Contents tagged with Ukraine

  • Estonian government to liberalize air travel with Ukraine

    The Estonian government will lift the air travel restrictions that it had with Ukraine.

    According to the Estonian daily, Postimees, and with reference to the website of the Estonian government, this issue was discussed at a meeting on Thursday.

    An agreement on the organization of air transportation between the two countries was signed in 1993.

    Estonian airline Nordica, in cooperation with Adria Airways, will operate direct return flights from Tallinn to Odessa starting from the 27th of May 20 …

  • German radio station: Prisoners are tortured in so-called DPR and LPR

    Deutschlandfunk radio reported that, according to Ukrainian human rights groups, prisoners are being tortured in 79 prisons in the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics.

    The results of this investigation were published by the German public-law radio station Deutschlandfunk on the 18th of May. According to the radio station, human rights advocates are planning to transfer the collected materials to The Hague Tribunal for an investigation into possible war crimes.

    The head of …

  • Ukrainian Prosecutor General's Office: Russia refuses to extradite Yanukovych

    The Prosecutor’s Office raises the question of his interrogation in Russia

    As was stated by the chief of the head investigative department of the Prosecutor General's Office of Ukraine, Sergey Gorbatyuk, Russia has denied Ukraine’s request to extradite the former Ukrainian President, Victor Yanukovych, Interfax-Ukraine reports.

    "About a month ago, we received notification of Russia’s refusal to extradite the former President," Gorbatyuk stated. In response, the Prosecutor’s Office raised the …

  • Permanent Representative of the Russian Federation: Russia deployed 9,000 soldiers to the Crimea in 2014

    During the 2014 annexation of Crimea, Russia deployed 9,000 soldiers to the peninsula. This was in addition to the 16,000 Russian soldiers that were already in Crimea at the time. This was reported by Russia's Permanent Representative to the EU, Vladimir Chizhov, during an interview with Deutsche Welle.

    Chizhov says that all Russian troops were in Crimea “legally and in accordance with formal agreements with Ukraine”.

    “According to the 1997 bilateral agreement between Russia and Ukraine, the …

  • Ukraine and Turkey sign agreement on joint production of aircraft based on Antonov designs

    Ukraine and Turkey have signed an agreement on joint production of passenger and freight aircraft. According to Daily Sabah, they will be assembled in Antonov manufacturing plants.

    The agreement was signed by the Deputy Prime Minister of Ukraine Hennadiy Zubko and Minister of National Defense of Turkey İsmet Yılmaz during the Turkish Minister’s visit to Kiev at the end of last week. Zubko stated "I am sure that our work will bear fruit. We have prepared a 'road map' and we will adhere to it.” …

  • White House officially nominates Yovanovitch as next Ambassador to Ukraine

    The White House has announced the official nomination of Marie Yovanovitch for the post of the United States Ambassador in Kiev, replacing Geoffrey R. Pyatt, who has been appointed as ambassador to Greece.  

    Since 2012, Yovanovitch has held the position of Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary in the Bureau for European and Asian Affairs. As Assistant Secretary she was responsible for bilateral relations with the countries of Scandinavia, the Baltic States and Central Europe. Previously, she …

  • Kiev will not pay Gazprom for gas supplies to separatist republics

    Ukrainian company, Naftogaz, has refused to pay Gazprom for gas delivered to the separatist-controlled territories of Donetsk and Luhansk.

    On the 18th of May, Naftogaz reported that the Russian gas company had demanded a payment of $670 million for gas supplied to the so-called Donetsk People's Republic (DPR) and the Luhansk People's Republic (LPR) from February 2015 to April 2016.

    The report also stated that Naftogaz had not purchased gas from Gazprom since November 2015. Before that, it had …

  • Media: Poroshenko transferred almost four million euros abroad

    On the 25th of March 2016, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko’s company, Prime Assets Capital, transferred almost €4 million abroad. They did this by purchasing shares from a related company in Cyprus. This was stated during a journalistic investigation on Slіdstvo.Іnfo, which was published on the 18th of May.

    According to the document, on the 25th of March, CEE Confectionary Investments Limited released 18,000 shares with a nominal value of one euro each. This was in addition to the 2,000 …

  • The Council of Venice recognized the Crimea as part of Russia

    The Council of Venice calls for the lifting of sanctions against Russia

    The regional Council of Venice passed a resolution calling on the Italian Government to condemn the policy of the EU Council on Crimea and demand the lifting of sanctions against Russia, RIA Novosti reports. Venice also recognized the Crimea as part of Russia.

    27 of the 51 members of the regional council voted in favor of the document. 

    The document states that due to the anti-Russian sanctions Italy lost 3.6 million …

  • Human rights groups: Ukrainian language education has almost disappeared in the Crimea

    The Coordinator of the Crimean Human Rights Group, Olga Skrypnyk, stated that only one of seven Ukrainian schools is still working in annexed Crimea, Krym.Realii reported. According to Skrypnyk, Russia has manipulated the situation such that parents no longer wish classes to be taught in the Ukrainian language.

    “For example, there was a case in Yalta Ukrainian High School, when an employee of the City Education Department urged and intimidated parents to reject the use of the Ukrainian …