Ukraine: The end of the week

Morning Friday, March 28, began with a rather strange message from the Moscow Region. The Deputy Plenipotentiary of the President in the Central Federal District Vladimir Ovsienko said that law enforcement agencies detained a certain citizen of Ukraine who prepared sabotage in Russia. According to the official’s statement, a large number of weapons and ammunition were seized from a man.

A little later, however, it turned out that the detainee in a man was only born in Ukraine, but actually has Russian citizenship and lives in the Serpukhov district of the Moscow region.

The public was much more interested in the statement of Viktor Yanukovych, who had fled from Ukraine, who still considers himself president of the country, published a little later. Recall that Yanukovych made his first performance after leaving his homeland in the press conference format, the second was a simple performance before reporters confirming, then he was still alive. On March 28, the statement of Viktor Yanukovych was distributed through the channels of ITAR-TASS.

Yanukovych invited Ukrainian citizens to seek a referendum in each region of the country regarding the status of the territory, and the early presidential elections that are scheduled for May, can be canceled. According to Yanukovych, only the All -Ukrainian referendum can stabilize the political situation in the country. How referendum in two dozen regions can be considered the All -Ukrainian referendum Yanukovych did not explain.

At the same time, the politician who was in Russia asked to relieve himself of the powers of the head of the Party of Regions and exclude himself from its ranks.

The Party of Regions immediately responded to Yanukovych’s statement. The People’s Deputy of this party Andrei Pinchuk said that the president had never been resigned, they would certainly exclude from the party at the congress on March 29. Boris Kolesnikov, deputy head of the party of the Party of Regions in the Verkhovna Rada, in turn, promised, in addition to Yanukovych, to exclude the former Prime Minister Nikolai Azarov, former minister of income and collection of Alexander Klimenko, former deputy prime minister Sergei Arbuzov, former secretary of the National Security Council of Andrei Klyuyev, as well as the forerunner of the Ministry of Energy of the Ministry of Energy Eduard Stavitsky.

The Prosecutor General’s Office of Ukraine immediately after the publication of the statement of Viktor Yanukovych brought to him another criminal case due to the fact that he “called the current power in Ukraine illegal and called for demanding a referendum to determine the status of each region in Ukraine”. The calls of the "citizen of Yanukovych" in the prosecutor's office qualified under Part 3 of Art. 109 of the Criminal Code of the country (“Actions aimed at forcibly amending or overthrowing the constitutional system or the seizure of state power”).

In general, in Ukraine, the third appeal of the expelled president perceived extremely negatively both his opponents and former associates.

Kharkov mayor Gennady Kernes said that Yanukovych is poorly familiar with Ukrainian law and, most likely, simply does not know that the country's legislation does not allow regional referenda. The leader of the Fatherland party, Julia Tymoshenko, stated that Viktor Yanukovych became an “instrument of struggle” against the Ukrainian people and should appear for this before the trial.

While in Ukraine they were engaged in the analysis of the next appeal of Yanukovych, work continued in Russia to “master” the new territory.

Vladimir Putin signed a decree on the inclusion of his plenipotentiary in the Crimean Federal District in the Security Council. The solution is purely formal - all the envoy are members of the Security Council, but once again emphasizes that Crimea and Sevastopol are considered equal subjects of the Federation.

The Russian government, in turn, approved the allocation of Crimea assistance in the amount of 13 billion. The Republic of Crimea will receive 10.7 billion rubles, 2.4 billion will go to Sevastopol.

The Russian Railways management requested 45-60 billion rubles to build a railway section bypassing Ukraine. Now trains going from Moscow to Rostov-on-Don or, for example, Sochi, drive along a small section of Ukrainian territory. This railway was built more than a century ago, when the modern Russian-Ukrainian border has not yet appeared. Now, domestic -Russian trains pass in transit through the territory of a neighboring state, and the Russian Federation is forced to come up with cunning schemes for the rental of the territory for this.

In order for the young Russians from childhood to be used to the fact that Crimea is part of the country, in the Moscow City Methodological Center, materials have developed materials for conducting a explanatory lesson in the situation in the Crimea. The lessons, according to the Director of the Center Marianne Lebedeva, will be held as part of the classroom on the topic "We are together".

Ukraine is much more than to these actions, reacts to what it interprets as the preparation of Russia for war - the accumulation of troops on the border, constant statements about the horrors that are happening in Ukraine, as well as sounding doubts about the legitimacy of the new Ukrainian government.

Fearing the war, the Kyiv authorities promised to bring all bomb shelters on a state of military readiness, and the Verkhovna Rada adopted the law according to which the upper age for mobilization in case of war increases from 40 to 55 years.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Russia rejects any accusations of preparing an invasion of the mainland of Ukraine, but at the same time is engaged in the termination of the contracts that were signed for the division of the Black Sea Fleet of the USSR and the rental of a naval base in Sevastopol. In response, Kyiv accused Moscow of neglecting universally recognized norms of international law and stated that in case of termination of contracts, the Black Sea Fleet of the Russian Federation would have to leave the territory of Crimea, since its stay there would be not justified international agreements.

Late in the evening of March 28, the situation around Ukraine was discussed by Vladimir Putin and Barack Obama. The White House noted that for the first time in recently the initiator of the conversation was not the American, but the Russian side. However, judging by the official messages of the press services of the two presidents, they did not understand each other until the end.

The Kremlin said that Vladimir Putin “attracted the attention of Barack Obama to the ongoing rampant extremists” in Ukraine, suggesting “to consider the possible steps of the international community to promote stabilization of the situation”. The Russian leader also drew the attention of the American colleague to the "actual external blockade of Transnistria."

The White House did not announce anything about Transnistria, but the official press release says that Putin called the package of proposals to set up the situation to be discussed by Secretary of State John Kerry Sergey Lavrov during a meeting in The Hague. The list of these measures is not specified, but it is indicated that it was agreed with Kiev and European leaders.

Prime Minister of Ukraine Arseniy Yatsenyuk late in the evening, on the air of the Shuster Live show announced the readiness of Kyiv for public negotiations with Russia. The head of government said that the new Ukrainian authorities are ready to maintain economic relations with Russia on equal terms.

As if in confirmation of this Deputy Prime Minister in the regional development of Ukraine Volodymyr Groysman promised that the supply of water to Crimea would not be interrupted. The peninsula, we recall, receives more than 80% of water from external sources-mainly along the North Crimean Canal, which begins in the Kakhovsky reservoir on the Dnieper. The Minister ordered his subordinates to develop a mechanism for cooperation and calculations with the water users of Crimea.

Saturday in Ukraine becomes the day of the congresses of large political forces: "Fatherland", the Party of Regions, the Blow and "Freedom".