Ukraine crisis. News in brief. Monday 27 March. [Ukrainian sources]

MONDAY

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NEWS:
Senator McCain calls to give weapons to Ukraine amid intensified aggression by Putin.  US Department of State urges Russia to immediately release all peaceful protesters.  The end of the regime: Borovoy said that means the mass protests in Russia.  InformNapalm reporter disappears after Freedom Day arrests in Belarus.  Separatists in Ukraine's Donbas have Russia's latest weapons.  Russian Gen. Zavizyon indicted for ordering attacks on Ukrainian troops.

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The United States has condemned multiple arrests of protesters in Russia on Sunday, March 26, and called it a neglect of democratic values.

Censor.NET reports quoting Interfax-Ukraine.

The United States strongly condemns the arrest of hundreds of peaceful demonstrators across Russia on Sunday. The detention of peaceful demonstrators, human rights activists and journalists is a trampling on basic democratic values, said Deputy Department Spokesperson Mark Toner in a written response to Interfax-Ukraine.

The diplomat noted the U.S. was dismayed to learn about the arrest of opposition politician Alexei Navalny after his arrival at the rally, as well as about police raids against the anti-corruption NGO that Navalny leads.

The United States will monitor this situation and urges the Russian government to immediately release all peaceful demonstrators, Toner said.

On March 26, an unsanctioned anti-corruption rally took place in Moscow. The police report up to 8,000 people took part in the event. Its organizer, opposition politician Aleksei Navalny, was detained at the beginning of the rally.

Similar anti-corruption protests took place in many other cities across Russia. The police apprehended dozens of participants in unauthorized rallies in Vladivostok, Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk, Khabarovsk, Yekaterinburg and other cities.

The protests are said to have been triggered by Alexei Navalny's recent report exposing posh property of Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev.

According to official data by Russia's Interior Ministry, about 500 people have been detained.

ua.censor.net.ua , Original in Ukrainian / на українській мові

The reaction of Russian authorities on anti-corruption rallies that yesterday, March 26, swept the country, shows the fragility of the Putin regime. This opinion was expressed Russian opposition leader and political analyst Konstantin Borovoy, reports gordon.ua .

"Judging by the fugitive of the authorities is a very strong fear. There comes an understanding that we are approaching the end of the regime. Tools impact on the people in them almost no" - said Borovoy.

He noted that the action did not come proponents Russian politician Alexei Navalny, and ordinary citizens who are not ideologically motivated. "It's more intuitive speech people tired of propaganda games authoritarian regime," - said the expert.

According to him, although the shares have been quite a few, but this strong initial momentum, which can lead to large protests that sweep away the power.

Yesterday Russia held demonstrations against the corruption that ended the mass detention of protesters and organizers .

apostrophe.ua, Original in Ukrainian / на українській мові

The first priority for the United States in Ukraine is to provide defensive weapons such as javelin missiles and counter-battery radar.

U.S. Senator John McCain (R-Arizona) said speaking at The German Marshall Fund's 12th Brussels Forum on March 25, Censor.NET reports citing eureporter.

Read more: Murder of Voronenkov is act of Russian state terrorism, - Senator McCain

Voice of America also quoted McCain as saying that Russian President Vladimir Putin has intensified his aggression in Ukraine causing deaths of Ukrainians. The senator called to provide the country's army with weapons so that it could protect itself.

"The Ukrainian military has improved dramatically in their capabilities, they just need the ability to fight," eureporter cited McCain as saying during the Forum.

The Forum participants also discussed the conflict in Syria, nuclear ambitions of the North Korea, and U.S. relationships with Japan and South Korea.

ua.censor.net.ua , Original in Ukrainian / на українській мові

Opposition leader Alexai Navalny has mobilised tens of thousands to demonstrate

President Vladimir Putin’s expected re-election next year had begun to take on the air of a coronation. But the scale of mass anti-corruption protests across Russia on Sunday has revealed surprisingly deep dissatisfaction with Mr Putin as the Kremlin plots his path to a new six-year term in 2018.

Following a call from opposition leader Alexei Navalny, tens of thousands of people took to the streets in more than 80 cities — mostly in defiance of police bans — for the biggest protests against Mr Putin in five years. Police arrested more than 1,000 people in Moscow alone.

The challenge is one that Mr Putin has seen off before. Returning to the Kremlin in 2012, he cracked down on a protest movement led in part by Mr Navalny, mobilised voters with a hard conservative turn and stoked nationalistic, anti-western fervour by annexing Crimea from Ukraine. Official polls put his approval rating at more than 80 per cent, the highest during his 17-year rule.

But Sunday’s protests indicated a level of public anger that Mr Putin and his inner circle will have to take into account — even if the ability of Mr Navalny and his supporters to sustain organised opposition remains open to question.

“The election’s in a year and the plan they had is no good,” said Gleb Pavlovsky, a former Kremlin spin-doctor. “It was meant to be a bombastic, triumphalist referendum on how great Putin is. They’ll have to rethink all of this now.”.............................

Access complete text of the editorial: [url=Access complete text of the editorial: [url=]  [/url] In English]  (Financial Times)  [/url] In English

On March 27, trials of journalists detained during Freedom Day are to take place in Minsk, Vitebsk and Polotsk. A Minsk court had to try InformNapalm journalist Dzianis Ivashyn whose whereabouts remains unknown so far.
As reported by Censor.NET citing the Belarusian Association of Journalists (BAJ), lists of correspondents and journalists pending trials in Belarus have been posted on the official website of the organization.

Today, the Frunzensky district court of Minsk was to try Dzianis Ivashyn, the editor of the Belarusian version of InformNapalm OSINT group website. The journalist was detained during the dispersal of the Freedom Day rally in Minsk. Ivashin was accused of violating article 23.34 of the Code of Administrative Offenses (violation of the procedure for organizing or holding mass events). He spent the weekend in the Center for Isolation of Offenders (CIP) of the Main Department of Internal Affairs of the Minsk City Executive Committee at 36 1st Okrestina Lane. However, Dzianis was not taken to the Frunzensky district court in the morning. BAJ lawyers are looking for Dzianis Ivashyn.



The video shows (3:42) Dzianis Ivashyn being pushed into a paddy wagon as he tries several times to explain to the riot police that he is a journalist, but remains unheard.

"We ask human rights defenders and the international community to facilitate the release of the journalist from custody, as well as to prevent political persecution as a result of his professional activities," InformNapalm volunteers note.

ua.censor.net.ua, Original in Ukrainian / на українській мові

The Prosecutor General's Office (PGO) has issued yet another indictment against an officer of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation.

Larysa Sarhan, the press secretary for Prosecutor General of Ukraine Yurii Lutsenko, wrote on Facebook, Censor.NET reports.

According to her, the Chief Military Prosecutor's Office has issued an indictment against Commander of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, Major-General A. Zavizyon on charges of committing crimes under a number of articles of the Criminal Code of Ukraine.



Zavizyon, who was the commander of the 1st Army Corps of the illegal military formation "Donetsk People's Republic" between February and July 2015, is reasonably suspected of ordering militants in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions to shell Ukrainian positions and attack Ukrainian troops and law enforcers by prior conspiracy with Russia'a government and military command representatives, Sarhan said.

She said his actions resulted in the death of 3,000 and injuries of more than 8,000 servicemen of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and other military formations engaged in the ATO, as well as considerable damage to the state of Ukraine.

In August 2016, Ukraine's Prosecutor General Yurii Lutsenko said indictments had been issued against 18 high-ranking officials of the Russian Federation, including Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, Deputy Defense Minister Dmitry Bulgakov, Chief of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces Valery Gerasimov and others.

ua.censor.net.uaua.censor.net.ua , Original in Ukrainian / на українській мові

The Russian court accused former Prime Minister of Ukraine Arsenii Yatseniuk of committing a number of crimes in Chechnya.
Yatseniuk wrote on Facebook, Censor.NET reports.

"The Kremlin is ready to use all methods in its aggression against Ukraine. Overwhelming hatred and absurd are the backbone of Putin's regime. In recent years, the Kremlin has been trying to discredit those Ukrainian politicians whom it hates to death.

"I received information that the Kremlin had sunk even lower. The Embassy of Ukraine in Russia received a copy of the ruling of the Yessentuki city court of the Stavropol Territory.

"The major case investigator of the Main Investigation Department of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation of the North-Caucasian District Naimanov requested the court to issue the arrest warrant for me on charges of involvement in an armed group (gang) or in attacks committed by it, plotting a or attempting to commit a crime, intentional homicide under aggravating circumstances," he stressed.

"This is definitely total and complete nonsense, but also a well-thought-through scenario. The Kremlin seeks for legal mechanisms for persecution of Ukrainian politicians.

"This scenario is aimed at bringing the case of "atrocities committed by Yatseniuk in Chechnya" to the next level to have a wider leverage in future

"The Russian dictatorial power has obviously triggered a new spike in hybrid warfare against the backdrop of all the latest high-profile incidents including cynical murders and crackdown on the opposition

"Russia's travesty of justice is definitely impressive, but it also shows the agony of Putin's criminal regime. They are scared. They are looking for every possibility to confront us. But they are undoubtedly doomed," Yatseniuk summed up.

ua.censor.net.ua , Original in Ukrainian / на українській мові

The White House calls on Putin to release peaceful protesters following anti-government demonstrations.

As reported by Censor.NET citing the Washington Post, White House press secretary Sean Spicer on Monday delivered a statement from the Trump administration's State Department, condemning the imprisonment of peaceful protesters in Russia.

"The United States strongly condemns the detention of hundreds of peaceful protesters throughout Russia on Sunday. Detaining peaceful protesters, human rights observers, and journalists is an affront to core democratic values. We were troubled to hear of the arrest of opposition figure Alexei Navalny upon arrival at the demonstration, as well as the police raids on the anti-corruption organization," Spicer said.

"The United States will monitor this situation, and we call on the government of Russia to immediately release all peaceful protesters. The Russian people, like people everywhere, deserve a government that supports an open marketplace of ideas, transparent and accountable governance, equal treatment under the law, and the ability to exercise their rights without fear of retribution," the White House press secretary stressed.

On March 26, an unsanctioned anti-corruption rally took place in Moscow. The police report up to 8,000 people took part in the event. Its organizer, opposition politician Aleksei Navalny, was detained at the beginning of the rally.

Similar anti-corruption protests took place in many other cities across Russia. The police apprehended dozens of participants in unauthorized rallies in Vladivostok, Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk, Khabarovsk, Yekaterinburg and other cities.

The protests are said to have been triggered by Alexei Navalny's recent report exposing posh property of Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev.

According to official data by Russia's Interior Ministry, about 500 people have been detained.

ua.censor.net.ua , Original in Ukrainian / на українській мові