Estonian casino group wants compensation. The publicity over "Bruno" ban goes international. Many Ukrainians now call Portugal home. Nigeria warns on racism, murders. The Kremlin rises to Stalin's defense again. Ukraine, Russia to work together on An-70 plane.
Estonian casino group wants compensation
The Baltic News Service reported on July 9 that the Estonian-listed casino operator Olympic Entertainment Group will liquidate its Ukrainian subsidiaries and is planning to ask compensation from Ukraine for damages due to the banning of casinos. The Verkhovna Rada’s national ban on gaming went into force June 25. The new law has made operation of casinos in Ukraine impossible during an indefinite period of time, Olympic said.
Olympic said that it was planning to demand compensation from Ukraine, relying on the Estonian-Ukrainian treaty on the promotion and mutual protection of investments, the Baltic News Service reported. The damages in connection with the liquidation of Olympic’s Ukrainian subsidiaries are now being assessed.
Publicity over ‘Bruno’ ban goes international
The Ukrainian Culture Ministry got some of the world’s attention when this week it decided to ban the comedy movie “Bruno,” about a flamboyantly gay Austrian. Commentators expressed concern about whether the nation, which recently banned pornography, is rolling back on free speech gains made since the 2004 Orange Revolution. The London Guardian wrote on July 14: “[Ukraine’s Culture Ministry] appears to have taken the view that several of the scenes – among them a mock gay parade, and one in which Bruno shows off his penis – were likely to offend conservative and religious opinion. Ukraine’s Catholic west and orthodox east take a dim view of gay rights and hold highly traditional social views. And despite efforts by Ukraine’s Western-leaning political elite to integrate with Europe, there is little sign of a more liberal view taking hold.”
Many Ukrainians now call Portugal home
The Economist magazine found that the largest share of legal immigrants in Portugal come from countries that were former colonies, particularly Cape Verde (with 15.2 percent of the total) and Brazil (with 13.9 percent.) But Ukrainians make up the third-largest foreign contingent, with 8.5 percent of total legal immigrants. No figures were cited, but Portugal has only 10.6 million people.
Nigeria worries, warns on racism, murders
Nigerian’s ambassador to Ukraine, Ibrahim Pada Kasai, gave an interview with Segodnya newspaper on July 4 in which he complained about racism in Ukraine. According to the BBC translation, Kasai said: “After the murder of Nigerian Dzhulius Ezike [killed in the Borshchahivka city district of Kyiv on 26 June], local Africans came to my residence in Kyiv. They were scared that the same thing could happen to any of them. I do not see any direct signs that this was a racially-motivated murder, however… the Nigerian government is very concerned about the murders of Nigerians in Ukraine; this is the second case this year. That speaks of a high level of hate, hooliganism and irresponsibility. This is not merely about a murder, but also about how the Ukrainian police behave. They do not exert enough effort to solve these crimes. Not one suspect has been arrested yet. The situation could lead to a real diplomatic problem – Nigeria could officially warn its citizens that it is not safe to be in Ukraine. There are a lot of Ukrainians in Nigeria; your specialists are producing oil there and just think what would happen if someone gets the idea to take revenge? There are a lot of criminals everywhere, and no-one knows what is on their minds. The government should control crime against foreigners. I think that your police are loyal to racists.”
The Kremlin rises to Stalin’s defense again
Russia on July 9 lashed out at a resolution likening Stalinism to Nazism, according to Agence France Presse. The resolution was adopted by the parliamentary assembly of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe. It’s only the latest historical row between Moscow and ex-Communist bloc states, including Ukraine.
“We consider unacceptable the fact that in the OSCE’s parliamentary assembly resolution there is an attempt to distort history with political goals,” said Russian foreign ministry spokesman Andrei Nesterenko.
The resolution said 20th-century Europe had faced “two major totalitarian regimes, the Nazi and the Stalinist, which brought genocide, violations of human rights and freedoms, war crimes and crimes against humanity.” It urged all OSCE members to take a “united stand against all totalitarian rule from whatever ideological background” and slammed the “glorification of totalitarian regimes, including the holding of public demonstrations glorifying the Nazi or Stalinist past.”
Despite being blamed for the deaths of millions of people through purges and forced farm collectivization under his rule, Stalin remains a hero for many Russians for his role in defeating Nazi Germany in World War II.
The French news agency reports that the disputes are likely to intensify in coming months. Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has been invited by Poland to attend a ceremony on Sept. 1 marking 70 years since Hitler’s invasion triggered World War II. A contentious date looming on August 23 is the 70th anniversary of the Nazi-Soviet Pact of 1939, an agreement remembered with bitterness in Poland as it effectively carved-up the country but often glossed over in Russia.
The pact, signed in Moscow by Nazi foreign minister Joachim von Ribbentrop and his Soviet counterart Vyacheslav Molotov, pledged non-aggression between the two sides and divided Eastern Europe – including Ukraine – into separate spheres of influence.
Poland remains incensed by Russia’s refusal to reopen an enquiry into a 1940 massacre of 22,000 Polish officers by Soviet secret police at Katyn, which the Soviets initially blamed on Nazi troops. Meanwhile, the celebration of anti-Soviet wartime resistance movements in Ukraine and the Baltic States has angered the Kremlin, which argues that the resistance fighters collaborated with Nazi Germany, the agency report said.
Ukraine, Russia to work together on An-70 plane
It’s not all fighting and disagreement between Ukraine and Russia. The Ukrainian Defense-Express website on July 9 reported that both nations have tentatively agreed to jointly develop and produce the An-70 military transport plane.
The fate of the An-70 “has been changed drastically several times now, from promising hopes for global success to pessimistic forecasts that the plane will never fly. It appears that another bifurcation point has emerged in the life of this unique creation of Ukrainian aviation designers,” according to the website at www.defense-ua.com, run by the Center for Army Conversion and Disarmament Studies. “The sides agreed to immediately approve the joint program for completing state tests of the aircraft and to specify the tactical technical task for the modernization of the onboard equipment of An-70. Ukraine and Russia agreed to complete state tests as soon as possible and to launch serial production of the plane. Experts estimate that under the present conditions the whole procedure of the joint completion of state tests may take 2.5-3 years. This means that the first serial planes can be received by the Ukrainian and Russian armed forces by 2012.
