• Finland prepared to deploy troops along Russian border to control refugee crisis

    In reference to a Lännen Media publication, Kainuun Sanomat reported that Finnish authorities are prepared to deploy soldiers in joint force with the Russian Federation along the eastern border.  This is due to the current influx of refugees into Finland.  It was noted that as of right now there are officially 1500 guards protecting the border with Russia, which equates to approximately one border guard per kilometer.

    “However, in practice, only a part of personnel is on duty there,” the …

  • Court in Ukrainian city of Rivne seizes Sberbank accounts

    The Rivne City Court has ruled to seize the accounts of Sberbank of Russia for UAH 8.5 billion (appromately $330 million).  This decision was made on the 26th of January during the consideration of Evgeny Puhalskiy’s lawsuit. Puhalskiy requires the bank to return his funds amounting to EUR 325 million.  The 33-year-old entrepreneur has been in the process of suing Sberbank of Russia since September of 2015. 

    Initially, the entrepreneur planned to donate the interest of EUR 24 million to the …

  • PACE criticizes Russia and Azerbaijan for oppression of human rights advocates

    A journalist for European Pravda reported from Strasbourg that the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) has adopted two resolutions in response to the negative feedback received regarding the state of democracy in the Russian Federation, Azerbaijan, Turkey, and to a lesser extent, a number of other countries.

    These resolutions were based on systematic harassments of non-governmental organizations as well as the restriction of the rights of human rights advocates.  The …

  • Russian Banks Refuse to give Loans to Crimeans

    The instability of the credit histories of Crimean residents means that the denial of their loan applications has become a “common practice” of Russian banks, as explained by the head of the Union of Financial Services Consumers (FinPotrebSoyuz), Mikhail Beliaev.

    “As we know, the bank is a commercial institution and operates within strict guidelines and instructions... We need to understand that the labor situation in the Crimea is not good, of course, and therefore wages are not stable. It is …

  • Pro-Russian Separatists Acknowledge Debt Owed To Kiev

    Following the results of the negotiations of the Trilateral Contact Group in Minsk, the self-proclaimed LPR (the Lugansk People`s Republic) and DPR (the Donetsk People`s Republic) have acknowledged debts to the Ukrainian budget and their repayment.  Agreements on the exchange of prisoners have not yet reached.

    The acknowledgements were reported by Daria Olifer, the Press-Secretary of former Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma.  This became known after the meeting of the Trilateral Contact Group …

  • Putin's Comments on Donbas to Be Considered At Next UN Security Council Meeting

    The Ukrainian delegation initiated a discussion in the UN Security Council about the recent statements of Russian President Vladimir Putin regarding the Donbas that purport to cast doubt on Ukraine's border.  This was stated on the website of the delegation of Ukraine to the UN.

    During the discussions, the representative of Ukraine, Vladimir Yelchenko, stated the inadmissibility of attempts of the top leadership of Russia to rewrite history and to question the territorial integrity, …

  • Ukrainian Foreign Ministry calls on OSCE to react to human rights violations in Crimea

    The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine has called on the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) to react to human rights violations in Crimea and other regions of Ukraine which are beyond the control of the country.  This was stated by the Deputy Director of the Department of International Organizations of Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, Vasyl Pokotylo, at a round table dedicated to Germany’s presidency of the OSCE in 2016.Pokotylo continued, “We believe that the …

  • Freedom House report suggests human rights and civil liberties are deteriorating in Russia

    A report issued by Freedom House stated that Russia is considered to be a “non-free” country”, and was given a rating of 6. States that have the lowest rating of 7 include North Korea, Uzbekistan, Syria, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, and Turkmenistan.

    The US-based international human rights group found that freedom worldwide declined in 2015 for the 10th consecutive year.

    The discussions relating to Russia began with the observation that the country’s worsening economic situation compelled the …

  • Former Swedish PM Says he does not Intend to Succeed Yatsenyuk

    Former Swedish Prime Minister, Carl Bildt, said that he doesn't intend to replace Arseniy Yatsenyuk as Prime Minister of Ukraine, as reported by Dagens Nyheter on Tuesday, January 26th.

    "Ukraine has a good Prime Minister. There is no reason to change it," Bildt said. According to the politician, the information about his possible appointment as Prime Minister of the country is untrue.

    Earlier, on January 26th, the Ukrainian newspaper Glavcom, citing a source in the Presidential administration, …

  • Dzhemilev: Turkey Supports International Effort to Return Crimea to Ukraine

    The Minister of External Affairs of Turkey, Mevlut Cavusoglu, supports the creation of an international group that will work on freeing the Crimea from Russian occupation.

    This initiative was requested by Ukraine and was discussed in Strasbourg at a meeting between the Turkish Foreign Minister and the Commissioner of the President of Ukraine on the Affairs of Crimean Tatars, Mustafa Dzhemilev, on January 26th.

    According to Dzhemilev's Facebook page, the meeting was also attended by Ukrainian …