Pushkov says return to visa-free regime with Turkey depends on progress in anti-ISIL operation, bilateral relations
▻http://www.kyivpost.com/article/content/ukraine-politics/pushkov-says-return-to-visa-free-regime-with-turkey-depends-on-progress-in
Argh, le Kyiv Post rend payant l’accès à ses articles.
Ukraine’s media : ’Oligarchs remain in control and the promise of Maidan has not been fulfilled’ - watch on - uatoday.tv
▻http://uatoday.tv/society/ukraine-s-media-oligarchs-remain-in-control-and-the-promise-of-maidan-has-no
“Progress has been made in Ukraine, but institutions remain weak and true independence is still elusive.” Those were the words of Brian Bonner, the chief editor of English-language weekly The Kyiv Post and a man with more than a decade of experience working in the Ukrainian media. He joined us in the Viewpoint studio.
“Relatively we are much freer than Russian and most of the former Soviet republics.”
“If you look at media ownership that we have, media analysts have looked at it: the same top five oligarchs own most of the media. [...] What the media monitors say is when they analyze the coverage, they can tell just by the content who owns it. This suggests that the owners are sill interfering in the editorial policy, and that’s detrimenta to the free speech.”
Point de vue du rédacteur en chef du Kyiv Post.
Ukraine : 132 partis pour les élections du 25 octobre 2015.
Quelques uns d’entre eux vus par le Kyiv Post
Rhinos, dill and hidden threats confuse voters in Kyiv
▻http://www.kyivpost.com/content/politics/rhinos-dill-and-hidden-threats-confuse-voters-in-kyiv-399188.html
In short but a very competitive election campaign, which will take place all over Ukraine except annexed Crimea and Russian-occupied parts of the Donbas, the parties and candidates are trying to be imaginative.
Some of the 132 parties registered by the Central Election Commission chose strange names such as Darth Vader Bloc, Internet Party of Ukraine, Pirate Party and UKROP (dill, a word Russians use as a derogatory term for Ukrainians) or Good Samaritan.
Others opted for unusual emblems and messages.
The Movement for Reforms agitators explained that the party chose a rhino as an emblem because it is a very powerful animal which never attacks first but always rebuffs attackers.
#Azerbaidjan : condamnation à 7 ans et demi de prison pour la journaliste Khadija Ismayilova
Azerbaijani investigative reporter faces more than 7 years in prison
▻http://www.kyivpost.com/content/russia-and-former-soviet-union/azerbaijani-investigative-reporter-gets-jail-sentence-396951.html
Investigative journalist Khadija Ismayilova, who has written numerous hard-hitting stories on corruption in Azerbaijan, was today sentenced to seven and a half years in prison by the Azerbaijani authorities.
Ismayilova insists she is being imprisoned for her investigative work and that the charges lodged against her are fabricated, an assessment backed by civil society groups and media freedom organizations.
Her journalism for Kyiv Post partner Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and other press outlets, included major exposes of graft and improper business links of those in the close circle of Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, including his family members.
[…]
Acquitted of the initial charge of incitement to attempt suicide, Ismayilova was convicted of embezzlement, tax evasion and running an illegal business at the RFE/RL bureau – charges she has called ridiculous.
“This case was a travesty. It has more in common with the Stalin show trials than modern justice,” says Drew Sullivan, editor of OCCRP. “It appears Khadija was convicted politically and not criminally for her reporting.”
OCCRP joins media freedom and human rights organizations worldwide to demand Ismayilova’s immediate release. Organizations from Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, and the Helsinki Committee for Human Rights have noted she is a political prisoner and her incarceration cannot be tolerated.
Yatsenyuk orders tightened control over access to Chornobyl zone, will dispatch National Guard
▻http://www.kyivpost.com/content/ukraine/yatsenyuk-orders-tightened-control-over-access-to-chornobyl-zone-will-disp
Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk has ordered additional units of the Interior Ministry’s forces and the National Guard of Ukraine to protect the exclusion zone of the Chornobyl nuclear power plant from intruders.
(intégralité de la brève)
#TVB
No open fire in Chornobyl Puscha, radiation levels twice below limits - Emergencies Service of Ukraine
▻http://www.kyivpost.com/content/ukraine/no-open-fire-in-chornobyl-puscha-radiation-levels-twice-below-limits-emerg
As of morning on Saturday the staff of the State Emergencies Service of Ukraine and other services continues working on the fire site in the exclusion and mandatory resettlement zone of the Chornobyl Puscha forestry area.
(inimitable style des brèves du Kyiv Post avec un titre un peu décalé par rapport au contenu…)
Forest floor smoldering in Chornobyl Puscha - State Emergency Service of Ukraine
▻http://www.kyivpost.com/content/ukraine/forest-floor-smoldering-in-chornobyl-puscha-state-emergency-service-of-ukr
There is no open flame between the former villages of Buda Varovychy and Kovshylivka in the exclusion and mandatory resettlement zone in the Chornobyl Puscha forestry area, the State Emergency Service of Ukraine has reported.
Pas de flammes, ça couve juste…
#TVB
Nine charged in $100m insider trading case tied to Ukraine hackers
▻http://www.cnbc.com/2015/08/12/nine-charged-in-100m-insider-trading-case-tied-to-ukraine-hackers.html
It was a symbiotic relationship that brought together the underbelly of Wall Street and the dark reaches of the online world.
From their suburban homes in the United States, dozens of rogue stock traders would send overseas hackers a shopping list of corporate news releases they wanted to get a sneak peek at before they were made public. The hackers, working from Ukraine, would then deliver how-to videos by email with instructions for gaining access to the pilfered earnings releases.
In all, 32 traders and hackers reaped more than $100 million in illegal proceeds in a sophisticated and brazen scheme that is the biggest to marry the wizardry of computer hacking to old-fashioned insider trading, according to court filings made public on Tuesday. One of the men, Vitaly Korchevsky, a hedge fund manager and former Morgan Stanley employee living in a Philadelphia suburb, made $17 million in illegal profits, the indictment said.
La brève du Kyiv Post sur le même sujet introduit d’éventuels hackers russes, là où l’article de CNBC mentionne uniquement un échange de mails en russe…
Hackers supposedly from Russia, Ukraine arrested in US on suspicion of corporate data theft
▻http://www.kyivpost.com/content/science-technology/hackers-supposedly-from-russia-ukraine-arrested-in-us-on-suspicion-of-corp
U.S. law enforcers have arrested five hackers, supposedly, from Russia and Ukraine that are suspected of getting access to companies’ press releases connected to mergers and acquisitions before the official announcement of such cases, Bloomberg agency reported on Aug. 11.
La dépêche Bloomberg ne parle que de hackers Ukrainiens…
U.S. Identifies Insider Trading Ring With Ukraine Hackers - Bloomberg Business
▻http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-08-11/u-s-identifies-insider-trading-ring-including-ukraine-hackers
The suspected hackers, who are thought to be in Ukraine, allegedly infiltrated the computer servers of PRNewswire Association LLC, Marketwired and Business Wire, a unit of Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc., over a five-year period.
They siphoned more than 150,000 press releases including corporate data on earnings that could be used to anticipate stock market moves and make profitable trades, the U.S. said. The hackers passed the information to associates in America and Ukraine, who allegedly used it to buy and sell shares of dozens of companies, including Panera Bread Co., Boeing Co., Hewlett-Packard Co., Caterpillar Inc. and Oracle Corp., through retail brokerage accounts.
Transaction à 30 M USD proposée par les 2 accusés Ukrainiens.
▻http://seenthis.net/messages/408715
Russian Health Officials Comment on Proposed Condom Ban | News | The Moscow Times
▻http://www.themoscowtimes.com/news/article/russian-health-officials-comment-on-proposed-condom-ban/527010.html
Russia’s proposed restrictions on condom imports would make citizens more “disciplined,” and may also help raise the birth rate, a Cabinet adviser and former public health chief was quoted by Russian media as saying.
Gennady Onishchenko, a former chief sanitary doctor known for his creative approach to medical advice, said Tuesday that “rubber technical goods [condoms] have nothing to do with health,” state news agency RIA Novosti reported.
Onishchenko was commenting on import restrictions proposed by the Industry and Trade Ministry earlier in the day, which also called for a ban on X-ray and ultrasound machines, defibrillators, incubators and other medical equipment.
Banning condom imports “will simply make one more disciplined, more strict and discriminating in choosing partners, and maybe will do a favor to our society in respect to solving demographic problems,” Onishchenko was quoted by RIA Novosti as saying.
His comments come at a time when sexually transmitted diseases are widespread in Russia and HIV infection rates are on the rise, even as most European countries have succeeded in bringing them down.
But the head of a federal center for combating AIDS, Vadim Pokrovsky, argued that there is “no direct link” between HIV infection rates and the availability of imported condoms, because they are too pricey for many students and other low-income Russians, Interfax news agency reported.
“If a [trade school] student has to choose whether to buy a beer or a condom, he will probably buy a beer, because it’s cheaper,” Pokrovsky was quoted as saying.
The real issue is the shortage of cheap condoms in the country, he said, conceding, however, that the quality of the cheaper varieties that are available might not make them particularly popular.
“Of course, there is a question of quality, and in this regard a problem certainly exists,” Pokrovsky was quoted by Interfax as saying.
Occasion pour le Kyiv Post d’illustrer l’article par cette image
Violence erupts after rival Kharkiv rallies
►http://www.kyivpost.com/content/ukraine/violence-erupts-after-rival-kharkiv-rallies-2-394928.html
Special forces were deployed along with police negotiators on Aug. 3 when a rally in Kharkiv erupted into violent clashes, with pro-Ukrainian activists driving supporters of the Opposition Bloc into a building in a scene frighteningly…
… la suite est manquante, la page n’est pas accessible (le Kyiv Post connait des problèmes d’accessibilité depuis ce matin), mais doit certainement évoquer le massacre d’Odessa.
RFE/RL
Opposition Party Office In Kharkiv Attacked
▻http://www.rferl.org/content/ukraine-opposition-party-office-attacked/27167147.html
At least 50 young men, many in balaclavas, have attacked the former office of the Party of Regions in Ukraine’s eastern city of Kharkiv.
The office is currently used by Ukrainian lawmaker Mykhaylo Dobkin, who represents the Opposition Bloc in parliament.
The attackers destroyed a minibus parked near the office and smashed the building’s windows with stones on August 3.
The attackers said they were representing the Ukrainian right-wing nationalist group Right Sector and an organization called Public Guard.
They said they gathered at the site to protest against the Opposition Bloc’s participation in local elections in October and attacked the building after Dobkin’s people started shooting at them with firearms, wounding one activist.
Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city, is only about 20 kilometers from the Russian border.
… sous les yeux de la police (vidéo incorporée)…
Masked gang attacks office of pro-Russian party in Ukraine’s Kharkiv - watch on - uatoday.tv
▻http://uatoday.tv/society/masked-gang-attacks-office-of-pro-russian-party-in-ukraine-s-kharkiv-468173.
Some 70 youths throw stones and set off explosions at ’Opposition Block’ building
Police have launched an investigation after the group of men in Kharkiv vandalized the office of the Opposition Block political party, an indirect successor of former Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych’s Party of Regions.
No injuries were reported.
TASS: World - Ukraine’s opposition activist kidnapped and beaten up in Kharkiv
▻http://tass.ru/en/world/812297
KIEV, August 3 /TASS/. An activist of Ukraine’s Opposition Bloc who was taking part in a pro-party rally in Kharkiv, a city in eastern Ukraine, was kidnapped on Monday. The party’s press service said that its office had also been attacked.
“The activist was standing outside the Kharkhiv regional justice department where the Opposition Bloc was planning to hold a picket when, according to witnesses, he was grabbed by unidentified persons who threw him into a camouflage range rover with the Azov [volunteer battalion - TASS] inscription on it,” the Opposition Bloc said in its statement.
The man was then taken to a cemetery where he was undressed and beaten up. The kidnappers also took away the activist’s cell phone.
“Four people in balaclava helmets questioned and bullied the man for forty minutes. They asked him why he had come to a rally and where his parents worked. After that, they beat him up and left him at the cemetery. At the moment, the man is receiving all the necessary medical help,” the Opposition Bloc said.
Ukraine’s Opposition Bloc headed by Deputy Mikhail Dobkin rallied outside the Kharkov regional administration on August 3. They want the region’s justice department to register the party’s Kharkiv branch so that the Opposition Bloc could run in the local elections. At the same time, activists of another organization called Gromadska Varta gathered outside the justice department to protest against the Opposition Bloc’s registration.
Pour les (gentils) assaillants (de Secteur Droit), ce sont, évidemment, les (méchants) assiégés qui ont commencé…
Dobkin’s office in Kharkiv : Opposition Bloc MP Dobkin’s office attacked with firecrackers as shootout occurred. VIDEO - Dobkin, assault, Kharkiv, titushki, Right Sector, Dobkin’s office in Kharkiv, Attack (03.08.15 15:39) « Video news | EN.Censor.net
▻http://en.censor.net.ua/video_news/346263/opposition_bloc_mp_dobkins_office_attacked_with_firecrackers_as_shooto
Several dozens of young men wearing camouflage and balaclavas attacked a building previously used as a Party of Regions office and being an office of the Opposition Bloc MP Mykhailo Dobkin at the moment.
As reported by Censor.NET citing Interfax, the people broke the windows in a van parked in front of the building. They also hurled stones and firecrackers at the building with gunfire being heard.
Police are holding 20-30-meter perimeter, though without intervening. They refuse to give any comments on such a behavior.
As reported, the attackers were activists of a reserve battalion of the Volunteer Ukrainian Corps (DUK) “Right Sector”, as well as activists of Hromadska Varta. Kharkiv (Public Guard. Kharkiv organisation - ed.).
According to them, the first to use force were Dobkin’s titushkas barricaded in the office. They started firing traumatic weapons. After that, according to activists, they responded with stones and firecrackers. Source: ▻http://en.censor.net.ua/v346263
(photos et vidéos)
Kharkov branch of Opposition bloc was denied registration
▻http://news.rin.ru/eng/news///123060
(traduction un peu défaillante…)
The justice Department in the Kharkiv region refused to register the regional organization of the Party " Opposition bloc, said on the first day of the week the head of the regional Department of justice Yury Georgievskiy.
“I have decided to refuse the registration of the regional organization of the Party” Opposition bloc “, ? the news Agency the words of St. George. George recalled that on 24 July Authorized Deputy from the Opposition bloc Mikhail Dobkin filed in the Office of the documents with 2 requirements. First ? note conclusion about stop the legal entity of the regional organization of the Party” Law and order “, which last year was renamed the” Opposition bloc “. Second ? take note and register the regional organization of Party” Opposition bloc ".
The Minister explained that the Office could not fulfill the Second requirement, because you are running the destruction of the regional organization of that political Party, and as long as it will not be completed in Accordance with applicable law, registration is not possible. According to his statement, the liquidation procedure will take More than 2 months, for this reason, the Opposition bloc will not have the opportunity to participate in the elections.
George also said that the Management of four refused registration of the territorial organization of the “Opposition bloc” because of deficiencies in the documents submitted by the Authorised Party “Law and order”. For its part, the Opposition bloc said about the readiness to ignore local elections." We refer to all democratic countries and international organizations not to recognize the elections, which is not allowed opposing political force", - has told in the Party.
Remember, in the centre Hurikova Monday riots were started after the meetings at the County courthouse on Sumskaya street, where on the first day of the week heard a case on the registration of the regional branch of the Opposition bloc. Authorized Mikhail Dobkin several times submitted documents, but the justice Ministry denied registration, indicating the number of observations.
About 50 people in the shape with black and red stripes stormed the office of the former Party of regions. Unknown in balaclavas began to dismantle paving under construction near temple of the Holy myrrh-Bearers and throw in the house, and smashed parked near the office of the minibus. Later it was claimed that the battalion of special purpose of the Ministry of interior of Ukraine East building surrounded the office of the “Opposition Party” in Kharkov, where he barricaded unidentified, one of which was called as the assistant Deputy Opposition bloc Mikhail Dobkin. Later the young men who were in the Kharkiv office of the Opposition bloc, escorted to police stations. The events in Kharkiv qualified as “hooliganism with a use of weapons”, what happened on the first day of the week clashes in the city opened two criminal cases, said the Prosecutor’s office of Kharkiv region of Ukraine.
Riots in Kharkiv, unknown people in Balaclava attacked the office of the Party of Regions 03/08/2015
La page est accessible.
Violence erupts after rival Kharkiv rallies
►http://www.kyivpost.com/content/ukraine/violence-erupts-after-rival-kharkiv-rallies-2-394928.html
Special forces were deployed along with police negotiators on Aug. 3 when a rally in Kharkiv erupted into violent clashes, with pro-Ukrainian activists driving supporters of the Opposition Bloc into a building in a scene frighteningly reminiscent of the May 2 Odesa tragedy.
La suite reprend les éléments déjà exposés ci-dessus. Dommage qu’elle n’ait pas été accessible, cette une synthèse assez claire dès hier soir.
Fiala, EBA president and Dragon Capital CEO, says ’patience is thin’
▻http://www.kyivpost.com/content/ukraine/fiala-eba-president-and-dragon-capital-ceo-says-patience-is-thin-393118.ht
Tomas Fiala, president of the European Business Association and CEO of Dragon Capital in Kyiv, is determined not to let the promise of another revolution slip away from Ukraine.
“I would hate for the 2005 post-Orange Revolution to repeat itself,” Fiala said, referring to the unsuccessful rule of President Viktor Yushchenko and Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, which opened the way to Viktor Yanukovych’s election as president in 2010.
Fiala, however, fears the promise of reform is yet again in danger of fading away more than a year after the end of the EuroMaidan Revolution that prompted Yanukovych to take refuge in Russia, along with other former top officials suspected of crimes ranging from mass murder to stealing billions of dollars from Ukraine.
“Patience is thin, especially if nobody gets punished for corruption and people are getting poorer while others are getting richer who are close to the current leadership,” Fiala said in a recent Kyiv Post interview.
L’un des représentants des investisseurs européens trouvent que rien ne change et que les copains du pouvoir en place s’en mettent plein les poches…
Tir groupé d’articles du Kyiv Post sur Secteur Droit
1. Le camp de leur milicien se repositionne à l’emplacement historique de la sitch zaporogue, dont ils se réclament.
On appréciera également la revendication de la filiation avec Makhno…
On notera aussi qu’ils ont réussi à éviter leur intégration (et leur répartition) dans les unités régulières et obtenu le maintien d’une unité indépendante.
Right Sector sets up camp in Dnipropetrovsk Oblast
▻http://www.kyivpost.com/content/kyiv-post-plus/right-sector-sets-up-camp-in-dnipropetrovsk-oblast-389195.html
Located on land once controlled by the Zaporizhian Sich, a Cossack republic from the 16th to 18th centuries, the rear base of the pro-Ukrainian Right Sectorr’s military unit in Dnipropetrovsk Oblast fits the place quite well.
Just like the Zaporizhian Cossacks, fighters of the Right Sector’s Ukrainian Volunteer Corps have problems with legal recognition. While the Cossacks were split into independent ones and those “registered” under the aegis of Polish kings, Right Sector volunteers have no legal status.
Its volunteer corps has been involved in a long-running dispute with authorities over the issue. Recently, relations between the unit and the army’s top brass have improved but disagreements remain.
The base, located in a forest near the village of Pokrovske, is not far from Hulyaipole, the capital of anarchist Nestor Makhno’s Free Territory in 1918-1921 – another historical association that Right Sector fighters cherish.
2. Simultanément, et sans rapport aucun, …
Lenin monument torn down, smashed in Zaporizhia Oblast
▻http://www.kyivpost.com/content/ukraine/lenin-monument-torn-down-smashed-in-zaporizhia-oblast-389194.html
Vandals tore down and broke up a Lenin statue in the town of Huliaipole last night.
(intégralité de la brève)
Comme ce sont des « vandales » qui ont commis cela, ce ne peut donc être nos braves cosaques zaporogues.
3. Interview de militants d’origines diverses (dont France) et, dit l’article, de tous bords politiques.
Right Sector fighters come from all parts of political spectrum, not just right wing
▻http://www.kyivpost.com/content/kyiv-post-plus/right-sector-fighters-come-from-all-parts-of-political-spectrum-not-just-r
In Russian propaganda, the Right Sector has been portrayed as a fearsome far-right group with a rigid nationalist ideology.
But in reality the organization unites people with radically different backgrounds.
The Ukrainian Volunteer Corps, the Right Sector’s military arm, comprises people with political views ranging from the far right to liberalism to the far left, including anarchists. Right Sector fighters come from all parts of Ukraine, including Russian-speaking Donbas and Crimea, as well as from Russia itself, other former Soviet republics and Western countries.
Religious diversity is also stunning: there are Christians, Muslims, Buddhists, Jews, pagans and atheists at the Ukrainian Volunteer Corps. All ages and both sexes are represented at the unit.
One fighter, whose nom-de-guerre is Yaska, is from France. […]
Compte-rendu d’une conférence sur la sécurité organisée le 19 novembre à Kiev par le Kyiv Post
(extraits-
Ukrainian, Western experts debate how to stop Putin
▻http://www.kyivpost.com/content/ukraine/ukrainian-western-experts-debate-how-to-stop-putin-372590.html
Smeshko [Head of the Intelligence Committee under the President of Ukraine] said Ukraine needs to reform its Defense Ministry and general staff. “It’s very good we created a special department for special operations, but we need to urgently fill it with people, weapons and armored vehicles,” he said.
(…)
[Joseph LeGasse, an intelligence and defense expert who is a former White House adviser] also suggested that Ukraine should ink $8-10 billion worth of agricultural agreements with China to give it a vested interest in Ukraine’s stability. “Promise this to them and they will help you to negotiate with Mr. Putin,” he said, since China is one nation that Putin might listen to.
cc @odilon le genre de conseil sympa : vendez un petit million d’hectares à la Chine pour la mouiller dans le conflit et vous la mettre dans la poche…
Dans le discours de l’ambassadeur des États-Unis à la même conférence :
Statements 2014 | Embassy of the United States Kyiv, Ukraine
►http://ukraine.usembassy.gov/statements/pyatt-tiger-conference.html
In terms of other priorities, I would also flag agriculture as another one that we haven’t talked about at all, but which represents a huge part of the Ukrainian economy. Nobody can travel around this country as much as I have over the past year and a half without being incredibly impressed by the opportunities that exist.
Pour reprendre une expression d’Hélène Roux, le terrain est déjà labouré
Single-seat district leaders and winners
▻http://www.kyivpost.com/content/ukraine/winners-in-single-member-districts-updates-369636.html
Quelques (futurs) députés de l’Assemblée ukrainienne présentés par le Kyiv Post
Borys Filatov, district 27, Dnipropetrovsk
Filatov co-owns some of the most pricey realty in Dnipropetrovsk. In March he accepted the post of deputy head of Dnipropetrovsk Oblast from the region’s governor and billionaire Ihor Kolomoyskiy.
(…)
At the same time, Bloc of Petro Poroshenko didn’t nominate any candidates in the district of Filatov. None of the other pro-Western parties nominated candidates in his district too - Opposition Bloc, People’s Front and Samopomich.
Filatov is part of Virgin Galactic’s space tourism program. His space flight was initially planned for this year.
Dmytro Yarosh, district 39, Dnipropetrovsk Oblast
Leader of the nationalist party #Right_Sector, known for taking an active role in the EuroMaidan Revolution, Yarosh didn’t take the risk of putting his name on the party list. With half of the votes counted, the Right Sector has only 1.9 percent of support. Yarosh himself ran in a single-seat district in his native region and succeeded. His run for the presidency in May got him less than one percent of the vote.
At the same time, Right Sector spokesperson Boryslav Bereza is leading in district 213 in Kyiv.
Yukhym Zvyagilskiy, district 45, Donetsk Oblast
Zvyagilskiy, 81, has been a member of every Ukrainian parliament since independence. For the last three elections Zvyagilskiy ran with the Party of Regions, the party of former President Viktor Yanukovych. Like many of his former party fellows, this time he chose to run independently to avoid unwanted associations with the former government.
L’accord tripartite Ukraine-Russie-OSCE
(traduction non officielle par le Kyiv Post)
OSCE releases the 12-point protocol agreements reached between Ukraine, Russia and separatists in Minsk
▻http://www.kyivpost.com/opinion/op-ed/osce-releases-the-12-point-protocol-agreements-reached-between-ukraine-rus
As a result of consideration and discussion of the proposals from members of consultations in Minsk on Sept. 1. 2014, the Trilateral contact group composed of representatives from Ukraine, Russian Federation and Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, an understanding was reached regarding the need to take the following steps:
1. Provide for immediate and two-sided ceasefire.
2. Provide monitoring and verification from the side of OSCE of the ceasefire.
3. Conduct decentralization of power, including through approval of the Law of Ukraine “On temporary order of local self-government in certain districts of Donetsk and Luhansk regions” (Law on special status)
4. Provide permanent monitoring at the Ukrainian-Russian state border, and verification by OSCE, with creation of a safety zone in the areas adjacent to the border in Ukraine and Russian Federation.
5. Immediately free all hostages and illegally held persons.
6. Approve a law to prevent persecution and punishment of persons in relation to events that took place in certain districts of Donetsk and Luhansk regions of Ukraine.
7. Continue an inclusive national dialogue.
8. Take measures to improve the humanitarian situation in Donbas.
9. Conduct early local elections in accordance with the Law of Ukraine “On temporary order of local self-government in certain districts of Donetsk and Luhansk regions” (Law on special status).
10. Remove illegal military formations, military equipment and militants and mercenaries from the territory of Ukraine.
11. Approve a program for economic development of Donbas and renew the vital functions of the region.
12. Give guarantees of personal security for participants of consultations.
Rebels have handed over 1,200 POWs so far to Ukraine - president | Mail Online
▻http://www.dailymail.co.uk/wires/reuters/article-2747915/Rebels-handed-1-200-POWs-far-Ukraine--president.html
Pro-Russian separatists have so far handed over about 1,200 prisoners-of-war to the Ukrainian side under the terms of a ceasefire agreement, President Petro Poroshenko said on Monday.
The two sides are meant to exchange all their POWs under the terms of the ceasefire accord, clinched last Friday.
Ukraine’s winemakers ask to extend to 10-15 years transition period to implement terms of Association Agreement with EU
▻http://www.kyivpost.com/content/ukraine/ukraines-winemakers-ask-to-extend-to-10-15-years-transition-period-to-impl
The Winegrowers and Winemakers of Ukraine association has asked the government to extend the transition period for the implementation of the conditions of the Association Agreement with the European Union from 5years to 10-15 years.
Quelques remarques :
• l’illustration de l’article
Article 208
Temporary measures
§3. For a transitional period of 10 years from the entry into force of this Agreement, the protection pursuant to this Agreement of the following geographical indications of the EU Party shall not preclude these geographical indications from being used in order to designate and present certain comparable products originating in Ukraine:
(a) Champagne,
(b) Cognac,
(c) Madeira,
(d) Porto,
(e) Jerez /Xérès/ Sherry,
(f) Calvados,
(g) Grappa,
(h) Anis Português,
(i) Armagnac,
(j) Marsala,
(k) Malaga,
(l) Tokaj.
Ukraine’s illegal coal mines are dirty, dangerous and deadly
▻http://www.kyivpost.com/content/ukraine/ukraines-illegal-coal-mines-are-dirty-dangerous-and-deadly-349592.html
Illegal coal mining, a multimillion-dollar shadow industry, has become a curse on the Ukrainian economy and workers but a blessing for its few profiteers.
An investigation by the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP), a Kyiv Post partner, has found that companies linked to former government officials and to businesses owned by the son of former President Viktor Yanukovych routinely legalized and sold black-market coal — stealing jobs from legitimate miners and endangering workers toiling in unregulated and illegal pits.
Industry experts estimate that there are tens of thousands of these workers in some 2,500 kopanki or illegal pits around Ukraine, mostly in the protest-wracked Donbas region around Donetsk.
[member of parliament Oleh Medunytsia] explains that in 2012, state-owned and private coal mines in Ukraine reported extracting up to 61.1 million tons of thermal coal. But the state railway company Ukrzaliznytsia transported 66.9 million tons during that time. The 5.8 million ton difference, he said, represents illegally extracted coal.
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Such volumes of illegally extracted coal require a steady market, which raises questions as to who is buying the massive quantities. After all, 7 million tons is 11 percent of the country’s entire annual output of thermal coal, including production from private mines.
