Ukraine crisis. News in brief. Saturday 05 December [Ukrainian sources]

SATURDAY

Please scroll down to view news items added during the course of the day

News -
Putin's terrorists fired 11 times last night at Ukrainian positions.
Sadly reading, one Ukrainian soldier killed, three wounded yesterday.

Weather -
Warmer. +4 at 0900. And tomorrow should be warmer still. All the snow from 01 December has gone.
But lots of standing water around still. Cloudy. About +7 at 1400.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/law-and-order/12034304/Ukrainian-oligarchs-clash-in-court-over-2bn-business-deal-amid-claims-of-murder-and-bribery.html
Feuding Ukrainian oligarchs have launched what promises to be one of the most expensive court cases in English legal history over a disputed business deal, amid allegations of murder, bribery and political intrigue.

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How else did oligarchs make their billions? Of course it all involved corruption, murder, bribery.
Just look at Abramovich's past in Russia! Akhmetov and the rest of the Yanukovich clan. Frankly nothing new. These people are all evil bandits as far as I can tell.
You don't make billions without "removing" some or all of your opponents - business rivals, and bribing judges and others. Not in Russia, not in Ukraine.

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/05/world/europe/russian-truckers-protest-tolls.html?_r=0
...“There is no economic program at all — where is all the money?” said Vladimir Romanov, 65, the part-owner of a small Moscow trucking firm with three 18-wheelers. “The country is very rich, yet we live like hell.”...
Under the new system, drivers must buy a tracking device and pay according to their mileage. An 800-mile round trip between Moscow and St. Petersburg costs an extra $33 at current exchange rates and will rise to $66 next March....
Some analysts consider the protests proof that what is widely called the “television” — government propaganda about Russia’s rising status in the world — is losing its edge over the “fridge,” or economic problems....
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Domestic problems beginning to come to the fore in heavily media-controlled autocratic Russia.

www.bloomberg.com/energy/
Putin's funding for his war machine is in serious trouble.
He is having to raise new taxes at home, and the people - notably the truckers - are beginning to revolt.
Amazingly WTI still doesn't want to drift below 40.00. It went briefly to 39.9 yesterday, but not for long.
Today
Crude Oil & Natural Gas
INDEX UNITS PRICE CHANGE %CHANGE CONTRACT TIME ET 2 DAY
WTI Crude Oil (Nymex)
USD/bbl. 40.14 -0.94 -2.29% JAN 16 2015-12-04
Brent Crude (ICE)
USD/bbl. 43.00 -0.84 -1.92% JAN 16 2015-12-04
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Brent has really fallen also. 43.00. Putin's Urals oil is priced between WTI and Brent. So probably about 41.5.
Remember the revised Russian budget is based on an oil price of 50 dollars a barrel. And the price is now about 20% lower.
Therefore government revenue will fall a further 10%. Something like this.
The problems grow and grow for Putin.
Will he push for early elections, before things simply get too bad for Russia?
Or will the Kremlin decide it is time for him to go, and for a change at the top?

http://www.rigzone.com/news/oil_gas/a/141905/WTI_Breaches_40_Level_Brent_Falls_to_a_6Year_Low_at_4249bbl
The WTI front-month contract settled on the NYMEX at $39.94/bbl Wednesday, down about 4 percent; Brent on the ICE, settled at $42.49/bbl, down about 4.4 percent. WTI’s fall below the $40/bbl level was the first time since August of this year, and Brent’s collapse was a low not seen since March 2009.
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All good news for Ukraine.
This helps to reduce inflation. Otherwise there might have been a third Maidan.
Of course, for Ukraine, the price fall is offset by the rise in the strength of the dollar. Effectively - no change here at the pumps.
see also
WTI Crude Crashes Below $40 On OPEC Delegate "No Cut" Comments
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-12-02/wti-crude-slumps-40-further-opec-delegate-comments
nice graph!

http://www.themoscowtimes.com/news/article/victory-day-parade-rehearsals-mean-december-road-closures-in-moscow/551798.html
Moscow residents can expect traffic restrictions in the city this month, as rehearsals for the May 9 Victory Day parade get under way, the state-run TASS news agency reported Friday.
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Opposition groups have been calling for protests in Moscow.
is this Putin's way of stopping them? Rehearsals for a parade on May 09? MAY!!!
The authorities have already rejected one request for a demo - yes, based on these "rehearsals".... Dodgy... typically KGB Putin - control the masses.

http://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-egypt-exports-russia-idUKKBN0TO09020151205
The sanctions prohibit Russia from importing a list of agricultural products from Turkey including fruits and vegetables such as tomatoes, onions, cucumbers, grapes, apricots and apples, as well as chicken products and salt...
"We are targeting an increase in our agricultural exports to Russia by 15 percent over the coming year in light of the restrictions Russia has imposed on Turkish imports," an official at the ministry of trade told Reuters...
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I don't see that helping Turkish - Egyptian relations.

In Moscow he committed suicide one of the militants, who fought on the side of the "DNR". This was told by his sister of Bosnian origin Acts Berici transmit "News of Donbass". According to him, Artem Nurgatin, who was known by the call sign Beam, blamed himself for the death of 35 militants near the airport of Donetsk, who were under his supervision. "Never could he forgive himself, he blamed himself for the quick death of our children, and nothing could change that," - writes Berici. According Berici, Nurgatin came from Rostov-on-Don to join the ranks of illegal armed groups in the Donbas. In his interview, he told how the re-formed in Russia, and then fought against Ukrainian soldiers when he was commander of the "1st International Brigade."

newsdaily.com.ua In Russian

The popular Russian rock band Va-Bank released a new music video on Wednesday. It's called "And After Berlin" and is a cover version of the 1980s song "First We Take Manhattan," by Canadian singer Leonard Cohen. The Russian text contains current political messages. International sanctions, Crimea and the Soviet dictator Josef Stalin are mentioned before the chorus comes: "First we take Manhattan, then we take Berlin."

A rock band sings about taking Berlin; politicians and the media threaten a nuclear attack. The war rhetoric in Russia is impossible to ignore. But there's a different mood within Russian society.

Since the annexation of Crimea, war and conquest fantasies have become commonplace in Russia. You hear them from politicians, journalists and pundits. Apocalyptic photomontages depicting a future war between Europe and the United States are making the rounds on social media. One such photo shows a Russian tank in a demolished Paris with the caption "Tank tours in Europe."

The threat of nuclear weapons - something that Russians have previously tried to avoid - now surfaces regularly. March 16, 2014, is the day the taboo was broken. That's the day that a referendum seen internationally as illegitimate was held on Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula, which was occupied by Russian troops. "Russia is the only country in the world that is truly capable of turning the USA into a heap of radioactive ash," star moderator Dmitri Kisseljov said on state television.

Since then, prominent personalities have continued to swing the nuclear club. Right-wing populist Vladimir Shirinovsky, the deputy parliamentary chairman, has threatened to reduce first Kyiv, then Berlin, then Washington to dust. Most recently, he was toying with the idea of throwing a nuclear bomb into the Black Sea near Istanbul. Then the Turkish city would be washed away by a giant wave, Shirinovsky reasoned during an appearance before parliament on Tuesday.

Sociologist Denis Volkov, of the renowned Levada research center, says such comments are a means of testing public opinion. "It would be much more serious, if Putin were to say in a documentary film that Russia was prepared to use atomic weapons in the Crimea dispute," he told DW.

War in the air....................

To read further go to this link: time-ua.com  

Berlin is not going to cooperate with the Russian military in the fight against ISIS. The head of the German Federal Chancellery Peter Altmaier told Spiegel.

Censor.NET reports citing TASS.

According Altmaier neither Germany nor the European Union will not help Syrian President Bashar Assad and loyal troops.

"Together with Russia, we sit at the same table in Vienna, he said, referring to the political process on the Syrian crisis. At the same time, we are not going, for sure, to enter into a military alliance with Russia to fight against ISIS," Altmaier said.

On Friday, Germany's Bundestag has approved contribution to the military efforts against Islamic State in Syria. 445 out of 598 MPs voted for military action with 146 voting against. Seven members of Bundestag abstained.

Germany will deploy six Tornado reconnaissance jets, a frigate to back up the French aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle already present in Syrian waters, a refueling aircraft, and up to 1,200 troops to Syria. Berlin says the mission will be of support nature only, as the German air detachment will not take any part in the airstrikes against Islamic State's targets.

Moreover, the 1,200-strong Bundeswehr task force's deployment in Syria approved by the German parliament Friday might be reinforced by elite special forces, the KSK, according to local media.

censor.net.ua In Russian

Ukrainian citizens have filed about 700 lawsuits with the European Court of Human Rights in connection with the military aggression in the east of the country, Ukrainian Justice Minister Pavlo Petrenko has said.

"Approximately three weeks ago we counted some 700 such claims, and their number is increasing," the minister told journalists in Kyiv on Thursday at a meeting with regional representatives of judicial authorities.

According to Petrenko, Ukraine is awaiting the first ECHR ruling on these lawsuits.

As reported, the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine plans to focus on creating a precedent in the judgments of the ECHR on the lawsuits of Ukraine citizens against Russia for the compensation for damages as a result of the armed aggression, to allow the remaining claims of Ukrainians considered similar.................

interfax.com.ua

On Saturday at the National Military Medical Clinical Centre "The Main Military Clinical gospіtal" (Kiev), a solemn ceremony of handing over military doctors of the medical equipment provided by the Ukrainian Diaspora in the US, the press service of the Ukrainian Defense Ministry.

"Ukrainians US state of Washington, with the support of the" Circle of caring friends "and the Ukrainian Embassy in the United States collected and submitted to the National Military Medical Clinical Centre" The Main Military Clinical Hospital "40-foot shipping container with medical supplies. The contents of the consignment is biometric and diagnostic equipment, hygiene products, disposable drug clothes, supplies and the like. The total value of aid amounted to more than $ 800 thousand. "- Said in a statement that conveys the" Interfax-Ukraine ".

In turn, the head of the National Military Medical Clinical Centre, Major-General of Medical Service, Anatoly Kazmirchuk thanked the organizers for their help, and said that the provision of medical equipment will be used to maximize the help wounded soldiers who are being treated in hospital.

"In order for the physician can provide quality and valuable assistance, only his knowledge, unfortunately, not enough. In the arsenal of the physician should be high-quality equipment, modern diagnostic tools and essential drugs. And the help we have received today will be used for their intended purpose at all levels ", - said A.Kazmirchuk.

glavcom.ua In Russian

Second President of Ukraine Leonid Kuchma and his son in law, businessman Victor Pinchuk should be immediately arrested and verify their involvement in a series of murders and other crimes.
This was stated by head of the Ukrainian National Conservative Party, Oleg Soskin, reported osp-ua.info.

"Lawyers Pinchuk in the London court Kolomoisky accused of involvement in the murder. Maybe then we have to blame and Pinchuk, for example, together with Kuchma of involvement in the murder of Gongadze?" - He said.

Soskin also stressed the need to verify these Pinchuk Kuchma and "the killings of many other people."

"We have to investigate the murder of Chornovil, figure out why the death of Volodymyr Romaniuk, who he strangled in the botanical garden. It is necessary to investigate the actions of Kuchma, when he gave the order to the beating of the funeral procession, why remember? It should be the same in the court file. Kuchma and Pinchuk should immediately arrest "- he concluded.
Earlier, in an address Ukrainian businessman Igor Kolomoisky at the London court sounded accusations of involvement in the murder.

obozrevatel.com In Russian

Karelian opposition accused of aiding activists blockade temporarily occupied by the Russian Federation Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea, which undermined the power lines on the mainland Ukraine. Such a conclusion was made ​​from the mouth of the Head of Karelia Alexander Khudilainen, quoted him Flashnord. "As regard the actions of the Russian and Karelian" fifth column ", which protests against the reunification of the Crimea with Russia? "- he asked." Is not aiding terrorists who blew up on the Ukrainian territory is de-energized power lines and Crimean villages and cities? "- said Khudilainen.

s reported by the "Observer", formerly Prime Minister of Ukraine Arseniy Yatsenyuk said that by undermining the power lines in the Kherson region may involve Russians.

obozrevatel.com In Russian