Ukraine News in brief. Tuesday 14 November. [Ukrainian sources]

TUESDAY HEADLINES:
The United States and the Russian Federation will continue to work together on the Donbas.  Manipulation and disinformation in social networks have already affected elections in 18 countries.  European Commissioner will visit Ukraine tomorrow to discuss the implementation of the Association Agreement and the fight against corruption.  Canada should lead a peacekeeping mission in Ukraine:  Americans have the right to know who operates in the United States to influence government and society - US Department of Justice to add Russia Today to the list of foreign agents.  State Duma of Russia is preparing a bill recognizing foreign agents "CNN", "Radio Liberty", "Voice of America" ​​and "Deutsche Welle".  40 countries joined the resolution on the occupied Crimea.  Erdogan offered the US and Russia to withdraw troops from Syria.  May blamed Russia for trying to "undermine free societies" and "sow discord in the West".  Russia accepts only three of 29 paragraphs on Donbas war settlement proposed by US. RF Ministry of Defense used a screenshot of the mobile game as proof of US cooperation with ISIL

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The United States and Russia will continue joint work to end the war on the Donbas, despite the different concepts of achieving this goal, says a statement by US Special Envoy Kurt Volker and Russian President's Assistant Vladislav Surkov.

It is reported by Tsensor.NET and with reference to the site of the US Embassy in Russia.

On November 13, their third meeting took place in Belgrade, during which there was a comprehensive discussion of the current state of affairs in the diplomatic sphere regarding efforts to end the war on the Donbas.

"During their third meeting, there was a comprehensive discussion of the current state of affairs in the diplomatic sphere regarding efforts to end the war in the Donbas. Despite the fact that the United States and Russia have different conceptions of ways to achieve peace, the joint work in this direction will be continued. there was always a need to combine political measures with security measures in accordance with the Minsk Agreements. Both sides agreed on the need to analyze the views expressed during the meeting and to consider further ways the solution to this problem,"- said in a statement promulgated by the US Embassy in the Russian Federation.

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

Governments around the world are focusing their efforts on manipulating information in social networks, which undermines democracy and contributes to falling levels of freedom on the Internet.

According to Censor.NET , referring to Radio Liberty , the Freedom House, an international human rights organization, published on November 14th annual report "Freedom in the Network-2017".

According to human rights activists, online manipulations and tactics of misinformation last year played an important role in elections in at least 18 countries, including Russia's influence on the electoral process in the United States of America.

"The use of paid commentators and political bots for the dissemination of state propaganda was first used by China and Russia, but now it's a global issue," said Freedom House president Michael Abramovich.

Researchers remind that the Ukrainian authorities blocked some Internet services of Russian origin, among which are popular social networks and search engine. This happened after Russian agents overwhelmed the social media with fake messages that propagated the Kremlin's influence.

Among the countries that restrict the Internet to the smallest, named Iceland, Estonia and Canada, the United States ranked fifth in this list.

Among the worst in the list of 65 countries - China, Russia ranks 15th in terms of non-freedom in the network.

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

European Commissioner for Regional Policy Johannes Khan will visit Ukraine on Wednesday, November 15, during which he intends to discuss the implementation of the EU-Ukraine Association Agreement and the Free Trade Agreement, the European Union's representative office in Kyiv said.
"The purpose of the visit is to discuss the implementation of the Association Agreement and the deep and comprehensive free trade area, progress in combating corruption and support for independent media and public service broadcasting," they told the EU Delegation, reports Tsensor. NET , referring to Interfax-Ukraine .

It is anticipated that Y. Khan will meet with the senior leadership of the Ukrainian state.

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

Diaspora urged Canada to join a peacekeeping mission in Ukraine. In order to bring peace to Ukraine, it is worthwhile proposing to lead the United Nations peacekeeping mission in the Donbas.

This is stated in the article by President of the Ukrainian Canadian Congress (UCC) Paul Hroda for the Canadian edition of The Hill Times , Censor.NET reports , citing Ukrinform .

"Canada should use its own experience and declare the international community ready to lead a peacekeeping mission in Ukraine in the near future, and Canada should quickly identify needs, scale and resources for a full-fledged and effective peacekeeping mission in eastern Ukraine," wrote Grod.

In his opinion, the substantial presence of Canadian troops in Ukraine allows Canada to "begin to do so immediately."

At the same time, he acknowledged that Russia would try to block the resolution on peacekeepers in Ukraine in the Council, and, in relation to the Kremlin, the international community needs to take additional measures.

"Canada and its western allies should strengthen Ukraine by reinforcing its military support and pressure on Russia, extending sanctions until the Kremlin refuses to accept the Ukrainian offer for peacekeepers," the article says.

Grod also stressed the need to provide Ukraine with modern lethal weapons in order to "raise the price of any possible raider operation of the Russian Federation".

"Together with further sanctions on Russia's economy, it will force Russia to agree on a peace plan. If the price of war is higher for Russia than the price of peace, Ukraine will have peace," UCC President concluded.

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

The US Department of Justice explained the requirement for registration of the Russian Today America (RT) propaganda channel as a foreign agent so that American citizens have the right to know who wants to influence the government and society.

As informs Tsensor.NET with reference to the League, this is stated in an official statement on the agency's website.

"Americans have the right to know who acts in the United States to influence the American government or the public on behalf of foreign representatives," stated the acting. Assistant Attorney General of the United States on National Security Dana Bent.

The statement clarifies that the status of a foreign agent does not impede freedom of expression, does not limit the content of the information disseminated, does not restrict lobbying of the agent or the publication of information or propaganda, and neutral to all countries.

Bent stressed that the law requires only the public disclosure of certain activities and relationships by registering "agents of foreign directors."

Earlier it was reported that RT America was registered in the United States as a foreign agent . The editor-in-chief of Channel Margaret Simonian has named the status as a "brand". In the government of Russia, in turn, they declared an attack on freedom of speech and the development of measures in which case access to the American media could be restricted.

On April 4, the headquarters of the French presidential candidate, Emmanuel Macrona, denied accreditation to Russian propagandists Sputnik and Russia Today.

Recall also that in Russia are preparing a bill, according to which some Western publications will be forced to register in Russia as "foreign agents". CNN, Radio Liberty, Voice of America and the German Deutsche Welle may be subject to the law.

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

The Russian Federation is preparing a bill that will force some Western publications to register in Russia as "foreign agents".

According to the publication Deutsche Welle, referring to the first deputy head of the "United Russia" faction in the State Duma of the Russian Federation Andriy Isayev, reports Tsensor .NET.

CNN, Radio Liberty, Voice of America and German Deutsche Welle are subject to the law.

RF decisions are associated with the fact that Proponent propaganda channel RT America has been registered as a foreign agent in the United States. The registration from the company was demanded by the US Department of Justice.

Recall, "Present Time" and "Radio Liberty" received a warning from the Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation.

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

To the circle of co-sponsors of the draft resolution "Situation of human rights in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and Sevastopol, Ukraine", which will be voted on Tuesday in the Third Committee of the UN General Assembly, 40 countries have joined.

As informs Tsensor.NET , Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Kislytsia, who arrived in New York to promote the Ukrainian document, told about Ukrinform in a comment .

"As of now, we have four dozen countries that have joined the circle of co-sponsors of the resolution made in pursuance of the initiative of the President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko, as he stated during the general debate of the UN General Assembly in September," Kislytsia said.

The deputy minister said that now the Ukrainian team is actively working on the promotion of the document among the member countries of the international organization.

"There are numerous bilateral meetings with our partners, not only in order to gain maximum support during the voting," the representative of the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry said.

He also added that the language of the document is "quite powerful and rigid with clear unambiguous language, and its purpose is to protect the rights and freedoms of citizens on the Ukrainian peninsula."

In addition, he said, the arrival of the leader of the Crimean Tatar people Mustafa Dzhemileva, as well as Akhtem Chygoz and Rustem Umerov, are expected in New York. "They will also join the process of advancing the UN resolution," the Ukrainian diplomat said.

As reported, the draft revised resolution on human rights in the Crimea was introduced on October 31, 2017. The document contains a number of provisions, including:

- Confirms that there is an international armed conflict between Ukraine and Russia.

-Condemns the retroactive application of Russia's own laws in the occupied territory, as well as the forced transfer of Ukrainian citizens to Russian citizenship.

-Demands from Russia to implement the interim decision of the UN International Court of Justice to restore the rights and freedoms of Ukrainian citizens on the peninsula; calls on the Russian occupation authorities to ensure the educational process in the Ukrainian and Crimean Tatar languages.

-Condemns the lack of access to the Crimea for the United Nations Monitoring Mission on Human Rights in Ukraine, despite the relevant mandate of the Mission, and also requests that a second thematic report on Crimea be prepared by the end of the 72nd session of the UN General Assembly (September 2018), as well as informing The 37th session of the UN Human Rights Council on the situation of human rights in the Crimea (March 2018).

-Notes Ukraine's positive decisions in the context of simplifying procedures for unhindered access to Crimea by journalists and human rights defenders, as well as Ukraine's support for mass media and NGOs who were forced to temporarily leave the Ukrainian territory.

The document also requests the Secretary-General of the UN to coordinate the actions of the UN structures to ensure the implementation of the provisions of this resolution.

Under the procedure, the draft resolution will first be voted on at the third session of the UN General Assembly, then at the general session of the General Assembly. To approve a document, a simple majority of the votes of the states is required.

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

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that anyone who does not believe in a military solution to the conflict in Syria should withdraw its troops from that country.

Erdogan invited Russia and the US to withdraw their troops from Syria following a joint statement by Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump last week that the conflict in Syria has no military solution, reports the Cenozer. NET , referring to Hurriyet.

"It is difficult for me to understand these comments, if the military solution is not a way out, then those who say it should withdraw their troops," Erdogan said before heading out to Sochi for a meeting with Putin.

"If the military option is not a solution, then we should resort to the political method and find ways to move quickly to the elections. Has this method been used over the past seven or eight years? We will discuss this issue with Putin," the Turkish president said.

Erdogan also complained that the US has created five military bases in northern Syria and are planning to create another in the city of Rakka. At the same time, Russia has only five military bases in Syria, said the President of Turkey.

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

British Prime Minister Teresa May has subjected the Russian authorities to the strongest criticism during all his time at the head of the British government, accusing Moscow of "interfering in elections and implementing cyber-espionage."

As informs Tsensor.NET with reference to Interfax-Ukraine , the BBC's British Broadcasting Corporation reports.

Speaking at the banquet of the mayor of London City, the prime minister said that the Russian authorities are trying to "undermine free societies."

"The head of the British government said that Moscow is launching fake news to" sow discord in the West. "According to Teresa May, although London does not want an" eternal confrontation "with Russia, Britain intends to defend its interests," the statement said.

"Russia repeatedly violated the national airspace of several European countries and pursued a targeted campaign of cybersquatting and split," says T. Mae.

"This included, inter alia, interference with elections and a hacker attack on the Danish Ministry of Defense and the Bundestag," adds T. May.

"We will take the necessary measures to counteract Russian activity," May said.

"But this is not the relations with Russia, which we want," added the British prime minister. "We do not want to return to the Cold War or to be in a state of constant confrontation," she said.

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

U.S. Special Representative Volker and Russian Presidential Representative Surkov met in Belgrade on November 13, 2017. It was their third meeting and was a thorough discussion of the current diplomatic state of play concerning efforts to end the war in Donbas.

As reported by Censor.NET referring to TASS news agency, Surkov said following the meeting with his American counterpart.

"Our American friends passed their proposals to our draft resolution of the Security Council - twenty-nine paragraphs. Our delegation considered three of them acceptable. It's certainly not much but still three is not zero. It's better than zero," Surkov said.

"It is not surprising that the United States and Russia have different concepts for how to make peace, but we will continue to work to get there. There has always been a need for a combination of political and security measures to be taken under Minsk. Both sides agreed to reflect on the discussions today and to think about further ways to address this challenge," the U.S Embassy in Russia said.

A source familiar with the matter told Interfax that the U.S. offered Russia to enlarge the footprint of the peacekeeping mission in the Donbas and expand its powers.

"Among other things, the American side proposed to expand the mission's presence zone going beyond just a few observation points at the contact line as well as increase the number of peacekeepers and expand their authority," the source said.

On Sept. 5, Russian President Putin said deployment of U.N. peacekeepers in the Donbas was quite appropriate for solving of the conflict in the region, but only along the line of contact and with the aim of protecting the OSCE mission.

Ukraine's representative in Humanitarian subgroup of the Tripartite contact group in Minsk talks, deputy speaker of Ukrainian parliament Iryna Herashchenko commented on Putin's statement and said the Kremlin scenarios will fail; peacekeepers must be introduced across all Russia-occupied territories.

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

The Ministry of Defense of Russia has published pictures of "irrefutable evidence" of how the US troops cover the IDIL units. However, they were borrowed from the mobile game and the bombing chronicle in 2016.

This is reported by Tsensor.NET with reference to tjournal.ru.

RF Ministry of Defense has published on its page in Facebook, in their opinion, evidence of US cooperation with the ISIL and the corresponding personnel to confirm such information.

"The Abu-Kemal operation launched by the Syrian government forces at the end of last week with the support of the AQC in Abu-Kemal revealed the facts of direct interaction and support of the USAID-led IDIL terrorists by the" international coalition. "Armed Forms of IDIL, fleeing the blows of Russian aviation and government troops, many kilometers Columns come from Abu Kemal in the direction of the transition of the Wadi-es-Sabha to the Syrian-Iraqi border. At the same time, on the orders of the command of the Russian group: why the IDLs, who go out on military equipment and with heavy ozb the Americans could not answer anything in a controlled international coalition in the re-grouping zone to carry out new attacks on Syrian troops in the Abu Kemal region. Moreover, for the safe withdrawal of IDIL fighters retreating from Abu Kemal, under the influence of government troops, the coalition's air force tried to prevent aircraft operated by the VCS of Russia in the area. To this end, the "coalition" strike aircraft entered the airspace over a 15-kilometer zone around the city of Abu-Kemal to prevent the work of Russian SSRs. These facts are indisputable evidence that the United States, immitating the irreconcilable struggle against international terrorism for the world community, is in fact providing cover for IDIL troops to restore their combat capabilities, regroup and use them to advance American interests in the Middle East, "the statement said. RF Ministry of Defense. Abu-Kemal to prevent the work of Russian CCS. These facts are indisputable evidence that the United States, immitating the irreconcilable struggle against international terrorism for the world community, is in fact providing cover for IDIL troops to restore their combat capabilities, regroup and use them to advance American interests in the Middle East, "the statement said. RF Ministry of Defense. Abu-Kemal to prevent the work of Russian CCS. These facts are indisputable evidence that the United States, immitating the irreconcilable struggle against international terrorism for the world community, is in fact providing cover for IDIL troops to restore their combat capabilities, regroup and use them to advance American interests in the Middle East, "the statement said. RF Ministry of Defense.

The Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation has also published photos allegedly supporting this information. However, Twitter and Facebook users noticed that one of the screenshots is a screenshot of the mobile game AC-130 Gunship Simulator. In addition, another shot of the IDIL trucks is taken from the American bombing chronicle in the area of ​​Falluja in 2016. Then US air strikes killed about 200 truckloads of terrorists.

The RF Ministry of Defense urgently removed these frames from its statement, but they managed to save users. And their presence is confirmed by information on the history of changes in this post on Facebook.


A frame provided by the RF Ministry of Defense

Screenshot of the game AC-130 Gunship Simulator

A frame provided by the RF Ministry of Defense

A frame from the US bombing chronicle of the Falluja district in 2016

According to the authors of the Conflict Intelligence Team, other frames published by the Ministry of Defense, taken from Iraqi military strikes near Fallujaj in 2016.

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