U.S. envoy: No progress ending war as Putin waits for Kyiv elections:
By RFE/RL
The U.S. special envoy for Ukraine, Kurt Volker, says he does not expect progress anytime soon toward ending the conflict in eastern Ukraine because Russia appears to be waiting for possible changes coming out of the Ukrainian elections.
"I think that Russia has essentially decided to wait out the Ukrainian election, see what happens. Maybe it will be a new opportunity that arises to get a more favorable position for Russia. So I think they intend to play it out," Volker told the Atlantic Council in Washington on October 18.
Volker's remarks came after Russian President Vladimir Putin told the Valdai Club in Sochi that he hoped a government more friendly to Russia emerges from the Ukrainian presidential election, which is due to take place on March 31.
"We need to wait until the internal political cycles are finished, and I really expect that we will be able to build at least some kind of relations and reach some kind of agreement with a new leadership of the country. We're ready for that, we want that," Putin told the gathering of foreign dignitaries that meets regularly for discussions in Sochi.
Putin claimed that the current leadership in Kyiv is also waiting for the elections before making any further progress in peace talks aimed at carrying out a road map for peace agreed to in the Belarusian capital in 2015.
"It's obvious to everyone that not only are the incumbent Ukrainian authorities failing to implement the Minsk agreements, but they are also not going to do that today, including because of domestic policy considerations -- I mean the upcoming presidential and then parliamentary elections," he said.
Putin charged that the current government in Kyiv led by President Petro Poroshenko has made its mark by "selling Russophobia and anti-Russian sentiments" to the West.
Volker said Russia appeared more determined than ever to continue backing separatists fighting the government in eastern Ukraine despite extensive efforts by the United States and Western Europe to pressure Russia over its aggression in Ukraine.
"We did not impact the decision-making from President Putin and others in Russia about whether to continue the war. They are determined to continue to do so. And my estimation is that the chances of their changing position now are lower then they were even a year ago," he said.
The best strategy for the West, Volker said, is to maintain pressure on Moscow through the economic sanctions, which were first imposed on Russia in 2014 over its annexation of Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula.
"I think we need to keep on track. I believe that sanctions do have an impact and we see evidence of that in Russia. I believe that having a strong position and some resilience and stamina over time is what’s necessary to convince Russia that it’s not going to get better for them and potentially can get worse," he said.
"This is a shockingly big and important humanitarian catastrophe that no one talks about. We have over 10,000 people killed" so far during the Ukraine conflict, Volker said. (w/Interfax)
Kerch bids farewell to shooting-spree victims:
By the Crimean Desk of RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service
KERCH, Ukraine -- Authorities in the city of Kerch in Russia-annexed Crimea have beefed up security in the central square, where local residents bid farewell to the victims of a shooting rampage at a technical school that claimed 21 lives.
Members of the security services checked bags and belongings of people gathering at the site, where several central streets were blocked to make it possible for city residents to honor the victims on October 19.
Relatives, friends, and colleagues of the victims, along with regional and city authorities as well as thousands of local residents came to the square with flowers. Emergency Situations Ministry officers brought 17 coffins to the site.
The Russia-imposed head of Crimea, Sergei Aksyonov, said at the ceremony that "Crimea's modern history will now be divided into two parts, the life before October 17 and the life after October 17," and called on the relatives and friends of the victims to move on.
He then put flowers on every coffin and talked to the relatives of the victims personally.
An Orthodox priest then officiated the burial mass, reading each victim's name aloud.
Local authorities said earlier that while the majority of the victims will be buried in Kerch, some will be buried in their native regions, namely four victims will be buried in Russia's Krasnodar region and one in the Chelyabinsk region.
One victim, a Muslim, was buried on October 18 in Kerch, in accordance with Islamic traditions.
Russian authorities said earlier that an 18-year-old student of the college, Vladislav Roslyakov, gunned down 20 people at the vocational school before killing himself on October 17.
The Investigative Committee said that the shooting spree started right after a handmade explosive device detonated inside the college, wounding dozens of people, mainly students.
Crimean authorities said that investigators are looking for possible accomplices.
The local Health Ministry said on October 19 that 43 wounded people remain hospitalized, of whom 23 are being treated in various Russian regions. (w/TASS)