OSCE observers have reported the presence of heavy weaponry along the contact line in Donbas, deputy head of the OSCE mission in Ukraine Alexander Hug said.
“For example, on October 25 we recorded the presence of heavy weapons. In particular, 12 tanks on the territory controlled by the government and two 'Grad' rocket launchers on the territory controlled by the 'DPR,'" he said.
Hug also added that observers can’t verify the withdrawal of weapons by the separatists, because they are not allowed to access storage facilities.
Ukrainian Library Director Arrested In Moscow Over 'Extremist' Books
By RFE/RL
MOSCOW -- Following a raid in which they say scores of "extremist" books were seized, Russian investigators have announced that the head of the Ukrainian Literature Library in Moscow has been arrested on suspicion of "inciting ethnic hatred."
Investigative Committee spokesman Vladimir Markin said on October 29 that investigators were seeking court authorization to criminally charge Natalya Sharina, saying she circulated banned publications authored by Dmytro Korchynskyy, a radical Ukrainian nationalist, between 2011 and 2015.
Police conducted hourslong searches of the library on October 28, seizing up to 170 publications, according to local news agencies. Sharina's home was also searched, as was the home of Valery Semenenko, who heads a Ukrainian diaspora organization named Ukrainians In Moscow.
Sharina could face up to five years in jail.
The arrest is the latest in a spate of controversial Russian criminal cases connected to Ukrainians, the most high-profile of which is the trial of Nadia Savchenko. The Ukrainian military pilot is charged with participating in the killing of two Russian journalists during fighting in eastern Ukraine in 2014 and subsequently crossing into Russia illegally -- allegations seen by many in Ukraine as fabricated.
The Ukrainian Culture Ministry has called for Sharina's immediate release, describing the raids and arrest as "the latest brazen Kremlin act designed to frighten the Ukrainian ethnic minority in the Russian Federation."
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told TASS news agency that the arrest and raids at the library were "not on the agenda" for discussion.
The raids were purportedly launched after an appeal from Dmitry Zakharov, a municipal deputy of Moscow's Yakimanka district.
Speaking to Govorit Moskva radio, Zakharov said that "there was information that extremist materials were being stored in the library...so I appealed to the authorities."
Video footage shared on YouTube showed a masked police officer in combat fatigues walking out of the Ukrainian library on October 28 with an assault rifle slung over his shoulder, holding two filled plastic bags:
Zakharov posted photographs of publications being seized during the raid on his social network page. They included a Ukrainian children's cartoon (below left) that he said bore the slogan "Glory to Ukraine, Glory to the Heroes."
This work is not on the list of banned books in Russia, but appears to contain the red-and-black flag of the far-right Ukrainian group Right Sector, which is a banned organization in Russia:
Referring to Ukrainians in derisive, coarse language, Zakharov also posted photographs of books about Stepan Bandera, a deeply divisive Ukrainian nationalist who collaborated with Nazi Germany to fend off Soviet troops during World War II.
The statement from the Investigative Committee said that the books contained "calls for anti-Russian propaganda."
Markin's statement singled out "extremist" publications by Korchynskyy, who is now wanted in Russia for allegedly making calls for terrorist activity but who has past links to pro-Kremlin Russian activists.
In 2005, Korchynskyy was invited to give a lecture to the pro-Kremlin youth group Nashi on how to confront the threat of an Orange Revolution-style protest movement in Russia. He was a member of a far-right group led by Kremlin-connected ultranationalist Aleksandr Dugin.
In a reversal, Korchynskyy came out in support of the Euromaidan uprising in Ukraine in early 2014. He reportedly went on to fight in eastern Ukraine for pro-Kyiv forces against Russia-backed separatists. In March 2014, Russia opened several criminal cases against Korchynskyy on charges linked to "terrorist" activity.
Semenenko, whose apartment was searched on October 28, told RFE/RL, "I was very distressed that my apartment was turned upside down. These people are absolutely not specialists in literature, but bone-breakers!
"They took books and memory sticks belonging to my daughter, who is a city planner, and took my wife's laptop," he continued. "Then, as soon as we left home, an NTV television crew turned up. My wife drove them out," he said.
A criminal investigation was launched against Semenenko and the Ukrainian Literature Library in 2010, leading police to search the library for extremist publications. Charges of inciting ethnic hatred related to the alleged circulation of anti-Russian books were dropped in late 2011, however, for lack of evidence.
RFE/RL's Russian Service contributed to this report
Ukraine Rejects Russia's Proposal To Talk On Flight Resumption
The Russian aviation agency has proposed to continue negotiations with Ukraine's aviation authorities on resuming flights between the two countries, but Kyiv quickly turned down the offer.
Russia’s Federal Air Transport Agency, Rosaviatsia, says it sent a letter to the State Aviation Service of Ukraine on October 28, in which “readiness was expressed to continue dialogue with the aims of reviving soon air transportation between Russian and Ukraine."
A spokesman for Ukraine's Infrastructure Ministry said talks could only start "if Russia pays existing fines and stops flying to restricted areas, principally Crimea."
Ukraine banned flights by Russian airlines from October 25 in reprisal for Moscow's annexation of Crimea. Russia called the ban "madness" and mirrored the move.
Tens of thousands of passengers will be affected by the bans every month.
They are now forced to take longer, more expensive routes via third countries, or to brace themselves for a 13-hour trip by train.
Based on reporting by Reuters and Interfax
IMF Considers Policy Change That Would Help Ukraine
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) says it will soon make a decision on changing its policy to allow lending to countries in arrears to official creditors, a move that would aid Ukraine in a debt dispute with Russia.
The fund is discussing “reforms that would allow the fund to lend in the presence of arrears to official bilateral creditors in carefully circumscribed circumstances," IMF spokesman Gerry Rice said on October 29.
Such a change may allow Kyiv to keep receiving tranches of a $17.5 billion IMF loan even if it misses payment on a $3 billion bond due to Russia on December 20.
Current policy prohibits the IMF from lending to a country that goes into arrears on official debt.
Ukraine needs to restructure its debt as a condition of the IMF loan, but Russia has refused to accept new terms.
Based on reporting by Bloomberg.com and Reuters
Ukraine opened criminal proceedings against former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi for his visit to Crimea in September, said Ukrainian deputy Horhiy Lohvynskyy at a press conference.
Berlusconi, Lohvynskyy claims, violated lawful procedures for entering “temporarily occupied territory.”
“We state that regardless of the status and position, we will prosecute everyone, and Berlusconi is no exception,” Lohvynskyy said. He added that hopefully, other foreign politicians “will find a way to recognize that a violation of the Criminal Code of Ukraine is unacceptable.”
Ukraine has already officially banned Berlusconi from entering the country.