Brothers and Sisters

Vitaliy Portnikov

Chechen and Georgian blood is no different from Ukrainian blood – it is also red. 

Kyiv is claiming that the state borders with the Russian Federation have been fully closed. To hear this statement, it took three months of Russian aggression, annexation of Ukrainian territories, import of saboteurs and heavy weaponry. But Ukrainian citizens have to blame themselves for this, and not just the government. 

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Crimea today: “Artek” without children, armoured cars for sale and the Ukrainian flag over Simferopol

Bohdan Lu, for “Fakty” 

The out-of-office correspondent of “FAKTY” shared his impressions about the trip from Kyiv to the occupied peninsula.

I hitchhiked from Kyiv to Crimea by car. Along the road, at traffic police posts there are reinforcements made out of sandbags. Frequently, people in army camouflage can be seen next to the traffic police.

Our old “Ford” was not stopped by anyone. It seems that luxury cars evoke more interest. The close to the south, the more frequently we see roadblocks with sandbags. Night falls. After Kirovohrad the armament at the roadblocks is more serious: we see armoured personnel carriers and missile systems. In Kherson oblast, there is a lonely roadblock on one of the empty parts of the road. The lights of our car spot two soldiers in the darkness. They are sleeping without a care in the world next to the bags. 

The country of Blitzkrieg and hysteria: how to talk to Russian crazies

The Russian-Ukrainian talks regarding gas with the mediation of the EU Commission ended with what they should have ended with – Stockholm arbitrage and the demand to make advance payments for gas. And this is a logical consequences of the approach to politics and economics that Putin’s Kremlin preaches. 

Crimea businessman complained to Moscow about the numerous problems

Business cannot seal deals in Crimea, the resort season is on the brink of disruption, and it is difficult to pay taxes

Russian governors and businessman are going to annexed Crimea, however real deals do not happen. The rest season may be disrupted because of bad logistics. It is difficult to pay taxes, as there are not enough banks, and re-registration using Russian rules is yet to come. These are the complains that the Crimea businessmen have directed to Business Russia. 

“Chechenization” of Ukraine: what for?

Russia is already spreading the “experience” of occupied Chechnya to Donbas.

Obviously, sending Chechens to the far away and completely disconnected Ukraine was a decision made by the Russian Federation government also with the goal to bury the issue of Russia’ military crimes in Chechnya forever – bury it under the tag of the “bandit people,” which would like nothing more than “to go to war, no matter where and what for.”

The long trace of the unfinished Russian-Chechen War is becoming more and more obvious on the “soil” of Eastern Ukraine. The grievous crimes committed by the Russian military-political forces on Chechen land, which have gone unnoticed by the main international institutions, have “metastasised” first in the aggression against Georgia. And now, with even more rascality, they are being committed in Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts of Ukraine. 

Misinformation of the day: “Ukraine was the one who annexed Crimea”

Speaker of the Russian State Duma states that it is not his country, but Ukraine, who annexed Crimea in 1991. The leading Russian official is citing the results of the referendum of doubtful legitimacy, which took place on the peninsula back then. So when and who really did annex the peninsula? 

Speaker of the State Duma, the lower chamber of the Russian parliament, Sergey Naryshkin was completely serious when he stated the following from the Parliament booth on Wednesday: “Essentially, 23 years ago the annex of Crimea was conducted.” It was conducted, according to him, by Ukraine – “thanks to the irresponsibility of a number of Russian politicians.” 

Dzhemilev: Ukraine gave us freedom, we will not get used to Putin’s regime

The leader of the Crimean-Tatar people, member of the Ukrainian Parliament Mustafa Dzhemilev expressed his hope that the statement made by the new President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko regarding the return of Crimea to Ukraine becomes reality. However he assured that the Crimean Tatars would not resort to violence over their unwillingness to live on the peninsula annexed by Russia. Mustafa Dzhemilev also stated that currently the Crimean Tatars have lost their most important achievement under Russian occupation – freedom. 

Kyiv refused Moscow’s “gas trap” and is hoping for the Stockholm Court

Brussels – The trilateral talks regarding the solution of the Russian-Ukrainian gas conflict, which is carried out with the involvement of the EU, have hit a dead end. Yet another round of talks in Brussels have ended without any results. The Russian offer of the $100 discount was refused by Kyiv. Meanwhile the EU Commission is counting on finding compromise regarding the loan payments and the gas prices for Ukraine before next Monday. 

A new algorithm of communication with opponents from Russia

I am proposing a new algorithm of communication with opponents from Russia. 

It is both simple and impossible to stop the war – Crimean director

Kyiv-Cherkasy – The premier of a play staged by Simferopol director Anton Romanov, who left Crimea after the Russia’s occupation, took place in Cherkasy. He dedicated his first performance in the Cherkasy Drama Theatre, an absurd comedy “Breakfast with the Enemy,” to the latest events in Ukraine and his colleagues Oleg Sentsov, who is currently under arrest in Moscow, and Pavlo Yurov, who is being held hostage in Slovyansk. Radio Svoboda spoke with the director about Crimea, the war and about what the people on opposite sides of the barricades have in common.