Ukraine rebel regions vote in ballot that West calls bogus

November 11, 2018

MINSK, Belarus (AP) — Residents of the eastern Ukraine regions controlled by Russia-backed separatist rebels voted Sunday for local governments in elections denounced by Kiev and the West. The elections were to choose heads of government and legislature members in the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Luhansk People's Republics, where separatists have fought Ukrainian forces since the spring of 2014 in a war that has killed more than 10,000 people.

Although a 2015 accord on ending the war calls for local elections in Donetsk and Luhansk, critics including Ukraine's president, the U.S. and the European Union say the vote is illegitimate because it is conducted where Ukraine has no control.

But the separatists say the vote is a key step toward establishing full-fledged democracy in the regions. "It's another exam for the civic position, political position for the whole Donetsk Republic," said Denis Pushilin, who became acting head of the Donetsk separatist regime since predecessor Alexander Zakharchenko was killed in a restaurant bombing in August.

His Luhansk counterpart, Leonid Pasechnik, said Sunday that "we are a free republic, a free country" and denied that the voting was being held contrary to the 2015 agreement signed in Minsk. The leaders of Germany and France, which helped negotiate that accord, dismissed "the illegal and illegitimate elections ... held today despite numerous appeals by the international community."

"These are elections for entities that have no legitimacy under the Ukrainian constitution," Kurt Volker, the U.S. special envoy for Ukraine, said last week. "The people in eastern Ukraine will be better off within a unified Ukraine at peace rather than in a second-rate police state run by crooks and thugs, all subsidized by Russian taxpayers," he said Sunday on Twitter.

Both regions reported voter turnout of more than 70 percent as of two hours before the polls closed at 8 p.m. (1700 GMT). Later Sunday, the spokesman for Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said he discussed the elections with German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Emmanuel Macron amid ceremonies in Paris commemorating the end of World War I Sunday.

In a statement after the meeting, Merkel and Macron said that holding "so-called" elections undermines Ukraine's territorial integrity and sovereignty of Ukraine, and urged all sides to respect the ceasefire and release political prisoners.

Germany, France and Ukraine are part of the so-called "Normandy format" countries seeking a resolution to the conflict. Russia is the fourth country in the format, which has not held talks in two years.

Andrei Yermolaev, an analyst at the New Ukraine think-tank in Kiev, said "conducting the elections despite the opinions of Kiev and the West means that the Kremlin completely controls the situation in the region and intends to use this 'frozen conflict' as a lever of pressure on the Ukrainian authorities."

Jim Heintz in Moscow and Frank Jordans in Berlin contributed to this story.

Ukraine's president meets Ecumenical Patriarch in Istanbul

November 03, 2018

ISTANBUL (AP) — Ukraine's president has met the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople, as some Ukrainian clerics prepare to break ties with the Russian Orthodox Church. President Petro Poroshenko and Patriarch Bartholomew I spoke in Istanbul on Saturday, weeks after the patriarchate's Oct. 11 decision to recognize the independence of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. Russia in turn broke off ties with the Constantinople Patriarchate.

Poroshenko thanked the patriarch, who is the "first among equals" in the Orthodox world, for supporting the Ukrainian church's independence. The Ukrainian church had been under the Russian Orthodox Church since 1686. Ukrainian clerics are now being forced to pick sides, to join the independent Ukraine Orthodox church or remain within Russian influence, as the fighting persists in eastern Ukraine between government forces and Russia-backed rebels.

Macedonia ex-leader requests asylum in Hungary

November 14, 2018

SKOPJE, Macedonia (AP) — Former Macedonian Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski, who fled his country to avoid a two-year prison term for corruption, has requested asylum in Hungary, the Hungarian government said Wednesday.

Meanwhile, Macedonian Prime Minister Zoran Zaev called on Hungary to extradite Gruevski, his bitter political rival. Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban's office said it considers Gruevski's asylum request "solely a legal issue" and views Macedonia as "an important ally."

"The Macedonian government of the day is a partner of Hungary in interstate relations, and therefore we in no way wish to intervene in the internal affairs of sovereign countries," Orban's office said.

For his part, Zaev said he expects the Hungarian government to respect international law by returning Gruevski. "What will be (Macedonia's) motivation to join the European Union if one of its member states becomes a shelter for criminals?" he said during a news conference in Skopje with visiting Maltese Prime Minister Joseph Muscat.

Macedonia's justice ministry spokesman, Vladimir Delov, told The Associated Press that the ministry is preparing the necessary documentation for Gruevski's extradition. Gruevski, prime minister from 2006-2016, fled after Macedonian police tried to arrest him to serve the prison sentence. He was convicted in May of unlawfully influencing interior ministry officials over the purchase of a luxury vehicle.

Delov said the formal extradition request will take some time as the documents need to be translated into Hungarian. Macedonia has no extradition agreement with Hungary, but can seek application of the European Convention on Extradition that binds members of the Council of Europe — to which both countries belong.

In Hungary, left- and right-wing opposition parties called on the Orban government to extradite Gruevski. Earlier Wednesday, Macedonian authorities temporarily jailed two former government officials on trial for corruption following Gruevski's flight.

A criminal court on Wednesday ordered former transport minister Mile Janakieski and former government secretary-general Kiril Bozinovski to be held for 30 days. Prosecutors sought their detention amid fears they could also try to flee the country.

They are on trial on charges including corruption over public contracts and election fraud. Gruevski's flight marks the latest dramatic episode in a volatile confrontation between his conservatives and Zaev's Social Democrats.

The two sides remain bitterly at odds over a proposed deal to change the republic's name to North Macedonia and end a dispute with neighboring Greece that would allow Macedonia to join NATO and start accession talks with the European Union.

Western leaders provided Zaev's government strong backing in supporting the deal, while Russia argued that it was the target of the alliance's expansion eastward.

Pablo Gorondi reported from Budapest, Hungary.

Polish leaders to walk with nationalists on Independence Day

November 10, 2018

WARSAW, Poland (AP) — The Polish government and the organizers of a march put on by nationalist groups annually for the country's independence holiday have agreed to hold a joint event in Warsaw Sunday on the 100th anniversary of Poland's rebirth as a state.

The announcement late Friday means President Andrzej Duda, Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki and other state officials will join groups who held a march in Warsaw last year where racist banners and white supremacist symbols were displayed.

Michal Dworczyk, the head of Morawiecki's chancellery, tweeted that both sides reached an agreement, adding: "Poland won. On Nov. 11 there will be a great communal march to celebrate the 100th anniversary of Independence!"

The deal was also announced by the top march organizer, Robert Bakiewicz. He is a leader of the National Radical Camp, which traces its roots to an anti-Semitic movement of the 1930s. The development underscored how the ruling Law and Justice party has at times sought to embrace the same base that supports far-right groups. It's a source of controversy in Poland, where many are furious at how radical nationalists came to dominate the Independence Day holiday.

Duda said he wants the participants to walk "under white-and-red flags, under our national colors, under the motto of a free and independent Poland." The president told Poland's Nasz Dziennik newspaper he wants all the participating groups to leave their individual emblems and banners expressing their particular point of view behind.

Last year's march in the capital was cited in a recent European Parliament resolution that called for member states to act decisively against far-right extremism. It noted the presence at that march of xenophobic banners with slogans such as "white Europe of brotherly nations," and flags depicting the "falanga," a far-right symbol dating to the 1930s.

The announcement of the joint march comes after chaotic days of preparations and negotiations with the nationalist group before the centennial of Poland's independence, which was regained at the end of World War I in 1918 when the three empires — Russia, Austria and Germany — that had ruled Poland for more than a century collapsed in defeat.

Duda's office held talks with march organizers over several months in hopes of reaching an agreement on a joint march. But the talks broke down when the nationalists refused a demand to have no banners.

New talks between state officials and the nationalists took place Friday leading to the announcement of an agreement. Wladyslaw Frasyniuk, a hero of the anti-communist Solidarity movement of the 1980s, strongly criticized the authorities for what he described as pandering to "bandits" and "fascists."

Law and Justice party spokeswoman Beata Mazurek appealed to all participants to be a "guardian" of order at the march and to report any "provocative behavior" to the police. On the eve of the anniversary, Duda, Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki and Law and Justice party leader Jaroslaw Kaczynski attended the unveiling of a monument to former Polish President Lech Kaczynski, The twin brother of the ruling party leader was killed in a 2010 plane crash in Russia.

The memorial and its location in a large central square with statues and other installations representing significant moments from Poland's glorious and tragic past has been another source of national discord leading up to the independence centennial.

Polish army organizing security for Independence Day march

November 08, 2018

WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Poland's Defense Ministry will handle security during an Independence Day march this weekend in Warsaw as police are staging mass walkouts in a pay dispute that has created concerns about keeping people safe.

Over the past decade, radical nationalists have staged marches featuring racist banners and rioting on Nov.11 as Poles celebrate their nation's independence, regained at the end of World War I after more than a century of foreign rule.

With security concerns running high, Warsaw's mayor on Wednesday banned the nationalists' march, and the president's and prime minister's offices quickly announced plans for an inclusive state march in its place.

Michal Dworczyk, chief of the Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki's chancellery, said that the Defense Ministry, in charge of the army, will organize security at events marking the centenary of Polish independence on Sunday.

In recent days many police officers — up to 60 percent of the force in some places — have gone on sick leave to protests their pay, raising concerns about how it will be possible to secure the march in Warsaw along with many other events across the nation on Sunday.

Another divisive issue has been a statue being unveiled Saturday of the late President Lech Kaczynski in a central Warsaw square. At nearly 7 meters (23 feet) it towers over a nearby monument of the national hero Marshal Jozef Pilsudski, the statesman who led Poland in regaining its independence a century ago.

Kaczynski, who was killed in a 2010 plane crash in Russia, was the identical twin of Jaroslaw Kaczynski, the head of the right-wing Law and Justice party currently in power. While Poles united in mourning the tragedy that took his life and 95 others, including the first lady, they are deeply divided on whether he deserves such heroic status.

In another development, the president signed a law late Wednesday that makes next Monday a day off work for Poles since the holiday falls on a Sunday. Pro-business lawmakers and many in the business community say the last-minute organization of a day off is causing disruptions and chaos and warn it will affect their bottom line.

Poland blocks far-right march, will hold inclusive event

November 07, 2018

WARSAW, Poland (AP) — The mayor of Warsaw on Wednesday banned radical Polish nationalists from marching on the 100th anniversary of Poland's independence due to security concerns. The move prompted Polish leaders to quickly draw up plans for an inclusive march Sunday that could be embraced by all citizens.

It was a significant about-face for the populist government, which has been trying not to alienate far-right voters but then faced the strong possibility that the main news from Poland on its centennial would have been about extremists or even violence. It seemed the Warsaw mayor, normally a political rival from the opposition centrist Civic Platform, offered them a way out of their predicament.

Mayor Hanna Gronkiewicz-Waltz said she wanted to put a stop to the extremist displays that have appeared yearly on Poland's Nov. 11 Independence Day holiday at far-right marches that have drawn tens of thousands to the capital.

At last year's march, some marchers carried racist and anti-Islamic banners calling for a "White Europe" and displayed white supremacist symbols like the Celtic Cross. There were also cases of violence against counter-protesters.

The event drew heavy media coverage and international criticism. Lawmakers in the European Parliament called the participants "fascists" — a label that infuriated the conservative Polish government, whose leaders said most people marched with the national flag and without the racist banners. They mostly praised the march as an expression of patriotism, with one minister calling it a "beautiful sight."

This year, Poland is celebrating the centenary of its independence, gained in 1918 at the end of World War I. "This is not how the celebrations should look on the 100th anniversary of regaining our independence," Gronkiewicz-Waltz told a news conference. "Warsaw has suffered enough because of aggressive nationalism."

Gronkiewicz-Waltz noted that the chief organizer of the Warsaw far-right march is a leader of the National Radical Camp, which traces its roots to an anti-Semitic movement of the 1930s. She said she has asked the government to outlaw it but has been ignored.

"The capital city saved the honor of the country," the liberal daily Gazeta Wyborcza wrote. Many other Poles have resented how the nationalists in recent years have managed to draw so much attention on Independence Day, overshadowing other celebrations.

President Andrzej Duda and Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki met after the mayor's announcement and announced that a march organized by the government would take place in Warsaw on Sunday instead. Presidential spokesman Blazej Spychalski invited all Poles to march with national flags to show that "we are one white-and-red team," a reference to the flag's colors.

The government had held failed talks earlier with the far-right nationalists, hoping to make their march a state event, but far-right organizers refused the government demand that marchers could carry flags only, no banners, Morawiecki said.

A similar ban on a far-right Independence Day march was announced Tuesday by the mayor of the western Polish city of Wroclaw, who cited the risk that participants might incite racial and ethnic hatred.

The bans followed signals that extremists from elsewhere in Europe planned to travel to Warsaw on Sunday. Mass walk-outs by Polish police officers in recent days also raised concerns that clashes between participants and counter-protesters could get out of hand if there were not enough officers to intervene.

Meanwhile, a controversial statue of the late President Lech Kaczynski was installed in a central Warsaw square ahead of its weekend unveiling as part of the centennial celebrations. Kaczynski, who was killed in a 2010 plane crash in Russia, was the identical twin of Jaroslaw Kaczynski, the head of the right-wing Law and Justice party currently in power.

While Poles have universally mourned the deaths of the president and the 95 other people who perished with him they remain divided on how to judge his presidency and whether he deserves such hero status.

More than 140 memorials to him already exist across the nation of 37 million people. Authorities in Warsaw's local government opposed the statue and its central location. Pro-government provincial authorities were in favor. The clash is playing out in Poland's court system even as the 7-meter (23-foot) statue went up.

The end of World War I is also being marked on Sunday in Paris, where dozens of world leaders will gather, including host French President Emmanuel Macron and counterparts Donald Trump of the United States, Vladimir Putin of Russia and Turkey's Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

In Britain, Armistice Day will be commemorated Sunday with a solemn ceremony at the Cenotaph in London that will be attended by Queen Elizabeth II. Special tributes to fallen and injured servicemen will also include a Field of Remembrance at Westminster Abbey in London.

Polish ruling party chief puts best face on election results

November 06, 2018

WARSAW, Poland (AP) — The leader of Poland's populist ruling party on Tuesday hailed its showing in local elections as an "all-out victory" despite the party's failure to win mayoral races in any of Poland's large cities.

In an apparent face-saving measure, Jaroslaw Kaczynski said "our victory is not subject to the slightest doubt" and called the results a good sign for his Law and Justice party in next year's parliamentary elections.

Party officials presented charts to reporters to show Law and Justice victories in country and local councils. He was speaking following the vote that ended Sunday in some cities and smaller municipalities. The conservative ruling party won the most seats in regional assemblies but performed poorly in mayoral races, winning no big cities and only a handful of smaller ones.

Kaczynski contested the opinions of some commentators who say that the failure in the cities should sound a warning for the party, which won power in 2015. "This election brought another victory for Law and Justice and it makes a very good prognosis for the parliamentary elections," Kaczynski said.

Poles will elect representatives to the European Parliament in May and to the national parliament in the fall, and will then pick a president in 2020.