Contents tagged with crimea

  • President Poroshenko: Russia unlikely to release Ukrainian prisoners before elections

    During an interview on ICTV, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said that he does not expect Russia to release the Ukrainian soldiers it is holding prisoner before Ukraine’s presidential elections on 31 March, the Presidential pres-service reports.

    “Putin clearly stressed that he will not take a single step,” Poroshenko said, adding that work to have the Ukrainians released is still underway.

    “Not a single international meeting happens on the highest level where the matter of the release of …

  • Italian Prime Minister says he is working on lifting sanctions against Russia

    The Prime Minister of Italy, Giuseppe Conte said that he is working on lifting international sanctions imposed against Russia, Reuters news agency reports.

    During a speech at a foreign policy conference in Genoa, Conte said that sanctions that were introduced after the annexation of Crimea by Russia in 2014, should not become an end in itself.

    In addition, in his opinion, the sanctions are ineffective and harm the Italian economy.

    Responding to a question if Italy wants to lift these …

  • Financial problems force former DPR commander Girkin to sell gold medal for Crimean operation

    Igor “Strelkov” Girkin, the former ringleader of the Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) militants, will be auctioning the gold medal he was awarded for his role in the occupation of Crimea.

    According to Novaya Gazeta, the auction will be held on 13 April on a Russian website. Girkin hopes to fetch at least 1 million rubles ($15,000) for his 79 gram, 18 karat medal.

    “Yes, it is my medal, a non-state [medal]. It was awarded to me by [Konstantin] Malofeev in the spring of 2014, before the start of …

  • Ukrainian Foreign Minister: Number of Russian military in Crimea nears 50 thousand

    The Ukrainian Minister of Foreign, Affairs Pavlo Klimkin stated that the militarization of the Donbas territories which are not under Ukraine’s control, continues and in the next few years the number of Russian military personnel may reach 50 thousand people, reports Ukrinform.

    “The militarization of the Crimea has reached a certain limit, but it will continue. We know that in the following years there will be almost 50 thousand Russian personnel [ in the Crimea],” said Klimkin.

    The Foreign …

  • Italian Embassy in Ukraine still investigating reports about Italian equipment in Crimea

    The Italian Embassy in Ukraine is continuing to investigate the reports of shipments of Italian-produced equipment to the Zolotaya Balka factory in Russian-annexed Crimea, said Italian Ambassador Davide La Cecilia while giving a presentation on Ukraine-Italy relations in Kyiv, Krym.Realii reports.

    “We are currently trying, through the ministry, to obtain information in order to find out what actually happened, because there are mechanisms for contravening sanctions. And when we clear up the …

  • Slovak Foreign Ministry summons Russian ambassador over Crimea comments

    The Russian ambassador to Bratislava has been summoned to the Slovak Foreign Ministry and reprimanded for publicly criticizing statements by a Slovak official concerning the illegal annexation of Crimea.

    On February 26, Slovak State Defense Secretary Robert Ondrejcsak wrote that now, five years after the annexation of Crimea, “war is not taboo in Europe” and that “whether we want it or not, for the Russians we are the enemies”.

    In a social network post, the Russian embassy to Slovakia …

  • Ukrainian ambassador to the United States calls on Google to correct maps with 'Russian Crimea'

    Ukrainian Ambassador to the United States, Valeriy Chaly, called on the United States multinational technology company Google Inc. not to show the annexed Crimea as part of the Russian Federation.

    “Ukraine’s Ambassador to the United States, Valeriy Chaly, appealed to the management of Google Corporation to change the incorrect image of the Ukrainian Crimea, which is projected as part of the Russian Federation on some of Google Maps. In the official letter, the ambassador noted his clear …

  • EU approves sanctions against eight Russians over Kerch Strait incidents

    Radio Liberty’s European journalist Rikard Jozwiak wrote on Twitter that permanent representatives of the EU countries approved sanctions against eight Russian citizens because of the Kerch Strait incidents that occurred in late November. TASS and RIA Novosti also confirmed the news, citing diplomatic sources.

    Jozwiak wrote, “EU ambassadors have agreed sanctions on 8 people from Russia responsible for detaining the 24 servicemen from Ukraine after the Azov Sea incident in November will be …

  • Google decides to show annexed Crimea as part of Russia and not Ukraine on Russian users maps

    Google has reported that "it has corrected an error that caused a small number of Russian users of Google maps to see incorrect information", TASS reported with a reference to the press service of the company.

     “We believe that we have corrected the error, due to which a small part of iOS users of Google maps [devices with the operating system] saw incorrect information,” the report said.

    As explained by its press service, Google is making every effort to objectively display the “disputed …

  • Russia wants to send captured Ukrainian sailors for psychological and psychiatric examination

    A Russian court issued a decree for three captured Ukrainian sailors to undergo a psychological and psychiatric examination. According to the lawyer Nikolai Polozov, such rulings will be issued for all the captured sailors during the two-week court hearings.

    Polozov announced that on Tuesday, March 5, investigative actions were taken against three Ukrainian sailors: Serhiy Tsybyzov, Roman Mokryak Mokriak and Yuriy Bezyazychnyi.

    "During the investigation, detainees and their lawyers were …