Russia ending huge military drills near Ukraine
2021-04-23 HKT 01:38
Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu oversaw the massive drills. Photo: AP Russia s defence minister on Friday ordered an end to military drills near Ukraine involving tens of thousands of troops and dozens of warships that had exacerbated tensions with the West.
The announcement came as President Vladimir Putin invited Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky for talks in Moscow following weeks of renewed fighting in the east of Ukraine between government troops and pro-Moscow separatists.
But the Russian leader appeared to shoot down Zelensky s proposal to meet in war-torn eastern Ukraine, saying talks over the years-long conflict should be conducted directly with separatists.
share
Print
A Russian court has sentenced a pro-Ukrainian activist from Moscow-annexed Crimea, Oleh Prykhodko, to five years in prison on terrorism charges that he and his supporters have dismissed as politically motivated.
Ukrainian Ombudswoman Lyudmyla Denisova said on Telegram that the Southern District Military Court in the city of Rostov-on-Don on March 3 ordered Prykhodko to pay a 110,000 ruble (around $1,500) fine.
Denisova called the court s ruling unlawful and based on fabricated charges of an attempted terrorist attack and plotting an arson attack against the Russian Consulate in [Ukraine s western city of] Lviv in 2019. I condemn the unlawful verdict by the Russian court and consider it retaliation from the occupying government for Oleh s pro-Ukrainian stance [and] his public refusal to recognize Crimea s annexation by Russia, Denisova s statement said, while also saying that Prykhodko has a medical condition.
No media source currently available
0:00
0:04:06
0:00
Still, some observers describe a tendency among Ukrainians to disassociate themselves from the political tumult in Russia in part because they are more concerned with their own country s affairs. Seven years after their own pro-democratic protest movement toppled Moscow-friendly President Viktor Yanukovych, many remain dismayed by problems such as persistent corruption and the slow pace of reforms.
Human rights defender Oleksandra Matviychuk, head of the Center for Civil Liberties in Kyiv, worries that many of her colleagues aren t paying enough attention to the Kremlin s crackdown on its opponents even though, she says, many of their Russian counterparts provided crucial support in Ukrainians time of need.