Ukraine News in brief. Tuesday 26 September. [Ukrainian sources]

TUESDAY

TODAY'S HEADLINES:
Russia: US decision to supply weapons to Ukraine could threaten serious aggravation of the situation.  Putin suddenly threw Special Forces into Belarus: the reason was mentioned.  Hungarian government will block the further rapprochement of Ukraine with the EU.  UN report on grave rights violations demolishes all Russia’s lies about occupied Crimea.  United States does not recognize the annexation of the Crimea even after the return of Donbass - Volker.  "Poroshenko banned Russian language in schools", - Russian media react to new Ukraine Education.  In Marseilles, a representative office of the self-proclaimed "DNR" opened under the position of the French Foreign Ministry.

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The US decision to supply arms to Ukraine can only aggravate the situation, which Washington understands.

According to Tsensor.NET, referring to Interfax-Ukraine, director of the Department for Non-Proliferation and Oversight of the MFA of Russia Mikhail Ulyanov said on Tuesday at a press conference.

"This decision will be tantamount to trying to put the oil on fire," the diplomat said. "I think even in the American administration, many people are aware of this, which is why such supplies have not yet been made, although the conflict has arisen for a long time."

According to Ulyanov, "if the US policy now changes in this direction, then it could threaten a serious aggravation of the situation without any reason."

"Nothing is happening in Ukraine now, which would dictate even the smallest need for such dangerous steps," - he stressed.

Earlier, US Defense Secretary James Mattheys at a joint briefing with Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko promised to expand cooperation with Ukraine in the field of defense and consider the issue of the possibility of delivering lethal weapons.

ua.censor.net.ua, Original in Ukrainian / Українською мовою

On Monday, September 25, Russian special forces were thrown into Belarus to participate in joint training.

This was stated in the Ministry of Defense of Russia, noting that it is a bilateral tactical training.

According to the Russian defense department, the Special Forces units of the Airborne Forces for conducting exercises arrived in Minsk. It is expected that the training will be held at one of the areas of the Armed Forces of Belarus. According to the plan, special forces of Russia's airborne forces will interact with the forces of Belarus's special operations.

Recall that recently large-scale joint military exercises in Russia and Belarus "West-2017", where, according to some reports, the RF Armed Forces worked out a nuclear strike . Before training, many experts expressed fears that Russia could completely withdraw its troops from Belarus, and perhaps even occupy this state.

apostrophe.ua , Original in Ukrainian / Українською мовою

The Hungarian government is about to block all further EU decisions aimed at bringing the EU closer to Ukraine.

This was stated by the Minister for Foreign Affairs of Hungary Peter Siatro, reports "European truth".

Such a decision was the official answer of Budapest that President Poroshenko signed the Law "On Education" .

"We can guarantee that it will hurt the future of Ukraine," the head of the Foreign Ministry said.

Poroshenko's decision, he called "disgraceful". The official website of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs suggests that Poroshenko declared Ukraine's aspiration to be closer to Europe, but the decision to sign the law is "far from Europe, because a huge step was taken in the opposite direction," Sijarto said.

In a statement the Foreign Ministry notes that Ukraine "can forget about integration into Europe", as well as an explanation in the form of a direct quote from the minister: "Hungary will block any initiatives beneficial for Ukraine, in international organizations, especially in the EU."

On September 5, the Verkhovna Rada adopted a law on education . "For" 255 deputies voted for the corresponding decision.

The Law on Education adopted by the Council stipulates that national minorities are guaranteed the right to study in their mother tongue simultaneously with the Ukrainian language only in separate classes (groups) of communal institutions of pre-school and primary education.

As the head of the Foreign Ministry, Pavlo Klimkin, explained, the law on education does not reduce the teaching of minority languages , but adds Ukrainian.

However, on 19 September, the Hungarian Parliament approved a resolution condemning the Ukrainian law on education . And the parliament of Romania adopted a declaration, which also expresses concern about the adoption of a new law.

Hungary even offered Poroshenko not to sign the law on education.

hromadske.ua , Original in Ukrainian / Українською мовою

The damning UN Human Rights Office report on “multiple and grave violations” in Russian-occupied Crimea published on September 25 is not just important in documenting a sharp deterioration in human rights since Russia’s invasion and annexation. It also spells out on virtually every page that Russia is an occupying state, and that its application of Russian legislation is in serious breach of international law, particularly the Fourth Geneva Convention.

The report is a follow-up to the UN General Assembly’s Resolution ‘On the human rights situation in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the City of Sevastopol (Ukraine)’, adopted on Dec 19, 2016. As well as openly calling Russia’s behaviour occupation, the resolution was important in identifying the grave rights violations under Russian occupation and demanding the release of all unlawfully held Ukrainian citizens..

President Vladimir Putin’s press secretary Dmitry Peskov preferred not to comment on the report, however Russia’s human rights ombudsman Tatyana Moskalkova was less reticent. The former police major general, who has previously claimed that there are no political prisoners in Russia, only ‘extremists’, called the report “unfair and lacking in objectivity”. Russia’s official representative at the UN asserted that the report was ‘illegitimate’ and that it was “absurd” that the UN watchdog should be assessing the situation in Crimea from Ukraine.

That argument would be a touch more convincing had the UN watchdog not been prevented from monitoring developments in situ since March 2014. In April 2017, the Human Rights Monitoring Mission tried to visit Crimea in preparation for writing this report, but was first unofficially rebuffed, and then simply ignored.

The report stresses that the violations since annexation have been committed by Russian state agents, and specifically mentions “arbitrary arrests and detentions, enforced disappearances, ill-treatment and torture, and at least one extra-judicial execution”.

The twenty recommendations presented are sure to be ignored. The report, after all, is coming just a day before the third politically motivated sentence this month is due in the ‘trial’ of Crimean Tatar leader Ilmi Umerov on falsified charges based solely on his, and the Crimean Tatar Mejlis’ opposition to Russian occupation.

Such reports do, however, give the lie to the assiduously pushed Russian myth about Crimeans having ‘voted to re-join” Russia and make it more difficult for democratic nations to consider any easing of sanctions against Russia.

Illegal movement of Russian citizens onto occupied territory

There have long been warnings, especially from the Crimean Tatar Mejlis, that Russia is deliberately bringing in Russians to cement its occupation of Crimea.

The UN report confirms such movement of civilians and stresses that this is in breach of the 1949 Geneva Convention which states that “The Occupying Power shall not deport or transfer parts of its own civilian population into the territory it occupies”.

According to a supposed ‘census’ in 2014 which Ukraine has not recognized, the percentage of Russians had risen, while that of ethnic Ukrainians and Crimean Tatars had fallen. Whether or not the statistics had any basis in fact is unknown. It seems clear that this is the result that Russia is endeavouring to achieve through persecution and other repressive measures on the one hand, and encouragement of Russians to settle in Crimea, on the other.

Imposing citizenship......................

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

Volker declared that he did not see the difference between the occupation of Crimea and the occupation of the Donbas

The American authorities do not intend to recognize the annexation of the Crimea even after Ukraine fully regains control over the entire Donbas.

A spokesman for the United States Department of State for Ukraine, Kurt Walker, said this in an interview with the Voice of America publication.

He noted that he sees no difference between the occupation of Crimea and the occupation of the Donbas, because in both cases there was a Russian invasion. However, the only difference is that in the Kremlin they admitted that they really annexed the Ukrainian peninsula.

"If we can achieve progress in one sphere - in the Donbass - let's do it. Let's make progress, let's return this territory. At the same time, this does not change our refusal to recognize the annexation of the Crimea and legitimize Russia's actions, "Volker said.



Earlier Volker said that peacekeepers in the Donbass will give an opportunity to hold elections.

According to the Special Representative, a number of issues related to the organization of the election should be resolved for the conduct of the elections: to clearly identify who has the right to vote, how to return internally displaced persons and give them the opportunity to take part in the elections.

glavcom.ua , Original in Ukrainian / Українською мовою

Russian propagandists are certain that in Ukraine, Russian language is being attacked.

Censor.NET looked at some reactions voiced by Russian "experts" on the Education Act, adopted by the Ukrainian parliament on Sept. 5, especially its provisions on languages of ethnic minorities. Russian websites mostly write of "ban of the Russian language in schools."

Gazeta.Ru editorial reads that "Poroshenko banned Russian language in schools" and that "the Act has shattered diplomatic connections of Kyiv." The reporters "prove" it with the fact that Romanian president allegedly canceled his October visit to Ukraine, which in fact was just postponed.

Russian Interfax cited Russian Foreign Ministry as saying that the new bill is "an attempt of the Maidan government to totally Ukrainize the educational space of the country, which violates both its Constitution and Kyiv's international liabilities." Although Russian language is not mentioned in the Act, Russian FM said that the major goal of the Act is to "maximally suppress interests of millions of Russian-speaking residents of Ukraine and forcibly install a single language regime in the multi-ethnic state."

A TASS article reads that the new Act in unconstitutional, and reminds of "numerous examples" of how Russian-speaking people are allegedly persecuted for speaking Russian in stores and public transport in Ukraine.

Russian propagandist Andrey Babitskyi commented on the Act by saying that people would keep the language at home schooling. "Anyway, Ukraine will die sooner or later, I mean the Nazi Ukraine, crazy and anti-human one. It will turn back to where it belongs. The unity of the Ukrainian and Russian peoples will be restored."

ua.censor.net.ua/ , Original in Ukrainian / Українською мовою

The French city of Marseilles opened the so-called representation of the self-called Donetsk national republic.

This is reported in the Facebook "representation".

It is noted that this is the fifth in the countries of the European Union, the "representation" of the "DPR".

The organization is headed by local ultra-right politician Hubert Fayyard of the Bush-Du-Rhone Department.

The so-called representative center of the Donetsk People's Republic does not require prior permission, since it is registered as a public association.

Earlier, the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs appealed to the prosecutor's office to investigate the intentions to open the so-called "DPR" office in Marseilles.

hromadske.ua , Original in Ukrainian / Українською мовою

Donbas and the Crimea are the Ukrainian territories occupied by Russia, and in this sense they are equivalent.

As Tsensor.NET informs , the spokesman for the United States Department of State for Ukraine Kurt Volker said in an interview with Voice of America .

"There is no difference between the occupation of the Crimea and the occupation of the Donbas: it is a Russian invasion and Russian occupation, the only difference is that the Russians admit that they annexed the Crimea." In the end, this is a matter of principle, in reality it is the same, "he said.

"If we can make progress in one area - in the Donbass, let's do it. Let's make progress, let's return this territory. At the same time, this does not change our refusal to recognize the annexation of the Crimea and legitimize Russia's actions," Volker added.

ua.censor.net.ua , Original in Ukrainian / Українською мовою