<html xmlns:v="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:vml" xmlns:o="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" xmlns:w="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:word" xmlns:m="http://schemas.microsoft.com/office/2004/12/omml" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40"><head><META HTTP-EQUIV="Content-Type" CONTENT="text/html; charset=us-ascii"><meta name=Generator content="Microsoft Word 14 (filtered medium)"><style><!--
/* Font Definitions */
@font-face
{font-family:Calibri;
panose-1:2 15 5 2 2 2 4 3 2 4;}
/* Style Definitions */
p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal
{margin:0in;
margin-bottom:.0001pt;
font-size:11.0pt;
font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";}
a:link, span.MsoHyperlink
{mso-style-priority:99;
color:blue;
text-decoration:underline;}
a:visited, span.MsoHyperlinkFollowed
{mso-style-priority:99;
color:purple;
text-decoration:underline;}
span.EmailStyle17
{mso-style-type:personal-compose;
font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
color:windowtext;}
.MsoChpDefault
{mso-style-type:export-only;
font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";}
@page WordSection1
{size:8.5in 11.0in;
margin:1.0in 1.0in 1.0in 1.0in;}
div.WordSection1
{page:WordSection1;}
--></style><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<o:shapedefaults v:ext="edit" spidmax="1026" />
</xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<o:shapelayout v:ext="edit">
<o:idmap v:ext="edit" data="1" />
</o:shapelayout></xml><![endif]--></head><body lang=EN-US link=blue vlink=purple><div class=WordSection1><p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:16.0pt;font-family:"Courier New"'>President Petro Poroshenko demanded the sweep against those considered to represent a threat to “national security.”<o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:16.0pt;font-family:"Courier New"'><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p><p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:16.0pt;font-family:"Courier New"'><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p><p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:16.0pt;font-family:"Courier New"'><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p><p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:16.0pt;font-family:"Courier New"'>Ukraine has expanded its list of sanctioned journalists and organizations that are now banned from the country and that are now referred to as “terrorists.”<o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:16.0pt;font-family:"Courier New"'><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p><p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:16.0pt;font-family:"Courier New"'>President Petro Poroshenko demanded the sweep against those considered to represent a threat to “national security” after pro-Russian rebels announced plans to hold elections in October and November in areas that they control.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:16.0pt;font-family:"Courier New"'><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p><p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:16.0pt;font-family:"Courier New"'>RELATED: Who Governs Ukraine? <o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:16.0pt;font-family:"Courier New"'><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p><p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:16.0pt;font-family:"Courier New"'>Some 900 individuals have now found a place on Ukraine’s blacklist. Among those banned are Russians and separatists, but also 34 journalists from European countries like Spain, Germany and the United Kingdom, allegedly for contact they might have had with rebels during the independence referendum and subsequent vote to join Russia of Crimea.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:16.0pt;font-family:"Courier New"'><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p><p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:16.0pt;font-family:"Courier New"'>But after international outcry from the media, Poroshenko has asked for a reprieve for six reporters, including BBC workers.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:16.0pt;font-family:"Courier New"'><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p><p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:16.0pt;font-family:"Courier New"'>"Freedom of the press is of absolute value to me," spokesperson Svyatoslav Tsegolko quoted Poroshenko as saying in a post on Twitter.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:16.0pt;font-family:"Courier New"'><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p><p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:16.0pt;font-family:"Courier New"'>Johannes Hahn, the European Union’s commissioner in charge of enlargement criticized the move as un-European, threatening Ukraine’s attempt to join the body.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:16.0pt;font-family:"Courier New"'>"I am surprised and I am concerned and I will certainly discuss it with the colleagues in Ukraine because this is not European in spirit," he said in Brussels.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:16.0pt;font-family:"Courier New"'><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p><p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:16.0pt;font-family:"Courier New"'>The fresh bans came in response to the upcoming elections, which Ukraine considers illegal.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:16.0pt;font-family:"Courier New"'><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p><p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:16.0pt;font-family:"Courier New"'>“This adventurism and irresponsible decision requires our exact, coordinated reaction to the threat that has been created to the Minsk (peace) agreements,” he said at the time.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:16.0pt;font-family:"Courier New"'><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p><p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:16.0pt;font-family:"Courier New"'>Why did Crimea declare independence from Ukraine? <o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:16.0pt;font-family:"Courier New"'><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p><p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:16.0pt;font-family:"Courier New"'>After World War II, Crimea remained within Russian territory, but in 1954, Nikita Krushev handed its administration over to Ukraine, which in 1991 declared its independence from the Soviet Union – dissolved that same year<o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:16.0pt;font-family:"Courier New"'><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p><p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:16.0pt;font-family:"Courier New"'>The majority of Crimea's population speaks Russian. When Yanukovich was ousted, the new government took over with the intention of completely separating the country from Russia, a country historically linked to Crimea.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:16.0pt;font-family:"Courier New"'><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p><p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:16.0pt;font-family:"Courier New"'>Parting from this event, Crimeans fought to maintain their links to Russia, and its rejection to the de facto government – which later legitimized itself through elections along with members of the Pravi Sector, a radical right-wing group linked to Nazism.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:16.0pt;font-family:"Courier New"'><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p><p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:16.0pt;font-family:"Courier New"'>Crimea is geographically strategic because of its passage to the Black Sea. Its territory is 26,100 square meters and it has two million inhabitants. <o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p></div></body></html>