1 April 2014

Early this morning, the Right Sector completed their evacuation of their occupied head-quarters in the Hotel Dnipro in Kyiv. The Minister of the Interior has proposed to the Verkhovna Rada (Parliament) of Ukraine how to limit civilian access to arms. The Right Sector, however, says the group intends to continue arming itself to defend the Ukrainian state unless the situation on the Ukrainian borders and in Kyiv changes.

Quriltai (assembly) of the Crimean Tatar people decided to begin creating the Crimea national territorial autonomy. This is stated in the resolution adopted by the extraordinary session of Quriltai. Chairman of Majlis (governing body) of the Crimean Tatars, Refat Chubarov said that this document does not recognize the annexation of the Crimea and Ukraine’s loss of the peninsula. He also suggested that the Crimean Tatars could hold a national referendum to confirm their desire to have autonomy. (from Ukrainska Pravda).

Meanwhile in Donetsk, the Donetsk Oblast Council appealed to the Verkhovna Rada to take steps and ‘stabilize the situation in the country’. This includes the adoption of the bills on referendum and the national status of the Russian language, as well as restoring the Constitutional Assembly established by Yanukovych and moving towards a greater de-centralisation of power. Yanukovych, meanwhile, has allegedly been given a role in Putin’s administration in Russia.

According to the Ministry of Defense in Ukraine, there is improvement in negotiations with the military authorities of the Russian Federation. There has been some progress in negotiations with Ukraine's Western partners, including the NATO countries. However, current concern about the Ukrainian army is that it needs not only military rations, but also new uniforms, equipment, and weapons.

From today, the Russian energy firm Gazprom is increasing the price it charges Ukraine for gas. For Russia, Ukraine has provided a political buffer and also an economic grey zone (a subsidized gas sector, a corrupt regime, an inefficient and energy-intensive industry) that represented the ideal market for its gas exports. Ukraine was a useful intermediary between Russia's own state sponsored energy sector and the liberalized markets of Europe. Now this relationship has, clearly, changed. Gazprom's chief executive Alexei Miller says the price of Russian gas for Ukraine has gone up to $385.5 (£231) per 1,000 cubic metres in the second quarter of 2014 from the previous rate of $268.5. Ukraine's new government has said it needs $35bn (£21bn) to pay its bills over the next two years. Ukraine owes the Russian gas company Gazprom $1.9bn.

Today, Ukrainian Cabinet Ministers announced that in order to reduce the cost of the state apparatus, 22 200 officials will be laid-off.

In addition to further sanctions from Western countries on Russia, the IMF package offered to Ukraine, Japan has decided to provide ¥150 billion ($1.5 billion) in economic aid for Ukraine. This is the largest pledge by any individual country, including the US, thus far. (Japan is concerned about Russia’s return to Soviet-style Empire-building).

Meanwhile, Crimea's Regional Development Ministry has sent Russia a proposal to develop the peninsula's rural areas. The project would cost 150 billion rubles.

For Ukrainians, joining Russia will not offer a promised land. Concerns for human rights in Russia are becoming more urgent. Media in Europe are being fed news filtered through the Kremlin, and many are concerned about the vast information gap where people are under heightened surveillance and live in fear. ‘Few people realize to what level a national hysteria has been created in Russia proper.’  

From Simferopol (blog on Euromaidan PR):

The underground passages are not illuminated anymore. A man was walking to work through an underpass, and a few Russian servicemen passed him in the opposite direction. They were cursing and using their cell phones as flashlights, because the darkness was just terrible. No electricity.

And now, the neighbours are complaining that the air is no longer fresh in the city, and that it stinks of diesel oil everywhere.

And they are just getting started… The worst is yet to come.

I received a phone call from my former classmate who lives in Yalta. She is totally overwhelmed with panic, because she is 7 months pregnant, and only now has she realized that Russia is not paying her child benefits. And earlier she yelled that we all are khokhols [derogatory] and nobodies. I told her to address this request to Moscow, which is their capital now. In the end, she told me that she hated all Russians.

How quickly she has changed her mind.