Russian Ex-PM’s Daughter Under Fire for Leaving for Ukraine

Russian President Vladimir Putin is “obsessed with the idea of testing NATO”, says ex-president of Georgia Mikheil Saakashvili in an exclusive interview to The Independent.

There are still questions over the specifics of Gaidar’s appointment, which faces potential hurdles over a Ukrainian-citizenship requirement. 20 years ago, the first joint Ukraine-USA exercise was held in Yavoriv, attended by 300 servicemen, head of West Ukraine army district press service Col. Oleksandr Poroniuk told ZIK.

Kiev has been locked in a conflict since April 2014 with pro-Moscow rebels in parts of the Donetsk and Lugansk regions, accusing Russian Federation of funnelling in troops and resources to sustain the insurgency-charges Moscow denies.

Nikita Belykh – governor of the Kirovsk region, where Gaidar worked from 2009 to 2011 as a deputy governor advising on social issues – said Saturday in a Facebook post that he was disappointed with her decision to leave for Ukraine.

In Moscow, the human rights ombudsman Ella Pamfilova said Gaidar’s Moscow-based charity foundation could be stripped of a presidential grant following her appointment. The event was largely condemned by many world leaders and North Atlantic Treaty Organisation as a clear violation of the 1994 Budapest Memorandum, which had originally been signed by Russian Federation, the US and the United Kingdom The memorandum included security assurances against threats or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of Ukraine, Belarus and Kazakhstan. In Ukraine, she has been criticized for being hesitant to denounce Russia’s annexation of the Crimean peninsula.

She wrote on her blog on July 18 that she opposed “the annexation of Crimea and the war in eastern Ukraine” between Russian-backed separatists and Ukrainian troops. “To go and work for people whose relations toward our country and our people are known to be very negative … she is pitting herself not only against the authorities but also against all Russians”.

His US counterpart Alfred Renzi said the participating countries – majority North Atlantic Treaty Organisation members but also including such former Soviet nations as Moldova and Azerbaijan – “will prove an ability to cooperate as one unified force for stability”.

“My task is to attract global experts so they come and help to study the situation and create an appropriate reforms program, which I will begin to implement”, Gaidar said.