July 16:
Russia is not meeting its commitments to end violence in Ukraine, Germany’s government has charged. The BBC reports that a spokesperson for German Chancellor Angela Merkel has said that "Russia has been insufficient in meeting expectations" regarding bringing about an end to the fighting and the activities of pro-Russia separatists. The criticism comes following trilateral discussions between Merkel, President Obama and Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko - talks which highlighted the lack of will on the part of separatist factions “to enter into serious talks on declaring a mutual ceasefire,” something which Western leaders expect the Kremlin to encourage.
July 17:
The crisis in Ukraine has taken a dramatic - and tragic - turn with the downing of a commercial airliner over a rebel-held portion of the country. CBS News reports that a Malaysia Airlines passenger jet carrying 295 passengers, en route to Kuala Lumpur from Amsterdam, was downed by a Russian-made BUK air defense system over eastern Ukraine. The Ukrainian government has accused Russia in the incident, saying that “Russia is complicit, if not responsible” for the shoot-down because of its provision of high-tech weaponry - including the BUK system - to separatists it supports who are active on Ukrainian soil.
The deepening standoff between Russia and the West over Ukraine is beginning to play out in a new arena: arms control. Itar-TASS reports that Russian lawmakers have proposed a suspension of the 2010 New START treaty - a signature achievement of the Obama administration - as retaliation for widening U.S. sanctions against the Kremlin. “It is necessary to negotiate with the Americans only from the position of strength,” Leonid Kalashnikov, vice-chairman of the Duma’s international affairs committee, has told the news agency. “We should revise the New START Treaty, the terms of the Afghan transit and suspend them. It is necessary to look for various options, revise the most sensitive for the United States issues of our bilateral relations.”
July 18:
The United States government has pinned the blame for the downing of Malaysia Airlines flight 17 over eastern Ukraine on Russia. According to the Washington Post, the preliminary conclusion of the White House is that Russia’s supply of war materiel - including the BUK system that took down the airliners - was “not an accident,” making Moscow responsible for the destruction of the plane and the deaths of the passengers on board. “If Mr. Putin makes a decision that we are not going to allow heavy armaments and the flow of fighters... across the Ukrainian-Russian border, then it will stop,” President Obama said in remarks at the White House. “He has the most control over that situation, and so far, at least, he has not exercised it.”
Russian officials, for their part, are striking a defensive tone. The Obama administration is “trying to prejudge the outcome [of an investigation] with broad statements and insinuations,” Russian Ambassador to the UN Vitaly Churkin has said. In his telling, the U.S. “pushed [the Ukrainian government] to escalate” its fight against pro-Russian separatists in Ukraine, with tragic consequences.
July 19:
The Kremlin is now forcing young Russians to prove their loyalty to the state. According to the Moscow Times, a new order drafted by the country’s Education and Science Ministry requires high school students in Russia to demonstrate “self-identification as a Russian citizen, responsibility to the motherland and respect for ‘traditional’ values” before being allowed to graduate. The new standard dramatically expands previous requirements, which stipulated a demonstration of proficiency in “basic” subjects like math, literature and language, and moves them into the political realm. "The standard is firmly oriented toward building the personal traits of the graduate, who must not only acquire knowledge about certain subjects, but also be formed as a complete and full-fledged individual," the Times cites a spokesperson for the Ministry as confirming.