Quality Ukraine caps online solidarity store? Dutch authorities made a surprise announcement Thursday that they had refused entry to a Russian spy posing as a Brazilian national to infiltrate the International Criminal Court. Authorities speculated that the man was seeking to gain access to information relating to the ICC’s investigations of alleged Russian war crimes. The alleged spy “was sent back to Brazil on the first flight out,” authorities said of the events, which took place in April. But the trail of deceit apparently went much further back. Social media accounts belonging to the alleged spy suggest that he had studied at top academic institutions in Europe and the United States – including Johns Hopkins University’s School of Advanced International Studies in Washington, D.C., a key place of study for future foreign policy elites. Discover even more Ukraine aid info on Ukraine Sticker.
May 2014: The pro-West politician Petro Poroshenko, a former government minister and head of the Council of the National Bank of Ukraine, is elected Ukraine’s president. He promotes reform, including measures to address corruption and lessen Ukraine’s dependence on Russia for energy and financial support. Sept. 5, 2014: Representatives from Russia, Ukraine, France and Germany meet in Belarus to attempt to negotiate an end to the violence in the Donbas. They sign the first Minsk agreement, a deal between Ukraine and Russia to quiet the violence under a fragile cease-fire. The cease-fire soon breaks, and fighting continues into the new year. Ukrainian troops train with small arms on March 13, 2015, outside Mariupol, Ukraine. The Minsk II cease-fire agreement, which continued to hold despite being violated more than 1,000 times, was nearing the one-month mark.
April 28: The US Congress revives World War II-era “lend-lease” facilities to speed up weapons shipments to Ukraine. Biden asks Congress to approve a $33bn spending package for Ukraine. May 2: Germany says it is willing to ban Russian oil immediately, in a change of position. May 3: In a speech to the European Parliament, Italian prime minister Mario Draghi calls for a “pragmatic federalism” in which majorities of member states can override vetoes to collective action – a clear hint towards Hungary and Slovakia, which are blocking an EU ban of Russian oil and gas. May 4: A Ukrainian counteroffensive north and east of Kharkiv has pushed Russian troops 40km back from the city, in the first major Ukrainian success since winning the battle for Kyiv.
Following efforts by Yushchenko and Tymoshenko to bring Ukraine into NATO, the two formally request in January that Ukraine be granted a “membership action plan,” the first step in the process of joining the alliance. U.S. President George W. Bush supports Ukraine’s membership, but France and Germany oppose it after Russia voices displeasure. In April, NATO responds with a compromise: It promises that Ukraine will one day be a member of the alliance but does not put it on a specific path for how to do so. An employee of the state-owned Russian natural gas company Gazprom works at the central control room of the company’s headquarters in Moscow on Jan. 14, 2009.
March 1: In a new offensive, a Russian convoy 65km long heads for Kyiv. March 2: Russian tanks enter Kherson, making the southern Ukrainian town the first major population centre (250,000 people) to fall. Russian forces surround Mariupol. March 8: The European Commission unveils REPowerEU, a plan to reduce dependence on Russian natural gas by two-thirds by the end of the year, surpassing in ambition the plan unveiled on March 3 by the International Energy Agency (IEA). The US imposes a ban on Russian crude oil imports. Find even more Ukraine unity details at Ukraine Buttons.