Ukraine arrests Turkish cargo ship over Crimea port call

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(Reuters) - Ukrainian authorities have arrested a Turkish-owned cargo ship and detained its captain over a visit it made to a port in Crimea after Russian annexed the peninsula from Ukraine last year.

Prosecutors said the Tuvalu-registered 5,095 deadweight tonne ship Kanton was being held in the Ukrainian port of Kherson. They said the crew could go to jail for up to three years and the ship could be seized.

The vessel's Istanbul-based owner, Master Shipping Ltd, called the detention illegal.

Russia seized Crimea shortly after Ukrainian protesters toppled a pro-Moscow president in February 2014. Ukraine has said any visit to Crimean ports is illegal, and a ban came into effect in July last year.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/03/27/ukraine-ship-arrest-idUSL6N0WT3K120150327?rpc=401

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1. Ukraine's Poroshenko Says 80% of Security Officials Were Russian Spies in 2012 — Report

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has claimed that the majority of national security officials working under Kiev's former pro-Moscow administration were recruited by Russia's FSB, a news report said.

Poroshenko, speaking to students at a Kharkov university, said about 80 percent of officials working for the Ukrainian security services (SBU) in 2012 had also been recruited by the Russian Federal Security Service, the UkrInform news site reported Thursday.

No additional details were provided, but a report published this month by the Wall Street Journal suggested that Russian spies and Moscow sympathizers were firmly rooted in the Ukrainian Security Service's ranks when conflict broke out in eastern Ukraine last spring.

The report cited the example of three SBU agents who were captured by rebels after details of a classfied mission into eastern Ukraine were released. Government officials now believe the operation was foiled by a Moscow ally in the top ranks of Kiev's security agency, the report added.

http://www.themoscowtimes.com/news/news/article/ukraines-poroshenko-says-80-of-security-officials-were-russian-spies-in-2012--report/518151.html

[MisterP]

4. paranoia that your own enforcers are the spies--yeah, that worked out so well under

Stalin and Videla

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6. I think Poroshenko has other reasons for saying that.

That is he's not a paranoid like Stalin. But yeah, it's not a pretty picture.

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2. Judge looks to build 'new society' in Ukraine rebel bastion

Donetsk (Ukraine) (AFP) - Even as he breaks down in tears, judge Alexander Klyanoshkin admits no regrets about ending a decade on the bench in his government-held hometown in eastern Ukraine to serve in the pro-Russian breakaway republic of Donetsk.

Along with his wife and children, Klyanoshkin made the 50 kilometres (30 miles) journey south to sign up as a judge in the fledgling court system being established by rebels in their war-scarred capital.

Now his dream is to help build what he hopes will be a "new society" in the self-proclaimed separatist statelet.

Klyanoshkin says he left Kiev-held territory to cross over to the legally unrecognised would-be country after becoming "disgusted" by the Ukrainian authorities, whom he views as illegitimate.

https://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/world/a/26844302/

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3. . nt

[KoKo]

5. Recommend Read.....

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7. Pepe Escobar in eastern Ukraine: Howling in Donetsk

I’ve just been to the struggling Donetsk People’s Republic. Now I’m back in the splendid arrogance and insolence of NATOstan.

Quite a few people – in Donbass, in Moscow, and now in Europe – have asked me what struck me most about this visit.

I could start by paraphrasing Allen Ginsberg in Howl – “I saw the best minds of my generation destroyed by madness”.

But these were the Cold War mid-1950s. Now we’re in early 21st century Cold War 2.0 .

http://atimes.com/2015/03/pepe-escobar-in-eastern-ukraine-howling-in-donetsk/

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8. Hungary, Russia sign €10bn nuclear deal

European Union member Hungary remains a close ally to Moscow despite the fact that the EU has imposed (together with the United States) sanctions against Russia for annexing Crimea and supporting separatist fighters in the east of Ukraine. Now Russia, despite its own economic downturn, is loaning Hungary €10bn.

Budapest plans to draw on the first tranche of the loan this year, a Hungarian government commissioner told Reuters.

Officially the loan is to finance the expansion of the Paks nuclear power plant, Hungary's only atomic power station, which supplies about 40% of the country's electricity. But critics say there is another motive as well: Russia buying favour with an EU government.

Reuters quoted Zoltan Illes, a former lawmaker in the ruling Fidesz party who was a state secretary for the environment until 2014, as saying: “This Paks deal is camouflage. This is a financial transaction, and for the Russians this is buying influence.”

http://www.neurope.eu/article/hungary-russia-sign-%E2%82%AC10bn-nuclear-deal

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9. Forget Greece, Ukraine is now Europe's most economically unstable country

Ukraine has been ranked as the riskiest country in Europe as political risk intensifies and infrastructure continues to deteriorate under the cloud of the Russian conflict.

In a leading index which ranks the world's most resilient countries down to the riskiest and most vulnerable to war, natural disaster or economic crisis, Ukraine fell 31 places - the most extreme of any country - positioning it as the most unstable in Europe.

The report by international insurance company, FM Global, found that Ukraine's descent from 76th to 107th (out of 130) was directly related to the of the ongoing battle for territory with Russia in the southern and eastern parts of the country.

“The fall in Ukraine’s position in the index has been most marked with respect to an intensified political risk and deteriorating infrastructure: transport, telephony and energy,” said Bret Ahnell, vice-president of operations at FM Global.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/economics/11503485/Forget-Greece-Ukraine-is-now-Europes-most-economically-unstable-country.html

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10. Merkel Cites Russian Pattern of Disruption Beyond Ukraine

(Bloomberg) -- German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Russia’s actions in Ukraine are part of a pattern of disruption in the region and counseled patience in resolving the conflict diplomatically, a year after the annexation of Crimea.

Merkel issued her message of caution about Russian President Vladimir Putin in Finland, a country Soviet troops invaded in 1939 at the start of World War II. She cited so-called frozen conflicts in former Soviet republics such as Moldova and Georgia, where Russia maintains military footholds, and the conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan.

“We have ever-repeating examples that all indicate that it’s not going to be made easy for these countries to make their own choices, as they would like to,” Merkel said during a panel discussion Monday at Helsinki University. “We’re not deluding ourselves, this will require endurance.”

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-03-30/merkel-cites-russian-pattern-of-disruption-beyond-ukraine

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11. Why Russia suddenly wants to supply cheap gas to Ukraine

The Russian government is requesting that state-owned gas giant Gazprom provide discounted gas to the struggling government in Ukraine.

The deal seems weird because Russia is also supporting an armed insurgency inside Ukraine, consisting of pro-Moscow rebels. The conflict has decimated the Ukraine economy. So why is Russia suddenly offering to help the country it has spent the last few months undermining?

Last week the European Commission sent a letter to the Russian government asking it to consider granting Kiev a discount on its gas exports to the country, such as abolishing the export duty which currently costs $100 per thousand cubic metres of gas.

The Russian response — requesting Gazprom lower its Ukraine prices — hints that Russia is seeking to cool tensions in the region in order to wriggle out of international sanctions as it attempts to pull itself out a deep economic downturn.

http://www.businessinsider.com/russia-pushing-gazprom-to-provide-discount-gas-to-ukraine-2015-3