Ukraine crisis. News in brief. Tuesday 29 December. [Ukrainian sources]

TUESDAY

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News -
33 attacks by Putin's Russian terrorists reported.
Update - one soldier injured by a mine.

Weather -
Amazing shift. -9 this morning. Perhaps 30 hours ago it was +9.
Luckily - at least where I am - no snow. Roads are clear, but very frosty. Moon is still shining.
Update - warmed up to -4 mid-afternoon. Not bad. Normal would be -2 this time of year. Luckily no ice, no snow.

7:31
https://www.charter97.org/ru/news/2015/12/29/184791/
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New elections for the Rada.
That would be interesting. What would happen with new elections?
I would expect Liashko to disappear. Tymoshenko to gain a few populist votes. And nothing much else to change.
And then what? I personally don't think that the country is ready for new elections. Better to wait, and see what the war situation is like in the summer.

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7:05
http://kriminal.tv/news/stalo_ponjatno_zachem_glavarja_dnr_vyzvali_v_movkvnu.html
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Basically saying that in Lugansk the unruly elements in the LNR have basically been neutralized. And the area is under complete Russian control.
But in Donetsk there are still rogue elements opposed to Zakharchenko. And he intends to clear away any opposition to his rule, so there is also direct and complete control of the "terrorists" from Moscow. Also reports of new groups of mercenaries in the Donbass, perhaps totally loyal to the Putin regime.

7:48
http://gordonua.com/news/war/Stratfor-Voyna-na-vostoke-Ukrainy-v-2016-godu-pereydet-v-dlitelnyy-zamorozhennyy-konflikt-113037.html
A serious problem for Kiev in 2016 will not only conflict in the Donbass, and discontent of the population work of the government, inflation and unemployment, which can lead to the resignation of Prime Minister of Ukraine Arseniy Yatsenyuk.
The war in eastern Ukraine in 2016 will be a long-term frozen conflict with the less intense fighting than they were in 2015, but with periodic clashes between the military and the pro-Russian Ukrainian insurgents.
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And the pro-Russian Russian insurgents, if the truth be told. All predictions, of course.
It depends if Putin survives. And how long Russian can survive economically isolated from the west.

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http://www.osce.org/ukraine-smm/212951
... Five “LPR” armed men threatened the monitors who remained in the SMM vehicles by pointing their weapons at them and pretending to shoot. Once the other SMM monitors returned to the car, an additional three armed men threatened to assault the SMM patrol leader...
The SMM visited three locations at coordinates for temporary holding areas provided by “Donetsk People’s Republic” (“DPR”), but none of the locations were found to hold any heavy weapons.
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Basically, Ukrainian weapons storage - all present and correct.
Putin's terrorist storage areas - lots of equipment missing.
Conclusion - as we all know - Putin and his Russian terrorists are liars, cheats, thieves, murderers.

http://www.rbc.ru/politics/29/12/2015/567c271c9a7947e7e0574370
For the first time since the coup in the Ukraine in 2013. Ukraine has ceased to be the main enemy of Russia in the supply of Russian media. Its place in the end of 2015. has been taken by Turkey, ...
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Basically, in the past 3 months Ukraine and the USA are been replaced by Turkey and ISIS as the main hate targets of the Russian media.
Various charts, graphs, at the link. Remember - Russian source, hence the reference to the "coup" in Ukraine, and other Russian "interpretations" on the truth.

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http://www.forbes.com/sites/kenrapoza/2015/12/28/russias-ex-finmin-says-putin-wrong-on-economy/
Contrary to official opinion in Moscow, Russia’s economy has not finished bottoming out, says ex-Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin.
“We are seeing some further deterioration in November economic data,” he told Interfax on Monday. “To me, this means that the situation is unstable. When you add the sharp decline in oil prices…it makes for an unstable environment. If (oil) prices remain at this level for another six months or a year, we will see the continued fall of the Russian economy.”...
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Short article. From yesterday.
This also from yesterday -
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Russian economy contracts 4% on year in November
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/russian-economy-contracts-4-on-year-in-november-2015-12-28-4485824

http://www.unian.info/politics/1224965-ukraines-economy-to-slowly-rebound-in-2016-reoriented-toward-west-stratfor.html
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Some photos at the link.

http://en.interfax.com.ua/news/economic/314602.html
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Good news, but Tymoshenko will be eyeing this for some new handbags from Paris.
Nothing less than 10,000 dollars a bag for her. Despite her income declaration of 25 cents a day.

http://en.interfax.com.ua/news/general/314585.html
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Opposition block suggest that parliamentary rules were broken.

In the past 15 years, Russia has built two export pipelines (Yamal-Europe and Nord Stream) capable of delivering 85bn cubic metres (bcm) of gas per year to Germany. Nord Stream 2 would add another 55 bcm/year. With Nord Stream 2 commissioned, more than 90 per cent of the total Russian gas exports to the EU would go to or through Germany. Last winter Moscow did not like the reverse gas sales from the EU to Ukraine, and Gazprom “punished” Europe by reducing the daily flows of Russian gas to the west. Now imagine what may happen if Nord Stream 2 is in place and a German judge rules in favour of the shareholders of Yukos? Or if the German Chancellor does something the Kremlin does not like?.............

ft.com

Russia’s Pres Putin changed his tactics with regard to Ukraine, shifting his focus from the military conflict in Donbas to fanning internal feud inside the country, Prof. Olexy Haran said Dec. 29, speaking on Kanal 5 TV.

“To rock the boat in Ukraine Putin cashes in on our democracy [allowing protests and sweeping criticism of the authorities].

Putin’s plan is to destabilize the situation in Ukraine coupling it with the military pressure in Donbas to cause an economic crisis, early elections and comeback of pro-Russian forces, Prof. Haran said.

This is what Putin has done in Georgia and is trying to do in Moldova, the expert said.

zik.ua

Exactly what I stated yesterday and have been saying for some time, but STILL, there are some that just can't think like humans. Instead, they want to think and act like Neanderthals. When will they get it clear that you can't get everything you want by swinging a sword around? It doesn't take a genius to figure that out. Perhaps the old soviet way of thinking is still embedded deep within many in Ukraine.

Ukraine will NEVER be a civilized and democratic country with idiotic attitudes like that.

Yarosh yesterday, finally admitted ( he got it through his thick head) that violence isn't the way to do things. Have representation in the government to influence it. That's the way things are done in democratic governments.

Employees of the Emergency Situations Ministry in the regions of North-West wage arrears for November and December of this year, will be paid until the end of January 2016. Reported FlashNord citing a source in the Northwest regional center of the Emergency Situations Ministry.

"In most cases, the payment will be made immediately after the holidays, but in some regions may be delayed until the end of January," - said the source.

Interviewed agency staff the Emergency Situations Ministry reported that some of their colleagues took advantage of the offer guidance, get a credit card with a grace period. Nevertheless, banks issue these cards only to customers with good credit history.

Heads of regional departments of the Emergency Situations Ministry sent letters to local banks to defer payments on loans available to employees. Themselves as employees of agencies are skeptical that the banks will make concessions.

Most of all, the Emergency Situations Ministry officials complain that remained without money before Christmas.

glavcom.ua In Russian