As reported last night, Russia has shut down the Crimean Tatar Mejlis:
The chief prosecutor of the Russia-occupied Crimea has ordered the suspension of a council that represents the region’s Tatar ethnic minority.
The April 13 order by prosecutor Natalya Poklonskaya means that the Tatar council, called the Mejlis, is prohibited from holding public gatherings, using bank accounts, or disseminating information.
The suspension is to remain in place until a court in the illegally annexed peninsula rules in a case raised by Poklonskaya aimed at banning the Mejlis outright as an extremist organization.
Tatars make up about 15 percent of Crimea’s nearly 2 million people and have broadly opposed Russia’s seizure and annexation of the peninsula from Ukraine in 2014.
Since annexation and the installment of a Russian-imposed government, Tatars have complained of official intimidation, the closure of Tatar language classes, and a general atmosphere of mistrust aimed at Tatar residents.
Amnesty International said the decision to suspend the Mejlis signals a new wave of repression against Crimean Tatars.
"Anyone associated with the Mejlis could now face serious charges of extremism as a result of this ban, which is aimed at snuffing out the few remaining voices of dissent in Crimea," said Denis Krivosheyev, Amnesty International's deputy director for Europe and Central Asia.
"The decision to suspend the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar people and ban all its activities under Russia's antiextremism legislation is a repugnant, punitive step denying members of the Crimean Tatar community the right to freedom of association," Krivosheyev added in an April 13 statement.
This ends our live blogging for April 13. Be sure to check back tomorrow for our continuing coverage.
AFP is reporting that the Verkhovna Rad has approved Hroysman as prime minister:
Ukraine's parliament on Wednesday approved a new pro-EU government headed by parliament speaker Volodymyr Groysman to replace the cabinet of prime minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk who resigned at the weekend, officials said.
The pro-western coalition in power "has backed the candidature of Groysman for the post of prime minister," a spokesman for another candidate, Dmytro Stolarchuk, said on Twitter, with several parliamentarians confirming the decision which was thrashed out over days of fraught debate.
The new prime minister and his team are expected to be formally named on Thursday, said parliamentary deputy Maksim Bourbak.
Parliament had agreed on who should head up all the ministries, with the exception of the health ministry, the deputies added.
The shaky cease-fire between Russia-backed separatists and Ukrainian government troops appears to have fallen apart around the small industrial town of Avdiyivka. In recent weeks, battles have erupted around the strategically important crossroads in eastern Ukraine's Donetsk region. European observers have reported the “highest level of cease-fire violations” since September 2015, with deaths reported on both sides. On April 2, photographer Maxim Tucker entered the area and spent a week documenting villages shattered by a conflict that is now entering its third year.
Avdiyivka: Eastern Ukraine's Latest Flash Point
Here is today's map of the security situation in eastern Ukraine, according to the National Security and Defense Council (click to enlarge):
