Internal Security News

• (ITAR-TASS) Kyiv authorities admitted that it will be impossible to open part of polling stations in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions on May 25.
   
• (ITAR-TASS) Militant recruiting stations were opened up in the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic.
   
• (Interfax Ukraine) The death toll from the explosion near Volnovakha rose to 18  Ukrainian servicemen.
   
• 1 Ukrainian Donbas Volunteer Battalion member was killed and 20 were wounded in an ambush by 150-200 pro-Russian separatists in the village of Karlivka, 35 kilometers northwest of Donetsk.
   
• (Interfax Ukraine) The Chief of the Ukrainian SBU stated that no military operations are scheduled for May 25, the day of the presidential election.
   
• (Interfax Ukraine) The Chief of the Ukrainian SBU announced that five ‘sabotage groups’ had been neutralized on May 22-23.
   

Diplomacy News

• Russia will respect the choice of the Ukrainian people in a presidential election on Sunday, Russian President Vladimir Putin told a crowd of top government officials and business executives at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum. Moscow will be prepared to work with the Ukrainian authorities to be formed after the presidential election, Putin said.
   
• Kyiv welcomes the statement of Russian President Vladimir Putin on the readiness to cooperate with new Ukrainian authorities following the presidential elections, acting Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andriy Deschytsia said.
   
• Russian President Vladimir Putin warned of a "dangerous civil war" in Ukraine as fresh violence erupted ahead of the presidential election. Putin, addressing an international economic forum in St. Petersburg, said the chaos was the result of a "state coup" in Ukraine "with support of the West, the United States." Former Soviet states must guard against wider destabilization, he said.
   
• The situation in Ukraine ahead of the May 25 presidential election was discussed at a meeting between Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Grigory Karasin and the U.S. Charge d'Affaires in Russia Sheila Gwaltney.
   
• (Interfax Ukraine) Foreign ministers of Estonia, Denmark and Norway travelled to Ukraine to meet with the leadership of the country.
   
• (ITAR-TASS) Germany’s Foreign Minister, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, warned against trying to hinder the approaching presidential election in Ukraine on May 25.
   
• (RIA Novosti) There is reason to believe that the results of Ukraine's upcoming presidential election will be “smoothed over,” Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said.
   
• (RIA Novosti) Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Friday that “color revolutions” cause obvious damage to international stability.
   
• (ITAR-TASS) Iranian Defense Minister Hossein Dehghan agreed with Russia’s position on ‘color revolutions’ following a meeting with Russia’s Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu. Dehghan stated that “The United States often pursues its interests in conducting ‘color revolutions’,” and “The US always comes against the countries that seek to pursue an independent policy.”
   
• (ITAR-TASS) The speaker of Russia’s State Duma lower house of parliament, Sergey Naryshkin, said that the legitimacy of the Ukrainian presidential election on May 25 was highly questionable.
   
•  (RIA Novosti) Ukraine “has practically slid into a civil war,” Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said.
   
• Russia's top general Valery Gerasimov said that Moscow would retaliate against increased NATO activity near its border as tensions with the western alliance over Ukraine escalate.
   
• (ITAR-TASS) Putin stated that problems linked to Ukraine and Crimea had been caused by lack of world trust, and alleged that without Russia’s intervention, Crimea would have seen a greater tragedy than the approximately 50 deaths in Odessa on May 2.
   
• (ITAR-TASS) Russian FM Sergei Lavrov stated that the US sanctions against Russia can cause serious damage to relations between the two countries.
   
• (RIA Novosti) Russian President Putin stated that the European Union has so far announced nothing but slogans about consultations on Ukraine’s possible association with the EU. “So far there have been no consultations … besides slogans, there is nothing else.”
   
• (Interfax Ukraine) Russian presidential chief-of-staff Sergei Ivanov said that Russia "will not send its observers to the presidential elections [in Ukraine]."
   
• Russian President Vladimir Putin said he was upbeat on the prospects for resolving the crisis in Ukraine and that doing so would help improve relations with the United States.
   

Governance News

•  (ITAR-TASS) Ukrainian presidential candidate Yulia Tymoshenko suggested that an all-Ukrainian referendum on the country’s accession to NATO be held to coincide with possible second round of presidential elections on June 15.