Diplomat: Polish authorities intentionally worsen relations with Russia

The Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman notes Poland continues its mayhem of vandalism at Russian WWII memorials.

MOSCOW, September 29 /TASS/. The Polish authorities’ refusal to stop vandalism at Soviet military cemeteries indicates that the Polish leadership has embarked on a path of intentional worsening of bilateral relations with Russia, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Thursday.

"Poland continues its mayhem of vandalism at Russian WWII memorials. A Red Army monument in the Mazovia Province has been desecrated for the second time in the past two months. Another monument to fallen Red Army soldiers, which had recently been renovated by the Polish public organization ‘Kursk’, was defaced anew in the Lower Silesia province," Zakharova noted.

"There is an impression that the authorities in Warsaw are no longer in control of what happens on the ground though in fact it should be understood that everything what’s happening now is taking place largely with the authorities’ consent - the war on monuments and ideologically inconvenient memorial places," the Russian diplomat explained.

"We regard the disregard for our lawful demands to stop a wave of vandalism as a sign that Polish leaders intentionally want to spoil our bilateral relations even further. We demand the restoration of the memorials to their original look; find and punish the culprits and take comprehensive measures to avert such incidents in future," Zakharova concluded.

 
Source: ITAR-TASS 30-09-2016

Kremlin spokesman says report on MH17 crash 'has no proof at all'

There was nothing to accept or deny in the MH17 report, Dmitry Peskov said, stressing that those are preliminary findings.

MOSCOW, September 29. /TASS/. Russia hasn’t seen "any proof" in the preliminary findings on the MH17 crash revealed by the Joint Investigation Team (JIT) on Wednesday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said in an interview with the BBC.

From the very beginning, Russia has supported the idea of an exhaustive investigation into the July 2014 disaster and wanted to be a full-time participant of the investigative team, Peskov said. He expressed regret that Russia was not allowed to take part in the investigation, although it has been constantly providing information upon requests by the investigators.

Asked whether Russia accepts the results from the investigation, Peskov said these are only preliminary findings and the investigation will continue until 2018. "So we still have to wait until the final verdict."

"There are still lots of unclear things. There are still lots of contradictions. And we all have to find answer to the contradictions," he said.

"There was nothing to accept or deny," Peskov said, stressing that these are preliminary findings. "We still have to investigate, we still have to continue investigation," he said, stressing: "Unfortunately, we haven’t seen any proof."

"We cannot accept as a final truth what they say. I bet you haven’t seen any proofs of the statements. We have to be very precise. It’s a very serious tragedy. We cannot operate only statements without any proofs, without any details," Peskov said.

"We know the devil is inside those details and unfortunately we are still missing lots of the details," he added.

 

Preliminary findings

On Wednesday, the Joint Investigation Team consisting of representatives of the Netherlands, Ukraine, Australia, Malaysia and Belgium, presented its first preliminary results of the criminal investigation into the MH17 crash in Donbass. The JIT claims that the plane was shot down with a BUK missile brought from Russia’s territory.

The investigators said the missile was launched from the Pervomayskoye village to the south of Snezhnoye, which was controlled by self-defense militias at that time. The JIT has not studied the data provided by Russia that rejected this version.

Russia’s Defense Ministry said it doubts that the conclusions of the investigators are objective. "The data, which the investigation team presented at a briefing on Wednesday, had been taken from two main sources: the Internet and Ukraine’s security services. Therefore, the objectivity of that data and consequently the conclusions made on its basis cannot but be doubtful," the ministry’s official spokesman Igor Konashenkov stressed.

He also assured that no Russian air defense systems have ever crossed the Ukrainian border.

The Malaysia Airlines Boeing -777 flight MH17, which was on its way from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur crashed in Donbass on July 17, 2014. All the 283 passengers and 15 crew members, nationals of ten countries, died in the crash.

 
Source: ITAR-TASS 29-09-2016

Donbass militia report shelling by Kiev forces

DONETSK/LUGANSK, September 28. /TASS/. Militias of the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Lugansk republics have reported shellings conducted by Ukrainian government forces.

The Kiev forces reportedly shelled Yasinovataya and its outskirts, and also the western suburb of Donetsk and the Sakhanka village of the Novoazovsky district from mortars with the caliber of 82mm and 120mm late on Tuesday, a representative of power structures told the Donetsk News Agency.

The LPR militias also said the positions of the republic’s forces in the area of a monument to Prince Igor were shelled by Ukraine’s units from infantry fighting vehicle (IFV) guns, under-barrel grenade launchers and small arms from the direction of Stanitsa Luganskaya, the LuganskInformCenter reported.

The participants of the Contact Group on settlement in eastern Ukraine at the meeting in Minsk, Belarus, on August 26 declared an indefinite ceasefire in Donbass starting from September 1. This was the ninth attempt since autumn 2014 to observe the silence regime in the region.

The leaders of the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics ordered the militias on September 13 to refrain from retaliatory fire in response to any provocations from Ukrainian troops. On September 21, the Contact Group members signed a framework agreement on disengaging the warring parties in Donbass.

 
Source: ITAR-TASS 28-09-2016

Crimea’s prosecutor steps down — source

Natalya Poklonskaya who has been Crimea’s prosecutor in 2014, submitted letter of resignation after being elected to the Russian State Duma.

SIMFEROPOL, September 26 /TASS/. Natalya Poklonskaya who has been Crimea’s prosecutor in 2014, submitted her letter of resignation after being elected to the Russian State Duma from the United Russia party, a source at the republic’s prosecutor’s office told TASS.

"Poklonskaya no longer works here," the source stressed.

Poklonskaya has been unavailable for comments. Her mobile phone is dead.

The administrative office of Crimean prosecutor’s office confirmed that Poklonskaya was no longer working there.

A TASS source in the Russian State Duma said that Poklonskaya could head the Russian State Duma Security Committee. Poklonskaya herself told journalists that she would like to work at the Russian State Duma for CIS Affairs.

 
Source: ITAR-TASS 27-09-2016

Consultations on key posts in new State Duma due on Monday

The 7th State Duma is scheduled to hold its first session on October 5.

MOSCOW, September 26. /TASS/. The consultations between factions on the so-called "package agreement" on the appointment to the key positions in the newly-elected lower house of parliament will be held on Monday evening, Deputy Speaker of the 6th State Duma Igor Lebedev has told TASS.

"The consultations will be held in the evening. I think that today all the issues will be solved," said Lebedev, from the Liberal Democratic Party (LDPR) who secured his mandate.

Lebedev confirmed that the number of chairs of committees in the 7th State Duma will be reduced from 30 to 26. 

The United Russia party will get 13 posts, the Communist Party and the LDPR - 5, and A Just Russia Party - 3.

The LDPR will insist that the faction obtains chairmanship in the foreign affairs committee, he said. "We suggest that Leonid Slutsky, who previously led the Committee for the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) Affairs, should take this post."

If the United Russia party agrees, then the chairmanship in the Committee for the CIS Affairs will go to it, Lebedev added. The LDPR also expects that its members will chair the committees for the affairs of public associations and religious organizations and industry.

The 7th State Duma is scheduled to hold its first session on October 5.

 
Source: ITAR-TASS 26-09-2016