Category Archives: Crimea

UK-educated Russians are upholding Putin’s regime, says dissident

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Ukrainian film-maker Oleg Sentsov gives stark assessment of leader’s dictatorial rule

The children of Russian oligarchs learn about freedom in the UK only to return to Moscow to reinforce Vladimir Putin’s dictatorial rule, Oleg Sentsov, a Ukrainian dissident jailed for five years by Russia, has warned in a stark assessment of Putin’s stranglehold on power.

Sentsov, Russia’s most famous political prisoner, was released with 35 other Ukrainians in a high-profile prisoner swap in September, in which an equal number of Russians were released.

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Released prisoners met by family after Ukraine-Russia exchange – video

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Kyiv and Moscow each released 35 prisoners in a dramatic exchange that resulted in freedom for 24 Ukrainian sailors taken captive by Russia. The Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, was on the runway at Kyiv’s airport to greet the released prisoners and there were emotional scenes as family members were reunited

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Yuval Noah Harari admits approving censored Russian translation

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Sapiens author said he had authorised revisions to all his books in order to reach ‘diverse audiences around the world’

Sapiens author Yuval Noah Harari has acknowledged that he authorised replacing criticism of Vladimir Putin with criticism of Donald Trump in the Russian edition of his bestseller, 21 Lessons for the 21st Century, saying that Russian censors would not have allowed him to publish the original text.

Earlier this week, Newsweek reported that the Russian translation of 21 Lessons blunted Harari’s criticism of Russia’s invasion of Crimea in 2014.

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Council of Europe votes to maintain Russia’s membership

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Human rights body had stripped Moscow of its voting rights over 2014 Crimea annexation

Russia will remain in the Council of Europe after ministers at the human rights organisation moved to end a bitter dispute following the annexation of Crimea.

Meeting in Helsinki, ministers of the 47-nation body voted overwhelmingly in favour of a declaration that said “all member states should be entitled to participate on an equal basis” in the council’s committee of ministers and parliamentary assembly.

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Pompeo flounders on why annexation is good for the Golan but not for Crimea

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Trump’s decision to recognise Israeli sovereignty over territory it seized from Syria sets a troubling precedent, experts fear

Under intense questioning about why the Israeli annexation of the Golan Heights was good but the Russian seizure of Crimea was bad, the US secretary of state, Mike Pompeo, told senators that there was an “international law doctrine” which would be explained to them later.

It turned out there was no doctrine. The state department’s clarification of Pompeo’s remarks contained no reference to one, and experts on international law said that none exists.

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