Ukraine News. Saturday 21 July. [Ukrainian sources]

SATURDAY HEADLINES:
The Pentagon has supported the initiative to invite Putin to Washington.  The Pentagon asked the Congress not to extend sanctions on cooperation with Russia to some countries.  The State Department replied to Putin's idea of ​​a "referendum" in the Donbas.  "Trojan" ball? - Putin's gift Tramp checked by the Security Service.  Microsoft has confirmed Russian cyberattacks for three candidates to the US Congress.  Very dangerous precedent: named serious consequences for the world in the event of the Crimean seizure of Trump recognition.  The US Treasury Department has allowed the exclusion of Russian "Rusal" from the sanction list.  The Russian Federation announces a "fabricated" case of Putin's Russian woman detained in the United States.  Tomos will be given to Ukraine exactly this year, - Filaret.  Poroshenko called "North Stream 2" a blow to Ukraine, the EU and NATO.  It became known about serious problems with the Putin bridge to the Crimea.  Hungary really tried to prevent the President of Ukraine from joining the NATO summit, we will not forget that. US Treasury Department may review sanctions against Russian "Rusal" - Mnuchin. Germany is very annoyed by the level of communication between Ukraine and the United States regarding the "North Stream-2". Trump called the hypocrite of those who criticize him for softness to Putin.

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US Deputy Chief of Defense John Rud announced support for the White House's decision to invite Russian President Vladimir Putin to arrive in Washington DC in the fall of 2018

This is reported by CNN.

"I think an exchange of views and an honest discussion between our leaders is something that needs to be done. I think this is a very normal and practical thing," Rud said during an interview with CNN.

The Pentagon's deputy chairman noted that in recent years, US presidents constantly had an exchange of views with Russian counterparts and called Russia "an important country on the world stage."

"President Putin visited the White House earlier, he had previously visited the United States, for example, when I served in the White House under George W. Bush, he came home to President Bush in Crawford, Texas, and also went fishing with him to Kennebunkport, state Maine. It's not something special, like me, "added Rud.

Recall that on July 16th in the capital of Finland, Helsinki, Donald Trump met with Vladimir Putin . The city held protests through a meeting of presidents. The meeting between Trump and Putin in Helsinki was the first individual negotiation between them, not on the margins of wider international summits, as well as the first in the history of the talks between US and Russian presidents themselves, with the participation of only translators. Putin and Trump spent the aunt's about two hours.

American and world politics sharply criticized Trump for his behavior during a meeting with Putin, in particular, for public doubts in US intelligence. Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said that Trump " did not pass any position on Ukraine".

Trump commissioned the National Security Advisor John Bolton to invite Putin to Washington.

espreso.tv  In Ukrainian/український

US Defense Secretary James Mattheys appealed to Congress not to punish some countries for cooperation with Russia, which is subject to US anti-Russian sanctions

This is stated in a speech to the chairman of the Senate Committee on Armaments John McCain, reports Radio Liberty.

Mettis said that Russia should answer for its "aggressive, destabilizing behavior", but punishment should not apply to allies of the United States or other countries with which Washington develops ties.

Mettista's appeal is based on the likelihood of a proliferation of sanctions against India and other Asian countries with which the United States is trying to establish closer relations, but who are buying weapons in Russia. Thus, India is the largest global importer of defense equipment and has been purchasing Russian military equipment for decades. Indian officials conducted talks in Moscow on the purchase of anti-missile systems S-400.

James Mattheys and US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo plan to visit the Indian capital Delhi for talks in September. The appeal came at a time when many legislators from both American parties called for tougher sanctions against Russia.

-As a reminder, the British Government has developed a national sanctions regime against Russia , which will begin to take effect after the departure of the United Kingdom from the EU.

-Ukraine, Montenegro, Albania, Norway, Georgia joined the decision of the EU Council on June 18 to extend sanctions against Russia for the annexation of the Crimea by June 23, 2019.

-All on the topic James MatthewsPentagonCongress of the USAUS SenateJohn McCainsanctions against Russia.

espreso.tv  In Ukrainian/український

US Department of State ruled out the possibility of a referendum on the Donbas, stating that it would be illegitimate

This was stated by Twitter spokesman of the State Department Gizer Naurer.

"It was clear: The administration does not consider support for a referendum in eastern Ukraine - such a" referendum "would not have legitimacy. We continue to support the Minsk agreements to resolve the conflict in the Donbas," Naurer wrote.

The day before, on July 20, the speaker of the White House Security Council Garrett Marquis made a similar statement.

espreso.tv  In Ukrainian/український

US President's Security Service Donald Trump has checked a soccer ball donated by Russian President Vladimir Putin during a summit in Helsinki

Business Insider reported.

The publication notes, however, that this is a standard procedure and any gifts handed over to the US president are thoroughly checked.

Earlier in the Western media there was an assumption that the gift of Vladimir Putin could be dangerous and recalled various spy technology of the USSR-Russia.

-As reported, Trump called the flirtation with Putin in Helsinki diplomacy, and the media - hypocrites.

-Trump has instructed Putin to invite Washington.

-On July 16, Donald Trump met with Vladimir Putin in the capital of Finland, Helsinki .

-The city held protests through a meeting of presidents.

-The meeting between Trump and Putin in Helsinki was the first individual negotiation between them, not on the margins of wider international summits, as well as the first in the history of the talks between US and Russian presidents themselves, with the participation of only translators. Putin and Trump spent the aunt's about two hours. American and world politics sharply criticized Trump for his behavior during a meeting with Putin, in particular, for public doubts in US intelligence.

-Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said that Trump " did not pass any position on Ukraine".

-Trump acknowledged Putin personally responsible for interfering in American elections.

-Putin offered Trump to hold a "referendum" in the occupied Donbas.

espreso.tv  In Ukrainian/український

Three candidates for the US Congress, which will be held this fall, were subjected to Russian cyberattacks using a false Microsoft page.

This was announced by Vice-President of the security company Tom Bert on the Aspen forum, the 112-Ukraine news channel reports .

"Earlier this year, we found that the domain name Miscrosoft was used as a platform for phishing attacks," said the vice president.

According to him, hackers, probably connected with Russian intelligence, acted.

"Microsoft has no doubt that cyberattack attempts were made by the same group that broke the network of the US Democratic Party committee on the eve of the presidential election in 2016," the statement said.

At the same time, the names of the candidates Bert refused. He stressed that these were people who could be "interesting targets for espionage in connection with their posts."

The vice president announced the removal of the fake domain and phishing messages. Microsoft turned to power, hacking attempts were unsuccessful.

-It was reported that Merican and world politics sharply criticized Trump for his behavior during a meeting with Putin, in particular, for public doubts in US intelligence.

-Trump acknowledged Putin personally responsible for interfering in American elections.

espreso.tv  In Ukrainian/український

In the event that Trump recognizes the annexation of the Crimea by Russia , territorial claims of such a plan may also arise in other countries.

This was written by a Ukrainian diplomat Alexander Hara in a column on "Apostrophe".

"If we talk about Ukraine, the United States considers Crimea as a very dangerous precedent, because if Trump recognized the Crimea, then there are other states that have territorial claims. Take the same China with Taiwan, then the Chinese will say that if Russia can to hold a referendum and occupy the Crimea, why not even check the same with our original territory, which is near. I'm not talking about the islands in the South China Sea that severely restrict navigation and violate the interests of the coastal states. In other words if America is the same To agree with what China does in the South China Sea, it automatically refuses to control the seas, flows of goods, energy, and so on, "he assured.

apostrophe.ua  In Ukrainian/український

The US Department of the Treasury is ready to exclude from the sanction list of the Russian manufacturer of aluminum "Rusal" because the company "is important for the world aluminum market".

US Treasury Secretary Stephen Mnuchin announced this, reports Reuters.

According to him, the Russian company appealed to the Ministry of Finance with a request to remove from it the US restrictive measures.

"I'm not going to talk about the specifics of these proposals now, and about where we are now on them, but if we can find a satisfactory solution, this is our goal (deletion of sanctions is ed.)," Said Mnuchin.

He added that the withdrawal of "Rusal" from business is not the goal of the United States, because this company "is important for the world aluminum market."

As it was reported, the leadership of "Rusalo" resigned and warned about problems with repayment of debts.

The company explained that they would change the leadership in order to avoid US sanctions. At the same time, the US Treasury Department said that the only possible condition for the exclusion of a company from the sanction list was the departure from the management and influence of the Russian oligarch Oleg Deripeski.

At the same time, it was reported that Deripaska still remains the owner of Rusal .

Recall, the United States imposed sanctions against Russian oligarchs close to Russian President Vladimir Putin in the case of Moscow's intervention in the 2016 presidential election.

Shares of the Russian subsidiary of the Russian oligarch Deripaska doubled after the US sanctions. US companies began to cancel contracts with Russian organizations from the list of sanctions.

In addition, international investors who bought Rusal securities may lose $ 1.6 billion through US sanctions.

The Russian company itself has already stated that it will export aluminum to China instead of the United States.

hromadske.ua  In Ukrainian/український

In Russia, they said that the case of the Russian woman, Maria Butina, detained in Washington on suspicion of engagement, allegedly "fabricated".

The head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation, Sergey Lavrov, said this during a telephone conversation with US Secretary of State Michael Pompeo.

The Foreign Ministry of Russia believes that the United States detained Butin "on the basis of fabricated allegations."

Lavrov, for his part, stressed that Russian should "be released as soon as possible".

On July 16, it was reported that a Russian citizen was detained in Washington on suspicion of "penetrating into an American political organization." Arrested - 29-year-old citizen of the Russian Federation, Maria Butina, she was arrested on July 15.

In the United States, the great jury presented two allegations against the Russian woman, Maria Butine. Russians are officially accused of plotting and acting as a foreign agent in order to influence American politics. She faces up to 10 years in prison.

On July 18, a court in the United States refused to release a suspect in an agency activity of Russian woman on bail

In the United States, a Russian woman, known as an activist for wearing a short-weapons weapon from the right to arms, is accused of attempting to organize an "unofficial communication channel" between the Republican Party and the Kremlin in the 2015-2016 election period. She allegedly acted with the deputy chairman of the Central Bank of Russia Alexander Torshin.

According to the prosecution, Butina worked in the interests of Torshin, trying to lobby for Russia through the National Infantry Association, which has a great influence on American politics.

hromadske.ua  In Ukrainian/український

Constantinople will provide autocephaly to the Ukrainian Orthodox Church after the patriarch informs all local churches about his decision.

This opinion was expressed by the patriarch of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of Kyiv Patriarchate Filaret, according to Censor. NET with reference to Gordon.ua.

"A special commission was created for the three metropolitans of the Patriarchate of Constantinople, which circulates all the local churches. It is important to understand: they do not ask for consent for the provision of tomos, but simply inform about the intention of Constantinople," he said.

Filaret noted that the Ecumenical Patriarch can provide tomos independently, without the prior consent of other Orthodox churches.

"Since the delegation has not yet traveled all the local churches, the announcement of the decision on tomos is a bit delayed. According to the procedure, according to the results of the detour, the delegation should prepare a corresponding report to be considered at the Synod meeting and in fact the decision will be made. Tomos will be given this year already, when it is - in the moon or in the autumn - there is no concrete, but exactly this year ", - stressed the head of the UOC-KP.

Recall that on April 17, President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko announced that he had decided to appeal to the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew with a request to issue a tomos about autocephaly of the Ukrainian Local Church.

On April 18 he held a meeting with the leaders of the Orthodox churches of Ukraine and officially accepted the transfer to the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew of Appeal on the provision of the Ukrainian church of tomos on autocephaly with the signatures of all the bishops who supported this decision.

The Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Kyiv Patriarchate urged the UOC-Moscow Patriarchate to support efforts for the canonical recognition of the Ecumenical Patriarch of Ukrainian Church Independence.

For his part, the representative of the UOC-MP, deputy head of the Department of External Church Relations of the UOC Archpriest Nikolai Danilevich said that an attempt to create a Ukrainian national autocephalous church would not produce results.

On April 19, the Verkhovna Rada supported the address of President Poroshenko to the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew to grant the Ukrainian Orthodox Church an autocephaly.

On April 22, Poroshenko said that the Ecumenical Patriarchate began to consider the request of Ukraine.

ua.censor.net.ua  In Ukrainian/український

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said that the North Stream 2 project is a blow to Ukraine, EU members and NATO members

The press service of the president in Twitter reports.

"This is no economic project to date, the project is absolutely political, the goal of the project is to strike Ukraine and many members of the European Union and NATO members," Poroshenko said.

The President of Ukraine stressed that the Russian gas pipeline project poses risks to the European economy, makes it less efficient and competitive, and the EU energy policy is more dependent on Russia.

"The further, the more EU countries understand the real goal of the North Stream-2", - summed Poroshenko.

"Nord Stream 2" is not an economic project, and the project is absolutely political. His goal is to strike Ukraine and many other members of the EU and NATO.

The further, the more EU countries understand the real goal of the North Stream-2. - Petro Poroshenko

Recall that the EU approved changes in legislation that would allow controlling the gas pipeline bypassing Ukraine. The European Parliament's Committee on Energy has supported "gas" changes that hamper the construction of the North Stream-2 .

Germany allowed the construction of 30 km of Russian gas pipeline "North Stream 2" in its exclusive economic zone. The head of the German Foreign Ministry in Moscow confirmed the government's support for the North Stream-2 . Merkel promised to take into account Ukraine's interests after launching the North Stream-2.

-Finland allowed Russia to build "North Stream 2". Later, the Swedish government also allowed the construction of a Russian gas pipeline in its exclusive economic zone.

-The US is offering Europe gas instead of the Russian "North Stream-2".

-Shares of the first and second "Nord Stream" may be arrested.

espreso.tv  In Ukrainian/український

Visitors to the Kerch Bridge opened in May 2018 , which united Russia with the occupied Crimea , point out the rapidly damaged road cover and claim that the city has literally "started to collapse".

This is evidenced by the video posted on Youtube channel Kerch.FM.

It is noted that the frames are made at the entrance to Kerch, on the street Chkalov. The video shows the road surface of very poor quality with a lot of pits and potholes. In one place, the asphalt was cracked so much that the bridge is already dismounted at the seams.

"The bridge at the entrance to the Crimea began to collapse" - indicate in the signature of the video.

"Meaningless russkiy measures got to Kerch" "Nonsense. Putin personally delivers on the bridge and in the Kerch Strait good weather. Regular father regularly fly over the bridge with icons. Ice winter will be. The relevant bill has already submitted to the Duma. Soil appreciated respective brace", "Kerch is lowered to Russian standards", - they write in the comments.

However, some also argue that another bridge in Kerch was shot on the video, not the one that connects the peninsula with Russia.



apostrophe.ua  In Ukrainian/український

Hungarian diplomats prepared proposals for their political leadership to use NATO as a platform for billing with Ukraine, and also tried to prevent President Poroshenko from hosting the Alliance Summit.

This was stated by Head of the Mission of Ukraine to NATO Vadym Prystaiko in an interview with Glavkom , informs Censor.NET.

"They have made a real difference, they really tried to prevent the president of Ukraine from joining the NATO summit, we will not forget about that," Pristayko said, adding that Poroshenko had the opportunity to meet with the leaders of the Alliance together with representatives of Georgia.

The diplomat recalled that on June 22, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Ukraine and Hungary Pavlo Klimkin and Peter Siiyarto, as well as the Minister of Education and Science of Ukraine Lilia Grinevich and the Minister of Human Resources of Hungary Miklosas Kashler met at the meeting, in which it was agreed that the next meeting of the Transcarpathian Hungarian community with the Ministry of Education Ukraine will take place on July 11-12, and also the fact that the Verkhovna Rada will soon consider the proposals of the government to postpone the deadline for the introduction of a new law on education, and in the fall deputies will be able to receive information on the law on secondary education, in order to resolve the issue of volumes of language learning.

"As if all the negotiators agreed to this, only three days after the meeting comes a letter from Hungary to all NATO members, in which it was written that Ukraine has come to negotiate empty-handed, and thus blocking Ukraine's participation in the NATO summit will continue. They pretend that the talks are going but keep the letters prepared in advance that there is no progress ", - summed up Pristayko, stressing that it is possible to conduct a discussion on the law on education professionally and diplomatically" in order not to take hostages of NATO".

The fact that the Hungarians did not block meetings in the Ukraine-Georgia-NATO format is a definite step towards Budapest. The head of the mission of Ukraine to NATO also hopes that attempts to block Ukraine's participation in the summit are the maximum point that the conflict has come about.

We remind the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Hungary on September 26, 2017, that it intends to block Ukraine's rapprochement with the EU and NATO through the law on education.

Hungary has already blocked the holding of the Ukraine-NATO Commission at ministerial level for three times due to claims to the language article of the Ukrainian Education Law. The Hungarian authorities explained that in this way it exerted pressure on Ukraine, demanding a revision of the linguistic norm of the law on education.

ua.censor.net.ua  In Ukrainian/український

US sanctions against Russian concern "Rusal" can be reviewed.

This was announced on Friday, July 20, by US Treasury Secretary Stephen Mnuchin, according to Cenzor.NET with reference to DW.

According to the official, the American government does not set itself the goal of pushing Rusal out of business. The company plays an important role in the global aluminum market, besides, Rusal has appealed to the United States to remove it from the list of sanctions. "If we can find an acceptable solution, then this is our goal," emphasized Mnuchin.

We remind that after the publication of the "Kremlin Report" in April, the US imposed sanctions on Russian businessmen, companies, officials and top managers of state corporations. The list also got and Concern "Rusal". Later, the US announced its willingness to lift sanctions against Rusal if businessman Oleg Deripaska refused to control the company. In May, Deripaska announced the withdrawal from the board of directors of "Rusal".

ua.censor.net.ua    In Ukrainian/український

Among the countries of the European Union, Ukraine's position on the inadmissibility of the construction of the Russian North Stream 2 gas pipeline in the Baltic Sea is not supported by Germany, Austria, the Netherlands and Belgium.

According to the Censor.NET with reference to UNIAN, the Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs of Ukraine on European Integration Olena Zerkul said on the channel "Channel 5".

She said that the level of communication between Ukraine and the US in the construction of the pipeline "North Stream 2" "annoys German partners."

"And they are already trying hard to even hide it from us, that they are annoyed by our communication with the United States," said the deputy minister.

The mirror also explained that in Europe some countries do not like the US being able to use such a leverage effect as imposing sanctions on companies involved in the construction of the gas pipeline.

"And they believe that this is blackmail, and this blackmail is connected not only with the sanctions against the North Stream, but also with other trade measures and this trade war that is now launched by the United States (regarding the introduction by the United States of the import duty Steel and aluminum products from the EU countries - Ed.)", - Zerkal said.

At the same time, she noted that among the EU member states there are only four countries that do not support the position of Ukraine regarding the "North Stream-2".

"There are only four countries that do not support us. Those countries that are interested in" North Stream 2 "being built, which will directly benefit from its operation," said Zerkul, adding that it is about Germany, Austria, the Netherlands and Belgium.

Recall that the North Stream 2 project envisages the construction and operation of two branches of the gas pipeline with a total capacity of 55 billion cubic meters of gas annually from the coast of Russia through the Baltic Sea to Germany. A new pipeline around Ukraine is planned to be built along with the already existing "North Stream-1". Construction of the gas pipeline should be completed by the end of 2019. The length of the pipeline will be 1220 km; it must connect the Russian Ust-Luga and the German Greifswald.

ua.censor.net.ua  In Ukrainian/український

President of the United States of America Donald Trump blamed the hypocrisy of the media, who clashed with him criticized for allegedly his softness to Russian President Vladimir Putin.

As Censor.NET reports, he wrote about this in his Twitter.

"I was fiercely criticized by Fake News Media because I was too good for President Putin. In ancient times, they would call it diplomacy. If I were to be loud and angry, I would be criticized for being too cruel. Remember how they said that I behaved too strictly with Kim's head (Kim Jong Yin - Ed.)? Hypocrites, "wrote Trump.

I got severely criticized by the Fake News Media for being too nice to President Putin. In the Old Days they would call it Diplomacy. If I was loud & vicious, I would have been criticized for being too tough. Remember when they said I was too tough with Chairman Kim? Hypocrites!

ua.censor.net.ua  In Ukrainian/український