Ukraine’s first astronaut dies at 67
Independent Ukraine’s first man in space, Leonid Kadenyuk, has died at the age of 67. Friends of the astronaut told RFE/RL that he died on January 31 in Kyiv. A military pilot in the Soviet era, he was a member of the crew of the U.S. space shuttle Columbia on a mission in November-December 1997. He won a seat in the Verkhovna Rada in 2002, and was a lawmaker until 2006. Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman wrote on Facebook: “Leonid Kadenyuk has died. A truly legendary man. My condolences to his relatives and friends.” The State Space Agency of Ukraine told Interfax that Kadenyuk seems to have died of a heart attack. “According to the information provided by relatives, Leonid Kostiantynovych had a heart attack during his traditional jog in the park on Wednesday morning. He was hospitalized, but the doctors could not save him,” the source told the agency. Kadenyuk was born on January 28, 1951, in the village of Klishkivtsi in the Khotyn district of the Chernivtsi region. His parents were village teachers. In 1995, he was selected to become a cosmonaut of the National Space Agency of Ukraine. After training at NASA between November 19 and December 5, 1997, he took part in the STS-87 mission. He performed biological experiments on plants during the flight. (RFE/RL’s Ukrainian Service, Interfax-Ukraine)
Pope visits Ukrainian basilica in Rome
Pope Francis visited a Ukrainian Greek-Catholic basilica in Rome, paying tribute to Catholics who perished in Ukraine because of their faith during the time of Soviet rule. During the visit to the Basilica of St. Sofia on January 28, the pope told the faithful that he understands their anguish for a country “scourged by war and economic difficulties.” He also prayed for an end to the deadly armed conflict in eastern Ukraine. “I understand that, while you are here, the heart throbs for your country, and not only palpitates with affection, but also with anguish, especially for the scourge of war and economic difficulties,” the pope said. “I am here to tell you that I am close to you: close with the heart, close with prayer, close when I celebrate the Eucharist. I pray that hope may never be extinguished in the hearts of each person, but that the courage to go forward, to always start again, is renewed.” He added, “I pray to the Prince of Peace to stop the weapons.” Bishop Borys Gudziak, who heads the Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Eparchy of Paris, said the pope was “sending a signal to [Russian President Vladimir] Putin… that violence and aggression are unacceptable.” He is saying “that I’m with the people who are suffering,” Gudziak was quoted by the Crux website as saying. According to the Catholic News Agency, St. Sophia was built in 1963 and consecrated in 1969 by Pope Paul VI. Pope Francis is the third pope to visit the parish, the last being Pope John Paul II in 1984. It is home to some 14,000 Ukrainians living in the Diocese of Rome. Patriarch Sviatoslav of the Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church, presented the pope to the gathered followers, with large-screen televisions set up outside the church for those who could not get inside. (RFE/RL, with reporting by AP, Catholic News Agency, Zenit, Rome Reports and Crux Now)
U.S. imposes new sanctions over Ukraine
The United States hit 21 people and nine companies linked to the Russia-backed conflict in eastern Ukraine with new economic sanctions, the latest effort by Washington to put pressure on groups most actively involved in the nearly four-year-old conflict. The measures announced on January 26 by the Treasury Department came on the same day that U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson met with Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko in Davos, Switzerland. They also came as the U.S. special envoy for the Ukrainian conflict, Kurt Volker, met with his Kremlin counterpart, Vladislav Surkov, to discuss ways to resolve the fighting. In this latest round, the Treasury Department targeted 11 people identified as top separatist officials in eastern Ukraine. “This action underscores the U.S. government’s opposition to Russia’s occupation of Crimea and firm refusal to recognize its attempted annexation of the peninsula,” the department said in a statement. The sanctions also target several Russian officials, including Deputy Minister of Energy Andrei Cherezov, who had been hit earlier by European Union measures for his role in a scheme to ship power turbines to Crimea. Those turbines were built by German engineering giant Siemens for Russia but instead ended up in Crimea. Multiple subsidiaries of the Russian oil producer Surgutneftegaz were also listed, the Treasury Department said. So were subsidiaries of Power Machines, a major manufacturer of heavy industrial equipment and machinery. (Mike Eckel of RFE/RL)
Moscow sees a ‘trade war’
In Moscow, Russian lawmakers responded defiantly to the U.S. announcement of new economic sanctions against 21 people and nine companies linked to the Russia-backed conflict in eastern Ukraine. “This is a policy of maximum containment of a growing Russia. The Americans have declared a trade war against us,” Vladimir Dzhabaraov, a member of the lower house of the Russian Parliament, was quoted as saying. The Foreign Affairs Ministry, meanwhile, threatened retaliation, and again asserted that it was Washington which was behind the 2014 popular protests in Kyiv that led to the ouster of then-President Viktor Yanukovych. This “absurd sanctions campaign has not succeeded and will not lead to any results,” the ministry said in a statement. “If the U.S. authorities prefer to break economic and other ties with Russia, it is their right, just as it is our right to respond.” The announcement came just days before the release of another set of economic restrictions that is expected to target Kremlin insiders and a wider array of Russia companies. Those sanctions were mandated under a law passed last year by Congress that sought to punish Russia for its alleged meddling in the 2016 U.S. presidential election and other matters. Anticipation over the wider Russian sanctions has been building for weeks now, with influential businessmen and Kremlin-connected insiders worried about being included in what is being known in Washington as the “oligarchs list.” The head of VTB, the state-owned bank that is also Russia’s second largest, Andrei Kostin, said any new sanctions that targeted Russian lenders would be tantamount to economic war. (Mike Eckel of RFE/RL)
Tax chief fired amid embezzlement probe
The Ukrainian government has fired tax and customs service chief Roman Nasirov, who was suspended from the post after his arrest on suspicion of embezzlement in March 2017. Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman said on January 31 that the State Commission for Senior State Service Personnel had approved the government’s recommendation that Mr. Nasirov be dismissed. Mr. Nasirov is being investigated on suspicion of defrauding the state of 2 billion hrv ($70 million U.S.). He is one of the highest officials to face prosecution in Ukraine, whose pro-Western government is under pressure from the United States, the European Union and donor organizations to tackle a deep-seated graft problem. Mr. Nasirov was arrested after the National Anti-corruption Bureau accused him of signing off on grace periods for a number of taxpayers, including companies linked to a former lawmaker who fled the country in 2016 while facing a corruption investigation. Shortly after his arrest, he was released on bail but ordered to wear an electronic bracelet and barred from leaving Kyiv without investigators’ permission. (RFE/RL, with reporting by RFE/RL’s Ukrainian Service, UNIAN and 5 Kanal)
Russian authorities arrest Crimean Tatars
Two Crimean Tatars from the Russia-annexed Crimea region have been found guilty of extremist propaganda. Enver Krosh, from the northern city of Dzhankoy was sentenced to 10 days in jail, while Ebazer Islyamov, from the peninsula’s northwestern Nyzhnyohirskyy District, was fined 2,000 rubles ($35 U.S.), after their homes were raided by police on January 25. Police seized a mobile phone, laptop, and a tablet from Mr. Krosh’s home, according to local human rights group Crimean Solidarity. Mr. Krosh’s case was taken to the Dzhankoy District Court and Mr. Islyamov’s to the Nyzhnyohirskyy District Court, where an ambulance was called after he felt unwell. Messrs. Krosh and Islyamov both are practicing Muslims. Rights groups and Western governments have repeatedly denounced what they called a persistent campaign targeting Crimea’s indigenous people – the Turkic-speaking Crimean Tatars, the majority of whom opposed Moscow’s annexation of the Black Sea peninsula from Ukraine in March 2014. (Crimean Desk, RFE/RL’s Ukrainian Service)
Hodges warns of Russian capabilities
The former top U.S. Army commander in Europe said Russian battlefield tactics in eastern Ukraine show sophisticated integration of drones, electronic warfare, and mortar and artillery, posing major challenges for Ukrainian forces. Retired Lt. Gen. Ben Hodges also said on January 24 that U.S. and European allies should do more to publicize Russia’s capabilities on the ground in eastern Ukraine, including the region historically known as the Donbas. Gen. Hodges, who retired as commander of the U.S. Army’s European forces last year, made the comments in Washington, at the Helsinki Commission, a U.S. government agency charged with monitoring human rights in Europe and elsewhere. The United States and its NATO allies have helped train and supply the Ukrainian armed forces since the outbreak of fighting in eastern Ukraine in April 2014. About 250 U.S. soldiers are helping in the training, Gen. Hodges said, plus Canadians and other NATO allies. He said the recent U.S. decision to supply Ukraine with more sophisticated weaponry, including Javelin anti-tank weapons was important for persuading the Russians to negotiate an end to the conflict. “There has to be a diplomatic solution to this,” he said. “Russia has to at some point agree to stop supporting the separatists or pull out to allow the re-establishment” of Ukrainian control of its border with Russia. In eastern Ukraine, Gen. Hodges said, there are about 35,000-40,000 Russia-backed fighters, and around 4,000-5,000 are actual Russian military officers or commanders. He said Russia-backed commanders have honed tactics that include using drones, artillery and electronic warfare. That’s allowed Russians forces, for example, to eliminate Ukrainian mortars and artillery units. He said one Ukrainian unit that was using a U.S.-supplied radar was taken out by Russian rocket fire with surprising speed. “So you cannot speak on a radio or any device that’s not secure because it’s going to be jammed or intercepted or worse, it’s going to be found and then it’s going to be hit.” He also noted, “Certainly we have the capability to show everybody what Russia is specifically doing in the Donbas, that would be helpful to keep pressure on Russia, to live up to what they’ve said they’re going to do.” (Mike Eckel of RFE/RL)
Saakashvili fights for citizenship
Opposition politician Mikheil Saakashvili was in Ukraine’s Supreme Court on January 29 to seek the restitution of his Ukrainian citizenship, which was revoked by President Petro Poroshenko last year. Supporters of Mr. Saakashvili chanted “Shame! Shame! Impeachment! Impeachment!” after an appeals panel judge rejected the fiery former Georgian president’s motion to invite Mr. Poroshenko to the hearing to testify. The judge later adjourned the hearing and scheduled the next one for February 16. Mr. Saakashvili, who is also a former governor of Ukraine’s Odesa Oblast, wants the court to rule that Mr. Poroshenko’s July 2017 decree ordering his citizenship revoked was illegal. He contends that the move violated international conventions and Ukrainian law. (RFE/RL’s Ukrainian Service)
Government soldier killed in Donbas
Ukraine says one of its soldiers has been killed and two wounded in clashes that took place in the country’s east. The Defense Ministry said on January 31 that Russia-backed separatists violated a frequently breached ceasefire three times during the previous 24 hours, firing machine guns, grenade launchers, and mortars. Meanwhile, the separatists claimed that Ukrainian government forces shelled the town of Dokushayevsk, which they control, damaging an apartment in a five-story building. (RFE/RL, with reporting by Interfax and TASS)