14:34
25.4.2014
14:37
25.4.2014
Here's our newsroom's story on the International Criminal Court's effort to determine whether a full investigation is warranted into possible criminality during the protests and unrest that prompted Viktor Yanukovych to flee Ukraine.
The ICC has launched a probe into possible crimes committed during the protests that led to the ouster of Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych.
The court said in a statement that chief prosecutor Fatou Bensouda (eds: a woman) has decided to open a preliminary investigation "into the situation" in Ukraine to determine if criteria exist for a full investigation.
Ukraine is not a member of the Netherlands-based International Criminal Court. But it has granted the court jurisdiction over any crimes that may have been committed between November 21, when protests against Yanukovych turned violent, and February 22, the day Yanukovych fled Kyiv.
More than 100 demonstrators were killed and hundreds of others injured during the antigovernment protests.
The court said if the prosecutor decides there is a strong basis for an investigation, she would ask the court to formally authorize a full probe.
The court said in a statement that chief prosecutor Fatou Bensouda (eds: a woman) has decided to open a preliminary investigation "into the situation" in Ukraine to determine if criteria exist for a full investigation.
Ukraine is not a member of the Netherlands-based International Criminal Court. But it has granted the court jurisdiction over any crimes that may have been committed between November 21, when protests against Yanukovych turned violent, and February 22, the day Yanukovych fled Kyiv.
More than 100 demonstrators were killed and hundreds of others injured during the antigovernment protests.
The court said if the prosecutor decides there is a strong basis for an investigation, she would ask the court to formally authorize a full probe.
14:37
25.4.2014
AFP and Reuters via our newsroom:
German Chancellor Angela Merkel says she told President Vladimir Putin that further sanctions against Russia may be necessary because Moscow has not done enough to implement the Geneva agreement on de-escalation of the Ukraine crisis.
Merkel, speaking in Berlin after talks with Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, said Russia has "the power" to persuade pro-Russian separatists to leave government buildings they occupy in eastern Ukraine.
But she said efforts by Moscow to bring the separatists on a "peaceful path" are lacking.
Merkel was expected to speak about further sanctions against Russia in a conference call April 25 with British Prime Minister David Cameron, French President Francois Hollande, Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi, and U.S. President Barack Obama.
Obama said he planned to discuss with European leaders the possibility of "sector sanctions" against Russia, possibly targeting the banking and energy spheres.
Merkel, speaking in Berlin after talks with Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, said Russia has "the power" to persuade pro-Russian separatists to leave government buildings they occupy in eastern Ukraine.
But she said efforts by Moscow to bring the separatists on a "peaceful path" are lacking.
Merkel was expected to speak about further sanctions against Russia in a conference call April 25 with British Prime Minister David Cameron, French President Francois Hollande, Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi, and U.S. President Barack Obama.
Obama said he planned to discuss with European leaders the possibility of "sector sanctions" against Russia, possibly targeting the banking and energy spheres.
14:43
25.4.2014
RFE/RL's Tatar-Bashkir Service reports that NGOs in Russia's Republic of Tatarstan have nominated the veteran leader of Crimean Tatars, Mustafa Dzhemilev, for the Nobel Peace Prize. The organizations’ leaders told RFE/RL that Dzhemilev, a dissident who was imprisoned by the Soviets over his campaign for the rights of Crimean Tatars, deserves the prize because of his insistence on a peaceful resolution of ethnic issues. Dzhemilev, 70, has said publicly that Crimean Tatars will not recognize Russia's annexation of the Crimean peninsula from Ukraine.
Russian officials this week dismissed reports, based on statements from the Mejlis, the Crimean Tatars' assembly, suggesting that Dzhemilev had been barred for five years from entering Crimea.
Groups supporting Dzhemilev's Nobel nomination include the Council of Tatarstan Elderlies, the Tatarstan National Assembly, Tatarstan's Anti-Nuclear Association, the Muslim Women's Association, and others. The groups have sent joint letters to the Nobel Prize committee and the Ukrainian government and intellectuals, asking them to support Dzhemilev's nomination.
14:52
25.4.2014
Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev has signed a decree establishing a Crimean Post Office.
14:54
25.4.2014
In Prague for the EU Eastern Partnership meeting, Ukrainian acting Foreign Minister Andriy Deshchytsya says, according to Reuters: "We have signed the Geneva statement on de-escalation of the situation in eastern Ukraine and we do believe that there is still a chance to implement this statement. However, the chances are getting lower and lower, since Russia is not willing or committed to all the provisions of this document."
15:01
25.4.2014
Czech President Milos Zeman announced "a unanimous recommendation" from the EU and Eastern Partnership states that "the Russian Federation -- as a peaceful gesture with the aim of de-escalating the Russia-Ukraine conflict -- pull back its forces from the Ukrainian border."
He added that there was also a recommendation that Ukrainian officials "carry out a decentralization of the country in line with the conclusion of the Geneva conference."
He added that there was also a recommendation that Ukrainian officials "carry out a decentralization of the country in line with the conclusion of the Geneva conference."
15:01
25.4.2014
15:11
25.4.2014
A VOA cameraman was among the first on the scene after a Ukrainian military helicopter exploded on the tarmac at a base in Kramatorsk -- reportedly after it was hit by gunfire or a rocket-propelled grenade -- leaving the pilot wounded but alive. Kramatorsk is in pro-Russian hands. (WARNING: graphic language)
15:12
25.4.2014