UkraineAlert
This even includes Ukrainians’ current achievements. Why, for example, on the posters in Prague advertising shows by Onuka, the Ukrainian electro-folk band, does the description refer to a "Russian artist"? During a tour to France, why is the word "Ukraine" not mentioned anywhere on posters for the National Opera and Ballet of Ukraine, which is described as the "Russian Ballet"?
The more important, bigger questions are, why does Russia use Ukraine’s achievements as material for promoting its own culture? And what should Ukraine do to finally detach itself from Russia, including on the cultural front?
But even if the tweet was wholly incorrect, this Russian gloss on the proceedings there, taken in the context of last week’s other news, proves two conclusions.
Minister of Economic Development and Trade Aivaras Abromavičius announced his resignation on February 3, 2016, claiming the government wasn’t committed to fighting corruption.
The 42-year-old businessman was in Ukraine’s government for 500 days, and he’s got some unusual insights into what went wrong.
The Maidan is a moving place on these anniversaries; relatives place candles and flowers at the sites where their loved ones were killed, and strangers do the same.
One of the youngest to die on February 20 was 17-year-old Nazar Voytovych. There is a memorial to him, with his photo and some poetry which are attached to a tree just on the corner of the entrance to Globus and Hotel Ukrayina. I passed by the makeshift monument erected in the hours after he lost his life and it has hardly changed: a lady crossing herself repeatedly, probably a relative, but perhaps a stranger mourning a life lost too soon, stood watch.
The other thing that struck me as I walked around this year was the number of older people who were there with grandchildren. It’s almost like they're making extra certain that these kids understand and appreciate what happened, pointing to the faces etched on the memorial stones. These are the heroes who stood in defiance of the cruel regime that was looting the country.
March 18 won’t just mark the end of the election campaign. It will also launch Putin’s last term, which will expire in 2024. March 19 will be the first of 2,190 days after which a new life will begin in Russia, a life no one knows anything about. Many in Russia have had the sense for a long time that an era is ending. Now we know the exact dates.
At that point, Putin will have four options to choose from.
Yevhenia Zakrevska, the leading lawyer of the so-called Heavenly Hundred families who lost loved ones on the Maidan during this period, gave a detailed interview describing the status of the cases.
What needs to be investigated? All of the crimes committed during the Revolution of Dignity have been consolidated into one solid “Maidan Case” that comprises 89 criminal proceedings in relation to the killings of 91 persons (78 protestors and 13 law enforcement officials).
At the same time, the ongoing war waged by Russia and pro-Kremlin separatists has added new fault lines, and these divides will likely be exploited by politicians in the lead up to the 2019 presidential and parliamentary elections.
