Donbas
Monday 22 May 2017
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Maria Zakharova
Spokesperson, Russian Foreign Ministry
“The International Court of Justice has taken a principled stand and did not support the numerous and well-known statements of the Ukrainian side about the alleged so-called "aggression" [and] "occupation" of Crimea, [viewing them] as being unrelated to the essence of the proceedings. In the process, the court did not support any of the temporary measures requested by Ukraine, nor the main point of this part of the Ukrainian suit -- that Russia is “pursuing a policy of erasing the cultural identity of Ukrainian and Crimean Tatar communities."
Read more...The Russian Foreign Ministry says the International Court of Justice found Ukraine’s suit against Russia “implausible.” Court documents contradict this claim, and experts say the ministry’s characterization of the ruling demonstrates that Russia is “still litigating the same argument that it just lost.” -
Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Russia
“The sanctions imposed on Russia were a response to our country conducting an independent foreign policy, as well as a kind of punishment for the people of Crimea fulfilling their legitimate right to self-determination and right to freedom of expression enshrined in the foundational international documents on human rights.”
Read more...Russia’s Foreign Ministry says the sanctions imposed by more than 30 countries after Russia annexed Crimea from Ukraine were a response to Moscow’s “independent foreign policy” and "punishment" for Crimeans voting to join Russia in a 2014 referendum. Experts strongly disagree. -
Russian Foreign Ministry
“The circumstances of the incident indicate a high probability of a provocation geared at breaking down the settlement process in Donbas."
Read more...The OSCE monitors were traveling in Russia-backed separatist-held territory near the front line, where large amounts of land have been mined. Ukrainian forces were not likely to have accessed this area. Past attacks on the OSCE mission were mainly by separatists, and they bear responsibility for this area they control. -
Natalya Poklonskaya
Member of Parliament, Russia
"I am confident that today, 100 percent of Crimeans would vote to return to Russia.”
Read more...On the third anniversary of Russia’s annexation of the Crimea, Natalya Poklonskaya, the former Crimean prosecutor general who helped Moscow’s efforts to take over the Ukrainian Black Sea peninsula, claimed “100 percent of Crimeans” would vote to be part of Russia if the 2014 referendum were held today. Polling data and experts suggest otherwise. -
Vladimir Putin
President of Russian Federation
“With regard to the current flare-up…it was provoked by the Ukrainian side.”
Read more...The Russian president claims Ukraine “provoked” recent violence near pro-Russian separatist territories in Donbass. But experts say the Russian military response far outweighed the alleged Ukrainian incursion that sparked the surge in fighting in the Russian-created conflict. -
Dmitry Peskov
Kremlin spokesman
"Needless to say [the tanks in the Donbas] are not from Russia."
Read more...President Putin’s press secretary claims tanks in the occupied east of Ukraine didn’t come from Russia, despite overwhelming evidence that many of the hundreds of tanks in Donetsk and Luhansk could have come from nowhere else. -
Eduard Basurin
top separatists military figure in Ukraine's Donetsk region
"In August 2016, a group of three women arrived from Ukraine who underwent training overseen by instructors from the special operations forces."
Read more...Basurin said the three were still on the loose and that wanted posters had been issued. But photos of the women described by the Russia-backed separatists as “terrorists” match those of completely different people. -
Donetsk People's Republic
Ukraine separatist group
“The DNR will hold a grand opening of a representative center in the city of Ostrava in the Czech Republic on September 1. It will be the republic’s first officially registered mission in an EU country.”
Read more...Opening an official representative office in the European Union would be quite a coup for the Russia-backed separatists, who control parts of Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region and who have been subject to EU sanctions. But Czech authorities poured cold water on the claim, saying the “grand opening” could be nothing more than a club.