“The occupiers are closing one of the last remaining places in Simferopol that still bore traces of peaceful life - the Children's Park. Officially, the closure is attributed to 'reconstruction' and infrastructure updates. In reality, it is a complete restriction on access to the area, including the zoo, attractions, and playgrounds,” the National Resistance Center posted on Telegram The report highlights that a new fortification complete with barbed wire fencing and a VIP zone for war criminals has been constructed on the site of the children's beach 'Reconstruction' is merely a cover for the seizure of territories,” the center added the occupiers have converted the Artek children's camp into a military recreation center While citing and using any materials on the Internet links to the website ukrinform.net not lower than the first paragraph are mandatory citing the translated materials of foreign media outlets is possible only if there is a link to the website ukrinform.net and the website of a foreign media outlet Materials marked as "Advertisement" or with a disclaimer reading "The material has been posted in accordance with Part 3 of Article 9 of the Law of Ukraine "On Advertising" No 1996 and the Law of Ukraine "On the Media" No 2023 and on the basis of an agreement/invoice Online media entity; Media identifier - R40-01421 Chief Rabbi Berel Lazar requested that the old synagogue in Simferopol the shul was returned and is being renovated for the Jewish community Russia is still deeply impressed by the joyful announcement made on the eve of Purim regarding the decision of the Siberian government to completely renovate the ancient and historic synagogue that the Cantonists built with dedication in the city of Tomsk Siberia – an announcement that moved not only the Jews of Tomsk who have warm and special feelings for the few such buildings left standing throughout Russia Another joyful announcement came from the city of Simferopol about a similar government approval for a foundation-to-ceiling renovation of the ancient synagogue in the city center as the building is in danger of collapse and requires professional and expensive restoration During one of Russian President Vladimir Putin‘s meetings with the Chief Rabbi of Russia a request was submitted to return the building to the Jewish community; he immediately approved it and the president even signed the request letter the process that began then has now ended with the government taking responsibility for the entire renovation – very happy news that from the city of Simferopol in Crimea and spread throughout Russia Rabbi of the city of Simferopol and the island of Crimea is certain that this step will lead to even greater development experienced by the city of Simferopol under the dedicated activities of Rabbi Pinchas Koch and his family in tandem with all the Jewish communities in the various cities on the large island especially since Russian citizens have discovered the natural springs and vacation spots that are among the most beautiful in the world which can be found on the island and thousands come to visit it including crowds of Jews who find a place to pray and other Jewish needs – through the Jewish communities in Crimea These two cases come after much plowing and sowing throughout the largest country in the world multifaceted work by the one who stands at the head of Jewry in Russia he who seeks good for his people and speaks peacefully with those at the head for the sake of the public and the individual in order to restore the glory of Russian Jewry In the photos: The current state of the building and the design as it will look in the final version after renovations Notify me via e-mail if anyone answers my comment Δdocument.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value" Please enable JS and disable any ad blocker the Crimean peninsula became the scene of one of the most massive drone attacks to date According to information disseminated by Ukrainian radio HB and numerous Telegram channels there were strikes on military facilities in Simferopol The Crimean Wind channel reported a large-scale attack on Sevastopol with the Kacha airport being particularly affected Eyewitnesses claim to have heard a series of explosions and describe the attack as the largest yet against the city Reports on social networks also confirm explosions in the area of the military airbase in Gvardeysk There were also strikes on ammunition depots and military airfields in Belbek and Saki The head of the Center for Countering Disinformation at the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine He described the attacks as part of the process of demilitarization of Crimea from where Russia continues its military operations against Ukraine "Explosions in Crimea at military sites are exclusively a security component," he said the Russian Defense Ministry announced that Russian air defenses had neutralized 121 drones overnight - 89 over Crimea and 23 over the Black Sea shows a large-scale fire near the village of Uglove - just 7 km from the Russian Black Sea Fleet's Kacha military airbase More news from World This is the second reported successful targeting of russian S-400 air defense systems by the Armed Forces of Ukraine in November following the destruction of the S-400 air defense system in Kursk region on November 23 an event of this magnitude is uncommon.  Spoofing at Simferopol International Airport The number of these ships varies over time fewer ships were spoofed at these locations The massive spoofing event appears to target all kinds of vessels from bulk carriers to tankers and tugboats which keep appearing and disappearing at improbable speeds in excess of 40 knots (and sometimes greater than 100 knots) AIS data on June 4 showed the crude oil tanker Coatlique (IMO: 9235000) sailing at 102.2 knots while at anchor Many of the vessels appearing in Crimea are Russian-flagged and their real position is unknown for now although is reasonable to assume their presence nearby in the area around the Kerch Strait a position where Coatlique is known for loitering with frequent AIS blackouts and for engaging in STS transfers Some of these vessels had experienced spoofing events in the past as well the spoofing event was over and the vessels no longer appeared at the airport At Gelendzhik Airport the situation is the same with some vessels sailing at 50 knots on the airport’s runway crude oil tanker Athina M (IMO: 9644237) broadcast its position in the airport with a velocity of 0.0 kn while her real position remains unknown (though certainly in the Black Sea) Spoofing at Gelendzhik Airport (Russian Federation) It’s very likely that this event is correlated to the electronic warfare and jamming activities of the Russo-Ukrainian war taking place a few miles from these two locations AIS disturbance involving such a large number of vessels is something that hasn’t happened in a while This is reminiscent of a mass spoofing event that involved Atria (IMO 9595137 now Stromboli M) and nearly two dozen other vessels in June 2017 Alessio Armenzoni is an Associate Fellow at the London-based Open Source Centre He studied at the Centre for Higher Defense Studies from the Italian MoD is an Assistant Professor in the Intelligence Analysis Program at James Madison University He is an Associate Fellow at Open Source Intelligence and Analysis at the Royal United Services Institute CISSP is president of Gary Kessler Associates providing maritime cybersecurity training and consulting services and co-author of "Maritime Cybersecurity," 2/e He is on the advisory board of Cydome and a principal consultant at Fathom5 The opinions expressed herein are the author's and not necessarily those of The Maritime Executive Near the Hvardiiske military airfield close to occupied Simferopol in Crimea, Russian occupiers are increasing their air defense forces and equipment. The enemy is redeploying such weaponry from other sections of the frontline, the partisan movement ATESH reports. Representatives of the Ukrainian underground managed to gather intelligence on this airfield near Simferopol The movement noted that the enemy is actively using the Hvardiiske airfield to station its aviation and manage logistics on the occupied Ukrainian peninsula "We have observed a significant increase in air defense systems near the airfield identifying numerous S-400 launchers and radar stations," the ATESH report stated Partisans also added that this facility plays a "key role" in providing air support and supplying Russian troops in southern Ukraine ATESH showed photos of enemy air defense systems and revealed the airfield's coordinates: 45.120762527 the movement reported that all the information obtained by partisans was transferred to Ukraine's Defense and Security Forces ATESH partisans reported that a military convoy of Russian forces was spotted near occupied Dzhankoi in northern Crimea The convoy was transporting not only soldiers but also ammunition for air defense systems and large quantities of fuel In November last year, partisans detected air defense systems in Sevastopol and promised "surprises" for the Russian occupiers Metropolitan Epifaniy of Kyiv and All Ukraine during his first pastoral visit to the Poltava Eparchy on September 21 Metropolitan Fedir of Poltava and Kremenchuk concelebrated with the Primate of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine during the consecration and Divine Liturgy The service was attended by defenders of Ukraine the Metropolitan offered a special prayer to the Lord especially during this time of danger for Ukraine Prayers were also offered for the soldiers defending Ukraine the Primate emphasized the significance of the church in the life of a Christian as we have jointly consecrated this beautiful church in honor of St We pray and invoke God’s blessing upon this church the church is a sacred place where we come to be filled with Divine grace which strengthens both our physical and spiritual selves we feel its intangible presence in our souls and hearts the highest expression of happiness is found in God When we offer prayers and feel this connection between ourselves and God And we can achieve this in the house of God,” said Metropolitan Epifaniy The Primate also urged fervent prayer for the defenders of Ukraine and called on everyone to do whatever is necessary to ensure Ukraine’s victory in the war against the aggressor We must continue to remain spiritually strong to encourage one another in these difficult times and to do everything in our power to bring about our shared Ukrainian victory we must not forget that the war is ongoing and contribute to bring this victory closer and we honor those who are no longer with us It is our sacred duty to remember and pray and never to let their heroic deeds be in vain our future is in our hands,” the Primate concluded His Beatitude congratulated the community and the rector on the significant occasion—the consecration of the church—and bestowed high ecclesiastical honors upon the defenders of Ukraine the church’s founder and benefactors as well as doctors and faithful parishioners Metropolitan Epifaniy also consecrated a monument dedicated to St The Vatican announced on Monday that all telephone communication within its territory will be suspended during the upcoming conclave.. Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew delivered the keynote address at the International Scientific Conference “Restarting from Nicaea:.. The Holy Synod of the Ecumenical Patriarchate approved on October 4th the canonization of Eldress Sophia Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew traveled by air to Antalya the Patriarchate of Jerusalem solemnly celebrated the Sunday of the Myrrh-Bearing Women... (function() { window.mc4wp = window.mc4wp || { listeners: [] cb) { window.mc4wp.listeners.push( { event : evt callback: cb } ); } } }})(); © 2023 OrthodoxTimes.com - All rights reserved Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website These cookies do not store any personal information Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website The ATESH partisan movement reports this on Telegram The agents reported that this base houses food stores that supply Russian military units on the peninsula as well as units of the Dnipro grouping of troops there are lots of vehicles waiting in line for supplies on the territory of the base every day This was emphasized in a comment to Ukrinform by Professor Yevhen Khlobystov member of the expert council of the Crimean Tatar Resource Center for Environmental Protection and Sustainable Development of Crimea "Freshwater crisis may come to Crimea in a month or 1.5 months in the absence of a certain level of precipitation Then reservoirs may dry up and a water crisis may unfold," he said the expert noted that the residents of Simferopol and the central part of Crimea will be the first to experience a potential water shortage problems with water supply in Crimea are compounded by the occupying authorities on the peninsula that have been unfairly distributing fresh water that is available supplying it primarily to the areas where the Russian military is stationed "The uncontrolled population drop and a massive military call-up of the peninsula leads to the fact that the military receives water in priority it will primarily affect the average residents of Simferopol and Central Crimea The ‘authorities’ in Crimea will be to the last storing water in Sevastopol so that even a small number of vacationers are forced to go through inconvenience over water supply," he explained the expert noted that there is one positive point for Crimean residents – this year's summer is practically a “dead season” for the peninsula’s tourist industry so water demand has reduced significantly Khlobystov emphasized that "the weather has been abnormally dry on the peninsula for four months now but it is still too early to talk about drought as it will only become clear later” rivers in the temporarily occupied Crimea began to dry up due to low rainfall This website is using a security service to protect itself from online attacks The action you just performed triggered the security solution There are several actions that could trigger this block including submitting a certain word or phrase You can email the site owner to let them know you were blocked Please include what you were doing when this page came up and the Cloudflare Ray ID found at the bottom of this page located about 70 kilometers northwest of Donetsk remains one of the most fiercely contested sectors of the front where Russia has concentrated its main offensive efforts since March  (Updated:  May 6, 2025 11:41 am)Ukraine's drones target Moscow second night in a row, Russian official claims, ahead of Victory Day parade. Debris from one of the drones reportedly fell on the Kashirskoye Highway The reported attack comes just days before Russia's Victory Day parade and three-day "truce." Vice President Mike Pence said Putin "only understands power." About 800 million euros ($905 million) will be allocated for the acquisition and installation of anti-tank mines to deter potential aggression  (Updated:  May 6, 2025 9:36 am)War analysisFrance is sending Ukraine more AASM Hammer bombs — here's what they can do Polish President Andrzej Duda said the United States has tools that can effectively influence the Kremlin arguing that only President Donald Trump has real leverage over Russian President Vladimir Putin The number includes 1,430 casualties that Russian forces suffered over the past day "To the Success of Our Hopeless Cause: The Many Lives of the Soviet Dissident Movement" by Benjamin Nathans which covers dissent in the Soviet Union and Russia today Reporters Without Borders (RSF) on May 5 announced they had facilitated Russian journalist Ekaterina Barabash's escape from Russia to France after she fled house arrest on April 21 A Russian drone attack on Odesa Oblast on May 5 killed one and caused damage to local infrastructure "We appreciate that Germany plays a pivotal role in supporting Ukraine throughout the years of war Ukraine is also grateful for your personal commitment," President Volodymyr Zelensky said MPs will be able to ask questions and learn more about the details of the agreement in meetings with Economy Minister Yulia Svyrydenko May 6-7 MP Serhii Sobolev told the news outlet Suspilne The ratification vote is scheduled for May 8 Attacks against the border villages of Bilopillia and Vorozhba damaged civilian infrastructure and triggered emergency evacuations the regional military administration reported "I look forward to working with President Erdogan on getting the ridiculous war between Russia and Ukraine ended — now!" U.S by Martin FornusekMetropolitan Kliment of Crimea and Simferopol of the autocephalous Orthodox Church of Ukraine on Sept (pomisna.info)Metropolitan Kliment of Crimea and Simferopol of the autocephalous Orthodox Church of Ukraine was beaten up by unknown assailants in Kyiv on Sept Kliment visited Kyiv for the fourth summit of the Crimean Platform an international consultation and coordination format aimed at ensuring the liberation of the peninsula from Russian occupation The bishop was reportedly on his way toward the St Michael's Monastery in central Kyiv when he was stopped and physically assaulted by three people at around 11 p.m Journalist Andrii Tsaplienko shared a photo of Kliment, showing his bruised and bloodied face after the assault. Initial reports about the incident were later confirmed for the media by Andrii Shchekun an official at the Crimean Diocese of the OCU Kliment believes that it was a premeditated and carefully planned assault as it took place outside of view of surveillance cameras The National Police said they are examining the incident and that an "investigative and operational group was dispatched to talk to the victim and establish all circumstances." Law enforcement sources confirmed for Ukrinform that a senior church representative was assaulted near St They did not confirm Kliment's assertion that it was a premeditated attack The Orthodox Church of Ukraine (OCU) suffers heavy repressions by Russian authorities in occupied Crimea, with priests being forced to leave and church premises being confiscated. Moscow illegally seized the peninsula in 2014 Religious experts told the Kyiv Independent in April that the OCU has virtually ceased to exist in Crimea Russia has cracked down on various independent religious organizations in occupied territories instead promoting the Russian Orthodox Church and its local branch the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate Ukraine recently passed a law banning religious organizations subordinate to the Russian church creating pressure on the Moscow Patriarchate's communities to sever their ties with Russia Serving as the Metropolitan of Crimea and Simferopol since 2013, Kliment has been a vocal advocate for the rights of Crimean Tatars and Ukrainians in the occupied peninsula Martin Fornusek is a news editor at the Kyiv Independent He has previously worked as a news content editor at the media company Newsmatics and is a contributor to Euromaidan Press He was also volunteering as an editor and translator at the Czech-language version of Ukraïner Martin studied at Masaryk University in Brno holding a bachelor's degree in security studies and history and a master's degree in conflict and democracy studies This is the twenty-first installment in a series about a journey across Russia to Crimea shortly before the war began which is the capital (so to speak) of Crimea Trains now connect Moscow to Crimea over the new Kerch Bridge By the time I had biked around Livadia Palace and Yalta and I had lost interest in riding further down the coastline to see the palaces of Vorontsov and Koreiz the British and Russian delegates stayed during the Yalta Conference The coast road did not have much of a shoulder for bicycles and Russian cars drive the way Stalin negotiated—with abandon I made up my mind to leave Yalta that afternoon where I had a ticket on the night train to Krasnodar When I was planning my travels and imagining my time in Yalta beyond Livadia and the Yalta conference I wanted to see Chekhov’s house and some of the other palaces around town and I wanted to take the waters of the Black Sea But as I made my way back to Yalta and my hotel the city streets were filled with rivulets of mud that had washed down from the hills and army trucks dispensing water to residents who appeared with armloads of plastic jugs What if the rains returned and I found myself trapped in Yalta I would miss my outbound Crimean train and then my flight home I was happy to leave my hotel (and its grouchy owner) and glide down the long hill into Yalta where I turned left along a rushing river and rode north until I came to a bus station I found what is billed as the world’s longest trolley bus about a three-hour ride with fifty-seven stops although the two cities are only about fifty miles apart see Massandra and its celebrated vineyards and cross over the mountains between the coast and the Crimean capital I might be early in Simferopol for my night train to Krasnodar but I could find a restaurant in Simferopol There were worse ways to spend a late June afternoon than waiting on a train There were only four passengers on the trolley as it departed Yalta I paid about $1.50 for my fare and chose a seat next to an open window at the back I was on the left side so that I might see the chateau of Massandra famous for its tsarist sweet wines (not unlike Sauternes) that often take sixty years to mature (which in Crimea means the equivalent of about five national changes) back in the early days of Ukraine’s independence bought up a large holding of Massandra wines sold them off bottle-by-bottle for an excellent gain The only other Massandra story that came to mind was from Silvio Berlusconi’s post-presidential 2015 visit to Crimea in the company of Vladimir Putin The trip was condemned in the West for endorsing the Russian occupation of Crimea but what infuriated critics more was that Putin had the winery’s general manager uncork a 1775 bottle of Jeres de la Frontera Smarting over the 2014 loss of the winery and its many assets in the cellars beneath the chateau the Ukrainian government filed criminal charges against the manager for theft of its property the value of the lost wine property will need to be adjudicated Whether I actually saw the former tsar’s summer palace which is at the heart of the vineyard operations but between the trolley line and the chateau I suppose I could have gotten off the trolley and biked to the chateau but by that point my mind was fixed on Simferopol and I was happy to ride the trolley through the vineyards that stretch down the long hillside between the chateaux and the sea It struck me that the coastline between Yalta and Alushta was softer and more alluring than the harsh shoreline that runs from Sevastopol to Yalta I could see construction cranes and newly built high-rise apartment blocks which apparently are among the spoils of annexation Besides the MacMansions sprouting on the Black Sea coast the rest of Crimea might well be a forgotten land with many farms abandoned and villages lost in time It made me wonder whether Russia had any interest at all in Crimea aside from inside trading along the Black Sean coast and a few military bases The trolley line follows the route that Winston Churchill and Franklin Roosevelt took from the Saky airfield to Yalta in February 1945 and the drives took hours in the cold and dark At one point Roosevelt’s car stopped for a picnic And it’s about this time that Churchill quipped about Crimea as the locale for a conference: “If we had spent ten years on research the trolley dropped me in Simferopol in a large square across from the railroad station I checked to see that the night train to Krasnodar was on time—it was—and then went in search of downtown Simferopol and dinner neither of which were in much evidence on a Sunday evening I followed the tram tracks to get to downtown Simferopol I would also have liked to see the local art museum as I had seen some of its pictures online when researching my travels over which the trolley had rumbled on the run up from Alushta Russian landscape paintings are more pleasurable than Russian travels It was only after I had left Simferopol that I recalled that the Russian family of my friend Mark Medish had a house in the city and that on one of his trips with his father he had gone in search of the family home and found it in that his life’s voyage included growing up in Russia fighting for the Russian army at Stalingrad and then managing to avoid forcible repatriation after Yalta and settle in the United States I had heard from Mark snippets in emails about his father’s life and even in short form they read like passages out of Jules Verne’s Michael Strogoff: The Courier of the Czar or maybe an adventure novel of G.A whose wrote: Through Russian Snows A Story of Napoleon’s Retreat from Moscow My father’s Red Army anti-tank unit (under Major General G.P I believe) mostly battled Rumanians in the Army of Lt The unit had been mobilized toward Stalingrad in late July 1942 but soon retreated southward and surrendered on the banks of the Manych River to German units under [General Wilhelm] List in Sept 1942 When I asked Mark if his father had ever gone back to Stalingrad he answered that he once went back with Mark’s mother on a Volga River cruise which I am sure must have been bittersweet I then asked Mark where his father’s family had had houses and he answered by sending me pictures and this remark: “We visited Crimea together around 2006 looked like dozens that I saw on my bicycle ride to the history museum which was a few kilometers through an old neighborhood from the railway station Then it occurred to me that Mark’s father would have been among those captured Soviet soldiers in the West who Stalin was so determined to repatriate and then execute (or dispatch to the Gulag) He was polyglot born in Minsk and easily changed his papers to Pinsk he did face a three-person repatriation tribunal hearing under “Operation Keelhaul” in Munich in 1946-47 What saved him was his ability to speak fluent I had thought I might find a restaurant with an open-air terrace where I could park my bicycle and watch my bags without having to take everything apart and lock up the frame Crimea has the feel of a zone of occupation—even though many residents did vote to reunification with Russia I rode on a bike loop near the botanical gardens and hunted along the main street for patio restaurants but in the end I was reduced to collecting sandwiches and drinks from several kiosks along the main street and taking my picnic supper back to the railway station is worthy of the tsars (who would use it on their way to vacations in Yalta) and I set up my dinner on a platform bench near a bed of well-tended flowers and on this train I was back in first class it doesn’t sound like first class—was a militant anti-masker despite all the posted signs on the platform and in the train but that doesn’t mean we have to follow it.” which otherwise was comfortable and had broad views of the Russian landscape as the sun set figuring that if my fellow traveller annoyed me by not masking as if it was another round of negotiations at Yalta Next: Krasnodar and the flight home. Earlier installments can be found here Partisans are monitoring the movement of Russian equipment in the Simferopol district of temporarily occupied Crimea according to the Telegram channel of the partisan movement ATESH Agents have documented the transfer of equipment and personnel in the Simferopol region BM-21 Grad systems are being moved towards the Gvardiiske airfield "We know all the destinations of each unit of equipment Nothing will reach the mainland of Ukraine," the message stated agents of the ATESH movement discovered a hospital in Crimea where Russian Main Intelligence Directorate special forces soldiers are undergoing treatment partisans identified a hub for Russian military equipment transfer at one of the railway stations in Crimea agents located a depot and parking area for Russian military vehicles in the town of Gvardiiske The feast day of the saint will be celebrated on June 11 All Orthodox Christians are urged to honor Saint Luke of Simferopol by hymns and ask for his intercession to the Lord Download VCF • Join our Mailing Lists • Donate The information contained on the website of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America is for informational purposes only. Certain individuals and institutions are presented for reference purposes only and may not be under the supervision or jurisdiction of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese. The Holy Archdiocese does not exercise any administrative oversight or assignment authority over clergy that are not part of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America. More than a quarter-century has passed since a delegation from Salem first visited the city in the Crimea that is the focal point of the current crisis between Russia and the West. The sister-city relationship between Salem and Simferopol has lapsed, despite an attempt seven years ago by Simferopol’s mayor to revive it. But Salem residents still have memories of their first trip in November 1987 as well as subsequent visits. Simferopol is the administrative center of Crimea, where the regional parliament authorized a referendum on whether it should join Russia or have greater autonomy from the central government of Ukraine. Russian forces have restricted access to the Crimean Peninsula, which Ukraine has said is still part of it no matter what happened in Sunday’s vote. “It was a very Russian place,” said Vicki Berger, who went there years before she was elected a state representative. “I was aware that Ukrainian is a different language than Russian, and Ukrainian is spoken in the rest of Ukraine. But I was unaware of it being spoken in Crimea, where all things Russian were celebrated.” Willamette University and Taurida National University in Simferopol also have an active relationship. The relationship between the cities was made official in October 1986, when Simferopol was not only part of Ukraine, but Ukraine was still one of 16 states within the old Soviet Union. Salem Mayor Sue Harris Miller and her husband had made a private trip to Simferopol in July 1985. It was about 18 months after she initiated a discussion following a national broadcast of “The Day After,” a made-for-TV movie about the after-effects of a Soviet nuclear attack on the United States. Later, she suggested sister-city relationships as a way to ease the threat of nuclear war. U.S. Rep. Denny Smith of Salem, a Republican, urged President Ronald Reagan to deny visas for the three visitors from Simferopol to Salem. By October 1986, Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev had begun to take steps that eventually resulted in the end of the Cold War — and the breakup of the Soviet Union five years later. But Reagan had labeled the Soviet Union in 1983 as “an evil empire,” and they were still wary. “We were remembering other comments Reagan made at the time the sister-city relationship was formed,” said Luci Wisniewski, co-owner of Sunnyside Vineyard who visited Simferopol in 1987 and 1991. “But it was an eye-opening visit for us who went. Like the people we made contact with, I think we were all changed.” In November 1987, a delegation made Salem’s first official visit to Simferopol. It was the 70th anniversary of the revolution that established Communist Party control of what became the Soviet Union, and members of the Salem delegation were given places on the reviewing stand. “We spent an entire day watching people march by and hearing the Russian language blared at us,” Berger recalled. “When we stood there, we did not know that within a few years, it would all be swept away.” But Soviet leader Gorbachev was pursuing policies of glasnost and perestroika — openness and restructuring — that he hoped would curb internal corruption and revive a faltering Soviet economy. “I still remember seeing a lot of people standing in lines,” said Mary Louise VanNatta, now chief executive of her family’s public relations firm. “But we got the impression they were hopeful for change, that things would get better. They looked at our visit as a real opening up of the relationship between our countries on a small level.” Although the delegation was escorted during the five-day visit, Berger said Simferopol had been off-limits to Westerners. Stops included a collective farm, a factory, a winery and Yalta, site of the 1945 conference that shaped the post-World War II era. “They were interested in us because we were the first Americans they had seen in generations,” said Berger, who was a few months away from being elected to the Salem-Keizer School Board. “The people were friendly and welcoming. They wanted to know everything about us. We did not feel any anti-Americanism, and we saw things that Americans would not normally have gotten to see.” Berger said their hospitality extended to banquets with hours of eating, drinking and speech-making. “A banquet there is no small affair,” she said. Ron Cooper, now-retired Statesman Journal photographer, was part of official delegations from Salem in 1987 and 1990, when a number of Salem-area doctors visited the medical school in Simferopol. He saw for the second time Mikhail Bakharev, then associate editor of a 300,000-circulation regional newspaper Crimean Pravda, run by the Communist Party. Bakharev visited Salem as part of a delegation in 1989. Bakharev, now its pro-Russian editor, alleged five years ago that Sergey Aksyonov — the current pro-Russian prime minister of Crimea — was part of an organized-crime faction called “Salem,” deriving its name from the Salem Café in Simferopol. Aksyonov denied the charges, which Bakharev later recanted. He sued Bakharev for defamation and won, but an appeals court overturned that decision. “Bakharev wanted to save his own life,” Cooper said. Wisniewski and her husband — Tom Owen, then a high school teacher — made another visit to Simferopol in 1991. This one was unofficial, aimed at sharing agricultural knowledge. Their visit took place a few months before the Soviet Union officially dissolved at the end of 1991. “We were fortunate to get a visa and go,” she said. “But then, we were on our own with the people we had made friends with. It was a different kind of trip.” After an active start — visitors from Simferopol came to Salem virtually every year between 1986 and 1992 — the relationship between the cities cooled. In January 2007, the mayor of Simferopol — who founded a Rotary Club there — attempted to renew ties when a 10-member delegation met with Salem Mayor Janet Taylor and the Salem Rotary Club. But there is no current relationship. Berger said Russian President Vladimir Putin is determined to have his way in this crisis, especially the Crimea, where Russia retains a naval base at Sevastopol on the Black Sea. “Ukrainians have a different idea of what they want their future to be,” Berger said. “But I can see that in regard to Crimea, the Russians do not want to give that up. It’s too important strategically to them.” pwong@StatesmanJournal.com or (503) 399-6745 or twitter.com/capitolwong Simferopol is not the only sister city Salem has dropped over the years. Salem began relationships with Salem, India, in 1963, and Vaxjo, Sweden, in 1974. But like Simferopol, they have since lapsed, although there is an effort to revive the relationship with Salem’s namesake city. Salem’s only active relationships are with Kawagoe, Japan, and Gimhae, South Korea — and even a former city official said the latter is under reorganization. “The most difficult thing is that a sister-city relationship requires government approval, but it’s not funded by government,” said Linda Berman, who continues to do work on them even in retirement. “So it takes a strong nonprofit organization to sustain a relationship.” Kawagoe became a sister city with Salem in 1986, the same year as Simferopol. Berman said the relationship builds on the ties forged between Tokyo International University and Willamette University. Kawagoe is a suburb of Tokyo. Sister Cities International was founded by President Dwight D. Eisenhower in 1956 as part of his effort to promote citizen diplomacy. The Ukraine began preparing for war Sunday after residents of Crimea voted to secede and join Russia -- a referendum disputed by U.S. and European leaders. Read more on 1B. See more of Ron Cooper’s photos of Simferopol at Statesman Journal.com/news. All rights reserved for Volant Media UK Limited--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- An Iranian transport aircraft recently departed from the closed Simferopol airport in Crimea, raising questions about the nature of Iranian involvement in the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The aircraft, the IL-76TD owned by Pouya Air, took off from Simferopol at 17:09 local time, having arrived in Crimea just two hours prior. Simferopol airport has been closed for civilian air travel since the commencement of the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine. The development was reported by Flightradar24, a prominent air travel tracking service.  Pouya Airlines has dismissed reports about the flight in the Crimean Peninsula to assist Russian forces as "pure fabrication." The airline stated that the aircraft had been parked at Mehrabad Airport for the past 48 hours. Ukrainian military sources have previously alleged that Russian forces stationed in Crimea have been utilizing the Chauda training ground to launch Iranian-made Shahed-136/131 drones into Ukrainian territory. However, there is no confirmed information regarding the presence of Iranian personnel assisting Russian military operations during these drone launches. It is noteworthy that Russia began employing Iranian-produced Shahed drones for attacks deep within Ukrainian territory the previous year. These so-called kamikaze unmanned drones possess the capability to operate without the need for a conventional runway, detonating upon impact. Iran has publicly acknowledged sending drones to Russia but has maintained that these deliveries occurred prior to Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Moscow, on the other hand, has consistently denied employing Iranian drones in Ukrainian conflicts. Nonetheless, Ukraine has repeatedly reported the consistent bombardment from Iranian drones in Russian hands. This website is using a security service to protect itself from online attacks. The action you just performed triggered the security solution. There are several actions that could trigger this block including submitting a certain word or phrase, a SQL command or malformed data. You can email the site owner to let them know you were blocked. Please include what you were doing when this page came up and the Cloudflare Ray ID found at the bottom of this page. You don't have permission to access the page you requested. What is this page?The website you are visiting is protected.For security reasons this page cannot be displayed. A museum director in illegally annexed Crimea has been sanctioned because he is holding thousands of works from the Ukrainian city of Kherson, which was temporarily seized by Russian president Vladimir Putin’s forces late last year. Andrei Vitalievich Malgin, who was named by The Art Newspaper in February, was sanctioned by the European Union (EU) and Switzerland on 27 June. We reported that he had participated in a meeting with Putin in 2021, telling the Russian president that Ukraine was facing a revival of “Nazi ideology”. Putin responded to Malgin: “Thank you very much and I wish you every success.” Andrei Vitalievich Maglin is the director of the Central Museum of Taurida in Simferopol, in illegally annexed Crimea. Alexandr Polegenko/Sputnik many of which were in Crimea when it was illegally annexed by Russia in 2014 news1 February 2023Special investigation: Serious concerns over fate of Ukraine’s museum works taken by RussiansThe Art Newspaper probes the complex issues arising from the removal of the Kherson Museum’s collection interview16 July 2024‘These are terrible crimes’: A Ukrainian museum director’s fight to recover artAlina Dotsenko of the Kherson Art Museum explains how her team is working to find stolen objects news29 September 2022Russia to take over Ukrainian museum collections as formal annexation plans announcedPutin's decree to permanently occupy four regions of Ukraine means thousands of artefacts will become property of Russia Polina joined the Air Transport World team in 2011 covering Russian and the Commonwealth of Independent States She studied journalism at Moscow State University and worked as a journalist for Russian business and airline publications since 2000 This content requires a subscription to one of the Aviation Week Intelligence Network (AWIN) bundles Schedule a demo today to find out how you can access this content and similar content related to your area of the global aviation industry Already an AWIN subscriber? Login Did you know?  Aviation Week has won top honors multiple times in the Jesse H the business-to-business media equivalent of the Pulitzer Prizes insight and analysis from our award-winning editors delivered to your inbox daily Tensions rose among thousands of protesters outside the parliament building in Simferopol, the capital of the southern Ukrainian region of Crimea, as pro-Russian supporters scuffled with anti-Russian rivals Wednesday Opposing chants of “Crimea is Russia” and “Crimea is not Russia” filled the area with the contrasting presence of Ukrainian and Russian flags dominating the demonstrations Police eventually moved in to divide the two groups as the situation grew more strenuous The protests in Simferopol come amid fears of the possible secession of the Crimea from Ukraine rise in the region, talks of which Crimean Parliament Speaker Volodymyr Konstantynov dismissed as “radical issues” and “rumors.” Further adding to the region’s worries, Russian president Vladimir Putin ordered military troops in central and western Russia to immediately test combat readiness A statement from Russia’s foreign ministry said that extremists were “imposing their will” in the Ukraine The tensions in Crimea come as lawmakers in Ukraine continue an attempt to form a new unity government with elections to replace ousted president Viktor Yanukovych scheduled for May Justin Scuiletti is the digital video producer at PBS NewsHour © 1996 - 2025 NewsHour Productions LLC PBS is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization Subscribe to Here's the Deal with Lisa Desjardins February 26 marks the Day of Crimean Resistance to Russian Occupation Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar community organised a rally in Simferopol attended by Crimea's indigenous population and pro-Ukrainian activists This event signalled the start of the Crimean people's peaceful resistance against Russia's annexation yet Crimean defiance persists and has taken on a new albeit "quiet" form of resisting UkraineWorld delves into the tactics employed by Russian occupiers over the past decade alongside the forms of Crimean resistance that have emerged since the full-scale invasion began "I recall attending the Crimean Tatar rally on February 26 There were Crimean Tatar and Ukrainian flags Pro-Russian forces organised a spontaneous rally with Russian flags on the opposite side I was aware that Crimean Tatars had organised the event but I was unaware of any pro-Russian rallies They responded that they wanted a referendum He had been beaten; when I pulled him from the centre Ismail co-organized and participated in public actions in Crimea in support of Ukraine's European integration and in solidarity with Kyiv protesters He had lived in Crimea since 2004 but was forced to leave at the age of 28 due to threats from pro-Russian forces These and other stories are compiled in the book "People of the 'Grey Zone': Witnesses of the Russian Annexation of Crimea in 2014" by Anna Andriyevska and Olena Khalimon (Ukrainian Institute of National Memory) At the centre of one of the most resonant and extensively investigated stories of activist killings was Reshat Ametov two men dressed in camouflage and one in civilian clothing approached the Crimean activist near the village of Zemlyachne in the Bilohirsk district of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and there were traces of handcuffs on his hands The cause of death was a gunshot wound that penetrated the left eye Reshat Ametov was posthumously named a "Hero of Ukraine." In 2014 he became the first victim of Russian aggression in Crimea and the main representative body of Crimean Tatars was banned as an "extremist organisation" in 2016 were arrested in January 2015 and May 2016 Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan saved both and exchanged them for two Russian spies was arrested on charges of "sabotage" for his participation in the Crimean Platform's inauguration summit in Kyiv on August 23 Criminal cases were initiated against Mejlis Head Refat Chubarov and charismatic leader Mustafa Djemilev who were barred from entering the peninsula while approximately 30,000 Crimean Tatars were forced to relocate to mainland Ukraine Some of them joined the Ukrainian Army as volunteers or contractors a number of Ukrainian activists have been imprisoned including Oleksandr Kostenko and Andriy Kolomiets Another example of Russian brutality is the case of Bohdan Ziza he painted the City Administration Building in Yevpatoria blue and yellow Russian law enforcement detained him and later handed him a 15-year prison sentence on terrorism-related charges Illegal detentions continued throughout the ten-year occupation The largest risk group consists of believers who have been persecuted for belonging to the peaceful pan-Islamic movement Hizb ut-Tahrir designated a "terrorist organisation" in Russia in 2003 but is legal in Ukraine and most democratic countries of the world Victims of the repressive regime are frequently sentenced to absurdly long prison terms of up to 20 years typically served far from their families in Siberia or remote northern oblasts of the RF According to the analysis by the Crimean Tatar Resource Center in 2023 280 cases of violations of the right to a fair trial and at least 52 cases of violations of the right to health The majority of these incidents targeted Crimean Tatars In accordance with traditional Soviet practice Russia labels all dissenters as extremists and terrorists Soviet authorities labelled Crimean Tatars as "collaborators" to justify their mass deportation accusing them of "cooperation with Nazi forces." One of the Russian occupying authorities' primary manipulative tools is propaganda and suppressing the flow of truth Crimea's information space is incredibly sealed with blocked websites and pages and the inability to use VPNs resistance to propaganda often occurs at the level of trusted interpersonal relationships particularly in large Crimean Tatar families the opportunities for this option are minimal Beyond projecting the image of "benevolent rulers," Russian authorities use "demonstrative support" of indigenous ethnicities who have suffered the most under their rule throughout history this "support" is actually a new type of discrimination The construction of the Crimean Tatar mosque in Simferopol is one example of an attempt to integrate Crimean Muslims into the larger Russian Muslim space and make them part of a broader religious community which is essentially a religious assimilation mechanism religious missionaries from Chechnya and Kazan have been visiting Crimea to teach Crimean Tatars the "correct rituals" Official spiritual leadership resources interpret this as "older Muslim brothers coming to support younger brothers." We understand that behind this is the actual destruction of a unique local religious tradition that has already suffered destruction during the Soviet period and deportation "Russia's military invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 has had a number of other negative consequences for the Crimean residents and for the Crimean Tatars," Natalia Belitser says A major threat to them is being forced to fight against their compatriots including ethnic Crimean Tatars in mainland Ukraine occupation authorities disproportionately applied forced conscription to Crimean Tatars in order to replenish the Russian army According to the human rights NGO "Crimea SOS," 90% of mobilisation notices were issued to Crimean Tatars and this action bears the hallmarks of genocide It caused panic and a sense of helplessness because fleeing the peninsula proved to be an extremely difficult task as access to mainland Ukraine had become impossible Ukraine's permanent representative to the Autonomous Republic of Crimea, and now they see mobilisation as a way to try to simply get rid of us up to 20,000 Crimean Tatars were able to leave the temporarily occupied peninsula despite the fact that they confronted enormous difficulties in gaining access to Kazakhstan approximately 70,000 Crimean Tatars were forced to leave their homeland due to occupation Another effect of the full-scale war is a shift in the nature of resistance The popular "Crimean Solidarity" movement is an example of peaceful It is a human rights organisation that not only defends the rights of those arrested and falsely accused but also supports their families Crimean Solidarity is more than a human rights organisation; it is a sizable community its members frequently assume the role of journalists disclosing information about the persecution of Ukrainian citizens in Crimea Other nonviolent movements include "Zla Mavka" (a partisan movement founded in Melitopol) and "Yellow Ribbon." Activists of the "Yellow Ribbon" frequently share photos of Crimea and other temporarily occupied Ukrainian territories depicting Ukrainian symbols or handwritten notes reading The full-scale war has resulted in new forms of everyday resistance more aggressive forms of resistance exist in Crimea killing of military personnel and the most vicious collaborators and the transfer of critical information to Ukraine's military and security forces The Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) greatly benefit from new partisan structures like the Crimean Tatar-Ukrainian "Atesh"; these underground fighters have received a lot of support from Ukraine's recent success in the Black Sea as well as from repeated attacks on the Kerch Bridge and Russian military infrastructure on the peninsula now led by Rustem Umerov (an ethnic Crimean Tatar) has also boosted the morale of Crimean Tatars both among military servicemen in Ukraine's Armed Forces and those who remain on the occupied peninsula and want to see it liberated Although the majority of Ukrainian citizens support returning Crimea to Ukraine we realise this is unlikely to happen in the near future or even in the medium term since the process of de-occupation and reintegration of Crimea bears many unresolved problems and challenges and is rather specific all the accumulated issues need full attention and adequate solutions should be found long before the reunification Martin-Oleksandr Kisly does not rule out the possibility of relocating indigenous ethnic groups from abroad to Crimea There are communities and families eagerly awaiting the de-occupation of Crimea so that they can set foot on the land where their grandparents lived once again and Crimean leader Sergei Aksyonov meet face to face in the Kremlin in Moscow in February 2016 When heavily armed Russian troops began fanning out across Crimea in February 2014 one man stepped out of the shadows to lead the movement to break off from Ukraine and join Russia then the head of a small pro-Kremlin party was appointed the leader of Crimea and oversaw a referendum in favor of the split that few countries recognized The lightning Russian takeover was a watershed moment leading to a downward spiral in relations between Moscow and the West and it's senseless to set any conditions to that end," Aksyonov told NPR Thursday in an interview in the government building in Simferopol Crimea, a strategic peninsula that juts into the Black Sea from the Ukrainian mainland, has been the base for Russia's Black Sea Fleet for more than 200 years. Days after the 2014 annexation, Russian President Vladimir Putin said he couldn't have countenanced the possibility of Crimea falling into NATO's hands Crimea has since been turned into an "impenetrable fortress" and faces no military threats As for punitive sanctions imposed by the U.S and the European Union after the annexation he says they had little effect on the local economy as there were few international investors or foreign tourists in Crimea to begin with Aksyonov says he "absolutely doesn't care" about being sanctioned by the U.S and EU for his role in Crimea's annexation Aksyonov is considered a collaborator with a foreign occupying power and is under investigation for treason Ordinary Crimeans complain that after being incorporated into Russia they saw prices double and incomes dry up as vacationers Deliveries of supplies from the Ukrainian mainland were cut making the region of 2.3 million almost entirely dependent on shipments by ferry from Russia the biggest change is the construction of the Crimean bridge," said Aksyonov referring to a 12-mile road-and-rail link that will connect the peninsula to Russia The bridge will open to cars later this year and to trains in 2019 A highway across the peninsula and two power stations are also scheduled to open this year Investments into Crimea's infrastructure until 2020 will total 1 trillion rubles "Not one Ukrainian president devoted as much attention to Crimea as Vladimir Putin does now," Aksyonov said While there is no reliable polling on what Crimeans think today pro-Moscow sentiment has always been strongest here among Ukraine's Russian-speaking regions when an internal border within the Soviet Union was redrawn Many Crimeans voice the opinion that despite the current economic hardship they prefer the predictability of Putin's Russia to the chaos of Ukrainian domestic politics — not to mention the low-level war in eastern Ukraine Even Crimeans who oppose the Russian annexation don't deny that their long-neglected region has seen upgrades in schools But they say the improvements have come at the price of political freedoms "There's an atmosphere of fear to say what you really think," said Nariman Dzhelalov "Only that small group of people who are completely in love with Putin feels comfortable saying what they think Anybody with a critical viewpoint will be rather afraid." Crimean Tatars, who were deported to Central Asia during Soviet rule, have largely remained loyal to Ukraine. In a recent report Human Rights Watch said Crimean Tatars are facing "intensified persecution" by the pro-Kremlin authorities At the end of 2017, at least 55 Crimeans were behind bars in politically motivated cases, according to Olga Skripnik, the coordinator of the Crimean Human Rights Group in Kiev Aksyonov flatly rejects such criticism and denies that the Crimean Tatar community is being targeted Anyone who advocates resistance is advocating bloodshed; of course we can't accept that and will react." The only way Ukraine could have kept control over Crimea was by joining a Russian-led trade bloc of former Soviet countries Former Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych who had been pursuing a pro-European course abruptly backed out of an association agreement with the EU after intense opposition from the Kremlin When pro-EU Ukrainians then took to the streets a months-long stand-off with the police began on Kiev's main square After the protests turned bloody in February 2014 Yanukovych fled Kiev as his support base crumbled Crimeans who opposed the pro-Western provisional government that took over in Kiev rallied around Aksyonov to show their support for Russia Russia had already established control over Crimea – and Aksyonov was in power Become an NPR sponsor About us | Advertise with us | Contact us has said that the testing of these electric vehicles is one of several initiatives the airport is supporting as it looks to introduce new technologies Simferopol International Airport has been successfully trialling an electric freight vehicle for transporting baggage and cargo at the airfield which was designed and manufactured at the Eltavr Crimean Research and Production Enterprise The fully electric vehicle is capable of carrying one tonne of cargo it has a range of 150km for each full charge The vehicle is very much a local initiative with the steel frame and fiberglass body being made in Simferopol The engine has been modernised specifically for the vehicle which runs on lithium-iron-phosphate batteries which are designed for daily operation for 15 years It has been developed with the region’s harsh climate in mind and is designed for operation in all seasons There are future plans to make the vehicle driverless A prototype unmanned version of an electric vehicle has already been tested at the Dmitrov training ground (in the Moscow region) General Director of Simferopol International Airport LLC welcomed the trial’s success and noted the vehicle as one of “many samples of specialised equipment of Russian production” at Simferopol , , By No comments yet All subscriptions include online membership giving you access to the journal and exclusive content By By , By Comment *document.getElementById("comment").setAttribute( "id" "aeee72c5a8178617dc633d39db051ba5" );document.getElementById("d6337c1004").setAttribute( "id" Write for us | Advertise with us International Airport Review is published by: Russell Publishing Ltd.Court LodgeHogtrough HillBrasted © Russell Publishing Limited, 2010-2025. All rights reserved. Terms & Conditions | Privacy Policy | Cookie Policy Website design and development by e-Motive Media Limited Videh Kumar Jaipuriar has been nominated for his exemplary leadership in managing and navigating Delhi International Airport (DEL) during the COVID-19 pandemic He led multiple initiatives to ensure business continuity at DEL which included passenger safety and convenience and care for environment and employee safety He proactively engaged with the government stakeholders and supported them in safeguarding aviation through strong confidence building measures for travellers such as developing several indigenous technology solutions like air circulation with six changes per hour and a combination of UV and plasma disinfection systems to provide safest journey experience to their passengers DEL has been forefront of implementing safety measures which was later adopted across the country Jaipuriar ensured that DEL was operational for rescue missions and transporting medical essentials to various parts of the country He further led the Vande Bharat Mission flights of Government of India (a rescue mission to get Indians back to India) as well as rescue flights by other international governments His outstanding leadership across all areas across the stakeholders in the aviation ecosystem and going beyond the call of duty in managing and navigating this crisis for a national capital airport having national importance makes him the apt choice for the Person of the Year Award Adnan Saggaf continues to demonstrate strong leadership skills throughout the COVID-19 pandemic and brought out of the box ideas in attracting traffic and to support his team during this difficult time With new innovative ideas in balancing cash flow the facilities were kept maintained and the personal were kept employed Saggaf has protected the financial stability of his staff income shown excellent performance of crisis management and exceptional negotiation skills shown with authority regarding agreement restructuring and receivable payments To handle the loss of Umrah traffic to the airport to use the terminal with attractive offers and more reliable services He built a new strategy by diversifying the airport offers He prepared the facilities by deploying new technology and working on enhancing passenger experience Saggaf also initiated a capacity building programme for the airside team by drafting SOPS as well as initiating dedicated workshops to discuss ideas and to deploy new initiatives and this is exactly what Saggaf showed and why he deserves to be awarded as the Person of the year 2021 Peter has been with the Sangster International Airport for over 25 years operations and now oversees the security function and is also the Chief Operations Officer Peter has been instrumental in co-ordinating the preparation and implementation of a COVID-19 response plan for not just MBJ but to guide the operation of all agencies operating on airport The aim of this plan was to ensure a safe environment for staff and the travelling public; therefore this plan was instrumental to establish consumer/travellers/public confidence and provided information and guidelines on the new protocols implemented at the airport Peter is well known for his expertise in investigation and aviation security His co-operation with law enforcement stakeholders has been unrelenting in assuring the security of the airport and stakeholders alike While Peter is known as a firm individual that displays the outmost professionalism and integrity he operates on the basis of equity and fairness in all matters relating to staff Robson Freitas has developed and led the BH Airport plan for the resumption of airport operations post-COVID-19 as well as being responsible for leading the group of Directors and Managers at the airport defining the three main pillars of recovery: Health and Safety of People Institutional and Integrated Communication and Institutional Partners These central pillars include ensuring hygiene and health and social distances measures for passengers in addition to participating in strategic committees involving the public sectors to comply with regulatory rules Freitas developed the COVID guardians programme who were responsible in monitoring and following up on the measures already implemented for COVID-19 and advising users employees and other people on compliance with distancing hygiene and health measures recommended by health authorities He also developed a COVID booklet with information and guidance for the airport community regarding good hygiene and health practices and led the beginning of the publication of a monthly newsletter with passenger curve information allowing the planning of reopening and rehiring by commercial stores Freitas also supported the reduction of OPEX by planning the temporary closure of areas toilets and equipment in common use and internalising some activities Raghunath worked closely with all the aero concessionaires and cargo operators to minimise disruption and provide financial relief to them The airline marketing team helped launch a historic first route to the U.S West Coast and the cargo team at BIAL also achieved record numbers over this period with the airport becoming India’s leading airport for the export of perishables Raghunath has led a digital transformation and expansion at BIAL airport with new initiatives and the deployment of the fully biometric-based self-boarding solution for seamless passenger flow and travel experiences and a process automation and analytics platform meant that the airport won ACI World’s ‘Voice of the Customer’ initiative which recognised BIAL airports efforts to prioritise their customers during COVID-19 Raghunath has remained a staunch and resilient leader during such an uncertain time and is very much appreciated by his team Alicia Prince has played a critical role in leading and navigating Cairns Airport through the COVID-19 pandemic Prince implemented a functional plan to ensure business continuity and staff welfare segregating front-line operational staff into work teams to avoid interaction between groups She ensured that the $55 million domestic Terminal upgrade continued safely despite the unprecedented COVID-19 crisis She also deployed the COVIDSafe Operation Plan for Cairns Airport which was endorsed and later commended by Queensland Chief Health Officer As part of this plan Alicia developed an airport layout to provide physical separation of low risk and high-risk arrivals and initiated increased hygiene and sanitisation protocols The health and safety of the airport community was paramount to maintaining operations and in response to this Alicia initiated a COVIDSafe training program for the entire airport community and worked closely with her team to deliver As a result of the great work Prince has done to ensure COVID-19 best practices Cairns Airport was one of the first Australian Airports to be awarded an ACI Global Health Accreditation Alicia also led the terminal optimisation project which assessed and implemented terminal downscales due to the crisis Significant savings (both financial and environmental) were achieved by reducing the operational footprint of the airport Whilst maintaining operations throughout the pandemic was a priority Alicia ensured her team were kept well informed and engaged Cairns Airport has a team of 33 volunteers which form part of Alicia’s wider team To ensure they remained connected and cared for Alicia and her team created care packages including home-made cakes and personally delivered to each of the volunteers’ houses in a COVIDSafe manner Alicia demonstrated great leadership throughout the pandemic and continues to do so today Her clear and transparent communication and collaboration with other Australian Airports and key agencies to ensure best practice and alignment contributed greatly to business continuity all the above was managed whilst working remotely and juggling home schooling with her two young boys Balram Bheodari leads Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport as North America’s most efficient airport due to his vast knowledge of and astute attention to efficiency in aviation which has allowed the airport to thrive in the most difficult of markets and selflessness to provide a quality of leadership throughout Atlanta Airport He oversees all facets of airport governance including operations and a multi-billion-dollar capital improvement programme designed to pave the way for Atlanta’s growth over the next 20 years Bheodari developed a comprehensive resumption of operations playbook that served to support ATL’s recovery efforts With guidance from the Federal Aviation Administration and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) amid evolving health and safety guidelines Bheodari steadfastly encouraged collaboration among stakeholders he participated in daily calls with Airports Council International and other large-hub airports to share best practices as well as information from Washington He aimed to restore customer confidence and ensure the airport was a healthy facility using COVID-19 safe protocols the airport achieved Airport of the Year by the Airport Minority Advisory Council (AMAC) Bheodari was the most ardent supporter of our mission-critical employees Having worked his way up through the ranks he fully appreciates the oftentimes thankless jobs these employees perform that keep the Airport safe and running optimally at all times Morale never flagged because Bheodari made sure those employees felt valued through hazard pay His actions and his directives all reflect his commitment to the three key focus areas of our organisation’s strategic plan: people Jonas Abrahamsson has shown the strength to steer the company towards its long-term sustainable goals Abrahamsson has ensured that Swedavia achieved its net zero target for all ten of the airports in 2020 and has continued to support strategic development and innovation to further the cause of sustainable air travel when passenger numbers where down over 90 per cent and a lot of investments were paused he decided that investments in the company’s net zero target should proceed allowing Swedavia to become the first net zero airport group by the end of 2020 Chris Dinsdale has worked at Budapest Airport since 2015 where he was nominated for the position as CEO fought relentlessly to make sure that the company survived the crisis and worked with great commitment to secure the funding of the airport a voluntary salary cut for the executives and the founding of the Budapest Airport Foundation which supports blue collar workers who lost their job during the COVID-19 pandemic After being nominated to CEO position in March 2021 Dinsdale continues to work closely with the executive team to create a clear COVID-19 recovery strategy for Budapest Airport This will also mean that we come out stronger of the pandemic and have a clear focus Dinsdale is an inspiring true leader who helped us all to cope with the very difficult times of the pandemic and I am convinced that he truly deserves this award CookieDescriptioncookielawinfo-checkbox-advertising-targetingThe cookie is set by GDPR cookie consent to record the user consent for the cookies in the category "Advertising & Targeting".cookielawinfo-checkbox-analyticsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent WordPress Plugin The cookie is used to remember the user consent for the cookies under the category "Analytics".cookielawinfo-checkbox-necessaryThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Necessary".cookielawinfo-checkbox-performanceThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent WordPress Plugin The cookie is used to remember the user consent for the cookies under the category "Performance".PHPSESSIDThis cookie is native to PHP applications The cookie is used to store and identify a users' unique session ID for the purpose of managing user session on the website The cookie is a session cookies and is deleted when all the browser windows are closed.viewed_cookie_policyThe cookie is set by the GDPR Cookie Consent plugin and is used to store whether or not user has consented to the use of cookies It does not store any personal data.zmember_loggedThis session cookie is served by our membership/subscription system and controls whether you are able to see content which is only available to logged in users Brendan Cole is a Newsweek Senior News Reporter based in London He also covers other areas of geopolitics including China Brendan joined Newsweek in 2018 from the International Business Times and well as English You can get in touch with Brendan by emailing b.cole@newsweek.com or follow on him on his X account @brendanmarkcole either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content Mobilized Russian troops have beaten to death the deputy commander of their regiment in the occupied peninsula of Crimea before fleeing the scene The soldiers from the 20th Motorized Rifle Division part of the eighth Army of Russia's southern military district "inflicted severe bodily injuries on Colonel Musurbekov," on November 1 the troops suspected of carrying out the attack changed out of their uniforms into civilian clothes and then left their base in the Simferopol district fleeing to the neighboring Russian region of Krasnodar Ukraine's General Staff has said that there are increasing numbers of Russian troops deserting the war in Ukraine. There have been numerous reports since the start of Vladimir Putin's full-scale invasion of low morale, poor equipment and training In August this year, a group of Russian soldiers in Ukraine's occupied Kherson oblast released a video appeal to the Committee of Soldiers' Mothers of Russia in which they describe their morale as being "below floor level." Colonel Musurbekov died from his injuries in a hospital in Simferopol Newsweek has contacted the Russian Defense Ministry for comment by email We have not as yet been able to verify the claims of Ukrainian intelligence Ukrainian outlet RBC Ukraine noted how there had been a number of other cases of Russian troops deserting in recent months around 20 mobilized Russian troops escaped after stealing a truck around 90 Russian soldiers in the occupied town of Arapivka in the Russian-occupied territory of the Donetsk oblast Ukrainian outlets reported on Friday how two men who said they were from the assault brigade of the 76th Guards Air Assault Division said that a commander shot dead a subordinate for insulting him in Berdyansk The NGO "Go by the Forest," which helps Russians avoid conscription in the first year since Putin announced a partial mobilization in September 2022 it knew of at least 500 soldiers who had deserted and left Russia although the NGO believed this was an underestimate Many had gone to the former Soviet countries of Armenia or Kazakhstan the NGO told the German news outlet Deutsche Welle in September Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground Newsletters in your inbox See all 2014 5:11 PM EDTCrimea’s police force said it was a training operation The office of its separatist leader said it was a hunt for a cache of weapons The local defense ministry said it was part of an “information war” with the Ukrainian government it resulted in roughly two dozen commandos taking over a major hotel on Saturday night in the Crimean capital of Simferopol None of the troops wore any identifying insignia much like the Russian forces who have occupied Crimea in the lead-up to Sunday’s vote which will open the door for Russia to annex the entire peninsula Some of the gunmen were wearing civilian clothes with an apparent penchant for black beanies and leather jackets helmets and face masks of the kind worn by Russian special forces mostly with silencer-equipped Kalashnikov assault rifles and usually with sidearms strapped to their legs or bullet proof vests At least one of them had a grenade-launcher affixed to the barrel of his rifle three of the gunmen were standing guard around the elevator bank patting down anyone who came out of their rooms and ordering them to wait quietly and not take any photographs or make any phone calls “We’re looking for an armed criminal,” one of the masked commandos told TIME “This is a special operation,” he added using the term that Russians typically use for counter-terror raids One of his comrades then tried to shush him But that was just one of the contradictory explanations for the raid on offer that night a spokeswoman for the Crimean Interior Ministry arrived while the gunmen were sweeping the hotel We carry these out from time to time so that our forces can be in tip-top shape able to respond to any threats that may emerge,” said the spokeswoman The raid had nothing to do with the referendum Asked about the last time such a training operation had been carried out in Crimea maybe a month ago.” But she could not say how many times such operations had been held out in the course of her 21 years as a spokesman for the ministry “That’s not public information,” she said A totally different version of events came from the elderly General Valery Kuznetsov the separatist Minister of Defense in Crimea who arrived at the hotel in a beige windbreaker and apologized to reporters for the disturbance “Kiev is waging an information war against the Crimean Republic,” he told TIME “It is throwing out all kinds of disinformation and our guys have to check it.” Although he declined to say where the information had come from he insisted that a “clear threat” had been reported inside the hotel and his troops were dispatched to investigate He declined to say why those troops were traveling in unmarked vans or why they were not wearing any insignia “I’ve told you enough already,” he said before storming out of the hotel right after the gunmen had left Some clarity on these last points, but not much, came from Sergei Kavtan, an adviser to the newly anointed Prime Minister of Crimea, who seized power in the region after an armed takeover of the parliament and the government headquarters on Feb “They were looking for a cache of weapons,” says Kavtan who has been serving as a media adviser to the separatist leader Sergei Aksyonov The difference in the uniforms of the gunmen was because one team was from the Interior Ministry police force while the other team was from the Crimean military So it was only last Saturday that Aksyonov initiated his first batch of military troops many of whom were elderly and clearly unaccustomed to their weapons as they pledged their oath of allegiance to Crimea last week Those men did not fit the description of the gunmen who seized the hotel although they could not avoid a few acts of aggression toward civilians Several of the reporters who tried to photograph them had their memory cards destroyed by the masked troops while one of the gunmen tried to take a swing at a cameraman as he left the hotel “I’ve already smashed one camera,” shouted the masked man with an assault rifle slung over his shoulder “You want me to smash the rest?” The reporters backed away had the authority to do pretty much as they pleased one night before the referendum that will decide Crimea’s future that future will include at least one foreseeable characteristic: the presence of armed men whose exact purpose origins and nationality may be hard to pin down Contact us at letters@time.com The number of passengers at  Crimea's Simferopol airport increased by 340 percent in the first four months of this year compared to the same period in 2014 as the conflict in Ukraine choked off land routes to the peninsula Russia's Federal Air Transportation Agency Over 695,837 passengers flowed through Simferopol The boom in air traffic follows Russia's annexation of the Black Sea peninsula from Ukraine in March last year The land grab and subsequent conflict in eastern Ukraine caused flows of tourists traveling to Crimea via the Ukrainian mainland — previously the most popular route for vacationers — to dry up leaving only ferry and air travel as reliable transport options for Russian tourists Crimean Tourism Minister Yelena Yurchenko said in March that the peninsula expects 4.3 million tourists this year So far this month passenger flows are continuing to beat last year's numbers Arrivals for the Labor Day holiday from May 1 to May 4 hit 44,233 passengers Russia's Prosecutor General's Office has designated The Moscow Times as an "undesirable" organization criminalizing our work and putting our staff at risk of prosecution This follows our earlier unjust labeling as a "foreign agent." These actions are direct attempts to silence independent journalism in Russia The authorities claim our work "discredits the decisions of the Russian leadership." We see things differently: we strive to provide accurate We, the journalists of The Moscow Times, refuse to be silenced. But to continue our work, we need your help please support us monthly starting from just $2 and every contribution makes a significant impact independent journalism in the face of repression Alexander Tryapishko and Oksana Gritsaeva became champions A freight train suspiciously went off rails after a reported explosion in Russian-occupied Crimea and railway authorities have blammed "outsiders."  railway officials and Moscow-installed authorities said the derailment was caused by "interference by outsiders," Reuters translated They did not elaborate on who the outsiders were.  Russian state media suggested the source of the explosion was near the village of Chysten'ke which is on the outskirts of Simferopol.  The Moscow Times reported that Russia has reported several acts of railway sabotage in recent months Russia and Ukraine also recently agreed to extend the Black Sea Grain Initiative for another two months which allows Ukraine to continue exporting grain to the world market Armed men patrol outside Simferopol International Airport on February 28 pro-Russian forces cause further turmoil in Crimea at the southern tip of the country Armed, masked men in unmarked military uniforms patrol outside Simferopol International Airport in Crimea Another confrontation is under way at Sevastopol International Airport Ukraine's fledgling leadership has called the airport occupations by forces affiliated with Russia an invasion. Meanwhile, former president of Ukraine Viktor Yanukovych has reappeared in Russia after a week on the run Ukraine's interior minister called the airport seizures "a direct provocation," but there has been no violence so far. Russia's Black Sea Fleet, based on the Crimean Peninsula, has denied involvement. (Related: "After Ukraine Crisis, Why Crimea Matters") The armed men in the Crimean capital of Simferopol surrounded an administrative building but did not enter the airport where flights were arriving and departing on schedule The developments come a day after pro-Russian forces took control of government buildings in Simferopol Russia" and legislators called for a vote to redefine relations with Ukraine AFP/GETTY IMAGESGunmen in camouflage seize control of the airport in Simferopol AFP/GETTY IMAGESRussian troops block the road to the military airport in Sevastopol the port where Russia's Black Sea Fleet is based Russia has denied involvement in the seizure of two Crimean airports by masked gunmen PHOTOGRAPH BY VIKTOR DRACHEV, AFP/GETTY IMAGESA protesters' camp covers much of Independence Square in central Kiev. Today, Ukraine accused Russia of staging an "armed invasion" of Crimea, where gunmen in unmarked military uniforms seized control of two airports. PHOTOGRAPH BY VIKTOR DRACHEV, AFP/GETTY IMAGESUkrainian lawmakers applaud new Prime Minister Arneniy Yatsenyuk during a session of parliament in Kiev. The 39-year-old Yatsenyuk—a former economy minister, foreign minister, and parliamentary speaker—will try to stabilize the politically divided, financially shaky country. PHOTOGRAPH BY VIKTOR DRACHEV, AFP/GETTY IMAGESRussian sailors stand in a line at a naval base in Sevastopol, Crimea, where Russia's Black Sea Fleet is based. Ukraine's new government urged Russia not to abuse its naval rights in Crimea after armed men there seized control of regional government headquarters and parliament and raised the Russian flag. PHOTOGRAPH BY VIKTOR DRACHEV, AFP/GETTY IMAGESViktor Yanukovych speaks at a news conference in Rostov-on-Don, a Russian city some 600 miles (966 kilometers) south of Moscow. It was the first appearance in five days for Yanukovych, the deposed president of Ukraine. PHOTOGRAPH BY VIKTOR DRACHEV, AFP/GETTY IMAGESCossacks attend a pro-Russia rally in Simferopol, the Crimean capital. Armed men in unmarked military uniforms have seized control of two airports in the autonomous region, escalating tensions between Moscow and the West. Russian forces have denied involvement. PHOTOGRAPH BY VIKTOR DRACHEV, AFP/GETTY IMAGESA woman holds flowers near a makeshift memorial in Kiev's central Independence Square. The site has been at the center of political upheaval and deadly strife over the past three weeks. PHOTOGRAPH BY VIKTOR DRACHEV, AFP/GETTY IMAGESTwo priests in Kiev's Independence Square pray at a memorial for people killed in this month's clashes. AFP/GETTY IMAGES","envNme":"prod","flags":{"hideTitle":true,"hideCaption":true,"hideAssetSource":true},"qryStr":"userab=ng_pw_copy-287*variant_a-1126&forceMode=fitt","mrkup":"","placement":"inline"},"type":"inline","style":{}},{"id":"html10","cntnt":{"mrkup":"A protesters' camp covers much of Independence Square in central Kiev Ukraine accused Russia of staging an \"armed invasion\" of Crimea where gunmen in unmarked military uniforms seized control of two airports."},"type":"p","style":{}},{"id":"inline-5","cntnt":{"cmsType":"image","ariaLabel":"image","align":"contentWidth","belowParagraph":true,"credit":"PHOTOGRAPH BY VIKTOR DRACHEV AFP/GETTY IMAGES","envNme":"prod","flags":{"hideTitle":true,"hideCaption":true,"hideAssetSource":true},"qryStr":"userab=ng_pw_copy-287*variant_a-1126&forceMode=fitt","mrkup":"","placement":"inline"},"type":"inline","style":{}},{"id":"html11","cntnt":{"mrkup":"Ukrainian lawmakers applaud new Prime Minister Arneniy Yatsenyuk during a session of parliament in Kiev The 39-year-old Yatsenyuk—a former economy minister and parliamentary speaker—will try to stabilize the politically divided financially shaky country."},"type":"p","style":{}},{"id":"inline-6","cntnt":{"cmsType":"image","ariaLabel":"image","align":"contentWidth","belowParagraph":true,"credit":"PHOTOGRAPH BY VIKTOR DRACHEV AFP/GETTY IMAGES","envNme":"prod","flags":{"hideTitle":true,"hideCaption":true,"hideAssetSource":true},"qryStr":"userab=ng_pw_copy-287*variant_a-1126&forceMode=fitt","mrkup":"","placement":"inline"},"type":"inline","style":{}},{"id":"html12","cntnt":{"mrkup":"Russian sailors stand in a line at a naval base in Sevastopol Ukraine's new government urged Russia not to abuse its naval rights in Crimea after armed men there seized control of regional government headquarters and parliament and raised the Russian flag."},"type":"p","style":{}},{"id":"inline-7","cntnt":{"cmsType":"image","ariaLabel":"image","align":"contentWidth","belowParagraph":true,"credit":"PHOTOGRAPH BY VIKTOR DRACHEV AFP/GETTY IMAGES","envNme":"prod","flags":{"hideTitle":true,"hideCaption":true,"hideAssetSource":true},"qryStr":"userab=ng_pw_copy-287*variant_a-1126&forceMode=fitt","mrkup":"","placement":"inline"},"type":"inline","style":{}},{"id":"html13","cntnt":{"mrkup":"Viktor Yanukovych speaks at a news conference in Rostov-on-Don a Russian city some 600 miles (966 kilometers) south of Moscow It was the first appearance in five days for Yanukovych the deposed president of Ukraine."},"type":"p","style":{}},{"id":"inline-8","cntnt":{"cmsType":"image","ariaLabel":"image","align":"contentWidth","belowParagraph":true,"credit":"PHOTOGRAPH BY VIKTOR DRACHEV AFP/GETTY IMAGES","envNme":"prod","flags":{"hideTitle":true,"hideCaption":true,"hideAssetSource":true},"qryStr":"userab=ng_pw_copy-287*variant_a-1126&forceMode=fitt","mrkup":"","placement":"inline"},"type":"inline","style":{}},{"id":"html14","cntnt":{"mrkup":"Cossacks attend a pro-Russia rally in Simferopol Armed men in unmarked military uniforms have seized control of two airports in the autonomous region escalating tensions between Moscow and the West Russian forces have denied involvement."},"type":"p","style":{}},{"id":"inline-9","cntnt":{"cmsType":"image","ariaLabel":"image","align":"contentWidth","belowParagraph":true,"credit":"PHOTOGRAPH BY VIKTOR DRACHEV AFP/GETTY IMAGES","envNme":"prod","flags":{"hideTitle":true,"hideCaption":true,"hideAssetSource":true},"qryStr":"userab=ng_pw_copy-287*variant_a-1126&forceMode=fitt","mrkup":"","placement":"inline"},"type":"inline","style":{}},{"id":"html15","cntnt":{"mrkup":"A woman holds flowers near a makeshift memorial in Kiev's central Independence Square The site has been at the center of political upheaval and deadly strife over the past three weeks."},"type":"p","style":{}},{"id":"inline-10","cntnt":{"cmsType":"image","ariaLabel":"image","align":"contentWidth","belowParagraph":true,"credit":"PHOTOGRAPH BY VIKTOR DRACHEV pro-Russian forces cause further turmoil in Crimea at the southern tip of the country.","enableAds":true,"endbug":true,"isMetered":false,"isUserAuthed":false,"isTruncated":false,"isEntitled":false,"freemiumContentGatingEnabled":true,"premiumContentGatingEnabled":false,"ldMda":{"cmsType":"image","hasCopyright":true,"id":"7579ea61-9b05-404a-8363-419134a64673","lines":3,"positionMetaBottom":true,"showMore":true,"caption":"Armed men patrol outside Simferopol International Airport on February 28 The Russian airport was developed with passenger experience ecological impact and economical growth all in mind For several years, Simferopol International Airport has ranked among the top 10 Russian airports in terms of passenger traffic and is one of the largest in the south of the country with the most developed domestic route network the airport annually serves more than five million passengers 19 airlines operated flights from Simferopol to 56 destinations the airport handled more than 200 flights and welcomed approximately 34,000 passengers per day The new airport complex is built on the principles of public-private partnership of which 30 per cent are investor funds and 70 per cent bank loans with the RNKB and Russia The operator of the airport is Simferopol International Airport LLC: The Republic of the Crimea owns 49 per cent of the enterprise and 51 per cent belongs to a pool of investors The construction of the airport complex has become the largest private investment project in the modern history of the Crimea executed in an architectural concept of the Crimean Wave immediately turned into one of the most popular symbols of the revival of the Crimea The new passenger terminal at Simferopol Airport was designed in the form of a sea wave by the South Korean company, Samoo Architects & Engineers The capacity of the facility is 3,625 passengers per hour (6.5 million people per year) To create a unique silhouette of the terminal the constructors mounted more than 5,700 tonnes of metal structure and erected 136 uniquely-curved columns up to 35m high The glazing of the new terminal is also unique: In total The height of the new terminal ranges from 25-35m at different points This makes the wavy silhouette of the terminal noticeable from the air The square in front of the terminal contains a landscape park of 11 hectares Steppe shrubs and flowers are also planted in the form of waves that change colour depending on the season The effect is achieved with carefully selected species that differ in height Outside the terminal there is a landscape park of 11 hectares The passenger terminal is equipped with 28 elevators and 16 escalators and boarding and disembarking of passengers is performed using eight passenger bridges The airport terminal is fully adapted to the needs of visitors experiencing movement difficulties; parents with strollers passengers with reduced mobility and elderly individuals all baggage at Simferopol is serviced by a complex system that is fully designed and manufactured in Russia The baggage handling system includes 55 check-in desks and equipment for the picking and handling area The capacity of the system is 4,800 pieces of baggage per hour which allows simultaneous loading for up to 25 flights and fully satisfies the airport’s need even if the complex is expanded in the future The airport contains Europe’s largest green wall Simferopol International Airport is one of the most environmentally-friendly and green airports in Russia It consists of real and artificial plants with a total height of 15m and a length of 110m consists of approximately 30,000 decorative deciduous and ampelous plants Living ornamental plants are located in different corners of the terminal and the waiting area passengers are greeted by special glass cubes with tropical and subtropical species of green plants On the wall in front of the baggage claim area there is an 18m2 map of the Crimean Peninsula also reduce the level of carbon dioxide emitted into the atmosphere All tractors involved in moving luggage are equipped with electric motors and the airport operator is also exploring the possibility of using electric cars as ‘Follow me’ vehicles The airport complex of Simferopol Airport provides its visitors with not only a high level of modern service but the opportunity to immerse themselves in the beauty of the Crimean nature which is displayed to passengers throughout the airport until they board the aircraft On the fourth floor of the airport’s security zone there is an open terrace with a beautiful view not only of the tarmac and aircraft but of one of the most famous natural symbols of the Crimea – Mount Chatyrdag; enticing individuals to return to one of the most beautiful peninsulas in the world By No comments yet By "a50b83b9d919eada57cc914c2ca03102" );document.getElementById("d6337c1004").setAttribute( "id" Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information. but the game still goes onUkraine didn’t qualify for this year’s World Cup amid a war that could decide the future of the sport in Crimea and eastern Ukraine Players from Tavriya Simferopol huddle together at a match earlier this year The team was originally based in the Crimean Peninsula but left after Russia annexed Crimea in 2014 As the war in Ukraine nears its 10th month soccer games now take place without spectators Players sometimes have to run off the field to hide in bomb shelters when air raid sirens warn of an attack Ukraine’s football season was temporarily halted this year after Russia’s invasion began, but authorities restarted the Ukrainian soccer season last August soccer team Tavriya Simferopol temporarily folded when their headquarters fell under Russian control in late February of this year Sergei Chebotaev, a former defender for Tavriya Simferopol, found new work playing for the local team in Zaporizhzhia, a city whose name has become synonymous with the nearby nuclear power plant of the same name Chebotaev lives and trains in Zaporizhzhia but his new team can only play away games because the city is so close to the front lines “A missile attack could happen at any moment and the Russians are so close that you can’t even notify people with air raid sirens so they have enough time to seek safety,” Chebotaev said Ukraine didn’t qualify for this year’s World Cup The revival of football is a powerful symbol for Ukraine Andrew Todos, the co-host of the podcast “Ukraine + Football,” said that soccer is such a vital part of Ukrainian society that it can even energize Ukraine on the battlefield with Russia “It can help soldiers fighting on the front line are watching on their phones or on little TVs in the trenches we’re allowing people to live their lives freely,’” Todos said continuing to play soccer also sends a strong message to Russia that the war can’t disrupt life in Ukraine Oleh Komuniar’s grandfather first took him to see a Tavriya Simferopol game when he was a young boy growing up on the Crimean Peninsula He became a dedicated Tavriya superfan who tries to never miss a match enjoys a unique spot in Ukrainian football lore as the first to win Ukraine’s national football championship after the country broke away from the Soviet Union in 1991 “I made a lot of friends that were Tavriya fans,” Komuniar said the soccer community in Crimea started to fracture During the winter that year, as Ukrainians took to the streets and ousted former President Viktor Yanukovych during the Euromaidan Revolution He took to the streets alongside members of Tavriya’s Ultras a group of soccer megafans who share a pro-Ukrainian ideology Soon after the revolution that winter, Russia annexed the Crimean Peninsula from Ukraine In the months leading up to the annexation protests and clashes broke out on the streets between Ukrainians and Russians His soccer fan group banded together and protected the Ukrainian protesters Komuniar said that the FSB — the Russian intelligence agency that succeeded the KGB — started monitoring Tavriya’s Ultras after the fan group openly opposed the Russian annexation we were on the first list of people they [the Russians] would send to jail,” Komuniar said A day before a highly controversial referendum was held to annex Crimea to Russia Komuniar fled to mainland Ukraine and has never returned home The team eventually set up a new base in the Kherson region to play in Ukraine under the name Tavriya Simferopol Some of Tavriya’s players who supported Russia stayed behind and began playing with a renamed team in Russia-occupied Crimea called TSK-Tavriya Football teams in Crimea remain in a special league of eight teams that are not allowed to leave the peninsula to play games in Russia or elsewhere in Europe, following a decision by Europe’s soccer governing body UEFA Komuniar said that when Tavriya Simferopol started playing games again in mainland Ukraine it outraged Russia because the team represents a part of Ukrainian Crimea that lives on even after the Russian annexation By maintaining a football team in Crimea that also bears the name Tavriya Russia reinforces their stake in their claim to the land there And after Ukraine began to relaunch the soccer season last summer, Russia announced defiant plans to start a new soccer tournament for teams in Russia-occupied regions of Ukraine and Georgia. (Russia is currently banned from all international soccer competitions Russia’s attempt to claim Ukrainian soccer teams has deep historical significance because Ukraine churned out some of the Soviet Union’s best players Ukraine was excluded from international soccer competitions after the Soviet Union fell even though they were a powerhouse of talent a Ukrainian doctoral candidate focusing on the history of Ukrainian soccer at the Leibniz Center for Contemporary History Potsdam Russia was the only former Soviet country that FIFA considered eligible for the 1994 World Cup Chernii said that Russia tried to coax the best Ukrainian players to join Russian soccer teams “Ukrainians were basically forced to decide between a successful football career or staying loyal to newly independent Ukraine and wait waiting a few years is a long time,” Chernii said Only a few Ukrainians took Russia up on its offer But memories of Ukraine’s treatment as a nonsovereign nation within international sports during the early ’90s makes the current occupation of eastern Ukraine a painful tragedy “Many famous Ukrainian sportsmen are from eastern Ukraine and Crimea and there are many important sports facilities there,” Chernii said Nearly two dozen Ukrainian soccer teams have folded since the war began While Tavriya Simferopol has halted playing for now their fans fervently believe the team will return They expect that Ukraine will eventually win the war and Tavriya Simferopol will return to its rightful home in Crimea delivered to your inbox every weekday morning Thanks to our sponsor PRX is a 501(c)(3) organization recognized by the IRS: #263347402 Russia's Defense Ministry said Tuesday that its forces shot down six U.S.-supplied missiles launched by Ukraine with Moscow-backed officials in annexed Crimea claiming some of the weapons were downed over the Black Sea peninsula Washington quietly shipped an unspecified number of long-range Army Tactical Missile Systems (ATACMS) to Ukraine in recent weeks after repeated calls from Kyiv for more powerful weapons as its military fends off advancing Russian troops Russia's Defense Ministry said it destroyed six ATACMS missiles "over the past 24 hours," though it did not specify where they had been shot down The Russian-installed head of annexed Crimea Sergei Aksyonov said one of the missiles was destroyed over the village of Donskoye undetonated submunitions scattered," Aksyonov said on the Telegram messaging app do not pick it up or come close and call emergency services or the police." Aksyonov posted a photo of a metal ball which he said was part of the destroyed missile He did not say whether the missiles caused any damage Earlier on Tuesday Moscow-backed officials in occupied southern Ukraine said air defense systems were responding to aerial projectiles over Simferopol and the town of Dzankoi in northern Crimea An anonymous U.S. official cited by Politico later rebuked Moscow’s claim that its forces shot down the long-range missiles that were launched toward the annexed Peninsula “We have no indications this claim is accurate and the Russians do have a long history of embellishing and inventing battlefield achievements,” the official was quoted as saying Ukraine has regularly attacked Crimea since Moscow launched its full-scale invasion over two years ago it did not comment on Tuesday's reported missile attacks Washington said it had sent ATACMS missiles to Ukraine following a directive from U.S Ukrainian forces are now awaiting the arrival of new U.S weapons and supplies as part of an aid package approved by Biden after months of wrangling with Republicans in Congress Posted on April 17th, 2018 by Russian Aviation Insider in Air Transport, Russia, Trending The airport’s total network in the summer season includes 67 destinations The terminal is an example of a state-private partnership – 30% of the financing was raised by private investors and the remaining 70% was allocated by the banks based in Crimea The administration of the peninsula received 49% of the airport’s shares and a pool of investors shares the remaining 51% The local company Acons Pro was the general contractor for the construction project Construction of the new terminal with 78,000 sqm of floor area required an investment of 32 billion rubles (about $520 million) and lasted 22 months Its capacity is 3,650 passengers per hour and 6.5 million passengers per year in 2017 Simferopol served 5.1 million passengers The new terminal is equipped with 55 check-in counters eight jetways and eight exits to apron buses The building is run by automated management system and technologies which enable travelers to pass all pre-flight stages themselves The Russian authorities granted approval for the operation of the terminal on April 12 this year the runway will be resurfaced and extended from 2,700 m to 3,200 m there will be two runways operational at the airport In 2017 Simferopol ranked seventh in the rating of Russia’s largest airports. Its traffic decreased 1.4% year-on-year. But in the first three months of 2018 the traffic climbed back 7% compared to the same period last year reaching 603,400 passengers You must be logged in to post a comment Superjet 100 flies with Russian engines Supporting Russia’s fleet of Western-built aircraft is a humanitarian necessity – AmCham Russia Rosaviatsiya: Russian airlines’ passenger traffic to decline in 2025 Aeroflot promotes initiative towards harmonization of Russia’s continued airworthiness system with international standards Russian airlines 2024 traffic exceeds the pre-sanctions level