Contents tagged with Donbas
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Ukrainian Parliament publishes draft bill on integration of Donbas
The main highlights of the new Presidential bill on the Donbas were published on the web site of the Verkhovna Rada.
The purpose of the Bill is stated to be “the liberation of the territory of the Donbas”.
The word "aggression" and its derivatives occur 42 times in the text of the Bill. At the same time, the Bill does not call Russia an "aggressor country." Nevertheless, the authors directly declare that it is the Russian Federation that has been carrying out armed aggression on the territory …
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Russian soldiers captured by ISIS in Syria previously fought in eastern Ukraine
One of the Russian soldiers who were captured in Syria by ISIS terrorists fought previously in the Donbas in the ranks of the LPR (Luhansk People’s Republic), and another is connected to the so-called “Domodedovo” military brotherhood, as reported by Russian blogger Anatoly Nesmiyan (El Murid) in his LiveJournal.
As evidence, he released a photo which may shed light on Roman Zabolotny’s connection to the LPR, and Gregory Tsurkanov’s connection to the Domodedovo military brotherhood.
Nesmiyan …
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Herashchenko: Ukraine is conducting international negotiations on peacekeeping mission in the Donbas
Ukraine intends to bring its position in line with partnering countries before submitting a resolution on promoting the peacekeeping mission in the Donbas, and is currently negotiating on this topic, according to the First Deputy Speaker of the Verkhovna Rada, Ukraine's representative in the humanitarian subgroup of the Trilateral Contact Group, Iryna Herashchenko.
"The issue is not the submission date for the resolution. It could have been submitted three years ago. The question is that the …
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Kyiv: the presence of Russians at the OSCE mission has doubled in one year
The number of representatives of the Russian Federation and countries friendly to it that are part of the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission (SMM) has increased significantly over the past year, notes Iryna Herashchenko, the First Deputy Speaker of the Verkhovna Rada and Ukraine's representative in the humanitarian subgroup of the Tripartite Contact Group.
"Very often in the mission there are representatives of those countries that have special sentiments towards Moscow, and sometimes they do not …
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U.S. Secretary of Defense believes weapons sent to Ukraine will not cause escalation in Donbas
At a press conference in Kyiv, U.S. Secretary of Defense James Mattis said that there is no need to fear an escalation in the Donbas in the event that America provides weapons to Ukraine, as reported by Voice of America.
“Defense weapons do not provoke anyone unless you are the aggressor. And Ukraine is clearly not an aggressor, since military operations are taking place in its territory,” he said.
Luke Coffey, director of the conservative research group Allison Center for Foreign Policy …
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Former US ambassador to Russia: the US sanctions are effective but did not change the situation with Ukraine
US sanctions against Russia did not lead to a drastic change in the situation in Ukraine, said in an interview with the Kommersant newspaper former US Ambassador to Russia, John Tefft.
In his opinion, the imposed sanctions proved to be effective against Russia. "And the Russian president, together with a number of other Russian Federation officials, acknowledged this," he emphasized. "But did these sanctions lead to a drastic change in the situation in Ukraine? Obviously not."
Nevertheless, …
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Kremlin: the deployment of UN monitors on the Russian border violates the Minsk agreements
Moscow believes that the Ukraine’s insistence on the need to place the UN peacekeeping mission primarily on the Russian-Ukrainian border violates the sequence of the stages of the Minsk agreement, as stated by the official spokesperson for the Russian Foreign Ministry, Maria Zakharova.
"Immediately after the introduction of the Russian draft resolution, it was distorted in much of Ukrainian mass media, and presented completely differently," Zakharova said. “One of the serious problems in the …
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SBU: the DPR ‘representative office’ in France was opened by politicians sponsored by the Kremlin
Marginal French politicians and experts financed by the Kremlin took part in the opening of a fake "representative office" of the separatist DPR (Donetsk People’s Republic) in Marseilles, as reported by the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) on their Facebook page. The report notes that the SBU knows well the identities of five French citizens who attended the opening ceremony of the DPR center in Marseilles.
"Huber Fayyar, the chairman of the center, together with like-minded people Christian …
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US Department of Defense and Department of State officially recommend the provision of lethal weapons to Ukraine
A decision on the provision of lethal weapons support to Ukraine is now at the White House. Joseph Dunford, spokesman for the Joint Chiefs of Staff of the US Armed Forces, announced this during a Senate hearing, reports Radio Liberty. At the same time, he did not name a deadline for the adoption of the decision by the White House.
“The US Department of Defense and State Department have officially recommended the provision of lethal weapons to Ukraine,” noted Senator Roger Wicker during the …
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Volker: Russian proposal on peacekeepers in Donbas will further divide Ukraine
The deployment of UN peacekeepers in the Donbas under the Russian scenario is unacceptable, as this option will further divide the country. However, Russia is already ready for negotiations, as expressed by the US Special Representative for Ukraine, Kurt Volker, in an interview with Voice of America.
"I believe that the fundamental goals of US policy are clear, as are Ukraine's goals, and they are to restore the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine, as well as ensure the security …