24 March 2014

Ukrainian news source, Ukrainska Pravda, reported today that on May 9, 2014, a new law takes effect in the Russian Federation that criminalizes public calls for violating the territorial integrity of the Russian Federation. The law (Federal Law of the Russian Federation N^o 433-FZ) was approved in Russia late last year, but now will impact discussions on the status of Crimea.

The law in the Criminal Code includes, as an amendment, Article 2801 on “Public calls to actions aimed at violating the territorial integrity of the Russian Federation.” Such calls dealing with “territorial integrity” will be punishable by fines, or an amount equal to the wages or other income of the convicted person for a period up to 2 years, or by compulsory work equal to up to 300 hours, or by imprisonment for up to 3 years. The same acts committed with the use of mass media, including information-telecommunication networks (including the Internet), will be punishable by compulsory work of up to 480 hours or by imprisonment for up to 5 years.

Crimean Tatars and others who do not wish to become citizens of Russia remain in Crimea. However given this new law they will be at risk of legal reprisals if they bring up the subject of Crimea’s affiliation.

There was a power failure in Simferopol today, the second partial blackout in two days. According to Russian media, this is part of the Ukrainian government’s retaliation against Russia’s occupation – cutting electricity supplied from the mainland. However no one in the media has talked about the frequency of power failures preceding Russian invasion.

Turchynov, acting president of Ukraine, formally ordered the withdrawal of the remaining Ukrainian forces in Crimea. This ends the futile efforts troops were making to hold their bases, and confirms the Ukrainian military’s inability to stop Russian invasion. Ukrainian commanders who were detained in the take-overs of bases remain unaccounted for, including Col. Mamchur, from the base in Belbek.

Russian government officials and Russian state media continue their demonization of the new Ukrainian government. They deny the ability of the new government to manage the country as they discredit any possibility that the country can be governed: “Kyiv is no longer able to govern anything”.

The Deputy Chairman of the Russian State Duma, Zhirinovskiy, has even insisted that Poland hold a referendum in five western Ukrainian Oblasts: Volyn, Lviv, Ternopil, Ivano-Frankivsk, and Rivne, on the matter of accession to Poland. He has suggested that Poland, Romania and Hungary could all benefit from a partition of Ukraine.

This may seem an absurd proposal, but yet much of what the Russian ruling elite have said in the past has been viewed by many as credible and authoritative information.

Ukraine remains in political, economic, infrastructural and informational chaos. The greatest enemies are fear and latching onto easy answers, resolutions and sugar-coated promises from Russia and the West (IMF).