Protesters Clash With Police, Seek Entry Into Ukraine Parliament
By RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service
KYIV -- Crowds of protesters including coal miners, Chernobyl cleanup workers, and Soviet Afghan war veterans have clashed with police outside the Ukrainian parliament.
Some of the more than 2,000 protesters broke though a police cordon and were trying to enter the parliament building during the demonstration on June 19.
Police used what appeared to be tear gas, but the protest continued.
The protesters included veterans of the Soviet Union's 1979-89 war in Afghanistan, "liquidators" who were sent to the Chernobyl nuclear power plant after the 1986 disaster there, coal miners, and Ukrainians who have fought in the ongoing war with Russia-backed separatists in the country's east.
Their demands included improved benefits for public transportation use, increases in state support for disabled veterans, and the allocation of billions of hryvnyas for the development of the country’s struggling coal industry.
Kyiv police said earlier that the protests caused complications for transport on two major streets in the city center.
Here is today's map of the security situation in eastern Ukraine, according to the National Security and Defense Council (CLICK TO ENLARGE):
Five Crimean Tatar Activists Get Suspended Prison Terms Over 2014 Protest
By Crimea Desk of RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service
SIMFEROPOL, Ukraine -- A Russian court in Crimea has convicted five Crimean Tatar activists of taking part in "mass disturbances" in February 2014 and handed them suspended prison sentences ranging from 3 1/2 to 4 1/2 years.
The court in Simferopol, the capital of the Russian-controlled Ukrainian region, pronounced the verdicts and sentences on June 19.
The five men -- Ali Asanov, Mustafa Degermendzhy, Eskendir Kantemirov, Eskendir Emirvaliev, and Arsen Yunusov -- were among a group who staged a protest outside the regional legislature in February 2014.
The demonstration occurred as Russia moved to seize control of the Black Sea peninsula following street protests in Kyiv that pushed Moscow-friendly Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych from power.
The five were arrested and charged by Russian authorities in 2015.
Akhtem Chiygoz, a prominent leader of the Crimean Tatars’ local assembly, was also charged for his participation in the protest.
He was sentenced to eight years in prison in September 2017, but weeks later he was taken to Turkey and freed. He later moved to Kyiv.
Moscow’s takeover of Crimea in March 2014 was vocally opposed by many members of the Crimea Tatar population, who make up a sizable minority of the peninsula.