Ukraine News in brief. Saturday 21 October. [Ukrainian sources]

SATURDAY

TODAY'S HEADLINES:
In the Senate, the US interrogated Russians who had met with Trump's son on the eve of the election.  NATO responded to the statement of the Alliance's inability to repel Russia's attack: Cynicism and stupidity: Russian blogger rigorously replied to Putin's words about love for Ukraine. Child abduction and rescue in Kiev: photo, video.  Propaganda and the fake of the Kremlin are a direct threat to the values ​​of the United Nations. Number of Ukrainian political prisoners in Russia & occupied Crimea rises sharply.

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The Senate has not yet specified the number of questioned and their names

In the US Senate Committee on Intelligence, several Russians were questioned, who in June 2016 - on the eve of the presidential election - met in Trump Tower with the son of the acting president, Donald Trump. This was announced by Senator Richard Burr in an interview with the American television company CNN in the evening on Friday, October 20.

Burr did not specify the number of interrogators and did not bring their names. Other representatives of the Senate Committee also declined to comment. The meeting at Trump Tower took place after Trump's son was promised a compromise for a US presidential candidate from the Democratic Party, Hillary Clinton. He was also informed that the Russian government wants the presidential election to be won by his father.

The meeting was attended by the then head of the Trump Election Headquarters Paul Manaforth and the son-in-law of the future US President Jared Kushner. The Senate Intelligence Committee has already questioned Manaforth and Kouchner. As for Trump Jr., he has not yet been summoned for questioning. In September, members of the Senate Committee on Justice met with the president's son in private. At the moment, preparations are underway to bring Trump Jr. to a public hearing, which, according to one of the sources, may take place in November.

The CNN TV channel notes that the Senate Intelligence Committee finds the meeting in Trump Tower an important episode in the general investigation into Russia's possible interference with American elections. At the June meeting in Trump Tower there were eight people. Among them are Russian lawyer Natalia Veselnytska, Russian lobbyist Rinat Akhmetshin, translator Anatoly Samochernov and Ike Kaveladze, lawyer of Russian businessman Araz Agalarov and his son Yemin.

Veselnytska argued that she had met with Trump Jr. to tell how financier William Browder was evading tax payments in Russia. However, the media reported that the main reason for the meeting was the transfer of compromise to Hillary Clinton.

Source: Deutsche Welle

glavcom.ua , Original in Ukrainian / Українською мовою

NATO refutes the information that the Alliance can not repulse possible Russian aggression .

This was stated by NATO's official representative, Oana Lungescu, Tass writes .

"We never comment on what is going on as a turn. NATO is the strongest military alliance in world history due to its ability to adapt for 70 years," said Lungescu.

According to the official representative, at the moment, the Alliance "has been implementing a significant strengthening of its collective defense since the end of the Cold War."

"In addition, NATO has tripled the strength of its Response Force, which is based on a 5,000-strong emergency response force, NATO forces are now more ready and capable of deployment than ever in the past decades," Lungescu said.

Earlier, Spiehgel, referring to the Alliance's report, said that NATO's rapid response forces are not reliable and fast enough, which could lead to tragic consequences.

apostrophe.ua , Original in Ukrainian / Українською мовою

The words of Russian President Vladimir Putin on love for Ukraine, which he made at the plenary session of the Valdai International Discussion Club, caused a tough reaction by the famous Russian blogger Alexander Tversky.

Vladimir Putin noted that he loves Ukraine and its people and was not going to "take something from someone."

"His crimes, the crimes that were possible through him, can be counted around the clock, and drowned in this horror, because they are not subjected to any human understanding. He is absolutely unprincipled, through a false, maniacal tyrant who neglects and hates man and human life as such", - wrote the blogger.

apostrophe.ua , Original in Ukrainian / Українською мовою

On Friday, October 20, in the Obolonsky district of Kiev, unknown persons kidnapped a two-month-old baby from the premises of kindergarten .

The father of the child came with her to take the eldest daughter in the garden. He left the carriage with the girl under the stairs on the first floor of the building, and he went to the group, when he returned a few minutes, found an empty wheelchair without a portable basket.

Later on the Internet appeared two videos from the surveillance camera .

The first video shows how a man with a stroller enters a kindergarten building. After some time in the camera lens there are two women who, looking back, enter the building following her husband.



The second video recorded the process of kidnapping a child, when one of the women quickly left the building with a child, and then even ran after.



The signs of the suspect described the coordinator of the Ukrainian Helsinki Union Oleg Veremieenko on his Facebook page.

"Description of the suspect: height 160-165 cm, age: 20-25 years, Roman (Greek) nose, white skin, freckles on the face, hair - chestnut, colored, stained: bearded, not thin, wide apple. Hairstyle: two pigtails or dredi", - he wrote.

According to the activist, the girl has bald head on her head and was dressed in Adidas sneakers with pink inserts and laces. Veremienko also said that she might have been doing aikido before.

Immediately after noon on Saturday, October 21, there was information that police found a child and detained two of her hijackers .

On the Internet there were photos of the detainees and the rescued child.





The information was soon confirmed by the freelance advisor of the head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, People's Deputy Anton Gerashchenko on his Facebook page.

According to him, after receiving information about the abduction, the police began to check the surveillance cameras throughout the Kiev region, paying special attention to cameras in pharmacies and children's stores.

"One of the policemen checking a video camera at a pharmacy in Vyshhorod saw a young man and a woman who fell under the description of the kidnappers," - said Gerashchenko.

Even at night, investigators were able to identify the criminals, and in the morning to hold them down.

"The kidnappers turned out to be a couple from Vyshhorod. A few weeks ago they lost their newborn baby and took a fatal decision for themselves and for another family - to buy or steal someone else", - she told about the criminals Gerashchenko.

He noted that the couple is threatened with up to 10 years of imprisonment under Article 146 of the Criminal Code.

Later on the Internet there were first details of interrogation of the detainee .

The detained woman stated that her daughter, who was dead a month ago, allegedly threw her in a trash.

This was stated at a briefing on October 21 by the head of the Kyiv police Andrei Krischenko.

According to the policeman, a woman is confused with the testimony and all her words will still be checked.

"One of the versions she says: they lost a child a month ago, threw the child in a trash, we will still find out all of these events, because the last month of the death of dead bodies of children in landfills was not recorded by the Kyiv police," said Krischenko. adding that the woman should still indicate the place where she had thrown her baby.

The investigation suggests that a woman could kidnap another child to give him his own. However, Krischenko said that this is still the only version and indications in this regard, the police do not.

Oleg Oleshko, the head of the police custody department of the Obolonsky district, said that the first was detained by the accomplices of the kidnappers.

"We were a little lucky, the first was seen on the street by her mistress, whom we arrested first, he immediately told us where the child was and the woman who stole him." We surrounded the adjoining territory and detained her when she left the house,"- said he.

The detainees both were born in 1997 and lived in a cab on the territory of pilors.

Later on the Internet got a fragment of the interrogation of the suspect , in which she says that she did not have plans for kidnapping, and this decision was made yesterday immediately before the crime was committed.



According to the criminal, she saw a man who said that "he did not need this baby, I would have shelled him". After that, she indicated that she had no plans to leave the baby for herself, but only intended to inform the police that the father of the child had refused him.

apostrophe.ua , Original in Ukrainian / Українською мовою

Russian propaganda of the state media and falsification of facts by the Kremlin stirred up the hatred of Russians towards Ukraine and continued to deepen the conflict. This requires the reaction of the international community.
The first secretary of the Permanent Mission of Ukraine to the United Nations, Oleg Nikolenko, made a statement at the meeting of the Fourth Committee of the UN General Assembly. Tsentzor.NET, referring to Ukrinform, reports.

" We are deeply concerned about the large-scale campaign to propagandize and incite hatred towards Ukraine and Ukrainians by Russian state media and public figures, which played an important role in fueling Russian aggression against Ukraine and the conflict in the Donbas," Nikolenko said.

He also stressed that the Russian authorities substantially restricted the space for independent media, strengthened control over the state media, turning them into powerful instruments of state propaganda that produce fake news.

"Such a hybrid war against Ukraine with the involvement of Russian-controlled media controlled by the state is a direct threat to the UN's values. The committee and other UN bodies should respond promptly to similar attempts to falsify news and use them as an instrument for deepening regional conflicts,"  the diplomat said.

He called on the international community to redouble its efforts in introducing best practices and tools in responding to this global threat.

"We are convinced that information security is a key element in every system of national security, and the UN should become a beacon for this by identifying and prosecuting those involved in advocacy wars," said Nikolenko.

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

There are now at least 60 Ukrainians whom Russia is imprisoning on politically motivated charges or for their faith in Russia or in occupied Crimea. While it is undoubtedly Russia who is to blame for this situation and who holds the key to resolving it, Ukraine’s leaders could be doing a great deal more. Prominent Crimean Tatar lawyer and rights activist Emil Kurbedinov has urged the Ukrainian government to formally recognize the status of Crimean political prisoners and their families. He believes that such formal status will make it easier to help the ever-mounting number of political prisoners and their families.

There are no negotiations underway, and despite pleas from prisoners’ families, there remains no individual appointed to coordinate activities and provide the contact point for relatives.

It cannot be known whether this will help, since it hasn’t been tried. Moscow has proven impervious to words of concern and outrage from the civilized world, but there are levers and western sanctions are undoubtedly hurting.

So are the ever-increasing number of abductions, arrests and ongoing imprisonment of Crimean Tatars and other Ukrainians, and systematic aid is needed. In Crimea, the civic initiative Bizim Balalar [‘Our Children’] was launched by Crimean Tatar journalist Lilia Budzhurova as the number of children whose fathers had been taken from them inexorably rose. After four new arrests on October 2, the number of children in need of both financial and psychological assistance had risen to 73. With new arrests on October 11 of six Crimean Tatars, all with large families, that figure has now reached 100. Solely through donations, the initiative has been able to provide mothers with five thousand roubles [73 euro] a month for each child. While it is wonderful that such an initiative has arisen, the number of political prisoners is on the increase and there needs to be systematic assistance from the government. Some of Russia’s prisoners, such as Crimean Tatar leaders Akhtem Chiygoz and Ilmi Umerov, filmmaker Oleg Sentsov and civic activist Oleksandr Kolchenko, were targeted because of their loyalty to Ukraine and peaceful defence of the country’s interests. They and others are all Ukrainians and victims of persecution, in need of support.

There had appeared to be some progress. In May this year the Ministry on Occupied Territory and Internally Displaced Persons prepared a draft bill which would declare those Ukrainians held prisoner on political grounds in Russian-occupied Crimea and Russia as political prisoners and provide state assistance for their families. There were various problems identified at the time, but Minister Vadim Chernysh expressed willingness to work with NGOs on this and support for a coordination centre for all matters related to political prisoners, with this to be within his ministry.

Mustafa Dzhemilev, veteran Crimean Tatar leader and Ukrainian MP, tabled that bill in parliament in July, and there have been assurances that it could be adopted this autumn. The bill, as on the website, will need reworking to assure that prisoners and their families are not left out due to a definition of political prisoner that is too narrow. It must, for example, cover the 24 Ukrainian Muslims who are effectively imprisoned for their faith alone, as well as prisoners held in Russia, like Valentin Vyhivsky and Viktor Shur, who were held virtually incommunicado and almost certainly tortured into confessing to ‘spying’ charges. The same applies to Oleksiy Sizonovych, the 61-year-old pensioner recently sentenced to 12 years after being captured by Kremlin-backed militants in Donbas and taken by force to Russia,

It is not only support for families that must be considered. Russia is currently flouting international law, not only by prosecuting Ukrainians on trumped up charges, but also by imprisoning them thousands of kilometres from their homes. The sheer cost of travelling so far can be prohibitive, making it difficult for lawyers and the person’s family to maintain even that degree of contact.

Getting the prisoners freed and home

Ihor Kotelyanets is speaking for many relatives when he expresses frustration with how little the Ukrainian authorities are doing to get his brother Yevhen Panov and other prisoners released.

He meets with representatives of the EU and embassies, who ask him what specific measures are being taken. As far as he and the other relatives are aware, there are no specific measures – no clear format for negotiations, no individual responsible for this.

The Crimean Human Rights Group recently put together a list of judges implicated in politically motivated trials. There are some in Crimea who are responsible for the knowingly wrongful conviction or detention of a number of prisoners. In each politically motivated prosecution, however, there are others who should be named and targeted for sanctions. Simply informing people of the names is not sufficient, and here the government could provide invaluable assistance.

Perhaps the new draft bill will resolve some of the problems. If and when it gets passed. In the meantime, the number of political prisoners is increasing and action needed now.

The list below of Ukrainians already held prisoner on politically motivated and / or fabricated charges in Russia or Russian-occupied Crimea is increasing at an alarming rate. There are too many to give details of each case below, but please press the hyperlinks for more information. Crimean Tatar leader Ilmi Umerov is facing a two-year sentence, though the appeal has not yet been heard..

Mykola Shyptur – the first and most forgotten political prisoner held in Crimea

First ‘Crimean show trial’ Oleg Sentsov, Oleksandr Kolchenko; Oleksiy Chyrniy

Crimean Tatar leader Akhtem Chiygoz

Ali Asanov, Mustafa Degermendzhy

Volodymyr Balukh

25 Crimean Muslims, most Crimean Tatar

‘Convicted’ Ruslan Zeytullaev ; Ferat Saifullaev ; Rustem Vaitov ; Nuri Primov

Feb 11, 2016 Emir-Usein Kuku (a human rights activist); Muslim Aliev; Envir Bekirov and Vadim Siruk

April 18, 2016 Arsen Dzhepparov and Refat Alimov

May 12, 2016 Enver Mamutov, Rustem Abiltarov, Remzi Memetov and Zevri Abseitov

Oct 12, 2016 Teymur Abdullaev; Uzeir Abdullaev; Emil Dzhemadenov; Aider Saledinov Rustem Ismailov

Oct 11, 2017 Suleyman (Marlen) Asanov; Ernest Ametov; Memet Belyalov; Timur Ibragimov; Seiran Saliev and Server Zekeryaev

First ‘Crimean sabotage’ plot (Yevhen Panov, Volodymyr Prysich, Redvan Suleymanov and Andriy Zakhtei)

Second ‘Crimean sabotage’ plot (Dmytro Shtyblikov; Oleksiy Bessarabov; Volodymyr Dudka; Oleksiy Stohniy; Hlib Shabliy)

Leonid Parkhomenko, a long-retired Black Sea Fleet captain, arrested on Nov 24, 2016.

Revenge for Euromaidan: Oleksandr Kostenko, Andriy Kolomiyets.

New religious persecution Talyat Abdurakhmanov; Renat Suleymanov; Arsen Kubedinov; Seiran Mustafaev

Hennady Lymeshko

Mykola Karpyuk and Stanislav Klykh

Valentin Vyhivsky

Viktor Shur.

Serhiy Lytvynov

Roman Sushchenko, journalist and Ukrinform correspondent in Paris

Recently abducted and / or imprisoned in Russia

Oleksiy Sizonovych

Pavlo Hryb

Oleksandr Shumkov

Roman Ternovsky

khpg.org

In elections to the lower house of the Czech parliament with a significant margin, the populist party of billionaire Andriy Babish leads the "Action of Dissatisfied Citizens" - the United Nations.

This is evidenced by the results of the vote after counting 96% of the votes, reports " European truth " with reference to Aktualne.

The ANO party, founded by one of the richest people in the Czech Republic and ex-finance minister Andriy Babish, gained about 30% of the vote.

In the second place was the pro-Russian "Civic Democratic Party" (ODS), which received 11% of the votes of voters.

The third - right-wing SPD with almost 11% of the vote. The SPD and its leader, Tomio Okamura, do not hide the abolition of anti-Russian sanctions, and in fact do not object to funding from the RF.

The new political party, the Party of Pirate, is in fourth place, gaining just over 10% of the vote.

The Communist Party of the Czech Republic and Moravia, which for many months tried to block the ratification of the Association Agreement with Ukraine, was in fifth place, gaining 8% of the vote.

The result for the Social Democratic Party, which was ruling before this election, was defeated. She took the sixth place and received only about 7.5% of the vote.

There are also two parties in the Czech Parliament: the Christian Democratic Union - the Czechoslovak People's Party (5,8%) and the Mayors and Independence (5,2%).

Thus, pro-Russian parties gain in aggregate more than 50% of the vote.

It should be noted that Andriy Babis has repeatedly advocated the abolition of sanctions against the Russian Federation and also supported the words of the Czech President Milose Zeman, who proposed to pay some "retreat" to Ukraine for the annexed Crimea and to close this issue. Also opponents were previously criticized by Babis for supporting the annexation of the peninsula. In addition, Pulitzer Prize winner, journalist Ann Appelbaum called Andrew Babis, one of the agents of the Kremlin's influence in Eastern Europe.

apostrophe.ua , Original in Ukrainian / Українською мовою