks the biggest diplomatic crisis in transatlantic relations since the Iraq War and now, as then, we see Germany pitched against the US. But this time, Germany is far more determined. Since its inception, the pipeline —which runs directly from Russia to Germany — has been opposed by many in Europe who share America’s concerns about…

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and the Ukrainian government are preparing to host a summit of heads of state and government, aiming to mobilize a more effective international response to Russia’s seizure of Crimea from Ukraine. The summit is planned to inaugurate the “Crimea Platform,” a multi-level framework for devising actions that would raise the costs of Russia’s occupation and contradict Moscow’s thesis about the irreversibility of its hold on the peninsula. The summit event is set for August 23, back-to-back with (but distinct from) the 30th anniversary of Ukraine’s national independence on…

In a recent interview with Axios on HBO, Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he would like to ask US President Joe Biden, “Why is Ukraine still not in NATO?” President Zelenskyy’s question generated a lot of debate and ended up reaching a wide audience. Ever since, Ukrainian journalists have been asking me, “So why is Ukraine still not in NATO?” As I answered this question for the third or fourth time, I realized how satisfied I actually was with the way this discussion is evolving. Why, indeed, is Ukraine not in NATO? Today’s Ukraine is not only a security recipient, but a security donor in its region. Ukraine has…

Russia clashed with the United States and its Western allies Thursday over the nearly seven-year conflict in eastern Ukraine, and the U.N. warned that the current fragile cease-fire risks being reversed if peace negotiations become deadlocked. Russia called the Security Council meeting to mark Friday’s sixth anniversary of the signing of the Minsk peace plan brokered by France and Germany. It aimed to resolve the conflict between Ukraine and Russia-backed forces that flared in April 2014 after Russia’s annexation of Crimea and its support for the separatists in the mostly Russian-speaking industrial east called…

I am amused whenever I hear my American countrymen speak of American exceptionalism. I was and am equally amused when I heard and continue to hear my presidential candidate and now president Joe Biden refer to events during his predecessor’s tenure that, in fact, we Americans are better than this. We are not. We are a nation consisting of both good and bad, principled and unprincipled, noble in spirit and avaricious. We do seem to enjoy taking umbrage at the behavior of other nations and lording over them referring to our own Constitutional framers as almost saints. For me, in this regard, there is particularly a sense of hurt because we often criticize Ukraine for its corruption, its politicians for a lack of integrity, and…

So, to a large extent, the die is cast, and President Volodymyr Zelensky has finally acted resolutely in confronting Russia’s fifth column in Ukraine, headed and financed to a significant degree by tycoon Viktor Medvechuk, a close associate of Ukraine’s primary enemy, the Kremlin strongman Vladimir Putin. By endorsing sanctions against pro-Kremlin TV channels believed to be part of Medvechuk’s business and political empire in Ukraine, Zelensky has clarified the political battle lines in the country. He has defied the Kremlin’s continuation of war by other means against his country, namely through subversion in the form of disinformation and…

The relationship between Russia and the EU hit a new low last week when the EU’s foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, visited his counterpart in Moscow. Analysts have told CNBC that the latest differences between Moscow and the EU could put pressure on the gas pipeline being built from Russia to Germany, Nord Stream 2. LONDON — Russia has said it is ready to cut ties with the European Union, according to a fragment of an interview published on Russia’s foreign ministry website Friday morning. The comments mark yet another escalation in tensions between the two sides. When asked if Russia was…

The advent of the Biden Administration brings with it the promise of more robust ties between the United States and Ukraine. No incoming U.S. president has had the knowledge and track record of support and commitment for Ukraine that President Joe Biden does. His foreign policy team is also second to none when it comes to Ukraine. This especially holds true at the State Department, where the three most senior officials – Secretary of State Tony Blinken, Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman, and especially Undersecretary of State Victoria Nuland – all have familiarity with Ukraine and the…

Since he took office in 2019, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has frequently been accused of being a puppet for his country’s deep-seated oligarchic interests—a comical populist unwilling or unable to confront the Russian influence tearing his country apart. So his recent crackdown on pro-Russian media came as a surprise to observers and critics alike. On Feb. 2, with just a few strokes of a pen, Zelensky signed sanctions that immediately blocked three pro-Russian television stations from operating in Ukraine. The move—proposed by the Ukrainian National Security and Defense Council—was celebrated by pro-reform activists who gleefully shared GIFs of garbled color bars as the bans took effect. Zelensky followed up his media purge with a…

The dispute over the ownership of Ukrainian helicopter and jet engine manufacturer Motor Sich seems to have come to an end after Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy sided with the US instead of China. The case, which according to experts has become a political issue between the two superpowers, could cool the otherwise warm relationship between Ukraine and China, and prevent China from advancing its engine technology in helicopters and jet planes. “The US sees China’s influence in Ukraine and the purchase of the company as a threat,” says Nan Tian, a senior researcher at the Arms and Military Expenditure Programme at…

Ukraine cemented its course towards full-fledged NATO membership in the Constitution two years ago, while a NATO Membership Action Plan is part of the country’s Strategy for National Security. Recently, in a 15-minute interview for HBO’s Axios program, President Zelenskyi said that NATO membership is a security matter of primary importance to Ukraine. The President of Ukraine also said he is hopeful of a new era and a new start in the Ukraine-U.S. relations. When asked, what he would say to President Biden, Zelenskyi answered: “Why are we still not in NATO?” Following that statement, Ukraine Crisis Media Center organized a…

The Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group (KHPG) reported, “Kyiv’s Court of Appeal has upheld the ongoing detention of Ukrainian musician and military volunteer, Andriy Antonenko (‘Riffmaster’) 15 months after his arrest on suspicion of the 2016 killing in Kyiv of Belarusian journalist and former prisoner of conscience Pavel Sheremet. Two of the other four people publicly named as suspects during the 12 December 2019 press conference triumphantly addressed by Ukraine’s President, Prosecutor General and Interior Minister have never been charged over the killing, although it was purportedly the…

“Mother Russia, take Donbas home.” This dramatic appeal by Kremlin TV chief Margarita Simonyan was the headline-grabbing highlight of the recent Russian Donbas Forum, which took place in Occupied East Ukraine on January 28 and signaled a fresh escalation in Moscow’s seven-year hybrid war against Ukraine. Simonyan’s words carry significant weight. As chief editor of the Kremlin’s flagship television network RT (formerly Russia Today) and international news agency Rossiya Segodnya, she occupies a position close to the summit of Putin’s propaganda apparatus and is widely recognized as a trusted regime insider. While…

One of the standard warnings attached to U.S. intelligence reports is that the source of a report intends “to influence as well as inform.” The caveat does not mean that the source’s reporting is wrong or should be discounted, but that the source also has an agenda. Craig Unger’s new book, “American Kompromat,” should be read with a similar understanding, for it opens with the presumption that former president Donald Trump is, as former CIA director Michael Hayden described him, “a clear and present danger.” Unger starts from the premise that Trump is a Kremlin asset and proceeds to advance the argument with great detail. Unger is a veteran investigative journalist and writer, and “American Kompromat” is a follow-up to…

18-річний юнак Микола Лемик, уродженець Перемишлянщини, студент Львівського університету, один із найкращих бійців ОУН. Микола виділявся приємною зовнішністю, був вправним стрільцем, хоч і шульга, але наполегливість і вправність робили його винятковим агентом під керівництвом самого референта Крайової екзекутиви ОУН — Романа Шухевича. Саме на долю Лемика випала одна із найгучніших акцій ОУН. У червні 1933 року керівництво Організації українських націоналістів прийняло рішення привернути увагу світової спільноти до трагедії Голодомору, що вирувала у цей час в Україні. Автор ідеї фільму отець Михайло каже, що в основі історичної драми «Лемик» не просто реальна подія, а і великий акт…

Federal Finance Minister Olaf Scholz is said to have offered the then US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin in a secret letter in August to promote the import of liquid natural gas from the USA with up to one billion euros if the US government in return waives sanctions against the Baltic Sea pipeline Nord Stream 2. This emerges from documents that Deutsche Umwelthilfe made public on Tuesday. Accordingly, the SPD politician is said to have written a personal letter to his US colleague on August 7, 2020 and made him the offer in an attached paper. DUH Federal Managing Director Sascha Müller-Kränner spoke of a “scandal” and a “dirty deal at the expense of third parties”. From the letter in English, which is available to the…

A Polish judge on Tuesday ordered two Holocaust scholars to issue a public apology for including “inaccurate information” in a two-volume academic study that delved into the role played by individual Poles in the murder of Jews during World War II. The order came at the end of a closely watched libel trial brought by the niece of a wartime village mayor, who, according to a Jewish survivor cited in a 2018 study co-edited by the scholars, was complicit in the murder of 18 Jews who took shelter from the Nazis in a forest in eastern Poland. But the judge, Ewa Jonczyk, rejected a demand for damages of…

New US President Joe Biden has made clear that he intends to stand up to the Kremlin, telling Russian President Vladimir Putin the United States is no longer “rolling over in the face of Russia’s aggressive actions.” This resolve is already being put to the test. Just five days after Biden’s inauguration, Russia’s Gazprom defied newly-minted US sanctions by resuming work on its Nord Stream 2 pipeline in waters off Denmark. This pipeline linking Russia to Germany under the Baltic Sea is Putin’s pet project, but is opposed by the United States. Biden has described the pipeline as a “bad deal” for Europe. For unknown…

Moscow and most Russian regions saw a series of huge rallies at the end of January and early February, in which protesters demanded the immediate release of Russian dissident and opposition leader Alexei Navalny. Remarkably, on January 23, a crowd of several hundred pro-Navalny demonstrators even gathered in the Crimean port city of Sevastopol (illegally annexed, along with the peninsula, from Ukraine in 2014) (Spektr, January 23). Since the start of the Russian occupation, Sevastopol City and Crimea have persistently figured, along with Chechnya, among the top three federal regions in terms of…

All attempts to reform Ukraine run into corrupt courts. Paradoxically, attempts to reform corrupt courts run into – you guessed it – corrupt courts. But there is a way. “Judicial mafia” is a phrase often heard these days in connection with Ukraine’s judges and bodies of judicial self-governance. The phrase came about because questionable court decisions became the rule rather than the exception. Collaboration between certain forces and courts has a systematic rather than random nature, and those who are responsible for personnel decisions cover up for corrupt judges just as the mafia does for its own. NGOs dealing with the judicial reform in Ukraine came up with a solution for the situation long ago: to replace and radically alter the principles of forming bodies of judicial self-governance. However…

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy shut down three Kremlin-linked TV channels on February 2 in a move portrayed by the Kyiv authorities as a major blow to Russia’s ongoing hybrid war against Ukraine. The decision has sparked a heated debate in Ukraine over the correct balance between national security considerations and freedom of speech. Ukrainian TV channels ZIK, NewsOne, and 112 were forced off the air late on February 2 after the official channel owner and opposition MP Taras Kozak was hit with sanctions. All three channels are widely believed to belong to…

Natalia Lavrenyuk, the civilian wife of Taras Kozak, a People’s Deputy from OPZZh, and the owner of the 112 Ukraine, NewsOne and ZIK channels, was added to the database of the Myrotvorets website. In early February, the National Security and Defense Council imposed sanctions on Kozak , and his channels stopped broadcasting. The Peacemaker (Myrotvorets) website states that Natalia Lavreniuk is an “accomplice of the Russian occupiers” and is allegedly involved in their financing. She is also accused of dual citizenship – Ukrainian and Russian (since 2015). Based on media reports, Myrotvorets also indicates that she is the beneficial owner of NZNP Trade LLC, which carries out geological exploration, exploration and oil production in the…

Ukrainian ambassador to Berlin Andriy Melnyk criticized an interview with German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier by the Rheinische Post, accusing him of playing up Russian propaganda and distorting history. The ambassador said this in a comment to Ukrinform. In an interview, Frank-Walter Steinmeier actually supported the completion of the Russian Nord Stream-2 gas pipeline, arguing that “another completely different dimension is important for the Germans – a look at a very changing history with Russia.” In particular, he said that June 22 marks the 80th anniversary of the German attack on the…

The consortium behind the Russia-led Nord Stream 2 natural gas pipeline has resumed laying pipes in the waters of Denmark, it said on Saturday, despite mounting pressure on the project from Washington. Construction of the link, which would double the capacity of the existing Nord Stream pipeline to 110 billion cubic metres of gas per year, was suspended in December 2019 due to the threat of sanctions from Washington. However, the German government has stood by the project and late in December a vessel called the Fortuna, which was subsequently put under sanctions by Washington, laid a 2.6 km (1.6 mile) portion of the pipeline in German waters. Construction of the pipeline is mostly complete but around 120 km is left to be laid in…

While February is Black History Month, a month when attention is given specifically to the contribution of African-Americans to our country, our society, and culture, March is the month that Ukrainians worldwide honor Taras Shevchenko. For Ukrainian-Americans, both months are a time of reflection on a very special and unique friendship between one of Ukraine’s greatest historical figures, Taras Shevchenko, and a famously talented black American, Ira Aldridge. Although both men died in the 1860s, one in Russia and the other in Poland, and though both are little known to the general public in America, both of…

The free ride of Russian propaganda in Ukraine has ended, for now. On Feb. 2, President Volodymyr Zelensky issued sanctions against pro-Russian lawmaker Taras Kozak and his three nationwide TV channels — NewsOne, Channel 112, and ZIK. The three channels have been promoting the Kremlin’s agenda and spreading disinformationfor years. As a result of Zelensky’s decree, they immediately went off the air. The surprise move is the heaviest blow that Zelensky’s administration has ever struck against pro-Russian forces in Ukraine — and one of the most assertive moves against the Kremlin since Russia started its war against…

In the late evening of 2 February 2020, Ukraine was shaken by the unexpected — though long-discussed — decision of President Zelenskyy and the Security and Defence Council (RNBO) to sanction Taras Kozak, a Ukrainian MP and oligarch. The sanctions freezing his assets also blocked the broadcasting of his three TV channels — the main media resource in Ukraine of the pro-Russian party Opposition Platform – For Life. The channels openly advocated for closer ties with Russia and broadcasted Kremlin narratives amid the current Russo-Ukrainian hybrid war. Kozak and his channels were sanctioned for five…

Berlin is insisting on the construction of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline between Russia and Germany. By doing so, the country is isolating itself in Europe and alienating the United States. The political costs will be too great if the project is completed. It should now be scrapped. How much can a natural gas pipeline from Russia be worth to the German government? Is it worth sacrificing Germany’s foreign policy prestige? Is it worth isolating the country within the European Union and straining relations with Joe Biden, the new president of the United States? How can it be reconciled with Germany’s climate targets? And why should the German government back a pipeline that benefits the Russian regime, whose policies it…

We, the representatives of Ukrainian civil society and expert community countering disinformation, insist that sanctions imposed on Taras Kozak, legal owner of TV channels 112, ZIK and NewsOne, and legal entities linked to him by the decree of President Volodymyr Zelensky on February 2, 2021 to implement the decision of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine, do not constitute an attack on the freedom of speech. These channels constitute tools of foreign influence operations, and therefore a systemic threat to information security of Ukraine for the following reasons: ◦According to the Presidential Office of Ukraine, they are funded from the Russian Federation, which has been illegally occupying Crimea and territories of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions for 7 years; ◦They consistently promote Kremlin…

Whatever we and other observers may say about the challenge posed by Alexei Navalny to the Russian government, it is clear that Russian President Vladimir Putin fears it. But the ongoing protests against the Putin regime also pose a challenge and offer an opportunity to the Biden administration. The continuing demonstrations across Russia, often in subzero temperatures, against Putin and for Navalny, as well as the regime’s arrest of more than 5,000 people, highlight Putin’s perception of his regime’s fragility. Putin’s towards repression as the only answer for the regime also betrays its sense of its…

A Moscow court on Tuesday sentenced leading opposition figure Alexei Navalny to almost three years in a penal colony, ruling he violated parole while in Germany recuperating from a recent chemical weapon attack perpetrated by Russian security forces. The sham ruling, almost certainly handed down by the Kremlin, drew swift condemnation from Washington and other Western nations. As Moscow continues to reject Western calls for Navalny’s release, the Biden administration is rightly considering sanctioning Russian officials responsible for poisoning and jailing Navalny. But while such sanctions would be a…

Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) reported, “Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has met with a group of ambassadors from the Group of Seven (G7) and the European Union to defend his government’s decision to shut several television channels controlled by a Russia-linked magnate. Zelenskyy told the group in Kyiv on February 3 that the decision to block the 112, NewsOne, and ZIK channels was justified by the need to ‘fight against the danger of Russian aggression in the information arena.’ The now-blocked channels are believed to belong to Viktor Medvedchuk, who has close ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin, who is the…

President Volodymyr Zelensky, on Feb. 2, signed a decree issuing personal sanctions against pro-Russian lawmaker Taras Kozak and his three nationwide TV channels – NewsOne, Channel 112, and ZIK. As a result of Zelensky’s decree, the channels have been immediately shut down. Zelensky’s decree enforced the sanctions drawn on by the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine earlier the same day. The sanctions mean a five-year restriction on financial operations, freezing of assets, the nullification of all permits and licenses issued to Kozak and to companies he officially owns. According to…

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has issued a decree effectively preventing three television channels from broadcasting. The three channels: 112.ua; NewsOne and Zik have been identified by media monitors as responsible for over 50% of the pro-Russian propaganda and disinformation in Ukraine, however there may well be questions over the move’s legality. The 2 February Decree formally brought into force a decision, also dated 2 February from Ukraine’s National Security and Defence Council ‘On the application of personal special economic and other restrictive measures (sanctions)’. The sanctions are against Ukrainian MP Taras Kozak and his companies, including those linked with the three channels which he bought in 2018-19. Kozak is a close associate of Viktor Medvedchuk, the controversial pro-Russian politician and…

After a 13-month pause, construction of the Nord Stream Two natural gas pipeline reportedly resumed in late January, near Denmark’s Bornholm Island (TASS, January 24). Despite United States sanctions, the Russian pipelaying barge Fortuna arrived in Danish waters to build the remaining 160 kilometers (100 miles) of Nord Stream Two in the Baltic Sea. Most of the outstanding pipeline segment is located in Danish waters, with a small portion in the German exclusive economic zone (EEZ). A dozen other Russian ships or assist vessels sailing under the Russian flag are also in the vicinity. But clouds are darkening over the project; and Russian state-controlled energy giant Gazprom, the sole owner of Nord Stream Two, is growing increasingly concerned the…

Ever since the Russian Federation announced the successful conclusion of developing its own COVID-19 vaccine Sputnik V, it has been trying to impose this vaccine over Ukraine. To achieve this goal, the Kremlin relies on pro-Russian politicians, media and opinion leaders in Ukraine. Ukrainian politician Viktor Medvedchuk has strong ties to Vladimir Putin, Russia’s President. The Kremlin’s master is the godfather of Medvedchuk’s daughter. Furthermore, Medvedchuk’s business is supported by Russia: according to reports of Ukrainian media, he earns his money through Glusco gas stations (formerly affiliated with Rosneft, a Russian oil company). Meanwhile, Oksana Marchenko, Medvedchuk’s wife, controls a company which mines one of the…

The Ukrainian Canadian Congress (UCC) welcomes the addition of the Russian Imperial Movement (Russkoe Imperskoe Dvizhenie – RID) to the list of terrorist entities designated in Canada’s Criminal Code. “Extremist, terrorist organizations such as the RID and the government that harbours them are a clear threat to global security. Today’s listing of the RID is an important step in keeping Canadians safe,” stated Alexandra Chyczij, National President of the UCC. “We applaud today’s announcement and call on the Government of Canada to investigate the RID’s links to the Russian authorities.” In April 2020, the UCC wrote to the Honourable Bill Blair, Canada’s Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness, urging the Government of Canada to list the RID as a terrorist entity and to take…

За словами експерта, на початку пандемії в Україні була проблема з тестуванням. Відомий львівський лікар Тарас Жиравецький вважає, що офіційні показники захворюваності на COVID-19 в Україні потрібно множити, як мінімум, на п’ять. Свою думку з цього приводу він висловив в інтерв’ю УНІАН. Так, відповідаючи на питання про різке зменшення кількості хворих на коронавірус за добу, лікар зазначив: «Багато людей вже перехворіли. За офіційною статистикою, це понад мільйон, а неофіційно таких людей, мінімум, разів в п’ять-шість більше, тобто…

Олександрові Довженку (він же «Сашко») належить блискуча карикатура на Володимира Винниченка, датована серединою 1920-х. Останній зображений як людина, що одночасно намагається рухатися на всі боки. Видається, ця карикатура вельми актуальна донині, тільки її персонажем має бути середній громадянин України (не «українець», адже частина номінальних громадян нашої держави не вважає себе українцями в жодному сенсі). Зайвим доказом такої «багатовекторності», яку ліпше назвати «соціальною шизофренією», є ставлення населення України до пандемії COVID-19, до боротьби влади з нею та до засобів, якими можна хоча би зменшити наслідки цієї пандемії. Отож погляньмо на автопортрет громадян…

The Center for European Policy Analysis (CEPA) is a non-partisan think-tank dedicated to re-inventing Atlanticism for a more secure future. Headquartered in Washington, D.C. and led by seasoned transatlanticists and emerging leaders from both sides of the Atlantic, CEPA brings an innovative approach to the foreign policy arena. Our cutting-edge analysis and timely debates galvanize communities of influence while investing in the next generation of leaders to understand and address present and future challenges to transatlantic values and principles. As a target of Russia’s hybrid warfare, Ukraine is a unique case study. Not only does it offer valuable data for analysis and lessons learned, but it is also arguably one of the most vulnerable victims. Its geographical and…

Перше таке видання побачило світ у 1978 році завдяки Степану Ленкавському і Данилу Чайківському. У 1999 році книгу перевидали в Україні видавництво «Відродження» (Василь Іванишин) та Інститут національного державознавства (Михайло Ратушний). Від того часу «Перспективи української революції» стали раритетом. На зламі 2020 і 2021 року нове видання побачило світ у видавництві «Наш формат» (Владислав Кириченко). На відміну від попередніх ця книга доповнена іменним та географічними покажчиками, глосарієм рідковживаних, малозрозумілих і діалектних слів, а ще фото та інформаційними матеріалами…

Shareholder of Motor Sich, Chinese Skyrizon Aviation Industry Investment Co., considers the sanctions imposed by Ukraine against Skyrizon and related persons for three years to be unreasonable and calls them the main goal of preventing investments in Motor Sich. Skyrizon, as a shareholder of Motor Sich, will be unlawfully deprived of its legal rights, obligations and commitments, and the company will also be forced to interrupt the generally accepted business relationship with the Ukrainian Motor Sich company, which will entail huge irreversible losses, the company said in a statement on the website, created to attempt to hold a meeting of shareholders of PJSC on January 31, which turned out to be unsuccessful. Skyrizon also believes that such actions by…

Короткий підсумок та далекосяжні плани щодо проведення наступної IV Всеукраїнської наукової конференції «Крути: проблеми державотворення від доби Української революції (1917–1921 рр.) до сьогодення” були зроблені під час відео-конференції наступного дня після вшанування пам’яті героїв Крут. В обговоренні взяли участь завідувачка відділу джерелознавства новітньої історії України Інституту української археографії та джерелознавства імені Михайла Грушевського НАН України Валентина Піскун, заступник директора Науково-дослідного інституту українознавства МОН України Павло Гай-Нижник, старший науковий співробітник Інституту української археографії та…

Russian MFA spokeswoman Maria Zakharova recently stated that the “vaccine war” had begun. It is a typical Kremlin way of legitimizing extremely aggressive rhetoric – by portraying the situation as “we did not start this, it was the West. And we just have to defend ourselves.” They do this in a peculiar way: trying to use a non-political topic to inflame public negative sentiments – up to protests, and to force the authorities to make unfavorable decisions. This is a formula under which Kremlin is operating all over the world, but in Ukraine they use it the most effectively due to several key factors: presence of pro-Russian media and a wide variety of different types of politicians. So, it is not surprising that for our country “Sputnik V” has…

Президент Володимир Зеленський ввів у дію рішення Ради національної безпеки і оборони від 2 лютого 2021 року про застосування санкцій проти нардепа Тараса Козака та телеканалів кума Путіна Віктора Медведчука – “112 Україна”, NewsOne, ZIK. Джерело: Указ президента Дослівно: “Увести в дію рішення Ради національної безпеки і оборони України від 2 лютого 2021 року “Про застосування персональних спеціальних економічних та інших обмежувальних заходів (санкцій)”. Деталі: Санкції ввели проти нардепа Верховної Ради від “Опозиційної платформи – За життя” Тараса Козака терміном на 5 років. Вони передбачають: 1) блокування активів – тимчасове обмеження права особи користуватися та розпоряджатися належним їй майном; 2) обмеження торговельних операцій; 3) обмеження, часткове чи повне припинення…

Іронія тут в тому, що він може і не знає і , звичайно, допомога Україні не є його наміром. Є свідчення того, що «демократичний» «антикорупціонер» Олексій Навальний є, по суті, ще одним великоросійським шовіністом. Його позиція щодо російського вторгнення, окупації та анексії суверенної української території, Криму, є беззаперечною. Таким чином, він залишається в формі російських агресорів, і його демократичні повноваження, безумовно, підозрюються, оскільки він залишається в історії російського нехтування міжнародними цивілізованими нормами. Тим не менш, він є ворогом шаленого міжнародного злочинця, який…

The irony here is that he my not know it and certainly, helping Ukraine is not his intention. There is evidence of the “democratic” “anti-corruption” Alexei Navalny being, in fact, yet another Great Russian chauvinist. His position on Russian invasion, occupation and annexation of sovereign Ukrainian territory, Crimea, is undisputed. Thus he remains within the mold of Russian aggressors and his democratic credentials are certainly suspect since he remains within a history of Russian disregard for international civilized norms. Yet he is an enemy of a rabid international criminal currently wielding power and while he is hardly an acolyte of international democracy and good behavior, he becomes a reluctant ally. Great Russians abound. It seems that…

There was a consistent message from Ukraine’s leadership over everything from the Trump campaign’s dirt digging to the country’s central role in the first impeachment proceedings: No comment. But now, as the Biden administration settles in, some close allies of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky are opening up about one of the longest-running dramas from the Trump era — the blitz of meetings, messages and public statements in Ukraine by former president Donald Trump’s personal lawyer, Rudolph W. Giuliani. Among the accounts emerging from Ukrainian officials is a July 2019 phone call between…

Ukraine has lost its way. Its chosen road towards transforming itself from a corrupt, post-Soviet thinking culture into a rules-based society has stalled. Actually, it can be argued fairly that since the election of Volodymyr Zelensky, along with the previous Poroshenko administration, Ukraine’s political leadership has failed to establish the road to transforming society into an effectively functioning democratic society. And now, nearly two years after Zelensky’s election, Ukraine’s potential for change has not only effectively been stalled, but its commitment to such change put into doubt. Zelensky has not only failed to establish a governing commitment to a rules-based democracy, but he has been…

For the first time in three years the Navy has sent three ships – including two destroyers – into the Black Sea, just days after President Biden confronted Vladimir Putin about Russian policy. The move is sure to be read by Moscow as a statement of intent as the United States looks to confront Russia in response to its invasion of Ukraine, attempts to assassinate political rivals and reformers at home, and continuing acts of violence against Russians in NATO countries, as well as the persistent threats Vladimir Putin’s regime has made against NATO countries. The USS Porter entered the Black Sea this…

In spring 2014, Ukraine embarked on an historic period of national transformation. Seven years later, the results are decidedly mixed. While there has been undeniable progress, numerous core problems remain unresolved. Since 2014, there has been frequent analysis of Ukraine’s reform shortcomings. In a widely read recent article, former Canadian Ambassador to Ukraine Roman Waschuk sought to identify mistakes made by the international donor community while supporting Ukraine’s historic transition. As an activist who has been involved in Ukrainian reform advocacy since 2015, I would also like to share my perspectives on this evolving debate. One of Ambassador Waschuk’s most striking points was his rejection of the…

The Kyiv Post reported, “Ukraine is among the countries with the worst coronavirus response, according to a new study, Covid Performance Index, released by the Lowy Institute, an Australian think tank, on Jan. 27. The researchers collected and compared publicly available data on the virus from 98 countries that openly publish such information to estimate how well these countries handled the pandemic. Every country was granted from 0 to 100 points. Ukraine ranked 90th out of the 98 countries, scoring 20.7 points. New Zealand came first, scoring 94.4 out of 100 points, while Brazil proved the worst having managed to gain only 4.3 points. The researchers examined the 36-week period after every country’s 100th confirmed case of…

This guest post by Roman Waschuk, Former Ambassador of Canada to Ukraine (2014-2019) and Serbia, Montenegro, North Macedonia (2011-2014), comprises a version of the remarks made during HURI’s Opening Lecture, “What the West Got Wrong: Re-examining Western Support for Reforms in Ukraine, 2014-2019,” which streamed on YouTube on September 16, 2020. The recording remains available for viewing on our channel. Ukraine, a country that has experienced three revolutions in three decades (Euromaidan in 2013-14, Orange Revolution in 2004, student revolt in 1990), is clearly still not…

In the global struggle for COVID vaccines, Ukraine has emerged as a marginalized borderland. As has happened so often throughout Ukrainian history, the country finds itself on the frontier between the European community of nations and the vast authoritarian empires of Eurasia. On one side are the EU member states, which have already ordered their vaccines and launched national inoculation campaigns. Except for a comparatively small Moderna contract, the vaccines in use throughout the European Union are virtually all EU-developed or manufactured. On the other side of the divide stand…

A leaked wiretap of the Belarusian KGB reveals President Lukashenka sought the assassination of opposition journalist Pavel Sheremet, who was killed in Kyiv in 2016. Surprisingly, Ukrainian law enforcers had ignored this logical version. Instead, they are incriminating three Ukrainian military volunteers, despite no clear motive for the crime. Since Pavel Sheremet was murdered in July 2016 in Kyiv, Ukrainian investigators had a difficult time figuring out the motive. Nothing seemed to fit: the Belarusian-Ukrainian journalist hadn’t authored any hard-hitting investigation against the Ukrainian authorities, nor had he done anything to trigger revenge. Their absense of…

Donald Trump was cultivated as a Russian asset more than 40 years ago, which exploded into a decades-long ‘relationship’ of mutual benefit to both Russia and Trump, a shocking new book claims. Trump was rescued multiple times from multiple bankruptcies by boatloads of Russian cash laundered through his real estate in the 80s and 90s, the author asserts. Russian money also picked up the tab for buildings franchised under Trump’s name. An invitation to Russia by a high-level KGB official in 1987 under the guise of a preliminary scouting trip to build a Trump hotel in Moscow, was in fact ‘deep development’ by KGB handlers that…

Mass protests in dozens of Russia’s cities against the arrest of Russian opposition activist Alexei Navalny may foreshadow the country’s approaching rupture. Not since gaining absolute power over 20 years ago has President Vladimir Putin faced such a confluence of crises compounded by his own domestic policy failures. The Russian Federation, held together by the Kremlin’s power monopoly, is approaching a period of turmoil precipitated by several simultaneous crises. The economy was shrinking even before the pandemic struck and the global recession began. International financial sanctions on Russian companies involved in the war against Ukraine and the subversion of Western democracies contributed to the decline, but…

On January 27, the world marks International Holocaust Remembrance Day. On this day, we honour the memory of the millions of victims of the Holocaust. Over six million Jews, and millions of other victims – Ukrainians, Poles, Roma, and many others – were murdered by the Nazi German regime. May the Memory of the Victims Be Eternal. Вічная пам`ять. The cruelty and barbarity of the Nazi German regime is a reminder to us all of human beings’ capacity for evil. It is a reminder of the need for us all to speak out and stand up forcefully in condemnation of anti-Semitism, racism and totalitarianism, wherever they may appear. It is in silence that hatred grows. Today, we pay tribute to the Survivors of the Holocaust, and their courage in…

Українські ЗМІ вже писали про бізнес-зв’язки глави Офісу Зеленського Андрія Єрмака з російським банкіром Рахамімом Емануїловим. Так, Рахамім Емануїлов і Єрмак є співвласниками ЗАТ «Інтерпромфінанс Україна» (директором є батько Андрія Єрмака Борис Єрмак) і ТОВ «М.Е.П.».Компанія «Інтерпромфінанс Україна» також пов’язана з компанією Емануїлова «Інтерпромторг», яка в свою чергу заснувала російський «Інтерпромбанк». А в раду директорів банку разом з Емануїловим входить такий собі Ніколай Єгоров, однокласник Володимира Путіна.Так от: цей Єгоров і його компанії (очевидно, включно з «Інтерпромбанком») є одними з головних інвесторів побудови палацу Путіна в Геленджику, що…

Ukraine’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs says it sees the consolidation of efforts of all Ukrainians as a powerful weapon to counter Russian aggression. “The consolidation of efforts of all Ukrainians is a powerful weapon to defeat [our] common enemy and restore [Ukraine’s] territorial integrity,” the ministry said in an official statement to mark Ukrainian Unity Day on January 22. “The Act Zluky [Unification Act signed on January 22, 1919] determined the further formation of the Ukrainian political nation and became evidence of the will of Ukrainians for self-determination and consolidation,” the ministry said. “Today, as then, the unification and unity of Ukrainians remain the fundamental values of Ukrainian statehood. It is these values that Ukraine defends today from…

Discussions of the reform, however, often overlook potential negative consequences, such as a greater degree of concentration of power in the hands of self-serving local elites. There are strong indications that some degree of ‘local elite capture’ has indeed occurred in a number of places. This article is based on the publication “Decentralization and the Risk of Local Elite Capture in Ukraine“ from the book “Regional Diversity, Decentralization and Separatism in Ukraine”, which was edited by Maryna Rabinovych and Oksana Shelest and published by Palgrave Macmillan in 2020. The publication draws on 149 interviews held in 2017 and 2018 with representatives of the newly formed amalgamated territorial communities in the…

China built a great wall to protect against foreign invaders, but Russia is erecting a barrier that could weaken its position. On its western border from Finland in the north to Georgia in the south, Russia has pressured neighbors and caused NATO to deploy more military force close to Russia. The Kremlin probably did not intend to hand NATO this opportunity. Russia uses hard power – intimidation, coercion, disinformation – so often that the Kremlin may underrate the capacity or will of neighbors to resist. Seemingly aware of these risks, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has warned of “NATO’s unprecedented plans to move toward our borders and involve neutral countries – like Sweden and Finland – in its military exercises.” Moscow’s pressure on neighbors has spurred…

Most presidential transitions offer opportunities to reexamine relationships between the United States and other countries. Despite the strangely friendly relationship between President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin, the U.S.-Russian relationship is in abysmal shape. This has led to calls from some experts for the incoming Biden administration to increase dialogue with Moscow, appoint a special envoy to try to repair the relationship, and focus on solving problems between the two sides. That is a bad idea. To be clear, it was a bad idea before the recent disclosure that the SVR, Russia’s equivalent to the CIA, was behind the worst cyberattack in U.S. history. The hack breached U.S. government agencies, along with…

This coming spring marks seven years since Moscow, barely disguised behind the sheerest of veils, instigated an armed assault in the Donbas against its sovereign neighbor. This Russian adventure has cost more than 13,000 Ukrainian lives; we don’t know the number of Russian lives lost, as Moscow will not admit that its soldiers have died in Ukraine. Instead Russia has denied its involvement in eastern Ukraine to force a stalemate and create a frozen conflict. This is not a frozen conflict, however, but rather an active fight that threatens lives and livelihoods. Russia has funneled financial support to the self-styled “LPR/DPR authorities” that have no accountability to local populations and answer only to…

Amid a raging backdrop of far-right violence in the U.S., the Russia-based former leader and founder of a neo-Nazi terror group has turned his attentions to a new project: re-establishing secretive paramilitary training across the U.S. Rinaldo Nazzaro, 47, a former Pentagon contractor originally from New Jersey who is said to have worked on targeting operations with U.S. Special Forces, founded and led the Base until a nationwide FBI crackdown dismantled the organization and close to a dozen of its members were arrested for, among other things, an assassination plot and planning a mass shooting. While some of those members languish in jail, Nazzaro’s new training project is designed for a “system collapse”—neo-Nazi lingo for a potential second civil war—and…

In the wake of the Capitol riots two weeks ago, a number of large tech companies pulled support for Parler, a Twitter-like social network that Donald Trump’s supporters have increasingly favored since its launch in 2018. Apple and Google removed the Parler app from their digital stores, and Amazon Web Services cut the platform’s hosting services. After more than a week offline, the site is now partially backed up, in the form of a landing page that promises a full return. To get even this far, Parler has hired DDoS-Guard, a Russian digital infrastructure company, to defend it against the endless barrage of…

On 23 June 1978, a Soviet police officer came to the house of a Crimean Tatar Musa Mamut to escort him to a meeting with a prosecutor. Mamut was legally not allowed to live in Crimea, due to his nationality. In fact, he had just returned from prison, where he served a sentence for illegally repatriating to his homeland a few years prior. A meeting with a prosecutor meant that the government would continue persecution and would not let Mamut live in his Crimean home. This time, however, Musa Mamut was not ready to surrender. Under the premise that he needed to get dressed, he asked the officer to wait outside. Mamut came out of the house…

Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) reported, “The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) has concluded that Ukrainian authorities committed a series of human rights violations during the pro-European Maidan protests in late 2013 and early 2014 that ousted Russia-friendly President Viktor Yanukovych. In a ruling on January 21 on five lawsuits filed by 33 Ukrainian nationals, the ECHR said that during the protests, there were multiple violations of the articles of the European Convention on Human Rights. The violations deal with the prohibition of torture and inhuman and degrading treatment, the right to liberty and security, freedom of assembly and association, the right to life, and the right to…

The video investigation by Russia’s leading opposition figure, that claims President Vladimir Putin spent illicit funds on an extravagant Black Sea palace, has reached more than 20 million people within a day of publication. Alexei Navalny’s team released it after he was jailed on his return to Moscow. The investigation alleges the property cost £1bn ($1.37bn) and was paid for “with the largest bribe in history”. The Kremlin denies the property belongs to the president. Claims that federal officials were guarding a vast palace complex on the Black Sea coast were “pure nonsense”, spokesman Dmitry Peskov said. The Navalny investigation describes the…

After President-elect Joe Biden is inaugurated on January 20, some elements of U.S. policy toward Russia will change immediately. No longer will the president of the United States seek to befriend Russian President Vladimir Putin, as President Donald Trump did throughout his tenure. Biden will not hesitate to criticize Putin’s belligerent actions, especially those directed at the United States. The Biden administration will also incorporate liberal norms and democratic values back into the United States’ Russia policy, so Putin can expect more criticism of Russian autocracy and more support for human rights. And the White House’s rhetoric about the United States’ transatlantic allies will shift markedly; the era of berating NATO will end this week. That’s the easy and expected stuff. The harder task will be…

Lithuania is the latest country to announce that it has busted a Russian spy ring on its soil. The allegation that two of its citizens were spying for Russia comes a few weeks after the Dutch authorities rolled up another of the Kremlin’s “substantial espionage networks.” It’s been a tumultuous few months for President Putin’s overseas espionage operation, which keeps getting caught in the act. It is unclear if a string of recent arrests blowing up Russia’s overseas missions is merely a coincidence, or whether there has been some kind of leak from inside Russia’s notorious intel agencies. “There is some penetration,” Andrei Soldatov, one of Russia’s best-informed trackers of the security agencies, told The Daily Beast. “Whether it’s relatively new…

The Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group (KHPG) reported, “Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has made yet another baffling appointment, this time naming Oleksandr Kuksa head of a department within the Security Service [SBU]. According to Advocacy Advisory Panel lawyers, representing Maidan victims or their families, Kuksa was deputy to Oleksandr Shcheholev, who is currently on trial, accused of having organized and carried out the storming of protesters on Maidan via the so-called ‘anti-terrorist operation’. The lawyers point out that Shcheholev’s own testimony suggests that Kuksa was directly involved in the events over which his former superior is facing charges. During the Revolution of Dignity, as the…

Today, 75 years on, we remember with respect the AUGB’s founding members, who at the end of the Second World War were dispersed far away from their homeland. These included: Ukrainians serving in the Canadian Armed Forces, some of whom had arrived in Great Britain in 1940; the first Ukrainian settlers from Ukraine, in Manchester, whose emigration to Canada had been prevented by the outbreak of the First World War in 1914; Ukrainians who had been deported to Siberia during the Soviet occupation and annexation of Western Ukraine (1939), Northern Bukovina (1940) and Transcarpathian Ukraine (1945), who together with Poles, as Polish citizens, reached the Middle East where the Polish Army’s II Corps was…

Sino-Ukrainian trade relations are heavily tilted in favor of the former. In 2019, Ukraine exported $3.59 billion in goods to China and imported $9.2 billion. Chinese direct investment in Ukraine does not match the expanding bilateral trade. Chinese companies remain largely reluctant to invest in Ukraine because of the country’s unfavorable business climate. Chinese lending practices are often non-transparent and result in hidden debt. Chinese companies focus mainly on large infrastructure projects in Ukraine, such as railways, ports, roads, etc. Beijing has been actively pursuing deepening ties within the defense sector. Ukraine is the second largest supplier of weapons to China after Russia. For several years now, Chinese Skyrizon has been…

Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) reported, “The United States plans to sanction a Russian vessel as it seeks to stop the completion of a controversial natural gas export pipeline to Europe. The administration of outgoing President Donald Trump told government officials in Berlin and other European capitals on January 18 that the sanctions on the Fortuna ship would go into effect the following day under existing legislation known as CAATSA. The sanctions would punish any European company that helps Fortuna complete the Nord Stream 2 project, which is designed to carry natural gas from Russia to Germany across the Baltic seabed. The United States opposes the…

Президент України Володимир Зеленський указом призначив начальником Департаменту захисту національної державності СБУ Олександра Куксу. Спільнота юристів Адвокатська дорадча група, котра захищає інтереси родин Небесної сотні, звернула увагу на те, що цей офіцер СБУ причетний до справ Майдану. Зокрема, він є одним зі співвідповідальних за реалізацію в лютому 2014 року операції “Бумеранг”. Правозахисники нагадали, що під час Майдану Кукса був заступником Олександра Щеголєва. Його судять за організацію та здійснення силового штурму протестувальників на Майдані шляхом…

The recent decision to shut down many of US President Donald Trump’s social media accounts has sparked a heated debate over freedom of expression and censorship that has echoed far beyond America itself. The principles involved are nothing new, of course. Nevertheless, the current discussion has underlined the growing power of tech companies to control access to the information we consume, while also highlighting the need to establish transparent guidelines over the boundaries of free speech in the digital age. These issues resonate particularly loudly among Ukrainian audiences, who have been grappling for the past seven years with the challenges of balancing media freedoms with national security. Ever since Russian troops first…

When Rudolph W. Giuliani was treating his efforts to carry out President Trump’s wishes to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election as a payment opportunity — he proposed a daily retainer of $20,000 for his legal services from the burgeoning Trump campaign legal fund — the president dismissed it and responded by demanding to personally approve each expense. Nine weeks and another impeachment later, Mr. Trump began the day on Thursday by asking aides to erase any sign of a rift. Stripped of his Twitter account, Mr. Trump conveyed his praise through an adviser, Jason Miller, who tweeted: “Just spoke with President Trump, and he told me that @RudyGiuliani is a great guy and a Patriot who devoted his services to the country! We all love America’s Mayor!” White House officials are universally angry with…

Europe’s top human rights court agreed Thursday to look into Ukraine’s complaint against alleged human rights violations in the Russia-annexed Crimean Peninsula. The Strasbourg-based European Court of Human Rights, or ECHR, concluded that Ukraine’s case against Russia is backed by sufficient evidence and admissible for consideration. It wasn’t clear when the court would deliver a verdict. Ukraine has argued in its complaint that Russia was responsible for a variety of human rights violations in the Black Sea peninsula. Russia’s 2014 annexation of Crimea hasn’t been recognized by a vast majority of nations and drew U.S. and EU sanctions against Moscow. International human rights groups long have pointed at numerous rights abuses in Crimea, including…

Russia’s “hard power” activity in the Sea of Azov has increased significantly since May 2018, when the authorities officially opened the Kerch Strait Bridge they had been building since the illegal annexation of Crimea (UNIAN, May 15, 2018). Immediately, experts identified Moscow’s bridge building project as, in part, a deliberate “access limitation” operation. Moreover, both during the construction phase and since completion, it was accompanied by frequent freedom-of-navigation restrictions (“access denial”—see below), including systematic Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) Coast Guard boarding and…

Днями перехідна команда Байдена-Гарріс оголосила, хто відповідатиме за російський напрямок у Раді національної безпеки і впливатиме на формування політики американського президента у відносинах з Москвою. Вибір команди нового президента впав на Андреа Кендалл-Тейлор – ексспівробітницю ЦРУ, колишнього офіцера розвідки, а нині – директорку одного з аналітичних центрів, що спеціалізується на питаннях безпеки. “Маю честь охоче долучитися до цієї неймовірної команди Ради національної безпеки. Стаємо до роботи!” – написала Кендалл-Тейлор у Twitter після оголошення про її призначення. Яким же є портрет чиновниці, що…

And what gives us all good hope is that the West is holding on to wise, serious politicians thinking way farther the tip of their own noses when it comes to strategic choices. James Bezan, Canada’s shadow minister for national defense, showed the best of himself in this situation with the pro-Russian propaganda this week of two so-called Canadian experts on Russia, Gilles Breton and Piotr Dutkiewicz, who published an article in a Kremlin mouthpiece calling for a thaw in relations between Ottawa and Moscow. On Jan. 11, the politician reacted to the article on his Twitter page saying the following: “I’m shocked these so-called experts want to “thaw” our relationship with Russia proving they are acting on Putin’s behalf. It’s appalling to think anyone wants to normalize relations when…

Today, the largest study of genetic diversity in Ukraine was published in the open science journal GigaScience. The project was an international effort, bringing together researchers in Ukraine, the US and China and is the first fruits of this collaboration to set up a new Central Europe Center for Genomic Research in Ukraine. Led by researchers at Uzhhorod National University and Oakland University in the US, the work provides genetic understanding of the historic and pre-historic migration settlements in one of the key intersections of human trade and migration between the Eurasian peoples as well as the identification of genetic variants of medical interest in the Ukrainian population that differ from other European populations. Two decades ago, after…

В рамках ініціативи було представлено базу даних осіб, причетних до політичних репресій. База розміщена на сайті https://pravotvorets.info. Засновниками “Правотворця” є ініціативи #FreeRiff, #FreeDrKuzmenko, Рух Опору Капітуляції, Фірма СЕНС Консалтинг, адвокатське об’єднання “OK LEGAL” і адвокат Тарас Безпалий. На момент презентації в базі є інформація про 65 переслідувачів: прокурори, працівники поліції, слідчі, судді і т.д. Вони причетні до політичних переслідувань у справах Андрія Антоненка, Юлії Кузьменко, Яни Дугарь, Андрія Денисенка, Тетяни Чорновол, Сергія Стерненка, Сергія Тамаріна, Юрія Каплі, Олександра Демидова. На розгляд “Правотворця” можна подати нову…

The Trump administration imposed sanctions on Monday against seven Ukrainians — including two who assisted President Trump’s personal lawyer Rudolph W. Giuliani — for being part of what it called “a Russia-linked foreign influence network” that spread “fraudulent and unsubstantiated allegations” about President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr. during the 2020 campaign. Mr. Giuliani relied on two of the Ukrainians who were penalized — Andrii Telizhenko and Kostiantyn H. Kulyk — as he sought to gather damaging information and force government investigations into Mr. Biden and his son, Hunter Biden, related to Ukraine. That effort, which had the president’s backing, led to Mr. Trump’s impeachment in 2019 by the House of Representatives. The sanctions announced on Monday stemmed from the…

The Ukrainian NGO “Security and Cooperation in Ukraine” has released a 225-page report titled Armed Aggression of the Russian Federation Against Ukraine, which offers the fullest-to-date compilation of the participation of the Russian army, irregulars, and paramilitaries in hostilities in Ukraine’s Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts during their hottest period, from March 2014 to February 2015. The report provides a legal assessment of the Russian aggression against Ukraine and outlines the organizational structure of the Russian military invasion force that had been involved in the fighting against Ukraine since March 2014. The force, the study shows, comprised regular and irregular units of the Russian Army, Don Cossack formations, and private military contractors. Russia’s annexation of the Ukrainian Crimean peninsula, which…

Last week, as the smoke cleared from the shocking pro-Trump mob attack on the US Capitol, America’s global reputation as a stable, strong democracy emerged badly damaged. Now, many are questioning whether it can ever regain the moral authority necessary to lead the world’s democracies, fledgling or otherwise. From Beijing to Caracas to Moscow, governments, state-controlled media and online commentators reacted with schadenfreude, accusing Washington of hypocrisy and double standards. “The United States lost all the rights to pursue the democratic path and lost their rights to impose it on…

11 грудня 2020 р. апеляційний суд розглянув і залишив у силі вирок суду нижчої інстанції у справі відставного генерал-майора Віктора Назарова, який звинувачувався у службовій недбалості, виявленій ним у час його перебування на посаді начальника Штабу “антитерористичної” операції в Донбасі, у зв’язку зі збиттям 7 червня 2014 року українського транспортного літака ІЛ-76 військовими формуваннями під проводом росіян, яке призвело до смерті 9 членів екіпажу і 40 десантників. Одразу після проголошення цього рішення одночасно і незалежно одна від одної з`явилися дві реакції на нього, в яких висловлювалося серйозне занепокоєння тим значенням, що його може мати це рішення для безпеки України. 19 грудня 2020 р. понад сто українських старших офіцерів і випробуваних битвою…

On December 7, the General Assembly of the United Nations (UNGA) adopted the resolution “Problem of the militarization of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol, Ukraine, as well as parts of the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov,” initiated by Ukraine (Mfa.gov.ua, December 16, 2020). The declaration indicates that the transformation of the peninsula into a huge Russian military base “represents a threat to peace and security well beyond the Black Sea region” (Un.org, December 7, 2020). This was the third year in a row that the UNGA raised such concerns; but this time, new key elements were included in the document. Solomiya Bobrovskaya, the secretary of the Verkhovna Rada (Ukrainian parliament) Committee on Foreign Policy and Inter-Parliamentary Cooperation, mentioned that for the…

If you thought this week’s news cycle could not get any crazier, 2021 has thrown us a curveball as a reminder that in the upside-down world of Donald Trump’s pitiful presidency, all roads inevitably lead back to Russian President Vladimir Putin. A photograph was taken at Wednesday’s armed insurrection at the United States Capitol in which a notorious Ukrainian conspiracy theorist named Sergey Dubinin, who has deep ties to Putin and his billionaire henchmen, is captured elbowing with one of Trump’s sectarians – the dude donning Viking horns and furs, to be precise. Michael MacKay, an internationally-renowned political pundit, whose niche is the…

Today, the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) took additional action against seven individuals and four entities that are part of a Russia-linked foreign influence network associated with Andrii Derkach. Russian agent Derkach was designated on September 10, 2020, pursuant to Executive Order (E.O.) 13848, for his attempt to influence the 2020 U.S. presidential election. “Russian disinformation campaigns targeting American citizens are a threat to our democracy,” said Secretary Steven T. Mnuchin. “The United States will continue to aggressively defend the integrity of…

Низка експослів США, авторитетних військових та експертів звернулися до України зі спільною заявою, у якій закликають на найвищому рівні переглянути рішення щодо покарання генерала Віктора Назарова у зв’язку зі збиттям бойовиками Іл-76 в аеропорту Луганська. Про це йдеться у тексті заяви, оприлюдненої 11 січня, інформує “Європейська правда.” Серед 16 підписантів документа – генерал у відставці повітряних сил США Філіп Брідлав, генерали США у відставці Веслі Кларк та Бен Ходжіс, експосли США в Україні Джон Гербст, Вільям Тейлор, Роман Попадюк та Стефен Пайфер, Александр Вершбоу – колишній заступник генсека НАТО та…

For anyone who has covered political turmoil across the wreckage of the former Soviet Union over the past three decades, the mob that stormed the Capitol in Washington on Wednesday looked shockingly familiar, down to the dress code and embrace of banners trumpeting seemingly lost causes. In fervor and style, the mob resembled the ragtag bands that seized control of the Parliament building in Moscow in 1993, clamoring for the revival of the Soviet Union. Much the same scenes unfolded two decades later, as self-styled militias stormed the regional assembly in Donetsk, a major industrial city in eastern Ukraine and now the capital of a secessionist, pro-Russian “people’s republic.” Ersatz military gear — camouflage jackets, old…

Ukraine entered the new year with a mounting constitutional crisis that will further test President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s resolve to reform a system he promised “to break” during his election campaign. Five days into 2021, the Constitutional Court issued a statement that said a presidential decree to suspend the court’s chief, Oleksandr Tupytskyi, “may lead to blocking the work” of the court and make it “impossible” to exercise “constitutional control in order to ensure the supremacy of the Constitution of Ukraine, assertion of human rights and freedom.” An attached legal opinion by the court’s Research and Consultative Council accompanied the…

James Kirchick, a visiting fellow at the Brookings Institution, is author of The End of Europe: Dictators, Demagogues and the Coming Dark Age. This article is a co-publication with Eurozine. “Would somebody please help me out here: I’m confused,” read the email to me from a conservative Republican activist and donor. “The Russians are alleged to have interfered in the 2016 election by hacking into Dem party servers that were inadequately protected, some being kept in Hillary’s basement and finding emails that were actually written by members of the Clinton campaign and releasing those emails so that…

Russian officials on Thursday pointed to the storming of the US Capitol as evidence of America’s decline, with one saying it showed US democracy was “limping on both feet”. After the stunning events in Washington, many in Moscow said the United States was no longer in any position to lecture other countries on freedom and democracy. Under banners reading “Storm of the Capitol” and “Chaos in Washington”, Russian state television showed rolling images of mobs of Donald Trump supporters breaking down barricades and swarming the building, as security forces fired tear gas and police drew guns…

As a shirtless, horned man stood at the dais of the U.S. Senate on Wednesday, the words Harvard Law School Prof. Yochai Benkler told Haaretz ahead of the 2020 election sprang to mind. Since the Cold War began, Soviet – and then Russian – information warfare campaigns have never been about pushing out a single message. Prof. Benkler, one of the leading authorities on disinformation online, explained that the primary role of Russian propaganda “is to create a world where nothing is true and everything is possible.” As the chaotic scenes played out on Capitol Hill, I also recalled what researchers at the Rand Corporation said after completing a massive study into disinformation efforts on Twitter ahead of…

As we await the inauguration of Joe Biden as the forty-sixth president of the United States, there are high hopes in Ukraine for fruitful cooperation with the incoming US administration. President-elect Biden will enter the White House at a time of mounting confrontation between the world’s democracies and the growing threat of resurgent authoritarianism. Nowhere is this struggle more immediately obvious than in the post-Soviet world. Ever since first achieving independence in 1991, Ukrainians have been seeking to complete their country’s transition from totalitarian past to democratic future. There has been…

Almost exactly one year ago, Ukraine launched independent gas transportation company GTSOU and concluded a five-year transit contract with Russia. Servicing the domestic market remains the foundation of GTSOU’s business, but our commercial viability comes from international activities, which account for 80% of GTSOU’s revenue. As we evaluate business priorities for the years ahead, it is clear that GTSOU must find a way to grow or maintain the current level of transit while increasing the range of services we offer to our international partners and introducing new technologies that will future-proof our infrastructure in light of the de-carbonization agenda. Ukraine’s transit system is currently capable of shipping massive volumes of gas from east to west and can easily cover three-quarters of Russian exports to Europe. However, should…

Observers around the world were stunned to see a violent mob storm the U.S. Capitol building in a desperate, violent bid to overturn a legitimate presidential election and secure a second term for outgoing U.S. President Donald Trump. But commentators from the far right of the political spectrum in Eastern Europe and the Balkans were in many cases encouraged by what they saw. Many took time away from marking the Orthodox Christmas holiday on January 7 to signal their solidarity with the U.S. rioters, many of whom waved flags of the racist Confederate States of America. Andreas Umland, who has written…

Despite the fact that Moscow retains de facto control over the Crimean peninsula, Russia’s influence in Crimea is no longer as strong as in previous years. This opinion was expressed in an interview with Krym.Realii by Eurasia expert and former US State Department analyst Paul Goble. According to the expert, the weakening of Russia’s position was influenced by three factors, one of which took place in the Crimea, the second – in Moscow, and the third is related to changes at the international level. “This does not mean that the Kremlin will act in accordance with international law and return Crimea to Kyiv’s control. Moreover, the trends observed may even portend an increase in Russian aggression. However, this does not change the…

Manipulating the protest moods, based, in particular, on patriotic and religious feelings is the key element to undermine Ukrainian society from within as part of the hybrid aggression of the Russian Federation against Ukraine. This is stated in the article on the website of the Foreign Intelligence Service of Ukraine (SZR) on the main external threats to Ukraine, Interfax-Ukraine reports. “Language and religious issues, problems of external governance of Ukraine are actively used, in particular, due to dependence on the IMF and other Western institutions and governments, provocations with attacks by alleged “nationalists” on representatives of “opposition” pro – Russian forces are being inspired and…

As details began to emerge in late 2020 of Russia’s massive cyber-attack on the United States, there was plenty of anger and alarm but little in the way of genuine shock. Instead, an air of inevitability accompanied news of the attack. This somewhat resigned response illustrates just how accustomed the Western world has become to the reality of a hostile Russia. It was not always this way. Just over eight years ago in October 2012, US President Barack Obama felt comfortable enough about Russia to mock his presidential rival Mitt Romney for calling the country America’s number one geopolitical foe. “The 1980s are now calling to ask fo…

Earlier this month in a small village in western Ukraine, a group of political pranksters met to declare self-government and to fly the country’s yellow-and-blue national flag upside down as their new symbol. The tiny group of misfits, led by a former plumber named Anatoly Balakhnin, was ignored by most Ukrainians; only Radio Liberty reported on the meeting, noting 10 people had shown up to it. Yet across the border, in Russian media, the new group was declared an “alternative state” and held up as an example of how Ukraine was supposedly facing “issues of separatism” in its western regions. It’s been…

The US Senate began 2021 by delivering a major blow to Russian President Vladimir Putin by passing the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), which includes sanctions designed to kill off the Kremlin’s strategically important Nord Stream 2 pipeline project. The geopolitical significance of this legislation cannot be overstated. It means almost certain doom for Putin’s most important energy project and prevents Russia from tightening its control over EU natural gas supplies. The new legislation imposes draconian sanctions that should permanently end construction of the Nord Stream 2 natural gas line…

Ukraine’s relationship with its Diaspora over the last almost thirty years has been manifestly positive, yet tangibly troubling. Meetings have been held on the highest levels, honors and trinkets bestowed, even joint efforts made in observances, celebrations and remembrances. Diaspora representatives have served in the Government of Ukraine with some latitude as to legal requirements and limitations for such service. Honorary and even dual citizenship to Ukrainians abroad has been suggested and discussed with little real result. The only thing lacking has been protection and assistance from the Ukrainian side. But that is what matters. The Diaspora itself can be…

On Election Day, General Paul M. Nakasone, the nation’s top cyberwarrior, reported that the battle against Russian interference in the presidential campaign had posted major successes and exposed the other side’s online weapons, tools and tradecraft. “We’ve broadened our operations and feel very good where we’re at right now,” he told journalists. Eight weeks later, General Nakasone and other American officials responsible for cybersecurity are now consumed by what they missed for at least nine months: a hacking, now believed to have affected upward of 250 federal agencies and businesses, that…

Інформаційний проєкт Єврокомісії EUvsDisinfo оприлюднив дайджест найбільш ганебних провалів кремлівських пропагандистів у 2020 році. Деталі: У цьому рейтингу першу позицію посідає ситуація з отруєнням російського опозиціонера Олексія Навального з подальшим викриттям ФСБ Росії у скоєнні цього злочину. Телефонне самовикриття одного з отруйників у розмові з Навальним стало важким ударом як по репутації ФСБ, так і по авторитету Кремля, вважає антифейковий проєкт. На другому місці – інформаційна атака російських пропагандистів проти вакцин від COVID-19. У інформаційній базі EUvsDisinfo за рік зібрано…

Відносини України з діаспорою за останні майже тридцять років були явно позитивними, але відчутно недостатними. Зустрічі проводилися на найвищих рівнях, почестях і дарованих бляшках, навіть спільних зусиль, святкуванням і відзначенням. Представники діаспори навіть служили в уряді України з певною гнучкістю щодо юридичних вимог та обмежень. Почесне і навіть подвійне громадянство українцям за кордоном було запропоновано і обговорено з невеликим реальним результатом. Єдине, чого бракує, це захист і допомога з сторони України. Але це те, що має значення. Саму діаспору можна…

The sprawling SolarWinds hack by suspected Russian state-backed hackers is the latest sign of Moscow’s growing resolve and improving technical ability to cause disruption and conduct espionage at a global scale in cyberspace. The hack, which compromised parts of the U.S. government as well as tech companies, a hospital and a university, adds to a string of increasingly sophisticated and ever more brazen online intrusions, demonstrating how cyber operations have become a key plank in Russia’s confrontation with the West, analysts and officials say. Moscow’s relations with the West continue to sour, and the Kremlin sees the cyber operations as a cheap and effective way to achieve its geopolitical goals, analysts say. Russia, they say…

The Soviet disinformation campaign to cover up the Holodomor is a precursor to the Russian Federation’s disinformation campaigns today, says a Pulitzer Prize winning author of a recent book on the 1932-33 famine. “The techniques of disinformation are different, but the instinct is very similar,” said Anne Applebaum, author of “Red Famine: Stalin’s War on Ukraine” during a virtual conversation streamed online by the Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies (CIUS) at the University of Alberta, November 28. When something embarrassing happens that goes against the regime’s picture of itself a disinformation campaign will be…

Коментар для українського радіo у Філядельфії частинно підготовлений на матеріялі професора Петра Кралюка з національного університету Острозька Академія і на основі історії ОУН. Матеріял підготовив Осип Рожка. Антиурядові протести в м. Хабаровську в Російській Федерації, на Далекому Сході, які тривали кілька тижнів, привернули увагу світу. “Путін! Нам потрібна гідна зарплата і пенсія, а не війна з Україною!!!” – читаємо на плякатах в часі антипутінської демонстрації в обороні арештованого хабаровського губернатора. Які висновки можна зробити з цього? Хто ті мешканці, що опротестовують Путінські рішення? Звідки взявся…

Congress delivered a stinging rebuke to President Trump on Friday, handing him his first veto override in the final days of his administration. The GOP-controlled Senate met during a rare New Years Day session and voted 80-12 to override Trump’s veto of a mammoth defense bill, underscoring the depth of disagreement between the two sides of Pennsylvania Avenue. The House voted earlier this week to nix Trump’s veto of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), which greenlights spending levels and lays out policy for the Pentagon. It caps off a chaotic session for Congress that…

After being dramatically forced out as prime minister of Ukraine after having served for fewer than six months, one could forgive Oleksiy Honcharuk if he wanted to simply wash his hands of Ukraine’s sometimes maddening politics and be done with it all. Honcharuk’s tenure as prime minister was cut short almost as rapidly as it began. When Volodymyr Zelenskyy went from playing a satirical president on television to become Ukraine’s real-life president in 2019, the populist comedian rode a tidal wave of public outrage and promised to finally reform the country and root out deeply embedded corruption. Honcharuk, then a…

The Second Edition has been thoroughly updated and vastly expanded with new data, documents and analyses divided into 10 Parts, which, among others, cover such issues as historical and political contexts of the Ukrainian famine, key Soviet documentation proving the intentionality of the Holodomor, Ukrainian demographic losses and impact of the genocide, and a comprehensive bibliography on the Holodomor. HOLODOMOR: THE UKRAINIAN GENOCIDE, 1932-1933 is a hard cover publication of 320 pp., thoroughly and…

Повідомляємо, що уже вийшло друком друге видання англомовної книги-компендіума “HOLODOMOR: THE UKRAINIAN GENOCIDE, 1932-1933.” Це видання книги значно доповнене новими даними, інформацією, документами і аналізами, що включає такі аспекти, як: історичний і політичний контекст Голодомору; основну совєтську документацію, яка виявляє планомірність Голодомору Москвою, з наміром задавити повстання в Україні проти совєтської окупації; демографічні втрати українців і наслідки геноциду; всебічну сучасну бібліографію про Голодомор. Книга “HOLODOMOR: THE UKRAINIAN GENOCIDE, 1932-1933” – це науково-популярне видання…

Izvestia, the Russian news outlet formerly known as News of the Central Executive Committee of the Petrograd Soviet of Workers’ and Soldiers’ Deputies this Christmas published a pamphlet by Vladimir Putin entitled ’75TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE GREAT VICTORY: SHARED RESPONSIBILITY TO HISTORY AND OUR FUTURE,’ writes Gary Cartwright. Whilst the title may sound like that of a forthcoming Borat movie, it is in fact based on an article written by the Russian President earlier in the year, written to call into question the credibility of the European Parliament’s ‘motion for a resolution on the 80th anniversary of the start of the Second World War and the importance of European remembrance for the future of Europe.’ The motion, which was…

Сьогодні, 1 січня, на Львівщині вшанували пам’ять голови Проводу ОУН, Героя України Степана Бандери. Захід відбувся з нагоди 112-ї річниці від дня народження провідника. Керівництво області та міста поклало квіти до підніжжя пам’ятника Степану Бандері. «Степан Бандера казав: «Коли поміж хлібом і свободою народ обирає хліб, він зрештою втрачає все, в тому числі і хліб. Якщо народ обирає свободу, він матиме хліб, вирощений ним самим і ніким не відібраний». Наша боротьба триває. Тисячі молодих хлопців і дівчат сьогодні продовжують справу Степана Бандери, творячи наше майбутнє та відновлюючи історичну справедливість. Наші воїни відстоюють на Сході нашої держави найважливіші для кожного…

The Kyiv Post reported on December 31, “Former Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has claimed that he authorized the country’s security agencies to plot a secret operation to detain mercenaries working for the Kremlin-backed private military company Wagner Group who had fought in Russia’s war against Ukraine in the Donbas. The operation was reportedly supposed to take place in late July, already under the tenure of Poroshenko’s successor, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, but was never carried out. Some allege that the President’s Office sabotaged the operation. Poroshenko made the surprising statements during a December 30 appearance on a talk show broadcast on Channel 5, which belongs to the…

After months of questions over the true scale of the coronavirus pandemic in Russia and the efficacy of a Russian-developed vaccine, the state statistical agency in Moscow has announced new figures indicating that the death toll from Covid-19 is more than three times as high as officially reported. From the start of the pandemic early this year, the health crisis has been enveloped and, say critics, distorted by political calculations as President Vladimir V. Putin and Kremlin-controlled media outlets have repeatedly boasted of Russian successes in combating the virus and keeping the fatality rate relatively low. The new data, issued on Monday by the state statistics agency Rosstat, would raise Russia from eighth to…

Ukrinform reported on December 29, “Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has signed a decree suspending Oleksandr Tupytskyi as a judge of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine for two months, the President’s Office has reported. According to the report, Zelensky said he had signed the decree ‘for the sake of restoring justice and resolving the constitutional crisis.’ The decision was made after the President’s Office received and processed a petition from the Prosecutor General’s Office, signed by the acting prosecutor general, to suspend Constitutional Court judge Oleksandr Tupytskyi from office for two months. On December 28, Chairman of thе…

For many, this has been a challenging year, which brought not only a global pandemic but also an infodemic: an unprecedented flood of false or inaccurate information about the coronavirus. Unfortunately, pro-Kremlin media has actively contributed to fueling the infodemic in addition to finding many other opportunities to spread disinformation, amplify conspiracy theories and sow confusion, fear and distrust. Racial justice protests and the presidential election in the US, the Belarusians’ brave fight for their civic rights, the poisoning of Russian opposition politician Alexei Navalny – these are some of the key events of this year that drew the attention and disinformation of the pro-Kremlin media. This year, EUvsDisinfo added over 3,000 examples of pro-Kremlin disinformation to its…

From the earliest days of war in Ukraine’s eastern Donbas region, some bloggers and security experts noted key similarities between the situation in the temporarily occupied territories of Donetsk and Luhansk and that of Azerbaijan’s Karabakh and surrounding areas. In both cases, war had de facto created self-proclaimed and unrecognized republics, the separatists enjoyed quasi-unofficial support from a neighboring country, and popular desires have burned for liberating the occupied territories. Even the international platform for solving the Karabakh crisis—the Minsk Group under the auspices of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE)—superficially resembles the…

The Kyiv Post reported on December 28, “The High Anti-Corruption Court on Dec. 28 failed to arrest President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s Deputy Chief of Staff Oleh Tatarov for the third time because the prosecutors did not show up for the hearing. The hearing was delayed until Dec. 30. Zelenskyy and his protege, Prosecutor General Iryna Venediktova, have been accused of protecting Tatarov from prosecution ever since information on the investigation into him first surfaced on Dec. 1. Tatarov is among numerous influential suspects whose cases appear to be blocked by Venediktova’s office. The Prosecutor General’s Office and…

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) finished the first round of talks with the Ukrainian government. The mission didn’t visit Ukraine and held the negotiations online. The talks will resume after the winter holidays. Ukraine hopes to renew the IMF’s loan program and get a $700-million tranche at the beginning of 2021. The negotiations themselves are a good sign for Kyiv. Still, there are a number of reasons to fear that, even after the positive decision, the long-term relationship could be spoiled by Ukrainian officials who try to find a compromise between the country’s obligations and their personal political interests. For now, we…

Першопочатковий мотив «культивування величі арійської раси з метою дестабілізації» був відкинутий самим слідством. Далі з’явилася версія, що Антоненко здійснив замах на Шеремета в змові з невстановленими особами з особистих мотивів для провокації численних акцій протесту. Ким можуть бути ці «невстановлені особи», ми від слідства не почули. Так само слідство не пояснило, чим «невстановлені особи» могли стимулювати Антоненка, Кузьменко чи Дугарь. Акціями протесту? Чи грошима? Про фінансову складову саме слідство не говорить. Отже, мотив просто вигаданий слідством і не доведений. Зріст фігурантів Головним речовим доказом…

Невеличка українська ікона – давня, але навряд чи високої ринкової вартості – стала джерелом гучного конфлікту, здатного підірвати російський вплив на Балканах. А ще вона змусила російську дипломатію вкотре визнати, що окупований Донбас – це Україна. Ця історія цілком здатна поставити хрест на подальшій кар’єрі одного з найбільш проросійських політиків регіону та вже зараз серйозно підірвала його вплив. Вона почалася під час візиту в Боснію і Герцеговину голови російського МЗС Сергєя Лаврова, який не задався від початку. Там було і свідоме порушення протоколу, і демонстрування жесту, який…

Despite the global coronavirus crisis that has had a catastrophic impact on all aspects of Ukrainians’ lives, 2020 still has its achievements. We can recall the establishment of the ceasefire that has saved the lives of many Ukrainian soldiers, the prisoner swap, the adoption of laws on reforms, including the launch of the land market as a major breakthrough. Ukrinform has decided to remind you of the most important milestones of 2020. 1. VERKHOVNA RADA OPENS LAND MARKET The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine approved the launch of the land market at its special meeting on the night of March 30-31. A total…

The United States is ratcheting up the threat of sanctions against European companies in an effort to deal a death blow to the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline between Russia and Germany. The pipeline would double shipments of Russian natural gas to Germany by transporting the gas under the Baltic Sea. U.S. President Donald Trump, like his predecessor Barack Obama, has criticized the project because it would make Germany “captive” to Russia for its energy supplies. Trump has been especially critical of German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who, in opposition to the United States and many Eastern European countries, has doggedly pursued the pipeline project, which would funnel billions of dollars to Russia at a time that Germany is free-riding on the U.S. defense umbrella that protects Germany from…

As the Kremlin awaits what it fears will be a hostile Biden presidency, President Vladimir Putin is shifting course on two fronts — accelerating a drive to full-blown authoritarian control at home and escalating his defiant rhetoric against the West. Domestically, a grudging tolerance for opposition and protest has been all but abandoned, while internationally, the Kremlin is taking particularly sharp aim at the United States ahead of the change of administration next month. Russian-U.S. relations are going “from bad to worse,” Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said Wednesday, adding that Russia doesn’t expect “anything good” from President-elect Joe Biden and suggesting it adopt a policy of…

In a series of events capable of stunning even veteran Russia watchers, Kremlin critic Alexey Navalny was nearly killed with a rare nerve agent before he recovered from a coma and went on to trick one of his apparent assassins into confessing to the details of the plot on tape. As sensational as this is, we must keep the focus on the bigger picture: Russia, under strongman Vladimir Putin’s watch, has become a rogue regime apparently responsible, despite its loud denials, for a growing list of egregious crimes. Add assassinations of political targets at home and abroad — some with banned chemical weapons — to Russia’s ongoing invasion of neighboring Ukraine and a hacking campaign of…

Ікона, яку голова Президії Боснії і Герцеговини Мілорад Додік подарував міністру закордонних справ Росії Сєргєю Лаврову, була вивезена з Донбасу через Росію та Сербію. Про це розповів колишній глава Асоціації ветеранів Армії Республіки Сербської Драган Савіч в інтерв’ю депутату від опозиційної Сербської демократичної партії (СДП) у парламенті РС Небойше Вукановичу, повідомляє “Європейська правда” із посиланням на Балканський оглядач. Вуканович опублікував розмову з Савичем в своєму блозі. Той розповів, що 29 травня 2018 року в Баня-Луці ікону Додіку, який тоді був президентом Республіки Сербської, подарував Душко Вукотич, голова Асоціації ветеранів Армії Республіки Сербської. “Вукотич привіз ікону з Донбасу через…

In a series of events capable of stunning even veteran Russia watchers, Kremlin critic Alexey Navalny was nearly killed with a rare nerve agent before he recovered from a coma and went on to trick one of his apparent assassins into confessing to the details of the plot on tape. As sensational as this is, we must keep the focus on the bigger picture: Russia, under strongman Vladimir Putin’s watch, has become a rogue regime apparently responsible, despite its loud denials, for a growing list of egregious crimes. Add assassinations of political targets at home and abroad — some with banned chemical weapons — to Russia’s ongoing invasion of neighboring Ukraine and a hacking campaign of unprecedented scope against the United States, and…

A network of activists that will fight pro-Kremlin disinformation has been formed in Ukraine, according to the Ukrainian Crisis Media Center. Similar networks already exist in other European countries, where they coordinate to push back against Russian disinformation and influence operations. What follows is a translation of the news release by UCMC. Elves are not only characters from fiction books. This network of activists, who have chosen a fantasy name to oppose Russian trolls, has long existed in the Baltic countries, Poland, the Czech Republic, and Slovakia. Since the fall of 2020, they have been operating in Ukraine as well. “Elven” trainings gathered people from many regions of Ukraine. These trainings were held, of course, in the mystical forests, but the lecturers were very real people with competencies in countering propaganda and…

As Ukraine goes into its eighth calendar year at war with Russia, about 5% of its annual defense budget is now in limbo following US President Donald Trump’s veto on Wednesday of America’s 2021 defense spending bill — a measure that includes $250 million in military aid for Ukraine. Returning the $740.5 billion annual defense bill to the US House of Representatives, Trump called the measure “a gift for Russia and China.” The move casts uncertainty over a wide swath of national security initiatives at a time when the US military is simultaneously preparing for a new era of great power competition against adversaries such as China and Russia, while also holding the radical Islamic terrorism threat at…

Низка українських військових, серед яких генерал армії Віктор Муженко, адмірал Ігор Воронченко, генерал-майор Ігор Гордійчук, полковник Михайло Драпатий, понад сотня інших учасників АТО/ООС виступили з спільною заявою щодо загрози національній безпеці через переслідування військових посадових осіб, які брали активну участь у відсічі збройній агресії Росії на Донбасі. Вони наголосили на цинізмі осіб, які «ініціюють, фінансують і супроводжують такі кампанії, полягає в тому, що вони, маніпулюючи невідворотною реальністю втрат у збройному протистоянні з Росією, аморально користуються почуттями і емоціями рідних і близьких загиблих військовослужбовців, налаштовують їх проти командирів, які безпосередньо виконують свій службовий обов’язок і з не менш глибокою скорботою переживають втрату…

The deplorable state of relations between Washington and Moscow has gotten so bad that the United States cannot get visas for American technicians to come repair malfunctioning elevators and fire alarms at diplomatic missions. The U.S. Embassy in Moscow is understaffed and overstretched, as every individual diplomatic visa requires drawn-out negotiations that get snagged over minuscule matters. Senior diplomats are being tasked with basic tasks like shoveling snow and mixing disinfectants to supplement depleted cleaning crews battling the coronavirus pandemic. Even as President Trump has refrained from directly criticizing Russian President Vladimir Putin, the State Department has been outspoken in condemning Russian transgressions and pressuring the government to change its behavior and rhetoric. That has contributed to a “visa impasse,” as U.S. officials…

Russian government hackers have compromised Microsoft cloud customers and stolen emails from at least one private-sector company, according to people familiar with the matter, a worrying development in Moscow’s ongoing cyber espionage campaign targeting numerous U.S. agencies and corporate computer networks. The intrusions appear to have occurred via a Microsoft corporate partner that handles cloud-access services, those familiar with the matter said. They did not identify the partner or the company known to have had emails stolen. Like others, these people spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss what remains a highly sensitive subject. Microsoft hasn’t publicly commented on the intrusions. On Thursday, an executive with the tech giant sought to downplay the…

Фонд “Демократичні ініціативи” ім. І.Кучеріва звинувачує Офіс президента у маніпулюванні їхніми соціологічними даними. Джерело: професор НаУКМА, науковий директор фонду “Демократичні ініціативи” Олексій Гарань у блозі на “Українській правді” Деталі: Керівник фонду каже, що 21 грудня було представлено результати загальнонаціонального підсумкового опитування, проведеного спільно з Київським міжнародним інститутом соціології, а вже 23 грудня комунікаційники Офісу президента, посилаючись на це опитування, зробили “новину”: “Президентська ініціатива “Велике будівництво” стала головною позитивною подією 2020 року”. Мовляв, “згідно з опитуванням, такої думки дотримується переважна більшість респондентів (93%) “. Гарань наголошує, що насправді цю ініціативу відзначило лише…

Kremlin-friendly political forces are making headway in Ukraine, and their leader says the time is ripe for further gains. The advance may surprise those who watched protesters help realign the country — a frequent battleground between Russia and the West since communism collapsed — toward Europe just six years ago. The revolution prompted President Vladimir Putin to annex Crimea from his neighbor and foment the war on the two former allies’ border that rumbles on today. But with Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskiy increasingly bogged down in a scrap against the murky political system he was elected to banish, there’s a window to tap into growing disillusionment. The popularity of the Opposition Platform – For Life party, which supports stronger ties with Russia, is the highest it’s been since…

Мені здається, що кожна віруюча людина, навіть не дуже то релігійна має особливого духовного натхненника про якого згадує може і не так часто, а навіть виїмково при більших нагодах чи святах. Для мене це великий діяч Української Греко Католицької Церкви Патріарх Йосиф Сліпий про якого я згадую хіба раз у році коли приходить Рождество Христове і кінчається Старий Рік з надією на Новий Рік з вказівками робити звідомлення у чому ми не здали іспиту з обіцянкою робити краще. У свойому Заповіті Блаженніший Патріарх писав: “І тому, переставляючись у світ вічности, благаю Отця Небесного, щоби Він прославив Сина свого у вас, аби ви спізнали Його, „Єдиного, Істинного Бога” і Ним „посланого – Ісуса Христа” /Ів. 17, 3/, і щоби Він дав вам „Утішителя, який буде з вами повік, Духа Істини, якого світ не може сприйняти, бо не бачить Його і не знає. Ви ж Його знаєте, бо перебуває…

Russian authorities have advanced measures to punish online libel, police the internet, and protect officials’ personal data since December 14, when international news websites published reports investigating the poisoning of opposition leader Aleksei Navalny, according to human rights news website Mediazona and a media lawyer interviewed by CPJ. The joint investigation by Bellingcat and Russian news outlet The Insider, in cooperation with CNN and Germany’s Der Spiegel, alleged that Russian security services attempted to kill Navalny in August 2020. Russian officials dismissed the findings and denied involvement in Navalny’s poisoning, according to The Associated Press. On December 14, Dmitry Vyatkin, a member of the ruling United Russia party, proposed in the State Duma, the lower chamber of parliament, a draft amendment to the Russian Criminal Code that would punish libel published on the…

Turkey is selling four locally made stealth corvettes to its littoral Black Sea neighbor Ukraine as part of a larger framework agreement to enhance bilateral cooperation in defense procurement. The agreement, signed Dec. 15, also involves the transfer of Turkish technology to Ukraine and co-production of Turkish-made armed drones. It was signed by Ukrainian Defence Minister Andriy Taran and Turkey’s top defense procurement official, Ismail Demir. The warship deal could be worth about $1 billion, a government source told Defense News on condition of anonymity. In 2018, Turkish state-controlled defense technologies company STM won a contract to produce and sell four MILGEM corvettes to the Pakistan Navy. STM pledged to deliver the first small, multirole warship by the end of 2021. The contract entails construction of two corvettes in Turkey, with the…

Serhii Koshman, head of the expert group on internal and humanitarian policy at the Ukrainian Presidential Office, has recently discussed a particular case of disinformation development. This piece is a short summary of this discussion, showcasing how even respected media may become involved in disinformation campaigns. The Economist published an article on December 12, 2020, focused on exploring the threats from the American far-right. This exploration features a striking number of 17,000 Westerners, including citizens of the USA, who partake in war in eastern Ukraine. “Most eagerly share conspiracy theories, including anti-Semitic ones”, writes Cynthia Miller-Idris, the author of “Hate in the Homeland” – a book that the…

On December 15, Ukrainian state prosecutors charged former MP, journalist, and political activist Tetyana Chornovol with premeditated homicide. Chornovol was a noted leader of Ukraine’s 2013-14 Maidan protest movement. Many see the charges against her as an attempt to put the entire protest movement on trial and undermine the credibility of the country’s efforts to shake off centuries of Russian domination. Tetyana Chornovol is a prominent figure in Ukrainian public life. In December 2013, she almost died following a beating from thugs linked to the regime of former Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych. She now finds herself accused of a capital crime allegedly committed months later in February 2014 against a…

There is an old saying in America, that “if your friends won’t tell when you are making a mistake, they are NOT your friends.” Since the beginning of the Donbas War in 2014, the two us have had the unique opportunity to observe and interact with the Ukrainian Armed Forces of Ukraine. Hodges, as commander of U.S. Army Europe from 2014-2017, led American military assistance in training, supporting and equipping the Ukrainian military; Karber, invited by the government as an “front-line observer,” arrived in March 2014, and in 33 trips to the country spent 180 days in the combat zone. Despite viewing the conflict from different perspectives, our joint observations have a high correlation, and we consider it our honor to have witnessed first-hand the rebirth of the Ukrainian military, forged in…

A Russian agent sent to tail opposition leader Alexey Navalny has revealed how he was poisoned in August — with the lethal nerve agent Novichok planted in his underpants. The stunning disclosure from an agent who belonged to an elite toxins team in Russia’s FSB security service came in a lengthy phone call following the unmasking of the unit by CNN and the online investigative outfit Bellingcat last week. In what he was told was a debriefing, Konstantin Kudryavtsev also talked about others involved in the poisoning in the Siberian city of Tomsk, and how he was sent to clean things up. But the agent was not speaking to an official in Russia’s National Security Council as he thought. He was talking to Navalny himself, who almost died after being poisoned in August. Navalny has long been a thorn in the side of…

A RAND Corporation study examined Russian-language content on social media and the broader propaganda threat posed to the region of former Soviet states that include Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Ukraine, and, to a lesser extent, Moldova and Belarus. In addition to employing a state-funded multilingual television network, operating various Kremlin-supporting news websites, and working through several constellations of Russia-backed “civil society” organizations, Russia employs a sophisticated social media campaign that includes news tweets, non-attributed comments on web pages, troll and bot social media accounts, and fake hashtag and Twitter campaigns. Nowhere is this threat more tangible than in Ukraine, which has been an active propaganda battleground since the 2014 Ukrainian revolution. Other countries in the region look at Russia’s actions and annexation of Crimea and…

On October 7, in the presence of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who was paying an official visit to the United Kingdom, Ukraine’s Defense Minister Andriy Taran and the UK’s Secretary of State for Defense Ben Wallace signed a memorandum on enhancing bilateral cooperation in the military and military-technical spheres (President.gov.ua, October 7; see EDM, October 29). An important aspect of this document was a funding pledge from the UK’s export credit agency in the amount of 1.25 billion pounds ($1.68 billion) for the construction of missile boats and new naval infrastructure in Ukraine. Missile boats and naval bases are critically important to Ukraine’s capacity to deter an enemy as well as respond in a crisis in the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov. These capabilities are crucial to Ukraine in this closed maritime theater considering Russia’s overwhelming superiority when…

A group of men and women in traditional embroidered dress took the stage at Carnegie Hall on Oct. 5, 1922 for a performance that the New York Tribune dubbed “a marvel of technical skill.” The New York Times called the music they made “simply spontaneous in origin and artistically harmonized.” The New York Herald described the costume-clad singers as expressing “a profound unanimity of feeling that aroused genuine emotion among the listeners.” The audience that cheered for encores and threw flowers on the stage didn’t know it at the time, but they had just heard what would eventually become one of the world’s most beloved and recognized Christmas songs: “Carol of the Bells.” Onstage was the Ukrainian National Chorus conducted by…

11-15 грудня 2020 року відбувся перший Собор Апостольського екзархату для українців-католиків візантійського обряду в Італії «Еміграція, поселення і глобальна єдність УГКЦ у посткоронавірусному світі». Обидві сесії Собору проводилися в онлайн-режимі через зум-платформу. Пропонуємо поглянути на основні теми, які порушувалися під час Собору. Владика Діонісій Ляхович, апостольський екзарх, розмірковуючи на тему «Богословські основи єдності», наголосив на тому, що Церква потребує різних дарів і харизм осіб, які становлять багатство Церкви та які перебувають у сопричасті любові. Але що саме руйнує єдність? «Це самолюбство, закриття в собі. Самолюбство ставить…

From the very beginning of his time in power, Vladimir Putin has viewed the 30 million Russian speakers living abroad as key promoters of Moscow’s interests abroad. In that, Rimma Polyak says, he has followed the Soviet tradition of putting his intelligence agency, the FSB, in charge of dealing with them. In a detailed article for Vestnik Civitas, an online project she heads, Polyak points out that in the ramified system of government and nominally private organizations, Rossotrudnichestvo, the Federal Agency for CIS and Compatriot Affairs and International Humanitarian Cooperation, is the most important (vestnikcivitas.ru/pbls/4248). That agency, she writes, is the successor of the Russian Center for International Scientific and…

Russia will not be able to use its flag or anthem at the next two Olympics or any world championships for the next two years after a ruling Thursday by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS). The Lausanne-based court halved the four-year ban proposed last year by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) in a landmark case that accused Russia of state-ordered tampering of a testing laboratory database in Moscow. The ruling also blocked Russia from bidding to host major sporting events for two years. Russian athletes and teams will still be allowed to compete at next year’s Tokyo Olympics and the 2022 Winter Games in Beijing, as well as world championships including the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, if they are…

In 2014, Russia tried to bring Ukraine to its knees. Moscow’s confidence was rooted in the old adage that victors are not judged. However, things did not go according to plan. Ukraine resisted and survived. Russia’s failed blitzkrieg is now slowly becoming the Kremlin’s worst nightmare. On December 11, the Office of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court in The Hague made an historic announcement. Prosecutors confirmed that they had found sufficient grounds to begin an official investigation into war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in Crimea and the Donbas since 2014. Victors may not be subject to judgement, but failed aggressors most certainly are. To understand the importance of this…

Bosnia’s authorities opened an investigation Thursday into how a possibly stolen 300-year-old gilded icon from Ukraine ended up being given as a gift to Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. The presiding Serb member of Bosnia’s three-member presidency, Milorad Dodik, gave the religious painting to Lavrov during his visit to Bosnia earlier this week. The historic artefact is believed to be from war-torn eastern Ukraine which has been under the control of pro-Russian forces. Dozens of Serbs have fought alongside the pro-Russian forces in the conflict, which started in 2014. The Bosnian Serb Srna news agency carried photos of the icon, including its back that shows a stamp of its authenticity written in…

Кримінально-політичний суд над українським істориком і дисидентом Валентином Морозом відбувся 17 листопада 1970 року. Кілька дисидентів були викликані радянським урядом давати свідчення для обвинувачення проти підсудного. Серед них була дисидентка Шестидесятник художниця Алла Горська. Алла відмовилася свідчити так само, як і інші. Тим не менш, не даючи жодних доказів, що не було проблемою в радянських судових процесах, Валентин Мороз був засуджений за антирадянську агітацію і пропаганду з вироком до чотирнадцяти років. 28 листопада 1970 року Алла поїхала в село Васильків Київської області біля міста Фастів до дому свекра, щоб забрати…

Oleksandr Hryshchenko is a 60-year-old Luhansk veterinarian who lives in Kyiv. In 2014, he spent six months “in the basement,” aka an unofficial prison of the Russian proxy “Luhansk People’s Republic.” After his release from the basement, the man moved to Kyiv as soon as he could. Oleksandr tells his story of captivity, torture, and unexpected release in great detail. Sometimes there are tears in his eyes. He was five minutes away from his death. In the Ukrainian capital, Oleksandr takes odd jobs to get by. In Luhansk, he had specialized in large farm animals, while veterinary medicine in Kyiv mainly focuses on dogs and cats. That’s why he can’t get a job in his specialty. Oleksandr failed to…

The scope of a hack engineered by one of Russia’s premier intelligence agencies became clearer on Monday, when some Trump administration officials acknowledged that other federal agencies — the State Department, the Department of Homeland Security and parts of the Pentagon — had been compromised. Investigators were struggling to determine the extent to which the military, intelligence community and nuclear laboratories were affected by the highly sophisticated attack. United States officials did not detect the attack until recent weeks, and then only when a private cybersecurity firm, FireEye, alerted American intelligence that the hackers had evaded layers of defenses. It was…

The Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group (KHPG) reported, “Tetyana Chornovol has been formally charged with murder during a Molotov cocktail attack on the ruling Party of the Regions headquarters on 18 February 2014. The anti-corruption investigative journalist, Maidan activist and later MP, could, if convicted, face a life sentence on charges which the former chief investigator into crimes during Euromaidan has said he sees no grounds for. Chornovol announced on leaving the State Bureau of Investigations on December 15 that the criminal investigation against her was now at an end and that the case was now to be passed to the court. Posting the indictment on Facebook, she…

Минув рік з моменту вручення підозр Андрію Антоненку, Юлії Кузьменко і Яні Дугарь та сумнозвісного брифінгу за участі керівництва Національної поліції, особисто глави МВС Арсена Авакова, ексгенпрокурора Руслана Рябошапки і президента Володимира Зеленського. З того моменту Андрій Антоненко перебуває за гратами, Юлія Кузьменко – під цілодобовим домашнім арештом із носінням електронного браслету, а Яна Дугарь – під заставою. Київський апеляційний суд 7 грудня відмовився задовольнити клопотання захисту зі зміни запобіжного заходу Антоненку, судді навіть не дозволили випустити Андрія з клітки, мотивуючи це тим, що «загальновідомими є факти заворушень». Також…

The criminal political trial of Ukrainian historian and dissident Valentyn Moroz was taking place on November 17, 1970. Several dissidents were called by the Soviet government to testify for the prosecution against the defendant. Among them was the dissident Shestydesiatnyk artist Alla Horska. Alla refused to testify as did the others. Nevertheless, with no evidence which was not a problem in Soviet trials, Valentyn Moroz was convicted of anti Soviet agitation and propaganda and sentenced to fourteen years. On November 28, 1970 Alla traveled to the village of Vasylkiv in the Kyiv District near the City of Fastiv to the home of her father in law to pick up a sewing machine. She did not return home. Her husband Viktor Zaretsky panicked and…

At about 9 a.m. on August 13, a 33-year-old Russian woman named Maria Pevchikh checked in for a flight from Moscow to the Siberian city of Novosibirsk. She was not alone. Trailing her to Domodedovo airport that morning was a member of an elite unit of the Russian Security Service, the FSB. Oleg Tayakin, a slim, balding man with blue-green eyes, remained at the airport until Pevchikh left. Pevchikh was traveling in advance of a visit to Siberia by Russian opposition leader Alexey Navalny, whose anti-corruption campaign she leads. The Navalny team is constantly watched by the FSB in Russia, the successor to the Soviet Union’s secret police force, the KGB. But Tayakin is no ordinary agent. He…

Нещодавно, 5 грудня українці згадували чергову річницю підписання Будапештського меморандуму. Вітчизняні політики дуже стримано шанують цю дату. Причина такої “холодності” проста: згаданий документ не зіграв визначної ролі в історії України, принаймні позитивної. З іншого боку, варто остудити голови деяких українських політиків та публічних діячів – альтернативи відмови від ядерної зброї у нас не було, з багатьох причин. Не будемо повторювати все, про що говорилось ці роки: про неможливість належного обслуговування, застарівання технологій, що ця зброя має свій ресурс давності. Україна не мала технологій, Україна не мала фахівців, необхідних матеріалів для…

On December 4, the TV channel NASH, owned by Yevhen Murayev, Ukrainian pro-Russian politician, the leader of Nashi (Ours) party and former member of the Opposition Bloc, aired a talk show about the implementation of the Minsk Agreements. During the show, the channel provided floor (via video call) to Rodion Miroshnik, the representative of the so-called “Luhansk People’s Republic” in the Trilateral Contact Group. Meanwhile, the channel did not ask any Ukrainian representative in the Trilateral Contact Group to join the talk show. Rodion Miroshnik was on the air for some twenty-five minutes. During this time, he spread several Kremlin propaganda narratives: 1.”Ukraine is the side of the…

The Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group (KHPG) reported, “The Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court [ICC], Fatou Bensouda, has found reasonable grounds for believing that war crimes and crimes against humanity, falling within ICC jurisdiction, ‘have been committed in the context of the situation in Ukraine.’ Such crimes, in connection with the conflict in Donbas and with Russia’s ongoing occupation of Crimea, are sufficiently grave, she writes, to warrant investigation by the ICC. This is a long-awaited and very important move, one that human rights groups have helped to achieve by providing the Office of the Prosecutor with detailed information about enforced…

Федеральна служба безпеки Росії причетна до отруєння відомого російського опозиційного політика Олексія Навального речовиною “Новічок” в аеропорту Томська. Про це йдеться у спільному розслідуванні Bellingcat і The Insider у співпраці з Der Spiegel і CNN, повідомляє “Європейська правда”. За даними розслідування, ключову роль у замаху грав спеціальний підрозділ Інституту криміналістики ФСБ. У ході розслідування виявлено трьох співробітників ФСБ з цього підпільного підрозділу, які разом із Навальним їхали до Новосибірська, а потім поїхали за ним до Томська, де він і був отруєний. Ці оперативники, двоє з яких подорожували під прикриттям, – Олексій Александров, Іван Осипов (обидва лікарі) і Володимир Паняєв. Цих трьох…

On 27 October, Ukraine’s Constitutional Court ruled that the asset declaration system adopted by parliament in 2016 was unconstitutional. Eleven judges voted in favor, while four voted against. The declaration system obliges Ukrainian state officials to list all their main possessions. It enables the National Agency for Corruption Prevention to compare assets with income in order to identify and prosecute possible corruption. The declarations form the backbone of the fight against corruption, and are widely regarded as one of the central reforms introduced since the country’s 2014 Revolution of Dignity. The Constitutional Court ruling was greeted with widespread dismay in Ukraine. The country’s…

The Trump administration acknowledged on Sunday that hackers acting on behalf of a foreign government — almost certainly a Russian intelligence agency, according to federal and private experts — broke into a range of key government networks, including in the Treasury and Commerce Departments, and had free access to their email systems. Officials said a hunt was on to determine if other parts of the government had been affected by what looked to be one of the most sophisticated, and perhaps among the largest, attacks on federal systems in the past five years. Several said national security-related agencies were also targeted, though it was not clear whether the systems contained highly classified material. The Trump administration said little in…

The Soviet regime had a serious image problem in the 1970s and ‘80s. While the communist propaganda apparatus was trying to present Soviet Russia as a normal peaceful state, in the United States and other free countries, people of Ukrainian, Jewish and Baltic origin were working together to expose the repressive and imperialist nature of the communist dictatorship. They picketed Soviet embassies, provided the press with names of prisoners in the Soviet Gulag and demanded freedom for the peoples of the Soviet empire. The Politburo of the Soviet Communist Party assigned the KGB to solve this problem. The Soviet secret police and intelligence service had a long history of using disinformation to discredit political opponents. After the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, Leonid Shabarshin, who formerly headed the First Chief Directorate (Foreign Intelligence) of the KGB, explained to the Moscow newspaper Trud that one…

As it became evident that German manpower was inadequate and that the Third Reich would probably be denied victory, Berlin began to create military units of nationalities other than ethnic Germans—contrary to earlier policy. Between 1943 and 1945, 24 non-German units were formed, almost all of them designated Waffen SS divisions. The Waffen SS was the military wing of the Schutzstaffel (SS). Although under the command of Reichsführer SS Heinrich Himmler, the Waffen SS participated in military, not police, actions. There were four Hungarian divisions; three Dutch (one of them included Danes and Norwegians); two each: Belgian, Italian, Croatian, Latvian, Russian, and Don Cossack; and one each: French, Estonian, Albanian, Bosnian-Herzegovinian, and Ukrainian. With some exceptions, all were…

U.S. Senator Rob Portman (R-OH), co-founder and co-chair of the Senate Ukraine Caucus and a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, announced that the Senate-passed FY 2021 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) conference report includes $250 million in security assistance for Ukraine to fund additional training, lethal and non-lethal equipment, and advisory efforts for Ukraine’s forces. Additionally, $75 million of that $250 million is designated specifically for lethal assistance, an increase of $25 million from FY 2020. In addition, the conference report includes a Portman proposal to require DoD to develop a new, multi-year strategy to support the development of Ukraine’s military forces, increasing its capability and…

Following the recent Azeri success against the Armenian forces in the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region, the Ukrainian news media is abuzz with speculation that the Ukrainian army may be planning to reclaim the country’s eastern Donbas region controlled by Russia-backed separatists, using the Turkish Bayraktar TB2 drones believed to have been a game changer in the Azeri-Armenian war. Observers are asking whether Ukraine could repeat the Karabakh example to win back territories it lost to Russia and the separatists in 2014 and further escalate the conflict over the Black Sea Basin. Some reports went so far as to say that Ukraine might be planning to use these drones to…

The examples of disinformation from this week offer a 360 degree overview of topics connected to Russia and the USSR. Where an apology would be proper, there is no remorse, only accusations. A clear example of this is the poisoning of the Russian opposition figure Alexei Navalny. Pro-Kremlin media writes that Germany violated the Chemical Weapons Convention by refusing to collaborate with Russia. In other words, Navalny is not the victim here, Russia is. As for the MH17 tragedy, the pro-Kremlin media moans that the purpose of the trial is not to establish the true culprits. This claim shows that while 298 people were murdered, there is only one victim in the eyes of the pro-Kremlin media – Russia. The same…

In the euphoria that surrounded Vladimir Putin’s annexation of Ukraine’s Crimea six years ago, most Russians were more than willing to spend money to integrate that region into the Russian Federation. But at that time, they had little idea just how much that process would cost. Not only did that aggressive breach of international law trigger Western sanctions against Russia, but the authorities in Moscow also never gave the public an honest estimate of just how much money would need to be spent, nor for how long, even after the Kremlin proclaimed the peninsula’s absorption an accomplished fact. Were the Russian economy doing well, that might not matter; but it is not, and the subsidies going to Crimea are, of course, unavailable to…

Since coming to power in May 2019, President Volodymyr Zelensky has made little headway in his pledge to thoroughly reform Ukraine’s corrupt judiciary. Corrupt judges appear to be so entrenched they are emboldened to destroy Ukraine’s anti-corruption infrastructure. In October the discredited Constitutional Court dealt a blow to anti-graft institutions by eliminating Ukraine’s public asset declaration system. Zelensky pledged to fire all of its judges but has yet to find any solution. The same happened with judicial reform. In 2019, Zelensky signed into law a bill aimed at cleansing Ukraine’s discredited judicial governing bodies — the High Council of Justice and the High Qualification Commission of Judges. Since then, no…

After Ukraine’s loss of its War for Independence in 1918-1921, the country fell again under the control of neighbouring foreign powers, namely: Soviet Russia, Poland, Czechoslovakia and Romania. This set the stage for the emergence of a massive Ukrainian Liberation Movement spearheaded by the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists, which during World War II directed its struggle against Soviet Russia and Nazi Germany. Ukraine became the main battlefield between those two totalitarian superpowers, and where their violence was especially and unprecedentedly extreme. As a renowned American journalist Edgar Snow noted: “The whole titanic struggle […] was first of all…

The same Russian spies who penetrated the White House and State Department several years ago and have attempted to steal coronavirus vaccine research have carried off another brazen hack, this time breaking into the servers of one of the world’s premier cybersecurity firms, FireEye, according to people familiar with the matter. The breach was disclosed by FireEye on Tuesday, though the firm did not attribute it to Russia’s foreign intelligence service. It was detected in recent weeks, said one of the people, who like others interviewed for this story spoke on the condition of anonymity because the investigation is ongoing. FireEye CEO Kevin Mandia said the hackers stole sensitive hacking tools that the company uses to detect weaknesses in customers’ computer networks and that could be turned back against the same customers or others. He said they primarily went after information related to certain government customers. “We are witnessing an attack by a nation with…

Secretary General Pejčinović Burić, the United States welcomes you in your second appearance here at the OSCE’s Permanent Council. The United States is pleased to welcome you because of our heavy involvement in this multilateral organization and we look forward to continuing to cooperate with the Council of Europe, another multilateral organization. We appreciate the overview of the Council of Europe’s work this year, and how the Council responded to the needs of its member states, particularly in light of the pandemic. As we are about to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the United States as an observer to the Council of Europe, we are proud to be full members of the…

Сімдесят два роки тому сьогодні Генеральна Асамблея Організації Об’єднаних Націй на сесії, яка відбулася в Парижі, Франція прийняла основний міжнародний документ під назвою Загальна декларація прав людини (UNDHR). З 58 країн-членів ООН на той момент 48 проголосували за, жоден проти, вісім утрималися і двоє не голосували. Значення сьогоднішнього ювілею полягає в тому, що UNDHR є основним і живим документом. Права, які вона відстоює, включає від основних прав свободи слова, совісті, зібрань, від страху і від злиднів до набагато більш, здавалося б, недосяжних прав на отримання безплатної освіти, хоча і на обмеженому рівні, безплатної медичної опіки і рівного захисту відповідно до закону. Досить сказати, що сьогодні сімдесят два роки потому немає жодної країни з нинішніх 193 країн-членів ООН, які…

Ukrinform reported on December 9, “The U.S. House of Representatives adopted by overwhelming majority the 2021 defense policy bill which provides for sanctions against Nord Stream 2 and security assistance to Ukraine. The document was supported by 335 congresspersons, 78 lawmakers voted against, an Ukrinform correspondent reports. The bill has already been passed in separate versions by the House of Representatives and the Senate and unified into a single document to be re-approved by both houses of the U.S. Congress. The 2021 National Defense Authorization Act stipulates $250 million in military assistance to Ukraine provided within the framework of the security assistance initiative and aimed to assist Ukrainian Armed Forces. The $740 billion defense policy bill provides for…

The man accused of the savage killing in 2014 of Ukrainian journalist and Maidan activist Vasyl Serhiyenko was released from custody on 3 December despite protests from both the public prosecutor and civic activists. While it is certainly an indictment of the Ukrainian justice system that Volodymyr Vorontsov had been held for a very long time without having been convicted of a crime, his release seems part of systematic obstruction to ensure that nobody ever answers for another killing of a Ukrainian journalist. The case is particularly shocking, and not only because of the significant amount of evidence backing the prosecution’s charges. It is notoriously difficult to get those who commissioned the killing to face justice. In this case, however, it is increasingly apparent that there is no will to even convict the men suspected of carrying out the crime. Voronkov is the…

Natalya was detained in 2015, in the eastern Ukrainian city of Donetsk, by Russia-backed separatists who accused her of “spying” for the government in Kyiv. Held in a building that had previously housed the regional headquarters of the Ukrainian Security Service (SBU), she later recounted, she was locked up, beaten, raped, and refused medical attention. “They brought me to one of the guards. I became angry, asking: ‘What is this? Is this some kind of joke? It’s impossible to stay in there,'” Natalya, 40, told a Ukrainian NGO. “‘Oh, is there something you don’t like?’ said the guard. ‘Give her to our boys and they’ll tear her apart.’ They brought me to this room where they were all drunk; there was such a…

With its history of aggression toward American allies in Europe, Russia is the Euro-Atlantic community’s most dangerous cyber opponent. The Kremlin is a committed, hostile, reckless, and inventive actor that will require coordinated, consistent, and committed trans-Atlantic cooperation to manage. The Russian government views the American-European partnership as a threat to its regional and global interests, and it has committed to an adversarial relationship with the United States and its European allies. Putin’s primary aims include the “preservation of his regime, the end of American global hegemony and the restoration of Russia as a mighty and feared force on the…

After Ukraine registered its first confirmed case of the coronavirus in early March 2020, the country’s government introduced quarantine measures; banned mass gatherings; restricted freedom of movement; closed educational institutions and sports, cultural, and entertainment venues; and limited the provision of healthcare, social, and administrative services. These measures were gradually lifted starting in May 2020. The government did not introduce a state of emergency, but many critical voices, including from civil society, questioned the constitutionality of the restrictions. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who was elected in April 2019 in a landslide victory, has continued to lose popularity. Public trust in him fell from 62 percent in December 2019 to 44 percent in July 2020, according to surveys by the…

With its political and economic ramifications, the schism within the Orthodox church is about much more than religion, and Cyprus has been caught up in the maelstrom. Once again, Cyprus was in the frontline of an international struggle last week – although this time, it had little to do with maritime boundaries, gas pipelines, or even Turkey. Nonetheless, the island was in the firing line of a major global struggle, running all the way from Paris to the Donbas via the Holy Synod of the Church of Cyprus. “To be blunt,” Professor Vasilios Makrides, from the Department of Religious Studies at the University of Erfurt, told the Cyprus Mail, “there is now a global war going on between the Russian Orthodox Church (ROC) and the Ecumenical Patriarchate. In this, all churches are now…

The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) is now investigating reports about a group of deputies of the Siurte village in Zakarpattia singing a Hungarian national anthem while pledging allegiance following local elections. “In Zakarpattia, the Security Service of Ukraine, within its competence defined by legislation, is checking information on possible signs of law violations in the actions by deputies of the Siurte rural united territorial community,” the SBU press service reports. At the same time, the SBU confirmed that the incident, which was captured on the video that leaked on social networks and went viral across Ukraine on Monday, November 30, took place on Ukraine’s Day of Dignity and Freedom, November 21. The deputies performed the anthem at the session hall at the initiative of their…

Thousands still struggle to survive in the red zone near the front lines in eastern Ukraine, where just collecting a pension is nearly impossible. “Not so long ago we were switching channels and one was showing news about Gaza and Palestine,” Svitlana says, comparing her plight with that of the Middle East. “And now I’m sitting on the couch, staring at the wall, and somewhere nearby a 120 mm mortar is firing, making this wall tremble. Let it hit, or something [I thought]. I’m tired of being afraid.” [Editor’s note: the names of persons who appear in this story have been changed for their protection.] Svitlana and her family live in the so-called red zone (area of active hostilities) of a newly appeared “country” – the…

Kyiv should prepare for Washington’s increased attention to reforms in all areas, especially in fight against corruption . Democrat Joe Biden, who de facto won the U.S. presidential election but has not yet been formally approved, has already begun forming his new cabinet. He stated that the new team will include experienced specialists who are ready to perform urgent tasks from the first day. Importantly, of the whole list of key ministerial posts, Biden began with the foreign policy and national security bloc. These two areas are the most important to Ukraine. Given the names of the candidates already announced, it is already possible to predict how the next administration in Washington will form the…

One Sunday in August, two weeks after Belarus’s authoritarian leader Alexander Lukashenko declared an implausibly decisive victory in presidential elections, I joined a crowd of around 100,000 people as it moved through central Minsk. Protest in Belarus was no longer the domain of a few hundred hardy opposition figures, and the homemade placards many people carried illustrated how broad the coalition had become: “Let’s drink to love, from the bartenders of Belarus”; “Teachers against violence”; “Working class, go on strike!” The previous fortnight had been a time of national awakening, as the country united around the goal of ending Lukashenko’s 26 years in charge. As grim footage of police violence circulated on the messenger app Telegram, large numbers came out to demand that their voices be heard. The enormous crowd began to…

У США незабаром з’явиться нова адміністрація. Питання відносин із Росією, Європою перебуватимуть у полі її особливої уваги. І проблематика «Північного потоку-2» буде не на периферії цієї уваги. Бо це не просто газопровід із Росії в Європу. Чи є Німеччина, Австрія, Франція країнами-спонсорами тероризму? Звісно, ні, — скажете ви і матимете рацію, бо до цих країн прикута увага різних терористичних організацій, а їхні уряди впродовж десятиліть ведуть боротьбу з тероризмом. Чи підтримують Берлін, Відень і Париж політику державного тероризму інших країн? Ваша відповідь знову буде негативною. Але в цьому випадку не будьте занадто категоричні. Звісно, про пряму підтримку терористичної діяльності з боку респектабельних країн Європи не йдеться. Проте є неусвідомлене непряме сприяння, яке…

A delivery of Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) to a new terminal in Croatia and Kremlin arm-twisting of the beleaguered Belarusian regime might seem to have little in common. But they are part of the same picture: Russia’s tactical successes stoke its strategic failures. Russia inherited an enviable legacy from the Soviet empire, as the provider of plentiful, inexpensive and reliable gas. Increasing resilience by diversifying supplies, increasing storage capacity, collecting better data, building new interconnector pipelines, and enforcing competitive ownership structures seemed like a waste of time. In March 2006 an article in the Wall St Journal mocked the “hysteria” of European energy ministers who had just…

It is becoming increasingly evident that Vladimir Putin’s regime is utterly inept in dealing with the Covid-19 pandemic. This is evidenced by the grim numbers of those infected and online videos depicting piles of bodies in hospitals and morgues of Russia’s largest cities, as well as by the regime’s religious leaders who are strangely categorically against Russia’s newest medical achievement, i.e. the Covid-19 vaccine Sputnik­-V that was ridiculously advertised by the Kremlin’s media outlets. Russians consider the vaccine a complete fake, and it just happens that the vaccine is named after the Kremlin’s notorious propaganda giant Sputnik. Interestingly, the Russian Orthodox Church has decided to actively “combat” Covid-19 using the…

Protracted economic stagnation and a much higher COVID-19 mortality rate than is being officially reported in Russia mean that President Vladimir Putin cannot base his regime’s legitimacy on quality-of-life improvements. This suggests that more censorship, propaganda, and foreign adventurism are to be expected. PARIS – In recent weeks, macroeconomic forecasters have presented new, more optimistic global predictions for 2020 and 2021. Given the rising second wave of COVID-19 infections and deaths in much of the world, grimmer forecasts are likely to replace them soon. But even the relatively sanguine current outlooks provide little hope for economies like Russia, which was stagnating well before…

З глибокою пошаною до наших батьків ідеології українського націоналізму Тараса Шевченка, Миколи Міхновського, Дмитра Донцова, Осипа Горнового та багато інших пишу хіба свою національну єресь, хоча на мою думку вона не заперечує на сто відсотків їхні пропоновані істини чи глибше філософічно політичне мислення, а радше впроваджує український націоналізм на більш гнучкий, а то і ліберальний світогляд. Боюся того слова бо в українській діаспорі слово лібералізм це червона плахта. Зрештою я повинен признатися, що правда я мав труднощі ще з студентських років з великою частиною ідеологічного насвітлення інтегрального націоналізму Дмитра Донцова і ці непогодження актуальні досі хоч я визнаю величезну роль Дмитра Донцова у розбудові української нації 1920-30 років. Кілька днів тому назад завітав…

Occupation forces are staffed by up to 80%. Some 35,500 of Russian-controlled military oppose Ukrainian troops in the occupied Donbas, the Ukrainian military intelligence reports. That’s according to Vadym Skybystky, a representative of the Main Intelligence Directorate (GUR) at Ukraine’s Ministry of Defense. Commenting on the latest mobilization readiness checks by the Russian occupation administration, Skybytsky noted that the rear and support units are seen as best staffed. “The issue with mobilization resources was reported during inspections of army corps 1 and army corps 2 by the Russian General Staff’s commission. The shortcomings revealed are being urgently eliminated,” the Ukrainian official added. Ukraine’s military intelligence says a…

Energy giant Naftogaz is the corporate governance poster child among Ukraine’s many state-owned enterprises. Since 2014, it has transitioned from fraud-riddled drain on government finances to a profitable business model complete with good governance. Along the way, Naftogaz also extricated itself from the Russian and Ukrainian oligarchs who used it to enrich themselves, and signed an important gas transit contract with Gazprom after winning billions of dollars in court from the Russian company. “Naftogaz is a clean corporation. We have cleaned up corruption,” says Naftogaz CEO Andriy Kobolyev. “Five years ago, the Naftogaz deficit was USD 6.5 billion, which came out of the Ukrainian budget. Our contribution now…

The first time Jarno Habicht, head of the World Health Organization’s office in Ukraine, spoke with the Kyiv Post was back in mid-April. The COVID-19 pandemic was just taking hold around the world, and Ukraine was under strict lockdown imposed by the authorities proactively. At the time, the country had about 4,600 cases in total and 116 deaths. Now, as Habicht speaks to the Kyiv Post again seven months later, the situation is very different. Ukraine is still fighting its first wave of the pandemic. As of Nov. 30, there were over 732,000 coronavirus cases in the country and over half of them were active. The death toll is more than 10 times what it was in April, having reached over 12,300 people. Testing laboratories have…

For the past year, U.S. officials and Russia hawks on Capitol Hill have closely watched the peregrinations of a Russian ship, as it sailed from Russia’s Far East around Africa to the Baltic Sea. The vessel—a nearly 500-foot pipe-layer named the Akademik Cherskiy—is the sole Russian-owned ship capable of completing an $11 billion pipeline. Nord Stream 2 is designed to carry natural gas under the Baltic from Russia to Germany, but its construction has been stalled for a year by the threat of U.S. sanctions. As the Akademik Cherskiy shuttled between an anchor point off Russia’s Kaliningrad and the German port of Mukran, a staging point for the pipeline, in recent months, U.S. officials readied broader sanctions. Members of Congress agreed this month on measures intended to thwart the Akademik Cherskiy and bury Nord Stream 2. Should those sanctions prevail, it would likely foil a…

The twentieth century can be considered the most tragic period in human history. Besides World War One and World War Two, it has seen perhaps the biggest tragedies of humanity, some of which are well known to our human family, while others are less familiar or almost ignored. Among the latter, we should mention the Holodomor, the Great Famine in Ukraine which aimed to kill from seven to ten millions of pious Ukrainians through starvation during the most horrible years of the Soviet regime, from 1932 to 1933, and which we prayerfully commemorate on this day. The Ukrainian term Holodomor emphasizes the human-made famine, the diabolic project of the Stalinist system which had as its aim a…

With Ukraine’s anti-corruption reforms finally beginning to produce results, the old elites have hit back. On October 27, the Constitutional Court of Ukraine declared unconstitutional the powers of the re-booted National Agency on Corruption Prevention to verify civil servants’ asset declarations. The ruling removes a vital link in the chain of anti-corruption institutions established following the 2014 Revolution of Dignity and undermines Ukraine’s ability to investigate suspected illicit enrichment by officials. This dramatically raises the stakes in the battle currently taking place within Ukraine over the future direction of the country. It also poses the risk of grave short-term economic and political consequences. IMF and EU support for Ukraine is…

The Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau, today issued the following statement on Holodomor Memorial Day: “Today, we remember the millions of innocent people in Ukraine who suffered and died during the Holodomor. “From 1932 to 1933, the totalitarian Soviet regime launched a campaign of starvation across Ukraine. Millions died, and countless others were arrested, deported, or executed in a genocide designed to break their will. “In the face of these horrors, the people of Ukraine endured, protecting their language, their culture, and their identity. In 1991, after decades of Soviet rule and oppression, they gained their independence. “For too many years, the perpetrators of the Holodomor denied its existence and hid the…

There are numerous reasons that help explain the lack of awareness by the public of the Holodomor and why this genocidal famine remained relatively unknown and unacknowledged until the late 1980s. Soviet Cover-up during and after Stalinist times Outright denial: the Soviet government refused offers of international aid from the Red Cross and other groups on the grounds that there was no Famine. Soviet foreign minister, Maxim Litvinov, publicly denied the existence of Famine in the USSR in 1933. Discussion of Famine, or its causes were forbidden in the Soviet press, and once the Famine was over no references were made to it in Soviet historical accounts. Moreover, citizens of the USSR were forced into silence on this issue for over half a century. Disinformation: by camouflaging the…

Прем’єр-міністр Канади Джастін Трюдо виступив із сильною заявою у День пам’яті жертв голодоморів, закликавши співвітчизників вшанувати жертв Голодомору в Україні 1932-1933 років. Заява канадського прем’єра оприлюднена в суботу 28 листопада, повідомляє “Європейська правда”. “З 1932 по 1933 рік тоталітарний радянський режим Йосипа Сталіна створив в Україні жахливий голод – геноцид, покликаний зламати дух українського народу, стерти його ідентичність і зупинити його прагнення до свободи і незалежності. Мільйони померли від голоду, багато хто з них діти, інші були заарештовані, депортовані або страчені в рамках цієї жорстокої кампанії”, – заявив Джастін Трюдо. Перед обличчям такої жорстокості українці вистояли, підкреслив канадський прем’єр. “Вони твердо трималися своєї мови і своєї культури, не дивлячись на всі…

Reuters reported on November 26, “Norway’s risk management and quality assurance firm DNV GL has suspended work on the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline project led by Russia’s Gazprom for fear of being sanctioned by the United States, it said on Thursday. Nord Stream 2 runs alongside the existing Nord Stream pipeline in the Baltic Sea and is designed to boost the amount of Russian gas that can be shipped to Europe without having to go through Ukraine. Washington wants to stop the project as it fears the pipeline would strengthen Russian President Vladimir Putin’s economic and political influence over Europe. The United States also wants to boost its own gas exports to the continent. DNV GL said the United States had…

It took Azerbaijan just 43 days to win back its territory around the breakaway region of Nagorno-Karabakh — seven districts of mountains and foothills that had been occupied by Armenian separatists since Baku’s humiliating battlefield failures of the early 1990s. Analysts say three factors explain why Azerbaijan was so successful in the battlefield this time: technology, tactics, and Turkey. Alex Melikishvili, a research analyst at IHS Markit Country Risk, says it was Turkish support for Azerbaijan that made the war “qualitatively different from all previous conflagrations.” Melikishvili says the presence of Turkish F-16 fighter jets at a military airfield in Ganca, Azerbaijan’s second-largest city, was “tangible confirmation” that the…

On Nov. 28, the fourth Saturday in November, Ukrainians throughout the world will unite on Holodomor Memorial Day in remembrance of the victims of one of the most heinous crimes of the 20th century, the Holodomor-Genocide. The facts of the Holodomor can no longer be disputed. Scholars of many backgrounds have documented this genocidal murder of Ukrainians, which paralyzed a nation for decades. Survivors have bravely shared their stories, appealing to the world to keep the Flame of Remembrance burning bright. On this 87th anniversary, the Ukrainian World Congress (UWC) together with the Ukrainian diaspora reaffirms its commitment to respectfully honoring the past while working determinedly toward recognition of the Holodomor-Genocide by the…

Erin O’Toole, 47, was elected the new leader of the Conservative Party of Canada in late August this year. Given his party’s position as the second-largest in the federal parliament, he also became the leader of the Official Opposition and one of the main contenders for the role of prime minister. Ukrinform talked to Mr O’Toole about Ukraine, Russia, sanctions, visas and other aspects of Canada-Ukraine relations. PUSH FOR LETHAL MILITARY AID FOR UKRAINE Question: For the past few years, Ukraine hasn’t been among priorities for Canada’s international assistance. Given challenges, facing Ukraine nowadays, shouldn’t Canada pay more attention to the country? Answer: Absolutely! From the Conservative…

Ukrainians marked the Day of Dignity and Freedom on November 21, continuing a seven-year tradition that seeks to place the country’s 2004 Orange Revolution and the 2014 Euromaidan Revolution in a broader historical context. This might also be something for the international community to consider. While Ukraine’s two people power uprisings are recognized as important milestones in the country’s post-Soviet journey, their impact on the wider region has yet to be fully appreciated. This lack of clarity is perhaps understandable. Indeed, few events in modern European history have been subject to quite so much deliberate distortion. Ever since the Euromaidan protest movement first…

Volodymyr Gorbulin, former secretary of Ukraine’s RNBO, has written a book How to Defeat Russia in a Future War, which may prove to have real consequences for his country. He has authored the following short summary. First step. The realization by the military-political leadership of the state of the fact that contemporary war is different in essence – very unlike the one for which the General Staff is preparing . In September 2019, after the use of only a dozen drones filled with explosives led to the halving of Saudi Arabia’s daily oil production, and a massive attack by Turkish attack drones in Syria at the end of February 2020 led to the destruction of the Syrian air defense, it became clear that the world…

James Bezan, Shadow Minister for National Defence and Member of Parliament for Selkirk-Interlake-Eastman, today issued a statement to commemorate National Holodomor Awareness Week: “Canadians take a moment this week to join Ukrainians around the world to remember and raise awareness of the victims of Holodomor, a man-made famine ordered by Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin in Ukraine in 1932-1933. “Holodomor is without any doubt the darkest chapter in Ukraine’s history, which took millions of lives and wiped out entire villages where national traditions and self-awareness were rooted. This horrific act of genocide was an attempt to destroy Ukrainian national identity by eliminating their…

As the world marks the 75th anniversary of the Nuremberg trials, there is much discussion about the legacy of the court, convened on the basis of the London Charter, issued on August 8, 1945 for the purpose of “punishment of the major war criminals of the European Axis countries”. Far from being a mere detail of history, Nuremberg set important precedents that are valid to this day. The trials were to establish the legal definition of what actually constitutes a “war crime” setting a precedent for today’s war crimes tribunal in The Hague, which commenced its work on July 1, 2002. Vladimir Putin has commented on the anniversary, saying that the Nuremberg trials were important “to counteract the…

In the draft, Russia says nothing about the fact that among the results of the end of WW2 were numerous mass crimes, including genocide, deportation and repression by Stalin’s Soviet regime. Ukraine at the meeting of the Third Committee of the UN General Assembly voted against the draft resolution of the Russian Federation on the glorification of the Stalinist regime. That’s according to a statement by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine. “Ukraine voted against yet another draft resolution ‘Combating glorification of Nazism, neo-Nazism and other practices that contribute to fuelling contemporary forms of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance,’ which Russia traditionally submitted for consideration in the Third Committee of the UN General Assembly,” reads the statement. Ukrainian diplomats noted that members of the anti-Hitler coalition are not ready to support Russia’s draft, including all EU member states and an absolute majority of European countries…

Decentralization, more transparency, and new people in politics are some of the results Ukraine reaped after the Euromaidan revolution. Ukraine has implemented half of the opportunities provided by the EU-Ukraine Association Agreement; is the time coming to consider a new, more powerful agreement? The 16th annual conference by Kyiv Dialogue, an independent German-Ukrainian platform for intensified dialogue between the countries, was held online on 2-3 November 2020. The conference was dedicated to the consequences of the Euromaidan Revolution seven years on, as well as ongoing political transformations in Ukraine. Local elections, completion of decentralization reform as well as the…

Seven years ago, the Euromaidan revolution started in Kyiv. Initially springing up against then-President Yanukovych’s foreign policy U-turn in the refusal to sign the EU-Ukraine Association Agreement, it grew into a protest against police violence and the corrupt regime itself. Since then, Ukraine has been on a rollercoaster of dreams and crushed hopes. What did Euromaidan achieve? Did it change Ukraine? We asked activists and public intellectuals, and here is what they answered. What was the place of Euromaidan in Ukrainian history? What has it achieved, and what was not reached? Euromaidan is one of the defining moments in modern Ukrainian history and, in my opinion, it is the most important of the three revolutions that have taken place since 1990. Before Maidan, the outcomes of both, the Granite and the Orange Revolutions. The main achievement of the Revolution of Dignity is its more…

January 5, 2021 is the magic date, Senate election runoff in the Peach State. Republicans need just one seat to control the Senate, Democrats need to win both. Under normal circumstances a Senate under the control of the party not in the White House would be a good thing for democracy. The Senate would then serve to check the power of the White House. However, these are not normal circumstances. So another four years or even less would be a disaster both for America and the Republican Party. The current Senate majority leader with immense power enhanced by the abrogation of filibusters in most proceedings has become not a legislator and, certainly not a monitor of the Executive branch but an obstructionist or enabler depending on who occupies the White House. Under President Obama Senator Mitch McConnell undermined all activity by the White House blatantly doing…

In late 2013, Ukrainians gathered on the Maidan to demand their government make good on its promises of Euro-Atlantic integration. Their dignified revolution, founded on the premise that Ukraine’s Western trajectory was a vital national interest, struck a powerful blow against entrenched interests who opposed that idea. Their dream remains as alive today as it was seven years ago. Americans are particularly sympathetic to the spirit of that dream. Like Ukraine, the United States only achieved independence after a long struggle of our own. Our nation was founded through the courage of people who stood for the same principles upon which today’s Euro-Atlantic institutions are based: democracy, respect for the…

Yesterday, Ukrainians around the world commemorated the Day of Dignity and Freedom, which recalled and paid tribute to the hopeful and inspiring days in late November 2013 that set in motion the long sought after ouster of Russian gauleiters from Ukraine. The Revolution of Dignity as it became known became another tree of liberty for Ukrainians as they struggled to cement their independence proclaimed in 1991 and on numerous earlier occasions. The visions of the multitude of Ukrainians standing in the cold on Maidan, the feelings of hope and anger, anticipation and desperation reverberated deep in the hearts, minds and spirits of Ukrainians. Twenty-two years after the latest Declaration of…

In the winter of 1932, Mendel Osherowitch went on assignment to the USSR for Forverts, a New York City-based Yiddish newspaper boasting a daily circulation of 275,000. Osherowitch had been born in Trostianets, in Ukraine, before the Great War, and spoke Yiddish, Ukrainian and Russian like the native he was. Over several months, he astutely recorded life under Communist rule and found it markedly dysfunctional – sometimes criminal. Hordes of peasants could be seen clambering onto trains, escaping into the cities in an anguished search for bread. Stories circulated about rural uprisings, brutally suppressed. Parents were haunted by worries that their children would betray them to the GPU, the…

On October 27, the Constitutional Court of Ukraine (CCU) canceled the requirement for government officials and supreme judges to file electronic declarations of all their assets, including salaries, property and other sources of income. This was one of the key reforms implemented since the 2013/2014 EuroMaidan revolution and an essential condition set by Ukraine’s Western partners to secure their international assistance, including loans from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank. At the same time, the Ukrainian high court’s decision in effect invalidated the powers of the National Anti-Corruption Agency (NACA), which heretofore had important supervision powers over judges (Zn.ua, October 30). Activists and…

Якийсь час з огляду на президентські вибори у США, моя увага була скеровна на події США, одначе завжди з точки зору потреб України. Українська людина повинна жити у такому навіть напруженому стані. Де я не жив би треба якось навіть мізерно допомагати своєму народові, а найкращим удосконаленням народного прагнення це його держава. Мені 68 років і хоч я не збираюся скоро відходити то все ж таки приходять моменти навіть ностальгії коли людина дивиться на життєвий пройдений шлях, може пишатися успіхами, уболівати невдачами, але напевно важливіше встановлює найважливіші моменти свого життя. Очевидно народження це найважливіше, але…

Next year, Ukraine will mark the thirtieth anniversary of the country’s independence. Despite being widely tipped in the early 1990s to emerge as the most economically successful of the former Soviet republics, Ukraine has struggled to make the qualitative leap forward from authoritarian empire to European democracy. Instead of transitioning to a new era, it often feels as if Ukraine is stuck in a state of permanent stagnation, living from crisis to crisis and revolution to revolution. Meanwhile, the population remains mired in poverty. There is no consensus about the exact reasons why success has eluded Ukraine for the past three decades. However, few would argue that the main obstacles have been the…

Russian President Vladimir Putin has been very, very busy lately playing geopolitical chess, as America plays checkers. In recent weeks, Russia has stepped up its military and propaganda campaigns around the world. Russian disinformation campaigns have actively sought to influence elections in the U.S. and elsewhere. In August, Putin’s rival, Alexei Navalny, was poisoned. Talks between the U.S. and Russia on a new arms control treaty reached a stalemate in October. And Putin is the only major world leader who hasn’t called Joe Biden to congratulate him on his victory. As the U.S. election campaign dominated headlines all summer and fall, millions more people were placed under the boot of Russia in…

Attention in Ukraine is currently focused on talk of a counter-revolution that is threatening to derail the country’s anti-corruption reforms. However, away from the headlines, progress is continuing on a new privatization drive that aims to replicate the anti-corruption success which helped transform nearby countries such as Poland and Latvia. Throughout Ukraine’s post-Soviet history, privatization has been a dirty word. These negative associations are rooted in past experience of bid-rigging by corrupt political leaders that all too often handed national assets to oligarchs, cronies, or family members for next to nothing. Perceptions of privatization in Ukraine may now be in need of an…

Azerbaijan’s victory over Armenia in the recent six-week war between the two countries looks to have ended decades of stalemate and transformed the geopolitical balance in the South Caucasus region. It has allowed Baku to regain control over parts of Azerbaijan that had been under Armenian occupation for over a quarter of a century, while forcing Russia to accept the reality of growing Turkish influence in the region. The renewal of full-scale military hostilities in Azerbaijan in late September marked a dramatic thaw in what was one of the former USSR’s oldest frozen conflicts, dating back to the early 1990s. The course and outcome of the war offer some potentially important lessons for Ukraine, which is home to the most recent of the many little wars to erupt amid the ruins of the Soviet Empire. Since 2014, successive governments in…

The Kyiv Post reported, “The High Anti-Corruption Court of Ukraine has overturned its first-ever conviction of an official for graft after the country’s Constitutional Court struck down key pillars of Ukraine’s anti-corruption legislation. The decision to throw the conviction out represents a major blow to Ukraine’s anti-corruption efforts. In 2019, the High Anti-Corruption Court found a retired judge guilty of failing to declare her 2015 income in accordance with the law. According to the Anti-Corruption Action Center nonprofit, the individual in question was Nadezhda Posunsya, an appeals court judge in Dnipropetrovsk Oblast. The conviction marked the court’s first ruling since it was established in September 2019. Posunsya was reportedly fined nearly $2,000. Then, on Oct. 28, the Constitutional Court ruled that Ukraine’s asset declaration system for…

The Capitulation Resistance Movement (CRM) was informed by reliable sources that law enforcement agencies, in particular the Security Service of Ukraine, are preparing searches, initiating investigations and possible detentions of co-coordinators and activists of the CRM. These punitive actions are to take place on the eve of the anniversary of the Euromaidan Revolution of Dignity – November 21 – and is a transparent repressive action directed against the Auto/Maidan-protest rally on Nov. 21, 2020 that will begin at European Square in Kyiv at 14:00. The purpose of these repressive actions is to intimidate, discredit and paralyze the work of CRM activists. Fear is always the main motive for…

If you’d even casually followed the twists and turns of President Donald Trump’s scandalous administration, you’d be forgiven for never wanting to hear about this perennially troubled former Soviet republic again. During Trump’s impeachment, Ukraine loomed over Washington like a noxious cloud. On Capitol Hill, countless hours of testimony described Trump’s apparent extortion of his Ukrainian counterpart, Volodymyr Zelensky, for help discrediting his rival Joe Biden. On Twitter and conservative airwaves, Trump and his allies ceaselessly hawked baseless claims that Biden tried to block Ukrainian efforts to investigate his supposedly crooked son. Already associated with political turmoil, corruption and bad governance, Ukraine provided an ideal playground for Trump henchman Rudy Giuliani to chase damning leads in service of his employer. As a result, it was…

The Kyiv Post reported, “Ukraine’s local election saga continued on Nov. 15, with seven cities holding mayoral runoffs. The second round of voting took place in the regional capitals Odesa, Kherson, Lutsk and Sumy. The eastern Ukrainian city of Kramatorsk; Kamianets-Podilskyi, situated in western Ukraine; and Ukrainka, a town of 15,000 people in Kyiv Oblast, also held votes. Meanwhile, three weeks after Ukraine held the first round of the nationwide local election on Oct. 25, three regions are still uncalled as results are being contested in court. The second round of voting in the seven cities saw very low voter turnout – a mere 24%, according to the Central Election Commission. Not all the runoff results have been announced, forcing observers to sometimes rely on exit polls. In Odesa, a city of 1 million people located 500 kilometers south of Kyiv, incumbent…

In 2014 Ukrainians got so fed up with the grotesque corruption of their political class that they staged a revolution. Since then, reformers have been trying to build institutions to hold the country’s oligarchs and crooked politicians to account. One big victory was establishing an electronic asset-declaration system, an online registry where officials must list all of their main possessions. But on October 27th Ukraine’s constitutional court found a clever way to cripple this system: it struck down the anti-corruption authorities’ power to punish anyone for lying on it. Piquantly, four of the court’s 18 justices were being investigated by those same authorities. After the ruling, Schemes, an investigative news outfit, reported that the…

U.S. President-elect Joe Biden will face tremendous challenges when he enters office, starting with the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and its economic fallout. When it comes to foreign policy, China will be at the top of the to-do list along with restoring and reinvigorating badly frayed alliances. Dealing with Russia and its President Vladimir Putin should be high on that list, too. Russia under Putin poses an existential threat to the United States and other countries of the West, Russia’s neighbors, and his own people. Biden seems to understand that, not least because he has been the target of Russian interference in the 2020 election, including a disinformation campaign tied to Russia that was designed to…

Imprisoned behind a 14-foot wall, not because of anything they had done but because of who they were, Ukrainian immigrants in Nanaimo’s WW1 internment camp had no idea when they would be released. When war broke out, the federal government began rounding up people it deemed enemy aliens — immigrants from enemy countries. Canada was at war with Austria-Hungary, which ruled large parts of Ukraine. Thousands were put in internment camps and forced into hard labour, such as clearing forests and building roads. “British Columbia was especially malicious for going after potential enemy aliens. They were actually faster at rounding people up than the federal government,” said Borys Sydoruk, chair of the…

Russia’s reaction to the announcement of Joe Biden’s victory in the US elections has been very muted. Russian president, Vladimir Putin, has yet to officially congratulate the president-elect. Putin’s political opponent Alexei Navalny, on the other hand, was quick to tweet his congratulations, wryly observing that the free and fair election was a “privilege not available to all countries”. Russia’s silence stands in stark contrast to the visible enthusiasm that greeted Trump’s victory in 2016. Trump’s face decorated boxes of sugar, while the Army of Russia store offered a 10% discount for US citizens on the day of Trump’s inauguration. Vladimir Zhirinovsky, the leader of the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia, a far-right party, was pictured drinking champagne with members of his party in celebration of Trump’s election victory. Putin’s silence is unsurprising. During the…

Ukraine’s political problems have been building up since spring. In March, President Volodymyr Zelensky unexpectedly removed his first government, which had only been in office since late August. Like Zelensky himself, that government had many faces. But some ministers had done good things, such as working to complete the legal reforms that his predecessor, Petro Poroshenko, implemented between 2014 and 2019. Today, Zelensky faces a full-on legal and constitutional crisis engineered by anti-reform forces in the country – local oligarchs and their proxies, as well as Russian propagandists. He has belatedly promised to fight back, to try and save what is left of his presidency. But his options are limited. Instead of just replacing the prime minister, Zelensky progressively removed all reformers from the…

The late Ukrainian Canadian poet Michael Gowda, who in 1907 enlisted in the Canadian Home Guard and sought to create a Ukrainian regiment to serve the British army, once wrote a series of verses addressed directly to his new homeland. Written from the perspective of an immigrant allowed to live in Canada primarily to colonize the prairie, as 170,000 Ukrainians did between 1891 and 1914, “To Canada” describes these new Canadians as in some sense merely “holders of thy soil.” To be recognized as fully Canadian, their people would have to fight and even die for Canada. It would take a blood sacrifice for their children to one day be “free to call thee theirs,” as the poem reads. It is an outmoded vision…

After the Revolution of Dignity, one of the changes that swept through Ukraine was the revival of Ukrainian filmmaking. Hundreds of films have been made since 2014, with many of them only appearing thanks to support from the Ukrainian state film agency, a new institution dedicated to providing financial support to Ukrainian filmmakers. The works of contemporary Ukrainian cinema artists can now be viewed on Takflix, the first Ukrainian web platform which allows watching Ukrainian films online. English subtitles are provided for the majority of films. About 30 films are now available on the platform including feature films, short films and documentaries, with further additions each month. We talked with Nadiya Parfan, the platform’s creator and a Ukrainian film director, who stressed that the platform is designed to broadcast Ukrainian art films that are not necessarily…

A winter of discontent is looming in Ukraine. After six years of imperfect progress following the 2014 Revolution of Dignity, the political climate in the country has changed dramatically. In recent months, the country has departed from the path of reforms and embraced many of the worst practices of the toxic past. The situation is now threatening to descend into the kind of corrupt chaos that marked the first twenty-three years of Ukraine’s independent existence. As one of the reformers who entered government in the tumultuous period following the historic events of early 2014, I recognize that we have now reached an ominous crossroads in Ukraine’s nation-building journey. We may not have entirely lost the war yet, but we have clearly lost a major battle. Over the course of the past six years, thousands of young Ukrainians interupted their careers for…

As Joseph Biden prepares to become the 46th president on Jan. 20, 2021, Ukraine by and large seems happy with the choice of the American voter. If nothing else, he’s a familiar face because of his six visits to the nation as Barack Obama’s vice president and point man on Ukraine policy. Facebook boomed with old photographs of Biden posing with Ukrainian politicians, analysts, economists, and civic activists on his visits immediately after the news about his victory broke. Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky congratulated Biden, a stark contrast to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s non-recognition thus far of Biden’s win over Donald J. Trump. But for Kyiv, it’s more than familiarity. Biden is seen as a genuine friend of Ukraine, a politician with a good understanding of the nation’s strengths and weaknesses. Biden led the…

The Pentagon recently announced that at the request of the Polish government more U.S. troops would be deployed to Poland and at the request of Ukraine’s government more military assistance would be rendered to Ukraine, including missiles, radar equipment as well as more joint military exercises. All of these are positive steps in the European and U.S. Relationship. What is missing in these recent announcements by the currently rudderless Pentagon has been in fact on the table since the Bucharest Summit in 2008. During his most recent visit to the United Kingdom, Ukraine’s President Zelensky raised this issue once again. Ukraine need a Membership Action Plan for NATO. In 2008 the U.S. under President George W. Bush was prepared to make that happen. It was stymied by France and Germany, two historically Russia friendly states. Eight months later in Brussels the issue was a mere mention in the…

Пентагон нещодавно оголосив, що на прохання польського уряду до Польщі буде розгорнуто більше американських військ і на прохання уряду України буде надаватися більше військової допомоги Україні, включаючи ракети, радіолокаційну техніку, а також більш спільні військові навчання та маневри. Все це позитивні кроки у відносинах між Європою та США. Чого не вистачає в цих останніх оголошеннях в даний час обезголовного Пентагон це справа яка давно наспіла ще з часів Бухарестського саміту в 2008 році. Під час свого останнього візиту до Великої Британії Президент України Зеленський порушив це питання. Україні потрібен План дій щодо членства в НАТО. У 2008 році США при президенті…

Громадська ініціатива “Деколонізація України” вимагає демонтаж пам’ятника Катерині в Одесі. Попередньо влада цензурувала 5 петицій до президента з вимогами її ліквідації. Сьогодні активісти вийшли на акцію протесту, щоб привернути увагу жителів та гостей міста, адже влада ігнорує. Водночас Росія продовжує свої атаки в гуманітарному фронті, а Катерина, кат українського народу, продовжує бути символом пропаганди та русифікації. Протестний настрій в регіоні зростає. Для проведення акції об’єдналися волонтери, ветерани, патріотичні громадські організації. Не обійшлося без атак ботів, вилитого бруду про замовлений конфлікт перед виборами. Боротьба з колоніальною спадщиною є…

Since the Cold War victory, every incoming administration believed it possessed the magic formula to turn Russia into a strategic partner. Every time, the administration has been misled by the Kremlin and ended up trying to contain a new act of aggression. A Joe Biden administration can avoid such pitfalls from the outset by devising a firmer policy to constrict Moscow’s ambitions and increase NATO deterrents. Throughout his presidency, Trump believed that he could establish cooperative relations with Vladimir Putin but was prevented by his national security team from capitulating to naivety. Fortunately, they understood that Russia was an adversary challenging American influence and…

Few countries are likely to benefit more from a Joe Biden presidency than Ukraine. Biden knows Ukraine very well, having been responsible for US policy on Ukraine as vice president. He is committed both to its defense against Russia and to the country’s domestic reforms. As vice president, Biden visited Ukraine no less than five times. As a result of this intensive engagement, he also has an excellent staff that know Ukraine very well, notably Dr. Michael Carpenter, who is likely to become his key staffer for Ukraine. Ukraine played a major, though unintended, role in Biden’s defeat of Donald Trump. The impeachment of Trump was based on his “perfect” phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in…

President Volodymyr Zelensky has congratulated Joe Biden on his victory in the 2020 U.S. presidential election. “Ukraine is optimistic about the future of the strategic partnership with the United States. Ukraine and the United States have always collaborated on security, trade, investment, democracy, fight against corruption,” Zelensky wrote on Twitter on Nov. 7. Zelensky’s message came hours after ex-Vice President Biden was declared the winner by all major U.S. news outlets, including CNN and Fox News. European Council President Charles Michel and the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, have also congratulated Biden on the victory. Ukraine-US relations under Trump The…

When Victoria Spartz won a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives during the U.S. elections on Nov. 3, it was big news for the Republican Party and the state of Indiana, which she represents. But unlike most things that happen in Indiana, Spartz’s victory has resonated in the Ukrainian media. Spartz is an immigrant from Ukraine. Spartz was born on Oct. 1, 1978 in Nosivka, a city of 13,000 people in Chernihiv Oblast, some 100 kilometers northeast of Kyiv. She received bachelor of science and master of business administration degrees in Ukraine and moved to the United States in 2000. In the U.S., Spartz studied at the Kelley School of Business at Indiana University — Purdue University Indianapolis – and…

Вже понад 300 днів перебуває за гратами Андрій Антоненко. Шевченківський районний суд відмовився змінити йому запобіжний захід 25 серпня, так само було програно апеляцію в Апеляційному суді Києва 6 жовтня. Запобіжний захід – це про ризики, які може нести зміна запобіжного заходу. Не було ризиків, дисциплінарних скарг на Антоненка тощо Нема прямих доказів – лише побічні: недіюча міна МОН-50, що за версією слідства схожа на «вибуховий пристрій», яким було підірвано авто Шеремета, місце мешкання Антоненка, що знаходиться недалеко від місця убивства, принти на одязі, схожість ходи з убивцею. Щодо експертизи ходи, то дисциплінарна палата Мінюсту ще 31 серпня визначила, що вона не може бути як мінімум основним доказом. Відомий британський військовий експерт Глен Грант, який був…

With gridlock on the country’s years-long anti-corruption reforms caused by Ukraine’s Constitutional Court that left no apparent legal way for both President and Parliament to resolve the issue, other significant developments related to the judicial branch of power remain mostly unnoticed. Pavlo Vovk is one of the best-known judges among Ukrainians. As the head of the Kyiv District Administrative Court, he was behind multiple controversial decisions and the national anti-graft watchdog suspects him of plotting the seizure of power. But instead of leaving office and being tried, the odious judge can boost his powers even more. Compared to other Ukrainian courts, the Kyiv District Administrative Court (KDAC) led by…

Amidst a brewing constitutional crisis that has increasingly alarmed Kyiv’s partners in Washington and Brussels and put the country’s visa-free regime with the EU in jeopardy, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is doubling down on the bent for cracking down on graft which swept him to power. In particular, the comedian turned anti-corruption crusader is striking back against what he has described as an “attack” on Ukraine and its democratic values—a set of rulings by the country’s Constitutional Court that have frittered away anti-corruption legislation. Zelensky has characterised his tussle with the Constitutional Court in stark terms, calling it a “fight for the soul and the future of our…

Ukrainians went to the polls in local elections on October 25. While the final results are still being certified, it is already possible to speak in broad terms about the winners and losers of the vote. The biggest winners were the growing number of incumbent mayors who have established their own political parties at the local level. It is now clear that Ukraine’s post-2014 decentralization reforms have not only strengthened the country’s cities financially and in terms of autonomy; the process has also emboldened mayors to form their own largely independent political forces. It is no longer the case that mayors are forced to bow to Kyiv-based political parties and accept a national label, which may or…

On November 13, 2020, the Ukrainian people will honor Baturyn Memorial Day, remembering the heroic defenders of the town and its residents who gave their lives for the independence of Ukraine 312 years ago. For what do we have to know the tragic fate of the Hetman’s capital? Every Ukrainian has to understand the essence of the Russian state policy towards Ukraine by the example of Baturyn and always remember that the lines of our anthem are about this: «We will lay our soul and body for the cherished freedom. Cossack blood will raise the nation of the joyous people». The readiness of the Ukrainian people to defend their Motherland was formed in the heart of Hetmanshchyna, in Baturyn! Baturyn is the capital of Ukraine in Cossack times. Ukrainian state of Hetman Demyan Ignatovich, Ivan Samoylovich and Ivan Mazepa was established here. The…

13 листопада 2020 року український народ буде вшановувати День пам’яті Батурина, згадуючи героїчних оборонців міста та його мешканців, які віддали свої життя за незалежність України 312 років тому. Для чого знати про трагічну долю столиці нашої Гетьманської держави…? Кожен українець на прикладі Батурина має чітко усвідомити всю сутність російської державної політики по відношенню до України і завжди пам’ятати, що стрічки нашого Гімну саме про це: «Душу й тіло ми положим за нашу свободу і покажем, що ми, браття, козацького роду!». Готовність українців захищати Батьківщину формувалася у великій мірі саме тут, в самому в серці Гетьманщини, в Батурині! Батурин – столиця України козацьких часів. Саме тут стверджували…

The Kyiv Post reported, “Pavlo Vovk, a top judge charged with corruption, visited the Presidential Administration soon after Volodymyr Zelenskyy took office in May 2019, the Slidstvo.Info investigative journalism agency reports. On Nov. 3, Slidstvo.Info published the second part of its investigation into Vovk based on the National Anti-Corruption Bureau’s (NABU) recordings of conversations from the judge’s office. The recordings suggest that Vovk, head of the very influential Kyiv Administrative District Court, was in close contact with Zelenskyy’s right-hand man Andriy Bohdan prior to the election. Soon after Zelenskyy became president in May 2019, Bohdan was appointed chief of staff. Days after the inauguration, Bohdan allegedly invited Vovk to meet him at the administration. The substance of their conversation remains…

During a divine liturgy on October 24 at the Chrysoroyatissa (Our Lady of the Golden Pomegranate) Monastery in Pathos, Cyprus, Archbishop Chrysostomos II, primate of the Orthodox Church of Cyprus, commemorated Metropolitan Epifaniy, primate of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine. The move officially recognizes the autocephaly of the OCU. The Orthodox Church of Cyprus thus joins the Orthodox Church of Greece, the Patriarchate of Alexandria and the Ecumenical Patriarchate in its official recognition of the autocephaly of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine. The move is seen as a landmark event, since the Church of Cyprus holds a special position, belonging to the “ancient” rather than “new” autocephaly, and enjoys high authority among the Greek Churches and in the Orthodox world as a whole. The archbishop was at the monastery for the…

The conflict between Ukraine and combined Russian-separatist forces in Donbas (a region encompassing the Donetsk and Luhansk provinces), which erupted in 2014, has damaged one of the largest water delivery systems in Europe’s East. Water shortages and poor water quality are worsening an already difficult humanitarian, socio-economic and political situation in a war-torn area of Ukraine abutting the frontline territories. Constant shelling threatens access to safe water and sanitation for more than 3.9 million people (including 500,000 children) in eastern Ukraine. Every fourth resident near the contact line lacks a reliable source of drinking water. On September 16, the Verkhovna Rada (parliament) of Ukraine adopted the…

Ukraine’s leader Volodymyr Zelensky will this week seek to clear out his country’s constitutional court and reboot his drive to tackle corruption in what allies and analysts described as a pivotal moment for his troubled presidency. Mr Zelensky was forced to confront judges at the court after they struck down a compulsory asset register for public servants, a cornerstone of anti-graft efforts put in place following the Maidan revolution of 2014 at the behest of western donors. Activists say the ruling is part of a systematic attempt by the court to dismantle anti-corruption institutions driven by pro-Russian politicians and lawmakers allied to powerful oligarchs who want to wreck Kyiv’s relations with the IMF and EU. Draft legislation presented to parliament by Mr Zelensky to replace the entire constitutional court will be debated as soon as Tuesday, but the…

Вітаємо Віталія на Батьківщині та хочемо сказати «ДЯКУЮ!». За те, що на увесь світ продемонстрував, хто такі українці. Не секрет, що для Росії «справа Марківа» та його засудження італійським судом були принциповими: великі гроші й зусилля були кинуті на формування громадської думки італійців. Росіянам важливим було встановлення юридичного факту (рішення суду) щодо незаконності дій наших добровольців на прикладі Віталія на Сході України в 2014-му. І їм це вдалось: італійська журналістська спільнота волала «розіпни!», а місцевий суд виніс вирок як для жорстокого вбивці — 24 роки в’язниці. Адвокат Марківа зомлів прямо в залі суду. Але Віталій тримався. Не істерив, не волав «зрада!» протягом цих більш як трьох(!) років за ґратами. Вірив в Україну, своєю вірою…

The Kyiv Post reported on November 2, “In the last two weeks, Ukraine’s Constitutional Court has rebelled against the country’s anti-corruption institutions, threatening to eliminate years of progress in battling graft. Now, new information shows how compromised judges likely laid the groundwork for this judicial insurrection. Pavlo Vovk, one of Ukraine’s most controversial and influential judges, charged with corruption, allegedly coordinated with top power brokers to replace the chairman of the Constitutional Court in May 2019. The incumbent chairman, Oleksandr Tupytsky, spearheaded the court’s recent campaign against anti-graft institutions that put the country on the brink of a political and constitutional crisis. Vovk discussed appointing Tupytsky in tapes recorded by the…

Presidential elections come and go but Russia with its adventurism, aggression and subversion certainly remains the same. Preparing the December 2020 edition of The Ukrainian Quarterly, I came across another salient article from the inaugural edition of 1944 about the detrimental absence of an understanding of the essential mutual relationship between global peace and security and Ukraine. That gap existed then and sadly it still does today. The Ukrainian Quarterly was launched by the Ukrainian Congress Committee of America toward the end of World War II, at a fateful time when the allies, confident in their victory over Nazi Germany, were wrestling over plans about a post-war global arrangement that…

In the first half of October, the Ukrainian leadership concluded a series of important international agreements, with significance not only for Kyiv itself but also for buttressing regional security more broadly. First, during Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s October 7–8 visit to London, Ukraine’s Minister of Defense Andrey Taran and State Secretary for Defense of Great Britain and Northern Ireland Ben Wallace signed a memorandum on strengthening cooperation in the military and military-technical spheres (President.gov.ua, October 7). Reportedly, the deal will cover production of missile patrol boats for the Ukrainian Armed Forces that will be compatible with North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) standards (Pravda.com.ua, October 7). Additionally…

Ukraine is under attack. Not just at its borders, but also at the heart of its democratic institutions. I want to reassure our international partners that we will fight back and prevail. Last week, Ukraine’s constitutional court issued a destructive ruling in an effort to dismantle our anti-corruption architecture. The judges declared that the National Agency on Corruption Prevention had no constitutional right to review and reveal the asset declarations made by public servants, and that filing false information would no longer be a criminal offence. The 2016 introduction of compulsory electronic declarations and liability for illicit enrichment were the first, and most important, steps in building a framework to eliminate corruption in Ukraine. It was…

The Torn Curtain • Russia’s invasion and occupation of eastern Ukraine have caused a great deal of civilian death and destruction. Not only have residential buildings and churches been targeted by Russian artillery, but intense collateral damage has been experienced by the civilian population. This has only been exacerbated by covid-19. UN Human Rights Coordinator in Ukraine Osnat Lubrani earlier this month drew attention to the problems of 1.2 million vulnerable residents of Donbas who have been facing a lot of adversity due to the ongoing covid-19 pandemic. On International Day of Peace, Lubrani said in a statement: “I want to draw attention to the unnoticed suffering of 1.2 million vulnerable residents of Donbas who cannot get their pension payments, travel in order to take care of sick relatives, or reunite with their loved ones. How will they, those who have almost…

While the Turkish military was testing Russian-made S-400 missiles at the Black Sea coast on Oct. 16, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was hosting his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky in Istanbul for talks on advancing defense industry collaboration. A fresh set of accords signed at the meeting underscore how Turkey’s defense ties with Ukraine have flourished in recent years against the backdrop of its uneasy relationship with Russia that has alternated between cooperation and rivalry. Speaking after the signing ceremony, Erdogan said, “Turkey sees Ukraine as a key country for the establishment [of] stability, security, peace and prosperity in the region.” Zelensky said the agreements paved the…

On October 25, Ukrainians voted in local elections for city mayors, heads of village municipalities, local and regional councils. These elections were important for two reasons. First, they were the first ones to be held under the new Election Code, which made these elections a de facto test for long-awaited electoral reform in Ukraine. And second, the elections revealed that Zelenskyy’s approval rating has drastically fallen, while the local elites managed to retain their power. In addition, they showed that the ghost of a pro-Russian comeback in the country’s east exists, but stays stable, as the pro-Russian Opposition Platform for Life mostly came in second or third place in the town and regional councils closer…

Ukraine’s young new president Volodymyr Zelensky — hailed in the West as an ambitious reformer — is an enthusiastic social media user, deploying his popular Instagram and Facebook accounts to reach large audiences during his recent election campaign. He hasn’t stopped there. Months since his landslide election in April, Zelensky’s Facebook posts are still receiving tens of thousands of reactions and thousands of comments. His chief of staff even said that the president’s team “doesn’t need journalists” to communicate with citizens, because they can do so directly. The word “bot” is sometimes used to refer to inauthentic social media users, though the term should technically refer to automated accounts. In this story, the phrases “hired account,” “fake account,” or “troll” are used to refer to inauthentic accounts, since there are real human beings behind them. But according to a…

Ukraine’s constitutional court has ruled that basic powers of one of the top anti-corruption bodies are illegal, in a significant blow to Kyiv’s western-backed efforts to crack down on widespread corruption. In its ruling made public on Wednesday, the court said the National Agency on Corruption Prevention had no constitutional right to punish public servants for filing false information in their asset declarations or to review their declarations. The court also ruled that the declarations are not to be available to the public, prompting the agency to remove them from its website. The compulsory electronic asset register was set up in 2016 under pressure from western donors and was deemed an essential tool to combat bribery and…

Конституційний Суд України мав би захищати Конституцію, перевіряючи на відповідність їй закони та інші правові акти. Зараз судді КСУ захищають олігархів, корупцію та забезпечують кругову поруку. Зокрема, судді КСУ 2010 року дозволили узурпувати владу президенту-втікачу Віктору Януковичу; скасували у лютому 2019 закон про незаконне збагачення, внаслідок чого НАБУ було змушене закрити 65 кримінальних проваджень та винесли рішення на користь Запорізького заводу феросплавів, який належить олігарху Ігорю Коломойському. Останнім часом у ЗМІ неодноразово згадувалися наміри КСУ знищити антикорупційні інституції та інструменти. Сьогодні ці чутки…

The Kyiv Post reported, “The Constitutional Court on Oct. 27 effectively canceled penalties for lying in officials’ asset declarations, according to the Kyiv Post’s sources in the court. This court’s assault on anti-corruption institutions may disrupt lending from the International Monetary Fund and lead to suspension of visa-free travel with the European Union. The court ruled that Ukrainian laws on penalties for incorrect information in asset declarations and illicit enrichment, as well as on the publication of asset declarations and the confiscation of ill-gotten wealth, were unconstitutional, according to the Kyiv Post’s sources. However, sources cited by other media said the court canceled criminal penalties for …

One of the most dangerous traps into which political analysts can fall is to dismiss as outrageous and therefore irrelevant extremist ideas expressed in crude and radical ways by political leaders as somehow unimportant and unworthy of attention except perhaps as “playing to the base.” Observers repeatedly and sagely observe that notions ranging from locking up the leader’s political opponents to killing all the Jews to reconquering former empires are so radical that even those who say these things don’t really believe them and, in the end, won’t act upon them. But again and again over the past century in country after country, such notions which started at the marginal have gone mainstream and led to…

The coronavirus pandemic has weakened the church nomenklatura not only by infecting and killing so many of its members but by highlighting the sad reality that the Moscow Patriarchate has become little more than the branch office of the state and, unlike in Soviet times, has done so voluntarily, Mikhail Sitnikov says. In a commentary for Credo Press today, the religious affairs journalist says that many fundamentalists have drawn apocalyptic conclusions from the pandemic, seeing this plague as ushering in the last days, but far more Russian believers have come to recognize that they can be Christians without “the effective managers” of the hierarchy (credo.press/233657/). They have reached that…

Як червоний терор вплинув на розвиток української культури та що нового про митців можна дізнатися з офіційних документів спецслужб, розповіли в.о. директорки Центру досліджень визвольного руху Анна Олійник та директор архіву СБУ Андрій Когут. Центр досліджень визвольного руху спільно з колегами з Грузії та Чехії готує онлайн-виставку “Репресоване мистецтво”, яка покаже життя митців через призму агентурних документів. Широкий загал побачить архівні документи навесні 2021 року, але підготовка до запуску проєкту вже ведеться. Проєкт “Репресованого мистецтва” має привернути інтерес до архівних документів через історії митців, які потрапляли у поле зору комуністичних спецслужб. З чого ж все…

I write to you as a American citizen registered to vote in the 11th Congressional district of New Jersey. I am a retired attorney at law and this matter concerns a professional colleague, Sergii Vynnyk from the Russian Federation. This matter is not only of personal concern, it is also of great interest to the global Ukrainian and the Ukrainian American community. This case which has been developed since the beginning of 2019 against Mr. Vynnyk by the Russian government appears to replicate the well known and tragic case of Sergei Magnitsky. As you know the case against Mr. Magnitsky involved an egregious abuse of human rights and resulted in his untimely death. The United States has passed two statutes in his name, one for…

The Kyiv Post reported, “The Kyiv District Administrative Court has ordered the dismissal of Artem Sytnyk, head of the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU), two sources familiar with the matter told the Kyiv Post on Oct. 26. The sources spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak with the press. One of the most controversial legal bodies in Ukraine, the Kyiv District Administrative Court is led by judge Pavlo Vovk, who is currently a suspect in a graft case investigated by NABU. It instructed the Ministry of Justice to register Sytnyk’s official dismissal based upon a Constitutional Court ruling according to…

Just days before Ukraine held local elections experts gathered under the auspices of the Transatlantic Task Force on Ukraine for an online discussion on the state of Ukrainian reforms and politics. Experts stressed that the stakes are high in this local election, as oligarchs and pro-Russian forces are seen re-entering politics and while promising steps for reforms were made in the first months of Zelenskyy’s presidency, current prospects for such crucial sectors as the judicial and anti-corruption reforms are uncertain. Oligarchs re-entrenching themselves back into politics In his opening remarks, Jonathan Katz, a Senior Fellow and Director of Democracy Initiatives at the German Marshall Fund, said that “this is obviously a high-stakes election for…

When Vladimir Zelensky visited London earlier this month, he was met by Richard Moore, head of Britain’s MI-6 intelligence service. In that meeting, Andrey Piontkovsky says, the Ukrainian leader was told London has convincing evidence that the head of the Kyiv leader’s office, Andrey Yermak, is a Russian agent. The US-based Russian analyst who has warned about this danger for some time tells interviewer Kseniya Kirillova that the British would not have taken the unprecedented action of having an MI-6 chief brief a foreign head of state unless it wanted to warn about something as important as this (politua.org/politika/95781-andrej-piontkovskij-predatelskie-dejstviya-ermaka-stavyat-ukrainu-v-polozhenie-neradivogo-shkolnika/). Piontkovsky sees this meeting as confirmation of his warnings and…

For many years, Eastern Europe has typically been singled out as the continent’s most difficult region in terms of liberalizing gas markets, establishing competition, and creating an integrated block of countries capable of trading with each other based on mutually accepted rules. There has been a range of reasons for these challenges. In some cases, they arose because individual states struggled to make a meaningful transition from centralised to deregulated economies. In other cases, energy sectors were simply too riddled with corrupt practices, often supported by Russia, which snuffed out any…

On October 25, Ukraine held nationwide local elections. The vote was important as an indication of the political climate in the country just over a year since President Zelenskyy acquired unprecedented power via landslide victories in Ukraine’s presidential and parliamentary elections. It also had considerable practical significance in terms of the enhanced power bestowed on local authorities thanks to a decentralization process that is widely recognized as one of the most successful reforms since Ukraine’s 2014 Revolution of Dignity. Based on exit polls released following the election, there are four major outcomes. First, this was a vote in favor of local strongmen. Incumbent mayors look to have won virtually everywhere, regardless of whether they are considered corrupt or not. Second, participation was very low…

25 жовтня Рухом Опору Капітуляції було проведено всеукраїнську кампанію #БойкотЗе. Мета кампанії – документування фактів скоєння злочину у вигляді незаконного опитування, ініційованого Володимиром Зеленським, яке не регламентується жодним нормативним актом і суперечить Конституції та Виборчому Кодексу України. Для фіксації злочину було задіяно 25 автоекіпажів (мобільних груп) за участі активістів РОК та понад 1000 небайдужих громадян, що долучалися через соціальні мережі й особисто фіксували на фото та відео порушення та надсилали їх в чати у соціальних мережах, месенджерах і на електронну пошту. Загалом було…

For a speaker of either language, it may be hard to listen to the recording without wincing: An elementary-school art teacher in Odesa berates a pupil for responding in Ukrainian, rather than Russian, quickly driving her to tears in front of her classmates. Speaking mostly in Russian, the teacher orders the girl to stand up and singles her out, rebuking her for “daring to speak Ukrainian here and putting herself above others.” A parents association posted the audio recording and identified the teacher as Rayisa Pirohova. She was fired on October 12 for “amoral behavior that is not compatible with professional duties.” The incident in the Black Sea port city, where Russian remains the predominant language almost 30 years after Ukraine gained independence in the Soviet collapse, revealed…

A short while into Mr. Jones, a film by the Polish director Agnieszka Holland, the protagonist, Gareth Jones, who has come to Moscow to learn about Soviet collectivization efforts, says he has no agenda other than finding the truth. It is 1933, and two totalitarian powers are unleashing their competing visions of the world on the Eurasian continent. Jones’ interlocutor, Ada Brooks, a Moscow-based foreign reporter, asks Jones, with not a small touch of cynicism, whose truth he is seeking to uncover. He says that he is looking for “the truth. There is only one kind.” The question of truth is at the heart of the story Holland tackles—the deadly famine, engineered by Stalin’s regime, that swept through Ukraine, the Volga Basin, the Kuban and Don regions of the North Caucasus, and Kazakhstan in the winter of 1932-1933. In Ukraine alone, where it is known by its Ukrainian name of Holodomor and often referred to as the terror-famine, it took an …

With former-comedian-turned-president Volodymyr Zelensky losing support, oligarch Ihor Kolomoisky is well-positioned to assume political power. Ukrainians will go to the polls to elect mayors and city councilors on October 25. Normally this would elicit a shrug and a yawn from all but the most ardent of Ukraine nerds. But this go-around is different. Ukraine’s telegenic president Volodymyr Zelensky swept the presidential and parliamentary elections last year. Zelensky’s Servant of the People party is likely to be thrashed in the local elections. Of Ukraine’s four cities with more than one million people (Kyiv, Lviv, Odessa, and Dnipro), Servant of the People likely won’t take a single one. As my colleague Brian Mefford put it, 2020 will be a…

Нинішній вільний світ – особливо т.зв. ліберально-демократичний захід – на жаль, не втішається великими провідниками. При помочі найновіших інформаційних і політичних технологій, до керівництва державами часто приходять негідні посади особистості, а радше пересічні політики, політикани, маніпуланти публічною опінією “популісти”, жадні влади різні негідники. А у деяких країнах “невільного” світу при владі сидять прямо бандити міжнароднього масштабу. Прикриттям для такого небувалого явища у політикумі світової арени слугують поняття “ліберальна демократія” (країни традиційного заходу), “народня демократія” (країни під комуністичним режимом) , а тепер ще й нове поняття “керована демократія” чи “неоліберальна демократія” (країни з авторитарним диктаторським режимом). Автором останньої концепції є ніхто інший як владар хижацької Московії – Владімір Путін. Тривожні прояви такого тривожно деградованого…

Earlier this year, in this Permanent Council, we marked the 45th anniversary of the Helsinki Final Act. Its ten guiding principles formulated a ground-breaking approach to keep our populations safe—the concept of “comprehensive security.” Among these guiding principles are respect for sovereignty, the inviolability of frontiers, the non-use or threat of force, and the territorial integrity of states. For nearly half a century, the Helsinki Final Act has been our guide as we, collectively here at the OSCE, work toward advancing the goals of a peaceful, rules-based international order. Russia has repeatedly chosen to contravene foundational Helsinki principles, not least by its invasion and purported annexation of Crimea, and its ongoing aggression in eastern Ukraine. Russia’s contempt – or disregard – for the Helsinki Final Act principles has undermined security in Europe as a…

Evangelical preacher and erstwhile presidential candidate Pat Robertson recently revealed the content of his conversation with God during which God foretold that Donald Trump would be reelected president, chaos, civil disorder and even assassination would follow and then time as we know it would end. Given that Preacher Pat is 90 years old and probably somewhat hard of hearing, we can’t be sure if the preacher did not miss a simple word like “if” as in “if” Trump is reelected the following events would ensue. Either way the Robertson message, perhaps, contrary to his intentions, was subliminally more likely to encourage people to vote for Joe Biden if only to escape the chaos and continue our lives because life is the most precious gift from God. The final presidential debate was a…

Євангельський проповідник і колись кандидат у президенти Пат Робертсон нещодавно розкрив зміст його розмови з Богом, під час якої Бог сказав, що Дональд Трамп буде переобраний президентом, хаос, громадянський безлад і навіть вбивство буде слідувати, а потім час, як ми знаємо, закінчитьсяб тобто буде кінець світу. З огляду на те, що Проповіднику Пету 90 років і, ймовірно, дещо важко чути, ми не можемо бути впевнені, що проповідник не пропустив просте слово на кшталт “якщо”, як у “якщо” Трамп буде переобраним відбудуться наступні події. У будь-якому випадку послання Робертсона, можливо, всупереч його намірам, було підсвідомо більш імовірно, щоб заохотити людей голосувати за Джо Байдена, якщо б тількиб щоби уникнути хаосу і продовжувати наше життя, тому що життя є найдорожчим даром від Бога. Фінальні президентські дебати були…

In 2016 the Russian government and its proxies interfered in the U.S. presidential election in a “sweeping and systematic” fashion.1 Thanks to multiple bipartisan investigations and the work of researchers and journalists, rich detail about that operation—and the tools Russia’s disinformation agents used to execute it—are available to the public. In 2020 Americans are again preparing to elect a president. As the U.S. intelligence community assessed, and FBI Director Christopher Wray confirmed in recent testimony before Congress, Russia is conducting a “very active” interference campaign.2 Since 2016, Russia’s interference activity in the United States, and elsewhere around the world, has not abated. That’s because elections are a flashpoint for Russian information operations, but not the start or endpoint of this…

Editor’s Note: United by Ukraine is a collaboration between the Kyiv Post and the Ukrainian World Congress. It offers special coverage that showcases the contribution of diaspora Ukrainians to their homeland. When Dr. Oleh Antonyshyn heard a story about a 15-year-old EuroMaidan volunteer whose face was badly injured as a result of a bomb blast, he knew he had to go to Ukraine to help. “He was a young patriotic boy with a devastating, life-changing injury. He was one of the main reasons that I decided I need to go to Ukraine to operate,” Antonyshyn said. The renowned Toronto surgeon was ready to put his life in Canada on hold to help his counterparts in Ukraine as they were dealing with the avalanche of patients with complex post-traumatic defects and…

Victor Medvedchuk, Vladimir Putin’s key ally in Ukraine and the leader of the pro-Russian “Opposition Platform For Life” party, has very likely been using a huge troll army on Twitter. UkraineWorld digs into his hidden brigades of online warriors. Victor Medvedchuk is a well-known name in Ukrainian politics. He was the head of the presidential administration (2002-2005) under President Leonid Kuchma. He is probably the closest Ukrainian to Vladimir Putin – in 2004, Putin became godfather to Medvedchuk’s daughter, Darya. His public life goes way back — in 1980, he was the state-appointed attorney of Vasyl Stus, a prominent Ukrainian dissident poet and a symbol of Ukrainian resistance during Soviet rule. In his book about the process, Ukrainian journalist Vakhtang Kipiani argues that…

The Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group (KHPG) reported, “Controversial Ukrainian politician Viktor Medvedchuk cannot erase his shameful role as a Soviet state-appointed lawyer in the political trial of the great Ukrainian poet Vasyl Stus, but he is trying to silence those who write about the part he played. The startling ruling by the Darnytsky District Court in Kyiv on October 19, prohibiting circulation of the book ‘Vasyl Stus Case’ by Vakhtang Kipiani, probably demonstrated Medvedchuk’s considerable influence in Ukraine, but only increased interest in the latter’s treatment of Stus, with all copies of the book sold out within an hour and a further 3,500 print run announced. The lawyer representing Kipiani is also…

Michel Chossudovsky is a University of Ottawa professor emeritus whose website has a Facebook following of more than 275,000. But ahead of the U.S. election, his website has come under renewed scrutiny as a source of Russian-aligned disinformation. As U.S. authorities guard against dirty tricks from foreign adversaries in the run-up to the Nov. 3 presidential election, an unlikely source has come under new scrutiny as a major conduit of Russian-linked disinformation: a Montreal-based website run by a retired University of Ottawa professor. The platform, Global Research, features a Canadian domain name and offers an ever-expanding collection of conspiracy theories, such as the myth that the 9/11 attacks and COVID-19 pandemic were both planned in order to…

On Oct. 15, 2020, a federal grand jury in Pittsburgh returned an indictment charging six computer hackers, all of whom were residents and nationals of the Russian Federation (Russia) and officers in Unit 74455 of the Russian Main Intelligence Directorate (GRU), a military intelligence agency of the General Staff of the Armed Forces. These GRU hackers and their co-conspirators engaged in computer intrusions and attacks intended to support Russian government efforts to undermine, retaliate against, or otherwise destabilize: (1) Ukraine; (2) Georgia; (3) elections in France; (4) efforts to hold Russia accountable for its use of a weapons-grade nerve agent, Novichok, on foreign soil; and (5) the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympic Games after Russian athletes were banned from participating under their nation’s flag, as a consequence of Russian government-sponsored doping effort. Their computer attacks used some of…

До цього списку включені фахівці в області політичних технологій, які залучаються для реалізації різних завдань на кошти та з ініціативи Євгена Пригожина. Останні роки значна частина активності припадає на країни Африки, що знаходяться в зоні інтересів підприємця – зокрема, за наявними даними, пов’язані з ним компанії видобувають золото в ЦАР і ведуть його пошуки на території Судану. ЗМІ повідомляли, що Пригожин має інтереси як мінімум в 39 африканських країнах, при цьому принаймні в 20-и з них працюють пов’язані з ним політтехнологи. Серед отримавших найбільш широкого розголосу кампаній і заходів т.зв. «Африканського проекту» в першу чергу можна відзначити спробу впливати на…

Enemy Alien is an absorbing and revealing graphic novel looking at the daily life and brutal conditions inside one of Canada’s wartime internment camps where thousands of innocent migrants were placed during the First World War. Upon joining the war in 1914, the Canadian government quickly invoked the War Measures Act, and issued the Proclamation Respecting Immigrants of German or Austro-Hungarian Nationality. This legislation effectively suspended civil liberties and allowed law enforcement officials to begin arbitrarily arresting and detaining alleged “enemy aliens” — those persons of German or Austro-Hungarian descent who were suspected of aiding the enemy by way of espionage or…

The following material facts are not in dispute: The poet Vasyl Stus was arrested for the second time in 1980. His case was brought to trial in the same year. The Soviet Court appointed Soviet attorney Viktor Medvedchuk to defend him. Stus met with Medvedchuk and declined his representation. Nonetheless, the Court insisted upon Medvedchuk’s defense sometimes even in Stus’ absence. In his client’s defense Medvedchuk admitted all of the charges, but asked for clemency based on Stus’ productive work as a menial factory worker for the state in the period between his arrests. Stus died in prison in September 1985. In 2019 Ukrainian-Georgian journalist Vakhtang Kipiani specializing in history published a book entitled “The Case of Vasyl Stus Collection of Documents from the…

Такі матеріальні факти є не суперечливими: поета Василя Стуса заарештували вдруге в 1980 році. Його справа була доведена до судового розгляду в тому ж році. Радянський суд призначив радянського адвоката Віктора Медведчука захищати його. Стус зустрівся з Медведчуком і відмовився від його представництва. Тим не менш, Суд наполягав на захисті Медведчука іноді навіть за відсутності Стуса. На захист свого клієнта Медведчук визнав усі звинувачення, але попросив помилування на підставі продуктивної роботи Стуса як працівника фабрики для держави в період між його арештами. Стус помер у в’язниці у вересні 1985 року. У 2019 році українсько-грузинський журналіст Вахтанг Кіпіані, що…

Those who have been to war never truly leave it. Even in peace, the war is always there, like a chasing moon you can’t outrun. For some, the inescapability of war’s aftereffects leads to their destruction. For others, like Ukrainian veteran Oleksii Kachko, it leads to new heights they might not have otherwise achieved. “My dream was never to be a soldier, and I never imagined there’d be a war in my country,” Kachko, 25, says as we share a coffee in the back office of one of his six Veterano coffee shops in Mariupol, a port city about 10 miles from the entrenched front lines where Ukrainian troops have weathered Russian rockets, artillery, and sniper shots since 2014. “But war changed how I see life,” Kachko continues. “Before, I was just a normal guy. Now, I see that life is not black and white. I have so much experience now, and I understand that I have the power to change things and…

The Polish unit of the Dutch bank ING, ING Bank Slaski, for years allegedly helped Russian and Ukrainian oligarchs move huge sums of money out of ex-Soviet Union countries, according to the US Treasury’s fraud investigation department, FinCen. FinCen files were leaked to and published by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), BuzzFeed, and 110 journalists from 88 countries, including Gazeta Wyborcza in Poland. The context Russian money has since the break-up of the Soviet Union in 1991 sought safe investment havens in the West such as in Swiss banks, London properties, and French yachts. With a deeply politicized legal process at home, and the tax office often used as a…

Oleksandr Kosmach, a photographer from Kyiv with a love for history, collects historical stamps issued by Ukrainian diaspora organizations in the XX century. A photo article about these stamps, which served as political propaganda for an independent Ukrainian state while it was part of the USSR, was published by The Guardian/The Observer, but subsequently deleted without explanation. Mr. Kosmach supposes that references to the Ukrainian Insurgent Army and accusations of “Russophobia” were the reason for the censorship. Here we bring you information about the stamps, and Mr. Kosmach’s investigation into the fact of the…

A cross-party group of 29 Ukrainian MPs has issued the following joint letter raising the alarm over the international security implications of Russia’s unfinished Nord Stream 2 pipeline project: The Kremlin is on a roll. So far this year, it has used dubious means to entrench its rule, likely poisoned one of its main critics, and now works to suppress protests in Belarus—all while gaslighting the transatlantic intelligentsia regarding the aims of its fledgling economic weapon – the Nord Stream 2 natural gas pipeline. Russia’s state-owned Gazprom owns 100% of the project. The company has dumped billions of dollars to build these unnecessary pipelines, placing lavish orders with European suppliers. Will Gazprom ever get the…

As the presidential election draws nearer, who will be the next president of the United States is on almost everyone’s mind, not only in the United States, but throughout the world, and, in particular in Ukraine. President Trump’s lack of vocal affinity for Ukraine and Ukrainians while heaping praise on Ukraine’s enemy during his term of office is well known emphasized best perhaps by his comment that he likes Putin and Putin likes him. Even his surrogates have been less than congenial towards Ukraine among them his chief diplomat who if nothing else should at least have learned to be diplomatic. Secretary of State Pompeo’s statement that nobody cares about Ukraine was disgraceful. However, lest anyone…

Оскільки президентські вибори наближається, хто буде наступним президентом Сполучених Штатів, майже на думці кожного, не тільки в Сполучених Штатах, але і в усьому світі, і, зокрема, в Україні. Відсутність озвученої симпатії президента Трампа для України та українців та рівночасно похвали на ворога України під час його терміну повноважень добре відомі, а найкраще підкреслюється його коментарем про те, що йому подобається Путін і він Путіну. Навіть його сурогати не являються симпатичними по відношенню до України серед них його головний дипломат, який якщо ніщо інше повинен був хоча б навчитися бути дипломатичним. Заява держсекретаря Помпео про те, що…

The League of Ukrainian Canadians congratulates Eugene Czolij on his appointment as Honorary Consul of Ukraine in Montreal. Mr. Czolij signed the agreement to take on the role of Honorary Consul in an online ceremony. “It will be both an honour and duty for me to fulfill the obligations of Honorary Consul by promoting the interests of Ukraine in Canada and furthering the development of commercial, economic, cultural and scientific relations between the two countries,” stated Mr. Czolij. Eugene Czolij was an active member of the Ukrainian Youth Association of Canada (CYM) and the League of Ukrainian Canadians, and President of the Ukrainian Canadian Congress from 1998-2004. He also was President of the Ukrainian World Congress from 2008 to 2018. Since 2019, he has been President of NGO “Ukraine-2050”. Mr. Czolij’s leadership, patriotism, experience and…

Turkey and Ukraine signed military cooperation agreements in Istanbul on Friday, deepening a defense partnership seen as an effort to counterbalance Russia’s dominance in the Black Sea region. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Turkey’s Recep Tayyip Erdogan oversaw the signing of a “goodwill” agreement concerning the defense industry and a “military framework agreement,” officials said, although details of the agreements were not immediately known. “Turkey sees Ukraine as a key country for the establishment [of] stability, security, peace and prosperity in the region,” Erdogan said following the signing ceremony between the two Black Sea nations that have been enhancing military ties in recent years. Zelensky said the agreements pave the way for “new opportunities.” “Cooperation in the defense industry is important for the…

Ukraine’s latest national security strategy document is yet another step in the country’s decades-long struggle to uphold its sovereignty and territorial integrity. October has already been a busy month for Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. He attended an EU–Ukraine summit in Brussels (6 October), followed by a visit to the UK (7–9 October), including an interview with BBC HARDtalk, and hosted a visit to Ukraine of Polish President Andrzej Duda (12–13 October). Reforms, the rule of law, fighting corruption and national security dominated these meetings. The UK and Ukraine signed a historic ‘Political, Free Trade and Strategic Partnership Agreement’ based on the EU–Ukraine Association Agreement. The UK continues training Ukrainian forces and…

According to a statement by the Ukrainian government, Zelensky will sign a bilateral military cooperation agreement during his visit. This agreement aims to have a big impact on security and peace in the Black Sea region. Defense relations between the two countries have developed rapidly, with military-technical cooperation between Ukraine and Turkey’s defense industries carrying various mutual benefits. In early July, Ukraine’s National Defense Minister Andriy Taran voiced an interest in Turkish-made drones at a meeting with his Turkish counterpart Hulusi Akar in Kyiv. Ukraine already purchased the combat drones Bayraktar Tactical Block 2 (TB2) unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) from Turkey last year. The…

Disinformation works, and pro-Kremlin disinformation is often able to influence people’s opinions. This is the conclusion drawn from recent research on “online astroturfing”. The researchers investigated the psychology behind effective mitigation strategies and the effectiveness of three “vaccines” against online disinformation. The research by Thomas Zerback (University of Zurich) and Florian Töpfl (Free University of Berlin), shows that forged comments can change the political opinions of audiences online. Furthermore, it seems inoculation against manipulated messages only works when it debunks the exact fake argument. Sadly, the research also shows the effect only works for a short period and…

U.S. intelligence agencies warned the White House last year that President Trump’s personal lawyer Rudolph W. Giuliani was the target of an influence operation by Russian intelligence, according to four former officials familiar with the matter. The warnings were based on multiple sources, including intercepted communications, that showed Giuliani was interacting with people tied to Russian intelligence during a December 2019 trip to Ukraine, where he was gathering information that he thought would expose corrupt acts by former vice president Joe Biden and his son Hunter. The intelligence raised concerns that Giuliani was being used to feed Russian misinformation to the president, the former officials said…

Over the last several years, the future of the European energy supply has become an increasingly geopolitical topic. It has become more and more linked to the questions of security, competing gas transportation routes, and continuously tense Ukrainian-Russian relations. In late 2019, Kyiv concluded a new and beneficial transit agreement with Moscow for the transfer of Siberian gas to the EU, in part due to fresh US sanctions against Russia’s off-shore pipeline projects. This 5-year deal is currently securing the continued use of a part of Ukraine’s large gas transportation system, and as long as Gazprom’s Nord Stream II pipeline through the Baltic Sea does not go forward, the Ukrainian gas transportation system will have some prospect, use, and income. These well-known confrontations and…

The Ukrainian Canadian Research and Documentation Center (UCRDC), which is involved in research on victims of the Holodomor and on the events of World War II in Ukraine, recently launched a new oral history project: interviews with the children of Holodomor survivors – persons who did not themselves live through the famine but experienced it through their family history. Something similar has been done in the Jewish community, where it has been established that trauma can be transmitted from Holocaust survivor parents to their offspring. Under the guidance of archivist Iroida Wynnyckyj, the project is ongoing at the UCRDC. Ms. Wynnyckyj and sociologist Vsevolod Isajiw developed a questionnaire and…

James Bezan, Shadow Minister for National Defence and Member of Parliament for Selkirk-Interlake-Eastman today issued the following statement on Defender of Ukraine Day: “Today, I join Ukrainian Canadians and Ukrainians around the world as we celebrate the fifth annual Defender of Ukraine Day. “Ukrainians have fought hard for their independence and sovereignty. To honour the contributions of every Ukrainian who fought for Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, the Government of Ukraine established this new holiday five years ago, following Russia’s illegal occupation of the Donbas and annexation of Crimea. “I offer my thanks to all who have stood on the front lines, protested on the Maidan, and supported democracy and the rule of law. These are the…

The Council of Europe’s Venice Commission gave a pretty damning assessment of major elements in President Volodymyr Zelensky’s judicial reform bill last week, although many Ukrainians might be forgiven for thinking the opposite was true. Deliberate manipulation of the facts have prompted fears that plans are underway to push through the entire bill, claiming this to have received the green light from the European experts. In their report on the Venice Commission’s conclusions, Stepan Berko and Mykhailo Zhernakov from DEJURE, together with Halyna Chyzhek from the Anti-Corruption Action Centre, said that the first bill that Zelensky proposed almost a year ago on judicial reforms did raise some hopes, and…

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s state visit to the UK in early October was probably the most consequential foreign relations act of his presidency to date. It resulted in a range of important agreements on trade, security and other areas, taking UK-Ukraine cooperation to a new and much higher level. “This is a new page for Ukrainian–British cooperation and an unprecedented event for Ukraine,” noted the Ukrainian leader. The visit began with an audience at Buckingham Palace, where President Zelenskyy and First Lady Olena Zelenska were met by Prince William, Duke of Cambridge, and his wife Kate Middleton, the Duchess of Cambridge. President Zelenskyy next traveled to the…

Since taking office in spring 2019, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has made ending the Russo-Ukrainian War his top priority. However, almost one-and-a-half years later, he has little to show for his efforts. A ceasefire introduced in late July has succeeded in reducing the death toll in eastern Ukraine, but the Russian occupation continues and genuine breakthroughs towards a lasting settlement remain as elusive as ever. Zelenskyy’s commitment to peace was central to his success in Ukraine’s 2019 presidential and parliamentary elections. Despite this focus, his administration has yet to demonstrate a clear strategy for ending the six-year conflict. Instead, Zelenskyy has adopted a scattergun approach that…

Ukrainian political analyst, journalist and writer Vitaliy Portnikov wrote for espreso.tv, “Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced that some sort of national polling will be held during the local elections on October 25. This is one of the strangest ‘polling’ of the population that one has ever heard of. The head of state announced a poll, but he doesn’t say what questions Ukrainian citizens will be asked to answer. It seems we are talking about polling entirely for the sake of polling, that Zelenskyy and his circle are creating an illusion of democracy in conditions of domination by populists and corrupt officials. And the President’s team isn’t even capable of explaining to citizens what they’ll be ‘voting’ on. To them, this is entirely…

Дисциплінарна палата Міністерства юстиції України винесла дисциплінарну догану експертам КНДІСЕ Ірхіну і Семенцю. Підставою стала так звана експертиза, на якій будувалися практично всі докази слідства у справі Шеремета. Дисциплінарна палата постановила, що методики, використаних експертами, не регламентуються жодним документом Мінюсту. Більше того, було визнано, що методики, використані в «експертизі» є особистою думкою Ірхіна. Сам експерт відкрито відзначив, що методики, якою він користувався… ще немає, вона в процесі створення. Разом з тим, МВС продовжує дезінформовувати та дезорієнтовувати суспільство, написавши, що…

For the past few days, Ukraine has been experiencing massive wildfires on its eastern border, particularly in Luhansk Region. The fire has already claimed the lives of dozens of people and destroyed many homes. The fires have covered an area of more than 100 sq km. There is direct evidence that these fires were the result of deliberate arson committed by Russian aggressors or their mercenaries. This is a well-organized military operation. The fires were started in the gray zone and then reached the frontline positions and nearby rear areas of the Ukrainian forces. History knows many examples when fire was used as a weapon against the enemy. After all, fire is not only an element that destroys material objects, it is also important as an instrument of psychological pressure, as something that…

Western democracies have expressed concern and outrage, at least verbally, over the Novichok poisoning of Alexei Navalny—and this is clearly right and necessary. But much less attention is being paid to the case of Yuri Dmitriev, a tenacious researcher and activist who campaigned to create a memorial to the victims of Stalinist terror in Karelia, a province in Russia’s far northwest, bordering Finland. He has just been condemned on appeal by the Supreme Court of Karelia to thirteen years in a prison camp with a harsh regime. The hearing was held in camera, with neither him nor his lawyer present. For this man of sixty-four, this is practically equivalent to a death sentence, the judicially sanctioned equivalent of a drop of nerve agent. After an…

Andriy Yermak says unrest in Belarus means his country needs to strengthen defences. The UK is willing to provide a large lethal weapons contract to Ukraine and a £1bn loan to help Ukraine’s navy build new ships capable of use in the Black Sea, according to a senior aide to the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelensky. Andriy Yermak, the head of office to Zelenksy also warned that the suppression of post-election unrest in neighbouring Belarus posed a potential direct threat to Ukraine, and said his country was seeking assurances from the European Union and the UK about helping to safeguard its security. An EU or Nato centre to combat Russian disinformation and counter propaganda based in Ukraine was…

Наспіває час, коли звичайна людина яка працює майже ціле своє життя в українській громаді у діаспорі приходить до сумного висновку, що дуже багато осіб котрі уважають себе громадськими діячами це фактично малі особи котрі керуються вузькими інтересами, а то і здебільша власними егоїстичними. Це явище фактично більш помітне сьогодні, тому що майже все наше “найкраще покоління” відійшло і залишилися здебільша маргінесові його представники та діти і онуки того покоління які в більшості позбавлені ідеології, а до принципів ставляться дуже гнучко. Мої батьки були зареєстровані американські виборці як Республіканці. Це були Республіканці Айзенгавера, Голдвотера і Рейгена. Їхня ідеологія яка керувала їхнім…

A series of crises in Russia’s neighbors is upending the Kremlin’s plans for deeper economic and defense ties with the former Soviet republics, leaving a vacuum for regional competitors such as China and Turkey to exploit. Russian President Vladimir Putin has long tried to strengthen economic and defense relations across Eastern Europe and Central Asia, from Belarus in the west to Kyrgyzstan in the east. Russia still has military bases in Central Asia and the South Caucasus, and there are strong commercial and cultural ties with those regions. But the chaos encircling Russia—including an upsurge in fighting between Armenia and Azerbaijan—together with subtle diplomatic and economic shifts is eroding…

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy hoped to use his October 6 summit with European Union leaders in Brussels to demonstrate his continued commitment to the reform agenda underpinning Ukraine’s Euro-Atlantic integration. However, events in Kyiv on the eve of the summit will only have served to amplify concerns over the country’s direction under Zelenskyy, as was evident in an anodyne joint summit statement highlighting “the importance of accelerating and reinforcing reform efforts.” On the day before this year’s EU-Ukraine Summit, the Council of the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) issued a reprimand and expression of no confidence in First Deputy Governor Kateryna Rozhkova and Deputy Governor Dmytro Sologub, who…

In early September 2020, the United States imposed sanctions against Ukrainian MP Andriy Derkach, who was identified as “a Russian agent for more than a decade, who coordinates his activities closely with Russian intelligence agencies.” Unfortunately, Derkach is far from the only Russian agent currently serving as a member of the Ukrainian parliament. There are dozens of MPs in today’s Ukrainian parliament who are actively spreading anti-Western propaganda and promoting Russian interests. They attack the independent state institutions that serve as pillars of Ukraine’s cooperation with the European Union and International Monetary Fund, while also working to discredit civil society activists and…

В продовження публічної дискусії навколо проектів Меморіалу і Музею Голокосту на території Бабиного Яру в Києві, звертаємо увагу на Звернення української культурної та наукової спільноти щодо меморіалізації Бабиного Яру (травень 2020): https://cutt.ly/Df0hDT0 та Звернення українських євреїв до громадянського суспільства України (вересень 2020): https://cutt.ly/nf0h9Wh Йдеться про протистояння двох проектів вшанування пам’яті жертв Бабиного Яру: російського та українського. Відповідно російський проект в основному фінансується підконтрольними путінському режимові російськими мільярдерами, які також фінансують проекти, що сприяють зміцненню воєнного…

The Central Asian nation of Kyrgyzstan plunged into political chaos on Tuesday after opposition groups seized control of Parliament and released their imprisoned leaders in protests over parliamentary elections they called rigged. Under mounting pressure from the protesters, the country’s Central Electoral Commission annulled the results of the Sunday vote, a day after having awarded the majority of seats to two political parties with ties to the president, Sooronbai Jeenbekov. Overnight, a small group of protesters broke away from the main body and tried to gain entry to the White House, the main government building that houses the Parliament and the presidential administration in Bishkek, the capital. After the…

The Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group (KHPG) reported, “A petition calling on President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to help dissolve the notorious District Administrative Court in Kyiv (OACK) has already gained well over 10 thousand signatures, with the numbers in recent days rising rapidly. The President is the only person able to table a draft bill to dissolve a court which has lost any credibility following judicial corruption scandals and an endless stream of highly dubious rulings. The petition was initiated by journalist Danylo Mokryk on 30 July this year, following the publication by the National Anti-Corruption Bureau [NABU] of yet more compromising conversations held in the office of the head of the…

Charles Michel, President of the European Council, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, President of Ukraine, and Josep Borrell, Vice-President of the European Commission on behalf of Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission, met in Brussels today for the 22nd EU-Ukraine Summit and issued the following statement. We gathered today to reaffirm our continued commitment to strengthening the political association and economic integration of Ukraine with the European Union, on the basis of the Association Agreement and its Deep and…

Комітет «Саду Праведників – Ґаріво» м. Мілан визнав митрополита Андрея Шептицького Праведником, вписавши його ім’я серед «Праведників Монте Стелла». Церемонія вручення відзнаки відбулась 7 жовтня у Саді Праведників Мілану. «Під час Другої світової війни український митрополит Андрей Шептицький прийняв в митрополичі палати та греко-католицькі монастирі сотні переслідуваних євреїв, рятуючи їх від смерті. Ризикуючи власним життям, він писав до Гітлера та Гімлера, завзято протестуючи проти винищення євреїв та забороняючи українцям брати участь в нацистських акціях», — йдеться в пергаменті відзнаки. Для отримання відзнаки Блаженніший Святослав, Отець і Глава УГКЦ, делегував владику…

The European Union on October 1 announced asset freezes on four companies and two individuals responsible for the construction of the Kerch Strait railway bridge. It also imposed visa bans on the two individuals, Alekandr Ganov and Leonid Ryzhenkin. Ganov is the director of the JSC TC Grand Service Express, which operates the railway service between Russia and Crimea, and Ryzhenkin is the deputy director for infrastructure projects at Stroigazmontazh, the firm that supervised the construction of the bridge. The following entities will have their EU assets frozen: Crimea Railway, the owner and operator of the railway tracks on the bridge; the First Crimean Insurance Company, which insured the…

Imperial ambition could again cost Russia. On Sept. 14 in Sochi, Russian President Vladimir Putin signaled that Russia was throwing its weight behind embattled Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko. But any move by Putin to enforce his will in Belarus with force could invite tougher Western sanctions and scare investors, exacerbating problems of the already flagging Russian economy. Since a fraudulent presidential vote on Aug. 9 which allegedly gave Lukashenko an 80% vote for a sixth term, hundreds of thousands of people have peacefully protested calling for an end to his 26-year dictatorship. Lukashenko appealed to President Vladimir Putin, who said he had created a police reserve in case…

The Kyiv Post reported on October 2, “After a wave of protests under the European Union and Ukrainian flags erupted on Kyiv’s Independence Square in November 2013, disinformation ran rampant about the motives and values of people who participated in the demonstrations. But in late December 2013, one piece of fake news particularly stood out. A video filmed on a mobile phone on Kyiv’s central Khreshchatyk Street, right next to the protesters’ camp, showed several women who presented themselves as sex workers and said they came to Independence Square to service clients among protesters. […] The story became memorable and was followed by a news article about thriving prostitution on…

The Battle of Ilovaisk lasted from August 7th to September 2nd, 2014, and six years later it remains the deadliest battle in Russia’s war against Ukraine in the Donbas. Ukrainian forces consisted of various volunteer regiments from different regions of Ukraine. Their mission was to capture and restore government control over the separatist-occupied city of Ilovaisk. Enemy forces were made up of various battalions from the Donbas People’s Militia supported by Russian ground forces and airborne troops, a fact which the Russian government continues to deny. The approximate number of Ukrainian troops deployed during the Battle of Ilovaisk was less than two thousand with hundreds of soldiers killed during…

Dear Mr Arakhamia, We heard you only reply to letters, so we wrote you one. We also heard that you consider the danger of losing the Visa-Free regime and financial assistance to be only “rumors”. Allow us to explain why that is not the case: The people of Ukraine have many true friends in the European Union and this is important to remember. We, the handful members of the European Parliament, consider ourselves to be a few of that many. Since 2014 alone, the EU invested over €15 billion in Ukraine. We share this rather unknown fun-fact with you, not to solicit your gratitude but to reaffirm that the fate of your country is very dear to us and we deeply care about its future. We also share it to remind you that…

Over the last decade Russia has managed to liquidate essentially any organized Ukrainian ethnic community in the Russian Federation, invade Ukraine, annex a portion of its territory by force and illegitimate referendum and forge a largely frozen conflict with only Russia disturbing the peace occasionally in two of Ukraine’s easternmost regions. The methodology employed in all instances has been quite simple. Lies, extortion, political pressure and overt fire accompanied by the willingness of some observers to believe have enabled Russia to proceed as planned despite pervasive global condemnation which Russia ignores. Russian lies are predicated on a disingenuous debate and the inability of Russia’s opponents to…

За останнє десятиліття Росії вдалося ліквідувати по суті будь-яку організовану українську етнічну спільноту в Російській Федерації, вторгнутися в Україну, силою анексувати частину її території нелегітимним референдумом і створити значною мірою заморожений конфлікт з тим лише, що час від часу Москва турбує мир у двох найсхідніших регіонах України. Методологія, що використовується в усіх інстанціях, була досить простою. Брехня, здирництво, політичний тиск і надмірний вогонь, що супроводжується з готовністю деяких спостерігачів вважати закономірним, дозволили Росії діяти так, як планувалося, незважаючи на всепоглинаючому глобальному засудженні, яке і так ігнорує…

Єдина Київська Церква в єдиному патріархаті, без взаємного поборювання, але з діленням тими дарами, які ми назбирали по дорозі до цієї єдності, є мрією Блаженнішого Любомира і його заповітом для усіх нас. Про це сказав Блаженніший Святослав, Отець і Глава УГКЦ, в рамках проєкту «Прилучитися до великого», розповідаючи про роль Любомира Гузара в розбудові УГКЦ та зміцненні Церкви в Україні. «Блаженніший Любомир назавжди увійшов в історію, як Глава Церкви, переслідуваної, гнаної, який повернувся зі своїм осідком до її витоків. Він повернув осідок Глави Української Греко-Католицької Церкви до Києва», – ствердив Блаженніший Святослав. Цей поворот…

After many months of delays, President Zelenskyy finally approved Ukraine’s new National Security Strategy in mid-September. This is the fourth Ukrainian security strategy document to be produced during the country’s nearly thirty years of independence, and follows the publication of similar documents in 2007, 2012, and 2015. Ukraine’s new security blueprint has little of the ambiguity or euphemistic language often associated with President Zelenskyy. Instead, Russia is repeatedly identified as an aggressor and NATO membership is frequently mentioned as Ukraine’s key national security objective. Nevertheless, it remains to be seen whether the subsequent actions of the Zelenskyy administration will…

Україна у вересні відзначила 75-і роковини початку примусової депортації жителів Лемківщини, Надсяння, Холмщини, Південного Підляшшя, Любачівщини, Західної Бойківщини в 1944–1951 роках. Комуністичні режими СРСР та Польщі шляхом масштабниx репресій, терору та конфіскації майна виселили майже 500 тисяч жителів у різні регіони тодішньої УРСР. На Донбасі поблизу Бахмута в селах Званівка, Верхньокам’янське та Роздолівка оселилося 340 родин із Західної Галичини. За понад пів сторіччя вони зберегли культуру, віру та традиції. А нещодавно створили об’єднану територіальну громаду. Команда спільного проєкту Радіо Свобода та «Настоящего времени» в Україні зняла документальний фільм…

Наспіває час, коли звичайна людина яка працює майже ціле своє життя в українській громаді у діаспорі приходить до сумного висновку, що дуже багато осіб котрі уважають себе громадськими діячами це фактично малі особи котрі керуються вузькими інтересами, а то і здебільша власними егоїстичними. Це явище фактично більш помітне сьогодні, тому що майже все наше “найкраще покоління” відійшло і залишилися здебільша маргінесові його представники та діти і онуки того покоління які в більшості позбавлені ідеології, а до принципів ставляться дуже гнучко. Мої батьки були зареєстровані американські виборці як Республіканці. Це були Республіканці Айзенгавера, Голдвотера і Рейгена. Їхня ідеологія яка…

Russia is seeking to destabilise countries around the world by sowing disinformation about coronavirus vaccines that is shared rapidly across social media, the head of the armed forces has warned. Gen Sir Nick Carter, the chief of defence staff, said the propaganda tactic reflected a strategy of “political warfare” aggressively undertaken by Beijing as well as Moscow “designed to undermine cohesion” across the west. The senior general accused “autocratic rivals” of “manipulating the information environment” to exploit the Covid-19 crisis for strategic gain – including “pro-Russian vaccine politics” – in a…

An elderly lady friend of mine, who was a medical doctor in Ukraine and immigrated to America some fifteen years, brought my attention to a particular moment during the recent presidential circus debate where Donald Trump’s behavior was anything but presidential. There was a point which particularly impacted my friend since she lives emotionally in the land she left, when Joe Biden accused Donald Trump of being Putin’s puppy. Trump did not deny the accusation. Instead he interrupted and tried to go after Biden’s son at which point the moderator stepped in. The lack of a denial was not an oversight nor…

Моя старша за віком і досвідом знайома, яка була лікарем в Україні і приїхала в Америку десь п’ятнадцяти років тому, звернула мою увагу на особливий момент під час нещодавніх президентських циркових дебатів США, де поведінка Дональда Трампа була чимось інакшим чим пасувало б президенту. В один момент, який особливо вплинув на мого знайому, оскільки вона живе емоційно далі на землі, яку вона залишила, Джо Байден звинуватив Дональда Трампа, що він немов цуценя Путіна. Трамп не заперечував. Замість цього він перервав і намагався вдарити по синові Байдена, в який момент модератор вступив і перервав. Відсутність відмови…

One of the rare successes chalked up by the regime of Europe’s last dictator has been the establishment of a kind of East European Silicon Valley, which spawned a booming industry of Belarusian programmers and tech start-ups. The autocratic president of Belarus, Alexander Lukashenko, now fears he has created a monster. An army of 30,000 tech-savvy professionals is turning against its creator. Coders and software engineers, many of whom are linked to the state-sponsored Hi-Tech Park in Minsk, have formed a hacking collective called Cyber Partisans which is wreaking havoc as Lukashenko tries to…

A Russian court has sentenced a historian who helped uncover Stalin-era mass graves to 13 years in prison, abruptly increasing his sentence by 10 years, in a highly unusual step that rights groups said was revenge for his work and part of a broader campaign to whitewash the dark chapters of Russia’s Soviet history. The case of Yury Dmitriyev attracted international criticism when he was sentenced to three and a half years in prison earlier this year on charges condemned by human rights organizations as fabricated. He had, however, been due to be released within weeks because of time served in…