1/8 Фото пресс-службы Президента России
Перед началом заседания Высшего Евразийского экономического совета. Слева направо: Президент Казахстана Нурсултан Назарбаев, Президент Белоруссии Александр Лукашенко и Владимир Путин. На заднем плане – председатель Коллегии Евразийской экономической комиссии Виктор Христенко.5 марта 2014 года
» Ukraine: UN Envoy Threatened By Armed Mob
05/03/14 16:00 from Sky News | World News | First For Breaking News
Robert Serry is told to leave Crimea, as the US sends an extra six fighter jets to a Nato air policing mission in the Baltics.
05/03/14 16:00 from Sky News | World News | First For Breaking News
Robert Serry is told to leave Crimea, as the US sends an extra six fighter jets to a Nato air policing mission in the Baltics.
» US 'Stepping Up' Measures to Support Allies Amid Ukraine Crisis
05/03/14 15:57 from Voice of America
U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel says the United States is stepping up measures to support its European allies during the crisis in Ukraine's Crimea peninsula.Hagel said the United States is increasing joint training through the U.S. a...
05/03/14 15:57 from Voice of America
U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel says the United States is stepping up measures to support its European allies during the crisis in Ukraine's Crimea peninsula.Hagel said the United States is increasing joint training through the U.S. a...
» Ukraine: No Agreements Reached In Crisis Talks
05/03/14 15:57 from Sky News | World News | First For Breaking News
Discussions between Russia and the West end in stalemate, as Sergei Lavrov leaves without meeting his Ukrainian counterpart
05/03/14 15:57 from Sky News | World News | First For Breaking News
Discussions between Russia and the West end in stalemate, as Sergei Lavrov leaves without meeting his Ukrainian counterpart
* Kerry and Lavrov to meet in Paris
* Russian forces in charge of Ukraine's Crimea region
* EU could decide sanctions Thursday if no de-escalation -France
* Putin says Russian reserves right to use force
* Tensions remain high, West mulls sanctions
By John Irish and Timothy Heritage
PARIS/KIEV, March 5 (Reuters) - The United States and Russia will hold talks on easing East-West tension over Ukraine on Wednesday as the West steps up efforts to persuade Moscow to pull its forces back to base in Crimea and avert the risk of a war.
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov will meet face-to-face for the first time since the crisis escalated, after a conference in Paris attended by all five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council.
NATO and Russia will hold parallel talks in Brussels amid concerns that a standoff between Russian and Ukrainian soldiers in Crimea could still spark violence, or that Moscow could also intervene in Russian-speaking eastern Ukraine.
French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said European Union leaders meeting in Brussels on Thursday could decide on sanctions against Russia if there is no "de-escalation" by then.
President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday defended Russia's actions in Crimea, a strategic Black Sea peninsula that is part of Ukraine but used to be Russian territory, and said he would use force only as a last resort.
This eased market fears of a war over the former Soviet republic after sharp falls on Monday. The rouble was steady on Wednesday and Ukraine's hryvnia rose slightly against the U.S. dollar.
Russian forces remain in control of the region, however, and Putin gave no sign of pulling servicemen, based in Crimea as part of the Black Sea Fleet, back to base. Investors in Russian stocks were still worried about Ukraine, with the MICEX index down 1 percent on Wednesday in contrast to other stock markets.
Russian forces remain in control of the region and Putin gave no sign of pulling servicemen, based in Crimea as part of the Black Sea Fleet, back to base.
"What he wants above all is a new empire, like the USSR but called Russia," former Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko told France's Europe 1 radio.
In Washington, U.S. President Barack Obama acknowledged that Russia had legitimate interests in Ukraine but said that did not give Putin the right to intervene militarily.
"President Putin seems to have a different set of lawyers making a different set of interpretations," Obama said. "But I don't think that's fooling anybody."
A senior administration official said Obama spoke to German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Tuesday and discussed a potential resolution to the crisis. The Russian-speaking German leader has good relations with the German-speaking Putin, and Berlin is Russia's biggest economic partner.
The official said Obama, in his phone call with Putin last Saturday, had discussed what officials called an "off-ramp" to the crisis in which Russia would pull its forces in Crimea back to their bases and allow international monitors to ensure that the rights of ethnic Russians are protected.
The U.S. president will stay away from a G8 summit scheduled for Sochi, Russia, in June unless there is a Russian reversal in the Ukraine crisis, the official added.
G7 MAY MEET SOON
At his first news conference since the crisis began, Putin said on Tuesday that Russia reserved the right to use all options to protect compatriots who were living in "terror" in Ukraine but that force was not needed for now.
His comments, coupled with the end of Russian war games near Ukraine's borders, lifted Russian bonds and stock markets around the world after a panic sell-off on Monday.
In comments ridiculed by U.S. officials, Putin denied the Russian armed forces were directly engaged in the bloodless seizure of Crimea, saying the uniformed troops without national insignia were "local self-defence forces".
French President Francois Hollande became the latest Western leader to raise the possibility of sanctions if Putin does not step back and accept mediation. He set out a tougher public line than Merkel, who has avoided talk of sanctions so far.
"The role of France alongside Europe ... is to exert all necessary pressure, including a possible imposition of sanctions, to push for dialogue and seek a political solution to this crisis." Hollande told an annual dinner of France's Jewish community leaders late on Tuesday.
Putin earlier said Western sanctions under consideration against Russia would be counter-productive. A senior U.S. official said Washington was ready to impose them in days rather than weeks.
Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper said after speaking to Obama at the weekend that the Group of Seven leading industrialised nations were considering meeting in the near future, a move that would pointedly exclude Russia. The G7 became the G8 in 1998 when Russia was formally included.
Kerry, on his first visit to Kiev since the overthrow of Russian-backed President Viktor Yanukovich, accused Moscow of seeking a pretext to invade more of the country.
He said the United States was not seeking a confrontation and would prefer to see the situation managed through international institutions such as the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE).
He was expected to meet Lavrov, Hollande and British Foreign Secretary William Hague on the sidelines of a Paris conference on Lebanon, before holding private talks with the Russian minister later in the day in the French capital.
Ukraine's acting foreign minister, Andriy Deshchitsia, is also in Paris for talks with French officials and Kerry. It was not clear if he too would meet Lavrov.
The Feb. 22 ousting of Yanukovich after months of street protests in Kiev and Russia's seizure of control in Crimea have prompted the most serious confrontation between Moscow and the West since the end of the Cold War.
Western governments have been alarmed at the possibility that Russia may also move into eastern and southern Ukraine, home to many Russian speakers, which Putin did not rule out.
Lavrov told European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton that an EU-brokered agreement signed by political leaders in Kiev on Feb. 21 should be the basis for stabilising the situation in Ukraine, his ministry said on Wednesday.
He said the agreement foresaw constitutional reform which would take into account the wishes of all regions in Ukraine. Russia says the deal was broken by the removal of Yanukovich.
TENSIONS IN CRIMEA
No major incidents were reported in Crimea overnight.
But in a sign of the fragility of the situation, a Russian soldier on Tuesday fired three volleys of shots over the heads of unarmed Ukrainian servicemen who marched bearing the Ukrainian flag towards their aircraft at a military airfield surrounded by Russian troops at Belbek, near Sevastopol.
After a standoff in which the two commanders shouted at each other and Russian soldiers levelled rifles and rocket-propelled grenade launchers at the Ukrainians, the incident was defused and the Ukrainians eventually dispersed. No one was hurt.
The Ukrainian border guard service said Russian navy ships had blocked both ends of the Kerch Strait between Crimea and Russia, but Ukraine's infrastructure ministry said the 4.5-km (2.7-mile) wide waterway was still open for civilian shipping.
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Kommersant
1. Yelena Kiseleva and Yelena Kovaleva article headlined "Ukraine to be competed for in mother and daughter game" says Ukrainian businesses owe $10 billion to the subsidiaries of Russian banks in the country. Experts doubt that the banks will be able to collect the debts; pp 1, 8 (914 words).
2. Text of an open appeal of Russian publishers to the Russian president who ask him not to abolish subsidies to the Russian Post that cover its losses from lower fees for newspapers delivered. The publishers argue that higher fees would affect newspaper subscription numbers; p 1 (364 words).
3. Valery Kalnysh et al. article called "Vladimir Putin moves Ukrainian front back" summarizes President Vladimir Putin's news conference on March 4 that focuses on the Ukrainian developments and Russia's decision to build up its military presence in Crimea; pp 1-2 (2,031 words).
4. Vitaly Gaidayev article headlined "Currency exchange rates return to bases" says the Russian stock market and the currency exchange rate have recuperated from a plunge on March 3 after Putin dispelled fears of the Russian intervention in Ukraine. Experts say, though, that it will take more than one day for the markets to fully recover, at least until fully-fledged negotiations on Crimea begin; pp 1, 8 (562 words).
5. Yury Senatorov article called "Alexander Bulbov listened to right people" says charges have been dropped against Lieutenant General Alexander Bulbov, a senior staff member of the federal drug trade control service, who was suspected of wiretapping; pp 1, 6 (929 words).
6. Dmitry Butrin and Alexei Shapovalov article headlined "Bills for rhetoric are on their way" looks at how economic sanctions, which are being devised by the U.S. in response to Russia's actions in Ukraine, could affect the Russian economy and forecasts that capital flight may amount to $160 billion this year; p 2 (655 words).
7. Yelena Chernenko article called "Russia sees Ukraine's future in the past" reports on a meeting in Madrid between EU foreign policy head Catherine Ashton and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, who discussed the latest developments in Ukraine, and looks at some of the sanctions that may be introduced against Russia by the EU; p 3 (720 words).
8. Kirill Belyaninov article headlined "Europe does not join U.S." says the U.S. has failed to persuade its European partners to freeze economic cooperation with Russia. The package of U.S. sanctions against Russia is unlikely to badly hit the latter as its trade with the U.S. is only $40 billion a year; p 3 (451 words).
9. Ilya Baranov report headlined "Crimea in transition period" describes the situation at a Ukrainian army unit stationed near the Belbek air base in Crimea; p 3 (527 words).
10. Pavel Tarasenko article called "Self-taken Donbass" reports from a rally in Donetsk that protested against Ukraine's new leadership; p 3 (582 words).
11. Yaroslav Malykh and Natalya Gorodetskaya article headlined "Municipal reform begins with alternative city councils" describes a reform of municipal government that is being piloted in Volgograd and may then be implemented in 67 cities in Russia; p 4 (427 words).
12. Irina Nagornykh article headlined "Public control reaches president" gives details of a bill "On public control" that has been drafted by the Russian Public Chamber and the human rights council under the Russian president; p 4 (554 words).
13. Viktor Khamrayev article called "Kremlin human rights champions split by Crimean line" says the current political crisis in Ukraine has almost divided the human rights council under the Russian president where half of the members voiced their concern about the Federation Council's decision to meet the request of the Russian president for permission to send troops to Ukraine; p 4 (621 words).
14. Grigory Tumanov article entitled "Capital disappointment" discusses loopholes in the law on national parks that cause the concern of environmentalists as they allow for construction activities in protected wildlife areas; p 5 (644 words).
15. Vyacheslav Kozlov article called "OMON has no complaints" provides an update on the trial of Sergei Udaltsov and Leonid Razvozzhayev. Four riot police officers, who testified in court, said they had not seen the suspects on Bolotnaya Ploshchad during the rally on 6 May 2012 and had no complaints against them; p 5 (451 words).
16. Yelizaveta Kuznetsova article headlined "Dobrolet to be forced into garage" says Aeroflot's low cost carrier Dobrolet will not get a license until it has at least eight aircraft; p 7 (512 words).
17. Yury Barsukov article called "Gazprom raises price for Ukraine" says that Gazprom is indeed raising the price of natural gas for Ukraine, but the latter is likely to get loans from the EU as well as from Moscow to pay its gas bill and ensure uninterrupted gas supply to Europe; p 7 (681 words).
18. Pavel Belavin article headlined "Press is in for hungry year" says Russian newspapers and magazines saw its advertising revenues fall by 10.6 percent in 2013, and the trend seems to continue this year; p 9 (614 words).
19. Boris Gorlin et al. article entitled "Defense Ministry is not afraid of premier" says the Defense Ministry owes Gazprom 4.7 billion rubles (about $127 million) for gas supplies and is in no rush to settle the debt; p 9 (604 words).
Vedomosti
1. Alexei Nikolsky article called "First hand crisis" summarizes the key points that President Vladimir Putin made in his news conference on Ukraine on March 4; pp 1-2 (1,100 words).
2. Editorial called "How to stop war" recalls how near war situations were resolved through diplomatic effort in the past and praises President Putin for refraining from military action in Ukraine; pp 1, 6 (500 words).
3. Maria Zheleznova article headlined "Military conflict in human rights council" looks at the situation in the human rights council under the Russian president that appears to be split over the stance of half of its members who were against sending Russian troops to Ukraine; p 2 (600 words).
4. Anastasia Kornya article entitled "Complicated Themis" attempts to explain how a commission, that will select judges for the newly established Supreme Court, is being formed, describes the procedure as "cumbersome and nontransparent; p 3 (500 words).
5. Svetlana Bocharova article called "Citizenship for the rich" says the streamlined procedure of granting Russian citizenship to foreign graduates of Russian universities and people who invest in Russian businesses favors the rich, while those who have been living and working in Russia for years will still find it hard to become Russian citizens; p 3 (300 words).
6. Margarita Lyutova article headlined "How they can punish Russia" discusses possible sanctions that the USA and the EU may take against Russia if it attempts to escalate the conflict in Ukraine. The USA may make life harder for Russian banks, but the EU is unlikely to take any serious steps, the authors conclude; p 4 (1,300 words).
7. Editorial headlined "Imperial burden" doubts that Russia's economy is strong enough to sustain its imperial ambitions and says that Russian people may soon start to question their government's decision to offer protection to Crimea as money is running out; p 6 (500 words).
8. Nikolai Epple op-ed headlined "Concept has changed" previews a change of tone on Ukraine in the Russian media as open aggression has been averted; p 7 (500 words).
9. Boris Safronov column headlined "Figure of the week: $10.5 billion " says the Central Bank had to sell $10.5 billion to support the ruble on March 3 when its exchange rate hit a new record low, says the Central Bank's decision to raise its interest rate will further slow down the economy; p 7 (450 words).
10. Yelizaveta Sergina article called "Yury Kovalchuk is contender for Rostelecom" quotes its sources as saying that Yury Kovalchuk has been named among the potential buyers of the government's stake in the telecommunications company Rostelecom; p 10 (500 words).
11. Yulia Orlova and Mikhail Overchenko article headlined "Markets recover half" tracks the stock market's behavior on March 5 when indices bounced back on the news that Russia will not intervene in Crimea; p 14 (1,000 words).
12. Yelena Khodyakova article called "Gazprom ends season of discounts" quotes experts as saying that the gas giant's decision to cancel its gas price discount for Ukraine was politically motivated and that it is likely to see its export volumes go down; p 12 (700 words).
13. Alexandra Terentyeva et al. article called "What Kolomoisky and Abramovich tried to share" investigates a business conflict between the newly appointed Dnipropetrovsk governor Ihor Kolomoisky and Roman Abramovich that Putin mentioned during his March 4 news conference, calling Kolomoisky a "rogue"; p 11 (750 words).
Nezavisimaya Gazeta
1. Yekaterina Trifonova article called "Party elections back on agenda" says the Communist Party of the Russian Federation is going to raise again the issue of having back elections by proportional representation, arguing that the lawmakers in the Ukrainian Rada, who were elected in single-seat constituencies, switched sides to join the opposition; pp 1, 3 (808 words).
2. Alexandra Samarina article headlined "For simple Ukrainian guy" reports on Putin's news conference on March 4, quotes Nikolai Petrov of the Carnegie Moscow Centre as saying that Putin's stance on Ukraine is "impeccable" in a sense because he is not starting armed intervention, but only calls for abiding by law; pp 1, 3 (1,499 words).
3. Alina Terekhova article called "Gazprom cancels discount, but offers loan" mulls over the consequences of higher gas prices for Ukraine; pp 1, 4 (621 words).
4. Tatyana Ivzhenko article entitled "Rada preparing new bill on languages" reports on the recent political developments in Ukraine; pp 1, 7 (1,740 words).
5. Yevgeny Grigoriyev article called "Ex-chancellor Gerhard Schroeder condemns sanctions against Moscow" reviews German newspapers' reaction to a speech by former German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder that he made in Madrid, advising the EU against taking sanctions against Moscow; pp 1, 8 (749 words).
6. Vladimir Skosyrev article headlined "Yuan to get weaker gradually" looks at the agenda of the this year's session of the National People's Congress of China that opens today; pp 1, 8 (531 words).
7. Vladimir Mukhin article headlined "Moscow is not scared by termination of military cooperation with U.S." quotes Alexander Kanshin of the Russian Public Chamber as saying that the U.S.' decision to freeze military cooperation with Russia will backfire because joint anti-terror and anti-piracy drills that may be cancelled are actually in the interests of Pentagon; p 2 (576 words).
8. Vladimir Gundarov article called "Sergei Shoigu orders air force to fly more" discusses the results of a snap check on the combat readiness of the Russian army that ended on March 4; p 2 (860 words).
9. Editorial headlined "Economic growth problem solved by itself" says that the crisis over Ukraine has put Russia's economic problems on the backburner and enabled economic authorities to attribute the economic slowdown to external factors; p 2 (475 words).
10. Sergei Kazennov and Vladimir Kumachev op-ed headlined "Carte Blanche. On soft power and military might" says that the primary "lesson" that Russia should learn from Maidan is that it needs to get stronger, work harder, but also become more "man-centered" to avoid the fate of Ukraine; p 3 (832 words).
11. Sergei Turanov article called "Russia's best lobbyists — January 2014" presents this month's ranking of Russia's most successful lobbyists; p 5 (1,345 words).
12. Vladimir Gurvich essay called "Stagnation as result of stabilization" says that the Russian authorities have finalized their ideological and political concept that is aimed at contained Western influence and promotion of pan-Eurasian values. The concept, however, is not helping boost the country's development; p 5 (1,120 words).
13. Anton Khodasevich article headlined "Lukashenko laying low" points out that the Belarusian leadership has been keeping mum about the developments in Crimea, while the local opposition calls on President Alexander Lukashenko to withdraw from the CSTO; p 7 (712 words).
14. Anastasia Bashkatova report "ruble getting out of Ukrainian crisis" says that the ruble is trying to consolidate, but the Central Bank will not be able to support the national currency for a long time; p 4 (1,000 words).
15. Yury Paniyev report "Moscow given until March 6 to defuse crisis" says that the U.S. and the EU are discussing sanctions in relation to Russia; p 8 (1,100 words).
16. Vladislav Maltsev report "Slav brothers and mother church" says that the conflict between Russia and Ukraine has placed the Moscow Patriarchate on the verge of split; pp 1-2 of NG Religions supplement (1,400 words).
Rossiiskaya Gazeta
1. Taras Fomchenkov article called "Obama scares himself" says the U.S. and the EU may lose a lot more from them their own sanctions against Russia; pp 1, 8 (952 words).
2. Chairman of the State Duma committee on labour, social policy and veteran affairs Andrey Isayev article headlined "Russian pensioners in Ukraine" confirms Russia's obligation to pay pensions to its retired nationals and veterans now living in Ukraine; p 3 (481 words).
3. Alena Uzbekova interview with Deputy Prime Minister Arkady Dvorkovich headlined "Orient express" on the government's plans regarding the development of the Far East and Siberia and privatization of state-owned companies; p 5 (854 words).
4. Maxim Makarychev article called "Continent of hysteria" contains excerpts from an article in the Guardian pointing to "the hysterical reaction to Russian military movements in Crimea" and criticizing the Western media for over-dramatizing developments in the east of Ukraine; p 8 (661 words).
5. Vladislav Vorobyev report "Lavrov: Our stance is honest" looks at Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov's statement on Ukraine he has made in Tunisia; p 10 (800 words).
6. Natalia Yachmennikova interview with head of the Federal Space Agency Oleg Ostapenko called "March to Mars" on the construction of the Vostochny cosmodrome and Russia's lunar program; p 12 (2,582 words).
7. Kira Latukhina report "On sending [troops] and conclusions" looks at Putin's news conference on Ukraine; pp 1-2 (2,700 words).
Izvestia
1. Yegor Sozayev-Guriyev article called "'Armed seizure of power took place in Ukraine'" looks at Putin's news conference on Ukraine; pp 1-2 (2,100 words).
2. Svetlana Subbotina interview with Federation Council member Andrey Klishas "'We are preparing reply to foreign partners' actions"' who says that Russia should reply to the West's threats to introduce sanctions against the country; pp 1, 4 (2,100 words).
3. Alena Sivkova report "Prosecutor's office asked to remove Right Sector from Facebook" says that the "State Duma intends to stop the activities of Ukrainian extremist groups in social networks"; pp 1-2 (950 words).
4. Alexandra Bayazitova report "Pavel Durov faces criminal case for embezzlement" looks at the results of the audit of the economic activities of the social network Vkontakte; pp 1, 5 (1,100 words).
5. Boris Mezhuyev report "Russian roller-coaster" comments on Russia's actions towards Ukraine; pp 1, 9 (1,900 words).
6. Daria Tsoi report "European deputies make up ways to exert pressure on Russia" looks at the EU's possible sanctions against Russia over Ukraine; p 4 (1,100 words).
7. Yelizaveta Mayetnaya report "Crimean people cannot wait for self-determination" looks at the situation in Ukraine's Crimea and says that not all its residents have decided how to vote at a referendum on the peninsula's future; p 8 (1,500 words).
8. Maria Gorkovskaya et al. article called "President's words make Europe happy" says that Europe has welcomed Putin's statement made during his news conference that "so far, Moscow does not see the need to send troops to Ukraine"; p 8 (700 words).
Moskovsky Komsomolets
1. Mikhail Rostovsky article entitled "Putin not ready to retreat, but possibly to come to agreement" says that at his news conference, Putin has answered the newspaper's question about the future of Crimea; pp 1-2 (900 words).
2. Alexander Minkin report "Crimea, to whom do you belong?" looks at Crimea's future; pp 1, 5 (1,000 words).
3. Nikolai Makeyev report "Sanctions as double suicide" looks at the consequences of sanctions that may be introduced by the U.S. against Russia; pp 1-2 (400 words).
4. Mikhail Rostovsky article entitled "Save our brotherhood!" looks at the Russian-Ukrainian crisis and says that the two countries urgently need a compromise; pp 1, 5 (550 words).
5. Mikhail Delyagin report "People becoming stupid" says that according to polls carried out in 2011-13, only 17 percent of young Russians can perceive information appropriately; p 3 (900 words).
Novaya Gazeta
1. Pavel Kanygin article headlined "Do not shoot" is a report from the deployment sites of three Crimean military units that have been blocked by the Russian military; pp 2-3 (1,300 words).
2. Maria Yepifanova article headlined "Truth and fiction in reports from Ukrainian front" checks rumor about the current situation in Crimea to establish whether it is true; p 8 (300 words).
3. Yelena Masyuk interview with Moscow Human Rights Commissioner Alexander Muzykantsky headlined "Kiev scared everyone" addresses the Moscow city authorities' recent move to ban all protest rallies in central Moscow; pp 16-17 (2,200 words).
RBK Daily
1. Yekaterina Kitayeva article headlined "Television with no residue" details the financial standing of the embattled liberal broadcaster Dozhd television; pp 1, 9 (650 words).
2. Yelena Malysheva and Yulia Sinyayeva article headlined "To save economy by end of week" says Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev has ordered the Economic Development Ministry to develop a set of measures to compensate for spending on the Crimean campaign; p 2 (600 words).
Argumenty i Fakty
1. Ivan Konoval article headlined "Maidan on our heads?" defends the idea that the Russian liberal opposition will attempt a revolution similar to the one in Ukraine; p 44 (600 words).
Noviye Izvestia
1. Yelena Tyulkina article headlined "I will not surrender" covers an initiative to conduct an anti-war concert of Russian and Ukrainian rock bands in Crimea; pp 1, 4 (300 words).
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Activists Say No Flood of Refugees Observed
The Federal Migration Service's recent announcement that an unprecedented number of Ukrainian citizens have rushed to Russia to seek asylum amid an escalating crisis back home has come under scrutiny from observers who say the number is no higher than in previous years.
Journalist Organizations Urge End to Harassment of Media in Crimea
International media rights advocates say independent journalists are getting attacked and harassed while trying to cover events in the autonomous republic of Crimea, which has been occupied by pro-Russian forces.
What the Papers Say, March 5, 2014
The only English roundup of today's Russian-language newspapers.
Sergei Aksyonov was appointed prime minister of the Crimea last month. / Wikicommons
The recently appointed head of the southern Ukrainian republic of Crimea says his government refuses to negotiate with newly installed central authorities in the capital, Kiev.
"We do not consider this government that proposes talks to us to be legitimate, that is the main issue," Crimean Prime Minister Sergei Aksyonov told Latvian radio station Baltcom.
Crimea, a peninsula of some 2 million people, has with ample support from Russia resisted the authority of the leadership that came to power last month after the ouster of President Viktor Yanukovych, which followed months of mainly peaceful protests in Kiev. Russian President Vladimir Putin this week described the current Ukrainian government as illegitimate, in effect bolstering the Crimean government's position.
Aksyonov has requested that Moscow provide security assistance in the largely ethnic Russian-populated Crimean Peninsula amid oft-aired concerns the region could come under attack.
Thousands of unidentified troops under apparent command from Russia have taken control over Ukrainian military bases across the Crimea over the past week.
Russia's parliament has given its approval to military intervention in Ukraine, ostensibly for peace-keeping purposes. But Putin has denied that Russian troops are already deployed, and has described the well-armed troops seen driving around Crimea in vehicles bearing Russian military license plates as "local militia."
Crimea plans to hold a vote this month on the future status of the peninsula, with greater autonomy and even secession named as possible options on the ballot.
Aksyonov was appointed prime minister last month by a vote in the Crimean parliament, which was being guarded at the time by unidentified masked gunmen who had occupied the building the previous night.
Speaking to Baltcom, Aksyonov declined to be drawn on whether he supported on secession for Crimean, insisting that it was a decision for the people on the peninsula to make. The majority of the region's population is pro-Russian, although it is unclear to what extent they favor a breakaway from Ukraine.
Despite Moscow's refusal to accept the legitimacy of the government in Kiev, interim Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk said Tuesday that Russian government officials have nonetheless engaged in what he described as "tepid" consultations.
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MOSCOW, February 26 (Nabi Abdullaev, RIA Novosti) - Since Ukraine exploded last week in a blaze of lethal violence and collapsed leadership, some ominous predictions have been circulating about Russia’s plans for its neighbor’s future.
But military intervention seems too high-stakes a game for Moscow to play. And cooperating with the new leaders in Kiev is hardly more acceptable. For now, in pursuing its national interests, Russia is far likelier to choose fence-sitting as its modus operandi, with a view to step in more actively when its chances for success improve.
For days, Russia was, at best, incoherent and, at worst, stuck in denial about the new political reality in Ukraine and the downfall of Moscow’s loyal ally, the de facto deposed president, Viktor Yanukovych. President Vladimir Putin, who held a Security Council meeting about Ukraine on Tuesday, has said nothing publicly about Russia’s new position on the situation there since the opposition clearly gained the upper hand. Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev and the Foreign Ministry have been busy casting doubt on the legitimacy of the new authorities. And Kremlin propagandists have been lashing out at Yanukovych for betraying Moscow.
This floundering cannot last long given Moscow’s vested interest in integrating Ukraine into a Russia-led trading bloc – a key priority for Putin in his third presidential term.
In dealing with Kiev’s new leaders, Moscow has roughly three policy options: cooperating, “spoiling” or fence-sitting.
Cooperating: Too Many Drawbacks
Cooperating, in this case, means sincere and effective action to help the new Ukrainian government keep its footing, and this is a highly improbable option for Moscow.
European Union officials have called on Russia to participate in joint financial assistance to Ukraine and invited Moscow to discuss the country’s future. Some analysts have suggested that the optimal solution would be creating an arrangement among Kiev, Moscow and Brussels that would allow Ukraine to trade freely with both Russia and the EU. But this development would fly in the face of numerous firm convictions held by the Kremlin in dealing with its neighbors.
The Kremlin views the revolt in Ukraine as part of a zero-sum game with the West in the former Soviet republics, which Moscow regards as its zone of privileged interests. For Putin, cooperating would mean acknowledging defeat in the largest, most prized of these now sovereign countries.
Also, it would send the wrong message – in the Kremlin’s view – to political players in other ex-Soviet republics, such as Belarus, emboldening Western-leaning opposition groups and disheartening pro-Moscow incumbent leaders.
Third, Moscow may have no confidence in the new key political players in Ukraine, which include radical nationalists and high-level functionaries from Yanukovych’s Party of Regions, as well as recycled opponents of the toppled regime. There is a big risk – aggravated by the country’s dire economic situation – that the new Ukrainian government will not be stable and effective.
One possible form of cooperation, articulated by a few political pundits, involves Russia slowly nurturing pro-Moscow political forces in Ukraine that would return the country under Russia’s wing within 10-20 years. This also seems improbable. Hardly any Ukrainian political force now opposed to Moscow would want to switch sides these days, or in the foreseeable future, for fear of being accused of betraying the country’s newly – and violently – acquired freedom, which is strongly based on a rejection of Russia’s role as “big brother.”
Spoiling: Far Too Risky
The second option, “spoiling,” would require the active disruption and sabotage of Ukraine’s new government, and this would come at a price Moscow is not willing to bear.
The United States and European leaders have already warned Moscow against possible military intervention in Ukraine, but it is highly unlikely that Putin would keep this option on the table even without the warnings.
Even if Russia managed to successfully annex Crimea, where it has popular support and a sizeable naval fleet, and the Russia-leaning eastern provinces of Ukraine (like it effectively did in its brief 2008 war with Georgia), all while staving off Western criticism, Moscow will not be able to withstand a costly backlash: Radical, violent Ukrainian nationalists would be very likely to wage a campaign of terror and sabotage both in the occupied territories and in mainland Russia.
© RIA Novosti. Vassily Batanov
Pro-Russian rally in Sevastopol, February 23, 2014
Also, were it to fail, military action would only strengthen anti-Moscow sentiments among Ukrainian elites who would then seek stronger alliances with the West, including military ones.
Propping up separatists in Crimea and in Ukraine’s eastern provinces is also a road to violent conflict that Moscow cannot afford. If these provinces eventually demand that Russia intervene and protect them, Russia will either have to face the consequences described above or lose face.
On Tuesday, the Foreign Ministry effectively ruled out military intervention, saying Russia will not interfere in affairs in Ukraine.
Russia has already declared that it would freeze the remaining $12 billion of $15 billion in pledged aid to Ukraine (provided by buying Ukrainian bonds) until a working government is in place in Kiev. It may also boost economic pressure by imposing bans on Ukraine imports as it has in the past, including just last summer. Russia is Ukraine’s largest trade partner, responsible for nearly 30 percent of its foreign trade in 2012; the EU is a close second.
However, at this time, import bans would not be the way to pressure Ukraine’s new leadership into concessions that it could not deliver in any case, such as integration into Russia’s trading bloc. The bans would be seen as punitive and would only fuel anti-Russian sentiment in Ukraine and solidify local elites around the EU.
Fence-Sitting: The Happy Medium
Fence-sitting, under the circumstances, amounts to outsourcing the tough job of stabilizing Ukraine – and thus responsibility for a possible failure – to the European Union. The EU, now mired in the problems of its own member states, might eventually offer Russia certain concessions in exchange for agreeing to share the burden of salvaging Ukraine, with its miserable economy. Such concessions could include lifting restrictions on Russian energy trade in the EU and the visa-free travel long sought by Moscow.
If, after a time, things go well for Ukraine, Moscow would be able to deal with a functioning, established government capable of reciprocity.
If the new government fails, Ukraine will see a wave of popular resentment for the idea of integration with the EU, especially in the eastern regions and the Crimea. This, in turn, would mobilize and empower proponents of closer ties with Moscow, who could then open its arms wide to embrace anyone disenchanted with the Europeans.
If the new government fails, Ukraine will see a wave of popular resentment for the idea of integration with the EU, especially in the eastern regions and the Crimea. This, in turn, would mobilize and empower proponents of closer ties with Moscow, who could then open its arms wide to embrace anyone disenchanted with the Europeans.
Nabi Abdullaev is the head of RIA Novosti’s Foreign-Language News Service. The views expressed in this column are the author’s alone.
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The US and Russia are to hold talks on easing east-west tensions over Ukraine as the west steps up efforts to persuade Moscow to pull its forces back to base in Crimea and avert the risk of a war.
The US secretary of state, John Kerry, and the Russian foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, will meet face-to-face for the first time since the crisis escalated, after a conference in Paris attended by all five permanent members of the UN security council.
Nato and Russia will hold parallel talks in Brussels amid concerns that a standoff between Russian and Ukrainian soldiers in Crimea could still spark violence, or that Moscow could also intervene in Russian-speaking eastern Ukraine.
The French foreign minister, Laurent Fabius, said European Union leaders meeting in Brussels on Thursday could decide on sanctions against Russia if there is no "de-escalation" by then.
"We're working on it," Fabius told the BFM television network ahead of a meeting with his Ukrainian counterpart. "There is no military solution."
In Donetsk -– the home of deposed president Viktor Yanukovych and a flashpoint of tensions between pro-Russian and nationalist Ukrainians in eastern Ukraine – Ukrainian police seized the city's government headquarters from pro-Russian demonstrators who had occupied it. On Wednesday morning, the Ukrainian flag was raised above the building, replacing the Russian flag that had flown there since Saturday, when protests had erupted following the announcement by the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, that he had the right to invade.
Protesters led by a man who declared himself "people's governor" had been barricaded in the regional administration building demanding relations with Kiev be severed and control of the security forces placed in their hands.
A police statement said the evacuation began after reports the building had been booby-trapped with explosives.
Putin on Tuesday defended Russia's actions in Crimea, a strategic Black Sea peninsula that is part of Ukraine but used to be Russian territory, and said he would use force only as a last resort.
His comments eased market fears of a war over the former Soviet republic. But Russian forces remain in control of the region and Putin gave no sign of pulling servicemen – based in Crimea as part of the Black Sea fleet – back to base.
"What he wants above all is a new empire, like the USSR but called Russia," former Ukrainian president Viktor Yushchenko told France's Europe 1 radio.
In Washington, Barack Obama acknowledged that Russia had legitimate interests in Ukraine but said that did not give Putin the right to intervene militarily.
"President Putin seems to have a different set of lawyers making a different set of interpretations," the US president said. "But I don't think that's fooling anybody."
A senior US administration official said Obama spoke to the German chancellor Angela Merkel on Tuesday and discussed a potential resolution to the crisis. The Russian-speaking German leader has good relations with the German-speaking Putin, and Berlin is Russia's biggest economic partner.
The official said Obama, in his phone call with Putin last Saturday, had discussed what officials called an "off-ramp" to the crisis in which Russia would pull its forces in Crimea back to their bases and allow international monitors to ensure that the rights of ethnic Russians are protected.
The US president will stay away from a G8 summit scheduled for Sochi, Russia, in June unless there is a Russian reversal in the Ukraine crisis, the official added.
At his first news conference since the crisis began, Putin said on Tuesday that Russia reserved the right to use all options to protect compatriots who were living in "terror" in Ukraine but that force was not needed for now.
His comments, coupled with the end of Russian war games near Ukraine's borders, lifted Russian bonds and stock markets around the world after a panic selloff on Monday.
In comments ridiculed by US officials, Putin denied Russian armed forces were directly engaged in the bloodless seizure of Crimea, claiming that the uniformed troops without national insignia were "local self-defence forces".
The French president, Françcois Hollande, became the latest western leader to raise the possibility of sanctions if Putin did not step back and accept mediation. He set out a tougher public line than Merkel, who has avoided talk of sanctions so far.
"The role of France alongside Europe … is to exert all necessary pressure, including a possible imposition of sanctions, to push for dialogue and seek a political solution to this crisis," Hollande told an annual dinner of France's Jewish community leaders late on Tuesday.
Putin earlier said western sanctions under consideration against Russia would be counter-productive. A senior US official said Washington was ready to impose them in days rather than weeks.
The Canadian prime minister, Stephen Harper, said after speaking to Obama at the weekend that the G7 group of leading industrialised nations were considering meeting in the near future, a move that would pointedly exclude Russia. The G7 became the G8 in 1998 when Russia was formally included.
Kerry, on his first visit to Kiev since the overthrow of Russian-backed president Viktor Yanukovych, accused Moscow of seeking a pretext to invade more of the country. He said the US was not seeking a confrontation and would prefer to see the situation managed through international institutions such as the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE).
Yanukovych was expected to meet Lavrov, Hollande and the British foreign secretary, William Hague, on the sidelines of a Paris conference on Lebanon, before holding private talks with the Russian minister later in the day in the French capital.
Ukraine's acting foreign minister, Andriy Deshchitsia, was also in Paris for talks with French officials and Kerry. It was not clear if he too would meet Lavrov.
No major incidents were reported in Crimea overnight. But in a sign of the fragility of the situation, a Russian soldier on Tuesday fired three volleys of shots over the heads of unarmed Ukrainian servicemen who marched bearing the Ukrainian flag towards their aircraft at a military airfield surrounded by Russian troops at Belbek, near Sevastopol.
After a standoff in which the two commanders shouted at each other and Russian soldiers levelled rifles and rocket-propelled grenade launchers at the Ukrainians, the incident was defused and the Ukrainians eventually dispersed. No one was hurt.
The Ukrainian border guard service said Russian navy ships had blocked both ends of the Kerch Strait between Crimea and Russia, but Ukraine's infrastructure ministry said the 2.7-mile (4.5-km) wide waterway was still open for civilian shipping.
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В России четверть госбюджета запланирована на вооружение, что грозит социальным взрывом - эксперт
Как передает корреспондент УНИАН, об этом сообщил содиректор программ по вопросам внешней политики и международной безопасности Алексей Мельник во время презентации ежегодника СИПРИ, где изложены материалы исследований в сфере контроля над вооружением, разоружением, а также в сфере международной безопасности.
«Относительно военных расходов России наблюдается постоянная тенденция к росту. В 2011-2012 годах рост военных расходов составил 16%, на 2015 год запланирован 17-18%-й рост военных расходов. По состоянию на 2013 год 22,8% государственного бюджета России расходовалось на вооружение, на 2015 год – 25% государственного бюджета России запланировано на расходы вооружения. Процент ВВП в 2013 году – 4,59% и в 2015 году запланирован на уровне 4,79%», - сообщил эксперт.
Читайте такжеПрезидент Польши оценивает потери России из-за конфликта с Украиной в $70 млрд за один день
Мельник отметил, что «такой высокий уровень военных расходов на протяжении длительного времени несет достаточно серьезные угрозы для развития государства по международным стандартам. Если сохраняется больше 4% ВВП на военную сферу на протяжении длительного времени, это приводит к достаточно серьезным социальным последствиям – это тормозит развитие экономики и угрожает социальным взрывом в будущем».
Между тем в Украине бюджет военной сферы на 2014 год составляет 13,4 млрд грн, это приблизительно 1% ВВП. «Но если анализировать, на что эти средства расходуются, – то больше 86% бюджета идет, грубо говоря, на проедание. На развитие и боевую подготовку идет лишь небольшой остаток», - отмечает эксперт.
