My dear Swedish friends,

May the Year of the Pig bring you and your loved ones peace, health, happiness and prosperity! Season’s Greetings!

Gott Nytt År!

2018 New Year Tree in Poltava

Russia brought to the occupied Crimea a million of its citizens

December 28, 2018 The Russian Federation brought to the occupied Crimea since the occupation from 800 thousand to 1 million of its citizens. This was stated by the leader of the Crimean Tatar people, MP Mustafa Dzhemilev, referring to the data of the Mejlis, during a speech in the Crimean House in Kyiv. According to him, data on the population of Crimea are very carefully hidden.

"There are some sources, I will not talk about them now, which give us reason to say how much the number of people in the occupied Crimea has increased," said Dzhemilev. “We have their plans for a sharp increase in the population of Kerch, Sevastopol. To what extent are they performed? They are even overfulfilled, this is also evident,” added the leader of the Crimean Tatars. He recalled that he had previously stated that since the occupation, about 500 thousand citizens of the Russian Federation had been brought to the Crimea.

“When our compatriots came, they said that we reduced the number. According to our compatriots, there are from 800 thousand to 1 million there,” said Dzhemilev. According to him, in the Crimea, there is a very high mortality rate, which is 33% higher than the birth rate. “The highest mortality rate among the indigenous population,” said Dzhemilev. He told how the citizens of the Russian Federation are resettled to the occupied Crimea.

“First of all, these are citizens of the Russian Federation - servicemen, employees of the interior, the FSB (the Federal Security Service of Russia - ed.) who have retired, receive a certificate that gives the right to purchase housing in the amount of 16 square meters per person. The state is obliged to pay cash to purchase housing. If there is a problem with these certificates in other regions of Russia, then in Crimea these certificates are instantly provided,” explained Dzhemilev. According to him, in the Crimea, especially in Evpatoria, Sevastopol, and Simferopol, housing is being actively built, primarily for migrants from the Russian Federation.

UKRAINE IS THE LAND OF TWO CHRISTMASES

December 26, 2018 (Radio Lemberg) December 25 has been celebrated as Christmas Day by Christians for centuries. Ukrainians, predominantly adherents of Eastern Orthodoxy, still observe Christmas on January 7. But Ukraine has a new, unified, independent and national Orthodox church. “Red letter days” (church holidays) will be very slowly moving from the Julian calendar to the Gregorian calendar. For now there are two Christmases in Ukraine, both observed as statutory holidays: December 25 and January 7. The Orthodox church in Ukraine had been illegally annexed by Moscow since 1686. Late in 2018, Orthodox believers in Ukraine recovered their ancient church and chose a leader from among themselves. It is called the Orthodox Church of Ukraine, and it restores the canonical authority of Constantinople and Kyiv that goes back more than a millennium.

 The man elected as primate of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine is Epifaniy, Metropolitan of Kyiv and All Ukraine. The completion of autocephaly – having a self-chosen head – will come on 6 January 2019 in Istanbul. That’s when Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, the Archbishop of Constantinople, intends to give the tomos to the Ukrainian primate, Metropolitan Epifaniy. A tomos is a letter or book granting self-governing authority to a national church, in communion with the “first among equals” of the Ecumenical Patriarchate. The Orthodox Church of Ukraine intends to switch to the Gregorian calendar from the Julian calendar, but do it very slowly. “We will do it calmly, wisely, and carefully, because our work needs to unite, not separate,” Metropolitan Epifaniy said in an interview with Radio Liberty on December 16.

Russian Fighter Jets Moved To Annexed Ukrainian Region

December 26, 2018 (Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty) More than a dozen advanced Russian fighter jets have arrived at a base in the Ukrainian region of Crimea, which Moscow occupied and annexed in 2014. The Reuters news agency cited witnesses who saw the Su-27 and Su-30 fighters arriving at the Belbek air base on December 22.

The move comes amid high tensions between Ukraine and Russia across the region, which were raised on November 25 when Russia seized three Ukrainian Navy vessels and their crews near the Kerch Strait, which connects the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has said Ukraine was preparing a "provocation" in the area before the end of the year.

A Russian Su-27 SM fighter jet lands at Belbek military airport outside Sevastopol, Crimea, in November 2014.

Kyiv, for its part, has charged that Russia was building up military forces along the two countries' mutual border. President Petro Poroshenko has said Russia has moved "more than 80,000 troops, 1,400 artillery and multiple rocket launch systems, 900 tanks, 2,300 armored combat vehicles" and hundreds of aircraft to the area.

100th anniversary of the outstanding Ukrainian scientist Boris Paton

On November 27, 2018, the outstanding Ukrainian scientist academician Boris E. Paton turned 100 years old. Thanks to his inventions, he is known all over the world. Its developments help to produce welding in space, under water and in various areas of medicine: general surgery, gynecology, urology, ophthalmology, abdominal surgery, neurosurgery, etc. For selfless service to science, outstanding achievements in the area of welding and special electrometallurgy in 1998 academician Paton Boris was awarded the title of Hero of Ukraine.

Since 1962, Boris Paton heads the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, which was founded in 1918 by Hetman Pavel Skoropadsky. The Academician Boris Paton is the only head of the state Academy of Sciences in the world, who is its age (the day of Foundation of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine and the birthday of Boris E. coincide - November 27, 1918).

He was born in Kyiv  in the family of scientist and founder of Paton Institute of Electric Welding in Kiev, Professor Evgeny Oscarovich Paton. His mother was a housewife. In 1941, he completed Kyiv Polytechnic Institute and became an engineer. Paton joined the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine on November 18, 1958 and is the first person to have been awarded the title of the Hero of Ukraine. He holds a doctoral degree in technical sciences and is known for his works in electric welding. Paton's father, Evgeny Paton, was also famous for his works in electric welding. The first welded bridge in Kyiv, constructed under the supervision of Evgeny Paton, bears his name. In the early 1970s and 1980s Paton had advised the Soviet authorities not to build the Chornobyl Nuclear Power Plant.

Paton Bridge is one of the bridges across the Dnieper in Kyiv, Ukraine named after its constructor Evgeny Paton. Built between 1941 and 1953, it is the world's first all-welded bridge and is also the longest bridge in Kiev having a length of 1,543 metres (5,062 ft). Traffic across the bridge was opened on 5 November 1953.

Russia to deploy warplanes to Crimea amid Ukraine standoff

December 17, 2018 (Deutsche Welle) The Russian Defense Ministry on Monday said it would "return" more than 10 warplanes to Crimea, according to Russian news agency Interfax. The ministry said fighter jets, including Sukhoi Su-27 and Su-30's, will be sent to the annexed Ukrainian territory as part of a "permanent deployment." They are expected to arrive by Saturday. The announcement comes after Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov claimed in an interview that Ukraine was preparing an "armed provocation with Russia on the border with Crimea during the last ten days of December."

Russia's SU-27 fight jet is one of the types of warplanes headed to Crimea

In comments carried by the state-run TASS news agency, Lavrov said Moscow would not allow the Ukrainian government to act on those plans, saying "they will regret it." But he also said that Russia "will not wage war against Ukraine." "We are not fighting the Ukrainian regime," Lavrov said. "It is Ukrainian citizens living in Donbass who are fighting against the Ukrainian regime, which has full Nazi and neo-Nazi characteristics." Last month, Russian warships captured three Ukrainian naval vessels as they crossed through the strategic Kerch Strait, detaining 24 sailors on board. Russian authorities accused the Ukrainian vessels of military provocations.