Ukraine News in brief. Saturday 5 August. [Ukrainian sources]

SATURDAY

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TODAY'S HEADLINES:
Trump and Macron on the phone discussed the situation in Ukraine.  U.S. sanctions as means for Putin to mobilize electorate.  In RusThe FBI suspects that Russia conducted a campaign of misinformation in social networks on the eve of the presidential elections in the United States.  In Russia they pointed out Putin's complete failure in Ukraine and gave a forecast for a large-scale offensive of the Russian Federation.  In Poland, a scandal flares because of the accusation of the Minister of Defense in relations with Russia: Poland accelerated negotiations on the purchase of Patriot missiles from the United States.  Russian invaders in the Donbas want to replenish the ranks of terrorists with Ukrainian refugees in Russia.  

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President of the United States Donald Trump and French President Emmanuel Macron on the phone discussed a number of topical issues of international politics, including the situation in Ukraine.

As the Tsenzor.NET citing ZN.UA, according to the press service of the White House, in particular, they "reaffirmed the importance of the implementation of the Minsk agreements by all parties to achieve a peaceful settlement in Ukraine."

Also, the presidents talked about the situation in Syria, North Korea, Venezuela.

Recall, in August, a meeting should be held at the level of political advisors to the presidents of the countries participating in the "Norman Quartet". This is Ukraine, France, Germany, Russia.

ua.censor.net.ua, Original in Ukrainian / на українському

The introduction of new sanctions by the United States was hardly a shocker to Russia. Indeed, Moscow may be a bit confused at the fact that the events are developing a bit off their plan: the Kremlin did not expect such a sharp blow and in such a short time after the presidential election. But in general, Russia sees the whole situation as clear and predictable.

I think Russia will present a double response to the U.S. move. In statements and general rhetoric, Russia will show it’s taking up the challenge. At the same time, Russia will demonstrate a stubborn and rigid stance. At least this will be the case until presidential elections in Russia in early 2018.

By and large, this kind of development is beneficial for Putin and his team, because it keeps his electorate mobilized, reducing the chances for internal protests and internal pluralism. So there is no doubt that the Russian authorities will take advantage of the situation. With regard to a more pragmatic aspect, it is clear that the sanctions do not play into the hands of the Russian ruling elite – they hurt them. Therefore, Russia at the margins of "underwater diplomacy" will seek opportunities to mitigate or circumvent these sanctions, and in to have them completely removed in the future. Russia is not so much surprised by Trump's decision to sign the law on sanctions, they didn’t quite expect though such unanimity in the American political elite, and that both the U.S. Congress and Senate would be able to gain so many votes to pass the bill. Apparently, this came as a surprise to Moscow. Meanwhile, this whole thing with the delay of Trump’s signing of the ‘Russia Sanctions Act’ and his comments on this legislation (claiming it’s unconstitutional) is about transferring the accents to the plane of the internal political struggle in the U.S. This was expected. Even had Trump not signed the sanctions act, this would also have been an element of the internal political struggle, and this would have also been a tactical step on the part of Trump. Signing the act is fighting the opposition one way, while not signing it is fighting the same opposition by other means. Therefore, the signing by Trump was not so important for Russia..........................

Access complete text of the editorial:  unian.info/politics In English

The Kremlin's plan to build on the part of Ukraine's so-called "Novorossiia" failed, like other ideas of Vladimir Putin.

The famous blogger and financier Slava Rabinovich speaks about this in the column on "Apostrophe".

"In Ukraine, almost everything, based on Putin's original plan, failed. The annexation of Crimea along with the land corridor collapsed, the Nazi idea of ​​Novorossiysk failed and, in my opinion, it's all gone to the train for Putin in all respects," says the he .

Rabinovich stressed that in the long run Putin continues to hope for freezing the conflict in the Donbass. The purpose of the Kremlin in this matter is the loosening of the economy and the political destabilization of Ukraine. If this scenario succeeds, Putin plans to expand his sphere of influence on Ukraine, says Rabinovich.

"Any potential escalation under the status quo of the Ukrainian side will mean an accelerated fall of its regime, as sanctions will be strengthened against it. Therefore, a full-scale offensive against Ukraine, it seems to me, is now impossible for him, as it will be a suicidal move," - Rabinovich said, noting that Putin had been already strangely surprised by "suicidal" actions.

"This is a real crazy gangster who has a nuclear weapon - this should not be forgotten," added the blogger.

apostrophe.ua, Original in Ukrainian / на українському

The leadership of the terrorist organization "Luhansk People's Republic", under the guise of investment, steals funds that enter the occupied territory from the Russian Federation.

This is reported by the Main Directorate of Intelligence of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine.

"The head of the so-called" LNR "I. Plotnitsky and close circle of his supporters is theft of financial revenues from the Russian Federation in the guise of" investing "in the development of networks of food stores and gas stations. Percent of "invested" funds under the threat of termination of their private business ", - said in an intelligence message.

In addition, they said that the command of the Russian occupation troops considers the Russian leadership's program "Repatriation of refugees on the Donbas" as an additional source of replenishment of Russian occupation troops in eastern Ukraine.

For this purpose, lists of vacancies of specialties adjacent to the military are formed for further transmission to the Krasnodar public organization "Center for the development of the region". In addition, the FSB of the Russian Federation has intensified work in Russia to identify potential returnees of persons who at one time received professional training in "scarce" military-account specialties.

apostrophe.ua , Original in Ukrainian / на українському

The Polish Ministry of Defense has filed a lawsuit against journalist Tomasz Pyontek, who accused the head of the defense ministry of the country, Antony Mazurevich, in communications with Russian military men in his book "Macerevich and his secrets".

It is reported by "Radio Liberty" .

The Ministry of Defense accuses journalists of "using force or threats against an employee of a government agency" and in "public image or humiliation of the constitutional office."

In the case of a conviction, Pontek is threatened with 3 years of imprisonment.

In turn, the OSCE and 10 press freedom organizations, including Reporters Without Borders, and Freedom House, called on the Polish authorities to restrain and protect media freedom in the country, while Matsurevich - to stop the prosecution of a journalist.

Pontek himself stated on August 4 that he never threatened the minister and sees no grounds for a lawsuit. According to him, the assumptions about Russian communications of Matsurevich are confirmed by many sources and can have serious consequences for Poland and NATO.

It should be noted that on July 11th the German edition Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung published a material about suspicious Russian contacts of the Polish Defense Minister.

apostrophe.ua , Original in Ukrainian / на українському

Experts from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) of the United States believe that some accounts on social networks, through which fake news spread during the presidential campaign in the US in 2016, were part of the Russian campaign for misinformation.

According to Censor.NET, with reference to Espreso , the FBI notes that a few months before the election, Twitter and Facebook became sites for spreading viral "news" about conspiracies and hoaxes, many of which contained negative false information about the candidate Hillary Clinton.

FBI analysts found that some user accounts of social networks that were behind the spread of fake news were foreign. They came to the conclusion that at least some of them were part of the Russian misinformation campaign.

censor.net.ua, Original in Russian / На русском

In the framework of the Wisla air defense system, Poland intends to purchase anti-missile installations Patriot (Patriot), which are in service with the US Army.

As the Censor reports.No referring to Radio Poland , according to the vice-minister of national defense of Poland Bartosz Kovnatsky, by the end of the year, a corresponding contract may be signed.

Kovnatsky explained that negotiations with the US concern a contract for about 30 billion zlotys (8.1 billion dollars) and that in each state this kind of negotiations last a very long time. According to him, acceleration in resolving this issue has been observed in the last two months.

"Poland currently has a decisive position on the purchase of missiles." At present, we are practically unarmed in the field of air defense, " Said Kovnatsky.

The Vice Minister of Defense also added that a whole staff of people takes part in negotiations with the US, but it is necessary to take into account that the negotiation process as a whole is rather complicated in view of the nuances of the legal system.

ua.censor.net.ua, Original in Ukrainian / на українському

The Russian-occupation troops in the Donbass want to be upgraded by repatriating refugees from the east of Ukraine, who now reside on the territory of the Russian Federation.

As the Censor reports.No , this is stated in a message on the Facebook page of the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine.

As noted, the command of the Russian occupation forces is considering the program of the Russian leadership "Repatriation of refugees to the Donbass" as an additional source of human resource supplies for the replenishment of personnel and units of the Russian Armed Forces.

"To this end, lists of vacancies for specialties adjacent to the military are formed for the subsequent transfer to the Krasnodar public organization" Center for the Development of the Region. "Along with this, representatives of the FSB of the Russian Federation intensified work on the territory of Russia in identifying among potential immigrants persons who, Vocational training on "scarce".

ua.censor.net.ua , Original in Ukrainian / на українському

The head of the promoter company Top Rank, representing the interests of Vasily Lomachenko, Bob Arum criticized the Russian President Vladimir Putin for not showing the battle of the Ukrainian champion in Russia.

"Shame for Vladimir Putin forbidding the broadcast of the defense of the title of Vasily Lomachenko on Russian television," Arum wrote on Twitter.

"Let's hope the White House will not stop showing ESPN," - he also wrote a promoter.



The battle between Lomachenko and Colombian Miguel Mariaga will be held on August 6 at 5:00 pm Kyiv time. The Ukrainian boxer will defend his champion belt in the second half-lightweight WBO version.

apostrophe.ua, Original in Ukrainian / на українському

On August 4, on the beach of Chkalovsky in the Adler district of the Russian city of Sochi, a stream of dark liquid broke from under the pebbles, according to the portal "BlogSochi" . The administration of the city refuted the assumptions of social network users that they were impurities. "The release of drinking water provoked the accident on the main water pipes with a diameter of 800 mm on the street Meadow. This resulted in a flush impurities soil and earth from the walls of storm collector, which gave the appropriate color flow".



gordonua.com , Original in Ukrainian / на українському

Ex-Ambassador of Russia to the United States Sergey Kislyak said about transparency and the lack of secret issues during his meetings with former adviser to the US president, Michael Flynn.

Deutsche Welle informs.

"We were talking about the simplest things. There are a few topics that are important for the interaction between Russia and the United States, first and foremost, it's terrorism." The communication was absolutely correct, calm, absolutely transparent, no secrets from our side ever happened, "he noted.

At the same time, Kislyak indicated that, if necessary, he was ready to testify in connection with the scandal surrounding the "Russian trace" in the election of the US president exclusively in Russia.

"I would testify or speak only to the Russian parliament," he said, answering the question of the possibility of addressing an American court or Congress.

Earlier, the US Department of Justice  appointed  former FBI director Robert Muller  as an adviser on investigations of  possible links between Trump Election Headquarters and Russia during the 2016 elections.

The media reported that Mueller would pay particular attention to the study of the actions of ex-leader of the election campaign of US President Donald Trump  Paul Manafort and former adviser on national security Michael Flynn.

On August 2, the US Senate approved a new head of the Federal Bureau of Investigation instead of James Comey.

espreso.tv , Original in Ukrainian / на українському  

After 2014, the question put in the headline does not look like a fantasy any more. Theoretically, everything can be. And Russia's aggression against Poland can also take place. In one form or another. Back in 2010, the Russians cynically suggested that the Poles should not mourn the victims of the Smolensk disaster, but rather remember the "valuable gift" that the country received from the USSR. "On April 21, 1945, the territory of Poland, thanks to the efforts of the Soviet Union, grew by a third - at the expense of the Silesia and the Baltic coast seized from Germany, " Pravda.ru wrote .

Now, what was "gifted" in 1945, Russia considers it possible to return back. At least, she transparently hints at such an opportunity - like the self-proclaimed successor to the USSR and the world history master. It is difficult to say what such hints in the Kremlin are trying to achieve? Fear and obedience? While such a game of muscle causes only dislike - as noted by the American sociological center Pew Research Center, 65% of Poles believe Russia is the biggest external threat. And this is the largest indicator among countries, the mood inside of which were investigated.

However, what "did Poland" commit to Putin ?

"He's a monument!"

It all started with the decontamination law that was adopted in Poland. On July 17 of this year, President Andrzej Duda approved the amendments to it . What does the document say? On the demolition of monuments of the Soviet era, including memorials in honor of the Red Army. The law will enter into force three months after it was signed, and then all the monuments of the Red Army will be dismantled within 12 months. According to the estimates of the Institute of the National Memory of Poland, this is 230 out of 469 of all other Soviet monuments.''



Why did this issue become relevant right now? Actually, talking about "now" is not entirely correct. The irritation of the remnants of Sovietization accumulated all the time, and sometimes spilled into acts of desecration of such places. Therefore, the problem should be solved. In addition, there is an opinion that Poles were impressed by the positive experience of Ukraine, where the dismantling of monuments (in particular, our "Leninist") continues mainly without significant excesses.

Local media, in particular, the "Polish radio", never tired of explaining : "The decommunization law does not provide for the liquidation of monuments on the graves of Soviet soldiers, it is only about those monuments that are not connected with burial." That is, you can forget about desecrating graves. We are talking about the elimination of abstract compositions on the theme of the triumph of communism, not connected with any place of someone's repose.

But in Moscow everyone understood as they wanted to understand. Clinging to a very sensitive topic - the theme of "birthmarks" that remained from the era of the enslavement of the Soviet Union Eastern Europe, the Kremlin took the decision of the Polish Sejm and the Polish president as a regular casus belli and could no longer stop. Perhaps, the oil added to the fire and imposed by America sanctions, the discussion of which coincided chronologically with the latest steps of Poland. But while Putin has not directly threatened the signatory of Trumpu's sanctions (except for the threat of the expulsion of US diplomats). Therefore, it was decided to recoup in Poland.

Putin's "asymmetry"

, Original in Russian / На русском ru.krymr.com