Draconian laws set scene for mass arrests in Russia & Occupied Crimea
Two draft laws tabled in the Russian parliament have been described as setting the ground for Russia’s FSB to imprison people en masse on ‘extremism’ charges, with these increasingly used in Russia to silence criticism of the regime, and especially its annexation of Crimea …read more Source: Kharkiv Human Rights Protection...
Groysman Approved as Ukraine’s New Prime Minister
Poroshenko’s ally was chosen to replace his unpopular predecessor in hopes of overcoming the long-lasting government crisis. …read more Source: Transitions Online...
HCSS: The Dutch referendum in the Ukrainian newspaper ‘Den’.
Stephan de Spiegeleire shared his views on how Ukraine was covered in the Dutch referendum and what the outcome means for the relationship between Ukraine and Europe in today’s edition of the Ukrainian… …read more Source: The Hague Centre for Strategic...
NATO Needs Deterrence and Dialogue
Deterrence is back in Europe. As NATO approaches its July summit in Warsaw, Allies are adapting this concept to the new security settings in place in Europe since the 2014 crisis in Ukraine. Yet, deterrence is intrinsically connected to dialogue: these are the two pillars of NATO’s strategy, as defined in the 1967 Harmel Report....
Although the hryvnia is strengthening, Ukraine currently cannot give up cooperation with the IMF
In his comment to the website Novoe Vremia, Director of Economic Programmes of the Razumkov Centre Vasyl Yurchyshyn explained why, despite continued lack of new tranches from the IMF, the Ukrainian hryvnia is showing a trend towards strengthening. Over the last months, the Ukrainian currency has demonstrated growth, dropping below 26 UAH per USD....
Mounting Concern for Nadiya Savchenko’s Life and Health
Nadiya Savchenko has now been on dry hunger strike for 9 days and her lawyer reports that she has said she will refuse the intravenous injections she has been receiving from Friday. …read more Source: Kharkiv Human Rights Protection...
New Ukrainian leaders, same dodgy use of selective prosecutions
The good news that ex-Deputy Prosecutor General Vitaly Kasko has not been remanded in custody cannot remove the deep concern that an attempt was made to jail an outspoken critic of corruption and stalled reforms. …read more Source: Kharkiv Human Rights Protection...
Stark warning of bloody provocation planned against Crimean Tatars
The warning from a well-known Russian analyst that Russia could be planning to use methods seen in the Caucasus to stage a provocation and then a bloody crackdown against Crimean Tatars is difficult to dismiss, and not only because of the virulent propaganda campaign in the Russian and other pro-Kremlin media. …read more Source: Kharkiv...
OSCE donates equipment for the removal of the unexploded ordnance to State Emergency Service of Ukraine
KYIV, Ukraine, 14 April 2016 – On behalf of the OSCE Secretariat and in close cooperation with the Project Coordinator in Ukraine (PCU), Deputy to the OSCE Project Co-ordinator in Ukraine Jeffrey Erlich donated today to the State Emergency Service of Ukraine (SESU) the first lot of equipment for the removal of unexploded ordnances (UXO) in...
Latest from OSCE Special Monitoring Mission (SMM) to Ukraine, based on information received as of 19:30hrs, 13 April 2016
This report is for media and the geenral public. The SMM observed fewer ceasefire violations in Donetsk region compared with the previous day. In Luhansk the SMM observed a higher number of ceasefire violations compared with the previous day. The SMM noted that weapons were absent from storage sites and observed weapons in violation of withdrawal...