Good morning. We'll start the live blog today with this item that RFE/RL's Washington bureau filed overnight:
Canada Making Diplomatic Push For Ukraine's UN Peacekeeping Plan
Canada is making a significant diplomatic push to gather international support behind Ukraine's UN peacekeeping plan, its foreign minister has announced.
"Around the world Canada has been leading conversations with a number of countries about the viability and utility of peacekeeping and policing in Ukraine," Chrystia Freeland said on November 9.
Freeland said she "personally explored the feasibility and prospects of such a mission" last week with U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, U.S. Special Envoy Kurt Volker, and UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.
In addition, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has pressed the issue with his German counterpart, Chancellor Angela Merkel, she said.
"Our government has been at the heart of international efforts to support Ukraine, and we are working hard to ensure any peacekeeping effort guarantees Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity," Freeland said.
More than 10,000 people have been killed in Kyiv's war with Russia-backed separatists, which broke out after Russia illegally annexed Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula in March 2014.
Ukraine has a longstanding proposal to put United Nations peacekeepers along its borders to ensure Russian troops and weapons are not allowed into the country -- a proposal rejected by Moscow.
Russian President Vladimir Putin recently suggested putting peacekeepers near the line of demarcation between government forces and separatists in eastern Ukraine to protect international observers who are monitoring the conflict.
Kyiv opposed the proposal, but said it was willing to negotiate over it.
Canadian Defense Minister Harjit Sajjan said on November 9 that Ottawa supports Kyiv's plan because it "respects Ukraine's original borders," while it opposes the Russian counterproposal, which he said would "freeze" Moscow's incursion into Ukrainian territory.
Sajjan said he met with his U.S. and European counterparts on the conflict in Ukraine on the sidelines of a NATO defense ministers meeting in Brussels this week.
'Now Is The Time To Act'
Sajjan said he was "cautiously optimistic" about Canada's drive to establish a peacekeeping presence in Ukraine because Russia's proposal at least shows it wants stability there. But he said he remains skeptical about "Russia’s intentions."
"Any opportunity that can de-escalate a situation and bring stability is good. But at the same time, what we don't want to do is deal with Russia's current proposal is freeze it in the current situation."
Sajjan did not say whether Ottawa would be willing to provide troops to participate in a peacekeeping operation in Ukraine. He is hosting a UN peacekeeping conference next week in Vancouver.
Canada's opposition Conservative Party is also behind the push for a peacekeeping mission in Ukraine which opposition leader Andrew Scheer said on November 9 would allow Kyiv "to restore control over its eastern border with Russia, ensuring the Russian military stays within its own country, and out of Ukraine."
"The defense of Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity should be a priority for Canada's government on the international stage," Scheer said. "Now is the time to act."
Canada has a sizable population of 1.3 million with Ukrainian ancestry -- a factor which has led Canadian political leaders of all parties to side strongly with Kyiv in the conflict.
Like the United States and the European Union, Canada has imposed sanctions on Russia for its aggression in Ukraine.
Earlier this year, Ottawa also announced the extension until 2019 of a military mission to train Ukrainian soldiers, and the two countries formalized a defense cooperation pact.
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said during a visit to Canada in September that he expects more stability in eastern Ukraine when Canada assumes the presidency of the Group of 7 (G7) world powers in 2018.
With reporting by AFP, the Toronto Sun, and Globe and Mail
That concludes our live-blogging of the Ukraine crisis for Thursday, November 9, 2017. Check back here tomorrow for more of our continuing coverage. Thanks for reading and take care.
Released Crimean Tatar Leader: 'I’d Rather Accept Death' Than Kneel
Crimean Tatar leaders Ilmi Umerov and Akhtem Chiygoz were unexpectedly released from custody in their Russian-occupied homeland in October. Both are deputy chairmen of the Mejlis, the Crimean Tatar self-governing body that has been outlawed by Russian authorities. Immediately after their release, they were flown to Turkey on October 25, thanks partly to an intervention by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. They have vowed to return to Crimea to campaign for the release of other prisoners. Kateryna Nekrecha, a correspondent with RFE/RL's Crimea Realities service, spoke with Chiygoz about his detention.
German Satirical Show Pokes Fun At Poroshenko, But Ukrainians Aren't Laughing
By Christopher Miller
KYIV -- A satirical animated series produced by Germany's international broadcaster aims to poke fun at Eastern European leaders and their antics -- but Ukrainians aren't laughing.
Many have expressed outrage at Deutsche Welle after its Russian service aired an episode of the new weekly program, Zapovednik (Nature Reserve), saying it portrays Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko as an uncouth beggar and aids Russia's efforts to whitewash its military aggression in Ukraine.
Much of the criticism has been targeted at a scene that shows a cartoon Poroshenko speaking Surzhyk -- a mix of Ukrainian and Russian spoken by many in Ukraine's provinces -- as he begs U.S. President Donald Trump for "mind-blowing" weapons to fight off "Martians from Russia" who are "very green and polite."
The scene is reminiscent of one from the 1997 sci-fi blockbuster Men In Black. In the Deutsche Welle version, Poroshenko is in a pawn shop speaking to Trump, who is working behind a display case that is filled with watches until he pushes a button to reveal a cache of guns. Poroshenko picks one up and tries it, erasing his and Trump's memory, and the scene repeats.
If the scene was meant to elicit laughter, Ukrainians didn't find it funny.
Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula was not invaded and occupied by "Martians" in 2014, but by Russian forces, as President Vladimir Putin eventually admitted publicly. They operated professionally but in unmarked uniforms, and initially were called "little green men" and dubbed by Russian state-run media as "polite people."
Mounting evidence has also shown that Russian regular soldiers have fought alongside pro-Russian militants to carve out two so-called "separatist republics" in Ukraine's eastern Donetsk and Luhansk regions. The conflict, now in its fourth year, has killed more than 10,000 people – mostly Ukrainians – since April 2014. The Kremlin continues to deny direct involvement there.
Kyiv has repeatedly asked Washington for lethal defensive weapons to deter Russia in its war-stricken east, a move strongly opposed by Moscow. Kurt Volker, the U.S. special envoy for efforts to end the conflict in Ukraine, has said that Washington is "actively considering" the move, and the request is sitting on President Trump's desk.
In 'Bad Taste'
Many Ukrainians expressed their anger at Zapovednik on social media, saying the cartoon was in "bad taste" and "offensive."
In a column for the Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group, human rights defender Halya Coynash said that producers should have taken "much greater care" and shown "sensitivity" in the depiction of Russia's seizure of Crimea.
There has been no official response from Ukraine, but the deputy minister of the country's Information Policy Ministry, Dmytro Zolotukhin, said the show resembled tactics favored by the Kremlin.
"Humor is being used by the Russian side for hybrid hostile activity frequently, and for a long time," Zolotukhin said, using a term to describe the mix of cyberbased economic, media, psychological, and military operations deployed by Moscow against Ukraine.
'Soul Of Satire Is Exaggeration'
Deutsche Welle defended the program on Twitter, saying in a pinned tweet that it was pleased with the show's premiere.
That sentiment was reiterated by Christoph Jumpelt, Deutsche Welle's head of corporate communications and chief spokesperson, in a phone call with RFE/RL.
"There's pros and there's cons. That's what's expected of satire," Jumpelt said, responding to Ukrainians' criticisms. "Obviously the soul of satire is that it is exaggerating. And it's sometimes very pointy."
He added: "Obviously, I understand people in Ukraine will react to the entire episode with an eye that is more focused on Mr. Poroshenko, but there are -- not only in this episode, but in every other single episode to follow -- other characters."
Jumpelt said roughly 10 broadcasters in several different countries have already expressed interest in airing the show -- which is only available in Russian -- including the Russian independent TV channel Dozhd, or Rain. RFE/RL could not confirm that information.
The show's first episode also features Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan trying to sell tomatoes to Putin, and Kremlin officials discussing how to stamp out opposition protests, among other scenarios.