Russia invests heavily in ecological innovations

During the 1990s, a group of U.S. scientists simulated the model of the Earth after a nuclear war. The result of their research was quite depressing. The scientists also analyzed how people affect nature. They came to conclusion that the influence of man on nature and the consequences of a nuclear war are more or less the same. The only difference is in time - the planet will be destroyed either way. The President's Council for Economic Modernization and Innovative Development has recently held a meeting, at which it was decided that ecology should be given priority attention in both public policy and state funding. The grounds are more than tangible. Up to 15 percent of Russia reside in cities and industrial agglomerations. Billions of tons of garbage and wastes have been accumulated, more and more garbage arrives daily, whereas separate collection and recycling - the basics of modern waste processing technologies - still remain a non-Russian phenomenon. Landfills, including unauthorized ones, poison hundreds of thousands of hectares of land. Who is to blame? Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said the following: "Of course, one can always blame a predecessor, however, we need to look at ourselves to see how our production works." The first priority, according to the government is to try to relieve the country from highly polluted areas. This is the goal of the federal program "Elimination of accumulated environmental damage." About 70 percent of the budget of the program accounts for innovative technologies. In general, the development of new methods in the framework of the Federal Program is to be funded with about 49 billion rubles. It is possible to effectively clean, recycle and dispose highly toxic waste with the use of modern technologies. Like all innovations, they are always expensive. One of the main applied purposes of the project is to clean the Arctic region of Russia, where huge amounts of environmentally unsound waste has been saved for decades. Another task is to improve large industrial hubs, such as, for example, in the Nizhny Novgorod region. Clearing the environmental debris of the past is the initial part of the global program for environmental rehabilitation. It is important to move on to state-of-the-art environmentally safe industrial technologies, as was emphasized by the Minister of Natural Resources and Environment, Mr. Donskoy. When a natural resource complex provides more than half of revenues of the federal budget, it is necessary to either avoid or limit the possible negative impact of industrial technologies. In other words, having got rid of old environmental problems, it is necessary to prevent the emergence of new ones. Eight billion rubles will be allocated for the period of up to 2013 for the creation of eco-efficient technologies. Last year, investment in environmental protection and rational use of natural resources amounted to about 116 billion rubles. Gazprom's developments in the field of environmental care are extremely interesting. A long-standing problem of many deposits is high sulfur content in extracted natural gas. New technologies have been developed for modification of asphalt on the basis of sulfur. This will increase the time of road repairs to 5-7 years. This is a triple effect: a reduction of environmental burden, increase in the profitability of gas production and improvement of the quality of roads. This goes for land. As for the sea, during the development of the Arctic shelf, according to Gazprom's chairman Alexey Miller, a unique technology will be used. Special laser systems will be accurately removing oil contaminations and possible condensate spills in ice-cold conditions. The new technology, developed by the gas industry in conjunction with the research center of the Russian Federal Agency for Atomic Power (Rosatom), could become a basic one for the establishment of the international system to protect marine environment. Noteworthy, high-power lasers are used already when it is necessary to eliminate fires in wells causing minimal damage to the environment. Gazprom has been using the technology since 2011. Another large-scale development is very interesting too. A "water-to-air" machine makes drinking water from air. Air humidity should be above 15 percent, and air temperature - not lower than 15 degrees above zero Centigrade. The cost of one ton of such water is about one ruble. Among other things, new technologies reduce the rate of cancer, osteoporosis and cardiovascular diseases. Even in such seemingly promising business, traditional bureaucratic squiggles are unavoidable. Innovative technologies and equipment for water purification comes across strong resistance from competitors. In Russia, investments in clean technologies have been growing steadily since 2008 - this is one of the fastest growing markets in the world. According to the highly respected Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), by 2020, this market will reach the level of 4.5 trillion U.S. dollars. Russia's natural conditions, its scientific and innovative potential create very good conditions to take control of a significant part of the market of "green" technologies.

Should Russia be prepared to cyberwar?

Social networks have become one of the methods of cyber warfare, including against Russia, Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin said speaking at "Civil University" in Moscow. According to him, social networks are used to exercise "powerful manipulation of public opinion, because all sorts of "likes "and other buttons that you click there, immediately take you to certain groups, which are then analyzed and systematized." Rogozin believes that all this creates an opportunity to work with people who, for example, stick to opposing views. One can manipulate them through open social networks by entering into separate segments, reports ITAR-TASS. "This increases the number of people, who begin to receive special information that undermines the authority of the government and values ​​of the state. We know that this is being used actively," said Dmitry Rogozin. He said that a special department of the U.S. State Department was engaged in this kind of affairs. Rogozin said that he had met with the head of the department, which was actively working "on the use of social networks to let the USA achieve its military goals by non-military means." The Vice Prime Minister stressed that for NATO, cyber war had become a threat of war and military response. Russia monitors the process, he added. The Washington Post has recently published an article alleging that American intelligence agencies had direct access to the servers of nine major Internet giants, including Microsoft, Yahoo, Google and Facebook to conduct surveillance of private citizens as part of a secret government program known as PRISM. The head of U.S. National Intelligence James Clapper did not deny that intelligence agencies had access to the servers of Internet companies to collect users' personal data. He confirmed that it was going about non-U.S. users living outside the States. It has been reported before that largest Internet companies collect information about their users. This is a well-known fact that, in general, does not cause much indignation with people. Well-known Russian blogger Dmitry Puchkov also believes that social networks have become an instrument of ideological struggle. "All color revolutions are made through Twitter and Facebook. This is a tool to organize and direct the masses. They now change regimes with their help," he said. According to Dmitry Puchkov, prohibitions can not solve anything. "There is a famous thesis that works here "if you can't win - become a leader. So one needs to create their own structure, which, like in the United States, work on the net too," he told Pravda.Ru. The problem of state ideology becomes particularly important in this case. "Since the times of perestroika, two generations of people have grown, who hate Russia, - he said. - They believe that all the good things are in America and in Europe, and in Russia everything is bad starting with Ivan the Terrible, Peter the Great, Stalin, Gorbachev, Yeltsin and Putin. " "Try to convince these people of anything," he concluded. Social networks have different functions, including those mentioned by Dmitry Rogozin, the director of Intelligent Internet Fund, Vladimir Mamontov believes. "All this is true, but what is a conclusion?" he said. "The conclusion, as I see it, is as follows. Cyberspace, virtual reality, social networking - they are used as tools and weapons. One should learn how to use these tools. We shouldn't try to deny this, we should make them serve our goals and objectives," he told Pravda.Ru. "Those who do not catch up with the technology of influence lose the game. That's the way our new global world is. We want to be a part of this world without losing our economic, cultural and many other advantages," said Vladimir Mamontov.

Femen: Tunisia Detains, Expels Ukraine Topless Activist

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates -- Tunisian police detained a Ukrainian topless activist in the capital Tunis before expelling her from the North African country on Tuesday, a leader of the women’s protest movement Femen said. “Some men entered her hotel room, ordered her to take her belongings and drove to the police... She was deported and is now on a plane to Kiev,” Femen’s leader in Paris, Inna Shevchenko, told AFP on the phone. Meanwhile, three other Femen women, two French and one German, face jail terms of up to a year when they go on trial in Tunis on Wednesday, although their lawyer is confident of a lighter sentence. They are charged with indecency and an attack on public morals after staging a topless protest last week outside the main courthouse in Tunis in support of Sboui, a young Tunisian with the same “sextremist” movement. Sboui, who was arrested last month after painting the word “Femen" on a wall “near a cemetery in an act of protest against hardline Islamists, is separately due to appear before an investigating judge on Wednesday. Held in detention since May 19, she has not yet been formally charged but risks between six months and two years in jail if tried for indecency and desecrating a cemetery. The judge has indicated that she could be accused of acting as part of an organised gang and therefore attract a heavier sentence.

Klichko Threatens Election Fraud Revolt

KIEV, Ukraine -- Vitaliy Klichko, the leader of the opposition Udar party who is expected to challenge President Viktor Yanukovych in the 2015 presidential election, warned of a popular uprising if the government resorts to election fraud. Klichko, who spoke days after opposition candidates suffered defeat at several local mayoral elections on Sunday, had alleged that election fraud was at play during the votes. He called for setting up a commission in Parliament to investigate the fraud. He also demanded immediate dismissal of governors of the Kiev and Luhansk region and the prime minister of the autonomous region of Crimea whom he had accused of organizing the fraud. “There were numerous and serious violations and fraud at the elections that took place on Sunday,” Klichko said in Parliament. “In particular, that applies to the mayoral elections in Vasylkiv, Yalta and Alchevsk.” The defeat of opposition candidates at the elections on Sunday was a personal setback for Klichko, who, as a newcomer to mainstream politics in Ukraine, needs to show his ability to rally voters ahead of the presidential election in March 2015. He also needs to be able to defend the election results in case of manipulation and fraud. Klichko called for a major election legislation upgrade that would anticipate a two-round vote at local elections. Such elections are currently held in one round, allowing the highest-scoring candidate – often backed by the government - to win the post. The ruling Regions Party managed to win all special mayoral elections on Sunday, according to analysts. The Central Election Commission is yet to release official results. Election fraud allegations were backed by some activists monitoring the vote. Olha Ayvazovska, an activist at the Opora civic action group, said at least 269 ballots appear to have gone missing in the process of vote counting at the election of mayor of Vasylkiv. The missing ballots may have had a major impact on the election outcome because the difference between Regions Party-backed Volodymyr Sabodash and Klichko-backed Serhiy Sabov is expected to be at 240 votes. "All the perpetrators of fraud must understand that the responsibility will come, sooner or later,” Klichko said, adding that a popular uprising, similar to the one currently underway in Turkey, will explode in Ukraine if the authorities try to rig the vote. “Example of that today occurs in Turkey,” Klichko said. “Any government decision that is not accepted by the people can trigger a mass protest action.” “Therefore I appeal to the authorities: do not try the patience of the people,” Klichko said.

Ukraine Leader Urges EU Trade Deal, Doesn't Budge On Tymoshenko

KIEV, Ukraine -- President Viktor Yanukovich pressed the European Union on Thursday to conclude a milestone political and trade deal with Ukraine this year but he gave no ground on a key EU demand that he free jailed opponent Yulia Tymoshenko. Yanukovich made his call in a state-of-the-nation address issued in text form only, stirring the anger of pro-Tymoshenko lawmakers who demanded he appear in person to deliver it. Kiev would like to sign agreements with the EU on political association and free trade at a summit with other east European states in November in the Lithuanian capital Vilnius. But the 27-member bloc first wants more tangible proof of Ukraine's commitment to democratic reforms, including the release of Tymoshenko, a former prime minister and Yanukovich's fiercest opponent, from a seven-year jail sentence. The free-trade agreement potentially on offer from the EU would open up a huge market for Ukrainian exports - steel, grain, chemicals and food products - and provide a powerful spur for much-needed foreign investment. "Concluding the agreement on association for Ukraine ... will shift our state's cooperation with the EU onto a qualitatively new level of political association and economic integration," Yanukovich said in his address. "We hope that it will be signed at the Vilnius "Eastern Partnership' summit at the end of 2013," he said. He made no mention of Tymoshenko or of the EU conditions for signing the association agreement. Tymoshenko, the 52-year-old heroine of the 2004 "Orange Revolution" street protests that overturned an election rigged in Yanukovich's favor, was sentenced in October 2011 for abuse of office linked to a 2009 gas deal she brokered with Russia. The EU says her sentence smacks of political vengeance by Yanukovich and use of 'selective justice'. RUSSIAN PRESSURE Yanukovich's comments followed Ukraine's signing of a deal to secure observer status in a Russia-led Customs Union trade bloc which also includes two other former Soviet republics, Belarus and Kazakhstan. Ukraine has come under pressure from Russia to join the Customs Union, a move that would bring it much-needed cheaper gas from its main energy provider, but has resisted because it would not be compatible with an EU free trade agreement. As the clock ticks down towards the Vilnius summit, EU diplomats say pressure is growing on Yanukovich to review his hardline stance on Tymoshenko and bring about her release. In April Yanukovich won rare praise from the West for freeing former interior minister Yuri Lutsenko - a Tymoshenko ally - from a four-year sentence for abuse of office. But Tymoshenko is a much tougher case. If she were freed and politically rehabilitated she could mount a formidable challenge for the presidency when Yanukovich seeks re-election in 2015. EU heavyweight Germany has offered to provide Tymoshenko with medical treatment in Berlin for chronic back problems she has suffered for most of her time in detention. Some analysts see this as a possible solution that would allow Yanukovich to clinch a deal with the EU while also ensuring that Tymoshenko, who ran him close for the presidency in February 2010, remains out of the political running in 2015. "The only and most likely option is for Tymoshenko to go abroad for medical treatment. Negotiations are going on about this including with Tymoshenko herself," said Volodymyr Fesenko, analyst of the Penta political think-tank. "It is the only variant which can be acceptable to Europe and the Ukrainian leadership. Other possibilities, for example freeing Tymoshenko and dropping criminal charges against her, are extremely unlikely," he said.

Opposition Groups Block Parliament Again

KIEV, Ukraine -- Tensions rose in Parliament on Thursday as opposition groups blocked Parliament for the fourth time over the past seven months, making it harder for the government to stick to its legislative agenda. The groups resorted to blocking the podium amid widening disagreements with the ruling Regions Party over elections to fill five vacant seats in Parliament and also over delayed Kiev mayoral and council votes. The groups also demanded that President Viktor Yanukovych personally show up in Parliament to deliver his annual state-of-the-nation address. The address was printed and distributed among lawmakers earlier in the day, while Yanukovych had refused to attend the session, citing potential opposition protests. “This Parliament will work only in a legal channel and we are going to achieve this by any means,” Oleh Tiahnybok, the leader of the nationalist Svoboda group, said. Talks between the opposition and the Regions Party to unblock Parliament failed on Thursday and are expected to resume again on Friday, Tiahnybok said. Yuriy Myroshnychenko, a member of the Regions Party and Yanukovych’s representative in Parliament, said the president does not have to be present in Parliament for the address. However, he added that Yanukovych may get involved in the talks with the opposition groups to ease political crisis. “The willingness for dialogue is there,” he said. Meanwhile, there were speculations the Regions Party, jointly with its ally Communist Party, may again resort to controversial measure of holding a separate session outside Parliament to approve the government’s urgent legislation. The similar measure in April triggered controversy over whether there were enough lawmakers to approve the government’s bills at the rump session. Yanukovych signed some of the bills, but opposition insisted they were not valid. This time opposition lawmakers pledged to follow their Regions Party counterparts to any other building and to disrupt and block the session there anyway, signaling that confrontation may worsen. “Let them stand on their heads, let them do whatever they like, let them do whatever they like,” Tiahnybok said. “We will find them and come there. We will put in place those who flagrantly violates the law.” Oleksandr Yefremov, the leader of the Regions Party in Parliament, blamed the opposition for blocking the government’s suggested legislation that was supposed to approve the economic situation across Ukraine. "If tomorrow they will start turning off the water somewhere, it will be a result of the opposition groups,” Yefremov said. “The groups disrupted again review of the matter and their attitude is that the worse for the country the better for them.”

Australia Targets Ukraine Global Banking Malware

SYDNEY, Australia -- Microsoft and the FBI's attack on the Citadel botnet has put a dint in one of the largest threats on the internet, but it's only one nasty piece of crime-ware from eastern Europe that is affecting Australians. Citadel, known primarily as a banking trojan, is also one of the driving forces behind the surge in "ransomware" in the US, Europe and Australia, which present messages that pose as local law enforcement and lock down the infected PC until a payment is made. But it's only one platform for attacks that rely on a network of contracted developers who help spawn new variants of the same threat. Australia's banks have been quietly working with a Russian security and forensics firm Group-IB to swat Carberp, a nasty piece of banking malware crafted in Ukraine that has infected 150,000 Australian PCs since last year. Once installed, the fraud software waits for a victim to login to their accounts and, via the browser, attempts to commandeer their transaction. Success rates vary, but its makers from the Ukraine are responsible for millions in losses across Russia and Europe. Advertisement Security vendors including Symantec, Microsoft, Kaspersky and McAfee recognise Carberp as a nasty "family" of trojans that has been known to grab screen shots of victim's PCs, log keystrokes and steal banking credentials. According to Andrey Komarov, head of international projects at Group-IB, the hackers behind Carberp have franchised their product to a well-known developer on the underground who built a module (a bolt-on component known as a "web-inject") that repurposes attacks for banking customers in other parts of the world for Australian customers. ANZ Bank and the Bank of Queensland were the first to respond to the company's recent fraud alert, said Komarov, who is supplying data to the banks on the latest Australian infections. "An ANZ representative responded immediately," Komarov told IT Pro. "We provided him all the details about compromised customers of his bank and he immediately blocked it and assisted to contact other banks. We are also preparing some additional investigation details for ANZ right now, as its e-crime division is one of the most positive we have ever seen." The module contains technical and social trickery: it presents to victims a fake transaction page and contains tools that allow the attacker to view the victim's browser in real-time. The package includes attacks for customers of CommBank, ANZ, Westpac, the Bank of Queensland, Bendigo Bank, Adelaide Bank, Teachers Mutual Bank, DefenceBank, Suncorp, BankWest and NAB, according to Group-IB. "Right after the user goes online and wants to make a transfer, they will intercept his session on the browser and spoof the destination of the transfer absolutely silently," Komarov said. To build a network of infected PCs, the group uses bank-related keywords, such as "Melbourne bank" to game search engine algorithms. If the victim takes the bait, they are led to websites that host attacks for ubiquitous software, such as the browser plugins for Adobe Flash, Oracle Java and Microsoft's Office products. Exactly how much the gang and its networks have stolen from Australian banking customers remains unknown, however Komarov estimates typically 10 per cent of PCs that have been infected result in losses for their users. Group-IB assisted Russian authorities arrest six Carberp gang members last June who were accused of stealing over $4 million from Russian accounts over a four-year spree. ANZ declined to comment on its investigation. "ANZ does not comment on security matters other than to say protecting our customers is one of our highest priorities and we are confident in the security tools and team that we have in place," ANZ spokesman Stephen Ries said. "It should also be noted that any customers who are the innocent victim of fraud will be protected by the bank." Personal accounts are protected from online fraud under Australia's ePayments Code, but business faces a different risk: liability for malware for businesses small and large is determined by contract. "As far as commercial customers go, liability for malware fraud would be allocated by contract and certainly from my perspective any properly advised financial institution would seek to allocate risk away from itself and to its counter party," special counsel at Clayton Utz, David Kreltszheim recently told IT Pro. According to Komarov, about 90 per cent of the victims in Australia he had seen were personal accounts and 10 per cent were business accounts. The company gathers its data through the Honeynet security project, infiltrating criminal networks and by sink-holing the botnet, which involves commandeering a component of the botnet and intercepting its communications. Komarov sent IT Pro emails from CERT Australia, the information security response team of the Attorney-General's Department (AGD), which that show it is also investigating Carberp infections in Australia. "CERT Australia works on a trust partnership basis with business and does not comment publicly about any specific work or issues," a spokesperson from AGD told IT Pro. The Australian government however has been tackling Carberp with the aid of ISPs. The Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) runs the Australian Internet Security Initiative (AISA), and has been sending alerts to ISPs, according to Bruce Matthews, ACMA's manager of e-security operations. "I can confirm that the ACMA is sending reports of Carberp infections to ISPs and universities that participate in the AISI – although this data is not sourced from Group IB," Matthews told IT Pro. Every day there are about 240 live Carberp infections and ACMA's AISA has been reporting these for the past two years, said Matthews. However, Carberp could be much larger, he said. "It is also possible that we are reporting some Carberp infections under our 'Trojan: Generic' classification. Around 1500 infections per day are currently being reported under this category," said Matthews.

Yushchenko Urges EU To Save Ukraine From Russia

BRUSSELS, Belgium -- Viktor Yushchenko almost gave his life for a free Ukraine. At a dinner in Vienna in September 2004 - a few months before the Orange Revolution swept him to power - somebody fed him a near-lethal dose of dioxin. He no longer has visible scars. But the 59-year-old politician told EUobserver in Brussels on Wednesday (5 June) that traces of the toxin still cause painful skin inflammations and that it has permanently damaged nerves in his legs. He said his would-be assassins were linked to Russia. "We all know who was serving the food at that dinner - they are in Russia right now," he said. Speaking some 10 years after the dramatic events, he warned that Russia still poses a threat to Ukraine. He accused Moscow of trying to "isolate" Kiev in Europe. "It is turning Ukraine into Belarus II and it is turning Yanukovych into Lukashenko II," he noted, referring to Ukraine's current leader Viktor Yanukovych and Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, Putin's autocratic ally. He said Russia's "roadmap" for Ukraine has advanced in leaps and bounds over the past few years. It first signed a cripplingly expensive gas supply contract. It then persuaded Yanukovych to let its navy stay in Ukraine for another 25 years and to abandon NATO membership plans in return for a gas discount. It is now lobbying him to join the Russia-led "Eurasian Union," a new trade body, in a development that would destroy prospects of EU-Ukraine integration. For its part, the EU has spent the time in technical talks on a political association and free trade pact. It has also boycotted and damned Yanukovych for jailing opposition leaders, harassing media and rigging votes. "Russia's plans are coming true 100 percent and to a large extent this is because we don't have a strong relationship with the European Union … If we don't have a dialogue with the EU, or if we have a weak dialogue, this is what makes [Russian leader] Putin so successful," Yushchenko said. Yushchenko retired from public life after losing in 2010 elections. But he recently created an NGO - the Institute of President Viktor Yushchenko - to promote EU-Ukraine ties. Looking to an EU summit with ex-Soviet states in Vilnius in November, he said he will do "everything possible" to see EU leaders sign the political and trade treaty. He described the pact in historic terms. "During the 20th century, we declared independence six times and lost it five times … Our most important achievement in the past 21 years was to achieve independence once again. If we can get Ukraine into the family of European nations, this would be the second most important," he said. "This course is a guarantee of our national sovereignty," he noted. For their part, EU diplomats increasingly doubt if Ukraine will fulfil its reform demands in time to sign at Vilnius. They also doubt whether Yanukovych really wants to do it. The status quo has enabled him and his oligarch allies to grow rich and to build a power base that could last a generation or more. But if he is toppled in an EU-model democratic vote, he risks losing everything. Yushchenko, who knows Ukraine's big men up close, said the EU should exploit the ruling elite's mistrust of Russia. "I don't think the current Ukrainian leadership is interested in becoming Belarus II," he said. "I don't know any Ukrainian oligarch who sends their children to study in Moscow … All their kids go to schools in Europe or in the US. They have residences in Europe, in London, Brussels, in Spain, Italy, or in the US. They have business assets in Europe, in the US, all over the world, but not Russia," he noted. "Don't you think the EU can motivate them to take the right path?" he added. He described Yanukovych's authoritarian methods as a "darkness in our lives." When asked if the EU should sign in Vilnius even if former prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko, Yanukovych's main opponent, is still in prison, Yushchenko said "it is time to think of 46 million Ukrainian people" instead of one woman's fate. Yushchenko's line - that geopolitics is more important than EU values - is eerily similar to Yanukovych's own rhetoric. Yushchenko lost power in 2010 in part due to corruption allegations. His return to the public stage to promote EU ties despite Yanukovych's sins has prompted suspicion he is part of the Yanukovych PR machine. "I wonder who is paying him to say these things," one EU diplomat noted. When EUobserver asked if Ukrainian politics has made him rich, Yushchenko said: "As of 1 January [2013], I remember having less than $1 million in my bank account." "I say these things because I am very deeply concerned and I am being extremely sincere," he added. "No one paid me," he said.

Ukraine PM Bars Reporters From Government Meetings After Protest

KIEV, Ukraine -- Ukrainian Prime Minister Mykola Azarov ordered a dozen local reporters to be barred from covering government meetings after they staged a protest on Wednesday over attacks on journalists at a rally. When reporters at the cabinet meeting stepped in front of television cameras and turned their backs, emblazoned with slogans, on Azarov and his colleagues, the prime minister reacted sharply. "What kind of show is this?" he said. The reporters, members of a journalists' pool allowed to attend weekly cabinet meetings, bore signs pinned to their backs reading: "Today it's a female journalist (beaten up), tomorrow - your wife, sister, daughter. Do something!" Azarov said they should be expelled from the journalists' pool. "Write down their names and revoke their accreditation," he instructed his aides. "We respect journalists' work but please do not turn government meetings into a circus." The two journalists who say they were attacked were covering clashes between supporters and opponents of President Viktor Yanukovich during rallies in Kiev on Saturday. They say they were beaten by Yanukovich's supporters while police simply stood by. Police are investigating the allegations but opposition politicians have questioned their willingness to do it thoroughly. Condemning the attacks, the U.S. embassy in Ukraine said on Wednesday: "Such violent acts have no place where people are exercising their rights to peaceful assembly." "We call on the Ukrainian authorities to conduct a thorough investigation and urge them to take appropriate action to bring the perpetrators to justice. We also urge the authorities to investigate the apparent inaction by the police during the incident." Protests by reporters have become frequent under Yanukovich, who came to power in 2010 and quickly consolidated power by installing his allies in key positions and reversing constitutional changes that had strengthened parliament. Last March several reporters wore paper masks of Yanukovich when they attended his news conference. And last year a dozen journalists stood up and raised anti-censorship banners when Yanukovich hailed Ukraine's march to media freedom at the World Newspaper Congress in Kiev. Some journalists say the government is cracking down on media freedom and the media, most of them controlled by influential businessmen, are censoring themselves so that their owners maintain good standing with the authorities. Azarov's spokesman Vitaly Lukyanenko said the government's press department would review Wednesday's incident and decide whether to strip the reporters of accreditation. "How is the prime minister to blame (for the beating of reporters)? Why was he subjected to this slap in the face?" he said.

Ukraine's Bubka Launches IOC Presidency Bid

ST PETERSBURG, Russia -- Former Olympic pole vault champion Sergei Bubka launched his bid for the presidency of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) on Tuesday, the sixth candidate for world sport's most influential post. This was always natural for me. Sport is in my blood, it is in my genes," the Ukrainian said when asked about his decision to run as the youngest candidate. The new president will be elected on September 10. "I have big experience in different activities, from athlete to sports administrator to businessman. I love sports, this is my life," the 49-year-old, dressed in a dark suit and a bright red tie, said on the sidelines of a sports conference. "I have passion, drive, motivation. I want to give something back to the movement." Bubka joins Germany's Thomas Bach, Singapore's Ng Ser Miang, C.K. Wu of Taiwan, Puerto Rican Richard Carrion and Swiss Denis Oswald in a six-way contest. Bach, an Olympic fencing champion in 1976 and a long-time sports official, is regarded as the frontrunner. But the outcome is still wide open and could be influenced by two other votes - for the 2020 Games' hosts and the introduction of a new Olympic sport - taking place days before the president's election. Jacques Rogge, in charge since 2001, is stepping down in September when his two-term rule comes to a mandatory end. Bubka won gold at the Seoul 1988 Olympics and is a member of the powerful IOC executive board as well as a senior vice-president of the world athletics body, IAAF. He broke the world record 35 times, won 10 indoor and outdoor world championships and took part in four Olympics in a career which took off in St Petersburg with his qualification for the 1983 World Championships, his breakthrough moment. Before deciding to run for the top Olympic post, Bubka, still the world record holder in his sport, was regarded as one of two likely candidates to succeed Lamine Diack as head of the IAAF. The other is London 2012 Games chief Sebastian Coe. Asked why he opted to run for the top IOC post instead of the IAAF position given his past as a track and field athlete, Bubka said: "I am here because of athletics. But today we have elections for the IOC. This is a good time to run for the IOC presidency." Bubka backed a proposal by Rogge that it should be a paid position. "I am not paid by the (Ukrainian) Olympic Committee, the IOC or the IAAF," Bubka, who also heads his country's national Olympic committee. "But I support the proposal because the president needs to be full time in the office." He said he would give his salary to charity if he were elected. The IOC will vote on the successor to Rogge, a Belgian surgeon and Olympic sailor, at their session in Buenos Aires on September 10. All but one of the IOC presidents in the history of the organization have been European.

US Trade Regulator Opens Online Piracy Investigation Into Ukraine

WASHINGTON, DC -- The United States has opened an investigation into Ukraine for its failure to enforce intellectual property rights, such as curbing government use of pirated software, the top U.S. trade regulator said on Thursday. The launch of the investigation comes after the U.S. Trade Representative put Ukraine on the top of its annual watch list of countries that it says fail to crack down on online piracy and intellectual property violations. The list is part of an annual report, known as the Special 301, that USTR publishes to put a spotlight on websites and countries where it believes online piracy is rife. “The United States has identified serious concerns with Ukraine’s treatment of intellectual property rights, as described in our Special 301 Report,” Acting U.S. Trade Representative Miriam Sapiro said in a statement. “We will consult with the Government of Ukraine on the practices that led us to initiate this investigation.” In the report, the trade regulator argues that the Ukrainian government has not cracked down on online pirate sites and illicit groups that profit from collecting royalties payments that are based within the country. USTR also calls out the country's failure to take action against ExtraTorrent.com, which it says is one of the most highly trafficked pirate sites in the world. The Ukrainian has government has admitted to using pirated software, USTR says, and has not taken steps to rectify the problem although it's previously committed to do so. "The government of Ukraine acknowledges that a significant percentage of the software used by the government itself is unlicensed," the Special 301 report states. As part of its investigation, USTR has started collecting comments from stakeholders about Ukraine's performance on protecting intellectual property rights and will hold a public hearing in July. The Recording Association of America (RIAA), which represents top music labels in the U.S., cheered the trade regulator's decision to launch the investigation into Ukraine. “For far too long, Ukraine has tolerated, and in some instances even encouraged, the establishment of conditions that undermine the protection of legitimate property interests to the great detriment of U.S., Ukrainian and other cultural communities,” Neil Turkewitz, executive vice president at the RIAA said in a statement. The music industry lobby has lobbied hard over the years for stronger rules against websites that illegally offer copyrighted songs. It has also pushed for royalties rules that would fairly compensate its labels and recording artists. "We of course have no interest in punishing Ukraine through the imposition of trade sanctions, but it is long overdue for the Ukrainians to promote the rule of law and live up to their international obligations," Turkewitz added.

Ukraine Court Ruling On Kiev Mayor Election ‘Pro-Government’

KIEV, Ukraine -- There have been calls for protests in Ukraine following a court decision over the election of Kiev’s mayor that is seen as beneficial to the government and damaging to the opposition. he Constitutional Court ruled that the vote in the capital, an opposition stronghold, should not take place until October 2015. Kiev’s last elected mayor resigned a year ago and President Yanukovich appointed a ruling party member in his place. The opposition have condemned the court’s decision. “The government clearly understands that any opposition candidate will beat any pro-government candidate. If elections were to be held (now) for Kiev City Council, then 90 percent of seats would be won by the opposition,” said Vitali Klitschko from the UDAR party. The opposition now wants to block the city council’s work. The reason the court gave for its decision was that all local elections should happen simultaneously. “Every Ukrainian citizen must abide by the court’s ruling. Anyone can express their opinion or discuss the decision, but it must be implemented. Parliament will set a date (for the election), as indicated by the Constitutional Court,” said Volodymyr Makeienko, an MP from the governing Party of Regions. The issue has brought street protests and even a fight inside city hall. At last year’s general election opposition parties collectively won almost 95 percent of the vote in Kiev. It is thought the impact of the court’s decision could be felt beyond the capital. Evgeniya Rudenko, euronews correspondent in Kiev, said: “The Constitutional court’s ruling means Kiev will remain without an elected mayor for over two years. Analysts say it favours the government as the opposition won’t be able to use elections in the capital as a platform for a future presidential poll.”

Teen Prostitution In Ukraine

KIEV, Ukraine -- In Ukraine June 1 marks Children’s Day. However, an alarming number of teenage girls, many escaping problems at home, have turned to prostitution. Around 11-15 thousand according to UNICEF. The country is also suffering from one of the worst AIDS epidemics in Europe. Teen prostitutes are extremely vulnerable to HIV due to lack of knowledge or access to methods of prevention. In the Mykolaiv region of Southern Ukraine, the death rate from HIV infection in the 15-24 age group is one of the highest in the country. Seventeen-year-old Nataliya explains how she first got involved in sex work. “My friend has been doing it for 7 years, she told me I could do it too. At first I didn’t want to. Now I have enough money. I can help my mom. She doesn’t know what I do, not even my friends know,” she confides. Nataliya hopes to go on to study medicine, but Yuliya has no plans to quit. “There aren’t so many opportunities to make money in our city. What I do really helps me and I’m OK with it. I also like the fact that now I have someone to ask for advice, to talk to and even listen to that advice in certain situations. But one of the most important things is that I can check my health regularly and talk to a psychologist,” she notes. In Mykolaiv, the UNITUS charity works alongside UNICEF to provide healthcare, social services and psychological help to young people at risk of contracting HIV/AIDS. Out of 350 female clients, most have been tested. Up to 10 per cent have the virus. “One of the biggest problems is an extremely low level of knowledge and understanding of how HIV is transmitted. And even if people know it, they still do not regard this risk important,” says Olena Sakovych from UNICEF. This mobile HIV testing unit can find women most at risk on the streets and provide them with advice and access to a psychologist. Studies show that use of mobile units can reduce the numbers infected. A nurse carrying out an HIV test tells the teenage prostitute: “When accidents happen and the condom breaks, you have to get a check-up.”

Ukraine’s Feminist Shock Troops

KHMELNYTSKY, Ukraine -- Back in her hometown, Alexandra Shevchenko stood by, uncharacteristically calm, as her mother, Lyudmila, laid out her near-total opposition to her daughter’s life choices, bewilderment over why she is still single at age 25, and especially why she persists with Femen, the activist women’s group famous for guerrilla-style, bare-breasted political protests. Alexandra, a slinky blonde who goes by Sasha, knows how to fight. Her face, with pouty lips and blue eyes, can morph from winsome to fearsome in the seconds it takes to strip off a T-shirt and pump a fist in the air. It is a move she has perfected, most recently in April at a trade fair in Germany where she charged, half-naked, toward Chancellor Angela Merkel and President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia, cursing him as a dictator. Video of that protest shows Sasha topless, with profane slogans painted on her chest and back, nearly reaching Mr. Putin and drawing a leer and two thumbs up from him before a guard wrestled her to the ground. Her mother said she can no longer bear to watch. “You cannot imagine how worried I am for their lives; I cannot sleep,” Lyudmila Shevchenko said in the small fashion shop that she runs in Khmelnytsky, a quiet regional capital. She particularly dislikes it when the Femen women curse and go topless in cold weather. “It’s probably time to form a party, to run for office, to change methods and try to achieve their goals through legislation, because I am sick and tired of these actions.” Besides, she said: “I want grandchildren.” Nudity as a tool of activism is hardly new. But the women of Femen have elevated it to an Internet-age art form. Based in Kiev, the Ukrainian capital, the group now has chapters in nine countries, on four continents. It calls its tactics “sextremism” and its hundreds of mostly volunteer members “shock troops” — frontline soldiers in a global war against patriarchy, and for women’s rights. Its sworn enemies are dictatorship, organized religion and sexual exploitation. Femen protests often catch the law enforcement authorities off-guard, and can make officers seem silly, as they struggle to contain partially dressed women squiggling in their grasp. In response to their protests, Femen women have been beaten, jailed and threatened with death. They have been dragged off all over: at the Vatican where they set off red smoke during the papal conclave to condemn “bloody” church history; at the European Parliament in Brussels where they pushed gay rights; on the Berlin Film Festival’s red carpet where they denounced female circumcision in Africa; in Moscow where they tried to steal Mr. Putin’s ballot on Election Day; at the Davos World Economic Forum where they decried income inequality; in Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris, where Femen has its second base. They have called for “topless jihad” and a “women’s spring” against Islam’s treatment of women, and were deported from Turkey where they acted against domestic violence. In Belarus, where they protested the autocracy of President Aleksandr G. Lukashenko, they were arrested, taken into the woods, stripped and told they would be killed. “Remember the smell of your mothers,” one participant recalled a security agent saying. “How happy you were,” the agent taunted, “before you had the idea to come to Belarus.” In the most recent action, on Wednesday, three Femen members took off their tops outside the Justice Ministry in Tunis, in support of a Tunisian Femen member, Amina Sboui, also known as Amina Tyler, who had faced death threats after posting a topless picture of herself on the Web. She was later arrested on charges related to carrying a can of pepper spray while preparing to conduct a protest action. On Thursday, she was convicted and fined. She remains in prison as the authorities consider additional charges. Like all Femen actions, the Tunisia event was carefully choreographed. The three activists, two French citizens and a German, were chosen because they were likely to get the best diplomatic assistance after they were arrested. Femen’s shock troops can be of any age but tend to be young and attractive; the group’s leaders insist that members come to actions well groomed. The topless protests have been so effective at generating attention that they have obscured Femen’s modest beginnings in 2006 as a feminist club focused on patriarchal traditions in Ukrainian society. Anna Hutsol, then a student at the Khmelnytsky University for Economics, was outside the city’s registration office, watching young brides and grooms arrive to get married and, for the women, start a life in which decisions once made by fathers would now fall to husbands. Ms. Hutsol herself had grown up mostly in a tiny village, Nova Ushytsa, a two-hour drive south of Khmelnytsky, where her parents still live. A hotbed of feminism it is not. When Ms. Hutsol arrived there one evening last week with visitors, her mother was milking a cow. Ms. Hutsol’s mother, Nina, said she believed her daughter was trying to help people, but neighbors did not see it that way. “The village people don’t understand it,” she said. “They say that their behavior is uncultured. They don’t think this is a political activity, but I don’t know how to explain it.” Neither Nina Hutsol nor Lyudmila Shevchenko recalled their daughters being particularly interested in politics. When Anna Hutsol started lamenting the future of Khmelnytsky’s young women at a meeting of the local Center of Youth Prospects, and argued for creating a separate women’s group, Sasha Shevchenko, an 18-year-old in the audience, was alarmed. “I was really stupid,” she said, recalling that first meeting. “I am just a normal Ukrainian girl. I didn’t even know what feminist meant. I thought a feminist was an ugly woman with a mustache. She is lesbian and she hates men. If you ask girls on the street about feminism, they will tell you the same story.” As conversation unfolded among about 20 women, the need to fight for rights became clear. Some told of abusive fathers or boyfriends, or mothers who supported families while their husbands were home drunk. And then there was the pervasive prostitution and sex trafficking of post-Communist Ukraine. Oksana Shachko knew some issues firsthand. Her mother, an orphan who longed for a family, had married, at 18, a man who turned out to be an alcoholic. She quickly had two children — locking her into circumstances shared by many Ukrainian women. Together, Ms. Hutsol, Ms. Shevchenko and Ms. Shachko set up a feminist club, the New Ethics committee. They wore pink, and held marches, fully clothed. After minor success drawing attention to two women who suffered medical malpractice at a local hospital, they realized they were being ignored. So in 2008 they moved to Kiev, where after impassioned debate, they eventually made the decision to take off their clothes to draw more attention, and renamed themselves Femen. They were joined by Inna Shevchenko (no relation to Sasha) who has since left Ukraine because of criminal charges pending from an action in which she sawed down a large crucifix with a chain saw. she wore goggles but no top. In an interview before she left, Inna Shevchenko recalled the attempt to focus on sexual exploitation. “We were trying to say the truth,” she said. “But no one was interested in it, and we understood that this society, this country, is not ready to listen to women. But everyone wants to look at them, especially if they are naked,” she added. “We understood O.K., if we are not able to talk, we will show.” “With our protests, we created a new understanding of our nakedness,” she continued. “We said to the world, now, it can be my hands, controlling by me. It’s not anymore in man’s hands.” Not everyone understands, or agrees. Some critics have accused them of contributing to the same objectification of women’s bodies that they claim to protest, and that their feminist ideology is fuzzy. Others say they are imposing their brand of radical feminism on women in the Middle East and Africa — in cultures where a more subtle approach would be more effective and safer. In Khmelnytsky, Sasha Shevchenko heard her elementary school principal, Nadezhda M. Orlovskaya, explain why a graduate serving in the army deserved a photo in the school lobby but its most famous alumna did not. Ms. Orlovskaya praised her former pupil for trying to help women but criticized Femen’s tactics and disputed the group’s portrayal of women in Ukraine as oppressed. “What I don’t like is that you show up in public naked, barefoot, etc.,” she said. Adopting a mocking tone, she puffed out her bosom. “I still have something to boast of, too.” Ms. Orlovskaya and even Lyudmila Shevchenko said they believed that Femen was backed by secret big-money interests, a charge for which there is no obvious evidence. The women say the group is financed by selling Femen souvenirs and by private donations. Sasha Shevchenko did not argue with Ms. Orlovskaya, and seemed intent on focusing on Femen’s declared enemies, not on critics. She said it may take a revolution, perhaps with some bloodshed, to improve the lives of women oppressed by Islam or by dictators, or who are pressured into prostitution. And to train a new generation. “I decided for myself to be a woman, to be a girl who will open eyes for other women, for other girls,” she said. “Because I know myself — Ukrainian girls are stupid. We don’t have sexual education in schools. In universities, we don’t have feminist education. We don’t know even what feminism is.”

Medvedev Urges Ukraine To Join Customs Union

MINSK, Belarus -- Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev on Friday urged Ukraine to take further steps toward joining the Customs Union of Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan. On Friday, Ukraine signed a memorandum to deepen cooperation with the union and got an opportunity to take part in its activities, but stopped short of gaining observer status. Ukraine has been reluctant to join the union because doing so might prevent it from clinching a free-trade agreement with the European Union. “This is a first step, an essential step, a necessary step, and we are pleased with it. But it may also be the last step if no further actions are taken,” Medvedev said Friday. He said the governments willing to join the Eurasian Economic Union should be fully aware that “they will have to make an array of difficult and sometimes unpopular decisions.” "If this doesn’t happen, then, of course, we will continue our friendship, improve our bilateral relations, but there will be no common market. We hope that strategic decisions will be made with regard to that issue,” the Russian premier said. He said Russia was willing to offer as much integration to its partners in the common economic space as they were ready to take. On December 18, 2011, leaders of Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan signed an agreement to create the Eurasian Economic Commission, a new supranational body to manage economic integration of the three former Soviet republics. The Customs Union came into effect the following month. Then-President Medvedev said in his state-of-the-nation address to both houses of parliament on December 22, 2011, that Russia intended to intensify economic integration in the post-Soviet space and expected the Eurasian Economic Union with Belarus and Kazakhstan to come into existence by 2015.

Ukraine Seeks Both Association Deal With EU And Observer Status In Customs Union

Ukraine has been moving closer to both an association and free trade deal with the European Union, as well as observer status in the Russian-led Customs Union of Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan. Neither of the two statuses promises full integration. Because of this, Kiev believes they are not mutually exclusive. Ukrainian Foreign Minister Leonid Kozhara has said Ukraine sought to join all the Customs Union agreements that did not contradict its obligations to the EU. After the release from prison of prominent oppositionist and former Interior Minister Yuriy Lutsenko in April, Ukraine started to receive positive signals from the EU. This culminated in the approval by the European Council, which is the union’s collective presidency, of a visa facilitation agreement on May 13 and of proposals for European Council decisions on the association deal signing on May 15. Although both decisions are technical, their approval is important as it shows that Ukraine is on the right track. The two steps would have been unthinkable last year, when Ukraine-EU relations were in a deep freeze. The visa facilitation deal should make it easier for Ukrainian journalists, politicians and businessmen to apply for EU travel visas. Ukraine is still far from qualifying for visa-free travel, but the deal encourages certain EU countries to make travel for Ukrainians less difficult. The document approved in Brussels on May 15 is a necessary preparatory step, without which the association and free trade deal signing would have been impossible next November as scheduled. In spite of its technical character, the step is seen as recognition of the progress made by Ukraine since the announcement by the EU last December that the association agreement could be signed in November 2013, according to Ukraine’s newly appointed foreign relations and integration commissioner, Kostyantyn Yeliseyev. At the same time, the EU is making it clear that Ukraine has no time to rest on its laurels. Brussels expects Kiev to promptly address the problem of selective justice, pass laws to adapt Ukraine’s legal system to EU norms, in particular related to corruption and the justice system, and improve the election system. While Ukrainian and EU officials agree that Ukraine has made some progress in all three areas, this is not enough. EU envoy Jan Tombinski told a conference in Kiev on May 16 that if he were to decide now whether the association agreement would be signed, he would say “no.” He called on both the opposition and the ruling party to respect legal rules and procedures and to take more responsibility for their decisions. Tombinski’s skepticism is not surprising. On selective justice, the foreign ministry made it clear recently that former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko would not be freed from prison; furthermore, the ministry denies that there is a problem of selective justice in Ukraine. At the same time, Foreign Minister Leonid Kozhara admitted that Tymoshenko’s imprisonment is the biggest problem in relations with the EU. Regarding the legal system, Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council Secretary Andriy Klyuyev promised recently that the parliament would pass all the laws required by the EU by the end of May. Finally, regarding the election system, Kiev is not hurrying to amend electoral legislation, and the parliament has thus far failed to schedule repeat elections in the five constituencies where the results of last year’s parliamentary elections were cancelled. The situation with the Russia-Belarus-Kazakhstan Customs Union is less clear. Ukrainian Prime Minister Mykola Azarov said on April 23 that an agreement had been reached in principle that Ukraine would attain observer status in the Customs Union. A month later, the Ukrainian government commissioner for cooperation with Russia and the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), Valery Muntyan, said Russia, Kazakhstan and Belarus agreed to give Ukraine observer status in their Eurasian Economic Union (EEU) from January 1, 2015, when the EEU would come into being. At the same time, he said, Ukraine could not become an observer in the Customs Union as that institution’s founding documents did not provide for such a status. However, after meeting with the leaders of Russia and Kazakhstan in Astana on May 29, Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych said a memorandum on Ukraine’s observer status in the Customs Union would be signed at the upcoming CIS summit in Belarus on May 31. When exactly Ukraine will become an observer remains unknown. Meanwhile, a poll conducted by the Kiev-based think tank Razumkov on June 20–25 showed that 41.7 percent of Ukrainians would prefer membership in the EU, while 32.7 percent would prefer for Ukraine to join the Customs Union; and 12.3 percent want both. Whereas the EU attracts Ukrainians by its social protection system, the rule of law, democracy development and financial resources, those who prefer the Customs Union prioritize common history and culture with its other members, the belief in a similar mentality and access to cheap natural resources. Thus, although in President Viktor Yanukovych’s stronghold, the southeast, the Customs Union is more popular, the ruling Party of Regions will have to take public opinion into account if it wants its leader to be re-elected as president in 2015.