16:32
23.5.2014
U.S. historian Timothy Snyder has been writing for the "New York Review of Books" about the upcoming Ukrainian presidential election:
A great deal of Russian media attention is devoted to the Ukrainian far right. There are indeed two far right candidates in this presidential election: Oleh Tyahnybok, the Svoboda party candidate, and Dmitry Yarosh of the Right Sector. They probably have higher name recognition in Russia and in the West, thanks to Russian propaganda, than Petro Poroshenko, the centrist chocolatier who is leading the polls. Each of the far right presidential candidates is polling at 1 percent. Electoral support for the far right in Ukraine, in other words, is by European standards extremely low: a comparison that will be easy to make after European parliamentary elections this Sunday, in which far right parties are expected to do well. And of course the far right is actually in power in Russia itself.
Read the entire article here
15:48
23.5.2014
RFE/RL's Russian Service has been talking to Lech Walesa, who has been quite critical of the Maidan movement:
Former Polish President Lech Walesa has criticized leaders of Ukraine's pro-European Maidan protest movement for failing to negotiate with the former government, thus giving Russia a pretext for intervention.
Speaking to RFE/RL on May 23, Walesa said the Maidan protestors "chose the wrong method for their fight."
"They should have engaged in negotiations and pushed for early elections but [instead] there was no dialogue with the legal authorities," he said.
But the former leader of the Solidarity freedom movement said Europe should never accept Russia's intervention in Ukraine and annexation of Crimea.
"We cannot accept what [Russian President Vladimir] Putin has done or continues to do," he said.
Walesa spoke on the eve of the 25th anniversary of elections that marked the end of communist rule in Poland.
WATCH: Lech Walesa on the Euromaidan movement
Speaking to RFE/RL on May 23, Walesa said the Maidan protestors "chose the wrong method for their fight."
"They should have engaged in negotiations and pushed for early elections but [instead] there was no dialogue with the legal authorities," he said.
But the former leader of the Solidarity freedom movement said Europe should never accept Russia's intervention in Ukraine and annexation of Crimea.
"We cannot accept what [Russian President Vladimir] Putin has done or continues to do," he said.
Walesa spoke on the eve of the 25th anniversary of elections that marked the end of communist rule in Poland.
15:39
23.5.2014
According to "The Moscow Times," it seems that the U.K. Home Office has given short shrift to Russian complaints regarding Prince Charles' remarks in Canada during which he reportedly compared Vladimir Putin to Adolf Hitler:
Read more here
The U.K. Foreign Office has brushed off Moscow's complaints about Prince Charles reportedly likening President Vladimir Putin to Nazi leader Adolf Hitler, and has told a Russian diplomat who came in for explanations that Moscow should take a step back from meddling in Ukraine.
Sian MacLeod, the Foreign Office's additional director for eastern Europe and Central Asia, met Thursday with Russian Deputy Ambassador to the U.K. Alexander Kramarenko at his request, according to statements by the two diplomatic agencies.
"In response to Mr Kramarenko's representations, the director said the Foreign Office could not be expected to comment upon reports of private conversations, and restated the government's hope that ahead of the Ukrainian presidential elections Russia would step back from comment or actions provoking instability in Ukraine," the U.K. Foreign Office said in an online statement.
Sian MacLeod, the Foreign Office's additional director for eastern Europe and Central Asia, met Thursday with Russian Deputy Ambassador to the U.K. Alexander Kramarenko at his request, according to statements by the two diplomatic agencies.
"In response to Mr Kramarenko's representations, the director said the Foreign Office could not be expected to comment upon reports of private conversations, and restated the government's hope that ahead of the Ukrainian presidential elections Russia would step back from comment or actions provoking instability in Ukraine," the U.K. Foreign Office said in an online statement.
Read more here
15:28
23.5.2014
RFE/RL's news desk has issued this item on Putin's remarks at the St. Petersburg economic forum:
Russian President Vladimir Putin has said sanctions imposed on Russia for its actions in Ukraine will end up having a "boomerang effect" on the Western world.
Speaking at an international business forum in St. Petersburg on May 23, Putin said the EU and the United States are only aggravating the global economic crisis by their actions.
Putin also said the model of a unipolar world has failed.
He said Moscow must diversify its exports away from energy products.
Putin told business leaders that the West's unwillingness to respect what he called the lawful interests of its partners contributes to global instability.
He said that Western sanctions imposed on Russia over Ukraine were having a real impact on domestic businesses, but he said that at this point, the effect was "non-systemic."
In comments after his speech, Putin said Moscow will recognize the outcome of Ukraine's May 25 presidential election.
But he also said that it would have been better to hold a referendum and adopt a new constitution.
He said that under Ukraine's current constitution, ousted President Viktor Yanukovych technically remains in power.
He also blamed the West for both encouraging a "coup" in Ukraine, and for plunging the country into what he described as "chaos and a full-scale civil war."
Putin also said Moscow's big concern is that Ukraine will eventually join NATO.
The St. Petersburg conference has been boycotted by the leaders of dozens of Western companies in response to Russia’s annexation of Crimea and its role in the Ukrainian crisis.
Speaking at an international business forum in St. Petersburg on May 23, Putin said the EU and the United States are only aggravating the global economic crisis by their actions.
Putin also said the model of a unipolar world has failed.
He said Moscow must diversify its exports away from energy products.
Putin told business leaders that the West's unwillingness to respect what he called the lawful interests of its partners contributes to global instability.
He said that Western sanctions imposed on Russia over Ukraine were having a real impact on domestic businesses, but he said that at this point, the effect was "non-systemic."
In comments after his speech, Putin said Moscow will recognize the outcome of Ukraine's May 25 presidential election.
But he also said that it would have been better to hold a referendum and adopt a new constitution.
He said that under Ukraine's current constitution, ousted President Viktor Yanukovych technically remains in power.
He also blamed the West for both encouraging a "coup" in Ukraine, and for plunging the country into what he described as "chaos and a full-scale civil war."
Putin also said Moscow's big concern is that Ukraine will eventually join NATO.
The St. Petersburg conference has been boycotted by the leaders of dozens of Western companies in response to Russia’s annexation of Crimea and its role in the Ukrainian crisis.
14:38
23.5.2014
The latest dispatch from Simon Ostrovsky at VICE News, where he's embedded at a checkpoint with the Ukrainian National Guard.
14:21
23.5.2014
14:15
23.5.2014
Some more of Putin's comments from his speech, on the Crimea referendum and annexation:
"If we haven't done that we would have a bigger tragedy there, bigger that what we have seen in some Ukrainian cities, like Odesa, where unarmed people were burned alive in a building."
"So we did not allow such a tragedy to happen in Crimea and I think we did the right thing. And we are asking to approach this without any prejudice, and in unbiased manner."
"What should be done to restore the confidence [among Russia's business partners]? We need to work together, conduct a dialogue."
"If we haven't done that we would have a bigger tragedy there, bigger that what we have seen in some Ukrainian cities, like Odesa, where unarmed people were burned alive in a building."
"So we did not allow such a tragedy to happen in Crimea and I think we did the right thing. And we are asking to approach this without any prejudice, and in unbiased manner."
"What should be done to restore the confidence [among Russia's business partners]? We need to work together, conduct a dialogue."
13:57
23.5.2014
BREAKING: After his speech, Putin took part in a question-and-answer session in which he said Moscow would respect the will of the Ukrainian people in the May 25 presidential election.
He also said Moscow's big concern is that Ukraine will eventually join NATO.
He also said Moscow's big concern is that Ukraine will eventually join NATO.
13:56
23.5.2014