Russia urges West to persuade Kiev to comply with Minsk deal

The Russian Foreign Ministry hopes the meeting of Normandy Four foreign ministers on November 29 will encourage political reforms.

MOSCOW, November 25. /TASS/. Moscow is planning to urge its Western partners to convince Kiev to strictly honor its commitments under the Minsk agreements during the "Normandy Four" (Russia, Germany, France, Ukraine) meeting on November 29, the Russian Foreign Ministry reported on Friday.

"The process of the internal Ukrainian settlement is difficult," the ministry said. "Neither the provisions of the Minsk Package of Measures of February 12, 2015, nor the agreements, including the top-level ones reached in the ‘Normandy format’, designed to promote the early resolution of the Ukrainian crisis have been implemented in full. The work of the Contact Group and its working subgroups has stalled. The responsibility for that lies with the authorities in Kiev who are openly sabotaging the implementation of the Minsk accords."

This being so, Russia believes its task is "to urge its Western partners who have an influence on Ukraine’s leaders to persuade Kiev to strictly comply with its obligations within the Minsk process."

"Taking into account an agreement reached by the ‘Normandy Four’ leaders at the summit in Berlin on October 19, 2016, and the invitation extended by Germany and France, the Russian Foreign Ministry is preparing for a new ‘Normandy format’ meeting of foreign ministers in Minsk on November 29," the statement said. "We see it as a continuation of the joint practical work to achieve a peaceful solution and give a fresh impetus to it."

The Russian Foreign Ministry noted that this meeting is "to support efforts not only on security, humanitarian and economic issues, but also in promoting the package of political reforms, something our Western and Ukrainian ‘Normandy format’ colleagues constantly ‘forget’ about, for some reason."

The ministry recalled that the "Normandy Four" leaders agreed at a meeting in Berlin on October 19 that all activities on the political track and in security issues should be simultaneous and consistent."

 
Source: ITAR-TASS 25-11-2016

Russia's envoy to EU says recent resolution on propaganda is a 'degradation of democracy'

The very attempt to equate Russia and Islamic State is outrageous, Vladimir Chizhov said.

BRUSSELS, November 24. /TASS/. Russian President Vladimir Putin has very precisely characterized the situation with the European Parliament’s resolution on combating other countries’ propaganda, including Russia, by describing it as the degradation of democracy, Russian Envoy to the European Union Vladimir Chizhov told Russian journalists.

"This is really so, not only in essence but also in the form of its adoption. According to our information, no more than 15 MEPs out of 756 were present at the discussion devoted to the report. It happened the day before the voting, on November 22. Even during voting itself, the majority voted against or abstained," Chizhov said.

"The very attempt to equate Russia and IS (Islamic State terrorist organization banned in Russia) is outrageous," he added. "There is just no place here to talk about logic, let alone democracy. We don’t even mention morals and other values that the European Union flaunts so much," he noted.

"There are different points of view in EP (European Parliament). Unfortunately, though, the majority has not yet been able to get rid of anti-Russian hysteria. The campaign that continues in the Western media contributed to that a lot, and politicians in Europe and beyond use its products," Chizhov said. "This is the degradation of democracy, the degradation of professional democracy, and also, I would add, the degradation of parliamentarism in the way that we know it," he concluded.

 
Source: ITAR-TASS 24-11-2016

Security subgroup on Donbass settlement gathers for meeting in Minsk

LUGANSK, November 23. /TASS/. The participants of a security subgroup of the Contact Group on settlement in eastern Ukraine have started consultations in the Belarusian capital of Minsk, envoy of the self-proclaimed Lugansk People’s Republic to the talks Vladislav Deinego said on Wednesday.

"The security subgroup has started working in Minsk," Deinego was quoted by the LuganskInformCenter as saying.

The participants of three other subgroups on economic, political and humanitarian issues are also scheduled to hold meetings in Minsk on Wednesday. The Contact Group will later discuss the outcome of the talks.

 
Source: ITAR-TASS 23-11-2016

Sberbank confirms attack on its branch in Kiev

No casualties have been reported among Sberbank’s Ukrainian branch staf and clients.

MOSCOW, November 22. /TASS/. A Sberbank office in Ukraine’s capital of Kiev has been attacked, however, no casualties have been reported among the staff and its clients, Sberbank’s press service told TASS.

"We confirm the incident, neither bank staff nor clients were injured. After repair works have been completed the office will resume operation," the press service noted.

All other Sberbank offices have been operating as usual, the press service added.

On Monday, Ukrainian radical activists stormed a Sberbank (Ukrainian bank subsidiary of Sberbank of Russia) office located on Leo Tolstoy square in central Kiev. The attackers smashed windows, broke the door, and even tried to break open a cash dispenser. The Kiev police press service said police were looking into the circumstances of the incident.

 
Source: ITAR-TASS 22-11-2016

Crimean court arrests two suspected Ukrainian spies

Both suspects, who earlier served in Ukraine’s Navy, have confessed to the crimes, according to the source.

 
SIMFEROPOL, November 21. /TASS/. The Kievsky district court in Simferopol has arrested for two months two Ukrainians suspected of espionage, a source in the court told TASS on Monday.

"Alexei Stogniy and Gleb Shabliy, whom the investigators suspect of working for Ukraine’s military intelligence, have been arrested for two months," the source said.

Both suspects, who earlier served in Ukraine’s Navy, have confessed to the crimes, according to the source. Their task was to collect data on Russia’s Black Sea Fleet and servicemen.

Russia’s Federal Security Service arrested on November 9 three other members of Ukraine’s sabotage group from the main intelligence directorate of Ukraine’s defense ministry. They had allegedly plotted acts of sabotage against Crimea’s military facilities and crucial infrastructure facilities. Explosive devices, weapons and ammunition, as well as means of special communications and maps of the facilities to be targeted through sabotage were seized from the suspects.

The Leninsky district court of the Crimean city of Sevastopol later jailed the members of the group.

On August 10, Russia’s FSB announced the detention of a group of saboteurs and the deterrence of planned terrorist attacks on the Crimean Peninsula that had been plotted by Ukraine’s main intelligence directorate. The aborted terror attempts were designed to target Crimea’s critical infrastructure and vital facilities, the FSB said. 

The detained men - Andrei Zakhtey and Yevgeny Panov - admitted their guilt and were arrested. In early October, the Kievsky district court in Simferopol extended their custody until December 10.

 
Source: ITAR-TASS 21-11-2016