Ukraine News. Wednesday 2 May. [Ukrainian sources]

WEDNESDAY HEADLINES:
The US will transfer to Poland a armored brigade.  The British billionaire Chandler suspected of work on the intelligence of the Russian Federation.  US Treasury Department gave investors one more month to stop business operations with Russian companies.  United States and France are ready to finance a peacekeeping mission in the Donbas.  If Russia continues daily aggression, the United States must send Ukraine more Javelin and anti-aircraft defense weapons.  The presidential election is an important stage for Ukraine, so Russia will disturb them, and the West will have to support.  The International Coalition has begun an operation to release the last ID of the strongholds, the US Department of State.  

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In the summer of this year, the United States will roll over to Poland the 1st Armored Brigade, which will replace the 2nd Armored Brigade there.

This is reported by Defense24.

The Armored Brigade will be thrown as part of Operation Atlantic Resolve and maneuvers of Saber Strike. Earlier, the 1st Armored Brigade was in place of a permanent disposition in Fort Hood, Texas.

As a result, in Europe there will be a whole tank brigade - 3.5-4 thousand soldiers, about 90 Abrams tanks, Bradley combat vehicles, 18 self-propelled Paladin cannons and various types of vehicles.

In 2017, the United States and Poland signed an agreement to supply Patriot air defense systems, IBCS fire control systems and radar systems. In November 2017, the US Department of State approved the delivery of missile systems in Poland. The relevant contract was signed in March 2018.

Impressive! #Ironhorse is on the move to Europe in support of Operation #AtlanticResolve. #90SecondsOfAwesome pic.twitter.com/62suYuZnQ4

— 1st Cavalry Division (@1stCavalryDiv) April 28, 2018

espreso.tv  In Ukrainian/український

The billionaire and founder of the research center, Legatum Institute Christopher Chandler, "is associated with Russian intelligence."

According to the Censor.NET, referring to DW, said on Tuesday, May 1, deputy of the British Parliament, a representative of the Conservative Party, Robert Sila.

That is why Chandler has been an "object of interest" to French intelligence since 2002, she said during a speech in the House of Commons. This is evidenced by documents that he and four other members of the British Parliament passed to the security service of Monaco, added the politician.

Documents are dated 2005 and cover the period since the mid-1990s. They also feature brother Christopher - Richard Chandler. In the file for Christopher Chandler, the security service of Monaco has labeled "counterintelligence," said Sila. According to him, the documents relate to national security and money laundering.

Silie expressed confidence in the authenticity of the documents and said that the data confirmed the sources in the French intelligence, as well as their British and American colleagues.

The Legatum Institute rejected these allegations, stating that Chandler had never been linked to the Russian intelligence or the Russian state: neither Christopher Chandler nor anyone else in the research center was aware of a similar investigation into French intelligence. The indictment of Sila in the center was called "complete nonsense."

Legatum Institute is considered to be an influential organization that advocated Brexit, in particular, it was reported that it had participated in the preparation of proposals in the hard-line scenario of the UK's exit from the European Union. The parliament has previously announced the study of the possible role of the Kremlin in the activities of the Institute.

Christopher Chandler is a citizen of Malta. He insists on requesting him before the referendum on Brexit.

Having founded the investment company Sovereign Asset Management, brothers Christopher and Richard Chandler in the mid-1990s invested in Gazprom. In the early 2000s, Forbes called their company the third-largest shareholder of Gazprom with about 5 percent of the shares.

In 2004, announcing that they highly appreciated Alexei Miller's efforts to increase Gazprom's efficiency, Chandlers began to get rid of the company's shares.

ua.censor.net.ua  In Ukrainian/український

The Foreign Intelligence Oversight Office (OFAC) of the US Treasury Department extended the term for investors to terminate business operations with a number of Russian companies, including En + Group, GAS Group and RUSAL.

As informs Censor.NET with reference to "Ukrinform", this is stated in the officially published on Tuesday General License 13a.

The document states, in particular, that the term for the termination of business activities, as well as the release of assets of Russian companies En + Group, GAS Group and United Company RUSAL PLC, continues until midnight on June 6, 2018. Previously, it coincided on May 7 this year.

In addition, the same document includes IrkutskEnergo, the GAZ car plant and Rusal Designates Activity Company, which were not listed in the previous license issued on April 6 at number 13.

The documents also state that restrictions are imposed in connection with the sanctions imposed on Russia for its aggression against Ukraine.

As reported, the US Treasury Department announced on April 6 that after consulting with the State Department, the US administration imposed sanctions on seven Russian businessmen, 12 companies, 17 government officials of the Russian Federation, as well as against a Russian arms trade company and related bank.

Shareholders of the companies on the list of sanctions in a few days lost hundreds of millions of dollars. Also, with the fall faced and those Russian companies that formally did not fall under the sanctions. Only on Monday, April 9, the total loss of Russian billionaires amounted to about $ 16 billion.

Sanctions also led to a weakening of the Russian currency. April 10, the Moscow exchange rate euro for the first time since March 2016, overcome the mark of 80 rubles, the dollar - 64 rubles. As of 14:34 (for Moscow) the dollar was worth 64.7 rub, Euro - 80.1 rubles.

The Russian stock market fell on April 9 at its peak since March 2014 - the loss of MosBrish and RTS indexes at the end of the day amounted to 8.3-11.4%.

ua.censor.net.ua  In Ukrainian/український

The financial operation of the peacekeeping mission is ready to support the United States and France. Germany is ready to consider this issue.

The Deputy Minister for Temporary Occupation Territories and the Ukrainian Orthodox Church Yuriy Grymchak stated this on Channel 5 broadcast, Censor.NET reports.

Also read: Under the auspices of peacekeepers Russia will try to legalize the Russian enclave on the Ukrainian territory, - Yatsenyuk

"Today, we have a statement from the United States that they are prepared to finance this peacekeeping mission. We have a statement from France that they are ready to finance, and we have a statement from Germany that they are prepared to consider such financing, that is, the most important thing we have is the calculations and agreement on the donors of this operation, that is, in fact, we need to find troops, armaments, etc. Today, we have dozens of countries that, conventionally speaking, earn on peacekeeping missions, sending their troops, so I do not think that we have problems in this" , - said Grimchak.

The deputy head of the Ministry of Information Technology also told about the mechanism for the introduction of peacekeepers into the territory of the ORDLO: "As it happens, the Security Council makes decisions, they develop the mandate of this peacekeeping mission, and a decision is made by the UN secretary general to a panel of experts who should locally identify the composition and facilities that must be used for this mission, and when it becomes more or less clear how much people need, the police equipment and everything else, it begins... We must understand that such missions, they are worth the money, because there is very high quality not what we need to do, that is what we have today? We already have expert conclusions from the ex-secretary general, Mr. Rasmussen, who said that 20-25 thousand are needed by the military, about 5 thousand police international missions. We have agreements with some countries about that they are ready to allocate their troops. This is not we agree, this is the UN must agree. But, in the past, we have to date agree with virtually all of our allies that they support the mission. And most importantly - this is not a troop. Troops can be found, many of them around the world. You can also take the troops of Mexico. But the main thing - who will pay for it".

On the question of the leader, where the guaranty that the countries will force Putin to abandon the veto in the UN Security Council, Grymchak said: "The last months show that the hegemony of the RF on the right to veto ends... It is not necessarily the decision of the UN Security Council to take such a decision. and the UN General Assembly, this is according to the statute, and the other option is more radical when asked whether you are in ORDL or not and if not, we will help."

Recall that on September 5, 2017, Russian President Vladimir Putin expressed the opinion that the presence of UN peacekeepers in the Donbass would be in favor of resolving the conflict in eastern Ukraine. The Foreign Ministry of the Russian Federation introduced the relevant draft resolution for consideration by the UN Security Council.

On September 20, Poroshenko, speaking at a UN Security Council meeting, said that Ukraine "needed a UN peacekeeping arm" and urged the Secretary General to send an assessment mission to Ukraine.

First Deputy Speaker of the Verkhovna Rada, representative of Ukraine in the Trilateral Contact Group on the Situation in the Donbass Iryna Gerashchenko stated that the introduction of a UN peacekeeping mission on the line of collision in eastern Ukraine can not be the language, peacekeepers should be introduced to the entire territory occupied by Russia.

In numerous statements of the Russian authorities, it was emphasized that peacekeepers should be placed only on the line of delimitation of the conflicting parties, but not on the entire occupied territory of the Donbas, and especially not on the Russian-Ukrainian border. On January 29, 2018, US Special Envoy to Ukraine Kurt Volker stated that Russia was ready to ensure that the United Nations peacekeeping mission in the Donbass was deployed not only on the line of collision, but throughout the Donbas.

On April 13, President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko stated that more than forty countries are ready to take part in a peacekeeping operation in the occupied territory of the Donbas.

ua.censor.net.ua  In Ukrainian/український

American anti-tank missile systems Javelin will not "change the rules of the game" on the Donbass, but Russia will know that it suffers heavy losses due to the possible expansion of aggression, said former US Ambassador to Ukraine John Herbst.

The American anti-tank missile complexes Javelin will strengthen the defense of Ukraine and will be a warning to the Kremlin about "the rise in prices for aggression." On this April 30, former United States Ambassador to Ukraine John Herbst said in a commentary to the Atlantic Council's analytical center, reports Censor.NET, referring to Gordon.

According to him, the weapons will not "change the rules of the game" in the Donbass, but Russia will know that it will suffer great losses if "with the help of tanks will try to seize additional territories in Ukraine."

Herbst reminded that the agreement on Javelin became known in December 2017, but this "did not cause a sharp escalation" in the Donbass, as anticipated by the opponents of the event.

"If Moscow continues its daily aggression in Ukraine, the United States will have to send more Javelin victims and air defense weapons, and additional sanctions need to be imposed on the West, after which the Kremlin will finally be forced to stop its adventure in the Donbass. If Kiev's support grows, the Moscow war will end faster", - summed up the former diplomat.

Recall that on April 30, President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko confirmed the receipt by Ukraine of Javelin complexes from the USA. Defense Minister Stepan Poltorak noted that on May 2, the Ukrainian Armed Forces will begin theoretical and practical training on the use of Javelin.

ua.censor.net.ua  In Ukrainian/український

Free and fair elections will be an important stage in the democratic consolidation of Ukraine, which is why Putin is afraid of this, and therefore Western democracies should support them.

Ukraine remains at the forefront in the war between Putinism and Democracy, writes Michael McFaul, a researcher at Stanford University and former US ambassador to Russia in an article for The Washington Post, reports Censor.NET with reference to Voice of America.

"Having spent a week in Kyiv, I understand why Ukraine is frightened by Putin. This Slavic nation, with a certain historical and cultural heritage common to Russia, is now building democracy," writes the researcher.

McFaul describes how he saw the disputes of Ukrainian parliamentarians about the pros and cons of the bill. "In Russia, there is no more," - he stressed.

"I also met with two dozen leaders of non-governmental organizations working to overcome corruption and misinformation. Ukrainian civil society remains powerful, independent and is the force that can hold back the state and influence state policy, and there are few such evidence in Russia.

I also heard how Ukrainian politicians complain about the fact that oligarchs have television channels. However, there is no such thing that one oligarch or state owns all the media. Such competition in the media and pluralism no longer exists in Russia,"- said the politician.

McFaul describes the various estimates that exist in Ukraine regarding the reforms implemented by President Poroshenko, as well as the IMF program, but he was most impressed by the very existence of a discussion on important social issues. "This is not happening in Russia," said McFaul.

"These leaders, parties and factions are preparing their arguments for voters in the presidential election, scheduled for next year, just a few months after the parliamentary election, and this is interesting: nobody knows who wins, so they must work for democracy - and this is not what was at the presidential elections last year.

This democracy on the border with Russia threatens Putin and his administrative system. If democracy employs Ukrainians, it will become an inspiration for Russians as well. Therefore, Putin is steadily destroying this fragile democratic project through occupation, economic pressure and propaganda, "says McFaul.

The next major battle in the international war of ideas, according to the researcher, will be held during the presidential election in Ukraine. More than the 2016 US intervention in the United States, the Kremlin and its protagonists will support individual candidates, stir up hostility in Ukrainian society and sow doubts about the freedom and fairness of voting. "Many Ukrainians this week told me that these elections are the most important and dangerous in the entire post-Soviet history of Ukraine," states the American politician.

To help Ukraine hold peaceful, legitimate, free and fair elections, McFaul advises the United States and allies:

-to finance anti-disinformation projects, election transparency initiatives and monitoring them;
The G7, which does not include Russia, has to publicly and in advance declare its intention to impose sanctions and other means of influence in order to punish Russia for interference with the elections in Ukraine;

-Western leaders must unequivocally state that they do not support individual candidates, but only the process;

-Western democracies should begin to formulate a new package of economic, military and political assistance, will be allocated immediately after the election in order to support a new democratically elected president. The period immediately after the election will eventually become the implementation of the necessary economic reforms.

-Free and fair elections will become an important stage in the democratic consolidation of Ukraine, McFaul believes. That is why Putin is afraid of this and therefore the West's democracies should support them.

ua.censor.net.ua  In Ukrainian/український

Leader of the French ultra-right party "National Front" Marin Le Pen on May 1 led a meeting of European ultra-right politicians in Nice. At the meeting, the participants condemned the EU and noticed the success of nationalist movements in Europe.

As reported by Censor.NET, it informs 20minutes.fr.

"Europe is a great idea, and the European Union wants to destroy it," said Le Pen.

According to her, one of the main problems of the EU is "wild globalization, full opening of borders and mass and disorderly immigration".

"The European Union has catastrophic consequences for our country, but another Europe, the unification of nations, which we strive for, is possible," said the leader of the National Front.

It is noted that the meeting was attended by the leaders of the Austrian Freedom Party Harald Willemsky and the Italian conservative "League of the North" Salvini, known for his anti-Islamic rhetoric by the Dutch politician Gert Wilders and representatives of Poland, Bulgaria, Czech Republic and Greece.

ua.censor.net.u  In Ukrainian/український