Ukraine crisis. News in brief. Thursday 22 June, [Ukrainian sources]

THURSDAY

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HEADLINES:
Gordon: In the US considers a plan whereby the Crimea remains with Russia and the Donbas for Ukraine. NYTimes learned about secret White House lobbying for easing sanctions against Russia. Russian government at direction of Putin orchestrated cyberattacks on US during presidential election. "Russia wants to have the Donbas another frozen conflict worse than in Transnistria".  Russia continues to kill Ukrainian soldiers and civilians.  Elon Musk says Ukrainian Zenit rocket "next best" to his own. Not Just A Putin Problem. Donbas militants reported to be using torture to get ‘confession’ from seized journalist.

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If the solution to the conflict between Ukraine and Russia will be held for the same plan, which they say insiders in the US, Ukraine will lose Crimea and will not join NATO, but will scale investments within a kind of "Marshall Plan." This was told Ukrainian journalist, founder of the publication "GORDON" Dmitry Gordon, citing its own sources.



As a way of conflict in the Donbas is considering, according to which Ukraine may withdraw from the Crimea in exchange for a waiver of claims to Luhansk and Donetsk regions.

The broadcast channel "112 Ukraine" said the journalist, founder of the publication "GORDON" Dmitry Gordon when discussing possible ways to resolve the armed conflict in Donbas.

"Americans have long want to solve this issue. As far as I know from his sources, a plan view, the chief: Crimea is Russia's Donbass remains for Ukraine. Ukraine is committed not to join NATO. Under the auspices of the Americans and Germans for Ukraine allocate a lot of money within a kind of "Marshall plan" ( restore Europe after World war II, proposed by US Secretary of State George Marshall in 1947. - "GORDON" ), and a lot of wind here Western businessmen money and go claim Otok investments ", - he said, commenting on the statements of US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson that the conflict in Donbas can settle and outside Minsk format.

Gordon, citing sources, said that Ukraine will have to choose between the loss of the Crimea, Donbass return, non-aligned status and "huge money for the country."

Russia annexed Crimea in spring 2014 on the results of the "referendum", the results of which do not recognize Ukraine and most of the world. In connection with the annexation of the EU, the US, Canada and other countries imposed economic sanctions against Russia.

After the occupation of the Crimea began the armed conflict in Donbas between Ukrainian government forces on one side and militants supported by Moscow and Russian troops on the other.

gordonua.com , Original in Ukrainian / на українському

Today the White House secretly lobbying in the House of Representatives (the lower house of Congress) mitigation provisions of the bill on the introduction of severe sanctions against the Russian Federation.

It is reported by The New York Times.

It is noted that the document, which last week supported the vast majority of senators implies increased "punish" Russia through its interference in the election campaign in the US in 2016 and deprivation president Donald Trump own right in the future to cancel any restrictive measures on Moscow

The publication notes that efforts to counter the administration Trump law intended to avoid politically destructive struggle between the White House and Republicans, who have a majority in Congress about the possible use of Trump veto in matters relating to Russia.

At the same time, representatives of the Republican Party in the House, usually militant against Russia faced a choice - whether to continue to demonstrate a tough line on Moscow for its misconduct, which could cause a confrontation with the president of Trump.

So, on Tuesday White House spokesman Sean Spicer said the administration is not ready to announce a formal position on this bill, including as to whether Trump would veto the law if approved in the House of Representatives.

But Trump administration officials argue that the bill causes them serious concern - not because of sanctions against the Russian Federation, and by restricting the president's powers. They also note that the bill could weaken the international coalition supporting the existing restrictive measures.

As reported by "Apostrophe", earlier in the US House of Representatives (lower chamber Congress) said that the draft new sanctions against Russia and Iran, which was adopted in the Senate, violates the United States Constitution.

apostrophe.ua, Original in Ukrainian / на українському

Tesla founder Elon Musk called Ukrainian Zenith rockets his favorite, "not including the ones that I make."
He told in a Rapid Fire interview on CNN, Censor.NET reports.

Watch more: Vega carrier with Ukrainian missile engine successfully launched off French Guiana. VIDEO

Answering a question on his favorite rocket, Musk said: "Non including the ones that I make? The Zenith is probably the next best rocket."



Zenith (meaning Zenith) is a family of space launch vehicles designed by Pivdenne Design Bureau in Dnipro, Ukraine. Zenith-2 was the first Zenith to be designed for use as an orbital carrier rocket. Through his corporation, Musk constructs and launches Falcon-9, considered the most efficient and high-quality rockets in the world.

en.censor.net.ua, Original in Ukrainian / на українському  

The Kremlin-backed militants who have seized Stanyslav Aseyev (Vasin) are believed to be using torture to extract a ‘confession’ from the 27-year-old freelance journalist, and to be putting severe pressure on his mother. For understandable reasons, Yehor Firsov, the former Ukrainian MP from Donetsk, who knows the journalist, is not naming his sources, but previous videoed confessions from people in militant custody give strong grounds for fearing that Aseyev is being subjected to such treatment.

Aseyev, who writes under the pseudonym Stanyslav Vasin, disappeared in militant-controlled Donetsk on June 2, with this first reported by Firsov, a former MP, on June 6. The journalist’s real name was revealed on 9/10 June by a colleague writing in Dzerkalo Tyzhnya and then by Firsov in a blog written in English for the international media.

Aseyev had been in Donetsk since the beginning of the war in early 2014, and had published as Stanyslav Vasin, for prominent media, such as Dzherkalo Tyzhnya and Radio Svoboda. Tetyana Yakovych, who works with Aseyev on Donbas.Realii says that his material has given people a glimpse of life in the self-proclaimed ‘Donetsk people’s republic’ [DPR], and did not touch on openly ‘political’ subjects.

He had been scheduled to send material about life on June 3, and was also supposed to come to his mother’s home on that day. When it became clear that all contact with him had been lost, his mother and friends went to his flat. They found the door broken in and that a lot of things had gone, including the laptop that Aseyev wrote on.

Most chillingly, his Facebook page was still active and letters were being sent, trying to obtain information about his contacts, etc.

By June 10, Firsov had ascertained that Aseyev was being held by the so-called ‘DPR ministry of state security’. Ukraine’s Security Service [SBU] and the particular department seeking the release of hostages are aware of the situation, as is the OSCE monitoring mission. There have been calls from abroad, from the Committee to Protect Journalists, for example. The latter, however, “calls on the Ukrainian authorities to employ all resources at their disposal to find and ensure the safety of Stanyslav Aseyev (Vasin)”. It is the militants who have taken him prisoner, and they answer essentially only to Russia.

Firsov wrote again on June 20, reporting that the DPR militants are trying to beat out a ‘confession’ to justify his ‘arrest’ and for ‘charges’ to lay against him. “Terrible pressure and blackmail are being exerted both on him, and on his mother. His mother virtually cut off all communication with Ukrainian representatives a week ago”.

The politician also wrote of a mounting propaganda campaign with material appearing on pro-Russian and separatist sites. These claim that the journalist had not been seized by the DPR ‘security ministry’ and had been ill and in hospital. It was only after Serhiy Rakhmanin named Aseyev in Dzherkalov Tyzhnya and other media followed suit, this version asserts, that the journalist was detained. Firsov considers such attempts to twist the story to be part of the information war underway.

He stresses that he first learned of Aseyev’s disappearance on June 4 and that they saw that people had broken into his flat and taken his computer the following day. By June 6, material had appeared on the journalist’s Facebook page which those who know him were clear had not been written by him.................

Access complete text of the editorial:  khpg.org

The House intelligence committee hearing on Wednesday was slated to focus Russia's attempts to hack into state elections systems, happening simultaneously as a Senate intelligence panel of DHS and FBI officials were testifying on Russian cyberinterference with last year's elections.

Censor.NET reports citing CNN.

"In 2016 the Russian government, at the direction of (Russian President) Vladimir Putin himself, orchestrated cyberattacks on our nation for the purpose of influencing our election -- plain and simple. Now, the key question for the president and Congress is: What are we going to do to protect the American people and their democracy from this kind of thing in the future?" Johnson said in his opening remarks.

The coordinated hacking effort from Russian-aligned hackers has received minimal attention in the congressional probes into Russia's interference in the election. President Donald Trump and his supporters have regularly noted that no votes were ever changed by Russian hackers -- something Obama and Trump administration intelligence officials have regularly stated in their testimony.

Johnson took heat from Democrats, angry that former President Barack Obama did not more forcefully announce Russia's meddling in the election in the midst of the election itself.

Johnson said that Obama clearly wanted that message out there, but did not want to make it look like he was putting his thumb on the scale for (Democratic presidential nominee) Hillary Clinton.

"We considered all those things and the decision was made that the Director of National Intelligence (James Clapper) and Department of Homeland Security together should make this statement," Johnson said.

In early January, Office of the Director of National Intelligence published a declassified version of a highly classified assessment of Russian activities and intentions in recent U.S. elections. According to the assessment, Putin most likely wanted to discredit Secretary Clinton because he has publicly blamed her since 2011 for inciting mass protests against his regime in late 2011 and early 2012, and because he holds a grudge for comments he almost certainly saw as disparaging him.

ua.censor.net.ua, Original in Ukrainian / на українському

The former president shared his thoughts about the fate of Donbas.

As the Tsenzor.NET, this opinion during his speech at the opening of the international forum, which was broadcast channel " 112 Ukraine ", said the second president of Ukraine, the representative of Ukraine in Trystoroniy contact group in Minsk Leonid Kuchma.

"The international community can, and then primarily in the United States, perform the Budapest Protocol and really get to do that today it is necessary to Ukraine has become a truly sovereign state. The mechanisms they have, but we must also have the desire. you know perfectly well when Merkel is trying something in his radical done there by the hand all its snap, including Mr Schroeder. Where it works and how it year gets? Or top ten German firms operating in Russia. What are Ukraine? In Ukraine, they are not. There is not Germany or France or the US, no one, we are practical. When ripe minds and we see that minds are ripe only after the Second World war, understood that we must conclude. So today throughout the conflict, and each of the problem looks from its bell tower. Let's look at the same Syria. But we can also do anything. So we, sorry for my candid tone, very long and difficult path to peace. Because I, for one, is convinced that Russia wants to have another frozen conflict in Ukraine. But it's worse than Transnistria, because in Russia there is no border, but there is a limit. So spread this out is now much easier. And more and more difficult. It should really do anything to stop this situation in Ukraine. Therefore, we must all be united, "- said Kuchma.

ua.censor.net.ua , Original in Ukrainian / на українському

The Russian Federation continues to kill civilians and soldiers of the Armed Forces.

It informs Tsenzor.NET of President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko said after talks with European Council President Donald Tusk in Brussels.

"Russia continues to kill civilians and Ukrainian troops," - quoted the head of state his press secretary Svyatoslav Tseholko on his page on Twitter.

As reported, May 24, 2017 Minister of Defense of Ukraine Stepan Poltorak said that the total number of dead Ukrainian soldiers since the beginning of the year is about 100.

"The total number of our dead - from the beginning of the year there are about 100 - the number of imported vehicles indicates that Russia has no plans to carry Minsk agreement. I do not see trends before, Russia wants to perform at least one point of agreement. Plus Deployment troops on the border, increasing group in Crimea points to the hostile attitude. And also that the risk of a hostile attitude towards Ukraine did not disappear, "- he said.

ua.censor.net.ua , Original in Ukrainian / на українському

U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson will visit Ukraine in the near future.

As reported by Censor.NET citing UNIAN, this was announced by President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko during a press conference in Washington, D.C.

"The major achievement of this trip is that the U.S. is now united with Ukraine. If earlier they only spoke of bipartisan support in Congress and Senate, today we can state it is also true about the executive authorities of the U.S., about the new presidential administration," Poroshenko said.

"I would like to use this opportunity and thank President Trump for this very powerful support of our state, thank Vice President Mike Pence, thank Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, who we also expect in Ukraine, in Kyiv, soon," the president added.

en.censor.net.ua , Original in Ukrainian / на українському

The authors of the initiative were 23 Congressman

The US Congress presented a bill that requires the Pentagon to develop a strategy in response to the violation by Russia of the Treaty on the Elimination of Nuclear intermediate and shorter-range missiles.

This initiative was made by a senior committee member of the armed forces of the lower house of Congress Democrat Adam Smith led a group of 22 congressmen. A document published on the site committee.

The bill is called " Assistance Act unity against the aggression of Russia - 2017 " . It introduced targeted sanctions against Russia and the fifth article requires confirmation NATO, as well as increasing the number of conventional precision munitions to contain and reduce the threat of nuclear strikes.

" With this legislation, we are laying the foundation for intelligent and proactive approach that strengthens the defense of allies and partners, strengthen cohesion, implementing measures to reduce the risk of errors and accidental nuclear war " - said Smith, quoted " Ukrinform".

Now the share of the US and Russia account for over 90% of all nuclear weapons in the world. According to US-Russian nuclear disarmament treaty, which entered into force in 2011, the number of strategic warheads each side has to be reduced to 1,550 units in February 2018.

In May 2016 the then President Barack Obama said that Russia shows no interest in reducing nuclear weapons stockpiles.

glavcom.ua , Original in Ukrainian / на українському