Internal Security News

• Ukraine's government confirmed a deadly attack on troops in eastern Donetsk, with reports of at least 13 soldiers were killed.
   
• (Interfax Ukraine) Valeriy Bolotov, leader of the self-proclaimed "Luhansk People's Republic," urged Russian President Vladimir Putin to deploy peacekeeping troops in the territory and declared martial law throughout Luhansk. 

• (Interfax Ukraine) 18 of 34 district election commissions in Donetsk and Luhansk had been captured by separatists as of May 22.

• Ukraine’s Defense Ministry reported that a Russian MI-8 helicopter had crossed into Ukrainian airspace in northeastern Ukraine’s Sumy Oblast on May 21.

• (ITAR-TASS) The Supreme Council of the self-proclaimed “Donetsk People’s Republic” asked Russia to recognize its independence.

• Ukrainian border guards thwarted an attempt by “several groups of armed militants carrying weapons and ammunition from the Russian Federation to break through the state border of Ukraine.” The groups attempted to enter Ukraine at the border of the Krasnodonsky region of Lugansk Oblast.

• (ITAR-TASS) Leadership of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic (DNR) said that it does not rule out that Kiev authorities may attempt to storm Donetsk and stage provocations ahead of the May 25 presidential election.

• (ITAR-TASS) Government of the self-proclaimed Lugansk People’s Republic (LPR) said it is ready to sit down to the negotiating table with Kiev if Ukrainian authorities terminate a “punitive operation” in southeast Ukraine.

• Ukraine's largest bank announced that militants affiliated with the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Luhansk people's republics have hijacked 15 cash-in-transit vehicles since early May.

Diplomacy News

• (Interfax Ukraine) Ukrainian PM Yatsenyuk appealed to the UN to convene a Security Council session as soon as possible. "We will provide evidence that it is Russia trying to escalate the conflict, attempts to seize Ukrainian state border checkpoints and scuttle the presidential election," he was quoted as saying by his office.
   
• Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Alexander Lukashevich called Kiev's allegations that Russia is trying to disrupt the upcoming presidential elections in Ukraine as unfounded and doubted that the UN Security Council will address the issue.
   
• (ITAR-TASS) Ukraine asked Russia for permission to organize a regular observation flight over Russian territory. The request was handed over via the OSCE in accordance with provisions of the Open Skies Treaty.
   
• NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said that there were indications that Russia may be preparing to pull back some of its forces that are amassed near Ukraine's border. NATO has seen "limited" Russian troop activity "that MAY suggest that some of these forces are preparing to withdraw," Rasmussen said via Twitter.

• NATO’s top military commander then stated that the Russian military force close to the Ukrainian border remains very large and threatening despite some movement of Russian troops.

• A Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman said that Moscow thinks that Viktor Yanukovych remains the legitimate president of Ukraine.

• (RIA Novosti) Ukraine’s Security Service released Russia Today contributing journalist Graham Phillips  to the consul of the British embassy in Kyiv. Graham indicated that the LifeNews reporters still being detained were safe.

• (ITAR-TASS) US State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said that the U.S. believes the Ukrainian government should free detained Russian journalists if they are not involved in illegal activity. Ukrainian authorities ignored the call to free LifeNews journalists detained by National Guards servicemen near Kramatorsk, LifeNews director-general Ashot Gabrelyanov told ITAR-TASS.

• Russian Deputy ambassador Alexander Kramarenko was due to meet British Foreign Office officials in London to “ask for clarification” regarding a statement allegedly made by the Prince of Wales in which he likened Russian President Putin’s actions in Crimea to those of Hitler. A spokesman for the Russian embassy in London called the alleged remark “outrageous” and “propaganda against Russia.”

• (ITAR-TASS) Australia’s sanctions against Russia will not be unanswered, the Russian Foreign Ministry pledged. “We have been repeatedly saying that Russia does not accept attempts to speak to it in the language of sanctions,” the ministry said.

• The Russian Ministry of Culture demanded the return of a Scythian gold collection on loan to a museum in the Netherlands since February, stating that a failure to return it could be considered “embezzlement.” The Netherlands does not recognize Crimea's unification with Russia, which took place after the opening of the exhibition, and the question arose as to whom the collection should be returned to once the exhibition closes in August. Ukraine previously requested that the gold be returned to Kiev.

• (RIA Novosti) The Moscow Commercial Court upheld a claim of the Russian Ministry of Culture and the Russian State Library, ordering the U.S. to return seven books on loan from the collection of Yosef Yitzchok Schneerson to Russia.

International Observation News

• (RIA Novosti) Russian monitors working with the OSCE special mission to Ukraine have noted that not all of their messages have appeared in the mission's final reports, Russia's permanent representative to the OSCE said.
   
• (Interfax Ukraine) The OSCE special monitoring mission in Ukraine will be expanded to 750 people, according to Ambassador Ertugrul Apakan, head of the mission.

Governance News

• (Interfax Ukraine) The Ukrainian Prosecutor General's Office opened a criminal case against Ihor Hyrkin (Strelkov), the defense minister of the self-proclaimed 'Donetsk People's Republic,' on charges of the establishment of a terrorist organization and commission of terrorist attacks on Ukrainian territory.
   
• (Interfax Ukraine) The Right Sector organization was officially registered by the Justice Ministry as a political party, the party's information coordinator, Boryslav Bereza, said.
   
• (Interfax Ukraine) German diplomat and OSCE negotiator on dialogue in Ukraine Wolfgang Ischinger said that it would be good for Ukraine to conduct one more nationwide roundtable on national unity before the May 25 elections.

Internal Security News

• (RIA Novosti) An officer of the Ukrainian Defense Ministry said that the active phase of special operations in Ukraine’s eastern regions is continuing and military personnel are carrying out their orders.
   
• Ukrainian PM Yatsenyuk stated that he sees progress in attempts to settle the situation in some eastern regions of Ukraine.
   
• (ITAR-TASS) Unidentified assailants attacked and burnt down the house of Oleh Tsarev, a pro-Russian member of the Ukrainian parliament and former presidential candidate.
   

Diplomacy News

• NATO Secretary General Rasmussen alleges that NATO has still seen no "visible evidence" of a Russian troop withdrawal from the border with Ukraine.
   
• (RIA Novosti) Russian President Putin stated that Russia has pulled its troops back from regions near the border with Ukraine in order to facilitate conditions for its western neighbor’s upcoming presidential elections on May 25.
   
• U.S. Vice President Joe Biden warned Moscow against undermining the upcoming Ukrainian presidential election.
   
• Russian President Vladimir Putin called the detention of two Russian journalists in Ukraine unacceptable suggested it highlighted wider questions about the legitimacy of political power in Ukraine.
   
• (ITAR-TASS) Ukraine wants to develop “equal relations” with Russia, Ukrainian PM Yatsenyuk said at a ‘unity roundtable’. “Ukraine’s eastern regions are dependent on the Russian market.”  
   
• (RIA Novosti) The commander of the Russian air force stated that Ukraine is meddling in Russia’s affairs by asking Moscow to stop the Aviadarts 2014 international competition, calling it a military exercise.
   
• (ITAR-TASS) The Russian Foreign Ministry stated that “Despite the commitment to refrain from any violent actions, intimidation and provocations Kyiv did not stop. On the contrary, [Kyiv] is persistently intensifying a punitive operation against their own people and is conducting nighttime shelling on cities in the east of the country, including from heavy weapons.”
   
• (ITAR-TASS) The Russian and US defense agencies maintain permanent contacts over Ukraine, Russia’s Defense Ministry top official said. “We’re ready to explain Russian actions’ logic, including the activity of Russian troops in the area adjacent to the Ukrainian borders.”
   
• (ITAR-TASS) Russia passed a law to stop hryvnia circulation in Crimea by June 1. 
   
• Russian President Putin said that it will be hard for Russia to build relations with Ukrainian leaders who come to power at a time of growing tension.
   
• (RIA Novosti) Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Grigory Karasin said that a memorandum on peace and consent passed by Ukraine’s parliament is the first distinct but late step in fulfilling the April 17 Geneva Agreements and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe’s (OSCE) “roadmap.”
   
• (RIA Novosti) European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said in a letter addressed to Russian President Vladimir Putin that the European Commission believes Russian gas giant Gazprom is responsible for deliveries to Europe in the required volumes.
   
• (RIA Novosti) Human Rights Watch stated that they are gravely concerned by the detention of Russian journalists in Ukraine and called for their immediate release.
   
• Russia Today’s Editor-in-Chief stated that the British authorities ignored appeals with regard to the detention in Ukraine of reporter Graham Phillips cooperating with the Russian television channel. 
   

International Observation Missions News  

• (RIA Novosti) Ukraine’s State Border Service stated that over 730 international observers have already arrived in Ukraine to monitor the country’s presidential election scheduled for May 25.
   

Constitutional Reform News  

• (ITAR-TASS) Russian President Vladimir Putin stated that he finds holding a referendum on a new Ukrainian Constitution before holding presidential elections a more logical sequence of events.
   

Governance News

• (RIA Novosti) Prime Minister Yatsenyuk ruled out bilateral talks between Kyiv and Moscow, saying de-escalation in the crisis-hit country could only be discussed at an international scale.
   
• China and Russia signed a huge 30-year gas supply contract in Shanghai on Wednesday, after a decade of talks. The deal between Russia's Gazprom and China National Petroleum Corp (CNPC) d been years in the making. No official price was given but it is estimated to be worth over $400bn.
   
• (RIA Novosti) The Verkhovna Rada ratified the text of a “memorandum of peace and consent” after two months of armed clashes. The memorandum calls for a withdrawal of the country’s military to their permanent bases, a ban of criminal charges against protest activists, and the inclusion of the Russian language in a new constitution.
   
• Ukrainian State Duma Speaker Sergei Naryshkin said that the attempt to launch a public dialogue in Ukraine has so far failed.
   
• Leading presidential candidate Petro Poroshenko said that the international investigations commission investigating the events in Kyiv should investigate the events that deal with people's deaths on Kyiv's Maidan in Feb. and the tragedy that occurred in Odessa on May 2.
   
• (Interfax Ukraine) Presidential candidate and Batkivschyna Party leader Yulia Tymoshenko said that one of the new president's priorities is to bring back the funds stashed in the offshore accounts of former high-ranking officials.
   
• (RIA Novosti) The Ukrainian National Security and Defense Council announced the creation of a new international TV channel to promote Ukrainian values.
   
• (ITAR-TASS) Ukraine's first president Leonid Kravchuk urged the Verkhovna Rada to disband itself in the interest of national unity. 

Internal Security News

• An unknown number of masked gunmen stormed nearly a dozen district election commissions in eastern Donetsk and Luhansk and demanded at gunpoint that officials turn over ballots and other documents pertaining to the May 25 presidential elections.
   
• Steel magnate Rinat Akhmetov , Ukraine's richest man, called for a mass peace rally in the east, accusing separatists of leading Ukraine towards "genocide." Akhmetov urged tens of thousands of his employees to lead the protests. A similar initiative last week led to ethnic Russian separatists losing control of Mariupol.
   
• (Interfax Ukraine) According to Interfax Ukraine, a 20-minute Peace March protest was held in the Donbas-Arena stadium in central Donetsk without incident.
   
• Ukrainian Colonel Yuriy Lebid, acting head of the Eastern Operative-Territorial Junction, was released after being abducted by separatists on May 15, according to the Ukrainian National Guard press service on Facebook.
   
• The head of the Ukrainian Interior Ministry's Department for Mass Public Events said that over 75,000 personnel, including 55,700 policemen and more than 20,000 volunteers, will maintain public order in Ukraine for the May 25 presidential elections.

Diplomacy News

• (ITAR-TASS) Russian PM Dmitri Medvedev said of Russia-U.S. relations: “we are slowly but surely moving towards a second Cold War that nobody wants.”
   
• (Interfax Ukraine) According to a statement from the Kremlin, Russian President Vladimir Putin instructed the Defense Minister that the spring phase of military training has been completed, and troops should return to their bases after taking part in drills in the Rostov, Belgorod and Bryansk regions.
   
• (Interfax Ukraine) Ukraine's Foreign Ministry said that Russia has not withdrawn its troops from the Ukrainian border, despite President Putin’s assurances.
   
• (ITAR-TASS) The chief of the Russian Armed Forces’ General Staff expressed concern about NATO’s increased military activity near Russian borders.
   
• Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Grigory Karasin said that Ukraine’s presidential election will deepen political divisions if there is no end to hostilities, or unless a "road map" to end the crisis is not implemented.
   
• (ITAR-TASS) German Chancellor Merkel urged Russia to recognize the result of Ukraine’s presidential elections.
   
• (ITAR-TASS) The Russia Today television channel announced on its website that British journalist Graham Phillips was detained in Ukraine. The reporter was allegedly held by Ukrainian security forces after failing to present sufficient identification at a Mariupol checkpoint. 
   
• The Russian Foreign Ministry is considering filing a lawsuit with The Hague's tribunal on the events that occurred in Odessa on May 2.
   
• (RIA Novosti) A senior Russian diplomat announced that the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs is preparing to release the second volume of its “White Book” on human rights violations in Ukraine within a month.
   
• (Interfax Ukraine) Russia is not demonstrating its readiness to resolve the issue of natural gas shipments to Ukraine and the EU, Ukrainian Prime Minister Yatsenyuk said in a letter to top European Commission officials and EU leaders.

• (RIA Novosti) Russian PM Dmitri Medvedev said that Russia is not obligated to guarantee the territorial sovereignty of Ukraine.

• (Interfax Ukraine, ITAR-TASS) A train that derailed near Moscow and caused at least six deaths belonged to a Ukrainian company and was “badly worn out,” according to Russian Railways. However, RIA Novosti reported that the Moscow Transport Department blamed a “broken rail” as the cause of the accident.

• (RIA Novosti) Russia is prepared with responsive measures for possible economic sanctions imposed by the West, Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said.

• (ITAR-TASS) German Chancellor Angela Merkel said that the planned agreement between Ukraine and the EU Association "is in no way directed against Russia."

• (RIA Novosti) The Russian Defense Ministry plans to turn over all Ukrainian military equipment that was stationed in Crimea by the end of this year, said Deputy Defense Minister General Dmitry Bulgakov.

• The European Commission paid out a first loan tranche of 100 million euros ($137 million) to Ukraine, launching a €1.6 billion euro macro-financial assistance loan program to prop up the beleaguered economy.

Governance News

• Confectionary tycoon Petro Poroshenko remains on track to win Ukraine's presidential election in the first round of voting on May 25.

• (Interfax Ukraine) According to a poll conducted by the Institute of World Policies, 70 out of 80 surveyed political science experts included Poroshenko on a list of three people worthy of the title of "European president," with 54 of the respondents putting him in first place. The project was supported by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).

• (Interfax Ukraine) The next meeting of the National Unity roundtable will be held in Mykolaiv on May 21, the press service of Mykolaiv Regional State Administration has reported. Ukrainian PM Yatsenyuk is expected to take part in the roundtable.

• (Interfax Ukraine) Ukraine's National Security and Defense Council Secretary Andriy Parubiy said that new methods of so-called "hybrid warfare" have shown that Ukraine's defense sector requires comprehensive reform, in which NATO is ready to help. The statement was issued after a meeting of the joint NATO-Ukraine working group on defense reform in Brussels. 

Internal Security

• (Interfax Ukraine) Ukrainian President Turchynov said that the Donetsk and Luhansk regions have effectively been left with no security or police forces. “The reform of the law enforcement system is not happening fast. For instance, the Donetsk and Luhansk regions are effectively left without the Security Service and police who are supposed to be prepared to fulfill their constitutional duties. All these systems need to be restored virtually from scratch.”

• Ukraine’s Security Services stated that it had arrested individuals who were planning a terrorist attack in Odessa on May 18. 

• One pro-Russian separatist was killed, one wounded, and an unspecified number were taken prisoner, including two Russian journalists, in clashes near Izium, Kharkiv Oblast, and Sloviansk and Kramatorsk in Donetsk from May 17-19, Ukrainian authorities said. 

• (Interfax Ukraine) A separate system for protecting law and order will be put in place in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions during the upcoming presidential elections, Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatseniuk said.

• A top Ukrainian Interior Ministry official said that 32 pro-Russia protesters who retreated inside Odessa’s Trade Unions building after clashes with pro-Ukraine activists and later died when the building was torched on May 2 might have been poisoned with chloroform.

• The payment of pensions and public sector salaries in Sloviansk and Kramatorsk, cities in eastern Ukraine's Donetsk region, will be suspended because of attacks on banks, post offices and infrastructural facilities, the interior minister said.
   

Constitutional Reform

• Russian FM Sergei Lavrov stated that Moscow hopes that the roundtables aimed at establishing national dialogue in Ukraine will not become a folding screen for a hushed constitutional reform.
   

Diplomacy

• Russia's President Vladimir Putin ordered troops near Ukraine's border to withdraw to their permanent bases immediately.
   
• (ITAR-TASS) The US Defense Department claimed that it still sees no sign of Russian troop withdrawal from the Ukrainian border. 
   
• NATO Secretary General Rasmussen also stated that NATO saw no signs of Russian troop withdrawal. 
   
• Ukrainian authorities detained two reporters from Russian outlet LifeNews on May 18. The Russian Foreign Ministry issued a statement demanding their immediate, unconditional release.
   
• (ITAR-TASS) Former Ukrainian Defense Minister Leonid Polyakov claimed that Ukraine has asked the US for military uniforms, vehicles, and other equipment.
   
• (RIA Novosti) Russian FM Sergei Lavrov said that relations between Russia, the European Union and NATO need to be fundamentally reconsidered.
   
• (RIA Novosti) NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said that the military alliance does not plan to amend its framework agreement with Russia.
   
• (ITAR-TASS) US Vice President Biden travelled to Romania and Cyprus for talks on sanctions against Russia.
   
• Russian President Vladimir Putin and German Chancellor Angela Merkel spoke over the telephone, a Kremlin statement said, adding that both sides expressed hope for continued dialogue between authorities in Kyiv and eastern Ukraine.
   
• (RIA Novosti) Russian FM Lavrov said that the European Union’s sanctions are impairing joint efforts to settle the crisis in Ukraine.
   
• (ITAR-TASS) Russian President Putin was due to meet with UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon to discuss the crisis in Ukraine in Shanghai on May 20. 
   
• (ITAR-TASS) Representatives of the ‘People’s Republic of Luhansk’ appealed to the UN to recognize their sovereignty. 
   
• The OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media Dunja Mijatovic said she urged the Ukrainian authorities to release LifeNews reporters detained in Ukraine.
   

Governance 

• President Turchynov said he is confident Ukraine will cope with possible difficulties if Russia stops supplying gas on June 1.
   
• (ITAR-TASS) Prime Minister Yatsenyuk stated that he believes that the presidential election will provide "broad political competition.” 
   
• (Interfax Ukraine) Prime Minister Yatsenyuk said that the early presidential elections scheduled to be held on May 25 should be conducted in all regions of Ukraine.
   
• (Interfax Ukraine) President Turchynov wrote a letter to Justice Minister Pavlo Petrenko asking him to examine whether the Communist Party of Ukraine was involved in activities aimed at violating the country's sovereignty and territorial integrity. The letter asks Petrenko “to immediately take statutory measures to ban the Communist Party of Ukraine.”
   
• (Interfax Ukraine) Presidential candidate and Batkivschyna party leader Yulia Tymoshenko said that she is sure that Ukraine will file a bid for EU membership and hold a referendum on NATO membership following presidential elections scheduled for May 25. 
   
• (Interfax Ukraine) Former Ukrainian President Kravchuk said that the third all-Ukrainian roundtable of national unity will most likely be held in Cherkasy on May 21.
   
• The leader of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic stated that the DPR will not recognize presidential elections on the 25th of May, as they are illegal and violate the Constitution.

After two years of protracted deliberations in parliament, the Lower House (“Wolesi Jirga”) has finally adopted a series of new mining laws to provide a stronger legal framework for investment in Afghanistan’s mining sector. Among other provisions, the law enables corporate businesses, already investing in the exploration of Afghanistan’s natural resources, to bid for extraction. A subsequent addendum to the legislation requires 5 percent of mining revenues to be allocated for development projects in mining areas.  

The EastWest Institute welcomes the adoption of these laws as a significant achievement. The new legislation could not come at a more critical time—just a few weeks before the second round of presidential elections—as Afghanistan  prepares for a historical political transition, with potential consequences to regional security. In this time of uncertainty, EWI is about to release a new report, Afghanistan Reconnected: Regional Economic Security Beyond 2014—focusing on the country’s regional economic potential. This work has engaged leading private sector leaders, parliamentarians and governmental officials from Asia and beyond. EWI plans to launch the report officially on June 11, 2014, at the institute’s Brussels Center.

Ramazan Jumazada, MP from Afghanistan and member of EWI’s Parliamentarians Network for Conflict Prevention, says: “We do believe this will have a very significant impact on attracting domestic and foreign investment in Afghanistan. The mining sector is a very good alternative for Afghanistan’s sustainability and will help Afghanistan to reduce its dependency on foreign aid.”

The mining sector is Afghanistan’s largest medium and long term economic asset. Official sources have estimated $1 trillion in proven mineral resources and the potential for an additional $3 trillion. 

With the withdrawal of most foreign troops by the end of 2014 and the reduction of foreign aid, Afghanistan’s economy will have to become more self-sustaining and generate sufficient state revenue. To ensure this transition, Afghanistan must increase domestic and foreign investment in key industries, such as the mining sector. Developing Afghanistan’s mineral resources—including copper, iron ore, gold, oil and natural gas—will increase the potential for prosperity and economic growth. 

Internal Security News

• (Interfax Ukraine) A joint police and Security Service team arrested the commander of the so called "South-East Army" in Luhansk.
   
• Steelworkers employed by Ukraine’s wealthiest man joined forces with Ukrainian police in Mariupol on May 15, establishing control over the streets and banishing the pro-Kremlin militants. Miners and steelworkers deployed in at least five cities, including the regional capital, Donetsk. They had not, however, become the dominant force there that they were in Mariupol.
   
• (RIA Novosti) Separatist militias in the Donetsk region refused to reveal what steps they will take after a 24-hour ultimatum demanding the withdrawal of Kiev security forces expired late on Thursday. In the ultimatum, the militants threatened to start a special operation if Ukrainian troops fail to depart from roadblocks seized in the region.
   
• The Ukrainian State Border Guard Service prevented more than 200 Russian nationals "who had been involved in extremist activities and had very radical attitudes" from entering Ukraine since March 6. RIA Novosti reported that the 200 ‘extremists’ were in addition to 20,000 other Russians who had been barred from entering Ukraine since March.
   
• The head of the supervisory board of the Ukrainian-Jewish Encounter public initiative said Anti-Semitism is not an issue in Ukraine, whereas the artificial tension in this matter is created by Russia.
   

International Observation News

• A UN report compiled by 34 observers on the ground cited cases of targeted killings, torture, beatings, abductions, and sexual harassment, as well as intimidation of the media in what it deemed an "alarming deterioration" of human rights in eastern Ukraine.
   
• (RIA Novosti)The UN Assistant Secretary-General for Human Rights stated that 127 people have been killed in the anti-terrorist operation in southeastern Ukraine. A total of 250 people have died in clashes in Ukraine since November 2013.
   
• (Interfax Ukraine) OSCE High Commissioner on National Minorities Astrid Thors visited Ukraine.
   
• (ITAR-TASS) A senior diplomat with the Russian Foreign Minstry said that an OSCE report on Ukraine distorts the reality of the situation in Ukraine, ignoring the Kyiv government’s violations of human rights as well as the rise of neo-nationalist and xenophobic sentiments in the society.
   
• (ITAR-TASS) The Russian Foreign Ministry’s criticism of the UN human rights report stated that its authors “somehow forgot to mention the termination of Ukraine in Crimea supply of fresh water - an action that violates a number of human rights."
   
• (RIA Novosti) The Russian Foreign Ministry said that the authors of a United Nations report on Ukraine attempting to justify the punitive operation in the country were trying to “whitewash” the authorities in Kyiv.
   

Diplomacy News

• NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said President Vladimir Putin’s assurances that Russia has no plans to intervene further in Ukraine can’t be believed.
   
• (ITAR-TASS) European Commissioner for Enlargement and European Neighbourhood Policy Stefan Fule called Ukraine a “stable partner” and said that the EU will support Kyiv in stabilizing the situation in Ukraine in a meeting with Ukrainian President Turchynov.
   
• The situation in Ukraine was not officially discussed during the ministerial session of the Moscow Energy Forum, but was touched upon behind the scenes, Energy Minister Alexander Novak told journalists.
   
• (RIA Novosti) Russian President Putin said that Russia may consider a proposal to acknowledge the Crimean Tatars as an indigenous people, but first the issue needs to be carefully studied.
   
• European Energy Commissioner Guenther Oettinger said that Russia is Europe's main trading partner in natural gas and that there should be therefore no sanctions against Moscow's energy sector over the crisis in Ukraine.
   
• (ITAR-TASS) The US State Department said that U.S. Assistant Secretary for European and Eurasian Affairs Victoria Nuland never met with representatives of the Ukrainian ultra-nationalist organization "Right Sector" and the U.S. administration does not render any assistance to the group.
   
• (Interfax Ukraine) Ukrainian President Turchynov held a meeting with Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski. The officials discussed the current situation in Ukraine, the further strengthening of bilateral cooperation, the relaxation of the EU visa requirements for Ukrainians and the upcoming presidential elections. Sikorski said Poland hopes for the signing of the second part of the Association Agreement between Ukraine and the European Union shortly after the presidential elections in Ukraine.
   
• (ITAR-TASS) Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andriy Deschytsia planned to visit Germany on May 19-20.
   
• Swedish FM Carl Bildt stated that if the situation in the east of Ukraine doesn't stabilize after the presidential elections, the EU may adopt new sanctions against Russia.
   
• (RIA Novosti) Russian President Vladimir Putin said that Moscow had been forced to introduce advance payments for deliveries of natural gas to Ukraine, but remains open for discussion to normalize the situation.
   
• Russian PM Medvedev stated that Russia's decision on its reunification with Crimea and Sevastopol cannot be reconsidered, but it is necessary to consistently explain it to younger generations and opponents.
   

Governance News

• (Interfax Ukraine) Ukraine’s Deputy Parliamentary Speaker Ruslan Koshulynsky announced that the National Dialogue Roundtable will take place in Kharkiv on May 17.
   
• (RIA Novosti) A ruling by the Ukrainian Constitutional Court determined that the new president elected on May 25 will serve a five-year term.
   
• (Interfax Ukraine) The CEO of Naftogaz said that Ukraine is planning to significantly increase reverse gas supplies through Hungary from May 21 under a contract that was signed on May 14.
   
• The German diplomat moderating 'round table' talks to promote political reconciliation in Ukraine said that the first meetings this week had included members of pro-Russian separatist groups such as the mayor of the eastern city of Donetsk, making it a meaningful process.

Internal Security News

• (Interfax Ukraine) Ukrainian President Turchynov said that anti-terrorist operations in the country's eastern regions will end when militants give up their arms.
   
• Ukrainian forces destroyed two pro-Russian rebel bases near Kramatorsk and Sloviansk in northern Donetsk without the loss of civilian or military lives.
   
• Pro-Russian militants issued a second ultimatum for Ukrainian forces to either withdraw from Donetsk and Luhansk, or to switch allegiance to a self-proclaimed republic that calls for secession.
   
• Moscow announced that it would conduct military exercises near Ukraine's border during the May 25 election.

• The Supreme Council of the self-proclaimed "Donetsk People's Republic" (DPR) approved alleged Russian intelligence officer Igor Strelkov as Defense Minister and head of the DPR Security Council.

International Observation News

• (ITAR-TASS) UN Assistant Secretary General for Human Rights Ivan Simonovic began a five-day visit to Ukraine, during which he will visit Kiev, Donetsk and Odessa, and present a report on the country’s human rights situation.
   
• (ITAR-TASS) The OSCE announced that it will increase the number of observers to 300, with a further increase to 500 after one month.
   
• (ITAR-TASS) The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) announced that it will send 42 observers to the May 25 presidential elections .
   
• (RIA Novosti) An OSCE report has ignored self-determination referendums held by Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk and Luhansk regions, according to Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Alexander Lukashevich.

Constitutional Reform News

• (ITAR-TASS) Ukrainian PM Yatsenyuk called for a national dialogue on constitutional reform and other issues.

• (RIA NOVOSTI) Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Alexander Lukashevich said that Kiev authorities have not initiated Ukraine’s process of constitutional dialogue with participation of all the country's regions.
   

Diplomacy News

• (Interfax Ukraine) Ukraine expressed anxiety over planned Russian military maneuvers in the run-up to its presidential election, and demanded that Moscow pull its troops deeper into Russian territory.
   
• (Interfax Ukraine) Russian President Putin informed multiple EU states that Moscow will switch to solely prepaid gas supplies if Ukraine does not pay its bills.
   
• (ITAR-TASS) Putin said that Russia hopes for greater EU action on the issue of Ukraine's gas debt.
   
• A top Ukrainian diplomat said that Russia must take concrete steps, including withdrawing its troops from Ukraine's borders, before Kiev would sign up to a draft "road map" to lessen tensions.
   
• The U.S. government released new satellite pictures that is says show Russian forces were near the Ukrainian border in recent days, contradicting Russian assertions that they had been withdrawn.
   
• The head of the Russian State Duma Committee for CIS Affairs, Eurasian Integration and Ties with Compatriots, said he had not ruled out a resumption of inter-parliamentary ties between Russia and Ukraine after the latter holds an election on May 25.
   
• An independent polling agency concluded that Russian President Putin’s domestic popularity has risen sharply, and that he is firmly on course to win a new term in 2018, should he decide to run.

Governance News

• The Party of Regions and Communist parliamentarians decided not to attend the evening session of the Verkhovna Rada  to protest the ongoing southeast security operation.

• Ukrainian presidential candidate, leader of the Batkivschyna Party, and former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko suggested holding a referendum on the day of the presidential election that will include governance issues, foreign policy and NATO relations.

• (ITAR-TASS) The head of the Kiev City State Administration stated that central budget funds will only last six months, partially due to corruption and bribery.
   
• The Justice Ministry press service announced creation of a special department to reimburse people for illegally removed assets and losses from Russia’s Crimea annexation

Internal Security News

• (ITAR-TASS) A pro-Russian militant was killed and four were injured in a gunfight with Ukrainian forces near Kramatorsk .

• Seven Ukrainian paratroopers were killed following an ambush by pro-Russian forces near Kramatorsk.

• Six members of the Ukrainian armed forces were killed in a "terrorist attack" near Kramatorsk, the Ukrainian Defense Ministry said in a statement on its website.

• Two soldiers were killed and two more were injured after a self-propelled artillery vehicle caught fire in the Kherson region, Ukrainian Defense Ministry press service reported.

• (RIA Novosti) Pro-Russian militants in Slaviansk intend to move to an offensive strategy, the press secretary of the people's mayor told RIA Novosti.

• Separatist leader and “Luhansk people's governor" Valeriy Bolotov was injured in a suspected assassination attempt.

• Fierce urban warfare awaits Ukrainian forces in Sloviansk, said 1st Special Battalion National Guardsman Andriy  Antonyshchak at the Ukraine Crisis Media Center.

• Ukrainian authorities should have removed UN symbols from helicopters used by the Ukrainian National Guard near Kramatorsk, a UN official said.

Constitutional Reform News

• (RIA Novosti) A Ukrainian lawmaker said that the Verkhovna Rada will not restart discussions on holding a decentralization referendum alongside the May 25 presidential elections.
   
• (ITAR-TASS) U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry stated that national dialogue and round tables, which will be held throughout Ukraine with OSCE assistance, will focus on issues of decentralization and constitutional reform.

Diplomacy News

• (Interfax Ukraine)  The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry said it agrees with the roadmap proposed by the OSCE to settle the Ukraine situation, but that it needs to be adjusted.
   
• The Kiev administration discussed proposals drafted by the OSCE during talks with regional officials.  Moscow insisted that the ‘illegitimate’ use of the helicopters be probed.

• (ITAR-TASS) Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry referred to the OSCE roadmap on crisis settlement as an “auxiliary instrument.” Prime Minister Yatsenyuk, speaking from Brussels, provided no direct answer as to whether or not he supports the roadmap. In his words, the settlement plan should be “purely Ukrainian.”

• (ITAR-TASS) According to Russian FM Sergei Lavrov, Moscow believes information that Western mercenaries are operating in Ukraine to be true.

• (ITAR-TASS) The European Commission and members appointed by the Verkhovna Rada Cabinet of Ministers agreed on the need to investigate  events that occurred in Odessa on May 2, when fighting between pro-Ukrainian and pro-Russian crowds culminated with a fire and the deaths of over 40 people.

• (ITAR-TASS) Russian FM Lavrov said that Russia strongly opposes any attempts to draw Ukraine into NATO.

• (RIA Novosti) Russia’s deputy envoy to the EU said that the EU should call on Kiev rather than on Moscow to de-escalate the Ukrainian crisis, as the domestic conflict was triggered by the EU and U.S., but is now billed as Moscow’s plan.

• (RIA Novosti) NATO Deputy Secretary General Alexander Vershbow said that NATO plans to increase its aid to the Moldovan army.

• German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s deputy said that Europe is partly to blame for the Ukraine crisis, although it is no excuse for Russian behavior towards the former Soviet republic.

• (ITAR-TASS) Israel refused to allow a Russian missile ship to anchor at one of its ports in order to prevent straining relations with the U.S. in the midst of the Ukrainian crisis.

• (RIA Novosti) Sergei Naryshkin, the speaker of Russia’s lower house of parliament, emphasized the importance of dialogue between Russian and foreign lawmakers, and said more contacts were planned in the near future.

• (RIA Novosti) Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said during an English-language interview with Bloomberg that Russia does not consider Ukraine to be its backyard, but “we don’t consider ourselves foreigners [in Ukraine].”

• German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier, speaking from Kiev, warned that the situation in eastern Ukraine is "still dangerous and threatening," and backed the interim government’s efforts to start a national dialogue. Steinmeier said the May 25 elections would play a "decisive role" in restoring calm to Ukraine and urged steps to disarm illegal separatist groups who have seized key buildings in the east.

• A Ukrainian delegation headed by PM Yatsenyuk visited Brussels on May 13 to meet with the European Commission.

Governance News

• The Ukrainian government sat down with regional officials for talks, brokered by international monitors, and agreed to discuss a set of proposals drafted by the OSCE. Leaders from the pro-Russian separatist movement were not invited. 
   
• (Interfax Ukraine) President Turchynov said that any international agreements should be made in the Geneva format. He also stated that central authorities are ready for dialogue with the regions, but will not allow "the terrorizing and blackmailing of Ukraine."
   
• (ITAR-TASS) Ukrainian President Turchynov instructed the government to develop and implement a mechanism to transfer property seized from corrupt officials to the state.

• (Interfax Ukraine) Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatseniuk said that the newly elected Ukrainian president should sign the remaining part of the Association Agreement with the EU, including a deep and comprehensive free trade area.

• (Interfax Ukraine) The Verkhovna Rada adopted four remaining bills to allow a transition to the implementation phase of an action plan that will simplify a joint visa regime with the EU.

• (ITAR-TASS) Ukrainian aviation authorities banned local airlines from making regular and charter flights to a number of Russian regions in the North Caucasus, including Chechnya, Dagestan, Ingushetia, Kabardino-Balkaria, Karachay-Cherkessia and North Ossetia.

• An inter-faction union of MPs called the Anti-Crisis Group was created in the Verkhovna Rada.

• (Interfax Ukraine) Russia's Gazprom served Ukraine's Naftogaz with a preliminary invoice of $1.66 billion for June gas supplies.

• (RIA Novosti) Ukraine’s state-run Naftogaz has not paid any part of its gas debt to Russia, despite Kiev's announcement that it is ready to cover the debt at a reduced price, a Gazprom official said

• The headquarters of presidential candidate Petro Poroshenko, currently leading in opinion polls, has said it hopes that the next Ukrainian president will be elected in the first round, scheduled for May 25.

• (RIA Novosti) Russian State Duma Speaker Sergei Naryshkin said that not holding the upcoming presidential elections in Ukraine scheduled for May 25 would be worse for the country than holding them.

• (Interfax Ukraine) Ukraine and the EU have signed a memorandum of understanding and a bilateral loan agreement aimed at granting Kiev one billion Euros of macro-financial aid.