Ukraine War Update - 3 April 2015

Friday, April 3, 2015  8:07 AM PDT

Mother of tankman-Buryat burnt near Debaltseve: He is in critical condition. Russian Defense Ministry does not provide any assistance

   (Censor.NET) --- The mother of career tankman Dorji Batomunkuev, who got burns in the tank during battles in Ukraine near Debaltseve in February, said that her son is currently "receiving treatment and is in critical condition." He is probably at his homeland in the Aga Buryat District of the Trans-Baikal Territory.

   Censor.NET reports citing Novaia Buriatia.

   According to tankman's mother Sesegma Batomunkuievna, any assistance is provided to 'the hero of Novorossia' by the Ministry of Defense of Russia. The mother's reaction to the question of Novaia Buriatia about aid from the Russian Defense Ministry to Dorji Batomunkuev's family as the one of the participant of an armed conflict, or perhaps the one of the military veteran with service-connected disabilities was as follows:

   "What aid?!Come on! There is any support, nothing of this kind, nothing at all!" the tankman's mother said.

Friday, April 3, 2015  8:02 AM PDT

Lukashenko does not rule out the possibility that Russia supplies weapons to Donbas militants

   (Censor.NET) --- President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko does not rule out the possibility of Russia supplying weapons to the conflict zone in the Donbas.

   This is reported by Censor.NET citing Interfax-Ukraine.

   "I have no such data, I did not do any research. But I would not rule that out," Lukashenko said in an interview with Bloomberg, when asked about the possibility Russia supplying weapons to the Donbas.

   According to the president, both sides are fighting with Soviet weapons. "There is plenty of such goods as Soviet weapons. Therefore, I think there are numerous leaks and supplies of arms and ammunition from one side and the other," Lukashenko said.

Friday, April 3, 2015  6:34 AM PDT

Council of Representatives of Crimean Tatar People moves to Kiev

   KIEV, April 3 (Ukrinform). --- President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko has signed the decree to appoint chairman of the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar People Refat Chubarov as the head of the Council of Representatives of the Crimean Tatar People, the President's press office reports.

   “Also, the Decree makes amendments to the Regulations of the Council. Particularly, the Chairman of the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar People shall become the Head of the Council of Representatives of the Crimean Tatar People. The Head of the Council shall be appointed and dismissed from duty by the President,” the statement reads.

   The Head of the Council shall also approve the composition of the Council. All members of the Council shall take part in its work on a voluntary basis. The workplace of the Council shall be transferred from Simferopol in the occupied Crimea to Kiev.

   The Council of Representatives of the Crimean Tatar People is a consultative-advisory body under the President of Ukraine the main tasks of which are the analysis, forecast and elabouration of proposals on political, legal, socio-economic, cultural and other issues related to the return to Ukraine and adaptation of deported Crimean Tatar People, as well as its integration into the Ukrainian society.

Friday, April 3, 2015  6:30 AM PDT

General Staff: Russian mercenaries may launch terrorist attacks at Easter

   KIEV, April 3 (Ukrinform). --- Russian-backed terrorist groups in Donbas may make provocations, including mining, especially at Easter, so civilians should be cautious.

   Spokesman for the anti-terrorist operation in eastern Ukraine Andriy Lysenko said this at a briefing in Kiev on Friday, an Ukrinform correspondent reported.

   "We're receiving information from our sources that the militants are making a lot of efforts to increase their provocations, including explosions on public transport, as well as diversions at places where Easter is to be celebrated," he said.

   "We call on citizens to be vigilant for any suspicious objects," Lysenko said.

Friday, April 3, 2015  6:17 AM PDT

OSCE monitors declare humanitarian catastrophe in eastern Ukraine

   (Interfax) --- The anti-terrorist operation (ATO) zone in eastern Ukraine is a site of the ongoing humanitarian catastrophe, OSCE Special Monitoring Mission to Ukraine (OSCE SMM) spokesman Michael Bociurkiw told reporters in Kiev on Friday.

   He said the observers had visited eastern regions and reported deteriorating conditions in many towns of Donetsk and Luhansk regions.

   The monitors saw devastated hospital buildings which had no medicine with which to treat their patients, many children were in shock and had nowhere to study or to play, and people had no access to social services, the officer said.

   Many villages, which technically are not located within the ATO zone but bordered it, were shelled. The monitors helped workers of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) to reach those villages, Bociurkiw said.

Friday, April 3, 2015  3:31 AM PDT

No one killed, three soldiers wounded yesterday - NSDC

   (Censor.NET) --- There were no death losses among Ukrainian soldiers who conduct military tasks in the ATO area on Thursday, Apr 2. Three soldiers were wounded.

   This was announced by the ATO speaker Andrii Lysenko at a briefing on Friday, Censor.NET reports citing Ukrainski Novyny.

   "Over the past day, no Ukrainian soldiers were killed in fighting, three received wounds," Lysenko said.

Friday, April 3, 2015  3:06 AM PDT

Russia supplies large number of anti-tank missiles to Donbas rebels

   (Zik) --- Experts report the arrival of a large number of anti-tank missiles near Shyrokine and Pavlopol, Dmytro Tymchuk writes in Facebook Apr. 3.

   They are of the Fagot and SPG-9 Kopje (Javelin) types. The rebels use them as part of mobile anti-tank detachments, Tymchuk says.
   Ukraine army has long appealed to the United States and NATO to supply similar anti-tank missiles – all without result. Such weapons are generally viewed as defensive ones, Tymchuk says.   

Friday, April 3, 2015  2:54 AM PDT

Lviv experts to adapt Polish films to replace Russian propaganda serials

   (Zik) --- Commenting on the law to protect Ukraine TV and radio information space banning the showing of some openly propagandist Russian films, Oleh Nalyvajko, the head of the State Committee for Radio and TV, said Apr. 2 Poland will help Ukraine in this area.

   The Russian films glorifying its army and politicians will be replaced Polish films for a token pay, Telekrytyka media watchdog says.

   The Polish private Polsat channel proposed replacing Russian films with the Polish ones. Polsat has 31 films and a serial.

   Several co-production projects are also possible, the official said.

Friday, April 3, 2015  2:13 AM PDT

Terrorists pull in forces and prepare offensive – ATO deputy commander

   (Censor.NET) --- Deputy Commander of the anti-terrorist operation Colonel Valentyn Fedychev speaks of the terrorists’ military equipment redeployment and predicts the onslaught.

   Interfax-Ukraine reports citing the Donetsk regional military and civil administration press service, Censor.NET informs.

   "Contrary to all items of Minsk agreements the 'DPR' and 'LPR' militants continue to prepare for offensive. Three tanks, five Grad missile launchers, and seven trucks with ammunition proceeded for this purpose from Antratsyt to Debaltseve on April 1," the press office reports citing Fedychev.

   The ATO Deputy Commander also noted that the convoy of eight trucks with ammunition and military equipment entered Ukraine from Russia through the Izvaryne border crossing point March 31 and headed towards Luhansk.

   Fedychev stressed that there were radio-electronic appliances as well as portable and tank radios "instead of flour, butter, and medicines" among the goods that were delivered by the latest Russian "humanitarian aid convoy" on March 26 and unloaded in Ilovaisk.

   The deputy commander also urges the residents of the Donbas to offer resistance to the militants in the occupied territories who involve civilians to service military equipment.

   "The 'LPR' terrorists repair military equipment which they are going to use against the Ukrainian soldiers. The repair works are conducted by the hands of the residents of the Luhansk region on the territory of Luhansk locomotive works and Marshal plant," Fedychev said.

   According to him, the employees of the Donetsk Railway enabled arrival of another train with military equipment at the Debaltseve railway station April 1 and supplied it with fuel. "March 31, six railroad tank cars full of fuel arrived at the Ilovaisk railway station and 20 flatwaggons with crawler military equipment - at Amvrosiivka station," ATO Deputy Commander specified.

   "The employees of the Donetsk railway would certainly feel involvement in the crime when they see the Russian tanks shelling houses with civilians," Fedychev said.

Friday, April 3, 2015  1:19 AM PDT

Ukraine Detains Alleged Separatist Fighter

   (RFE/RL) --- The Ukrainian Security Service (SBU) says it has detained an alleged mercenary suspected of having fought on the side of pro-Russian separatists in the country's east.

   The SBU said on April 2 that a 26-year-old Kharkiv resident had been detained after returning to the eastern Ukrainian city from Russia's Rostov region.

   Investigators believe the man received money to fight alongside separatists in the Donetsk region, which borders Kharkiv province.

   They said preliminary investigations revealed he was wounded last year and treated in the Rostov region.

   The suspect is facing charges of threatening Ukraine's territorial integrity and could be imprisoned for five years if convicted.

   More than 6,000 people have been killed in eastern Ukraine in fighting between rebels and pro-government forces since April 2014.

   Kiev and the West accuse Russia of sending troops and arms to aid the separatists, a charge Moscow denies.

Friday, April 3, 2015  1:10 AM PDT

Kazakhstan

Soviet World War II Hero's Granddaughter Attacked In Almaty

   ALMATY, Kazakhstan --- The elderly granddaughter of a Soviet World War II hero, General Ivan Panfilov, has been beaten by unknown attackers in her home city of Almaty, Kazakhstan.

   The attack on Aigul Baiqadamova, 67, underscored heightened sensitivities over ties with Russia following Moscow's interference in another former Soviet republic, Ukraine.

   The Almaty city police department said on April 3 that Baiqadamova was attacked in the evening of April 2 near her apartment building. 

   The assault came a month before Russian President Vladimir Putin hosts a military parade in Moscow's Red Square in May 9 celebrations of the 70th anniverary of Nazi Germany's defeat -- a source of intense pride for many across the former Soviet Union, which lost about 27 million people in the war.

   Russia's takeover of Crimea from Ukraine in March 2014 and its support for separatists who have seized territory in eastern Ukraine, sparking a war that has killed more than 6,000 people, has raised concerns in Kazakhstan and other former Soviet republics about Moscow's intentions in the region.

   Baiqadamova, who is also a daughter of prominent Kazakh composer Bakhytzhan Baiqadamov, said her assailants took no personal belongings, suggesting robbery was not the motive. 

   Instead, she said on Facebook that she believes the attack was linked to views she has expressed about World War II in public and on the Internet.

   Baiqadamova recently took part in online discussions defending the orange-and-black striped St. George ribbon -- a symbol that dates back to the Russian imperial era and has been associated with commemorations of victory over Nazi Germany, but is now worn in Russia to express support for Russian-backed separatists in Ukraine.

   On the Internet and in conferences, Baiqadamova has promoted the importance of the World War II victory as a symbol of unity between former Soviet republics.

Soviet War Hero

   Her grandfather, General Panfilov, was killed near Moscow in November 1941. He personally formed the Red Army's 316th Infantry Division in Almaty in 1941, which consisted of recruits and volunteers from Central Asia. 

   Panfilov's division played a key role in defending the Soviet capital from German troops that autumn.

   In Almaty, which was Kazakhstan's capital between 1929 and 1997, the central park is named after 28 heroes of Panfilov's division. 

   Last year, President Nursultan Nazarbaev ordered officials to build a memorial to Panfilov in the current Kazakh capital, Astana, in time for the 70th anniversary of victory over the Nazis. 

   Kazakhstan is a partner of Russia in security and trade groupings and Nazarbaev, who has been in power since the Soviet era, is expected to attend the May 9 Victory Day celebrations in Moscow.

   Many Western leaders will stay away, reflecting their distaste for Putin following Russia's annexation of Crimea from Ukraine and what they say is Moscow's direct military support for the rebels in Ukraine.

Differing Sovet Memories

   The events in Ukraine over the past year have revived memories of the bloody 20th-century divisions many hoped could be put aside with the collapse of communism in 1989 and the demise of the Soviet Union two years later.

   Russia has evoked the specter of Nazi Germany to justify its actions in Ukraine, portraying the ouster of Moscow-backed President Viktor Yanukovych in February 2014 as a U.S.-backed coup by fascists and likening the pro-Western government now in power in Kiev to Nazis.

   While Moscow positions the Soviet Union as Europe's wartime liberator, many in Eastern Europe think of the Red Army as an occupying force whose westward sweep began decades of oppressive dominance by Moscow and economic hardship under communism.

   The issue is treated in different ways by leaders of other former Soviet republics, as well.

   On March 24, Ukrainian Culture Minister Vyacheslav Kyrylenko said that "as all European nations" do, Ukraine will mark May 8 as the Day of Remembrance and Reconciliation for Those Who Lost Their Lives during World War II.

   Kyrylenko added, though, that May 9 will continue to be marked as Victory Day.

   In Uzbekistan, authorities in a city outside the capital demolished a 10-meter-high World War II memorial last month.

   Officials said it was done to make way for a redevelopment plan, but it was starkly out of tune with Russia's celebration plans.

   Uzbekistan has marked May 9 not as Victory Day but as the Day of Remembrance since the mid-1990s, and President Islam Karimov has said Soviet dictator Josef Stalin's wartime government needlessly sacrificed the lives of thousands of Uzbeks.

Friday, April 3, 2015  1:01 AM PDT

Turkey Decries Abuses In Crimea

 

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu in Vilnius
on April 3

   (RFE/RL) --- Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu has described the situation in the Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea, which was annexed by Russia in March 2014, as "unacceptable."

   Addressing a news conference in Lithuania on April 3, Cavusoglu said that the Crimean people, particularly Turkic-speaking Tatars, have been "oppressed."

   He added that Turkey will send an "informal mission to observe human rights violations in Crimea soon." 

   Turkey has close cultural bonds to Crimea's indigenous Muslim Tatars, who bitterly opposed Russia's seizure of the Black Sea peninsula last year.

   Ankara did not join Western sanctions over the annexation, but Cavusoglu insisted Turkey would "never recognize the illegal annexation" of the peninsula.

   Cavusoglu's statement comes two days after Crimea's only Tatar-language television broadcaster, ATR, was shut down after it failed to register the channel with Russian authorities by a March 31 deadline. 

   Russia's media oversight body Roskomnadzor, citing technicalities, rejected several attempts by ATR to register for a Russian broadcast license. 

Several ATR affiliates were also shut down. 

   The United States on April 1 condemned the media outlets' de facto closure, calling it the "latest in a string of actions that undermine freedom of expression in Crimea."

   U.S. State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf said the closure followed a "yearlong crusade to silence the Crimean Tatar population and others who oppose Russia's occupation."

   She noted Crimean Tatars have been singled out and subjected to a "pattern of discrimination, intimidation, and persecution."

   Rights watchdog Amnesty International has called the refusal to register ATR a "blatant attack on freedom of expression, dressed up as an administrative procedure," and "a crude attempt to stifle independent media, gag dissenting voices, and intimidate the Crimean Tatar community."

   Activists, community leaders, and rights groups say Crimean Tatars have faced discrimination, pressure, and abuse for their opposition to Russia's annexation of the peninsula.