Press Digest: Agreement ready for Ukraine to form parliamentary coalition

The working group prepares the agreement on the creation of the Ukrainian parliamentary coalition, writes Kommersant. Source: Ramil Sitdikov/RIA Novosti

The working group prepares the agreement on the creation of the Ukrainian parliamentary coalition, writes Kommersant. Source: Ramil Sitdikov/RIA Novosti

RBTH presents a selection of views from leading Russian media on international events, featuring reports on the conclusion of an agreement on the formation of Ukraine’s parliamentary coalition and the first visit to Pakistan by a Russian defense minister in 50 years, as well as analysis of negotiations on Iran’s nuclear program as they draw to a conclusion.

Kommersant

The Kommersant newspaper reports that the working group responsible for preparing the agreement on the creation of the Ukrainian parliamentary coalition has concluded its work. The document has been signed by representatives from five parties: the People's Front, the Petro Poroshenko Bloc, the Samopomich (‘Self Reliance’) party, Oleh Lyashko's Radical Party and Yulia Tymoshenko’s Batkivshchyna (‘Fatherland’) party. Thus, according to the newspaper, only one political force, the Opposition Bloc, whose core consists of former Party of Regions deputies, has remained outside the coalition.

Kommersant writes that the document's introduction states that the coalition's main objectives are the provision of the means for Ukraine to defend itself, the restoration of economic growth, the protection of citizens' rights and freedoms, including "all Ukrainian citizens, [including] those who live in the temporarily occupied territories of Crimea and Sevastopol, [and] in parts of the Lugansk and Donetsk regions," and the "liberation of these territories." Moreover, the new parliamentary coalition will take measures to investigate the crimes committed against the participants of the Euromaidan movement, adds the newspaper. The Verkhovna Rada, Ukraine's Parliament, will seek to "liberate from captivity all Ukrainian citizens," including pilot Nadezhda Savchenko, who participated in the government’s military offensive in the breakaway eastern region of the Donbass.

The basis of all reforms in Ukraine, as all the five parties decided, will be the implementation of the Association Agreements between Kiev and the EU, concludes the newspaper.

Moskovsky Komsomolets

The Moskovsky Komsomolets newspaper reports that for the first time in over 50 years a Russian defense minister has visited Pakistan. In the course of his one-day visit, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu met his counterpart Khawaja Asif and Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. The two sides signed a military cooperation agreement and discussed the situation in Afghanistan, the fight against terrorism and piracy.

"The visit, which can be considered historic, will become a breakthrough in the complicated history of Russian-Pakistani relations," writes the newspaper. "This visit is sure to affect Russia's relations with its strategic partner India, which is Pakistan's archenemy. However, honestly speaking, our Indian partners have recently been ‘swindling’ Russia in a series of cooperation projects in the military technology field."

According to Ruslan Pukhov, a military expert and director of the Center of Strategy and Technology Analysis, Russian-Pakistani military-technological cooperation has a long history, even though certain foreign policy factors, such as Moscow and Delhi's close partnership and Pakistan's role in Afghanistan, never allowed this cooperation to reach substantial dimensions.

Nezavisimaya Gazeta

Negotiations on Iran's nuclear program may not finish on Nov. 24, as was established earlier, writes the Nezavisimaya Gazeta newspaper. The P5+1 group, composed of the five permanent UN Security Council members and Germany, has been working with Iran to prevent the violation of the nuclear weapons non-proliferation regime. Moreover, an agreement among the parties would help remove sanctions against Iran, including the heaviest ones imposed by the U.S., adds the newspaper.

Initially, the negotiations were expected to conclude on Nov. 24. However, new problems arose due to information that appeared in the western press citing authoritative specialists: It is possible that Iran has five times as many new-generation centrifuges than it had earlier announced, which, if necessary, could help the country accelerate work on its nuclear weapons if it abandons the agreement, explains Nezavisimaya Gazeta.

Experts believe that this important confirmation will lead the P5+1 to increase its demands that a rigid control system be included in the agreement and to oblige Iran to fully clarify its nuclear program, including former military projects that have not been disclosed. The newspaper writes that in this context, a particular IAEA report must be taken into consideration: Iran is still not giving inspectors access to the facilities where in the past secret military work was carried out.

The newspaper notes that the current round of negotiations will most likely not be the last.

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