Новости за 18.12.2017

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and European Integration of Moldova (MFAEI) has indefinitely recalled its ambassador from Russia, according to the statement made by their press service Dec. 18. “Due to the instances of persecution and threatening operated by the bodies of the Russian Federation of officials and politicians of the Republic of Moldova, their […]

The Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine at its meeting on December 18 unanimously adopted a package of decisions to cancel more than 300 regulatory acts in the framework of deregulation efforts, as well as to improve the system of state supervision and control over businesses in 2018, an UNIAN correspondent reports. Read more here. 

The number of wounded people after an attack on the Ukrainian-controlled village of Luhanske in Donetsk region with the use of Grad multiple rocket launchers has increased to eight, the media liaison office of Donetsk region’s police has said. “Eight people have been wounded as a result of the attack, 22 houses have been damaged,” […]

Development of the Nord Stream-2 gas pipeline, set to bypass Ukraine and run along the bottom of the Baltic Sea, is now in full swing, Naftogaz CEO Andriy Kobolev told a roundtable on Ukraine’s energy security held in Kyiv December 18, an UNIAN correspondent reports. Read more here. 

The number of the persons wounded in the separatist’s shelling of the village of Novoluhanske, Bakhmut District of Donetsk region, carried out using Grad multiple rocket launchers, has grown to six, Pavlo Zhebrivsky, the head of the Donetsk regional military and civil administration said. “‘[As of] 7:55 p.m. local time, 22 houses have been damaged, […]

Moscow-based anti-virus company Kaspersky Lab sued the Trump administration in U.S. federal court on December 18, arguing that the American government has deprived it of due process rights by banning its software from U.S. government agencies. Read more here. 

The Ukrainian Security Service (SBU) has summoned Mikheil Saakashvili, leader of the Movement of New Forces party and former Georgian president, for questioning on December 22, a source within law enforcement agencies told Interfax-Ukraine. “Saakashvili is being summoned for questioning at the SBU’s Kyiv department on December 22,” the source said. As Interfax-Ukraine reported earlier, […]

The government of Ukraine approved the Strategy of the reforming of the system of the state monitoring on December 18 as Governmental portal reported. It is reported that the activity of the state monitoring aims to determine and imposing of the sanctions but not the preventing the violations or minimization of the risks. The powers […]

An old staple of New Year’s tables across Russia, canned Estonian and Latvian sprats, has been one of the many casualties of tit-for-tat sanctions between the West and Russia since 2014. But festive Russians craving the oily Baltic export served on bread had some cause to celebrate on December 18 as a Russian state sanitary […]

The Ukrainian-produced ‘Cyborgs’ movie by Akhtem Seitablaiev, who tells the story about the Ukrainian soldiers defending Donetsk Airport in 2014, has won the box office for the first week, Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Pavlo Rozenko has said. “In the first week when ‘Cyborgs’ was on, more than 210,000 Ukrainians watched it. The box office has […]

The top court in Ukraine’s Russia-controlled Crimea region has upheld a separatism conviction against journalist Mykola Semena in a case that has been criticized by media freedom advocates and Western governments. The court, which Russia calls the Supreme Court of Crimea, left the conviction and suspended 2 1/2-year sentence in place in its ruling on […]

The House Intelligence Committee’s calendar of witness interviews is loaded this week, as Democrats complain that Republicans are rushing to end the panel’s Russian probe and Republicans counter that Democrats want to string it out. Much of the focus will be on a private interview set for December 19 with Deputy FBI Director Andrew McCabe, […]

Separatists launched a major shelling of  Novoluhanske from Grad multiple launch rocket systems. Civilian casualties are reported, according to press center of the Ukrainian Army Headquarters. Read more here. 

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko and Portuguese Prime Minister António Costa agreed to resume regular flights between Kyiv and Lisbon. The meeting took place during Poroshenko’s visit to Portugal, the press service of the Head of State reported. Read more here. 

The Russian side’s efforts are aimed at forcing the Ukrainian side into dialogue with Russia-backed separatists, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin has said. “All the Kremlin’s actions are aimed at initiating negotiations with their puppets. But at the puppet theater, it is possible to speak with the puppeteers only. Perhaps, [The Adventures of] Pinocchio has […]

Russia is to withdraw its military officers from a joint Russia-Ukraine centre monitoring a fragile truce in the conflict-torn eastern Ukraine. Russia’s foreign ministry accused Ukraine of preventing the officers from carrying out their duties, saying they would leave on December 19. Read more here. 

Russian authorities say that five alleged militants have been killed in the North Caucasus region. The armed suspects were killed in a shootout with Federal Security Service (FSB) forces and other law enforcement agencies in the Karachayevo-Cherkessia province, the National Antiterrorism Committee (NAK) said in a statement. Read more here. 

The Ukrainian side has proposed conducting a Skype conference of the humanitarian subgroup of the Trilateral Contact Group (TCG) on December 20 in order to agree on the final details of the exchange of prisoners before the New Year and Christmas holidays, since the opposite side always puts forward additional requirements. A member of the […]

Ukrainian lawmakers have asked that consideration of the second reading of the bill to ensure Ukraine’s state sovereignty in Donbas be postponed until the extension of anti-Russian sanctions and the release of captives, Artur Herasymov, the head of the Petro Poroshenko Bloc’s parliamentary faction and a member of the Verkhovna Rada national security and defense […]

Fake social media accounts linked to Russia were used to influence and interfere with public debate in the aftermath of four terrorist attacks in the UK this year, researchers have found. At least 47 Russian Twitter accounts posted material after attacks at Westminster Bridge, Manchester Arena, London Bridge and Finsbury Park, according to researchers at […]

Ex-press attache of the Embassy of Georgia in Ukraine Bacho Korchilava has said the positions of the Georgian Legion that is fighting on the side of Ukraine at the Svitlodarska Duha bulge in Donbas have come under artillery fire. Read more here.

MOSCOW – The Russian military will abandon the Joint Center for Control and Coordination of the Ceasefire (JCCC) in Ukraine on Dec. 19 due to Kyiv’s “obstruction” to their activities, the Russian Foreign Ministry said Dec. 18. Read more here.

Prosecutor General Yuriy Lutsenko met with billionaire oligarch Ihor Kolomoisky in Amsterdam in late November, Lutsenko told 1+1 television on Dec. 17. “I flew to Amsterdam for medical treatment,” Lutsenko said. “I was walking around the center of the city and accidentally bumped into Kolomoisky.” Previously photos of Lutsenko and Kolomoisky in Amsterdam had been […]

More than 70 Crimean Tatars faced court hearings in Russia-controlled Crimea on Dec. 18 over single-person demonstrations they staged in October to protest pressure imposed on practicing Muslims by the Moscow-installed authorities. Read more here.

Former US National Security Advisor Michael Flynn became the fourth known person connected to the Trump campaign to be charged in connection with an investigation over whether Russia meddled in the 2016 presidential election. Read more here.