11:54
5.4.2014
Yatsenyuk orders government to prepare for possible closure of Russian gas supplies.
Via "Ukrainska Pravda":
Яценюк велів приготуватися до закриття Росією поставок газу | Українська правда http://t.co/W9k9oz646l
— Українська правда (@ukrpravda_news) April 5, 2014
Via "Ukrainska Pravda":
Ukrainian Prime Minister Yatsenyuk has ordered the government to prepare for scenarios, including the closure of Russian gas supplies to Ukraine. "Our task is to consider two scenarios, including the scenario where Russia closes or restricts gas supplies to Ukraine," Yatsenyuk told a special cabinet meeting.
11:46
5.4.2014
#Ukraine cabinet meeting on Saturday, Energy Min says Kiev to go to arbitration court if talks with #Russia fail to result in gas price cut
— Thomas Grove (@tggrove) April 5, 2014
11:46
5.4.2014
Batkivschina party member Kuzel says "all corrupt schemes of the previous authorities are still working now"
— bruce springnote (@BSpringnote) April 5, 2014
11:18
5.4.2014
RFE/RL's Rim Gilfanov and Merkhat Sharipzhan discuss Russia's looming Crimean Tatar problem on this week's Power Vertical Podcast.
Russia's largest ethnic minority just got larger.
With Moscow's annexation of Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula, hundreds of thousands of Tatars have suddenly become reluctant Russian citizens. They aren't happy and they're getting feisty -- rejecting Russia's overtures and pushing for their own referendum on autonomy.
And Russia's looming Crimean Tatar problem comes at a time when Moscow's relations with its existing 5 million-strong Tatar minority are becoming increasingly tense.
The Kremlin is celebrating its annexation of Crimea as a patriotic victory and evidence of Russia's revival. But will it come at the cost of yet another ethnic conflict?
With Moscow's annexation of Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula, hundreds of thousands of Tatars have suddenly become reluctant Russian citizens. They aren't happy and they're getting feisty -- rejecting Russia's overtures and pushing for their own referendum on autonomy.
And Russia's looming Crimean Tatar problem comes at a time when Moscow's relations with its existing 5 million-strong Tatar minority are becoming increasingly tense.
The Kremlin is celebrating its annexation of Crimea as a patriotic victory and evidence of Russia's revival. But will it come at the cost of yet another ethnic conflict?
11:08
5.4.2014
Gazprom says reversing flow of gas in Ukraine's pipelines raises legal questions. This via Reuters:
MOSCOW, April 5 (Reuters) - Ukraine's talks with the European Union on the possibility of importing gas from the West to substitute for Russian supplies raises questions about the legality of such a move, the head of Russia's gas monopoly Gazprom told Rossiya 24 television.
Ukraine said on Friday it was urgently seeking ways to import natural gas from the West after Moscow almost doubled its discounted gas tariff for Kiev last week. Ukraine covers half its needs with Russian gas.
One possibility discussed with the EU is "reverse flows", in which EU countries, possibly Slovakia, would send gas back down pipelines normally used to carry Russian supplies through Ukraine to the West.
"When it comes to reverse supplies - well, this raises several questions," Alexei Miller, Gazprom's chief executive officer said in an interview aired on Saturday.
He said that reverse supplies from Slovakia may not be physically possible, which could mean it would be a "virtual reverse just on paper".
Ukraine said on Friday it was urgently seeking ways to import natural gas from the West after Moscow almost doubled its discounted gas tariff for Kiev last week. Ukraine covers half its needs with Russian gas.
One possibility discussed with the EU is "reverse flows", in which EU countries, possibly Slovakia, would send gas back down pipelines normally used to carry Russian supplies through Ukraine to the West.
"When it comes to reverse supplies - well, this raises several questions," Alexei Miller, Gazprom's chief executive officer said in an interview aired on Saturday.
He said that reverse supplies from Slovakia may not be physically possible, which could mean it would be a "virtual reverse just on paper".
11:06
5.4.2014
From RFE/RL's News Desk:
Russia's gas giant Gazprom says Ukraine must pay back a $11.4 billion discount the country received as part of an agreement that Moscow has since scrapped, Russian and Western news agencies report. Gazprom chairman Aleksei Miller said under the terms of the "Kharkiv Agreement" signed in 2009 Ukraine was able for the last four years to receive Russian gas at discounted rates. Miller said that discount was a pre-payment for the Russian Navy's use of Ukraine's Black Sea port of Sevastopol through 2017, which was part of the Kharkiv Agreement. Miller said since that port has been annexed by Russia, along with the rest of Crimea, Ukraine should return the money it saved for gas shipments under the lower rate. Earlier this week Russia raised gas prices for Ukraine from $285.5 to $485.5 per 1,000 cubic meters.
10:59
5.4.2014
Interesting piece by Andrew Nagorsky at "The Daily Beast" -- "Putin's Patriotism Is Phony, His Desperation Is Real."
A couple choice quotes:
A couple choice quotes:
Whether in the case of his forcible annexation of Crimea, his continued threats against Ukraine or his systematic destruction inside Russia of any vestiges of democracy and free speech from the 1990s, Putin is cloaking himself in a phony patriotism to hide his real motives. He is, in every sense of the term, the anti-patriot, committed to a course that can only steadily weaken his country, hurt its citizens’ prospects for a decent life, and diminish Russia’s influence in the world...
His seizure of Crimea and military build-up on the Ukrainian border damages Russian national interests in three main ways: First, it undercuts an already vulnerable, weakening economy. Second, it undoes more than two decades of efforts to establish new, constructive ties between Moscow, its former Soviet bloc subjects and the rest of Europe. And, third, it sends a clear message that Putin is so unnerved by the vision of a democratic movement toppling a highly corrupt, incompetent crony in Kiev that he is willing to sacrifice the dreams of his own people to stay in power.
His seizure of Crimea and military build-up on the Ukrainian border damages Russian national interests in three main ways: First, it undercuts an already vulnerable, weakening economy. Second, it undoes more than two decades of efforts to establish new, constructive ties between Moscow, its former Soviet bloc subjects and the rest of Europe. And, third, it sends a clear message that Putin is so unnerved by the vision of a democratic movement toppling a highly corrupt, incompetent crony in Kiev that he is willing to sacrifice the dreams of his own people to stay in power.
10:46
5.4.2014
The news, from the Sochi Olympics to the annexation of Crimea, told through rap:
10:36
5.4.2014
Russia demanding that Ukraine pay back discount Moscow gave it on gas over the past four years. Via AFP:
MOSCOW, April 05, 2014 (AFP) - Chairman of Russia's Gazprom Alexei Miller on Saturday said that Ukraine must pay back the full discount it has been granted on Russian gas over the past four years, worth $11.4 billion.
Miller said this week's annulment of the so-called Kharkiv accords, which gave Ukraine cut-price Russian gas until 2017 in exchange for access to the Crimea's port facilities, means that Kiev should pay the sum total of this discount back.
"The sum of the discount granted in the time that the Kharkiv accords were valid was $11.4 billion (8.32 billion euros). That is the sum that the Russian government, the Russian budget did not receive," Miller told Russian television.
The discount was a de-facto advance payment by Moscow for the future lease on Black Sea Fleet's facilities in the Crimean port of Sevastopol -- annexed by Russia with the rest of the peninsula -- and so must be paid back, he added.
"Russia was paying for the Black Sea Fleet in Ukraine... towards prolonging the agreement. That is, Russia was paying an advance. Therefore, the $11.4 billion is a debt that Ukraine has accrued to Russia," he said.
Miller said this week's annulment of the so-called Kharkiv accords, which gave Ukraine cut-price Russian gas until 2017 in exchange for access to the Crimea's port facilities, means that Kiev should pay the sum total of this discount back.
"The sum of the discount granted in the time that the Kharkiv accords were valid was $11.4 billion (8.32 billion euros). That is the sum that the Russian government, the Russian budget did not receive," Miller told Russian television.
The discount was a de-facto advance payment by Moscow for the future lease on Black Sea Fleet's facilities in the Crimean port of Sevastopol -- annexed by Russia with the rest of the peninsula -- and so must be paid back, he added.
"Russia was paying for the Black Sea Fleet in Ukraine... towards prolonging the agreement. That is, Russia was paying an advance. Therefore, the $11.4 billion is a debt that Ukraine has accrued to Russia," he said.
10:07
5.4.2014
Will Englund at "The Washington Post" has a thought-provoking piece comparing the precarious position of Ukraine's interim government to the short-lived provisional government of Aleksandr Kerensky that took power in Russia in March 1917 after the fall of the Romanov dynasty:
Englund even sees parallels between the respectinve receptions the Kerensky government and the current Ukrainain authorities received in the West:
The whole piece is well worth a read.
Like Ukraine in 2014, Russia 97 years ago had just thrown off a widely despised autocrat who had played his hand so badly that what should have been a manageable protest turned into a revolution.
And, as in Kiev today, the new authorities in Petrograd, the Russian capital then, scrambled to figure out how to run a country even as enormous pressures closed in.
They failed.
And, as in Kiev today, the new authorities in Petrograd, the Russian capital then, scrambled to figure out how to run a country even as enormous pressures closed in.
They failed.
Englund even sees parallels between the respectinve receptions the Kerensky government and the current Ukrainain authorities received in the West:
The United States, in early 1917 as in 2014, enthusiastically welcomed the new, ostensibly democratic government. It offered assistance. But it discovered, in the end, that there was little it could do to shape the course of events.
The Russian revolution of early 1917 holds a cautionary tale for Ukraine’s interim government — unelected, propelled into power by the sudden collapse of the previous government, and grappling with an empty treasury and acute pressure from all sides — and for its supporters in Washington and Europe. With the noblest of intentions, the leaders in Petrograd, today’s
The Russian revolution of early 1917 holds a cautionary tale for Ukraine’s interim government — unelected, propelled into power by the sudden collapse of the previous government, and grappling with an empty treasury and acute pressure from all sides — and for its supporters in Washington and Europe. With the noblest of intentions, the leaders in Petrograd, today’s
St. Petersburg, were unable to deliver what the people wanted.
The whole piece is well worth a read.