Articles

The BSNews and Maidan of Foreign Affairs monitoring group has compared the number of illegal flights by the Russian airlines to the occupied Crimea in February 2017 with that in the corresponding months of 2015 and 2016.

The joint BSNews and Maidan of Foreign Affairs monitoring group has summed up the results of the daily monitoring of violations of sanctions and the regime of the occupied territory in the Crimea in October-November 2016.

The Ukrainian branch of Swiss company Risoil S. A. went public with a claim that Ukraine’s prosecutors were putting illegal pressure on it. On Feb. 7, the Security Service of Ukraine — in an apparent reference to Risoil — reported on its website that an international company seized three hectares of land worth $4 million that belonged to the state port in Chornomorsk, a city 495 kilometers south of Kyiv in Odesa Oblast.

The Maidan Foreign Affairs and BSNews monitoring Group has summed up the results of the daily monitoring of the violations of the sanctions against the occupied Crimea and the occupied territory regime for January 2017.

The BSNews and Maidan of Foreign Affairs monitoring group has compared the number of illegal flights by the Russian airlines to the occupied Crimea in October-November 2016 with that in the corresponding months of 2014 and 2015.

The "Maidan of Foreign Affairs" and BSNews monitoring group has conducted a special investigation of the vessel offenders related to Turkey. According to the results of the special investigation, of the 276 vessels-offenders that have called at the ports of Crimea between the beginning of the annexation on March 18, 2014 and December 1, 2016, 68 vessels operating under different flags are related Turkey according to the registration of the ship owner and/or operator. That represents 24.6% of the total quantity.

The monitoring group of the Maidan of Foreign Affairs and BSNews present to our readers the "black list", or rather, the complete database of ships that in violation of the Ukrainian legislation and the international sanctions, docked at the ports of the occupied Crimea since its annexation, i.e. from March 18, 2014 to August 15, 2016.

Melinda HARING, editor of UkraineAlert at the Atlantic Council. Five days after release of Crimean journalist Andrii Klymenko’s report in March 2015— Human Rights Abuses in Russian-Occupied Crimea — Russia’s Federal Security Service charged him with challenging the annexation’s legitimacy and threatening Russian sovereignty. Under Article 280 of Russia’s criminal code, Klymenko faces up to five years in jail...

According to Maidan of Foreign Affairs, more than 216 foreign trade vessels entered the occupied seaports of Crimea since the occupation. Russia is the top violator of the sanctions regime on this annexed territory of Ukraine: 101 Russian vessels account for 46.75% of the total number of violators. Russia is followed by Turkey with 52 vessels or 24.14%, Greece with 28 vessels or 13%. Overall, vessels registered in these three states that have entered Crimea since the time of annexation make 83.8% of the total number.

Bohdan Yaremenko, Chairman of the Maidan of Foreign Affairs, on the Turkish President’s official visit to Ukraine. We hear that next week Turkish President, Recep Erdogan, will visit Ukraine. The event is worth to be thoroughly analyzed. But before, there is one small but significant caveat. In a month, on April 24, the world or at least a big and very important for Ukraine part of it, will honor the memory of the victims of the Armenian Genocide in the Ottoman Empire that took place 100 years ago.

Andriy KLYMENKO, Maidan of Foreign Affairs (Kyiv), BSNews. Turkey is negotiating the resumption of the Zonguldak-Yevpatoriya ferry line with the authorities of the occupied Crimea. A trial ferry trip and statements on it by the Yevpatoriya seaport officials once again confirm the fact that Turkey is no longer a friend to Ukraine or Crimean Tatars. How will the Ukrainian Foreign Affairs Ministry respond to this?

Andriy KLYMENKO, «Maidan of Foreign Affairs», BSNews, Kyiv-Yalta. The turbulent past 10 months have distracted BSNews from cruise monitoring which has still been among the most important ones for us and our subscribers for years. Based on our monitoring for September 2014 we are returning to this analysis under the new conditions, with Crimea annexed by Russia. September is the most telling month for Black Sea cruises.

Andriy KLYMENKO, Maidan of Foreign Affairs (Kyiv), BSNews Chief Editor. Uss Ross (DDG 71), the US Navy missile destroyer arrived at Constanta, Romania on September 5, 2014 in the course of patrolling the Black Sea. The vessel is heading to Odesa area on September 7, 2014 to participate in the Sea Breeze 2014 Ukrainian-US naval training.

Andriy KLYMENKO, Olha KORBUT, Maidan of Foreign Affairs, BSNews, Yalta-Kyiv. Maidan of Foreign Affairs and BSNews monitoring group publishes the blacklist of vessels (3rd edition) that entered Crimean seaports after Crimea was occupied and annexed by Russia. The list currently includes 91 vessels, with 38 Russian, 24 Turkish and 14 Greek vessels.