{"id":94117,"date":"2019-05-13T17:56:56","date_gmt":"2019-05-13T17:56:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/uacrisis.org\/?p=71862"},"modified":"2019-05-13T22:33:59","modified_gmt":"2019-05-13T19:33:59","slug":"71862-weekly-update-ukraine-15-6-12-may","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/uacrisis.org\/en\/71862-weekly-update-ukraine-15-6-12-may","title":{"rendered":"Zelenskyi\u2019s inauguration, International Tribunal, the Immortal Regiment and more \u2013 Weekly Update on Ukraine #15, 6 \u2013 12 May"},"content":{"rendered":"

Situation in the combat zone<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Russia-backed militants fired upon the government-controlled town of Travneve in Donetsk region from hand-held grenade launchers. The attack was a threat to the town\u2019s residents, luckily there were no civilian casualties.<\/p>\n

Russian proxies also fired upon the Ukrainian troops from grenade launchers, heavy machine guns and small arms. They also used Minsk-proscribed 120-mm mortars.<\/p>\n

\n

Zelenskyi\u2019s inauguration and the parliamentary elections: what to expect?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The old parliament vs a new one? <\/strong>Immediately after he is sworn in,President-elect Volodymyr Zelenskyi will have to resolve the priority political issue: what to do with the Parliament? The next parliamentary elections are scheduled for October 27, 2019. Until then Zelenskyi will have to either collaborate with the convocation of the Parliament where he\u2019s got neither the majority of votes, nor a parliamentary group or faction of his, or to kick-start the early election process.<\/p>\n

Dates are important. <\/strong>Zelenskyi already said<\/a>\u00a0that he would like to have the opportunity to use his right to dissolve the Parliament. He is able to do so until May 27, 2019, as according to the Constitution the Parliament can be dissolved not later than six months before its powers terminate.<\/p>\n

It is one more reason why Volodymyr Zelenskyi insists to be sworn in on May 19. Under this scenario the President will have eight days to sign the decree dissolving the Parliament. In a video address Zelenskyi called upon the MPs to cast their votes for the inaugural ceremony to happen on May 19.<\/p>\n

The future of the Parliament is now in the hands of the MPs themselves. According to the Constitution it\u2019s the Verkhovna Rada (Ukraine\u2019s Parliament) that sets the inaugural date. If the lawmakers agree to May 19 as the inaugural date, they will thus send a signal to the President-elect that they are ready to have the Parliament dissolved. Should the MPs vote for the inauguration date that falls after May 27, it will be a clear signal to Zelenskyi that they don\u2019t entrust him to dissolve the Parliament and are against the early election scenario.<\/p>\n

According to<\/a>\u00a0the Deputy Head of the Parliament Iryna Gerashchenko, the Parliament will consider the issue on May 14.<\/p>\n

Are there any grounds to dissolve the Parliament and call early elections? <\/strong>The law stipulates the preconditions for early parliamentary elections. Advisor to Zelenskyi Dmytro Razumkov said<\/a>\u00a0that absence of the coalition in the Parliament may be the ground for such a decision. \u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

As to the coalition in the actual convocation of the Parliament, the formal majority in the Verkhovna Rada is made up of the factions Petro Poroshenko Bloc (BPP) and \u201cNarodnyi Front\u201d (People\u2019s Front) \u2013 the two factions left of the five that in 2014 formed the coalition of national unity. In April 2016 when the Parliament voted in the government of Volodymyr Hroysman, BPP and \u201cNarodnyi Front\u201d numbered 277 MPs out of the total 450, which is the minimum required number.<\/p>\n

Since then each of the factions has been shrinking, they now comprise a total of 215 lawmakers. Nevertheless it does not impede the Parliament to be adopting laws thanks to ad-hoc support by independent MPs.<\/p>\n

\n

Crimea through the lens of Russian media: a research<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Five years after the annexation of Crimea Russian media keep using each and every opportunity to remind to domestic and international audience that Crimea is now Russian. Ukraine\u2019s Institute of Mass Information analyzed the news feeds of the key Russian media to see the context in which the occupied Crimea is mentioned.<\/p>\n

In contrast to the news on Ukraine, Crimea is doing fine because it is \u201cRussian\u201d.<\/p>\n

The analysis demonstrated that most news pieces \u2013 33 per cent, are dedicated to the so-called \u201cimprovement\u201d, to the news on how the welfare of Crimeans is increasing, the number of tourists is growing and the territory is reviving. Second most widespread group of news pieces is the \u201cCrimea Is Ours\u201d news (16,5 per cent) \u2013 the news in which public officials or politicians emphasize that \u201cCrimea is Ours\u201d or this information is in the background of the news piece.<\/p>\n

Third largest group comprises local news (14,7 per cent). The fourth most frequently mentioned type of news are the news pieces on Zelenskyi (13,8 per cent).<\/p>\n

In course of the survey experts monitored top five news web sites as suggested by Liveinternet.ru: \u00a0RIA Novosti, Komsomolskaya Pravda, Gazeta.ru, Izvestia and Lenta.ru. They analyzed a total of 109 news pieces published between April 22 and 26, 2019 mentioning the occupied Crimea.<\/p>\n

\n

Kremlin\u2019s prisoners: five years since Oleg Sentsov is behind bars<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Five years ago, on May 10 Ukrainian film director Oleg Sentsov was arrested in the occupied Crimea. In August 2015 the Russian court sentenced him to 20 years in a maximum security prison under the fabricated charges of terrorism. Oleg is now in a penal colony in Labytnangi, in Russia\u2019s North. Filmmakers and human rights defenders organized an event in Kyiv to manifest their support to the film director as well as to other Ukrainians, Kremlin\u2019s prisoners. In one of Kyiv parks activists planted flowers under the motto \u201cPlant flowers, don\u2019t jail people\u201d. There are also two documentaries on Sentsov\u2019s case available online: \u201cThe Trial<\/a>\u201d by Russian film director Askold Kurov (subtitled in English) and \u201cFrom Crimea to Siberia: How Russia is Tormenting Political Prisoners Sentsov and Kolchenko\u201d by Ukraine\u2019s Hromadske TV with English<\/a>\u00a0voice over.<\/p>\n

\n

The case of Ukrainian sailors in the International Tribunal<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

On May 10 the Hamburg-based International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea considered the lawsuit re Ukrainian sailors captured in the Kerch Strait that Ukraine filed against Russia. The Russian Federation refused to take part in the hearings and stated that the Tribunal has no jurisdiction to consider the case. Meanwhile Russia\u2019s no-show did not stop the hearing.<\/p>\n

Ukraine was represented by a delegation headed by the Deputy Foreign Affairs Minister Olena Zerkal.<\/p>\n

The lawsuit. <\/strong>The lawsuit<\/a>\u00a0states that the dispute between the countries started after Ukrainian naval ships and their crews were illegally captured on November 25 as they were returning to Odesa after an unsuccessful attempt to cross the Kerch Strait.<\/p>\n

Ukraine\u2019s Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Olena Zerkal noted that Russia violated the main principle of the warships\u2019 immunity guaranteed by the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea<\/a>. She emphasized that the naval ships \u201cBerdyansk\u201d, \u201cNikopol\u201d and \u201cYany Kapu\u201d were detained in Ukraine\u2019s territorial waters. Russia\u2019s actions would have violated the Convention even the theatre of events had been the Russian territorial waters, as warships and their crews cannot be subject to arrest by foreign law enforcement or jurisdiction of foreign courts. Nevertheless Ukrainian sailors are being tried in the Russian Federation and are held arrested in the Moscow pretrial detention center Lefortovo.<\/p>\n

What is the position of Russia? <\/strong>Russia emphasizes that Tribunal\u2019s decisions are not legally binding as Ukraine\u2019s actions in the Kerch Strait should be qualified as combat actions. Russian lawyer Nikolay Polozov, advisor to the Ukrainian delegation and coordinator of the defense of all Ukrainian sailors, explains that in such a way Russia is demonstrating double standards speaking of combat actions in the Tribunal on the one hand and denying it by not recognizing Ukrainian sailors prisoners of war on the other hand.<\/p>\n

What the Tribunal\u2019s decision can mean to Russia and Ukraine?<\/strong>In the past the Tribunal held hearings and decided on temporary measures in the cases against the Russian Federation, even though the state\u2019s representatives were not present. The most similar one is the case of \u201cArctic Sunrise\u201d, a Dutch vessel aboard of which Greenpeace activists held a protest near the Russian drilling platform in the Pechora Sea. The Russian coastal guard arrested the vessel, its crew and all the passengers. Back then the Russian Federation neither took part in the Tribunals\u2019 hearings, nor adhered to its decisions. However later Russia released all the arrested activists and paid several million euro in compensation to the Dutch government.<\/p>\n

With its decision the Tribunal can bind the Russian authorities to immediately pass the seized vessels and captured sailors to Ukraine. Russia\u2019s refusal may result in a political and economic response by Ukraine\u2019s western allies. The Tribunal will announce its interim decision on the Kerch conflict on May 25.<\/p>\n

\n

\u00a0The Immortal Regiment: how Kremlin instrumentalizes WW2 for propaganda purposes<\/strong>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The Immortal Regiment is an annual event at which Russians\u200a\u2014\u200aand not only them\u200a\u2014\u200acommemorate the relatives who fought in the Great Patriotic War, 1941\u20131945. The tradition that includes marching with the portraits of the fallen and those who survived the hostilities started in 2011 in the Russian city of Tomsk with \u201cThe Immortal Regiment\u201d civic initiative, non-profitable and non-governmental. Considering that the countries of the former Soviet Union suffered the heaviest losses in WWII\u200a\u2014\u200athe death toll reached 27 million\u200a\u2014\u200athe initial desire to preserve the memory of these events is understandable. However, what started as a civic action transformed into a tool of influence and a part of \u201cdefeating fascism\u201dpolitical franchise, heavily employed by the Russian government in its internal and external policies, after authorities took control over the initiative.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Read more on HWAG<\/a> page.<\/b><\/p>\n

\n\t\n\t\t\"\"\t\t\n\t\t\tView Gallery<\/span>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t9 images\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t\t<\/span>\n\t<\/a>\n<\/figure>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Situation in the combat zone Russia-backed militants fired upon the government-controlled town of Travneve in Donetsk region from hand-held grenade launchers. The attack was a threat to the town\u2019s residents, luckily there were no civilian casualties. Russian proxies also fired upon the Ukrainian troops from grenade launchers, heavy machine guns and small arms. They also […] More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":19,"featured_media":94118,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[705,748],"tags":[],"section":[743],"form":[801],"yoast_head":"\nZelenskyi\u2019s inauguration, International Tribunal, the Immortal Regiment and more \u2013 Weekly Update on Ukraine #15, 6 \u2013 12 May | UACRISIS.ORG<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Situation in the combat zone Russia-backed militants fired upon the government-controlled town of Travneve in Donetsk region from hand-held grenade | Uacrisis.org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/uacrisis.org\/en\/71862-weekly-update-ukraine-15-6-12-may\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" 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