Ukraine crisis. News in brief. Wednesday 04 May [Ukrainian sources]

WEDNESDAY

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News -
Putin's forces fire 6 times at Ukraine. One soldier wounded.

Weather -
Nice morning. Sunshine. 15C now at 0930. High again near 20.
Update 1500. 22C.

http://www.champion.com.ua/football/2016/05/4/649850/
9:23
People's Deputy proposes to expel from the national team of Ukraine two players Shakhtar
MP Borislav Berioza believes that with the football team of Ukraine should remove the players Shakhtar Taras Stepanenko, Yaroslav Rakytskyy and Russian Kuban striker Eugene Seleznev.
This Berioza wrote on Facebook.
"Maybe a good quarterback Rakitskiy, but the Ukraine national football team should only play citizens of de jure, not de facto. A person who refuses to sing anthem team in official matches, in fact, not a citizen. I do not need victory the price of betrayal. sepa capped unacceptable.
Want to make money in Russia - it's your choice, but the team forget. Wanted Seleznev play in - it's his choice, but my choice not to see him in the team. And coach Fomenko decision not to invite him, I fully support.
If the player goes to rest in the Crimea occupied and justify their actions by saying that he has property there, I have a question, and he registered his property? After all, as required by the occupation authorities, he was required to register the property in the new structures of the occupation? Registered? No questions - it's his choice, but to continue to travel to occupied Crimea, not living there permanently, leaving behind money, morally wrong. But it's his choice.....

https://www.bellingcat.com/news/uk-and-europe/2016/05/03/the_lost_digit/
....In a new report, we positively identify the middle digit of this Buk by matching seven characteristic features on Buk 3×2, including a unique dent on a side panel, the white marks on the chassis, and the cable arrangement connecting to the missile erector.
The middle digit is a three, thus identifying the number of the Buk that downed MH17 as “332” before the middle digit was obscured. In this new investigation, members of the Bellingcat investigation team collected and analyzed dozens of photographs of Buk TELARs that have been posted online by members of the 53rd Anti-Aircraft Missile Brigade since 2010....
....We can say with confidence that on 17 July 2014, the Russian Buk TELAR numbered 332 of the 53rd Anti-Aircraft Missile Brigade based in Kursk was filmed and photographed in eastern Ukraine. This specific Buk, previously identified as Buk 3×2, was filmed moving to the center of the launch area estimated by the Dutch Safety Board for the missile that downed MH17.....
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Bellingcat full report is in the form of a pdf download, at the link above.
Also in German, and Russian. Worth a read. As usual, in depth analysis - some of the photos -

http://www.unian.info/economics/1337091-ukraine-says-imf-funding-may-resume-a-quarter-later-than-expected.html
....The NBU said that it had retained its real GDP growth forecast at 1.1% in 2016 and at 3% in 2017. It also did not change its inflation forecast, keeping it at 12% for the end of 2016 and 8% for the end of 2017.
The NBU said its new forecasts would depend on the situation in the country's east, the yield of grain crops and bank deposit inflows.
At the same time, the central bank expects that prices of raw materials will be higher than it mentioned in its previous forecasts.....
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3 months later, presumably because of the political instability - no coalition.

http://en.censor.net.ua/video_news/387269/tv_channel_camera_crew_attacked_in_odesa_three_people_injured_videophotos_updated
7 Channel's camera crew has been attacked in Odesa.
Censor.NET reports referring to Dumskaya citing the channel.
It all happened right outside the channel's office on Staroportofrankivska Street.
"The attackers arrived in a dark gray Honda, number ВН4152НВ. They used a pump-action shotgun and traumatic pistols. Three channel's employees - two cameramen and a reporter - received gunshot injuries. Moreover, the attackers beat one of them. Our colleagues have been hospitalized. Police are trying to track down the criminals," the statement reads. ...



This video shown a lot at lunchtime on various Ukrainian tv channels.

http://en.interfax.com.ua/news/economic/341404.html
Ukraine in January-April 2016 increased transit of natural gas to Europe and Moldova by 38.5% (by 6.924 billion cubic meters), compared to the same period in 2015, to 24.893 billion cubic meters.....
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Looks like the Russians have given in trying to stop reverse gas. Presumably they are desperate for money.

http://lb.ua/news/2016/05/04/334452_rada_zasedat_dva_dnya_nedelyu.html
Parliament will meet two days a week instead of four
May 4, 2016, 15:09
The European Parliament has written a "road map" reform of Parliament
Instead of two plenary weeks a month will introduce three.
Verkhovna Rada Speaker Andrew Paruby introduced a new format of work of the Parliament, designed to increase its efficiency....
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One has to feel sorry for the Ukrainian deputies. Not only are they among the richest deputies in the world, but - working four days a week - if you can call it work, what they do. Sitting talking on their mobiles, doing business deals, and occasionally voting.
Two days a week - much more efficient. They can concentrate more on what really matters - their own bank accounts.

A car crashed into a bridge on Saperno-Slobidska Sreet in Kyiv on Wednesday morning, killing two persons, one of them - well-known car racer Taras Kolesnyk.



According to preliminary information, Volkswagen car was moving at high speed from Pivdennyi bridge to Moskovska Square in the capital. The driver lost control of the car and hit a flyover with its right side. The hit tore the car into several separate parts; the engine went out and fell in 20 meters from the spot; car details were thrown around by 30 meters.

Two men aged 25-30 were killed in the crash, one of them - well-known car racer Taras Kolesnyk.



According to 112 Ukraine TV channel, causes of the crash are being investigated, speeding being the most probable cause. Several police units, experts, and investigators were operating on the scene in the morning.

censor.net.ua   In Ukrainian/український

Two drones of air reconnaissance of Sestry Peremohy volunteer group (Sisters of Victory) were adjusting fire against militants' positions at the Donetsk airport tower and near the fire unit, from which the positions of the Ukrainian Army near the airport were constantly shelled. Both positions have been liquidated.

Censor.NET was informed by volunteers that pro-Russian militants had a position near the Donetsk airport (222 meters above sea level), from which they were regularly firing upon positions of the 93rd brigade and 'Karpatska Sich' unit. Terrorists were using large-caliber small arms, SPGs and AGSs. It was extremely difficult to retaliate with precise fire because fire adjustment upon positions at the height was not possible.

Exact fire positions of the enemy were recorded from air. Ukrainian army soldiers asked permission for the retaliate fire, and operators of Sestry Peremohy were adjusting fire online. The militants' positions were destroyed from SPG and AGS.



censor.net.ua   In Ukrainian/український

U.S. Secretary of Defense Ash Carter has announced that NATO does not intend to make Russia 'an enemy,' but the Alliance intends to protect its allies and the international order.

US Defense Secretary Ash Carter warned Tuesday that NATO would defend its allies against Russian "aggression" as he presided over the passing of the alliance's European command to a new general, Censor.NET reports citing Mail Online.

Carter said NATO would "keep the door open for Russia" for cooperation on global security challenges if Moscow abandoned its "sabre-rattling".

"But it's up to the Kremlin to decide. We don't seek a cold, let alone hot, war with Russia. We don't seek to make Russia an enemy," he said.

censor.net.ua   In Ukrainian/український

Eliot Higgins ‏@EliotHiggins 4 ч.4 часа назад
#MH17 Truthers, if you're upset about me calling Russia liars then complain to them about their lies rather than to me for exposing them.

https://meduza.io/news/2016/05/04/v-novosibirske-ustanovili-bilbordy-s-portretom-stalina
The Communist Party has set on the streets of Novosibirsk billboards with portrait of Joseph Stalin and congratulations on Victory Day. A photograph of one of the billboards posted in his facebook Novosibirsk businessman Alexander Filyurin....
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Even the Communist Party of the USSR denounced Stalin. But now - it seems as if dictators "are in". ..

An explosion at a mine in LC: under the rubble are 9 miners
http://www.novorosinform.org/news/id/52216
Yesterday evening, May 3, at the mine Maloivanovskaya (Perevalskiy area LC) on the horizon, 210 meters of methane explosion occurred, which resulted in the mine formed blockages. Reported LC EMERCOM press service.
"Perevalskiy area Maloivanovka village, mine Maloivanovskaya. Yesterday at 17.15 in the coal enterprise depth of 210 m, an outbreak of methane gas mixture, so that blockages are formed. Perhaps, under the rubble are the miners ", - said in a statement. The LC declared emergency state level situation. At the scene found the head of Ministry of Emergency Situations and six offices GSPCH.
According to the Ministry of Health LC, at the time of the accident 20 people were in the mine. So far, rescuers have recovered the body of one of the deceased, four miners were hospitalized with burns, nine are under the rubble.
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Please note - Russian source. But only source of this story currently. Occupied Lugansk.

Russia’s penitentiary system authority announced that Nadia Savchenko can be exchanged for 2 Russian FSB agents on condition that Ukraine provides guarantees that her 22-year jail sentence will be fully served in Ukraine.

The authority is busy at present preparing documents for Savchenko’s release.

March 22, a Russian court in Rostov sentenced Savchenko to 22 years in jail for allegedly being involved in the murder of 2 Russian journalists in Donbas.

Nadia Savchenko did not plead guilty, claiming she had been falsely accused by the Russian authorities as the court ignored vital evidence and witnesses.

zik.ua

The ship will be built at the More shipyard in Feodosia.

The 800-ton cruiser will have the speed of 30 knots and 3,000-mile operating range.

It will carry missiles and artillery guns.

zik.ua

NATO has a new supreme commander, whose job is to strengthen it as a defense force after years of reductions of U.S. troops in Europe.

"We face a resurgent Russia and its aggressive behavior that challenges international norms," U.S. Army General Curtis Scaparrotti said earlier this week upon taking command of U.S. forces in Europe.

He added that the Atlantic alliance's forces must be "ready to fight should deterrence fail."

Scaparrotti became supreme allied commander Europe at a May 4 ceremony at NATO's military headquarters near Mons, in southern Belgium.

His appointment comes at a time when the alliance regards Moscow as a threat to stability over its actions in Ukraine and has largely given up on military or civilian cooperation with Russia.

Scaparrotti has said he will press Washington to station a third permanent brigade of U.S. troops in Europe to bolster the two brigades presently deployed in Germany and Italy. Any additional permanent deployment of troops would reverse reductions over the past four years, during which Washington deactivated two brigades in Europe due to budget pressures and new threats in the Middle East and Asia.

Today, there are fewer than 65,000 U.S. military personnel permanently stationed in Europe, down from roughly 300,000 during the Cold War.

Scaparrotti's desire for more troops in Europe echoes the position of NATO's outgoing military commander, U.S. General Philip Breedlove. To date, however, Washington has preferred to rotate additional troops in and out of Europe rather than permanently station more on the continent.....................

To read further go to this link:  rferl.org

As deputy mayor of St. Petersburg in the 1990s, Vladimir Putin spent a lot of time with gangsters.

He collaborated with the infamous Tambov and Malyshev organized crime groups to gain control of St. Petersburg's gambling industry.

He used his office to help launder mafia money and to arrange foreign travel for known mobsters.

And security for the Ozero dacha cooperative he co-founded with some of his former KGB pals was provided by a company run by the Tambov gang, whom Putin also helped secure a monopoly over the city's fuel distribution network.

Putin was, in fact, an important liaison between the local government and the criminal underworld, Karen Dawisha writes in her highly acclaimed book Putin's Kleptocracy.

And when he moved into the Kremlin, Putin put his old mafia contacts to use as key tools of Russian statecraft.

"A significant part of Russian organised crime is organised directly from the offices of the Kremlin," the International Business Times quoted Ben Emmerson, a prominent British attorney who represents the family of slain Russian defector Aleksandr Litvinenko, as saying.

Likewise, Russian organized crime expert Mark Galeotti noted in a recent lecture at the Hudson Institute that Putin's Russia is "not so much a mafia state as a state with a nationalized mafia."

Putin's Kremlin has used organized crime to carry out the tasks it wants to keep its fingerprints off, be it arms smuggling, assassinations, raising funds for black ops, or stirring up trouble in the former Soviet space.................

To read further go to this link:  rferl.org

The Secretary of State expressed the view that the construction of the pipeline "Nord Stream - 2" will have a negative impact on the countries of Eastern Europe, said "TASS" .

Before meeting with the Foreign Minister of the EU Federica Mogherini he said he was going to discuss specific issues of "all is of deep concern."

"This project [" Nord Stream - 2 "] has caused a very heated debate on both sides of the Atlantic, and we are absolutely sure that it will have a negative impact on the Ukraine, Slovakia and Eastern Europe" - Kerry said.

He added that the problem "can not be overlooked."

glavcom.ua In Russian/русский