11:58
16.5.2014
RFE/RL's Tatar-Bashkir Service tells us that Putin's meeting today was with essentially pro-Kremlin Crimean Tatars, unsurprisingly. Participants included MPs Lentun Bezaziev and Edip Gafarov; a former head of the anti-Mejlis group Milli Firka, Waswi Abduraimov; Milli Firka member Dilawer Akmullayev; and the head of the Crimean Generation group, Ruslan Balbek. The delegation was headed by de facto Crimean parliament head Vladimir Konstantinov.
12:02
16.5.2014
Oleksandr Hurov, a 36-year-old coal miner from Novohradovka in eastern Ukraine, says he was kidnapped and tortured by pro-Russian rebels after he took down a separatist flag from the main government building in his hometown. Speaking to RFE/RL at a hospital in Kyiv, Hurov said his captors tried to scrape off a tattoo on his arm with colors associated with the ultranationalist groups and the words, "Glory to Ukraine! Glory to the heroes!"
He said: "You could hear screaming coming from every room. They were torturing people everywhere." From our Ukrainian Service:
He said: "You could hear screaming coming from every room. They were torturing people everywhere." From our Ukrainian Service:
12:37
16.5.2014
13:01
16.5.2014
13:04
16.5.2014
Ukrainian service members from Crimea willing to serve in the Russian armed forces are being sent to the Caucasus, particularly Daghestan, claims Hromadske TV report. (via @EuromaidanPR)
13:09
16.5.2014
Konstantin Dolgov, the Russian Foreign Ministry's special representative for human rights, democracy and the rule of law, has accused ODIHR and the OSCE's High Commissioner on National Minorities of "distorting the reality of the situation in Ukraine"...
..."ignoring evidence of de facto violations by Kyiv authorities"...
...including free expression to downplay extremism...
...and ignoring alleged "reprisals" by "Maidaners" against southeastern Ukrainians:
..."ignoring evidence of de facto violations by Kyiv authorities"...
...including free expression to downplay extremism...
...and ignoring alleged "reprisals" by "Maidaners" against southeastern Ukrainians:
13:14
16.5.2014
13:38
16.5.2014
13:43
16.5.2014
The "Kyiv Post" offers a quality English-language translation of the poem slamming the notion of Russian-Ukrainian "brotherhood" that made 23-year-old Ukrainian-born Anastasiya Dmytruk a YouTube sensation after Russia's annexation of Crimea (the poem was written soon after the occupation began).
Here's the original video, which has now been viewed nearly 1.7 million times:
Here's the original video, which has now been viewed nearly 1.7 million times:
13:57
16.5.2014
From our newsroom:
NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said on May 16 that no one can trust Russia's security guarantees anymore.
Rasmussen, speaking in Bucharest at a news conference with Romanian President Traian Basescu, said Russia in 1994 guranteed Ukraine's sovereignty when Kyiv renounced its Soviet-era nuclear arsenal.
Rasmussen added, "we can't trust such guarantees" after Russia's annexation of Crimea, which he called "a forceful landgrab."
On May 15, Russia said it would guarantee the security of Moldova, which borders both Romania and Ukraine, provided the ex-Soviet country remained neutral.
Rasmussen was in Bucharest to mark the 10th anniversary of Romania's becoming a NATO member.
He reaffirmed that Romania "does not stand alone" in the current crisis and said Bucharest was playing an "exceptional role" in Afghanistan.
Basescu said the Black Sea has become the "soft underbelly" of the alliance and that the presence of Russian troops in the region has upset the security balance.
Based on reporting by hotnews.ro and RFE/RL
NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said on May 16 that no one can trust Russia's security guarantees anymore.
Rasmussen, speaking in Bucharest at a news conference with Romanian President Traian Basescu, said Russia in 1994 guranteed Ukraine's sovereignty when Kyiv renounced its Soviet-era nuclear arsenal.
Rasmussen added, "we can't trust such guarantees" after Russia's annexation of Crimea, which he called "a forceful landgrab."
On May 15, Russia said it would guarantee the security of Moldova, which borders both Romania and Ukraine, provided the ex-Soviet country remained neutral.
Rasmussen was in Bucharest to mark the 10th anniversary of Romania's becoming a NATO member.
He reaffirmed that Romania "does not stand alone" in the current crisis and said Bucharest was playing an "exceptional role" in Afghanistan.
Basescu said the Black Sea has become the "soft underbelly" of the alliance and that the presence of Russian troops in the region has upset the security balance.
Based on reporting by hotnews.ro and RFE/RL