Ukraine crisis. News in brief. Wednesday 29 March. [Ukrainian sources]

WEDNESDAY

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More than half of Russians accuse Putin of corruption in Russia.  Hi Putin: US Senate gave approval for accession of Montenegro to NATO.  US senators were in favor of granting Ukraine lethal weapons and tougher sanctions against Russia. TMontenegro draws closer to joining Nato.

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US Senate emphasizes America recognize the illegal annexation of Crimea attempts and calls to strengthen economic sanctions against Russia.

It informs Tsenzor.NET , this statement by the US Embassy in Ukraine.

Ukrainian Caucus Co-Chairman Senate, Senator Robert Portman of Ohio and Caucus Vice Chairman, Democratic senator from the state of said Sherrod Brown introduced the draft resolution "illegal condemnation of Russian aggression in Ukraine in connection with the third anniversary of the annexation of the Crimea." Co-authors of the resolution were nearly a dozen senators from the Republican and Democratic parties, including K. Gardner, John. McCain, John. Kornin M. Rubio, P. Twomey, D. Feynsteyn, R. Durbin, R. Blumenthal, B. Casey E. Klobuchar, K. Koons and Jean Shaheen.

"The resolution dedicated to the third anniversary of Russian attempts to annex the Autonomous Republic of Crimea illegal Russian military occupation of the Ukrainian region of Crimea recognize this, contrary to international norms, is an act of unprovoked aggression and a threat to regional stability," - said in a statement .

Senate confirms US commitment to the provisions of the Budapest Memorandum on Security Assurances and policies recognize de jure or de facto sovereignty of Russia over the Crimea, its airspace or territorial waters.

US lawmakers also favor further support Ukraine, among other things, and by strengthening economic sanctions against Russia, our country transmission lethal means of defense, support democracy and humanitarian aid pursuant Congress approved the relevant legislation.

Recall, March 27, 2014 the UN General Assembly adopted a resolution on recognition of the illegal referendum on the secession of Crimea from Ukraine and joining the peninsula to Russia. Resolution supported by delegates from 100 countries, voted against 11 countries (Armenia, Belarus, Bolivia, Cuba, North Korea, Nicaragua, Russia, Sudan, Syria, Venezuela, Zimbabwe) have 58 abstentions.

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

Russia increased staff number of its armed forces , but it did not help her in the modern arms race.

It says military expert Oleg Zhdanov in his column on the "apostrophe".

He said that in fact an increasing number of civilians among the Armed Forces, and the military will follow not much. "Enough of Putin cunning step, so that today Russian economy will not sustain any arms race - even a small," - said the expert.

As an example, the expert drew attention to the deployment of two Russian armies on the border with Ukraine, which began to build in 2015.

For two years, continues to Zhdanov, the Russians were able to subdue a team of twenty Voronezh army and were able to create a 150-th Division as part of the Eighth Army Rostov. However, only in May has finished acquisition of armies. The expert said that the trains with tanks moving towards Ukraine go really well in these armies as "Putin understands that sooner or later NATO observers will sit next to our borders."

More read the column Zhdanov to "apostrophe".

apostrophe.ua, Original in Ukrainian / на українській мові

Among the political weather of thriving financial abuse and the responsibility for this lies with the Russian President Vladimir Putin.

This is according to a poll conducted "Levada Center" on March 28, Russian edition "Fontanka".

According to the poll, 79% of Russians believe that corruption in Russia fully or largely covered bodies, and win in combat is not expected.

67% of respondents say that the responsibility for the extent of abuse in high places is Russian President Vladimir Putin. However, no consensus about whether Putin can influence the officials, the Russians did not come 45% sure that all the attempts of the Russian president will be in vain because corruption in Russia is invincible.

We emphasize that only 6% of Russians believe that corruption is interested in the prosperity personally Vladimir Putin.

As reported by "Apostrophe", recently held throughout the mass protests against corruption in government .

apostrophe.ua , Original in Ukrainian / на українській мові

US Senate almost unanimously supported the expansion of NATO to include the alliance Montenegro.

It is reported by news agency Reuters .

For this decision voted 95 out of 100 senators. Only two senators voted against the decision.

Now this decision is to support US President Donald Trump signed the relevant document.

Currently it is not known whether Trump would support this decision, but before members of his team have repeatedly expressed support for Montenegro's accession to NATO.

US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson earlier appealed to leaders of the Senate, noting that the membership of Montenegro in NATO is "very much in the interests of the United States."

As reported by "Apostrophe" NATO said earlier about the need for Ukraine lethal weapons.

apostrophe.ua , Original in Ukrainian / на українській мові

US backing for tiny Balkan state’s membership will irritate Russia

Montenegro’s bid to join Nato has moved a step closer, as the US Senate on Tuesday night overwhelmingly backed membership for the tiny Balkan state at the heart of a diplomatic tussle between Russia and the west.

Montenegro’s pending membership — which still requires US president Donald Trump’s signature and parliamentary approval in Spain and the Netherlands — will complete the alliance’s presence along the length of the strategically important Adriatic coastline.

It will also irritate Moscow, which opposes Nato expansion in the Balkans and has called for Montenegrins to be allowed a referendum on the issue.

The Senate vote followed a written plea by Rex Tillerson, US secretary of state, who told senators that admitting Montenegro as a full member was “strongly in the interests of the United States”, and would foster stability and democratic reform.

“Montenegro’s participation in the May Nato Summit as a full member, not as an observer, will send a strong signal of transatlantic unity,” Mr Tillerson wrote before the vote, which was approved by 97 votes to two against...............

Access complete text of the editorial:  Montenegro draws closer to joining Nato (Financial Times) In English

Increasing the size of the army of "lies in the propaganda theory in the context of the election campaign."

This was in his column at "Apostrophe" wrote military analyst Oleg Zhdanov.

According to experts, despite the increase in the number of the army, it does not lead to a deterioration of the situation in the war in Donbas.

"Putin formed dvistitysyachnu Natshvardiyu actually finished its acquisition by internal forces and some army units. This way, the answer to the question why Ukraine can not wait aggravation of confrontation due to the increase in the number of Armed Forces? Because all the power thrown on the formation Natshvardiyi "- wrote Zhdanov.

More information about the reasons for the rapid increase in the number of Russian army at "Apostrophe".

apostrophe.ua , Original in Ukrainian / на українській мові

A court in London has ruled that Ukraine has failed to present a court-ready defense in a suit by Russia seeking repayment of $3 billion lent by Moscow to the government of former Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych.

Judge William Blair ruled in a March 29 pretrial hearing that because of Ukraine's failure to present a "justiciable" defense, the case could not go forward to trial.

Ukraine immediately asked for a stay of the decision pending an appeal. A stay was granted until the end of April.

Ukraine's defense in the case was based on four points: that the debt was incurred under duress; that the terms of loan were unfair; that the Ukrainian government at that time lacked the capacity to enter into the agreement; and that nonpayment was a justifiable countermeasure to Russia's 2014 annexation of the Ukrainian region of Crimea and Moscow's interference in Ukraine's economic and political situation.

The judge ruled that the duress and countermeasure arguments were potentially compelling but that they were a matter of international law beyond the London court's jurisdiction.

Access complete text of the editorial:  rferl.org In English

For several months American journalists have been competing to expose agents of Russian influence inside the new White House.

This is a result of the conflict that began during the US presidential election campaign when a majority of the mainstream media rallied against Trump while he, without any evidence, criticized them for being biased.

One of the main players in this conflict is well-known in Ukraine: Paul Manafort.

He is a man who ran ousted [pro-Russian Ukrainian president] Viktor Yanukovych’s election campaigns in 2006, 2007, 2010 and 2012; a man who employed cynical techniques for exploiting the divide between Ukrainian and Russian speakers in order to help Yanukovych make his mark on the political map; a man against whom 22 entries of payments totaling $12.7 million have been recorded in the “black ledger” of the Party of Regions; and a man whose ties to dirty money of the members of the Party of Regions even made Russian President Vladimir Putin take notice.

According to the notorious dossier prepared by former British intelligence officer Christopher Steele, Putin secretly met former President Yanukovych to discuss the evidence about Manafort receiving payments from the Party of Regions. The report said, “Yanukovych assured Putin that there was no documented trail showing payments to Manafort, although Putin told his associates he did not believe the Ukrainian president.”

The uniqueness of the document found in Manafort's office on Sofiyska Street in Kiev is that it diagrams the money transfer described in the black ledger of the Party of Regions. To conceal payment, the sides drew up a fake contract alleging the purchase of 501 computers by an American political strategist to an offshore shell company.

Under this scheme, the money was transferred to Manafort at least once. According to the ledger, Manafort was issued $750,000 on October 14, 2009. On the same day, Manafort and Neocom Systems Ltd, a Belize-registered offshore company with an account in Kyrgyzstan, signed a sale agreement for electrical appliances for the same amount.................

Access complete text of the editorial:  newsweek.com In English

The Security Service of Ukraine believes the attack on Consulate General of Poland in Lutsk and blocking of a highway near Lviv by a group of unknown individuals are a part of the special operation of the Russian secret services.

Representative of the Security Service of Ukraine Oleksandr Tkachuk told a briefing, Censor.NET reports citing Ukrainski Novyny.

He said that a 50 strong group organized a rally to block a highway near Lviv at 7 p.m. The organizers of the protest that was planned to be held until 10 p.m. plotted acts of violence against law enforcement officers. The "activists" were holding posters reading "Stop genocide of Poles," "Volyn is in our hearts" and others.

"The rally actually kicked off just after the attack on the Consulate General in Lutsk," Tkachuk said.

The rally participants were unemployed and homeless persons brought from the Khmelnytskyi, Volyn, and Zakarpattia regions. "Besides individuals of no fixed abode, there were a large number of minors among the protesters," the SBU.

The rally was organized by a native of Luhansk region and a female resident of Lviv with a mental illness history. Each unemployed protester-for-hire was promised 150-200 hryvnia ($5-7) for taking part in the provocation.

"This provocation is part of the information warfare aimed at stirring up ethnic hatred between the Ukrainian and Polish peoples," the official said. According to the SBU, the operation was orchestrated by the Russian secret services.

The law enforcers managed to prevent a number of similar rallies planned to be held in the Lviv and Chernivtsi regions. One of the masterminds of the protests is Artem Buzilo, the ideamonger of the "Bessarabian People's Republic" creation who is hiding in Russia.

As previously reported, the building of the Consulate General of Poland in Lutsk was attacked on the night of March 29. Deputy Consul Krzysztof Sawicki said it was a terrorist attack. Fragments of an RPG grenade were found at the scene. Ukraine's Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin called the incident "a vile provocation " and said the criminals must be punished. President of the Ukrainian Institute of National Remembrance Volodymyr Viatrovych said the provocations against Polish-Ukrainian relationship are entering a new, much more dangerous phase.

Foreign Ministry of Poland has summoned Ukraine's Ambassador Andrii Deshchytsia in connection with the incident in Lutsk and is to send a protest note to Kyiv. Ukraine's Security Service (SBU) said the Consulate General of Poland in Lutsk came under grenade launcher fire. A terrorist attack is named among the scenarios behind the incident. SBU said the Russian Federation is the only actor interested in provocations against Poland in Ukraine.

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

Spokesperson for Ukrainian president Sviatoslav Tseholko said that unknown individuals pretending to be members of Ukraine’s Presidential Administration made an unsuccessful attempt to organize a phone conversation with the office of the Polish president yesterday.

He wrote on Facebook, Censor.NET reports.

"Another evidence of Russia's involvement in the attack on the Consulate General of Poland in Lutsk: the Russian secret services tried to organize a phone conversation with Andrzej Duda allegedly on behalf of Ukraine in the evening.

"The so-called 'prankers' were not aware that the conversation had already taken place while the office of the President of Poland was in constant liaison with the Ukrainian Presidential Administration," Tseholko said.

As previously reported, the building of the Consulate General of Poland in Lutsk was attacked on the night of March 29. Deputy Consul Krzysztof Sawicki said it was a terrorist attack. Fragments of an RPG grenade were found at the scene. Ukraine's Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin called the incident "a vile provocation " and said the criminals must be punished. President of the Ukrainian Institute of National Remembrance Volodymyr Viatrovych said the provocations against Polish-Ukrainian relationship are entering a new, much more dangerous phase.

Foreign Ministry of Poland has summoned Ukraine's Ambassador Andrii Deshchytsia in connection with the incident in Lutsk and is to send a protest note to Kyiv. Ukraine's Security Service (SBU) said the Consulate General of Poland in Lutsk came under grenade launcher fire. A terrorist attack is named among the scenarios behind the incident. SBU said the Russian Federation is the only actor interested in provocations against Poland in Ukraine.

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