Saturday, April 26, 2014

Ukraine’s National Guard Blocks All Roads Leading to Sloviansk — Interior Ministry
A right-wing attack on anti-fascist in Sloviansk, Ukraine during April 2014.

World  April 25, 21:45 UTC+4

The ministry said this had been done to deny the protesters an opportunity to get reinforcement

KIEV, April 25. /ITAR-TASS/. Ukraine’s national guard has blocked all the roads leading to the rebellious town of Sloviansk in the Donetsk region where the mostly Russian-speaking working-class population is demanding a referendum on the future of the region and a changeover of the country’s state structure into a federation.

The ministry said this had been done to deny the protesters an opportunity to get reinforcement.

Earlier in the day, Sergei Pashinsky, an interim acting chief of Ukraine’s “presidential administration”, declared the start of phase two of the armed operation near Sloviansk. He stated bluntly that the goal was to block the city.

Representatives of the people’s volunteer guard in Sloviansk said that only one transport route - a road leading to the regional capital Donetsk — remained unblocked until recently.


Ukraine’s presidential candidate Oleg Tsarev barred from TV debate

April 26, 7:40 UTC+4

KIEV, April 26 /ITAR-TASS/. Ukraine’s national television company NTU has refused to allow the presidential candidate from the Party of Regions, Oleg Tsarev, to take part in debates on the

UT-1 channel in a teleconference mode, local mass media said.

Earlier, Tsarev addressed the NTU with a corresponding request only to get a reply from the channel’s management the NTU was unprepared to provide the service.

“I am the sole presidential candidate who has been stripped of the right to use government-provided bodyguards. I agreed to participate in the TV debates via a video channel. In response I was told that the national television company is unable to arrange for this. Too bad. It would be a good chance to explain the way the people in the country’s southeast feel to the authorities and to the whole of Ukraine,” the politician said.

On April 14, Tsarev was brutally beaten up in Kiev after a live show on the ICTV channel. The presidential candidate was attacked by an aggressive crowd, which had blocked the building of the TV studio.

Ukraine’s presidential election is due on May 25.


Russian diplomat: detentions of journalists in Ukraine abuse freedom of speech

Russia  April 26, 2:49 UTC+4

Konstantin Dolgov voiced surprise the West keeps turning a blind eye on the detentions of mass media workers in Ukraine

MOSCOW, April 26 /ITAR-TASS/. A senior Russian diplomat has expressed regret over the condition of the basic rights and freedoms in Ukraine. The Russian Foreign Ministry’s commissioner for human rights, democracy and rule of law, Konstantin Dolgov, believes that basic human rights have been sacrificed to information warfare.

In a Twitter post Dolgov voiced surprise the West keeps turning a blind eye on the detentions of mass media workers in Ukraine.

“The detentions of journalists that the Ukrainian authorities and radicals do not like is a violation of the freedom of speech and of the mass media. Where are the human rights activists with their reaction?” Dolgov asked. “The fundamental human rights have been sacrificed to information warfare".

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