Ukraine crisis. News in brief. Wednesday 16 March. [Ukrainian sources]

WEDNESDAY

Please scroll down to view news items added during the day

News -
Two group attempts by Russian terrorists to enter Ukraine controlled territory yesterday. Repulsed.
No number given on the total number of attacks yesterday.
Update - 6 soldiers injured yesterday. No dead.
Europe pays $173 for gas in March. See 20 posts' down. The price continues to fall.

Weather -
-3 this morning. Frosty. Like back to winter. Will be cooler for a few days. And then hopefully all will change.
High maybe of +3. Blue sky and sunny now at 0700.
Update at 1500. Warmer than the forecast. Between 5 and 6 now. And still sunshine. Quite a nice day.

7:12
http://www.5.ua/polityka/Poroshenko-pidpysav-zakon-pro-elektronne-deklaruvannia-108839.html
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Now, will the EU approve it? Apparently there are still some loopholes in it.

http://www.radiosvoboda.org/content/news/27616065.html
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So unfortunately Dynamo go out of the competition. But not bad - got to the last 16.
They were always up against it after losing 3-1 at home - the game Admin sent me to see in Kiev a couple of weeks' ago.
Shakhtar play their return leg in the Europa league - I think on Thursday - in Anderlecht.

11:24
"Homeland" might win the elections to the parliament, and Tymoshenko - to become president
http://www.pravda.com.ua/news/2016/03/16/7102247/
If presidential elections in Ukraine took place in mid-March, Yulia Tymoshenko would win.
The results of the survey Kiev International Institute of Sociology.
Among those who decided and went to the polls, 20.9% would vote for Tymoshenko.
For the current head of state Poroshenko would vote 17.9% for Oleg Lyashko - 12.0%, the Lviv mayor Andriy Sadovy - 10.3%, the former Defense Minister Anatoly Gritsenko - 9,6%, the leader of the "Opposition of "Yuri Boyko - 9.5%, for the leader of the" Freedom "Oleg Tyahnybok - 4.1%.
In addition, the former leader of the "Right Sector" Dmitry Yarosh ready to vote 3.9% of respondents, by Sergei Tigipko - 3,4%, the Communist leader Petro Symonenko - 2% for Gennady Korban - 1.3%, for Valentine Nalyvaychenko - 1.2%.
In the case of parliamentary elections, according to this survey, the "Batkivshina" ready to vote 18.6% of those who decided on their choice.
Another 13.2% are ready to vote for the "opposition bloc", 11.4% - for the "Petro Poroshenko Bloc", 10.9% - for the "Samopomich", 10.9% - for the Radical Party, 6.2% - for "Freedom", 5,1% - for the "citizenship", 4.1% - for the party "Movement for purification" (currently there is no such party), 2.6% - by "dill", 2.5% - the "National movement Dmitry Yarosh."....
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A word of warning. Some of these polls are very dodgy, and often "commissioned" by actual parties themselves, for the "desired" result.
If Tymoshenko got into power I would likely emigrate - again.

http://www.pravda.com.ua/news/2016/03/16/7102257/
In improving the life of Ukrainian accused Yatsenyuk - poll
Wednesday, March 16, 2016, 12:24
33.2% consider Ukrainian responsible for the deterioration of the socio-economic situation in Ukraine over the past two years, the prime minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk.
The results of the survey Kiev International Institute of Sociology.
The President Petro Poroshenko accused in that 24.2% of respondents, the Cabinet as a whole - 11.1%, Parliament - 8.7%, ex-president Viktor Yanukovych - 4.5%.
Another 6.8% believe that the deterioration of life is guilty of the war, 0.9% - the US, 0.7% - that Western Europe.
Also, people tend to blame the decay coalition also Yatsenyuk (27.6%). Another 21.5% believe that the blame Poroshenko, 7.1% - that Tymoshenko and her party.
The majority of respondents (54.6%) said they consider improper refusal Council to dismiss the government in mid-February.
By the crisis 49.6% of respondents believe the government's resignation and a new a new prime minister, 17.4% - continuing the current reform Cabinet, 14.6% - a new coalition in the Rada, 13.8% - early presidential elections , 13.4% - early elections....
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Same people who did the poll in the posting above.

I recall from the mid to late 2000's, this pollster being dodgy. If you visit other sources, you'll immediately see the difference.

A return to any kind of Tymoshenko administration is a call for going back to Yanukobich days.  I don't think Ukrainians want to go back to what Ukraine's don't a very good job skinning off. All she wants to do is empower herself as she did back in the late 2000's. The oligarchs will have immediate free rein as they had back then, as compared as now. Many things have changed, although there's still lots to do. But we can't go back to those dark days where she interrupted Yushchenko in every way possible, including siding with Yanukobch to share powers with him. And that's a fact and the document to that affect.

So! Don't let this troublemaker comeback and take Ukraine back again.

The damage by the West’s sanctions to Russia’s financial sector for 2 years amounted to $250 billion, Sergej Glaziev said, Lenta.ru reports March 15.

The mass of cash in the Russian economy is dwindling, Glaziev said.

In May 2015, ex-deputy head of the Bank of Russia Sergej Aleksashenko estimated the losses from the sanctions at 5% of GDP, or $60-70 bn a year.

Russia is under sanctions from a number of EU countries, USA, Japan, Australia and Canada.

The sanctions were imposed in the banking, oil and defense sectors.

zik.ua

The proposal to appoint tycoons Akhmetov and Boiko heads of breakaway Donbas republics was made by Putin. It is his alternative to the far-fetched local elections in the rebel-held territories, political expert Vitali Portnikov says.

Yet, it is quite clear that Putin does not and will not want anyone to take over from his obedient goons Zakharchenko and Plotnytsky.

The whole proposal is Kremlin’s trap to demonstrate that Ukraine is ready to hold negotiations outside the Minsk format and, thus, alienate Europe against Ukraine, Pornikov says.

However, Kyiv is definitely seeing through Putin’s plan. No one will hold elections in Donbas, since the main condition of the Minsk agreements, security of Ukraine’s borders and Donbas, has not been met, Portnikov says.

zik.ua

The Ukrainian Security Service has detained a foreigner - member of Al-Nusra Front international terrorist organization, who participated in hostilities in Syria during 2012-2014.

Censor.NET reports referring to SBU press center.

As reported, the man was added on the Interpol wanted list over his involvement in terrorist crimes. The court has ruled to place the foreigner under a 40-day arrest until the issue of extradition is settled.

censor.net.ua   In Ukrainian

Sweden will increase the humanitarian aid for war-affected citizens of the Ukrainian Donbas by EUR 3.2 million.


As reported by Censor.NET, Swedish Foreign Minister Margot Wallström wrote in her microblog on Twitter.

"Grave situation in Eastern Ukraine - 3.7 million people are affected by war, 215,000 children have been displaced. Sweden adds 3.2 million EUR to humanitarian aid, totaling 14.5 million EUR," she said.

Read more: 'I call on Russia to immediately release Nadiia Savchenko and other Ukrainian nationals who have been illegally detained', - Wallström

In a comment to the post, MEP Rebecca Harms wrote: "This shows why I like Sweden. This support for Ukraine is urgently needed and will in long run help the European Union."

censor.net.ua   In Russian

http://euromaidanpress.com/2016/03/15/donetsk-region-brink-man-made-disaster-ukrainian-officials/#arvlbdata
Ukraine’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the ATO (anti-terrorist operation) press center warn that the water filtration plant in Donetsk has shut down because of constant shelling by Russian proxy forces. As a result, some 400,000 residents of the Donetsk Oblast have been left without water and are facing possible epidemics of dysentery and hepatitis.
According to ATO, the water filtration plant is a critical public utility that is located on the territory currently controlled by the illegal DNR armed groups, who are engaged in constant provocations....
===
Putin simply loves a good disaster, especially one of his own making.

http://www.atlanticcouncil.org/blogs/new-atlanticist/the-world-according-to-sergei-lavrov-and-putin
====
Basically commentary on an essay by nutcase Lavrov. The last paragraph is to the point -
....Lavrov concludes his essay with the words of Russian religious Slavophile philosopher Ivan Ilyin. “Great power status is defined by...the nation’s and government’s ability to undertake the burden of great world challenges and deal with these challenges in a creative manner.” Indeed, like in the times of Russian tsars, emperors, and general secretaries, the current Russian leadership’s real concern is great power status, which in the case of Russia, has always been achieved at the expense of its citizens’ prosperity.

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/mar/16/north-korea-sentences-us-student-to-15-years-hard-labour
Wednesday 16 March 2016 07.12 GMT Last modified on Wednesday 16 March 2016 13.31 GMT
North Korea has sentenced an American college student to 15 years’ hard labour after finding him guilty of “crimes against the state”, in a ruling that is certain to increase tensions with Washington.
Otto Warmbier, a 21-year-old economics student at the University of Virginia, was found guilty of committing “severe crimes” against the North Korean state after he was held for allegedly attempting to steal a political banner from a restricted area of the hotel where he was staying in the capital Pyongyang....
====
Ok. He did wrong. But - 15 years hard labour?!
North Korea. Putin's paradise on earth.

A temporary lull has set in near the Yasynuvata junction. The reason is hard to name: it's either an OSCE visit to Donetsk planned for March 16 or a redeployment of enemy units.

As reported by Censor.NET citing TSN, the Ukrainian intelligence has data about the concentration of terrorist units at the Avdiivka direction. Their regrouping is carried out under the supervision of the Russian command whose cars with Russian license plates explicitly move across the occupied Donetsk, guarded by GRU Spetsnaz fighters.



censor.net.ua   In Ukrainian

http://glavcom.ua/news/368656.html
Serbia in June will launch a direct flight Kiev-Belgrade
Yesterday, at 18:38 "Commander in Chief"
The airline Air Serbia from 16 June to launch direct flights from Kiev to Belgrade, which will take place every day except Wednesday.
Schedule provides for the implementation of the morning and evening flights on different days, what has been done to provide connections with other network routes Air Serbia.
Departures from Belgrade to Kiev - on Mondays, Thursdays and Sundays at 18:15 with the arrival in Kiev at 21:05. The return flight from Kiev - at 21:50 with the arrival in Belgrade at 22:35.
Departures from Belgrade - on Tuesdays, Fridays and Saturdays at 06:55 (arriving in Kiev at 09:45), returning back from Kiev at 10:30 (arrival to Belgrade at 11:15).
The minimum cost of tickets is about 5400 Uah in both directions, taking into account fees...

====
I looked on the Air Serbia website for any info on this and found - absolutely nothing.

The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) informs of liquidation of Russian career soldiers in combat activities in the Donbas.

This was announced by Chief of Staff of the Head of SBU Oleksandr Tkachuk at a briefing, Censor.NET informs citing a slide presentation of Tkachuk's address, published by SBU's press service.

According to him, in August 2015 the Armed Forces of Ukraine together with secret services liquidated 'Rusich' sabotage group of the terrorists, mostly comprising citizens of Russia, including career soldiers.



"Several thousand of Russian career officers and mercenaries were killed in the Donbas. All of them fell victims of Putin's policy," representative of SBU stressed.

Read more: Four Russian soldiers killed in Donbas, nine wounded, - Intelligence

As of today, the number of Russian military in the Donbas totals 6,000 people, Tkachuk added.

SBU press service also published personal data of several Russian soldiers killed in the Donbas.

Sergey Vorobiev, the 16th separate special purpose brigade of GRU, killed near Debaltseve, survived by his family and children.



Dmitriy Dutov, volunteer from Sochi. Killed near Debaltseve. Survived by his child.



Ruslan Shchaslivtsev, the 162nd separate recon battalion of the 7th guards paratroopers division. Killed in battles near Debaltseve.



According to available data, more than 1,600 soldiers from 26 military units of Russia have been killed. This information is not complete, the losses are much higher, the authority stressed.

SBU says that Russia deploys its elite military units for the war in the east of Ukraine, including career officers of the special forces of GRU, marines, motorized rifle soldiers, tankmen, and artillerymen. They also noted that Ukrainian secret services have operative information on almost every Russian soldier fighting in the Donbas.

Read more: Terrorist Khodakovsky suggests his possible elimination by order of Moscow: "When it comes to Mozgovoy-Dremov scenario, please, do it more delicately"

"We address mothers and wives of Russian military: stop your kids, your men, and fathers of your children. War in the Donbas is not Syrian safari - they would get killed!" SBU added.

censor.net.ua   In Ukrainian/український

censor.net.ua In Russian/русский

Addressing the cabinet session March 16, Premier Yatseniuk urged lawmakers to readdress the confiscation issue again, Ukrayinska Pravda reports March 16.

Ukraine law enforcement must get the law allowing the confiscation of stolen assets, he said.

 “It is not politics, it is covering up the crimes of the past regime,” he said.

March 15, Rada lawmakers voted down the bill allowing confiscation prior to the court ruling, saying no confiscation will be legitimate without a court ruling.

The lawmakers who opposed the bill said the law would violate human rights.

Experts say that the Rada decision is a cover up for Yanukovych officials. 

zik.ua

www.xe.com
Nice round figures on the exchange market this afternoon -

Hryvnia to one dollar / one euro / one pound
Inverse:    27.0250     29.9268     38.0974
basically - 27            30            38

Under the legislation adopted on March 15, they now have to file electronic declarations of their income and holdings, and face criminal liability for any inaccurate or falsified information.

The data will be open online to anyone's scrutiny.

The European Union has been pressing Ukraine to complete anticorruption reforms, and Kyiv hopes the move will pave the way for visa-free travel to EU countries this year.......

rferl.org

A top U.S. administration official has taken pointed aim at the wealthiest Ukrainian tycoons, known as oligarchs, accusing them of undermining the country's anticorruption reform efforts.

Victoria Nuland, assistant secretary of state for European аnd Eurasian Affairs, warned on March 15 that, if efforts to liberalize the economy and fight endemic graft fail, Ukraine "risks sliding backwards once again into corruption, into lawlessness, into vassal statehood."

"The oligarchs and the kleptocrats who controlled Ukraine for decades know that their business model will be broken if the Maidan reformers succeed in 2016," she told the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee in reference to the uprising that pushed out Ukraine's pro-Russia government two years ago.

"So they're fighting back with a vengeance, using all the levers of the old system: their control of the media, state-owned enterprises, [parliamentary] deputies, the courts, and the political machinery," said Nuland, a leading U.S. official on Ukraine...................

To read further go to this link:  rferl.org

https://ycharts.com/indicators/europe_natural_gas_price
European Union Natural Gas Import Price is at a current level of 4.90, down from 5.35 last month and down from 8.27 one year ago. This is a change of -8.41% from last month and -40.75% from one year ago....
[last six months]
Feb. 29, 2016 4.90
Jan. 31, 2016 5.35
Dec. 31, 2015 6.10
Nov. 30, 2015 6.24
Oct. 31, 2015 6.43
Sept. 30, 2015 6.71
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nice chart at the link also.
I'll try and convert this into dollars / 1000 cu m. But whatever - the price is still dropping. Good for Ukraine.

===
Hopefully this is right. Somebody please correct me otherwise. Found on internet, obviously.
10,000 mmBtu = 283200 cubic meter
4.9 x 10,000 mmBtu = $4,9000 per NG contract
$4,9000/283200 x 1000 = $173 per 1000 cubic meter

So as of Feb 29 Europe pays a price of 173 dollars.
Gazprom wanted Ukraine to pay 210. Of course, that included their special "Putin" discount, specially for Ukraine! Scumball blackmailing lying Russians. (to be polite)

One Ukrainian soldier was killed and another one was wounded in the course of the anti-terrorist operation (ATO) in eastern Ukraine on Wednesday, March 16.

This was stated by ATO Spokesperson Serhii Zhmurko, Censor.NET informs citing Ukrainski Novyny.

According to him, a soldier was killed in a militants' sniper attack in Avdiivka (Donetsk region).

The spokesperson did not specify where exactly the second soldier was wounded.

Zhmurko noted that the situation in Avdiivka (the Donetsk region) was calm and under control compared with the one in the village of Zaitseve.

censor.net.ua  In Ukrainian/український

Patrol police company commander detained in Kyiv for embezzlement of $11,000 from a crime scene.

Censor.NET reports citing the statement by the press service of the National Police of Ukraine.

According to the agency, March 14, the patrol police officers informed the leadership of the National Police of Ukraine on the fact of abuse of office by certain members of the Kyiv Patrol Police Directorate.

The embezzlement of funds in the amount of about $11,000 by a police officer during inspection of the crime scene was meant in particular. The National Police Internal Security Department was charged to check this information.

"The illegal actions of the policeman were documented by a joint team of the Internal Security Department members, patrol police officers and Kyiv Prosecutor's Office investigators as a result of the operation carried out the next day, March 15. The team established location of funds and seized $11,000 cash," the statement reads.

censor.net.ua   In Ukrainian/український


Head of the National Police of Ukraine Khatia Dekanoidze is outraged by the embezzlement of funds by the Kyiv patrol police company commander, promises to nip such actions in the bud.

She wrote on Facebook, Censor.NET reports.

Dekanoidze wrote: "I remember July 4, when the first patrol police officers from the 1st Battalion started patrolling Kyiv. I remember their fiery eyes after they had turned over their shift, when the new police officers survived the first blow despite all the hardships and numerous problems.

"I will stand up and defend every honest employee, who cares for one's homeland, with all my might. Everyone! And there are more than 115,000 of them! But I will never, under any circumstances, tolerate those violating the law and engaging themselves in dirty deeds.

"Fortunately, they are outnumbered. And the fact that this recent case has become the matter of public record is the merit of those patrol police officers, who remember what honor and dignity is and why they have come to the National Police.

"We did not hide this crime. The National Police Public Relations Department was the first that made this information public.

"This is the process of purification. This process is complex, unpleasant, sometimes painful, but irreversible. And we will do our best to nip the very attempts of such dishonest actions of those, who violate the law instead of protecting this very law and the citizens of our country.

"Like most Ukrainians, I personally believe in success of the National Police and patrol police in particular. As all our actions and aspirations are for the sake of people and the future of Ukraine after all.

"I hate grafters, thieves, and dishonest people," Dekanoidze summed up.

censor.net.ua   In Ukrainian/український

The amounts of western money given to reform the prosecution stand at $200,000, in one case, and millions more, said Prosecutor General's Office's Vladyslav Kutsenko March 16, Ukrayinska Pravda reports.

The whistle on the scandal was blown by 50 Rada lawmakers who demanded that the theft be investigated.

Now, PGO’s high-ranking officials face questioning.

zik.ua

U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Geoffrey Pyatt explained that the funds allocated by the United States were not sent directly to the accounts of the prosecuting authorities of Ukraine but to international partner organizations.

Censor.NET reports citing Interfax-Ukraine.

The diplomat said that the U.S. provided $ 200,000 to the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, OECD to develop tests for the prosecutor's office employees, and an additional $ 2 million - for the International Development and Law Organization to use them for the Prosecutor General's Office reform promotion in the future.

Geoffrey Pyatt added that the same applied to the United States aid for the patrol police, other judicial reforms and projects concerning the rule of law.

He also stressed that the United States expected the Prosecutor General's Office to demonstrate a real fight against corruption but not an open and violent resistance to reform.

censor.net.ua  In Ukrainian/український

Head of Russian Committee for Prevention of Torture Igor Kalyapin attacked in the capital of Chechnya.

Censor.NET reports.

Before the attack, the human rights activist checked in at the Grozny City Hotel. The manager accompanied by the armed policemen came to his hotel room, and forcibly evicted him from the hotel. Igor Kalyapin was surrounded by the hotel staff at the entrance. They started abusing him. About 15 people in masks also approached and pelted the human rights activist with eggs, flour, shouting at him in Chechen.

Kalyapin planned to meet with the Ukrainian human rights activists and journalists, who had arrived to attend the mock trial of Mykola Karpiuk and Stanislav Klykh today.

It was the manager of this particular hotel, who did not let the Ingush and Chechen police officers earlier to inspect the hotel rooms of journalists and human rights activists - victims of the attack on the border between the two republics.

У Грозному напали на Каляпіна з "Комітету з протидії тортур" pic.twitter.com/G89x2oIzS9

— Nastia Moskvychova (@Moskvychova) March 16, 2016

censor.net.ua   In Ukrainian/український

Vladimir Putin has learned that being a global troublemaker pays dividends.

He's discovered that being a big part of the problem assures that you are treated as a big part of the solution.

He understands that the politics of blackmail and geopolitical extortion can work wonders.

Before Putin intervened in Syria's civil war nearly six months ago, Russia was internationally isolated, bogged down in a quagmire in Ukraine, and reeling from Western sanctions.

It was a regional rabble-rouser that was -- justifiably -- being treated like an international pariah.

And now, amid an apparent pullout after 167 days of air strikes?

Well, now it has a seat at the big table, alongside the United States, as co-sponsor of the Syrian cease-fire.

Syria wasn't an end -- it was a means to an end.

And Moscow is seeking to leverage its success there into more global clout, the lifting of sanctions, a free hand in the former Soviet space, and a revision of the post-Cold War international order.

For Putin, Damascus is just a stop on the road to Yalta.

In addition to killing 1,700 civilians, bombing hospitals, exacerbating Europe's refugee crisis, and keeping Bashar al-Assad's brutal regime afloat, the Kremlin clearly thinks it has established a template in Syria to get what it has always craved: status as a global power presiding over a bipolar world.

Writing in Slon.ru, Moscow-based foreign-affairs analyst Vladimir Frolov noted that the intervention "resurrected Russian-American cooperation from the dead" and created the illusion that only the two "superpowers" can solve major international crises.

"The strategic goal of the Syrian gambit, to revive the bipolar format of Russian-American cooperation and rivalry for influence in the Middle East and the world that existed during the Cold War, has almost been reached," Frolov wrote.

"It is obvious that the Kremlin would like to make Syria a template not only for bilateral relations with the United States, but also to develop new rules of the game in a broader sense, and in other regions, for example with respect of Ukraine."....................

Recommend to read further go to this link:   rferl.org

U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Geoffrey Pyatt has commented on how U.S. aid is spent on prosecutorial reform in Ukraine.

"More sturm und drang today re: international support for building strong rule of law institutions. Here are the facts. U.S. doesn't provide direct budget support to PGO or *any* UA govt institution/agency; funds go to credible int'l partner orgs. Example: U.S. gave $200,000 to the OECD (int'l recognized experts) to develop objective test for prosecutorial service," the U.S. ambassador tweeted on Wednesday.

In the middle of February 2016, Ukrainian lawmakers wrote a letter to the U.S. Senate and Senator Robert Jones Portman, asking the U.S. side to verify reports that the PGO had not received $200,000 in U.S. funds for the reform of the prosecutorial service in Ukraine.

A month later, the PGO announced it had opened a case on the fact of the embezzlement of $2.2 million in U.S. and EU aid for the prosecution agencies in Ukraine.................

unian.info

The U.S.-backed government in Ukraine is burdened by “dirty money and dirty politics” and its frozen conflict with Russia-backed separatists in the nation’s east is “heating up again,” the State Department’s point woman for European policy warned Tuesday.

While Ukraine’s parliament pushed through key anti-corruption legislation on Tuesday, Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs Victoria Nuland said Kiev still faces major challenges to prevent a “slide backwards once again into corruption, lawlessness and vassal statehood.”..................

To read further go to this link:  topix.com

Graham Phillips, a Briton well-known for his propaganda coverage in excruciatingly bad Russian of the Kremlin-provoked and armed conflict in Donbas, has been detained by police in Riga. This has given pro-Kremlin media a particular boost with Phillips himself claiming he was simply standing and filming ‘fascists’. The video here makes it quite clear how many times Phillips was politely prevented from coming too close to the ceremony he was reporting.

Phillips expressed indignation when stopped from coming close to the participants of the march, claiming to be ‘press’. While he often appears in reports on Russia Today, and such Russian-language media as ‘Zvezda’ and Life News, Phillips is ‘freelance’ with an unexplained source of income.

His indignation is unwarranted. The organizers of the event and the police were very polite at first, with Phillips trying to push through to ask participants, probably including elderly veterans, such questions as “aren’t you ashamed of propagandizing fascism?”

A young man tried to explain to him in good English that his information was incorrect and kept hearing in return that he was simply brainwashed. All participants were remarkably well-behaved unlike Phillips who got aggrieved when the police finally forced him away saying that he was trying to provoke trouble. He initially just denied this, but then got very angry when a policeman touched him, shouting “keep your phucking hands off me!”. Perhaps genuinely, or with a view to the good shots for Russian television and his own video on Youtube, he started waving his arms around, shouting “What the hell are you doing, I’m a journalist” The final pathos comes with “I’m being arrested. For nothing!” The Baltic Times confirms that Phillips will probably face an administrative fine for disruptive behaviour.

Although Phillips calls himself a journalist, and has often been in places where media are likely to be eager for first-hand reports, there is no evidence of his ever having been employed by any media except those known for their stridently pro-Kremlin position.

While Russian media and Phillips claim that he was at a March of the SS Waffen, whom they term ‘fascists’, most Latvians at the event, and generally, view the situation very differently. They are remembering the Latvian Legion which most see as having fought the Soviet Army. The issue is contentious since the Legion was part of the Nazi SS Waffen. Russia has used such military formations in the Baltic Republics, and SS Galizien, a Ukrainian volunteer division for maximum propaganda value. All such reports ignore the fact that the Baltic Republics and Western Ukraine had been invaded twice by the Soviet Union and by Nazi Germany. For the general population, it was not at all clear which regime was worse since both committed terrible atrocities....................

To read further go to this link:  khpg.org

This thread now continued for Thursday 17 March at
https://ukraine-english-news.forumotion.com/t2359-ukraine-crisis-news-in-brief-thursday-17-march-ukrainian-sources

or go to
https://ukraine-english-news.forumotion.com/
and select Ukraine news.