Ukraine News. Thursday 21 February. [Ukrainian sources]

THURSDAY HEADLINES:
US Attorney General Plans To Announce Completion Of Muller Investigation On Russian Intervention In US Presidential Election. Putin's threats to target US missiles - unacceptable - NATO.  Pushkin launched an anti-Ukrainian fake about preparing an assassination attempt on Putin's pit.  The Great War Against Ukraine: The general explained why Putin was afraid.  In Russia, they talked about Putin's impotence and the Kremlin's serious failures.  Putin is hysterical about the "dead" Violinist and his daughter.  The Russian embassy is not sure that the Violinists are alive.  Why Russians hate Ukraine: A clear answer came.  SBU exposed the "electoral pyramid" under the leadership of the People's Deputy from the "Batkivshchyna" Bogdan.  Employees of the SBU and the DBR carry out searches at representatives of the headquarters of the Batkivshchyna in the Zaporozhye region. Supporters of the independence of Catalonia blocked key routes and burn tires: photo and video protests. With Russia, a biometric visa regime should be introduced. It is also necessary to have more rigorous control over Russian citizens in Ukraine. Medvedchuk is an agent of Russian influence, not a spy. He should promote the consolidation of Ukrainians.  

Kyiv, Ukraine
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The new US Attorney General William Barr plans to announce the completion of a special prosecutor Robert Mueller's investigation of Russia's interference in the US presidential election next week.

According to Censor.NET, referring to Ukrinform , the Central American television channel CNN reported on Tuesday, citing sources familiar with the plans of the Ministry of Justice.

"Attorney General Bill Barr is preparing to announce next week about the completion of the investigation by the Special Prosecutor Robert Muller," the statement said.

It is planned that the Ministry of Justice, in accordance with the procedure, will send a report to Congress on the results of the work of the office of a special prosecutor.

Such preparatory actions are a clear sign that Müeller almost completed his investigation, which lasted incomplete two years. However, according to the TV channel, the exact deadline for announcing this may be changed.

At the same time, it remains unclear how detailed the report will be for Congress, which will be approved by the Attorney General. It is also unclear how long documents will be prepared by the Ministry of Justice for lawmakers.

In this regard, it is also specified that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs takes into account the plans of President Trump to participate in the summit with the leader of the DPRK Kim Jong Yin on February 27-28 in order not to "interfere in the diplomatic efforts of the White House."

censor.net.ua  In Ukrainian/український

Statements by the Russian president against threats against NATO allies are unacceptable.

According to Censor.NET, referring to Radio Liberty, according to the North Atlantic Alliance.

"We urge Russia to focus on returning to the implementation of the Treaty on the Elimination of Medium and Medium Range Missiles (DRSMD)," said Deputy Speaker of NATO, Pierce Casale.

He added that NATO does not want a new arms race and does not intend to deploy new nuclear weapons in Europe.

Recall that on February 20, Russian President Vladimir Putin, speaking with a message to the Federal Assembly (upper chamber of the Russian parliament), said that in response to the withdrawal of the United States from an agreement on missiles of medium and short distances, Russia will deploy missile systems that will target not only weapons, but also to decision-making centers in the United States and their allies.

censor.net.ua  In Ukrainian/український

In the so-called "MGB of the DPR" reported on "planning of the assassination" of the AFU special services to Ukrainian politician and cum of Russian President Vladimir Putin Viktor Medvedchuk .

This was written by blogger Necro Mancer.

"It is known that an attempt on V. Medvedchuk should be carried out by one of the specially trained groups of soldiers of 8 separate special-purpose regiments (A / 0553 military unit) based in Khmelnitsky," the occupiers wrote.

"Pi * dats Kuma", - commented the message of the militant blogger.

Also, according to the occupiers, the preparation of an "assassination" allegedly will be carried out under the "guidance of experts from the United States."

Under the post came sarcastic comments of users.

"Oh, again, they have fun. Are there blue barrels, interestingly, dumped in Krasnogorovets?", "You know, what's wrong with this text is that it's a fiction. There is no group of liquidators that would do the job in the near future." "Well, the group is not necessarily preparing in Khmelnitsky, there are many other interesting places, the same Molkino, for example," commentators write.

apostrophe.ua  In Ukrainian/український

Russia was under the close watch of the entire civilized world, and therefore President Vladimir Putin would not risk holding a big war against Ukraine.

Such an opinion was expressed by the former head of the Foreign Intelligence Service of Ukraine, General of the Army of Ukraine Nikolay Malomuzh, to the " Apostrophe".

"Putin does not plan an offensive operation in Ukraine, due to the fact that now in the West there is a clear model of control over all military connections - radio engineering, space and intelligence capabilities that track this process," the military said.

According to him, the West realized that Putin's alleged attack was not only a threat to Ukraine, but also NATO countries.

"Therefore, an offensive operation in Ukraine will actually mean a global war not only with us, but also with NATO, which does not give Putin real prospects without sacrifices," Malomuzh said.

According to him, not only the data of the Ukrainian intelligence services, but also "our colleagues from Washington, London and Berlin," testify to Putin's unwillingness to arrange a great war.

However, the general said that "the Russians will be threatening, building up the potential and showing that they have new connections, advanced equipment and weapons."

apostrophe.ua  In Ukrainian/український

The message of the President of the Russian Federation, Vladimir Putin, to the Federal Assembly demonstrated his impotence and the "loss of control" over the people .

She announced this on a Russian political scientist Lilia Shevtsova on Facebook.

"The current message of President Putin to the Federal Assembly, usually an empty ritual, this time was interesting just for its recognition. We saw the real concern of the authorities over the loss of control over the mood of the masses and the fall of the leader's ranking. We also saw unplanned: the actual recognition by the Kremlin of the loss of control over its own "vertical" and misunderstanding what to do with the people", - wrote the political scientist.

She also cited the factors that "ruin" Russia.

"The transformation of Ukraine into an opponent of Russia, the revival of the sunny NATO, the consolidation of the West through Russia's containment, the arms race, caused by the collapse of the RSMD (to which Moscow made an arm), the support of the falling regimes (Maduro) and pumping them with irretrievable money, the transformation of Syria into a trap from which It is unclear how to get out; the failure to buy loyalty at the expense of insane loans for the construction of atomic toys (Hungary, Egypt, Turkey); the inability to comprehend the consequences for Russia of the superpower in the person of China - this is a book about shafts, which In short, there is a chance to be famous at least for this, "wrote Shevtsov among other things.

apostrophe.ua  In Ukrainian/український

In the Russian embassy in the UK can not confirm the fact that the former Russian intelligence officer Sergey Skrypal and his daughter are alive.

This is stated on the official website of the department.

"Representatives of the embassy, ​​in spite of the rules of international law and the 1965 Bilateral Consular Convention, were not granted access to Russian citizens, therefore we can not state the fact that Sergei and Julia of the Fiddlers are alive," the statement said.

Specifies that earlier, the Violinist has filed an application to the Russian police requesting to recognize her missing son. In addition, the British authorities did not grant Russian diplomats access to the Violinist.

apostrophe.ua  In Ukrainian/український

The Russian Embassy in the UK can not state the fact that Sergei and Julia Skrypal are alive

The relevant statement is posted on the embassy's website.

"Representatives of the embassy, ​​contrary to the rules of international law and the 1965 Bilateral Consular Convention, were not granted access to Russian citizens, therefore we can not state the fact that Sergei and Yulia Skrypal are alive," the statement reads.

It is noted that Sergei Skrypal nobody saw since March 4, 2018. His daughter Julia appeared on the screen once in May 2018, in video format.

"All this testifies to the fact that our citizens are at least in isolation," - told the embassy.

Earlier it was reported that the mother of the former Colonel GRU Sergei Skrypal Olena filed a statement to the police claiming the missing son and his daughter Julia.

espreso.tv  In Ukrainian/український

Russians are trampling through television and the media , putting their heads in the belief that Ukrainians should not exist.

This opinion was expressed in an interview with " Apostrophe " by a priest Ivan Sidor, who on the night of December 12, 2013 woke the capital with the bells of St. Michael's Monastery, announcing an attempt to disperse Maidan by security forces.

He is convinced that the hatred of Russians towards Ukrainians is due to information that they "feed" within the country.

"If you include their news and see the 20 minutes, then they get the impression that they do not have their own problems." Every news block consists of a part about Ukraine, and everything is presented in a negative light. "News is false. "People are shaking, knocking, thinking that the Ukrainian has no right to exist," the priest said.

He also says that there is another reason that can be found in the historical context.

"If you look at the entire history of the wars of Ukrainian and Russian, it becomes clear that Ukrainians, as a rule, only defended against the attacks of the Janisch, Mongol-Tatars, Poles, Empires. We have always fought for an independent state," says Sidor.

At the same time, the Russian Empire itself organized more than 100 wars, "which was led by the Russian Empire."

"This people can not live peacefully. They have to fight, admit something," the priest summed up.

apostrophe.ua  In Ukrainian/український

The Security Service states that it exposed the "electoral pyramid" under the leadership of a people's deputy who worked in a number of regions of Ukraine and was supposed to provide a concrete candidate for victory in the elections.

As informs Censor.NET with reference to the "Ukrainian truth", this was stated at a briefing on February 21, deputy head of the SBU Viktor Kononenko.

"The established organization has its own hierarchy and division of responsibilities, consisting of a leader who is one of the people's deputies of Ukraine (today we do not call it consciously, so as not to tie it to any of the political forces), 3 coordinators responsible for different parts of the state, subordinated to them coordinators in the regions (responsible for 2 oblasts) and subordinate to them the grassroots of the field," - he said.

He added that in connection with this, on February 21, the SBU, in conjunction with the GPU and the DDR in the framework of open criminal proceedings on the grounds of the creation of a criminal organization, "conducts more than 30 searches in a significant part of our regions."

"I want to emphasize that no political force in any party office conducts any searches," Kononenko said.

He also added that it is not about a deputy who is a presidential candidate.

According to Kononenko, the investigative actions within the framework of the proceedings are aimed at "documenting the establishment of so-called electoral pyramids and preventing them from being used during elections".

According to the representative of the SBU, the citizens of the Russian Federation and citizens of Ukraine, who "cooperate with Russian structures for a long time", enter and play the leading role in the criminal organization.

"The implementation of the project envisaged the formation of members of the group in the constituencies of the pyramid in the form of" the head of the sector - the senior polling station - a dozen "who were supposed to provide the necessary, determined by each individually, the number of votes in favor of a particular candidate at all ordinary polling stations of the country," Kononenko said. .
He added that for this purpose, the organizers were looking for local residents who, for a certain fee, had to "process appropriately and ensure the voting in favor of a particular candidate for their number of voters."

Kononenko added that they paid for such activities in some cases, starting from November 2018.

"Used dirty cash, which was processed with the assistance of law enforcement agencies," - summed up a representative of the SBU.

As it became known to " Direct " from its own sources, the organizer of the disruption of the presidential election is the deputy from the "Batkivshchyna" Ruslan Bogdan.

censor.net.ua  In Ukrainian/український

Employees of the SBU and the DBR conduct searches at the representatives of the Yulia Tymoshenko headquarters in the Zaporozhye region.

As informs Censor.NET, Vitaliy Ryabtsev, a trustee of the presidential candidate of Ukraine, Batkivshchyna Party leader Yulia Tymoshenko, said this on his Facebook page.

"The morning began with searches. According to the personal order of Yuriy Lutsenko, prosecutors initiated the receipt of court rulings for searches for supporters of the Batkivshchyna." For this, Lutsenko changed the composition of the group of prosecutors yesterday.

I, as a trustee of a candidate in a 75 district, went to the scene of events. There will now be a live broadcast. Just in case I declare. I do not have any prohibited items", - he wrote.

Later, Ryabtsev added that during the searches they seized not only the "Motherland" agitproducts, but also personal belongings and telephone numbers of the headquarters staff.

"Repressions, 37 th year Repressions against activists of the" Batkivshchyna "began, personal belongings, including family members are picked up." In my eyes, a three-year-old child was picked up by telephone, the investigator of the DBR removes Yulia Volodymyrivna's agitproduction," - said he

"In fact, law enforcement agencies are working at the headquarters of the current president, Petr Oleksiyovych, do not intimidate us," added Ryabtsev.



For his part, Alexander Chubukin on his Facebook page unveiled a video showing people who came to one of the apartments to conduct investigative actions.



"In Zaporizhzhya searches are carried out in the apartments of the campaigners of the headquarters of the Batkivshchyna", - he wrote.

According to Interfax-Ukraine , later, the deputy head of the SBU Victor Kononenko told a briefing on Thursday in Kyiv that law enforcement officers conduct more than 30 searches in a number of regions of Ukraine to prevent the creation of so-called electoral pyramids.

According to him, searches are conducted by SBU employees and the State Bureau of Investigations in the framework of criminal proceedings to prevent the creation of electoral pyramids.

The deputy head of the SBU specified that searches do not apply to party offices.

In turn, the Internet publication "Ukrainska Pravda", the State Bureau of Investigations confirmed that they are conducting searches in the Zaporozhye region.

"Certain investigative actions are continuing. We will soon have information on the searches and about the extent to which they were held in criminal proceedings", the press service of the DB said.

At the same time, they categorically refused to comment, how many addresses are searched and whether they are somehow associated with "Motherland" or Tymoshenko.

The fact that the searches are conducted by the DBR, confirmed in the police of the Zaporozhye region.

"This is carried out by the DDR, the question to them: I can not comment on this information," the press service said.

censor.net.ua  In Ukrainian/український

On the morning of Thursday, February 21st, participants in the general strike, advocating for autonomy from Spain , blocked the main transport highways and railways.

This is reported by La Vanguardia.

The publication notes that the organizers of the mass strike are trade unions and organizations fighting for the independence of Catalonia.







Their main requirement is the reduction of the working week to 35 hours and the establishment of minimum wages in Catalonia at the level of 1200 euros. On one of the tracks, the protesters laid out and set fire to the tires.

At the same time, the cause of another surge was the trial of the Supreme Court of Spain over 12 former leaders of Catalonia.


apostrophe.ua  In Ukrainian/український

Foreign Minister of Ukraine Pavlo Klimkin believes that a biometric visa regime with Russia should be introduced. Also, in his opinion, it is necessary to have more strict control over Russian citizens in Ukraine.

He said this in an interview with censor.NET.

The minister reminded that he insists on the introduction of a biometric visa regime with the Russian Federation.

"I believe that it's not worth anything to put in the passport's labels, so I have always been in the process of starting to take biometric data and build an appropriate database, which was passed through the National Security and Defense Council, and if it introduced a visa regime with Russia, it would must be biometric so that people enter the normal biometric passports.

In addition, I believe that the Russians should have a border crossing notification system, for example, in a way that works in many countries. That is, when Russian citizens come to Ukraine, they have to inform their site in advance about their visit on the relevant website. In 3 or 5 days. Of course, there will be an option for urgent cases, "he said.

According to the Foreign Minister, the introduction of the visa regime with Russia is at the level of discussion: "We have prepared our concept, we have taken into account how much we need it, both additional equipment and additional consuls, but most importantly, a political decision is needed. but I am clearly in favor of the introduction of a biometric visa regime with Russia, when, above all, it is a matter of social and political debate."

Klimkin also considers it necessary to introduce more rigorous control over Russian citizens in Ukraine:"... In a state of war with Russia, we must understand where Russian citizens are and what they are doing."

censor.net.ua  In Ukrainian/український

Vladimir Putin's President Vladimir Putin's Russian President Vladimir Putin is an agent of Russian influence, not a spy.

This was in an interview with censor.NET said Foreign Minister of Ukraine Pavlo Klimkin.

"The Foreign Ministry does not interact with Medvedchuk ... Under no circumstances ... But I would not underestimate Medvedchuk's actions in terms of the consequences of what he is doing, since he is one of the few here in Ukraine saying that Russia, in fact, wants to to do with Ukraine. He speaks of federalization, of the autonomous Donbass with the parliament and the government.

The fact that he openly defends the Russian line in Ukraine should contribute to our consolidation. And the fact that there is one who openly expresses and conducts a Russian line should be a warning for everyone and everyone in Ukrainian society. And in the political context, in the media, and in any other, "the minister said.

Answering the question, is not it better to consolidate a society in a war-friendly way would be a lack of admission of such people as Medvedchuk to Ukraine, Klimkin said: "He is not a spy. Medvedchuk is an agent of Russian influence, not Russian intelligence."

censor.net.ua  In Ukrainian/український