AFTERNOON NEWS ROUNDUP
From RFE/RL's News Desk:
RUSSIA BLAMES WEST FOR UKRAINE CRISIS
By RFE/RL
Russia has lashed out at the United States and European Union over Ukraine, saying the conflict there is the product of what Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov called 25 years of selfish Western expansionism.
Addressing Russia's lower parliament house on November 19, Lavrov said the West "must support the process of mutually acceptable agreements instead of supporting the party of war in Kyiv, closing its eyes on outrageous human rights violations, lawlessness, and war crimes."
Lavrov repeated Moscow's denials of involvement in an armed conflict between government forces and pro-Russian separatists that has killed more than 4,100 combatants and civilians since April.
He said the conflict is an internal issue for Ukraine and "all attempts to turn Russia into a party to the conflict are counterproductive and have no chance of success."
His address to the State Duma, which was broadcast live on state television, appeared aimed to assure Russians that the Kremlin is in the right and fend off growing Western accusations of direct Russian military support for the separatists, who hold large parts of Ukraine's Donetsk and Luhansk provinces.
"The Ukraine crisis is a consequence of the policy Western states have pursued for a quarter-century of strengthening their own security at the expense of the security of others and broadening the geopolitical space under their control."
It came a day after President Vladimir Putin, who has used anti-Western words and actions to strengthen his grip on the country, said that the United States wants to "subordinate" Russia to itself and "solve its problems at our expense."
Lavrov tempered the anti-Western message by saying that there is no alternative to cooperation between Russia and the European Union, long its biggest trade partner.
But he blamed the EU for the strains and said Russia's relations with the West must be based on the assumption of equality, echoing a demand Putin set out in a foreign policy decree at the start of his third term in 2012.
"Russia's constructive course toward integration is running up against the desire of the United States and its allies to divide and rule, to push their tactical plans."
Russia banned a broad range of food imports from the EU and the United States in August in retaliation for sanctions they imposed on Russia over the Ukraine crisis.
The conflict in eastern Ukraine has raised fears among Russia's neighbors that it could seek control of more territory, and has brought Moscow's relations with the West to post-Cold War lows.
Ties had already been badly damaged by Russia's annexation of Crimea in March, which followed the flight of a Russian-backed president from Ukraine after months of protests over his November decision to spurn a political and economic pact with the European Union and turn toward Moscow instead.
Kyiv and the West accuse Russia of sending weapons and troops into eastern Ukraine to aid the separatists, who consolidated their hold on parts of eastern Ukraine's industrial Donbas region with November 2 elections denounced by Ukraine, the United States, and the EU as illegal.
NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg said on November 18 that there had been a "serious military buildup" both in eastern Ukraine and on the Russian side of the border, and urged Moscow to pull back its forces.
Kyiv and Western governments are concerned that Putin may want pro-Russian separatists to seize more ground in Ukraine or solidify control over the territory they hold, creating a "frozen conflict" that could destabilize the country, drain its economy, and crimp its pro-Western government for years.
German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier, who met with both Putin and Lavrov in Moscow on November 18 after talks in Kyiv, said during his visit that he saw "no grounds for optimism in the current situation."
Steinmeier warned of a "dangerous situation developing" in Ukraine and appealed to all sides to stick to an agreement signed in Minsk on September 5 on a cease-fire and steps toward peace.
The cease-fire is violated daily, but Steinmeier said the Minsk accord must not be abandoned and called for the swift completion of a plan for the "disengagement" of the conflicting sides.
RUSSIA WILL NOT PUSH 'ALLIES' ON CRIMEA RECOGNITION
Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov says Moscow will not pressure its "allies" to recognize Crimea as a part of Russia or to join it in recopgnizing Georgia's breakaway regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia regions as independent states.
In a question-and-answer session following an address to Russia's lower parliament house on November 19, Lavrov said the security and economic groupings that Russia is currently building with other former Soviet republics are aimed to "protect the legitimate interests of our countries' security."
He said that "on some issues, including the status of Abkhazia, South Ossetia, or Crimean history, we are not making our partners share our assessments 100 percent, as we do not want to put them into an awkward position if for some reason it is uncomfortable for them."
The remarks appeared aimed to assuage concerns among ex-Soviet republics that Russia, which annexed Crimea in March in a move that Kyiv and the West say was illegal, wants to diminish their sovereignty or control their foreign policy.
THE REAL REASON PUTIN ATE BREAKFAST ALONE AT THE G20...
...is because he's an emperor, says Vladimor Solivyev.
A SCENE FROM LUHANSK
MORNING NEWS UPDATE
From RFE/RL's News Desk:
LAVROV ADDRESSING STATE DUMA ON UKRAINE
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov is expected to focus on the crisis in eastern Ukraine when he addresses the State Duma on November 19.
Ahead of his speech before Russia's lower house of parliament, Lavrov met with visiting German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier.
Both reportedly agreed on the need to return to the so-called Minsk protocol, a dialogue that involves the warring factions in Ukraine, as well as Russia and the OSCE.
But Steinmeier said he was not optimistic the Minsk protocol could change the situation on the ground in eastern Ukraine, where government forces are battling pro-Russian separatists.
Steinmeier traveled to Moscow from Kyiv where President Petro Poroshenko told him Russia had failed to uphold a September 5 cease-fire agreement.
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg on November 18 accused Russia of a "serious military build-up" both inside eastern Ukraine and on the Russian side of the border.
(Based on reporting by Tass and Reuters)
A Russian journalist who runs an online support group for LGBT teenagers is to be charged under the country's controversial law on promoting "gay propaganda" to minors.
LGBT TEEN SUPPORT GROUP TO BE CHARGED IN RUSSIA
Russia's media watchdog said it had received more than 150 complaints from "citizens and organizations" about Deti-404 (Children-404), which was founded and is run by Yelena Klimova.
The number "404" refers to the "page not found" error code in Internet searches.
Roskomnadzor did not specify what on the project's pages constituted "gay propaganda," and suggested Klimova was not fit to counsel LGBT teenagers.
Klimova slammed the country's "gay propaganda" law, and accused authorities of failing to provide support to LGBT teenagers in a country where homophobia is widespread.
"If those 'problems' should be handled by 'professionals' … and not amateurs like myself, then where are they?" she said on her LiveJournal page.
(Based on reporting by the Moscow Times and the Calvert Journal)
EKHO MOSKVY EDITOR WANTS TO BUY STATION
The chief editor of the "Ekho Moskvy" radio station Aleksei Venediktov has said he was preparing to make an offer to purchase the embattled station.
Venediktov met on November 18 with Mikhail Lesin, the chairman of board of directors of the state-controlled entertainment giant Gazprom Media, the owner of Ekho Moskvy.
Venediktov told journalists he would have a proposal for purchasing the station "before the end of the current year."
Lesin said a verbal offer had already been made but he did not disclose any details.
Lesin on November 14 called for a vote of Ekho Moskvy's board of directors that could determine the future of one of the last independent media outlets in Russia.
The absentee voting by the board of directors, set for November 21, will determine the editor-in-chief of the station, the staff and the format of the broadcasting.
(Based on reporting by Interfax and TASS)
RUSSIAN, GERMAN FMs DISCUSS UKRAINE CRISIS
German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier flew from Kyiv to Moscow and met with his Russian counterpart during the evening of November 18.
Steinmeier and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov discussed the deteriorating situation in Ukraine.
Both reportedly agreed on the need to return to the so-called Minsk protocol, a dialogue that involves the warring factions in Ukraine, as well as Russia and the OSCE.
Steinmeier said he did not "see reasons for optimism" that the Minsk protocol could achieve a breakthrough on the ground in eastern Ukraine where more than 4,000 people have been killed in fighting since March.
But he said "it would be a huge loss" to abandon the protocol at this time.
Steinmeier and Lavrov also called on Kyiv and the separatist leadership in Donetsk and Luhansk regions to start direct talks aiming at pulling their military forces back.
(Based on reporting by Interfax, TASS, and Reuters)
PUTIN SAYS U.S. WANTS RUSSIA 'UNDER ITS INFLUENCE'
President Vladimir Putin has said he does not believe the United States wants to humiliate Russia but does want Russia to be under Washington's influence.
Putin was responding to a question at the Action Forum sponsored by the All-Russia Popular Front political movement, a core Kremlin support group, on November 18.
He said the United States does not "want to humiliate us, but they want to bring us into subjugation, they want to resolve their problems at our expense, and to get us under their influence."
Putin added, "Nobody has ever been able to do so in Russian history and nobody ever will."
(Based on reporting by Interfax and Reuters)
LAVROV STATES THE OBVIOUS -- MAKES IT SOUND OMINOUS
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov says the Ukraine crisis is the result of what he calls 25 years of efforts by Western countries to strengthen their own security at the expense of others.
(Live broadcast, RIA Novosti)
And it's already inspiring funny tweets:
PUTIN HAS LEFT THE BUILDING
Kremlin-watcher Mark Galeotti, co-host of the Power Vertical Podcast, has a piece in "The Moscow Times" on Vladimir Putin's cool reception at the G20 summit in Australia and his decision to take his toys and go home.
Putin is a president who has increasingly allowed himself to be cocooned by likeminded allies and craven courtiers, and who avoids the Internet and even spends most of his time at his Novo-Ogaryovo residence rather than come into Moscow. The experience of being in the company of people who are not intimidated or impressed by him could hardly have been pleasant.
It's no wonder, then, that Putin cut and ran, especially before the rest of the G20 leaders' club started talking about Ukraine and he had to cope with the experience of being treated like the naughty schoolboy caught smoking behind the bike sheds.
But was he really expecting anything different? Did he genuinely believe he could face down other world leaders?
Read it all here.
BOMBS, PLANES, AND WARSHIPS
Defense analyst Aleksandr Golts has a scathing commentary in "The Moscow Times" today looking at Russia's recent gunboat diplomacy -- from sending warships to Australia's coast on the eve of the G20 summit, to sending strategic bombers to patrol the Gulf of Mexico and the Carribean.
None of these escapades makes much sense from a military point of view. Deploying four very old warships to the Australian coast does not exactly impress anyone, and if the U.S. had sent a couple of carrier battle groups to those same waters, the Russian ships would have looked like so many tugboats by comparison....
But it seems that Russia's naval deployment to Australian waters and the threat of sending aircraft with nuclear bombs to the Caribbean is more a symbolic move than a military one. Moscow feels it is necessary to remind every last person that Russia is a great military power and that it can "scare the sh-- out of the Americans," as former Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev once said.
Read it all here.
MORE LNG TERMINALS ON THE WAY
MORNING NEWS UPDATE
From RFE/RL's News Desk:
RUSSIA SAYS KYIV SEEKS 'STRANGULATION' OF EASTERN UKRAINE
Russia is accusing Kyiv of trying to "strangle" separatist-held territories in eastern Ukraine by cutting off payments and shutting state institutions in the rebel-controlled areas.
Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov repeated Moscow's calls for the Ukrainian government to hold talks with the pro-Russian separatists who have seized parts of the Donetsk and Luhansk provinces in a war that has killed more than 4,100 people since April.
Instead, Lavrov said, "Kyiv has set a course for the socioeconomic strangulation of southeastern Ukraine and is threatening to revive (efforts to) resolve the conflict by force."
Kyiv's moves are a response to elections held by the separatists on November 2, which Ukraine and the West condemned as an illegal violation of a September 5 peace plan, and what Kyiv says are Russian-supported military buildup by the rebels.
Lavrov, speaking at a meeting with his Belarusian counterpart in Minsk, also said Russia has always seen the European Union as a "big, important economic partner" and hopes the point of no return in ties with the EU has not been reached.
(Based on reporting by Interfax, TASS, and AFP)
GERMAN FM DUE IN KYIV FOR TALKS ON RESOLVING CRISIS
German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier is due in Kyiv on November 18 for talks on resolving the crisis in eastern Ukraine.
He is due to hold talks with President Petro Poroshenko and Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk.
According to Tass, Steinmeier is scheduled to fly on to Moscow later in the day to meet his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov for talks expected to focus on Ukraine.
On November 17, EU governments moved to put more Ukrainian separatists under asset freezes and travel bans.
However, EU foreign ministers meeting in Brussels took no action to step up economic sanctions on Russia despite voicing alarm about an upsurge of violence in eastern Ukraine.
EU foreign ministers asked officials to put forward names of an unspecified number of pro-Russian separatists to be added to the EU's sanctions list by the end of the month.
(Based on reporting by TASS and Reuters)
INTERPOL TO CONSIDER NEW RUSSIAN BID TO ARREST BROWDER
By RFE/RL
Britain-based businessman William Browder says the International Criminal Police Organization (Interpol) will revisit Russia’s request for his arrest on charges linked to whistleblower Sergei Magnitsky, who died in a Moscow jail five years ago this week.
Interpol informed Browder that it will consider the request during a November 20-21 meeting at the organization’s headquarters in Lyon, France, he told RFE/RL.
Interpol has twice rejected earlier Russian requests for a so-called "red notice" against Browder, citing Russia’s “political” goals in the matter.
Russian prosecutors said in June that Interpol had decided to reconsider Russia’s request.
Browder has led a global push for sanctions against Russian officials implicated in Magnitsky’s death on November 16, 2009.
A Russian court convicted Browder in absentia and Magnitsky posthumously on tax evasion charges last year, decisions slammed by Western governments.
RUSSIA CONFIRMS EXPULSION OF POLISH, GERMAN DIPLOMATS
Russia says it has expelled a German diplomat and several Polish diplomats in response to the recent expulsions of Russian diplomats.
In a statement on November 17, Russia's Foreign Ministry accused the Polish diplomats of activities inconsistent with their status, a phrase generally used for spying.
It confirmed reports that Warsaw had expelled several Russian diplomats, citing the same accusation.
The ministry said the German was expelled at the weekend in a retaliatory measure for what it described as an "unfriendly" step earlier by Berlin of expelling a Russian diplomat.
Polish Foreign Minister Grzegorz Schetyna was quoted as saying on November 17 that Warsaw considered Moscow's move a "symmetric response."
Relations between Moscow and European Union member states have been strained by the crisis in Ukraine and by EU sanctions imposed after Russia annexed Crimea from Ukraine.
(Based on reporting by Reuters, Interfax, and AFP)
EVENING NEWS UPDATE
From RFE/RL's News Desk:
PUTIN SAYS SANCTIONS VIOLATE INTERNATIONAL LAW
By RFE/RL
Russian President Vladimir Putin says economic sanctions imposed on Russia by the European Union, the United States, and other countries over the Ukraine crisis go against Group of 20 (G20) principles and international law.
Putin told TASS in an interview published on November 14 that the asset freezes, visa bans, and blocks put on Russian companies trying to access Western financial markets could only be imposed by the United Nations.
He acknowledged the sanctions and low oil prices have hurt the Russian economy but said the Kremlin's cash reserves are large enough to handle any economic crisis and meet "social commitments" domestically.
Putin's comments come one day ahead of the G20 summit in Australia, but he said it "makes no sense" to discuss the sanctions at that venue.
The summit follows fresh allegations of Russian military incursions into Ukraine.
(With reporting by Reuters, TASS, and AP)
UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT SAYS FORCES READY FOR POSSIBLE ATTACK
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has said there was "no reason to panic" over the situation in the country's war-wracked east.
Poroshenko told security and law enforcement officials on November 14 the Ukrainian armed forces were “ready and capable of repelling” an offensive by pro-Russian separatists if a September 5 cease-fire agreement crumbles.
But he said Kyiv remained committed to finding a “political and peaceful” solution to the conflict, which has left more than 4,000 people dead since April.
Meanwhile, a military spokesman said one soldier was killed and six wounded over the previous 24 hours.
Andriy Lysenko also said a girl aged five or six was killed when rebels fired mortar shells northwest of the city of Luhansk.
Kyiv and the rebels have traded blame over a shelling that killed two teenage boys on a school playing field on November 5.
(Based on reporting by Reuters and TASS)
REPORT: RUSSIA GIVES FRANCE DEADLINE TO DELIVER WARSHIP
Moscow is warning Paris of "serious" consequences if France does not deliver a Mistral-class assault ship by the end of this month.
Under a $1.5 billion deal signed in 2011, the first of two Mistral helicopter carriers was supposed to be handed over to Russia on November 14.
But France has delayed the handover because of Moscow's role in the Ukraine crisis.
Russian state news agency RIA Novosti quoted an unidentified high-ranking source in Moscow as saying: "We are preparing for different scenarios. We are waiting until the end of the month, then we will lodge serious claims."
The source said experts were gauging the damage sustained by Russia.
French Defense Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian told lawmakers this week that there was still no fixed date for the delivery.
(Based on reporting by RIA Novosti and AFP)
SERBIA HOSTS RUSSIAN FORCES FOR MILITARY DRILLS
By RFE/RL's Balkan Service
BELGRADE -- Russia and Serbia are holding their first-ever joint antiterrorist exercises on Serbian territory.
The one-day drills were scheduled to start at noon November 14.
The show of Russian military might in a country seeking to join the European Union follows a visit by Russian President Vladimir Putin last month, and coincides with a visit by the head of the Russian Orthodox Church, Patriarch Kirill.
State-funded Russian channel RT has shown images of preparations for the drills, with camouflage-clad troops and a combat vehicle being lowered to the ground from aircraft.
Serbian military analyst Ljubodrag Stojadinovic told RFE/RL last week that joint maneuvers with Russian troops on this scale have never been held in Serbia.
He said that in holding the maneuvers, Moscow is trying to demonstrate that it has allies in Europe.
UKRAINE PRESIDENT SAYS NO POINT IN NEW PEACE TALKS
By RFE/RL
KYIV -- A Ukrainian security adviser says there is no point in holding new peace talks with pro-Russian separatists until Kyiv is satisfied that the rebels holding territory in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions are adhering to a truce deal signed on September 5 in Minsk.
Markian Lubkivskiy, an adviser to the chairman of Ukraine's Security Service, said on 1+1 television on November 13 that "there will be no 'Minsk 2,' as we have Minsk-1 agreements which Ukraine is implementing and the terrorists are not."
A Ukrainian Foreign Ministry representative, Dmytro Kuleba, said in the same program that Kyiv will continue talks, but only on implementation of existing agreements.
Hundreds of combatants and civilians have been killed since the September 5 cease-fire, with each side blaming the other.
Kyiv says that November 2 elections in the rebel-held region violated the truce deal, which also included other steps toward peace and was signed by Russia.
Russia denies allegations from Kyiv and the West that it has sent troops and weapons into eastern Ukraine, despite sightings of unmarked convoys on rebel-held territory in recent days.
(With reporting by pravda.ua and 1+1 TV channel)
RUSSIA ACCUSES OSCE MISSION OF SIDING WITH UKRAINE
Russia has accused the OSCE monitoring mission in eastern Ukraine of siding with Kyiv.
In a statement on November 14, the Foreign Ministry said Moscow is "concerned about the approach the OSCE special monitoring mission in Ukraine has been demonstrating lately."
It said "there is an impression that its efforts are aimed at supporting and assisting only one side in the conflict, the Kyiv authorities."
The statement warned that the mission's approach undermined trust in its work.
A November 11 report from the OSCE said the observers had seen an unmarked military convoy on the outskirts of the separatist-held city of Donetsk, fueling accusation from Kyiv and the West of Russian military incursions into eastern Ukraine.
Moscow denies it has sent troops or weapons across the border.
Some Ukrainians have accused the mission of bias in favor of Russia.
(Based on reporting by AFP and Interfax)
RUSSIAN PATRIARCH VOWS SUPPORT FOR SERBIA ON KOSOVO
The head of the Russian Orthodox Church arrived in Belgrade on November 14 and vowed support for what he called "the Serbs' just stance on Kosovo."
Patriarch Kirill was greeted by a crowd of hundreds, including Serbian Patriarch Irinej and Foreign Minister Ivica Dacic, when he arrived at Belgrade's airport for a three-day visit.
He arrived on the same day that Serbia, which shares longstanding religious and cultural ties with mostly Slavic, Orthodox Christian Russia, hosted Russian paratroopers in an unprecedented joint military exercise.
Kirill visited the Cathedral of Michael the Archangel and the University of Belgrade.
Accepting an honorary doctorate, he vowed that the Russian Orthodox Church would continue to support Serbia on the issue of Kosovo, whose independence is not recognized by Belgrade.
"We commend the courage of those Serbs who, despite the threat to their own existence, do not leave their ancestral lands," Kirill said.
On November 15, Kirill is scheduled to consecrate a monument to Russia's last tsar and visit a Russian cemetery in Belgrade.
(Based on reporting by vesti.rs and TASS)