2013 36 years of community service 1977 DATE: March 16, 2014

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Monography “Who has a right to ” by Professor Volodymyr Butkevych

Ladies & Gentlemen, The Embassy would like to present the monography “Who has a right to Crimea” by a leading Ukrainian scholar of international law, former judge of the European Court of Human Rights Professor Volodymyr Butkevych. It was written 22 years ago in 1992; however, it is still important and actual these days in the light of Russian propaganda about Crimea. Professor V.Butkevych kindly granted the Embassy of Ukraine in the U.S. the permit to make available his monography for the American audience. Click here to access the Article

March 14, 2014 Judgment of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine on all-Crimean referendum Judgment of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine on all-Crimean referendum. On March 14, 2014 the Constitutional Court of Ukraine declared unconstitutional The Resolution of the of the Autonomous No. 1702-6/14 “On holding of the all-Crimean referendum” dated March 6, 2014 English Version Full text

Many Ukrainians expect war with Russia By Alexander J. Motyl As President Obama and Ukrainian Prime Minister Arsenii Yatseniuk were discussing the Russian occupation of Crimea this week, I confess that my mind and heart were elsewhere. I have never experienced war or the threat of annihilation. But now, thanks to the Internet, like thousands of other Ukrainian-Americans I am living at the edge of an existential abyss. The violenceundefinedthe warundefinedthat threatens Ukraine does not threaten me. I am in New York and Ukraine is thousands of miles away. But war will threaten my friends, colleagues and family in Ukraine. We Ukrainian-Americans must now live with the very real possibility that their lives could be extinguished if Russian President chooses to do so. Indeed, Ukraine could even disappear as a state, if he chooses to make it disappear. CNN. Read More

Through The Crimean Prism: Five Things We've Learned About Russia Every time Vladimir Putin opens his mouth, the goalposts seem to move. After speaking with the Kremlin leader by telephone this week, Crimean Tatar leader Mustafa Jemilev said Putin told him that Ukraine's 1991 independence referendum -- and therefore the subsequent breakup of the Soviet Union -- was "not really legal." The Russian president's comment, which spread like wildfire on social media, could not be independently confirmed. But given that Putin has called the Soviet breakup the "greatest tragedy of the 20th century," it certainly seemed plausible. And it served as as the latest reminder that with the Crimean crisis, we have entered into a new phase of the post-Soviet and post-Cold War period. Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. Read More

George Soros Predicts Ukraine Could Ruin The EU George Soros, one of the world’s leading investors, has warned that the European Union is in danger of falling apart if it fails to confront Vladimir Putin’s naked aggression in Ukraine. The billionaire financier told The Daily Beast that European governments should have seized on Russia’s land grab in Crimea to breathe new life into a union that is disintegrating and stumbling towards oblivion. Instead, he argued, squabbling European nations have failed to meet the challenge and continued to act in their own narrow self-interest. “Europe was totally unprepared for this crisis and Putin outmaneuvered Europe with no difficulty,” he said. The Daily Beast. Read More 1

Ukrainian crisis may split Russian Orthodox Church As Russian troops massed on Ukraine’s border and a controversial secession vote in Crimea approaches Sunday (March 16), Patriarch Kirill of the Russian Orthodox Church called for prayers “that brothers of one faith and one blood never bring destruction to one another.” Russia has prided itself on its revival of Orthodox Christianity after decades of Soviet persecution, but a war with the Ukraine could splinter the Russian Orthodox Church. That church has its roots in Kiev, where Prince Vladimir baptized his people as Christians in 988, an event viewed as a cornerstone of Russian and Ukrainian identity. It has even deeper roots in Crimea, where, according to legend, Vladimir was himself baptized by Byzantine emissaries. Washington Post. Read More

Putin Opens a Second Front in Ukraine President Vladimir Putin’s forces have encircled Ukraine. Many believe that these deployments are a feint, that what we’re actually seeing is one big scare tactic, designed to deter international sanctions. Perhaps. Still, it’s a dangerous gamble to assume that Putin will stay within Crimea. In fact, two specific factors suggest that Russia’s president may be planning a new offensive. First, consider the character of Russia’s military deployments. Over the last few days, among the many units that have been sent on “exercise” near Ukraine, Russia has deployed 8,500 artillery troops to its southern military district (the Russian military command that borders Ukraine). Additionally, Putin has sent an airborne brigade into the Rostov Oblast, which runs along Ukraine’s southeastern border. The have also accepted a “request” from Belarus to situate forces in their territory (in this case, fighter jets). National Review. Read More

Russia Swears No Invasion, Never Mind All the Tanks Russia has no plans to invade southeastern Ukraine, the country’s foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, said at a press conference in London on Friday. Russia’s massive military buildup along Ukraine’s borders appears to tell a different story. "Everyone understands what Crimea means to Russia," Lavrov said, referring to the contested region in southern Ukraine that has been occupied by Russian military forces and is holding a referendum on Sunday to determine whether it will join the Russian Federation or declare its independence from Ukraine. The Daily Beast. Read More

Ukraine says Russian forces move outside Crimea Russian forces backed by helicopter gunships and armored vehicles Saturday took control of a village near the border with Crimea on the eve of a referendum on whether the region should seek annexation by Moscow, Ukrainian officials said.The action in Strilkove appeared to be the first move outside Crimea, where Russian forces have been in effective control since late last month. There were no reports of gunfire or injuries. The incident raises tensions already at a high level before Sunday's referendum. In a statement, the Foreign Ministry denounced the foray outside Crimea, and said Ukraine "reserves the right to use all necessary measures to stop the military invasion by Russia." Yahoo. Read More

Crimea to vote on joining Russia, Moscow wields UN veto Pro-Russian leaders in Crimea made final preparations on Saturday for a referendum widely expected to transfer control of the Black Sea region from Ukraine to Moscow, despite an outcry and threat of sanctions from the West. Russia vetoed a U.N. Security Council resolution that declared the referendum invalid, as Ukraine's defence ministry scrambled aircraft and paratroopers to confront what it said was a Russian encroachment just beyond Crimea's formal regional boundary. Ukraine's new rulers accused "Kremlin agents" of fomenting violence in the Russian-speaking east of the country. They urged people not to respond to provocations that Kiev fears Moscow may use to justify further incursions after its takeover of Crimea. REUTERS. Read More

U.S. Spy Satellites Riding Russian Rockets into Space When a Soyuz space capsule touched down in Kazakhstan this week with two Russians and American Astronaut Mike Hopkins aboard after 166 days in orbit on the International Space Station, a small irony was obvious. While they’d been floating around in a gravity-free model of international cooperation, their governments had been plunging toward a major confrontation over the future of Ukraine. But the even greater irony evident out there in space is the extent to which America’s satellitesundefinedincluding the super-secret birds sent aloft by the National Reconnaissance Officeundefineddepend on Russian-built engines to get into orbit in the first place. The Daily Beast. Read More

The Fight Over Ukraine Goes Back To 1399, With No End In Sight On a hot August morning of 1399 two great armies collided on the fields around the Vorksla River, on the territory of modern day Ukraine. Little is known in the West about this battle, but it decided the future of people that lived in this part of Eastern Europe. As Tatar forces inflicted a devastating defeat on the feudal armies of Grand Duke Vytautas of Lithuania, a country with the most inclusive political system in Europe at the time, a civilizational choice was made. From then on, Ukraine would be the battlefield between the despotic Muscovy, nomadic Tatar fiefdoms, and the West. It remains such to this very day, as riots and protests in Kiev and Crimea show. FORBES. Read More

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Уряду Великобританії та США: Щодо виконання зобов'язань, згідно Будапештського меморандуму Від імені українського народу звертаюся до Урядів Сполученого Королівства Великої Британії та Північної Ірландії і Сполучених Штатів Америки як країн-сторін Будапештського меморандуму про гарантії безпеки у зв'язку з приєднанням України до Договору про нерозповсюдження ядерної зброї від 5 грудня 1994 року. Згідно п. 1 Меморандуму, Російська Федерація, Сполучене Королівство Великої Британії та Північної Ірландії і Сполучені Штати Америки підтверджують Україні їх зобов'язання, згідно з принципами Заключного акта НБСЄ, поважати незалежність, суверенітет та існуючі кордони України. У випадку виникнення ситуації, внаслідок якої постає питання стосовно цих зобов'язань, п. 6 зобов'язує Російську… Детальніше-Read More

Венеціанська комісія визнала "референдум" в Криму нелегітимним Експерти Ради Європи з конституційного права заявили, що референдум про приєднання до Росії є нелегітимним. Венеціанська комісія мотивує свій висновок тим, що можливість проведення такого референдуму не передбачена ні українською, ні кримською конституціями. Експерти також вказують на той факт, що умови для проведення цього референдуму не відповідають демократичним стандартам. Голова Ради Європи, міністр закордонних справ Австрії Себастьян Курц в суботу, 15 березня, повідомив агентству dpa, що офіційний висновок Венеціанської комісії буде опубліковано 21-22 березня. Він зазначив, що "у прямій демократії самій по собі ні, звичайно, нічого поганого, однак вона вимагає правової і демократичної основи". Нагадавши про те, що голосування в Криму буде проходити в атмосфері погроз, Курц констатував, що в даному випадку такої основи, очевидно, не існує. http://www.unian.ua/

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