Ukraine crisis. News in brief. Wednesday 09 December [Ukrainian sources]

WEDNESDAY

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

News -
Putin attacks 39 times yesterday. Including use of Grad, 120mm mortars etc - banned under Minsk.
Update - no dead, but 5 soldiers injured by Russian attacks.  

Weather -
Cooler this morning. -2. And may only reach +2 today. But no snow. )
Forecast - for more of the same. +2, +3, and 0 at night.

Footie -
Shakhtar lost, as expected, in Paris. But only 2-0.
As Madrid beat Malmo - 8-0 wow.. I think Shakhtar now go into the Europa league. (3rd place teams)
Tonight - big game for Dynamo v Maccabi. If they win, they go through to the knock-out stages!

http://tyzhden.ua/News/153489
During the night, terrorists opened fire 39 times...
"Militants opened fire several times on positions ATU forces in the village of Pisky with small arms, heavy machine gun, automatic grenade launchers and 120 mm mortars," - said in a statement.
In addition, the terrorists were repeatedly aimed fire from grenade launchers and small arms on Shyrokyno. In addition, there worked and snipers invaders.
"Last night two bandits used multiple rocket launcher BM-21" Grad ", causing a point-blank shot on the outskirts of the village Zoryanya in the Donetsk region. With 120- and 82-mm mortars on the outskirts of Luhansk, Krasnogorovka, Verhnotoretskoho and Zaitsev. In addition, the direction Verhnotoretsko conducted from the tank fire, "- noted in the press center.
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More and more use of banned weapons by Putin's terrorists.

http://zik.ua/news/2015/12/09/yes_skasuie_vizy_dlya_ukrainy_i_gruzii_v_seredyni_2016__die_welt_652351
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They've said this many times, and keep moving the date forward - who knows?
The Ukrainian government must be worried that all the young people will simply leave, and go and work illegally in Germany.
And nobody left for the armed forces.
But now - with all the immigrants from Syria, Africa, Asia, the market must be swamped.
And Ukrainians are not too good at languages, from what I've seen. So maybe the effect won't be too great.
But both sides keep moving the goal posts.

7:55
http://nnovosti.info/news/nazvana_meta_1_putina_na_donbasi-2427.html
Russian President Vladimir Putin is using his control of terrorists "DNR" and "LNR" tol aggravate the situation in the Donbas to provoke Ukrainian military and accuse Kyiv of failing to Minsk II. It said military expert, chief editor of "News resistance" Yuri Karin.
"All this is due to the fact that the term of Minsk II expires at the end of the year. Now Putin will climb to accuse Ukrainian armed forces in disrupting agreements. This is due to the fact that for the head of the Kremlin's continuing Minsk-2 - the continuation of sanctions or even strengthen, "- he said.
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My list of Putin's aims -
1. Destabilize Ukraine.
2. Kill people. (The Russian people believe this is the sign of a great "empire". )
3. Destract the average Russian peasant from their declining standard of living, by blaming "fascists", or "Americans" or Banderovski, or Syrians, or anybody except Putin himself.

http://www.themoscowtimes.com/business/article/oil-prices-near-seven-year-low-add-to-rubles-woes/552234.html
...The Russian ruble reacted to troubled oil prices by extending its losing streak, with Raffeisenbank analyst Maria Pomelnikova quoting the need to pay off a portion of the country's foreign-currency loans in December as likely to increase downward pressure on the currency, the newspaper reported Monday
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I simply can't believe that Putin is playing around with war games while his country is imploding.
America doesn't need any CIA to bring down Russia. Putin is doing all the work himself.

http://www.themoscowtimes.com/business/article/number-of-russians-traveling-abroad-suffers-biggest-drop-in-15-years/552236.html
...From January to September, there has been a 31.4 percent drop in journeys abroad when compared to the same period in 2014, Tyurina said....
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The Russian middle classes are hurting - directly as a result of Putin's war games. But will they react? Unlikely. Probably too scared by far of the dictator supreme.

http://www.themoscowtimes.com/news/article/yanukovych-wants-political-comeback/552231.html
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And I want to play football for Barcelona. The guy is as deluded as Putin!

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http://dif.org.ua/ua/publications/press-relizy/fdsgfdhh.htm
A referendum on NATO membership would surely have won 75% of the vote would support Ukraine's accession to NATO. Moreover, this result is 11% higher than would be the summer of 2015 in a hypothetical referendum (64%) at about the same expected appearance.
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All of Putin's doing. But can somebody explain that to the British looneys like Stalinist Seumas Milne and Corbyn? Or the French fascist right, like Le Pen?

http://www.wsj.com/articles/imf-tweaks-lending-rules-in-boost-for-ukraine-1449600047
...But now, the IMF rule change will allow lending to countries with sovereign arrears.
Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov said the IMF decision was “hasty and biased,” ...
“I’d like to remind that only Russia offered help to the Ukrainian economy and, two years ago, granted a loan to the country that had no access to external markets,” Mr. Siluanov said.
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"Only Russia offered help..."..... ha ha ha....
Sour grapes...

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10:03
http://tyzhden.ua/News/153500
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Russia continues to move men and equipment to the front line.

http://www.segodnya.ua/politics/pnews/vypolnit-minskie-soglasheniya-s-separatistami-ochen-slozhno-yanukovich-674064.html
..."It seems to me that as long as it will take this rhetoric -" separatists "," terrorists ", until after this humiliation of people, yet will not leave this division of people into" us-them ", in the class who has what kind of ... It will be very difficult to all, "- said the fugitive....
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Looks like Putin got him sober for a few hours, and sticked a statement in front of his nose!
Personally I prefer the term "Russian occupiers".

Rada proceeding live on Rada tv, kanal 5, 112, and others
Today, Wednesday 09 Dec at 11 am.

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/dec/09/ukraine-conflict-9000-dead-says-un
Report says over 20,000 injured since start of war last year, but ceasefire in August has contributed to sharp decline in casualties
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I'm sure the real figure of dead and injured is way above this.

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-ukraine-crisis-un-idUSKBN0TS0TQ20151209
"There remains, however, an inflow of ammunition, weaponry and fighters from the Russian Federation into the territories controlled by the armed groups, leaving the situation highly flammable," the report said.
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Putin's humanitarian aid.

At the tripartite talks on the introduction of of EC-2016 Ukraine Free Trade, although the Minister of Economic Development of Russia Alexei Ulyukayev publicly denied.

Correspondent YevroPravdy had the opportunity to read in Brussels by the documents handed over to the parties to negotiate with each other - and at a meeting on December 1, and the talks this Tuesday.

"When Cecilia (Malmstrom, European Commissioner for Trade. - EP) saw one of the items she was struck by arrogance (the Russian side). What is written in the media - the truth: Russia wants Ukraine doyednalasya to trade prohibitions Russia against the EU" - said one of the interlocutors YevroPravdy.

So we had the documentary evidence: requirement of and scandalous really was and it remains chynnoyu.Nahadayemo, formerly Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin said.

However, the Minister of Economic Development of Russia Alexei Ulyukayev said, so Rosijska Federacia proponuvala Ukraini currently do priednatisa prodovolcogo proti of EC embargo.

eurointegration.com.ua   In Ukrainian

A bomb exploded early Dec. 9 in the Roshen confectionery store located in the Dafi trade center in Kharkiv, police say.

The bomb destroyed the windows and the door. There are no victims.

Just before the accident, eyewitnesses say they saw a man wearing a yellow windbreaker with the word ‘Ukrayina.’

The store, one of the many stores in the Roshen chain, belongs to Pres Petro Poroshenko.

zik.ua

The detention of a senior official was reported to president Poroshenko by SBU Head Vasyl Hrytsak.
Presidential press secretary Sviatoslav Tseholko wrote in Facebook, Censor.NET reports.

"SBU Head Vasyl Hrytsak has informed the president about the detention of one of the leaders of the State Export Control Service for extorting a bribe of $250,000. The SBU is now carrying out a search of SECS building," Tseholko write.

censor.net.ua In Russian

When Alexei Svyatin, a retired Russian army officer, emerged this summer from a vodka haze to find the battered body of merchant sailor Sergei Karelsky lying dead at his feet, he immediately telephoned police to report that he had neutralized a “spy.” His suspicions, he told startled officers in Bykhovskaya, a picturesque village around 160 miles from Moscow, had been aroused by Karelsky’s tales of frequent work-related trips abroad. Some five months later, on November 17, a 76-year-old man in central Russia’s Kaluga region stabbed an acquaintance to death after a drinking session. His explanation: His guest had announced—in what appears to have been an ill-considered joke—that he worked “for Obama and will tell him all about you.” Enraged, the ultra-patriotic senior citizen shouted, “Ah, you American agent!” and grabbed a knife, according to Russian media. In both cases, the attackers have been charged with murder.


Vodka, to paraphrase the Russian author Anton Chekhov, can make a man do the strangest things. But alcohol-frazzled villagers and senior citizens aren’t the only ones seeing traitors and foreign agents everywhere in today’s Russia. Since the imposition of Western sanctions over the Kremlin’s annexation of Crimea in March 2014, a spike in treason cases has sucked in a diverse group that includes a mother of seven, an air-traffic controller, a Russian Orthodox Church official, a top physicist, businessmen and a former military intelligence employee. There were 15 convictions for state treason in Russia last year, an almost fourfold rise from 2013. While there are no official statistics for 2015, lawyers and human rights defenders tell Newsweek this year’s figure is already approaching two dozen.

“Absolutely anyone can be charged with treason now, even people without access to state secrets,” says Zoya Svetova, an opposition journalist and human rights activist, who has met some of those convicted on that charge. “Trials are carried out behind closed doors, and we often only find out about them after sentences have been handed down.” Because fewer than 1 percent of criminal trials in Russia result in an acquittal—a figure that is even lower than during Soviet dictator Josef Stalin’s Great Terror—Svetova suggests that people falsely accused of treason usually plead guilty in the hope of a shorter jail term.................

ukrainebusiness.com.ua

In the eighteen months since Russia annexed Crimea, the world has been alternately captivated and bewildered by the wild swings and sudden shifts that describe Russian foreign policy under President Vladimir Putin. Particularly alarming for those who fear a direct clash between Russia and the West has been Putin's tendency to swerve between antagonism and conciliation, or—even more bizarrely—to pursue both simultaneously.

In an attempt to put a name to this behavior, a variety of epithets, from rogue state to spoiler, have been dusted off and applied to the present Russian government. But insofar as the current state of Putin's Russia represents a new kind of autocracy, none of these labels do justice to its innovative nature. Perhaps a better indication of what drives this system can be found in the Russian government's well-documented embrace of Internet trolling, which corresponds surprisingly well to the seemingly random and contradictory fluctuations of the country's relations with the outside world.

In its most basic form, trolling refers to the phenomenon of Internet users who post inflammatory messages in online forums like comment sections and social media threads with the aim of antagonizing others. Although most trolling is idle provocation, the Kremlin was famously revealed in the last year to be paying large numbers of professional trolls to both write and up-vote posts praising Russia's occupation of Ukrainian territory and condemning its critics. But how can trolling be a technique of rule

To begin with, trolls, regardless of the anger they unleash online, are not people who want to definitively cut themselves off from the real world. Trolls seek instant gratification and attention by spreading vitriol on the Internet, but resume their normal lives offline. With this in mind, Russia's sudden intervention in the war in Syria can be understood as the latest in a long line of trolling campaigns, beginning with the suspension of foreign adoptions three years ago. These acts were intended to needle the West and cheer Russians, but without risking an actual breakdown in foreign relations (in this respect, the war in Ukraine proved to be a serious miscalculation).

The label of rogue state is therefore misplaced when it comes to Russia, which clearly desires to win readmission to the clubhouse of world powers. Thus the bombing of Syrian rebels, for all the consternation it has caused, has been accompanied by thinly-veiled pleas for Western governments to lift the isolation imposed on Russia over the Ukrainian crisis.

Trolling is also an effective substitute for constructive activity. By tormenting others, trolls create the illusion of action and assuage their own nagging feelings of powerlessness. Likewise, Putin's military adventures in Ukraine and Syria have been remarkably successful at distracting attention from the worsening decay of Russia's human and economic capital.......................

To read further go to this link:   ukrainebusiness.com.ua

Despite the high hopes of power, promises that have been made from the "expensive Freund" and US Vice President Biden proved to be extremely tough.

In contrast to his previous visit in 2014. And points to the fact that our power America continues to work for one reason only - it is simply nobody to replace a less corrupt and to the same extent loyal to Washington. But there is a limit.

And if their dissatisfaction with personal actions Poroshenko and Yatsenyuk Biden expressed behind closed doors, then his speech in parliament was a public "cold shower" for the authorities. It was clear from those dull president and prime minister. In spite of the many meaningless diplomatic compliments with a smile that scrapes the American vice-president under the joyous applause of our parliamentarians.



There are several major promises Biden.

The first - with the level of corruption Ukraine can not even dream considered a democratic country

In other words, the US is well aware of all the schemes of enrichment is surrounded by Poroshenko, and Yatsenyuk and co. And only our rulers naively think that if they can after the Maidan during the war to profit billions of Ukrainians who occupied their own survival, the Americans will not notice circuits. In Washington, it's not only see, but also fixed.

And the same Biden not fool all these empty-Corruption Bureau or the anti-corruption agencies. Or tap Yatsenyuk shoes on the table, shouting in the style of Khrushchev's "We'll show corruption gruel!". And even clowning with the mandate psevdoslozheniem arranged main accused Mykola Martynenko of corruption scandals.



And what it means for Americans corruption thriving in Ukraine? First, here are stealing all their money that come under the IMF tranche. And that means - increase the program should not be expected. If it is not folded early. Yes, and it is not clear how such a corrupt authority debt will return? Secondly, neither of which the inflow of the same American and European investment in Ukraine can not speak.

As pointed out in his speech, Biden, taxes must be paid in Ukraine everything - including the oligarchs. However, the current government with its "gray cardinals" give the state does not hurry. And just prefer to take from the budget.

By the way, during Biden's thesis, we note the following fact: these days Ukrainian "Forbes" has spent counting, who and how many of our poor fellow citizens are not personally pay to the budget. It turned out that in the 2012-2014-s three largest payers of income tax of individuals as follows: Akhmetov (380 mln. UAH), Kolesnikov (164 mln. UAH), Wladimir Klitschko (76 mln. UAH.).

While, for example, the president of Poroshenko, whose business is growing by leaps and bounds, for three years paid into the budget of 17 mln. UAH. Is this unprofitable "Roshen" that the president does not make a profit? No person among those who want to pay taxes close to the president and Lozhkina Kononenko close to Yatsenyuk Martynenko and Ivanchuk. None of the "poor" interior minister Avakov. There is relatively loyal to the power of the oligarchs Pinchuk and Kolomoisky, and agrarian billionaires Bakhmatyuk Kosyuk (it even managed to get the deputy head of the AP to reclaim VAT). Examples can cause a lot.

The second message of Biden - the Ukrainian authorities must cease to gnaw each other's throats, and unite for the sake of reform

Clearly, Americans are pragmatic and understands: Ukrainian politicians can not unite even before the threat of losing power. Actually, as shown by the local elections, it is not far off. And if not for Washington's tough stance, pushed another premiership Yatsenyuk, the coalition in the Verkhovna Rada would long ago have collapsed.

In turn, according to the United States, Yatsenyuk is the main lobbyist of their interests and constrains ambition Poroshenko of the usurpation of power. And a coalition with the "zlochinnoy Vlada". So - tilt toward Russia. After all, if it happens, it will be for the United States in the same diplomatic defeat, as in 2005-2006-th year.

However, experience has shown that Yatsenyuk no one is able to carry out any reform. Therefore, I think, in Washington continue to conduct informal casting for his successor.

In general, the visit of Biden and hard "sticking", which he had built his Ukrainian "partners" for some time to consolidate Union Poroshenko, Yatseniuk. But only temporarily. Will not disappear because the two main factors that are not able to make this symbiosis of life: the struggle for corruption flows and power. And I think Washington understands stalemate ...

glavcom.ua In Russian