Ukrainians in Spain

Text: Fernando Sánches Alonso – XL Semanal

They came to Spain because the social and economical situation in Ukraine became complicated, but they could not have imagined that their country would become the centre of the conflict threatening to destabilise the entirety of Europe.

Pro-European: Yana Palatkina, 16 years old (9 in Spain) 

“Before Maidan, I was ashamed of my country.” 

“I ran away from home because I wanted to be on Maidan,” says this Odesa-born student, who has lived in Madrid with her mother for 9 years. When the protests started, Yana was on vacation in her mother city and she ran to Kyiv, the capital. “I left with my cousin. My parents knew nothing.” She confesses that before the revolution in Maidan, she was ashamed of her country. “I told everyone I was Russian. Today I would give every last drop of my blood to Ukraine. Ukrainian patriots like myself are not fascists. They have to inform themselves before talking and stop insulting us!”

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Reflections on Communist Crime and Punishment in the Light of the Ukrainian Revolution of Dignity

Myroslav Marynovych, speaking at the ceremony of the Truman–Reagan Award,
Washington DC, June 11, 2014

Distingushed Guests,

First of all let me thank once again, in your presence, the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation for awarding me the Truman–Reagan Medal of Freedom.  It’s a true honor for me and for many of my fellow Ukrainians.

Let me further develop some ideas expressed during my earlier Acceptance speech.

As you already know, I had been a prisoner of conscience (as Amnesty International puts it), imprisoned from 1977 to 1987 for human rights activities in the former Soviet Union.  The time in the Soviet GULAG happened to be the most difficult, but, at the same time, the most spiritually rewarding in my life.

Europe Made For Peace. Dedicated To Those Who Support Russia.

Marta Barandiy

It took dozens of years after World War II to make International law the instrument for maintaining peace wherever possible. International law does not foresee a mechanism of forced responsibility for a country for violating the upon rules as long as the country can survive independently from the rest of international community. It must be in the good will of the country to participate in negotiations.

Putin, Merkel and Poroshenko conversed in France

Russian President Vladimir Putin, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and the President Elect of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko spent several minutes conversing before the official breakfast in the name of the French President Francois Hollande in the French town of Doville, reports “Dozhd” correspondent. 

The EU Noticed Kadirov’s Men in Ukraine, However Now Is The Time for Gas Talks Instead of Sanctions

Brussels – The EU expects Russia to further remove its army from the border with Ukraine, to begin cooperation with the newly-elected President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko and to use its influence on the separatists in the eastern regions of Ukraine for the de-escalation of the conflict. This message was put into a statement regarding Ukraine by the heads of states and governments of the European Union, affirmed at the informal summit in Brussels on May 27th. This is the first meeting on the highest level in the EU after the elections to the European Parliament and the presidential elections in Ukraine.

Ukraine’s Enemies In Europe

By Artem Bidenko: Political Scientist; Expert in Marketing Communications; Member of the Central Leadership Council of Ukrainian Platform

Aggression by the Russian Federation is limited not just to the southern and eastern regions of Ukraine. This has truly become an information war; as events get portrayed into the minds of the world community. Realizing the vagueness and weakness of its position,The Kremlin is desperately mobilizing all of its lobbying resources; to persuade various radical European organizations to support it. 

EuromaidanSOS: Sanctions are not enough!

Appeal of Ukrainian civil society to the EU Foreign Ministers meeting in Luxemburg tomorrow.

As EuromaydanSOS noted on 12 April 2014, Russia started its invasion of mainland Ukraine, in a clear parallel to developments in Crimea. See the statement here.

Please take it seriously that these attacks on administrative buildings in Eastern Ukraine are conducted by well trained, coordinated armed personnel – these are NO spontaneous protesters. This video from Kramatorsk (Donetsk Region), for instance, shows how a trained commando with automatic rifles tries to overwhelm a police station, later brings a group of about 50 mobsters that are seemingly supposed to overtake the police station.

George Soros about Europe, Russia and Ukraine

By Vitalii Usenko

In an interesting interview to The New York Review of Books, George Soros shared his ideas on many topics including Europe, Russia, and the Ukrainian crisis. He also presented his new bookThe Tragedy of the European Union: Disintegration or Revival? Whether one agrees or disagrees with Soros’s interpretations and arguments, it is hard to deny that the interview is extremely insightful and gives a lot of food for thought. I offer a discussion of the part of the interview devoted to Ukraine.

European media ‘processed’ by Russian Permanent Mission to EU

According the sources of “Information Resistance” in Brussels, the Permanent Mission of the Russian Federation to the EU has been recently conducting enhanced ideological “processing” of European media.

In particular, the editors of leading European media have been constantly receiving messages from the Russian Mission, which provides the “Kremlin” interpretation of events in Ukraine. Simply put, Russian diplomats are actively spreading outright lies and slander about the rampant “Banderites,” xenophobia and anti-Semitism in Ukraine.

These defamatory messages from the Russian Mission are signed by “Kirill Ivanov, the press attache of the Permanent Mission of the Russian Federation to the EU.”

Below is the example of the message that is sent regularly to European journalists. The second link – is their page in Russian.

Statement for Sub-Committee on Human Rights of the European Parliament on the situation in Russia

Prof. Dr. Robert van Voren
Postbus 1282
1200 BG Hilversum (NL)
tel.:+31-651534123 / e-mail rvvoren@gmail.org / http://www.robertvanvoren.com
Chamber of Commerce Hilversum, NL No. 53660994 – BTW/VAT No. NL0034521059

Statement for European Parliament
Sub-Committee on Human Rights

April 1, 2014

Since the outbreak of the Ukrainian crisis, the former Soviet Union is again daily front-
page news. The rapid sequence of events has led to an atmosphere that is very
reminiscent of the heydays of the Cold War. In Russia itself it has led to a hunt for
“national traitors” and “foreign agents” and observers both inside the country and
abroad fear for a return to full-scale Soviet repression. For the outside world this may
come as a surprise, human rights activists have been ringing the alarm bells already for
quite a few years. Ever since Russian President Vladimir Putin took power, the human
rights situation deteriorated and more and more liberties were curtailed. One of the
warning signs was the return of the use of psychiatry for political purposes to “prevent”
social or political activism or to ostracize an activist from society.