Saakashvili lashes out at Poroshenko
KYIV – Mikheil Saakashvili, the former Georgian president and Odesa regional governor who was recently stripped of his Ukrainian citizenship, says he intends to return to Ukraine. In a video press conference organized by his Movement of New Forces opposition party at its headquarters in Kyiv on August 1, Mr. Saakashvili, who is currently in the United States, said Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko’s decision to annul his citizenship earlier in July was “illegal” and “weakened democracy in Ukraine.” Mr. Saakashvili urged Ukrainian authorities and President Poroshenko to allow him to come back to legally prove in court that his citizenship had been illegally taken away from him. “That move had a single goal, which is to remove a key player from the political scene in Ukraine,” said Mr. Saakashvili, adding that the action had “weakened Ukraine in its fight against its current enemy – Putin’s Russia.” Mr. Saakashvili also was sharply critical of Mr. Poroshenko, a former friend of his who granted him Ukrainian citizenship and installed him as governor of Odesa. “Poroshenko’s move made it clear that the commander-in-chief of the Ukrainian armed forces is a coward,” he said. “A coward, who while I was not home changed the lock on my home door and threw all my belongings out of the window.” Mr. Saakashvili, who went to university in Ukraine and served his Soviet military duty in the country, added that he remains a Ukrainian who will do everything he can to make sure that corruption and lawlessness are eradicated in “our Ukraine.” He added, “I do not plan to use the protection of the United States or any other country. I will come back,” noting that his return would not be incognito. Mr. Saakashvili also stated that his party’s plan to stage mass protests in autumn remain unchanged. Mr. Saakashvili, 49, resigned as Odesa governor in November 2016, complaining of official obstruction of anti-corruption efforts, accusing Mr. Poroshenko of dishonesty, and charging that the central government was sabotaging crucial reforms. Without citizenship, Mr. Saakashvili cannot seek political office in Ukraine, where his party is calling for early parliamentary elections. A presidential vote is to be held in March 2019. (RFE/RL, based on the YouTube live stream of Mikheil Saakashvili’s press conference)
Germany urges EU to fight sanctions bill
PRAGUE – Germany’s economics minister on July 31 urged the European Union to fight back against new sanctions by the United States that could penalize Western companies doing business with Russia. The new sanctions targeting Russia’s energy firms were included in legislation passed overwhelmingly by Congress and signed into law by President Donald Trump on August 2. The provisions affecting Europe would allow Mr. Trump to impose sanctions on Western businesses working with Russia’s Gazprom to build the Nord Stream 2 natural-gas pipeline between Russia and Germany through the Baltic Sea. European leaders say the sanctions will jeopardize their energy security and hurt their economies. “We consider this as being against international law, plain and simple,” German Economics Minister Brigitte Zypries said in an interview published by the Funke Mediengruppe newspaper chain on July 31. “The Americans can’t punish German companies because they have business interests in another country,” Ms. Zypries said. “Of course, we don’t want a trade war. But it is important the European Commission now looks into countermeasures.” Ms. Zypries said Berlin had repeatedly asked Washington not to include the provisions affecting European companies in a broader bill targeting Russia with sanctions over its alleged interference in the U.S. presidential election, aggression in Ukraine and other matters. “Unfortunately, that is exactly what they are doing. That means that it is right that the European Commission now considers countermeasures,” she said. European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker warned last week that “if our concerns are not taken into account sufficiently, we stand ready to act appropriately within a matter of days” of the provisions taking effect. The United States has for years opposed the Nord Stream 2 pipeline, saying it will only increase European dependence on Russia for natural gas when Western allies should be diversifying their energy sources away from Russia. But the sanctions bill represents the first time Washington has taken concrete action in its opposition to the pipeline that could lead to punitive measures against European companies. The new sanctions are also coupled with provisions encouraging European countries to purchase liquefied natural gas from the United States as an alternative to relying on Russian gas. “One is left with the sense that the United States is looking to its own economic interests,” Volker Triere, the head of the Germany Chamber of Industry and Commerce, said last week. German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel warned last week that Germany will not tolerate sanctions against European companies involved in the Nord Stream project. Some German business groups are advocating countersanctions against the United States if President Trump decides to impose sanctions on European companies. (RFE/RL, with reporting by Reuters, Newsweek and TASS)
U.S. set to deliver coal to Ukraine
KYIV – The United States is set to begin delivering coal to Ukraine for the first time in a deal Washington framed as a move toward reducing Kyiv’s reliance on Russian energy. Under a deal signed earlier this month between the Ukrainian state-owned energy company Centrenergo and the U.S. firm Xcoal Energy & Resources, some 700,000 metric tons will be shipped to Ukraine by the end of 2017. “The first shipment of 85,000 [metric tons] is expected in early September,” Centrenergo head Oleh Kozemko said at the U.S. Embassy in Kyiv on July 31, adding that the deliveries should help Ukraine through the winter. George Kent, the embassy’s chargé d’affaires, said the deal demonstrates “intensified cooperation” to reduce Kyiv’s dependence on Moscow since Russia seized Ukraine’s Crimean peninsula in 2014 and proceeded to back armed separatists in eastern Ukraine. Mr. Kent said U.S. President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko discussed the possibility of U.S. coal deliveries to Ukraine during their June 20 meeting at the White House. Ukraine has been struggling to produce coal since the conflict erupted in April 2014 because Russia-backed separatist forces control much of its coal-rich region. Mr. Poroshenko’s government in March suspended all cargo traffic with areas held by the separatists and has been seeking to secure sufficient fuel reserves needed to keep power plants operating. “The United States can offer Ukraine an alternative, and today we are pleased to announce that we will. U.S. coal will be a secure and reliable energy source for Centrenergo and its electricity customers,” U.S. Energy Secretary Rick Perry said in a July 31 statement. (RFE/RL, with reporting by AFP)
Russian court sentences ‘terrorist’
KYIV – A court in Russia has sentenced a Ukrainian citizen to 12 years in prison on terrorism charges. The North Caucasus Regional Court on July 31 found Oleksiy Syzonovych guilty of planning a terrorist attack, illegal border crossing and illegal possession of explosives. It issued the sentence the same day. Investigators have said that Mr. Syzonovych traveled to the town of Kamensk-Shakhtinsky in Russia’s Rostov region, where he took pictures of a local railway station in connection with an alleged plan for an attack in September. Rights activists say Russia has jailed several Ukrainians on trumped up, politically motivated charges since Moscow seized Ukraine’s Crimea region in March 2014. In March, the European Parliament called on Russia to free more than 30 Ukrainian citizens who were in prison or other conditions of restricted freedom in Russia, Crimea and parts of eastern Ukraine that are controlled by Russia-backed separatists. The list included filmmaker Oleh Sentsov, who is serving a 20-year sentence in Russian prison after being convicted of plotting terrorist attacks in a trial supporters called absurd, and reporter Roman Sushchenko, held in Moscow on suspicion of espionage. The list, which the European Parliament statement said was not complete, also included several leaders of the Crimean Tatar minority, which rights groups say has faced abuse and discrimination since Russia’s takeover. (RFE/RL, based on reporting by TASS, Interfax and Ukrayinska Pravda)
Massive military drills start in Georgia
TBILISI – Some 2,800 troops from host Georgia, the United States, and six other countries have begun a major military exercise in the South Caucasus nation. Georgian Prime Minister Giorgi Kvirikashvili and other leaders on July 30 said they see the event as a substantial step toward their goal of one day joining NATO. “These exercises will help Georgia to get closer to NATO standards and to strengthen stability in the whole region,” Mr. Kvirikashvili said at the opening ceremonies at the Vaziani military base near the capital, Tbilisi. Georgia’s defense minister, Levan Izoria, called the scale of exercises “unprecedented” and said they “make clear the support for Georgia by the NATO member states, especially the U.S.” U.S. officials in the past have spoken favorably toward Georgian hopes of eventually joining NATO, a move Russia vehemently opposes. At a 2008 summit in Bucharest, NATO leaders made a formal pledge that Georgia “will become a NATO member,” but alliance leaders have moved warily toward that goal in the face of Moscow’s opposition. About 1,600 U.S. troops and 800 Georgian soldiers are taking part in the two-week exercises, dubbed Noble Partner. Troops from Britain, Germany, Turkey, Ukraine, Slovenia and Armenia are also participating, with the United States deploying a mechanized company, including several Bradley infantry fighting vehicles and M1A2 Abrams battle tanks. It is the third time the exercises have been held in Georgia, a country that has seen much larger rival Russia encroach on its territory since its independence from the Soviet Union. The Kremlin recognized Georgia’s breakaway areas of Abkhazia and South Ossetia as independent countries after fighting a five-day war against Tbilisi in 2008, and Russia maintains thousands of troops in the two regions. In previous years, Moscow warned that the drills could destabilize the region, a notion that Georgia and the United States have dismissed. “This exercise is not directed against any country. It’s about to help Georgia to grow its capacity to interoperate in international operations,” U.S. Ambassador Ian Kelly told the Reuters news agency, citing missions such as the current one in Afghanistan. (RFE/RL, with reporting by Reuters, AFP and Interfax)
Patriarch calls for unity against aggressor
KYIV – Thousands of followers of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church – Kyiv Patriarchate, led by Patriarch Filaret, performed a traditional cross-bearing procession in Kyiv on July 28 to mark the Day of the Christianization of Kyivan Rus’. The procession started from St. Volodymyr Cathedral in downtown Kyiv and ended near the monument to St. Prince Volodymyr of Kyiv, where prayers were offered. Patriarch Filaret said while leading the prayer that by honoring Prince Volodymyr, “we have to unite as a single Ukrainian nation, single country in order to win.” He said Ukrainians soon will “be not only commemorating Prince Volodymyr, but also celebrating our victory over the aggressor,” Patriarch Filaret said, referring to Moscow’s support for pro-Russia separatists in eastern Ukraine. On July 27, a cross-bearing procession was held in Kyiv by the Ukrainian Orthodox Church – Moscow Patriarchate, which is under supervision of the Russian Orthodox church and promotes Ukraine’s close ties with Russia. (RFE/RL’s Ukrainian Service)
Russian court extends prison term
KYIV – Russia’s Supreme Court has prolonged to 15 years the prison term for a jailed Crimean Tatar man who was earlier sentenced to 12 years in April after a court found him guilty of creating a cell on behalf of the banned Hizb ut-Tahrir Islamic group. Ruslan Zeytullayev was convicted of establishing the cell on Ukraine’s Crimean peninsula, which was seized by Russia in 2014. Hizb ut-Tahrir is banned in Russia. Mr. Zeytullayev pleaded not guilty on July 27 and announced that he would start a hunger strike to protest his prolonged sentence. Russia-backed authorities in Crimea have prosecuted many opponents of the takeover, including members of the Muslim Crimean Tatar community on what rights groups say are false charges. Mr. Zeytullayev and three other Crimean Tatars were convicted of being members of Hizb ut-Tahrir and sentenced to prison terms ranging from five to seven years. Prosecutors appealed Mr. Zeytullayev’s sentence, saying it was too lenient. In April, Mr. Zeytullayev’s sentence was extended to 12 years in jail, but prosecutors again appealed the ruling, saying that Mr. Zeytullayev deserved harsher punishment because they claimed he was “a founder” of a Hizb ut-Tahrir cell. Russia has been heavily criticized by international rights groups and Western governments for its treatment of the members of the indigenous Turkic-speaking Crimean Tatar minority since it took over the Black Sea peninsula in March 2014. (Crimean Desk, RFE/RL’s Ukrainian Service)
UCCA welcomes Volker’s assessment
NEw YOrk – The Ukrainian Congress Committee of America (UCCA), the largest representation of Americans of Ukrainian descent, welcomed Ambassador Kurt Volker’s recent statement that the United States is considering sending lethal defensive weapons to Ukraine to help Ukraine “defend itself if Russia were to take further steps against Ukrainian territory.” Ambassador Volker departed for Ukraine shortly after his appointment as U.S. special representative for Ukraine negotiations. After spending the day at the frontlines and the adjoining demarcation zone, he assessed that the conflict is a “hot war” and not a frozen conflict. He stated that Russian aggression is to blame for violence in eastern Ukraine and that this crisis needs to be addressed as quickly as possible. To better engage in the peace process, Mr. Volker added that a new strategic dialogue with Russia is needed – one that is based on the principles of Ukraine’s territorial integrity and a change in Russia’s approach. The UCCA noted that it has repeatedly called for the United States to provide lethal defensive assistance to Ukraine, and said the newly appointed U.S. special representative’s recent remarks “give us hope that the United States will seriously take into consideration stepping up our efforts to address the continuing national security threats Russia poses not just to Ukraine, but to the stabilizing transnational, trans-Atlantic security framework that first emerged after the second world war.” (UCCA)
CUFTA opens new chapter in relations
OTTAWA – The Canada-Ukraine Free Trade Agreement (CUFTA) entered into force on August 1. The CUFTA opens a new chapter in relations between Canada and Ukraine, the Ukrainian Canadian Congress pointed out. The CUFTA will significantly increase bilateral trade between Canada and Ukraine, to the benefit of the economies of both. The agreement includes the phase-out of tariffs to create a duty-free environment. It includes the elimination of tariff and non-tariff barriers; protection of intellectual property; environmental and labor standards; and provides enhanced market access for goods and services. “This is a historic day in relations between Canada and Ukraine. It is an important milestone in Ukraine’s ongoing Western integration, and will create considerable opportunities for economic growth in both Ukraine and Canada,” stated Paul Grod, UCC national president. “Congratulations to everyone who worked for many years to make the CUFTA a reality” he added. “The Canada-Ukraine Free Trade Agreement sends a powerful message to the rest of the world that Ukraine is open for business, and offers significant trade and investment opportunities,” stated Zenon Potoczny, president of the Canada-Ukraine Chamber of Commerce (CUCC). “”With CUFTA now in full effect, Canadian and Ukrainian businesses alike will fully benefit from the countless opportunities for increased trade, growth, and investment.” Canadian and Ukrainian businesses are encouraged to contact the Canada-Ukraine Chamber of Commerce to explore opportunities presented by the CUFTA. For more information on the CUCC, please see http://cucc.ca. (UCC)
One soldier killed, nine injured
KYIV – Ukraine said on July 30 that one of its soldiers was killed and nine others were injured in fighting with Russia-backed separatists in the east of the country. Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council (NSDC) said that the bulk of the casualties over the previous 24 hours were sustained in the frontline town of Krasnohorivka due to shelling from separatist forces. The shelling there left one soldier dead and eight others wounded, the NSDC said in a statement. Another Ukrainian soldier was wounded during an attack on government positions in the town of Shyrokino, the NSDC added. Hostilities between Kyiv’s forces and Russia-backed separatists persist in eastern Ukraine despite an internationally backed 2015 ceasefire deal aimed at resolving the conflict, which has killed more than 10,000 since April 2014. Kyiv, the United States, the European Union and NATO accuse Moscow of supporting the separatists with weapons and personnel, an allegation Moscow rejects despite substantial evidence of such backing. (RFE/RL)