17:05
9.5.2014
17:02
9.5.2014
OSCE Secretary-General Lamberto Zannier told reporters today in Kyiv, where he's on a two-day visit:
"It is important to de-escalate, it is important to promote an open dialogue and to engage everybody into this dialogue. We as the OSCE, we are there to support everybody in Ukraine, to support the government, to support the society in this dialogue. This is a dialogue where I think it is important that the parliament, Rada, takes a central role, it is important to bring back the political process from the streets into where it belongs, into the institutions."
"We are also engaging through our long term monitoring mission and then with a very large monitoring operation to support the process around the elections. It is important to engage now, to prepare for a process where everybody engages and where the results will reflect the will of the Ukrainian people."
"We are also engaging through our long term monitoring mission and then with a very large monitoring operation to support the process around the elections. It is important to engage now, to prepare for a process where everybody engages and where the results will reflect the will of the Ukrainian people."
17:01
9.5.2014
UNIAN and Interfax are reporting that an armed group of more than 100 men surrounded and seized a sanatorium in Donetsk and captured some 120 Ukrainian Interior Ministry police. The troops were said to have been using the sanatorium as a barracks when it was surrounded by gunmen from the "Donetsk People's Republic." Reports said shooting broke out and parts of the sanatorium caught fire, and that the troops eventually agreed to surrender their weapons and were put on buses and taken away from the area. It was unclear where they were taken. Ukraine's UNIAN news agency reported the armed group arrived at the sanatorium riding on Kamaz trucks. Our Russian Service cites a similar report in "Novosti Donbassa."
16:54
9.5.2014
Important to note that there's evidence of the bogus ads purporting to seek Chinese mercenaries to fight for pro-Russian forces in Ukraine, but no proof that Russia is behind them.
16:44
9.5.2014
16:43
9.5.2014
16:30
9.5.2014
OSCE Media Freedom Representative Dunja Mijatovic has released a statement denouncing the continuing deterioration of the media freedom situation in Ukraine, the OSCE said. In her May 9 statement, Mijatovic says he is "appalled by this hostile environment for media and again call on all parties to refrain from restrictive and violent practices against journalists."
Mijatovic's statement includes examples of violations against the media, including the disappearance in the Mariupol area of Nikolai Ryabchenko, "a journalist contributing to many local media outlets"; Sergei Garmash, editor of the Ostrov news portal, who was attacked and shot near Donetsk; incidents of armed, unidentified people stopping TV crews to inspect documents and seizing equipment; and more. "The attacks we are witnessing every day in Ukraine are nothing short of gross and severe violations of fundamental human rights," Mijatovic says.
Mijatovic's statement includes examples of violations against the media, including the disappearance in the Mariupol area of Nikolai Ryabchenko, "a journalist contributing to many local media outlets"; Sergei Garmash, editor of the Ostrov news portal, who was attacked and shot near Donetsk; incidents of armed, unidentified people stopping TV crews to inspect documents and seizing equipment; and more. "The attacks we are witnessing every day in Ukraine are nothing short of gross and severe violations of fundamental human rights," Mijatovic says.
14:56
9.5.2014
Checking in on Dmitry Rogozin's Transdniester visit....
The evening of May 9. On the banks of the Dniester. Moldova's on the other side. Culture Minister [Vladimir] Medinsky and I are catching polite fish.
The evening of May 9. On the banks of the Dniester. Moldova's on the other side. Culture Minister [Vladimir] Medinsky and I are catching polite fish.