12:12
30.3.2014
Following on the heels of a Reuters report that Russia threatened countries such as Moldova, Tajikistan, and Krygyzstan if they voted for UN General Assembly resolution on Ukraine comes this RT report that quotes Lavrov as saying that Western nations also "hinted at possible consequences" if they did not vote in favor. Lavrov:
“We know that there have not only been requests to vote in favor of the resolution, which is clearly of a provocative nature. There might have been no threats, but there have been hints at possible consequences. Like the country which will not obey, will lose a certain loan or will have a certain official visit canceled.”
12:20
30.3.2014
Word on the street is that Ukraine's presidential vote on May 25 may come down to a runoff between Ukrainian parliament member and chocolatier Petro Poroshenko and former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko. (We'll have a profile of Poroshenko coming up a bit later today.) Here's Poroshenko speaking after officially submitting his candidacy on Saturday:
"I declared this at the congress and I am declaring it now: Yulia Tymoshenko is not my political opponent or rival. If she makes a decision to continue this process [of running for president] then it will be a competition only during the election. I hope that it will be a competition of ideas, a competition of principles, a competition of ways and directions for the development of our state."
"I declared this at the congress and I am declaring it now: Yulia Tymoshenko is not my political opponent or rival. If she makes a decision to continue this process [of running for president] then it will be a competition only during the election. I hope that it will be a competition of ideas, a competition of principles, a competition of ways and directions for the development of our state."
12:29
30.3.2014
12:34
30.3.2014
Four former U.S. ambassadors to Ukraine -- Roman Popadiuk (1992-93), Steven Pifer (1998-2000), Carlos Pascual (2000-03), and William Taylor (2006-09) -- express their support and hope for Ukraine in a new video uploaded on YouTube. Thanks to the "Kyiv Post" for highlighting this:
12:41
30.3.2014
You have to admit, this is a peculiar photo of presidential candidate Yulia Tymoshenko, who recently returned from Germany for treatment of back pain:
12:46
30.3.2014
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov dismisses targeted asset freezes and travel bans by the U.S. and EU. He was speaking on Russia's Channel One:
"I am not saying that the sanctions are laughable, or that we don't care. They are unpleasant. But one can see at first glance that these sanctions target individual people and aim to sting. This is not particularly enjoyable, but we are not experiencing too much pain, either. We have had more dramatic times before."
12:55
30.3.2014
"The Daily Beast" publishes exclusive photographs that they contend "reveal the truth" about who carried out the shootings of antigovernment protesters in central Kyiv on February 20. "The Daily Beast" says the photos show members of a crack antiterrorist unit known as the Alfa Team in the courtyard of the headquarters of Ukraine’s feared state security service, the SBU, preparing themselves for battle.
The unique photographs and 90 gigabytes of video material shared with The Daily Beast provide strong evidence that the massacre in the Maidan was in fact a vicious and clinical assault ordered by the pro-Russian Yanukovych regime and executed by its arch loyalists.
14:14
30.3.2014
The Ukrainian government has tasked Prime Minister Artseniy Yatsenyuk with creating a council on interethnic harmony and a commissioner for nationalities, according to our Ukrainian Service. Russia's intervention and occupation of Crimea were accompanied by claims from Moscow that ethnic Russians there were the victims of unchecked harassment and violence.
14:26
30.3.2014
Reuters looks at Chechens who were part of the Russian deployment of troops to Crimea ahead of the referendum and their "weary welcome" for Crimeans now that the Ukrainian peninsula has been annexed by Russia. The money quote is from Kheda Saratova, who sits on Chechnya's state human rights council:
"Russia is used to forcing everyone around it into submission and the worst thing is that they force us all to act as though we are happy citizens of Russia," Saratova said.
"Russians are used to doing whatever they want to small nations like ours, but it's not just the Chechens. Crimeans will see the same thing."
"Russians are used to doing whatever they want to small nations like ours, but it's not just the Chechens. Crimeans will see the same thing."
14:36
30.3.2014