07:53
14.5.2014
Good morning. We'll start our live blog today by pointing you in the direction of an interesting op-ed piece in "The Moscow Times" by political analyst Georgy Bovt, who has been discussing the prospect of a new Iron Curtain betwen Russia and the West. He makes the case that this division already exists in most Russians' heads:
Read the entire article here.
About 80 percent of Russians have never left the Commonwealth of Independent States and have no plans to do so. Of those who have visited the West, many were disappointed to learn that it was not the "heaven on Earth" they had expected. Life there can be difficult and stressful, and the laws are unfamiliar. Many Russians find themselves asking, "Why fill your head with strange rules and regulations and struggle to learn a foreign language?" Only about 5 percent of Russians speak a foreign language at conversational level. The authorities have already prohibited the siloviki from traveling abroad on the far-fetched pretext that 150 different countries might arrest them and extradite them to the U.S. If you add the families members of those siloviki, this means that about 5 million Russians are essentially banned from traveling abroad.
The West will have little luck frightening Russians with the prospect of a new Iron Curtain because Russians themselves already built one long ago — in their minds.
The West will have little luck frightening Russians with the prospect of a new Iron Curtain because Russians themselves already built one long ago — in their minds.
Read the entire article here.
21:33
13.5.2014
That concludes our live-blogging for May 13, barring major developments. Follow our continuing coverage of events in Ukraine and elsewhere in our region here.
21:25
13.5.2014
20:00
13.5.2014
Sober assessment from Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, who said in Warsaw that "[i]n the next few days or weeks, the fate of the Ukrainian state will be decided," according to AFP. He urged the EU to "concentrate on the kind of help that will allow Ukraine to hold elections on May 25," adding: "Today, I would mobilise the entire European Union and NATO around the real risk or threat that the Ukrainian state could fall, or at least be subject to a very painful split."
19:52
13.5.2014
RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service quotes Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk as pledging in Brussels that his government will pay its Russian gas bills within 10 days if Gazprom abandons its recently announced price hike and signs a deal extending the former price per 1,000 cubic meters of $268. But -- in a detail that doesn't appear in Voice of Russia's story -- it also quotes Yatsenyuk repeating his threat to seek arbitration in Stockholm if Gazprom refuses.
18:58
13.5.2014
18:46
13.5.2014
"Ukrayinska Pravda" reports that the death toll from the reported ambush by pro-Russians of Ukrainian paratroopers near Kramatorsk has risen from six to seven.
18:21
13.5.2014
RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service today interviewed U.S. Undersecretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs Richard Stengel, who was in Ukraine to promote a diplomatic solution to the crisis. Stengel talks about how the United States plans to support Ukraine's early presidential election (called for May 25) and current U.S. diplomatic relations with Russia.
At one point, asked whether the United States is capable of countering Russian propaganda, Stengel said:
Here's the video:
At one point, asked whether the United States is capable of countering Russian propaganda, Stengel said:
"One of the things that we condemn is the Russian restriction not only on free speech but access to free media. The clamping down [on] free and independent voices in Russia is something that we are harshly critical of. In this job, I have seen the power and effectiveness of Russian propaganda -- of their ability to get out their point of view. They are in many, many cases unbound by the truth, unbound by fidelity to reality. That's always harder for us to combat, because we believe that we have to hew strongly to the truth, that we have to remain faithful to the truth and to the reality. In the end, I do think that fidelity to the truth will triumph, but it is difficult in the meantime."
Here's the video:
18:01
13.5.2014