German radio station: Prisoners are tortured in so-called DPR and LPR

Deutschlandfunk radio reported that, according to Ukrainian human rights groups, prisoners are being tortured in 79 prisons in the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics.

The results of this investigation were published by the German public-law radio station Deutschlandfunk on the 18th of May. According to the radio station, human rights advocates are planning to transfer the collected materials to The Hague Tribunal for an investigation into possible war crimes.

The head of …


Ukrainian Prosecutor General's Office: Russia refuses to extradite Yanukovych

The Prosecutor’s Office raises the question of his interrogation in Russia

As was stated by the chief of the head investigative department of the Prosecutor General's Office of Ukraine, Sergey Gorbatyuk, Russia has denied Ukraine’s request to extradite the former Ukrainian President, Victor Yanukovych, Interfax-Ukraine reports.

"About a month ago, we received notification of Russia’s refusal to extradite the former President," Gorbatyuk stated. In response, the Prosecutor’s Office raised the …


Kiev will not pay Gazprom for gas supplies to separatist republics

Ukrainian company, Naftogaz, has refused to pay Gazprom for gas delivered to the separatist-controlled territories of Donetsk and Luhansk.

On the 18th of May, Naftogaz reported that the Russian gas company had demanded a payment of $670 million for gas supplied to the so-called Donetsk People's Republic (DPR) and the Luhansk People's Republic (LPR) from February 2015 to April 2016.

The report also stated that Naftogaz had not purchased gas from Gazprom since November 2015. Before that, it had …


Leader of Polish pro-Russian party arrested

Polish radio reports that the Agency of Internal Security of Poland arrested Mateusz Piskorski, leader of the pro-Russian party, Zmiana. According to the media reports, the Special Services raided the party office and the premises of some of its leaders.The party itself also reported the raid through Facebook. "This morning the employees of the Internal Security Agency raided the premises of Zmiana`s party members, seizing hard drives, storage media and documents,” the message stated. Two …


Permanent Representative of the Russian Federation: Russia deployed 9,000 soldiers to the Crimea in 2014

During the 2014 annexation of Crimea, Russia deployed 9,000 soldiers to the peninsula. This was in addition to the 16,000 Russian soldiers that were already in Crimea at the time. This was reported by Russia's Permanent Representative to the EU, Vladimir Chizhov, during an interview with Deutsche Welle.

Chizhov says that all Russian troops were in Crimea “legally and in accordance with formal agreements with Ukraine”.

“According to the 1997 bilateral agreement between Russia and Ukraine, the …