Contents tagged with Ukraine

  • Ex-Deputy of German Bundestag is being investigated over his visit to Crimea

    The prosecutor's office of the German city of Karlsruhe began an investigation against a former member of the Bundestag, Jörg Tauss, who visited the annexed Crimea, as reported by the head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, Pavlo Klimkin.

    “It's not worth it to go to the Crimea and it is criminal to organize group trips there. German ex-MP Tauss learned that to his cost,” wrote the Minister in his Twitter. He believes this is “an important precedent for the legal proceedings by the …

  • Resident of Crimea to be sentenced to 5 years imprisonment for hanging Ukrainian flag over his house

    The authorities want to sentence Crimean activist, Vladimir Balukh, to five years in prison for hanging the Ukrainian flag over his house, as reported by a Crimean human rights group on Facebook.

    "Today, on August 1st, at a court hearing on Balukh’s case, the prosecutor, Korolyov, asked for a sentence of five years and one month in a prison colony," the statement said.

    This term is in accordance with the criminal code of Russia. The Ukrainian activist is charged under Part 1 of Article 222 ( …

  • Canada has allocated $13 million for the development of the free trade zone with Ukraine

    Canada has allocated $13 million toward a program for the development and support of an agreement on a free trade zone (FTZ) between Ukraine and Canada.

    This was stated by the temporary controller of the program, Karim Morkos, the director of the development department of the Canadian Embassy in Ukraine, reports Interfax-Ukraine.

    "Canada is not only eliminating taxation for most Ukrainian goods, but we have also invested $13 million in the development and support of a free trade agreement. We …

  • Ukraine will sue Russia over Kerch Strait bridge to Crimea

    Russia’s introduction of shipping restrictions through the Kerch Strait in connection with the construction of a bridge will lead to losses for Ukrainian ports and will be challenged in court, stated Deputy Minister of Infrastructure of Ukraine Yuriy Lavrenyuk, as reported by Interfax-Ukraine.

    “The Ministry of Justice, within the framework of the existing lawsuits against Russia, has singled out the problem of the blocking of the Kerch Strait and imposition of restrictions on navigation. Now …

  • Ukraine submits a minute-by-minute account of the seizure of the Crimea to European Court of Human Rights

    Ukraine has submitted to the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) in Strasbourg the testimony of fifty witnesses and about a hundred video recordings concerning the annexation of the Crimea, said government commissioner for the ECHR Ivan Leshchina.

    “For each videotape we have testimony of either the person who made the recording or was in it,” Leshchina said on a broadcast on Channel 5.

    We made three separate timetables. One is the arrival of the Russian troops. We showed when they arrived, …

  • Ukrainian border guards seized foreign vessel for entering Crimea

    Border guards of the Odessa naval defense squad arrested a foreign vessel violator which entered the closed Crimean ports, the press service of the Ukrainian Border Guard Service (SBGS) announced on August 1.

    The SAN PORFYRIOS motor ship was stopped by border guards in the Ukrainian waters of the Danube on its way from Romania to Greece. According to preliminary information, a vessel named Sava Lake (Panama Flag) with the same IMO (unique ship identification number) as that on the SAN …

  • Kyiv: Russian law on granting citizenship to Ukrainians infringes on their rights

    The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine urged citizens of Ukraine not to succumb to provocations by the Russian Federation to simplify the acquisition of Russian citizenship.

    The Foreign Ministry regards the Russian leadership's adoption of a law simplifying the acquisition of Russian citizenship by Ukrainian citizens as a complete disregard for international law, the Foreign Ministry said in a commentary.

    "We regard this step by the aggressor state as a continuation of legal …

  • Putin signs law on debt repayment by Crimeans to Ukrainian banks

    Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed a law on the repayment of debts by residents of the annexed Crimea to Ukrainian banks.

    The corresponding document was published on the president's website on Monday, reported RIA Novosti.

    In particular, it gives the borrower the right to apply to the Deposit Protection Fund (DPF) established by the Deposit Insurance Agency (DIA), with confirmation of freedom from cooperation with persons entitled to demand payment of the debt. At the same time, the …

  • Pro-Russian separatist added Russian soldier captured by Ukrainian Army in Donbas to prisoner-exchange list

    During a skype conference with the Minsk humanitarian subgroup, the DPR and LPR (officially - separate regions of Donetsk and Luhansk regions - ORDLO) demanded the release of the captured Russian military officer, Ageyev, as part of the prisoner exchange program. The DPR and LPR consider Ageyev to be a "soldier," as stated by the representative of Ukraine in the humanitarian subgroup of the Tripartite Contact Group, Iryna Herashchenko, on her Facebook page.

    "Ukraine's position here is …

  • Ukraine prepares lawsuit against Russia for murder of 17 year-old Ukrainian by separatist commander

    The Ukrainian government intends to file a lawsuit against Russia in the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) in connection with the murder of 17 year-old Stepan Chubenko, goalkeeper for the Avanhard Kramatorsk football club, in June 2014.

    A statement to this effect was made by Deputy Prosecutor General Yevgeny Enin on Facebook, in a comment regarding Russia’s release of Vadim Pogodin, one of the murderers and commander of the illegal armed group “Kerch”.

    “The Prosecutor General’s Office of …