Diplomatic Briefing
Your exclusive news aggregator handpicked daily!Archive for Ukraine
Newsline: Palestinian, Israeli embassies in Ukraine not commenting on disappearance of Palestinian
The Palestinian and Israeli Embassies in Kyiv have declined to comment on the disappearance of Palestinian citizen Dirar Abu Sisi in Ukraine. “At the moment, the situation is such as it is, and the embassy is not commenting on anything,” the Palestinian National Authority Embassy in Kyiv said. The Israeli embassy also declined to comment on the situation. Earlier, local media reported that Dirar Abu Sisi, the deputy director of the Gaza power plant, boarded a Kharkiv-Kyiv train on February 18. According to the Palestinian Information Center (Hamas Web site), at Kyiv’s Boryspil airport he was supposed to meet his brother whom he had not seen for some 15 years, ever since he had moved to the Gaza Strip. Abu Sisi’s Ukrainian wife, Veronika, quoting train conductors, said that two hours after her husband boarded the train; two men entered his compartment, produced IDs of special service officers and took him away. However, later the conductors refused to testify and said that nothing had happened in the train and that there had been no abduction. On March 10, some foreign media reported that Abu Sisi was being held in an Israeli prison.
Newsline: U.S. Embassy in Kyiv launches blog
The first to make a post was U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine John Tefft. He has written about the International education day and his participation in the opening ceremony of American Councils, one of the leading partners in running U.S. Government-supported academic exchange programs between U.S. and Ukraine. The blog will represent the range of thoughts of the Embassy staff members about work and life in Ukraine written in casual manner. The Embassy invites public to read the blog at: http://usembassykyiv.wordpress.com/ Leigh Turner, the British Ambassador to Ukraine, also keeps his blog.
http://www.kyivpost.com/news/nation/detail/90561/#ixzz15qIAOWQm
Newsline: Ukrainian embassy worker detained for driving drunken on two wheels
A staff memeber of the Ukrainian embassy in Dublin was detained in the center of Irish capital for driving drunken with two tyres only. The other two were missing. At police station the disturber stayed uncooperative claiming he his diplomatic status would provide immunity from prosecution. However, the embassy spokesman refused to comment on the case. It is still not clear whether the embassy invokes the diplomatic immunity or not. In the latter, the staff member will face charges.
http://www.kyivpost.com/news/ukraine/detail/90024/#ixzz15Msk0JIS
Newsline: Ukrainian seized for trying to damage Russian embassy fence in Kiev
An activist of the Coalition of Orange Revolution Participants was seized on Sunday for trying to cut with an electric saw the fence of the Russian embassy in Kiev, the Ukrainian television said. About ten members of the public organization armed with an electric saw gathered near the Russian embassy for a protest against ‘Russian authoritarianism in Ukraine.’ They said they wanted to move the fence several meters inside the embassy territory for ‘limiting the Russian space in Ukraine.’ The electric saw operator was taken to a police station. Other participants in the action left.
http://www.itar-tass.com/eng/level2.html?NewsID=15641493&PageNum=0
Newsline: Armed Turk shot at Ukrainian consulate in Istanbul dies
An armed Turkish man who attempted to force his way into the Ukrainian Consulate General in Istanbul was shot by police and later died in hospital. According to earlier reports, the man tried to enter the consulate building in Florya neighborhood located on the European side of the Turkish megacity. The police shot and injured him when he insisted on entering the building with his weapon despite all warnings of the security guards, the report said. Istanbul police chief Huseyin Capkin identified the gunman as 29-year-old Volkan Ozbudak. He told reporters that “it was revealed that the suspect was married with a Ukrainian citizen. After having some problems with Ukrainian police, he was deported from that country.” “He attempted to enter the consulate building to resolve some problems. When security forces wanted to search his belongings, he began shooting randomly. Security forces had to stop him. It is clearly not an act of terror,” the police added. The Turkish man told police that he had been imprisoned because of a lie told in Ukraine and that he had been tortured there.
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/world/2010-03/09/c_13203668.htm
Newsline: Czech ambassador to Ukraine seeks dismissal for health reasons
Czech Ambassador to Ukraine Jaroslav Basta, who was suspected of being involved in a scandal with visa issuance, has asked for dismissal from the diplomatic post for health reasons, Foreign Minister Jan Kohout said. Kohout added he would meet Basta’s request. He refused to speculate about the possibility that not health reasons but the affair around the issuing of Czech visas in Ukraine might be behind Basta’s decision. Basta previously rejected the media reports on of his involvement in the affair. Basta said then he and Kohout agreed that the situation was serious and that it complicated Czech-Ukrainian relations and his position as the embassy head. However, Basta added he would not like to resign since he would thereby admit he had committed a mistake, which was not true. The Czech consulate in Lvov allegedly demanded that Ukrainian applicants for Czech visas register by phone via a call centre run by a private company from June 2008 to January 2009. The registration cost 310 crowns and the money was sent to the account of the company, seated in Brno, that was chosen without a tender.
Newsline: Ukrainian Envoy in South Korea Accused of Drunk Driving
The Ukrainian ambassador to Korea crashed into two vehicles while allegedly driving intoxicated, injuring one of the two Korean drivers involved. According to police, Ambassador Volodymyr Belashov, 58, crashed into a luxury sedan somewhere around a large shopping mall in Myeongdong, central Seoul, at 9:25 p.m., May 12. But he kept driving and then ran into another vehicle, a taxi, about five minutes later near Jangchung Gymnasium. Police officers rushed to the scene to perform a field sobriety test, but the ambassador locked himself in his car for one-and-a-half hours and refused to take the test, citing diplomatic immunity. At that time, police allowed the ambassador to leave the scene. Ambassador Belashov spent nearly three decades representing Ukraine at the United Nations (UN) and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) before being posted to in Korea in October last year. The case was disclosed after the government announced measures to minimize the abuse of immunity privileges by diplomats. The government put into effect a new guideline aimed at curbing the abuse of diplomatic privileges, Dec. 21, amid growing concerns over infractions of this power by diplomats.
http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/nation/2009/12/113_57708.html
