Excerpts from the most important news on Ukraine
Ukrainian Language Banished From Donbas and Crimea
16.09.2019
The instruction of the Ukrainian language has been virtually wiped out in areas that moscow controls in eastern Ukraine where an armed conflict has simmered since April 2014, the Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group (KHPG) says, rferl informs.Citing a report published earlier this month by Dmytro Durnev, a journalist from the city of Donetsk, KHPG said that Ukrainian-language teaching was phased out in 2014-2016. “This is very clearly a ‘Russification’ program,” KHPG said.The same has happened in Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula ...Twitter Bots published 55% of all russian posts about NATO in May-July
13.09.2019
In the period May-July 2019 bots accounted for 55% of all russian-language messages on Twitter, a study by the NATO Stratcom Centre of Excellence shows.This big increase in automated activity was largely driven by news-bots contributing to information effects around stories published by the kremlin’s propaganda outlet, Sputnik. On VK, the bot presence also increased, and currently accounts for one quarter of all users. 17% of English language messaging was done by bots.Three military exercises were of particular interest for ...Congress Will Restore Ukraine Military Aid Even Despite Trump
12.09.2019
A senior Republican member of the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee says that even if President Donald Trump refuses to unfreeze $250 million in military aid for Ukraine, Congress would replace the funding, VOA reports.Senator Ron Johnson, a Wisconsin Republican and chairman of the Foreign Relations Subcommittee on Europe and Regional Security Cooperation, told the VOA Ukrainian Service Wednesday that even if Trump cancels the funding to help the country battle russian aggression as planned, Congress would pass legislation to ...EBRD is buying $100 million worth of Eurobonds issued by Ukraine Railways
12.09.2019
The EBRD is buying $100 million worth of five-year Eurobonds issued by Ukraine Railways with an annual yield of 7.29%, reports the new Infrastructure Minister, Vladyslav Krykliy.The placement comes two months after the railroad sold $500 million worth of five-year bonds to commercial investors at 8.25%. Evhen Kravtsov, the railroad’s CEO, says the money will go primarily to upgrade the main lines of the Trans-European Transport System: “Now it’s the turn of the railroad tracks.Firstly, it’s safety, ...Ex-Central Bank Head of Ukraine Complains Of ‘Physical Pressure’
09.09.2019
Ukraine’s central-bank chairman, Yakiv Smoliy, has asked police to investigate “without bias” recent incidents involving his predecessor, who was the victim of an alleged hit-and-run attack in London and whose daughter-in-law had her car set on fire overnight in Kyiv on September 5, rferl.org reports.After announcing cutting the country’s prime interest rate, Smoliy told journalists at a briefing that he saw signs of “targeted psychological and physical pressure” on ex-Chairwoman Valeria Gontareva, who is credited with cleaning up the rotten ...Liquefied US gas will reach Ukraine this winter
06.09.2019
The first liquefied US gas will flow to Ukraine this winter. A shipload of US LNG earmarked for Ukraine is to be unloaded in November in Świnoujście, according to a deal signed last week by Kyiv’s Energy Resources of Ukraine .After gasification, the US gas will be injected into the Polish pipeline system and shipped 1,000 km to the southeast, to the Hermanowice interconnector point, on the Lviv region border. US liquefied ...Archbishop Gudziak pushes for papal visit to Ukraine, but moscow is getting in the way
05.09.2019
Archbishop Borys Gudziak, one of nearly 50 Ukrainian Greek Catholic bishops in Rome this week, says he and his fellow prelates are pushing harder than ever for a papal visit to Ukraine – a trip that he said is crucial to ending conflict in the country, but which is being held up by fear of potential reprisal from russia, Crux reports.Gudziak said the delay in accepting the invite is due at least in part to fear over backlash from the ...Bulgaria calls russia’s use of “liberation” as “dubious historical claim”
04.09.2019
Bulgaria has taken issue with an upcoming World War II exhibition the russian Embassy is organizing in Sofia dedicated to “75 years of the liberation of Eastern Europe from Nazism,” saying instead the region was under “Soviet army bayonets” during a half century of repression, rferl reports.While acknowledging the U.S.S.R.’s contribution to the defeat of Nazi Germany, Bulgaria’s Foreign Ministry called the russian Embassy’s use of “liberation” a “dubious historical claim” and stressed that history shouldn’t be politicized.The exhibition opens on ...59 Crimeans prosecuted for refusing to serve in russian army
03.09.2019
russia prosecuted 59 people in illegally annexed Crimea for refusing to serve in the russian armed forces, qha.com.ua reports, citing UNN.“It was established that within the period from April 1, 2015 to July 1, 2018, the occupation authorities prosecuted 35 people for refusing to serve. Currently – 59,” the report said. Reportedly, russia conscripted more than 17,000 Crimean residents for military service.Conducting a recruitment campaign among residents of the occupied territories into the army of the occupying state, as well as continuing ...Greek Orthodox Church backs independence of Ukrainian Church
29.08.2019
The Church of Greece said Wednesday it supported Ecumenical Patriarch Vartholomaios’ right to grant independence to the Orthodox Church of Ukraine in 2018, ekathimerini.com reports.The Holy Synod, which met on Tuesday and Wednesday, said it also recognized Vartholomaios’ “privilege” to “further address the issue of recognition.”Vartholomaios, the spiritual leader of the world’s Greek Orthodox Christians, announced his decision to grant autocephaly to the Ukrainian Church in October 2018, stating that Ukrainians “desired ecclesiastical independence” for centuries.He presented a decree of independence ...Deutsche Bank hired children of russian officials to win lucrative deals
28.08.2019
Between at least 2006 and 2014, Deutsche Bank provided valuable employment to the relatives of foreign government officials in various parts of the world as a personal benefit to the officials in order to improperly influence them to assist the bank in obtaining or retaining business or other benefits.“We must do it!” a senior Deutsche Bank official said, according to the Securities and Exchange Commission. “We should have her in London as it is NOT politically correct to have her ...Since 2015, remittances from russia have dropped in half
28.08.2019
Trading places: since 2015, remittances from russia have almost dropped in half, while remittances from Poland have tripled, according to a graph by RFE/RL.Rivaling russia for second place, remittances from the Czech Republic have increased 5-fold since 2015, to almost $250 million in the first quarter of 2019.Earlier it was reported that the volume of remittances from labor migrants to Ukraine in 2018 was about $11 billion.
