Ukraine News in brief. Sunday 14 January. [Ukrainian sources]

SUNDAY HEADLINES:
In the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs linked new US sanctions with the presidential election. Putin considers communism to be "related to Christianity," and sees the body of Lenin as "the relics of the saints".  Medvedchuk, Bohatyryova, Russian politicians and oligarchs, leaders of the "LNR/DPR" - published a list of individuals who have already fallen under the US sanctions.  The conflict in the Donbass is almost the only one in the world where the United Nations does not intervene at all.  The EU banned entry into the next Putin propagandist.  In the State Duma of the RF are proposing to denounce the treaty on friendship with Ukraine in terms of recognition of borders.

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Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said that new personal sanctions against the Russian Federation would be an attempt to influence the elections
He reminded that new sanctions should be published in early February, TASS reports.

"We treat all this philosophically. We see this as another attempt to influence our internal situation, especially on the eve of the presidential election," Ryabkov said.

As it was reported, the United States promised in the near future to declare the imposition of harsh sanctions against Russia.

espreso.tv  In Ukrainian/український

Russian President Vladimir Putin compares communism with Christianity, and the mausoleum of Vladimir Lenin - with the reverence of the relics of saints

He told about this in an interview for the movie "Balaam", the quotation from which has published the channel "Russia 1".

According to the president, the Orthodox faith has always accompanied the Russians, and during the "hard fighting years," when the priests were destroyed and the temples destroyed, a new religion was created.

"Communist ideology is very similar to Christianity, in fact. Freedom, brotherhood, equality, justice, all this is enshrined in the Scriptures, is everything there." And the code of the founders of communism? This sublimation is a primitive excerpt from the Bible and did not come up with anything new. Lenin put in a mausoleum - how is it different from the relics of saints for the Orthodox, and just for Christians?" - he said.

Putin added that when they talk about the absence of such a tradition in the Christian world, he proposes to go to Athos and look there for the relics of the saints.

"That is, in essence, nothing new was created by the then authorities, it simply adapted to its ideology what humanity has long ago invented", - he concluded.

The propaganda film "Balaam" was shot by admirer Putin, television presenter and journalist Andrei Kondrashov. Previously, he had filmed a film with the
participation of the president of Russia, in particular, the film "Crimea. The Path to the Motherland" (2015), which justifies Russia's armed incursion into the territory of the Ukrainian Crimea.

In his new work Kondrashov promises "as never to reveal Putin's personality and character."

certificate

Volodymyr Ulyanov (Lenin) is a terrorist and leader of the Communist-Bolshevik Party, one of the organizers of the October Revolution of 1917 and the first leader created with his direct involvement of the Soviet Union. He spoke in atheism, which he made one of the foundations of state policy. His body is still in the mausoleum on Red Square in Moscow.

espreso.tv  In Ukrainian/український

The network has a generalized list of US sanctions, which previously hit Russian banks and companies, politicians and oligarchs, as well as the puppets of the Kremlin, settled in the territory of the occupied Crimea and ORDLOs.
This is reported by Tsensor.NET.

Thus, on 28 pages of the new sanctions list, there are several Russian banks (VTB, Gazprombank, Vnesheconombank, Sberbank of Russia, etc.), Lukoil Companies, Rosneft and Rosoboronexport, Gazprom Concern, factories and enterprises operating in the field of defense industry, individuals from among Russian politicians, officials and businessmen, as well as representatives of self-proclaimed authorities on the territory of the occupied Russian Federation and separate regions of Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts.

We also announce that all individuals were included in the list during 2014, as evidenced by program codes.

13660 - Persons and companies against which sanctions were imposed on March 6, 2014;
13661 - Persons and companies against which sanctions were imposed on March 17, 2014;
13662 - Persons and companies against which sanctions were imposed on March 20, 2014;
13685 - Persons and companies against which sanctions were imposed on December 19, 2014.

A complete list of under the US sanctions subjects you can see here.

As previously reported, the end of January ends with a time when the United States must comply with a number of paragraphs of the law on the extension of sanctions against Iran, Russia and North Korea, adopted last summer. The law provides, among other things, for the compilation of a list of government officials, heads of state enterprises, organizations associated with the Russian state, involved in the harassment of human rights in Russia, or the support of Russian aggression against Ukraine.

It was also learned that large Russian businessmen are negotiating with representatives of the Ministry of Finance and the US State Department with a request not to include them in the list of entrepreneurs, close to the political leadership of Russia, against which sanctions will be imposed.

ua.censor.net.ua  In Ukrainian/український

The situation in the Donbass is almost the only conflict in the world in which the UN does not take any part

This was stated by Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Ambassador of Ukraine Roman Bezsmertny on the TV channel ZIK.

"But what is the paradox of the situation? It's almost the only conflict in the world in the postwar period, where the UN does not take any part at all. And the UN, whose essence was to prevent the war, is watching today as two participants, two founding members of the United Nations fight!" - he stressed.

He stressed that Russia is a permanent member of the UN Security Council, but the organization does not affect the country in any way.

"Moreover, the whole year Ukraine on the Security Council is not a permanent member, but Russia is permanent, the year is going to war, and the UN looks at all of this and does not even have a program on energy resources, as regards prisoners of war, because they are not there! Are we treated like this?" - notes Immortal.

espreso.tv  In Ukrainian/український

The Russian political scientist and journalist Oleg Bondarenko, at the request of Poland, was banned from entering the territory of the European Union.

Tass reports.

About the prohibition Bondarenko learned after he failed to pass the passport control at the Berlin Tegel airport.

"At the request of Poland, I am forbidden to enter the territory of the European Union countries without an explanation. The ban lasts for three years," he said.

The political scientist does not understand what the ban is related to, since he visited Poland three years ago. He also states that he has not recently mentioned this country in his materials. In Germany, he arrived to attend the event at the invitation of the Left Party.

Bondarenko added that he would be transported under the escort to the Schönefeld airport in Berlin and from there he will fly to Moscow.

Bondarenko heads the Foundation for Progressive Policy and writes materials for several Russian media.

apostrophe.ua  In Ukrainian/український

The first deputy chairman of the State Duma Committee on the CIS, Eurasian integration and relations with compatriots Kostyantyn Zatulin (United Russia) proposed to denounce the Treaty on Friendship, Cooperation and Partnership between Russia and Ukraine in the part where countries recognize the territorial borders of each other.
It is reported by Tsensor.NET with reference to RIA Novosti.

The MP believes that the contract is "unilaterally advantageous" to Ukraine.

"For, without stipulating the mechanisms of partnership, cooperation and friendship, in the second article of the treaty, we recognize the territorial borders of Ukraine, and they, respectively, ours - at the time of signing and ratification of this document. That is, it is said that, by signing this treaty, Russia 1997, and then, during ratification in 1999, confirmed that she believes, say, Crimea and Sevastopol to be part of the territory of Ukraine," Zatulin said.

According to him, then, in the 90's, the Russian side actively fought against the provisions of the document on the borders.

"Our interpretation of the treaty is that, of course, our recognition of the borders made in this treaty is interrelated with the subject of the treaty: friendship, cooperation and partnership, that is, there is no friendship, cooperation and partnership, the idea is that there is an occasion to that, to say: "So, all issues must be resolved again, including border issues."

Therefore, I will personally suggest and suggest that <...> what we need, at least in the part of this treaty, to denounce it - in part with regard to the second article, namely the recognition of borders," Zatulin said.

The treaty on friendship, cooperation and partnership between Russia and Ukraine is a fundamental document of Russian-Ukrainian relations. It foresees a strategic partnership between the two countries "on the basis of the principles of mutual respect, sovereign equality, territorial integrity, inviolability of borders, peaceful settlement of disputes, non-use of force or threat of force, including economic and other means of pressure."

ua.censor.net.ua  In Ukrainian/український

In Russia, they planned to replace the doping test of national team players during the home-made World Cup, which will take place in the summer of 2018.

This became known to the British edition of Daily Mail, the text of which gives Sports.ru.

"Russia was planning to replace urine specimens during the 2018 World Cup so that the country's football players could use doping with impunity this summer, just as it was at the Winter Olympics in Sochi, according to sources close to Gregory Rodchenkov, the former head of the Moscow Anti-Doping Laboratory"- writes Daily Mail.

According to the publication, FIFA can seriously punish the Russian national team: "FIFA is approaching the 2018 World Cup, trying to investigate and possibly punishing the host country for what seems like the biggest doping scandal that has ever happened in football, which can lead to to the fact that the Russian team will remain without a few players, and this will probably lead to appeals to eliminate Russia from participating in the home world championship."

apostrophe.ua  In Ukrainian/український

Since the beginning of the war in Ukraine in 2014, the United States has been thinking about giving arms to Kiev. Now Washington is ready to decide on this. US President Donald Trump approved a sale of lethal weapons to Ukraine in December , including Javelin anti-tank missile systems. Fearing how not to provoke Russia, the United States was careful in its actions, so that the latter decision was perceived as purely defensive, and not as a means of encouraging hostilities against militants in the East of Ukraine. But Moscow perceives this decision as an aggressive act and will undoubtedly take any response. This is stated in the material of the private American intelligence-analytical company Stratfor, which is at the disposal of the "Apostrophe".

Cautious actions
Although the previous US administration also considered the probability of arms being handed to Ukraine, it decided not to follow this path to avoid escalating the conflict in the Donbas , which became less intense in 2015.

Coming to a position, Trump made it clear that he would follow a similar approach. He preferred to cooperate with Russia on such issues as the war in Ukraine, instead of exacerbating pressure on it. However, during the first year of Truman's presidency, relations between Washington and Moscow only worsened. The Congress imposed more severe sanctions on Russia in 2017 and could take even more stringent measures this year . At the same time, officials from the Trump administration, including Defense Secretary James Mattheys, National Security Advisor Herbert McMaster and US Special Representative for Ukraine Kurt Volker, more resolutely advocated the delivery of lethal weapons to Ukraine.

Nevertheless, the administration acts cautiously in this matter. On the condition of anonymity, a White House official told journalists the Wall Street Journal that Javelin missiles promised by Ukraine would be used only for educational purposes in the west, far from the front line and under the close watch of US troops. Thus, Washington hopes not only to avoid the intensification of hostilities, but also to make sure that its weapons do not fall into the hands of militants and their Russian patrons.

Shot in response
However Moscow did not calm down. After the statement on the arms deal, Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov called the US "a guide to fueling the war." And with this accusation, it is likely that Russia's response will not be limited. For example, Moscow could respond to this step, increasing the support of militants in the Donbass, so that they would have the technical equipment on a par with the Ukrainian military. Deputy of the Ukrainian parliament Dmitry Timchuk said that Russian military are working on the technology of protection of armored vehicles from missiles Javelin . The development of an arsenal of militants may be the best option for Russia to respond to the American agreement on lethal weapons for Ukraine, which will not worsen relations with the United States.

In addition, Moscow may choose an asymmetric response. Russia can use hybrid tactics, which it regularly applies against Ukraine, including targeted killings of security forces and officials, cyberattacks, economic restrictions and political manipulation, in order to exert more pressure on the country and its western partners. The Kremlin could even apply these methods outside of Ukraine, for example, in Syria or in the outskirts of Europe, to pay the United States to strengthen the support of the Ukrainian government. In the end, Russia has repeatedly followed a similar strategy in the past.

The third option for Moscow is to postpone the answer and make a choice in favor of diplomacy. Two months before the upcoming presidential election, the current Russian administration is interested in avoiding the escalation of the conflict in Ukraine and that the United States should not worsen the economic problems of Russia by extending sanctions. Similarly, the continuation of talks with the United States on peacekeeping operations helps Moscow postpone Washington's likely decision to impose stricter sanctions.

apostrophe.ua  In Ukrainian/український

One of the goals of future exercises is to hone skill in aerial large-scale operations

On the Estonian air base in Emara on Sunday, January 14, landed 12 F-16s of the 112th United States Air Force National Guard, Ohio National Guard.

According to the publication ERR, they must take part in international exercises.

Fighters arrived in Emara from the American airbase of Toledo without stopping by road, the press service of the General Staff of the Estonian Defense Forces reports.

According to the Acting Commander of the Air Force Commander of Estonia, Colonel Riviou Valge, one of the goals of future exercises is to hone skills in large-scale air operations. For assistance in these exercises will come and experienced flight guards from Belgium.

Training will last until mid-March. "Air-to-air" exercises will be conducted in the training areas designated for this on the islands and in Western Estonia at altitudes below 1,5 km.

Air-ground exercises will be held at the central ground of the Defense Forces, in the vicinity of which possible flights are also at low altitudes.

Recall that in January, the Commander of the Estonian Defense Forces, Lt. Gen. Rio Terras declared that Russia is preparing for hostilities against NATO member states.

glavcom.ua  In Ukrainian/український

Russian President Vladimir Putin in recent days marked "peaceful" statements about Ukraine. The sharp change in tone towards Kyiv is dictated by the desire of the Kremlin to impose a "hybrid world" instead of a hybrid war.

This opinion was expressed by the Ukrainian journalist and political scientist Vitaly Portnikov in a blog on the site" Radio Liberty".

According to the journalist, the Putin campaign and the actions of the Russian president after his re-election will be held under the banner of "peacekeeping", although Putin is not interested in peace with Ukraine.

"The hybrid war that Putin has driven against Ukraine over the past three years has to change to a" hybrid world. "And the" hybrid world "is far more dangerous than a hybrid war: so the" hybrid peace "is to preserve the lives of all those hundreds, and maybe thousands of people who will surely perish if the hybrid war continues, but the meaning of the "hybrid peace" is to make the Ukrainian state itself die, "he writes.

Portniki suggests that the Kremlin can stop hostilities in the Donbass and even withdraw Russian troops and mercenaries from there, but they will be replaced by peacekeepers, in particular from countries that sympathize with Russia.

"Ukrainian control over the territory will be restored only after the implementation of the Minsk Agreements by Ukraine - that is, after granting the autonomous status of the Donbas part, in other words, in the coming years, and the pressure on Kiev will be from Moscow, from Berlin, and from Paris. even from Washington. From the problem of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, Donbass will turn into a major pain for Ukraine itself, "the journalist predicts.

At the same time, he said, in the territory that will formally be considered Ukrainian, Russian television channels will continue to operate, Russian goods sold, the concept of the Russian world will be taught, and smuggling will blow. At the same time, part of the Western political elite, which will advocate for the lifting of sanctions against Russia, will intensify.

"In Ukraine itself will loudly vote the voices of those who will demand an agreement with Russia and" hear "the Donbas ... Minsk agreements will then be finally implemented, Donbass will become a state in the state, Crimea will disappear from the Ukrainian agenda. to Moscow it is profitable to sell Ukrainian sovereignty", - writes Portnikov.

"It's a hybrid peace plan, it's very important for Ukraine not to get into this trap, it's very important to understand that the world is not hybrid." In the hybrid war, real people are dying, and the "hybrid world" destroys true states, "he concludes.

As reported by Obozrevatel, formerly Russian President Vladimir Putin announced his readiness to transfer warships and aircraft technology from occupied Crimea to Ukraine.

obozrevatel.com  In Ukrainian/український

The Council of Europe is considering reinstating Russia’s voting and other rights which were withdrawn after Russia’s invasion and annexation of Crimea in 2014 and then its military intervention in Eastern Ukraine. None of the conditions for the reinstatement of these rights have been met and Crimea remains under occupation with the ever-mounting human rights abuses making the reference given to the Council of Europe’s ‘human rights mandate’ as excuse for removing sanctions seem particularly disingenuous.

The situation is undoubtedly difficult. In June 2017, three years after its voting rights at the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe [PACE] were stopped, Russia suspended its annual payment to CE, claiming this to be over the ‘crisis’ in PACE. That was presented as an attempt to punish Russia for what was termed the “free expression of the will of Crimean residents to join Russia”, with Russian PACE delegates alleged to be facing “persecution”. The statement only hinted at other consequences, including to its participation in the European Court of Human Rights, but this may have been spelled out in further detail during a telephone conversation between Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and CE Secretary General, Thorbjorn Jagland. It was also stated very bluntly on October 9 by Valentina Matviyenko, speaker of the Federation Council (upper house) and long-time associate of Russian President Vladimir Putin. She threatened that Russia would not recognize European Court of Human Rights [ECHR] judgements “until conditions are created for the Russian delegation’s return to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe”.

Since then there have been indications that Russia’s none-too-subtle blackmail may work, with a recent Financial Times article, directly quoting Jagland, strongly suggesting that he would be in favour of restoring Russia’s voting rights to keep them in the club.

FT reports that Jagland is “touring European capitals warning of a serious risk that Moscow could withdraw or crash out of the 47-member body unless its demands are met”.

“It would really be very, very bad if Russia was to leave . . . because the convention and court has been so important for Russian citizens,” Jagland told them, and “a negative development for Europe, because we will have a Europe without Russia. It would be a big step back for Europe.”

The loss for Russian citizens of access to what is often the only court where they can hope for justice would indeed be enormous. The loss to the Council of Europe’s credibility and to what Jagland calls its human rights mandate by caving in to overt blackmail would be disastrous.

The Secretary General did not mention the fact that Russia has already placed its compliance with ECHR judgements in question. In December 2015, Putin signed into force a law which allows Russia to flout the ECHR by claiming that its judgements are in violation of Russia’s Constitution.

Russia has thus far only resorted to a Constitutional Court ‘ruling’ once, to enable it to not pay the two billion Euros in compensation it owed victims of its illegal seizure of YUKOS. The excuse given by this ‘court; was that the ECHR had violated Russia’s Constitution by trying to force the government to pay a large amount of money that could instead by spent on domestic Russian needs.

Mr Jagland should not be under any illusions as to the Constitutional Court’s likely ruling over any of the multiple cases brought by Ukraine over Russia’s annexation of Crimea.

It should be noted also that, while not directly refusing to comply with ECHR judgements, Russia is simply flouting them. There are numerous examples related to Ukrainian citizens held prisoner in Crimea or Russia. Just one is the fact that Oleg Sentsov, Oleksandr Kolchenko, Ruslan Zeytullaev and many other political prisoners are being held thousands of kilometres from their homes. This is in direct breach of an ECHR judgement (the Case of Polyakova and others vs. Russia).

There are numerous cases awaiting consideration by the ECHR regarding Russia’s torture, abduction, imprisonment, foisted citizenship, etc. of Ukrainian citizens. It is very likely that Russia will find excuses to not comply with those judgements as well.

Given the criminal proceedings and real terms of imprisonment imposed for mere criticism of Russia’s invasion and occupation, the chances of cases actually reaching the Court in Strasbourg also seem remote. Russia has in all seriousness charged Ukrainians like journalist Mykola Semena, Crimean Tatar leader Ilmi Umerov and Crimean Tatar activist Suleyman Kadyrov with ‘public calls to violate Russia’s territorial integrity’ for expressing the same position as that taken by the UN, OSCE and, yes, PACE.

All of this makes it difficult to take the following attempt to justify giving in to Russia seriously. Mr Jagland says that he believes that Russia could leave ECHR and continues: ““Nobody wants to give a signal that we accept the annexation of Crimea. It is not about undermining this position of principle. But . . . we have to keep in perspective: what is our mandate. Our mandate is to protect human rights in Russia and Crimea, or wherever people live on the continent.”

Russia is currently holding over 60 Ukrainians prisoner on politically-motivated charges or because of their faith. This number is likely to rise, and, at least with the respect to the majority of Crimean Tatars and other Ukrainians in Crimea, it will, in all probability, refuse to comply with ECHR judgements.....................

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