Ukrainians are divided in how they view their country’s history. This is confirmed by surveys, but has just been ignored by Ukraine’s parliament which decided it knows how the country’s history should be viewed. If President Petro Poroshenko does not veto laws just passed, it will become illegal to express other views on certain aspects of Ukraine’s recent history.
Criticism of the law ‘On the Legal Status and Honouring of Fighters for Ukraine’s Independence in the Twentieth Century’, which the Verkhovna Rada adopted on April 9, has been met with demands that critics prove their credentials. If they are not historians, the line goes, they should not venture an opinion. Only historians with ‘substantive historical works’ published can comment on a law that gives full legal status to members of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army [UPA] or Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists [OUN] and prohibits disrespect or denial of their role in fighting for Ukraine’s independence. There are many reasons for questioning the validity of this argument, but for the moment we will confine ourselves to one. The majority of parliamentarians are not historians, nor do they need to be. They are elected to represent the people and here there is a major problem.
Judging by the results of a recent survey, the historical views set in legislative stone through the above law and at least one other on ‘decommunization’ do not correspond to those held by the voters. What is worse, there is a clear geographic divide with some Ukrainians’ position really not taken into consideration at all.
Here is today's map of the military situation in eastern Ukraine, according to the National Security and Defense Council:
Six Ukrainian soldiers killed in latest attacks:
Six soldiers have been killed and 12 injured as fighting has flared in eastern Ukraine in the past 24 hours, despite a cease-fire.
Ukrainian military spokesman Andriy Lysenko said on April 14 that the casualties were the result of "serious provocations" by Russian-supported separatists.
Lysenko said the situation in eastern Ukraine was "unstable" with attacks "by the enemy continuing in almost all directions."
He added that the most intense shelling occurred in the villages of Shyrokyne and Pavlopil, near the southern seaport of Mariupol, and in areas near the rebel-held regional capitals of Donetsk and Luhansk.
The six deaths are the highest toll in eastern Ukraine in 10 days.
The announcement came hours after the Ukrainian, German, French, and Russian foreign ministers met in Berlin and expressed "grave concern" over cease-fire violations.
Fighting in the conflict that has killed more than 6,000 people in a year has eased considerably since a cease-fire deal was signed in Minsk in February. (AFP, Reuters)
Russian court begins hearings against Crimean leader's son:
A court in the Russian city of Krasnodar has started hearings into the case against a son of veteran Crimean Tatar leader Mustafa Dzhemilev.
Khaiser Dzhemilev was arrested in May 2013 by Ukrainian authorities after allegedly shooting a friend dead. Khaiser has claimed he shot his friend accidentally.
After Crimea's annexation by Russia in March last year, the Moscow-backed authorities took over Khaiser's case and transferred him to Russia's Krasnodar region.
They said Khaiser Dzhemilev was being held on three charges under the Russian Criminal Code, including murder and the illegal possession of weapons.
The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) has ruled that Russia must release Khaiser from detention, but Moscow ignored the ruling.
Khaiser Dzhemilev's lawyer, Nikolai Polozov, told RFE/RL on April 14 that Russia violated his client’s rights and international regulations by ignoring the ECHR ruling.
Longtime Crimean Tatar leader Mustafa Dzhemilev, who strongly protested the annexation and is currently living in Ukraine, was barred in May from entering the peninsula.
Mustafa Dzhemilev says the Kremlin is holding Khaiser hostage because of his father's rejection of the annexation.