3 July 2014

 Soldiers from the “Donbass” battalion of Ukraine
outside the Parliament in Kyiv

Today Ukraine's Verkhovna Rada (Parliament) considers in the second reading the draft law about creating a free-trade zone in Crimea. This document does not form a prosperous business-climate, but stimulates business to leave the region because Ukraine considers Crimea as an occupied territory. During the occupation period this draft law will equate trade turnover between Ukraine and Crimea to export-import operations.

The head of Luhansk regional council Valeriy Golenko and his deputies Vladimir Prystyuk and Yevheniy Kharin appeal to the President Petro Poroshenko to start negotiations and impose a ceasefire.

Fears about Russian power being wielded in London, UK, from Alya Shandra:

Mark Galeotti, a professor of Global Affairs for the New York University working in Moscow, told London first that that the British capital has enjoyed relative safety from Kremlin-backed attacks because of prominent Moscow figures living and investing in London. According to him, this situation can change if the city becomes less attractive for the Russian elite due to economic sanctions, and that the Kremlin was “increasingly willing” to use violence to deal with opponents. As proof, Mr. Galeotti at a briefing referred to recent assassinations of fundraiser for Chechen and North Caucasus groups  in Turkey and Austria that were carried out by the Russian agents, also accused with killing the Russian fugitive FSB officer Alexander Litvinenko in London.

The main danger, according to Mark Galeotti, falls on “political and lobby groupings” in London that support the Ukrainian cause, which include some “very outspoken Ukrainian people.” One of the main groups that can be targeted, if these threats prove true, is the London Euromaidan. Other effective Euromaidans in Great Britain are at risk too, but this initial threat is by no doubt directed against them. It is one of the key organizations supporting the Ukrainian cause in Britain. The group is famous for their ceaseless vigil outside Downing Street for three months, for over 150 protests held since November 2013, with the largest one uniting 10 000 people who Marched from the Marble Arch to the Russian embassy .