Inside Politics Ep. 14. Christoph Vavrik, Ukraine Wahl
Diese Folge ist diesmal wieder ein Webcast, meine Kamera wollte nicht so wie Sie sollte und letztendlich kam es zu einem Speicherfehler. Der NEOS Auenpolitiksprecher Christoph Vavrik berichtet...
By: INSIDE POLITCS
See the article here:
Inside Politics Ep. 14. Christoph Vavrik, Ukraine Wahl - Video
CEGM UKRAINE CONFERENCE
Preaching the living Word to the dying World.
By: CHIOMAEMMANUELGLOBAL
See more here:
CEGM UKRAINE CONFERENCE - Video
Belarus authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko arrived in Kyiv Sunday to offer his support as Ukraine struggles with its pro-Russian separatist insurgency and to try to revive stalled peace talks.
At a meeting, Ukraine President Petro Poroshenko told Lukashenko, I would like to especially thank you for an absolutely clear position on the sovereignty and territorial integrity and the independence of our country."
For us, your hard-line stance, which you have always expressed, including the stance on non-recognition of the pseudo elections on November 2 on the territory of Donetsk and Luhansk - we appreciate it very much and I'm thankful to you for this, Poroshenko said.
Lukashenko responded: I want everything in Ukraine to be good, according to the Belarusian state news agency Belta. If something is needed from Belarus, say so, and we will do it all for you in a day, he added.
The uprising by the separatists, who oppose central rule by Kyiv and seek union with Russia, began a month after Russia annexed the Black Sea peninsula of Crimea from Ukraine in March.
Pro-Western authorities in Kyiv accuse Russia of orchestrating the uprising in the east after the ouster of former president Viktor Yanukovych, who enjoyed Moscow's backing. The Kremlin denies it is behind the revolt.
Minsk negotiations
Belarus, which is a close ally of Russia, also maintains a solid relationship with Ukraine. Belarus also hosted major negotiations between an international contact group in its capital, Minsk, in September that produced deals on a cease-fire and partial self-rule for the two mostly Russian-speaking regions of eastern Ukraine that rebelled against Kyiv in April.
According to Kyiv officials Sunday's meeting between the two was unrelated to the contact group of envoys from Russia, Ukraine and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe.
The cease-fire agreed to in September succeeded in stemming the worst fighting, but it has been repeatedly flouted by both sides, resulting in at least 1,300 more deaths. The United Nations said the death toll from Europe's worst security crisis since the Balkan wars of the 1990s is more than 4,700.
Read more:
Belarus President Offers Support to Ukraine
MOSCOW In a sign of Ukraines hardening attitude toward Russia, Ukrainian lawmakers on Tuesday voted to remove a legal barrier to joining the NATO defense alliance.
The move provoked an angry response from Russia, even though NATO shows few signs of accepting Ukraine as a member anytime soon. But this years bloody conflict in Ukraines east has altered the countrys feelings about the Western alliance. A plurality of Ukrainians now favor joining NATO, a stark change from recent years when just a small fraction did.
Ukraines decision comes as Russia struggles with a weakened ruble and growing concerns about economic instability.
The vote in Ukraines parliament had no immediate practical effect on the countrys relationship with NATO. But it ended Ukraines nonaligned status, which was adopted as a way of reassuring Russia that its neighbor would not join NATO. Russian President Vladimir Putin cited his fear of Ukraines joining NATO as a reason Russia annexed Crimea in March.
The proposal to eliminate nonaligned status passed easily, with 303 of the Ukrainian parliaments 450 lawmakers in support. After the vote, legislators stood up and applauded.
Finally, we corrected a mistake. 303 votes and Ukraines nonaligned status is out, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko wrote on Facebook on Tuesday. There is no alternative to Euro-Atlantic integration. Glory to Ukraine!
Russian leaders reacted immediately with harsh denunciations, warning Ukraine and NATO that no good could come of the decision.
This is counterproductive and only escalates confrontations and creates an illusion that by adopting such laws it might be possible to settle a profound domestic crisis in Ukraine, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told reporters in Moscow, the Interfax news agency reported.
He called for dialogue inside Ukraine, where Russian-supported rebels in the east have waged a war that has claimed more than 4,700 lives.
A day earlier, Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev warned on his Facebook page that application for membership in NATO would turn Ukraine into a potential military adversary for Russia.
See more here:
Ukraine parliament votes to take step toward NATO, angering Russia
The Ukraine parliament voted overwhelmingly to take steps towards joining NATO. Photo: AFP
Moscow: The Ukrainian parliament has voted to take steps towards joining NATO, a pointed rebuke to Russia that immediately drew an angry response.
With a Russian-backed separatist insurgency still gripping eastern Ukraine, the parliament voted overwhelmingly 303-8, to repeal a 2010 law that codified a policy of "non-alignment," and to instead pursue closer military and strategic ties with the West.
Former president Viktor Yanukovych, who was toppled in February after months of huge street protests in Kiev, pushed through the 2010 law shortly after he took office. Mr Yanukovych fled to Russia after he lost power.
A protester argues with police in front of Ukrainian Parliament. Photo: AFP
The 2010 law defined non-alignment as "non-participation of Ukraine in the military-political alliances".
Advertisement
The revised law, which was a priority of President Petro Poroshenko, requires Ukraine to "deepen co-operation with NATO in order to achieve the criteria required for membership in this organisation."
For now, it still seems unlikely that Ukraine will join NATO, in part because of Russia's strong opposition.Moscow had set Kiev's exclusion from all military blocs as a condition for any deal on ending the pro-Russian uprising that has killed 4700 in the eastern Ukrainian rust belt in the past eight months.
Russia has denied repeatedly that it set off the separatist violence in eastern Ukraine, but in recent months it has also made clear that preventing Ukraine from seeking NATO membership is one of its top goals. In November, President Vladimir Putin's personal spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, told the BBC: "We would like to hear a 100 per cent guarantee that no one would think about Ukraine's joining NATO."