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MINNEAPOLIS (KMSP) - Minnesotans with ties to Ukraine are closely watching events there and in Washington. They heard from Sen. Amy Klobuchar on Sunday, who is pushing for tougher sanctions on Russia in the wake of aggression in the region.

She hosted a town hall meeting at the Ukrainian Center in Minneapolis where the U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine joined in via Skype.

Ukrainians are marking the third anniversary of Russias annexation of Crimea, it was a move western countries called illegal.

Three years later, tensions between Russia and Ukraine continue to flare, particularly in eastern Ukraine, where the government is battling Russian-backed separatists.

There are really two major challenges right now, said Amb. Marie Yovanovich. The first is the war in the east and that is an existential struggle for Ukraine. I can't put it starkly enough.

Yovanonvich said the other challenge is a need for continued reform of institutions in the country, otherwise it would continue to be vulnerable to Russian interference.

Klobuchar traveled to Ukraine in December to meet with officials and see the problem firsthand.

I stood there on the front lines with the troops, she said. They've lost 10,000 Ukrainians in just the last few years since Russia invaded.

Klobuchar's office estimates Minnesota has one of the highest Ukrainian populations in the country, at 10,000 people.

They know if you just say to Russia, Hey go ahead do whatever you want, sanctions off, they're going to lose a good chunk of their country, she said.

Klobuchar is pushing for more sanctions on Russia and an independent commission to investigate alleged Russian interference with the 2016 election, in addition to probes from several government agencies and congressional committees.

In just the past few months, Ukraine's had 6,500 attempts at hacking into their system by trolls and others in Russia and so, it's no surprise that we also saw it in Lithuania, we saw it in Estonia, and that we've seen in America, it's a modus operandi, Klobuchar said.

Officials with the Trump administration deny anyone with the campaign had inappropriate contact with Russia before the election.

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Sen. Klobuchar holds Minneapolis town hall on Ukraine, Russia tensions - KMSP-TV

The leader of the Dutch Christian-Democrats party CDA is slowly moving away from the traditional pro-EU message of its European political family, the European People's Party (EPP).

Christian-Democrat MP, Sybrand van Haersma Buma, said on Sunday (26 February) at the first nationally televised debate ahead of 15 March general elections that he would throw the ratification bill of the EU-Ukraine association agreement in the bin if he became prime minister.

Last week, the Dutch Lower House voted to ratify the treaty, even though voters had rejected it in a non-binding referendum.

Buma, who has hopes of becoming the next Dutch leader, initially said he could not predict what he would do, but then said he would withdraw the ratification instrument.

His remarks followed the first national election radio debate on Radio 1 that took place on Friday (24 February), in which Buma said that other countries will follow the United Kingdom out of the EU unless the bloc drastically reformed.

If Europe continues on the same track, Brexit will not be the end of it, he said Buma.

Buma's centre-right party is a member of the European People's Party (EPP), the largest political force in the European Parliament, and traditionally very pro-EU.

But Buma appears to be wooing Dutch voters who are disillusioned with European integration and worried about migration, the two main constituencies of Dutch anti-EU populist Geert Wilders, who is leading in the polls.

Buma said on the radio that Europe needed to be less focused on small bureaucratic rules.

Earlier last week, in an interview with financial newspaper Financieel Dagblad, he also criticised EU rules on public tenders.

It is impossible to explain if Europe means that you are not allowed to give your own companies some help, he said.

The EPP politician's eurocritical position has come under fire from Alexander Pechtold, a liberal and pro-EU Dutch MP who also has his sights set on the prime minister's post.

Pechtold said Buma was acting like the Party for Freedom - referring to Wilders' party - to win votes.

Wilders and current prime minister, centre-right Mark Rutte, cancelled their appearances in Sunday's tv debate, broadcast by RTL.

Like the other four debaters who did come on Sunday, Buma disagreed with the perception that Islam is a threat for Dutch identity.

But I will not call it an enrichment, said Buma, who listed Islam alongside health care as one of Dutch people's worries.

He said that after four years of the pragmatic coalition between Rutte's centre-right Liberals, and deputy prime minister Lodewijk Asscher's centre-left Labour, the Netherlands is more angry, more afraid, more divided than ever.

Asscher also appeared to tack toward voters who were worried about immigration.

When asked if the Netherlands should accept more refugees, he said he disagreed.

The Netherlands has already done a lot, he said.

The leader of centrist pro-EU party D66, MP Alexander Pechtold, and his colleague from GreenLeft, MP Jesse Klaver, said the Netherlands should take in more people.

Both debates were mostly about domestic issues, such as the cost of health care, euthanasia, traffic congestion, and whether employers should be allowed to fire people more easily.

US president Donald Trump was mentioned, as well as Nato.

GreenLeft leader Klaver was asked whether as prime minister he would apologise to Trump for calling him a "mafklapper" (an untranslatable, but relatively friendly insult). Pechtold said he would show Trump around, joking he would bring him to two Dutch amusement parks.

Christian-Democrat Buma said his party would increase defence spending to reach the EU average, but not the 2 percent of GDP that Nato members had promised each other in 2014.

At Friday's radio debate, which had prime minister Rutte present, Rutte said the 2 percent goal should be reached in the long run, but he would not name a year.

The latest polls show Wilders' party in the lead, set for 24-28 seats of 150, closely followed by Rutte's party at 23-27 seats.

The runners-up are CDA, D66, and GreenLeft, each between 15 and 19 seats.

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Dutch election: Christian Democrat would bin Ukraine treaty - EUobserver

Speculation grew that Ukrainescentral bank governor is preparing to step down, a move that could stall the momentum of economic reforms and further delay transfers from a $17.5 billion international bailout.

Valeriya Gontareva has told President Petro Poroshenko and International Monetary Fund chief Christine Lagarde about her plans to resign, theDzerkalo Tyzhnyanewspaper reported Feb. 25, without saying where it got the information. Ex-Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk was offered the job, but isnt interested, a party ally said Monday, declining to say who made the approach. The central bankspress office deniedthe governor has announced her intention to quit.

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Gontareva, 52, helped stem a plunge in Ukraines currency and rebuild foreign reserves as a second revolution in 10 years and fighting with Russia-backed insurgents ravaged the ex-Soviet economy. While some reforms to alignUkraine with the European Union have become bogged down as they threaten vested interests, the central bank has won praise from foreign investors for its endeavors, including smoothing IMF disbursements.

Ukraines latest$1 billion tranche from the Washington-based lender has been delayed since November and risks further postponement in the event of a leadership change at the central bank, according to Oleksandr Parashchiy, head of research at the Concorde Capital investment company in Ukraines capital, Kiev.

The possible rotation of the central banks head ahead of a possible signing of the latest IMF memorandum in the coming weeks doesnt look optimal for Ukraine as it would cause instability and delays, he said. Its possible Gontarevawill be allowed to leave, but in exchange for remaining for the next three months.

Gontareva allowed the hryvnia to float freely, brought inflation down from more than 60 percent and cleaned up the financial system by shutting down banks that served the needs of oligarch owners. In December, she oversaw the nationalization of the countrys No. 1 lender, Privatbank.

Selected by Poroshenko in June 2014, Gontareva is less than halfway through her seven-year term.Under Ukrainian legislation, the president nominates central bank governors and parliament must approve them.

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Ukrainian Central Bank Governor's Future in Doubt as Rumors Grow - Bloomberg

2017-02-27T12:51+02:00 12:51 27.02.2017

President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko has signed a decree on the introduction of the decisions of the National Security and Defense Council (NSDC) "On Information Security Doctrine of Ukraine" and adopted it.

The document comes into force on the day of its publication, the press service of the Ukrainian president said on Saturday.

"The need for information security doctrine of Ukraine is tied to the uprise of actual threats to national security in the information sphere, as well as the need to identify innovative approaches to the development and protection of information space in the context of globalization and the free circulation of information," the report says.

The purpose of the doctrine is to specify the principles of formation and implementation of the state information policy, especially to counter Russia's information devastating effects in the conditions of the hybrid war unleashed by Russia.

The document defines Ukraine's national interests in the information sphere, the threat of their implementation, directions and priorities of the state policy in information sphere. Its legal basis is the Constitution of Ukraine and laws of Ukraine, Ukraine's national security strategy approved by presidential decree No. 287 dated May 26, 2015, as well as international treaties accepted as binding by the Verkhovna Rada.

To implement the Doctrine the National Security Council will coordinate the activities of executive bodies to ensure national security in the information sphere, taking into account the specific conditions and conduct of aggressive information war against Ukraine not only on its territory, but also in the world.

In this regard, the Security Council will also identify key measures in accordance with the provisions of the Doctrine.

The Cabinet of Ministers shall ensure the implementation of the information policy of the state, funding programs related to information security, guide and coordinate the work of ministries and other executive bodies in this field.

The Ministry of Information Policy is entrusted to organize and provide media monitoring of public resources of national segment of the Internet for the purpose of identifying information, the dissemination of which is prohibited in Ukraine. The Information Ministry is also required to monitor threats to national interests and national security in the information sphere.

In addition, the ministry should form the current priorities of the state information policy and monitor their implementation, coordinate the activities of central and local executive authorities in the field of information sovereignty of Ukraine, government communications, crisis communications, particularly during the antiterrorist operation in the special period.

The Information Policy is also tasked with developing and implementing the strategy of information provision of the process of release and reintegration of the temporarily occupied territories.

The ministry should contribute to the Foreign Ministry in a report and presentation of the official position of Ukraine in the foreign media.

The doctrine also assigns a number of tasks on the Foreign Ministry, Defense Ministry, Security Service, the State Service for Special Communications and Information Protection, intelligence agencies and the National Institute for Strategic Studies.

Participation in the protection of Ukrainian information space by raising audiovisual and printed materials of the aggressor; elaboration of priorities and incentives for the development of Ukrainian cinema, television content, printing, in particular on the coverage of the heroic resistance of the Ukrainian people to the Russian aggression will be carried out by the Ministry of Culture of Ukraine, Ukrainian State Film Agency, the National Council of Ukraine on Television and Radio Broadcasting, State Committee of TV and Radio Broadcasting of Ukraine in accordance with their competence.

Read more:
Poroshenko confirms Ukraine's doctrine on information security - Interfax

The Allies called on Russia to reverse its illegal annexation of the Crimean peninsula.

Head of the NATO Representation to Ukraine Alexander Vinnikov said this at the international forum "Crimea under occupation: Consequences for Ukraine and the world",an Ukrinform correspondent reports.

"[At the Warsaw Summit] Allies called on Russia to reverse its illegal annexation of the Crimean peninsula, which NATO member-states do not and will not recognize," Vinnikov said.

He added that it was important for the NATO Representation to Ukraine to provide support for this forum.

As reported, February 25-26, Kyiv hosts the international forum "Crimea under occupation: Consequences for Ukraine and the world."

February 26, Ukraine will mark the Day of Resistance to Occupation of Crimea.

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Head of the NATO Representation to Ukraine: Allies call on Russia to reverse illegal annexation of Crimea - Ukrinform. Ukraine and world news