Sentsov’s condition ‘catastrophic’
The condition of Ukrainian filmmaker Oleh Sentsov, who has been on a hunger strike in a Russian prison for nearly three months, has worsened considerably, his lawyer and his cousin say. Mr. Sentsov’s cousin, Moscow-based journalist Natalya Kaplan, wrote on Facebook on August 8 that she received a letter from him through a lawyer who visited him the previous day. “Things aren’t just bad, they’re catastrophically bad,” Ms. Kaplan wrote. “He wrote that the end is near – and he wasn’t talking about his release,” she added, suggesting that he thinks he is close to death. Ms. Kaplan also reported: “The lawyer has passed me a letter from Oleh, he almost never gets up. …He is wondering whether someone pays attention to his hunger strike as he doesn’t know because he doesn’t receive any letters at all! He says that he lives in an information vacuum and has no clue what is going on around. The European Court of Human Rights is insisting on Oleh’s transfer to a public hospital, closer to the place of his residence. Oleh has refused and says that he will not be able to survive the transfer. At the same time he says that the staff at the public hospital of Labytnangi, where he has been admitted to the intensive care before, brutalized him even more than the staff of the prison’s hospital did.” Mr. Sentsov’s lawyer, Dmitry Dinze, said after visiting him that his client lost some 30 kilograms and has a very low hemoglobin level, resulting in anemia and a slow heartbeat of about 40 beats per minute. Also on August 8 – the 87th day of Mr. Sentsov’s hunger strike – a large banner demanding the immediate release of Mr. Sentsov and other political prisoners in Russia was displayed in downtown Moscow. Unknown activists placed the banner on the Krymsky (Crimean) Bridge over the Moskva River. A vocal opponent of Russia’s 2014 annexation of Crimea, Mr. Sentsov was sentenced in 2015 for conspiracy to commit terrorist acts – charges he and human rights groups say were politically motivated. The 42-year-old is held in a penal colony in the city of Labytnangi in Russia’s northern region of Yamalo-Nenets, where he has been on a hunger strike since mid-May to demand that Russia release 64 Ukrainian citizens he considers political prisoners. (RFE/RL’s Russian Service, with reporting by AFP; Euromaidan Press)
At Manafort trial: Ukrainian money ties
A longtime business partner of President Donald Trump’s former campaign chairman has detailed how he helped Paul Manafort hide millions of dollars that he earned from Ukrainian clients. Rick Gates testified on August 6 in a U.S. court outside Washington that wealthy Ukrainian businessmen paid Mr. Manafort millions of dollars for his political consulting work in Ukraine through wire transfers to accounts based mostly in Cyprus that were set up for Mr. Manafort. Prosecutors allege that Mr. Manafort committed tax fraud by failing to report a “significant percentage” of the more than $60 million they say he received from his Ukrainian clients. Mr. Gates testified about the payment scheme he said Mr. Manafort directed him to use, saying that Mr. Manafort had told him “the Ukrainian businessmen… had directed him to set up Cyprus accounts” as cover for their payments. “At Mr. Manafort’s request, we did not disclose foreign bank accounts” to U.S. tax authorities, said Mr. Gates, who himself is a former senior Trump campaign aide who pled guilty earlier this year to conspiracy charges and is cooperating with prosecutors in hopes of getting a reduced sentence. Mr. Gates testified that both he and Mr. Manafort had control over the foreign bank accounts where the Ukrainian money was deposited. Another person given control over the accounts, Mr. Gates testified, was Konstantin Kilimnik, a political consultant and close business associate of Mr. Manafort who was indicted in June on charges of intimidating witnesses in connection with Mr. Manafort’s case. In court filings, U.S. Special Counsel Robert Mueller has accused Mr. Kilimnik of having ties to Russian intelligence services, an allegation he has denied. Mr. Gates admitted to helping Mr. Manafort doctor financial statements, hide foreign income and cheat on his taxes – all of which are crimes under U.S. tax laws. He also said he was aware that Mr. Manafort was acting as an unregistered foreign agent in lobbying for Ukraine in Washington – another crime that Mr. Manafort has been charged with in a separate case by Mr. Mueller. Mr. Manafort has pleaded not guilty to the charges and his attorneys have signalled that they may seek to pin blame on Mr. Gates, whom they accuse of embezzling millions of dollars from Mr. Manafort. (RFE/Rl, with reporting by Reuters, AFP, The Independent and AP)
Poroshenko met with Manafort team
Before he won Ukraine’s 2014 snap presidential election, businessman Petro Poroshenko was scrambling to put together a winning campaign. That’s when his top strategist met with Paul Manafort, RFE/RL has confirmed. “We had a meeting, yes, but no relationship” with the Manafort team, President Poroshenko’s spokeswoman Darya Khudyakova confirmed to RFE/RL by phone on August 8. She declined to give further details about the meeting and directed RFE/RL to then-Poroshenko strategist Ihor Hryniv, who she confirmed had met with Mr. Manafort. The confirmation stands in contrast to an official statement sent to RFE/RL from the Poroshenko administration on August 2, which read: “Petro Poroshenko’s team has never cooperated with Manafort, nor with his people. Proposals came from them among others, but they were not even considered.” RFE/RL inquired about the meeting between the teams of Messrs. Manafort and Poroshenko after an email surfaced this month ahead of the Manafort trial, which is playing out in a U.S. district court in Alexandria, Virginia. The email in question discussed pitching work to someone named “P. P.,” a common nickname used to describe Mr. Poroshenko. The possibility of Manafort-Poroshenko cooperation surfaced again when Mr. Manafort’s former business partner and right-hand man in Ukraine, Rick Gates, testified in court on August 7 that their company had done consulting work for Poroshenko in 2014. While it remains unclear exactly what, if anything, Mr. Manafort’s team did for Mr. Poroshenko in the run-up to the presidential election, it is known that Mr. Manafort, Mr. Gates and Tad Devine went on to work for the Opposition Bloc as of June 2014, designing the former Party of Regions party’s strategy ahead of that autumn’s parliamentary elections. According to a PowerPoint file included in the documents released by Manafort’s lawyers, that strategy involved several points that current President Poroshenko and his pro-Western government deem to be pro-Russian. For instance, the idea of federalizing Ukraine, something that the Kremlin has long pushed for. (Christopher Miller of RFE/RL)
Pompeo-Poroshenko phone call
U.S. State Department Spokesperson Heather Nauert on August 7 reported that U.S. Secretary of State Michael R. Pompeo spoke on the phone with Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko that day to discuss a range of bilateral issues. A readout of the call noted: “Secretary Pompeo reiterated strong U.S. support for Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity. He emphasized that the United States does not and will never recognize Russia’s attempted annexation of Crimea, as he made clear when he released the Crimea Declaration on July 25. The secretary welcomed Ukraine’s recent passage of anticorruption court legislation and the Law on National Security and urged Ukraine to fulfill the outstanding IMF requirements.: (U.S. Department of State)
U.S., Italy will keep Russian sanctions
U.S. President Donald Trump and Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte both are saying that they have no plans to try to lift sanctions against Russia. At a White House news conference on July 30, Mr. Conte said lifting the European Union’s sanctions, which were first imposed in 2014 over Russia’s aggression in Ukraine, would be “unthinkable.” Some members of Mr. Conte’s coalition government have advocated lifting sanctions and improving relations with Russia, but the Italian leader went along with a recent six-month extension of the sanctions by the EU. Mr. Trump, who has faced widespread criticism over his handling of a summit this month with Russian President Vladimir Putin, said that U.S. sanctions against Russia, which were imposed near the same time as the EU’s, also will stay for now. “Sanctions against Russia will remain as is,” Mr. Trump said in response to a reporter’s question. Some members of the U.S. Congress have been considering trying to ratchet up sanctions against Russia in the wake of the Trump-Putin summit. (RFE/RL, based on reporting by AP and AFP)
Three arrested in alleged massive hacking
Three Ukrainian men have been arrested for allegedly hacking more than 100 U.S. companies and stealing millions of customer records, U.S. officials say. The Justice Department on August 1 alleged that the men are associated with the hacking group FIN7 and that they were arrested earlier this year in Europe. The suspects, Fedir Hladyr, 33, Dmytro Fedorov, 44, and Andriy Kolpakov, 30, were arrested between January and June, said the Justice Department, which accused them of being members of a “sophisticated international cybercrime group” called FIN7. It added that Mr. Hladyr was arrested in Dresden, Germany, and is being held in Seattle ahead of trial. Mr. Fedorov was arrested in Bielsko-Biala, Poland, while Mr. Kolpakov is being detained in Spain, both pending extradition procedures initiated by the United States. The FIN7 group has been linked to data breaches that hit, among others, Whole Foods, Chipotle, Saks Fifth Avenue and Lord & Taylor, according to cybersecurity firm Trend Micro. It said Trump-branded hotels also were victims of hacks and data breaches by the group. “Since at least 2015, FIN7 members engaged in a highly sophisticated malware campaign targeting more than 100 U.S. companies, predominantly in the restaurant, gaming, and hospitality industries,” the State Department said. “FIN7 hacked into thousands of computer systems and stole millions of customer credit- and debit-card numbers, which the group used or sold for profit,” it added. (RFE/RL, based on reporting by Reuters and AFP)
Protesters demand probe of acid attack
Dozens of protesters gathered in Ukraine’s southern city of Kherson on August 1, demanding a thorough investigation into a recent acid attack against a local activist. Activists from the National Corps far-right political party, non-governmental organizations from Kyiv and regional lawmakers were among the protesters. On July 31, an unidentified attacker threw acid at Kateryna Handzyuk, an adviser to the mayor of the Black Sea port city, and ran away, according to local police. Ms. Handzyuk, who is known for her criticism of the local police, suffered severe burns on her body and is currently in a hospital in serious condition. Yuriy Ravelev, a doctor at the Kherson regional hospital, told RFE/RL that more than 30 percent of Ms. Handzyuk’s body was burned by the acid. Regional Prosecutor-General Vitaliy Tryhubenko met with the protesters after they threw several smoke grenades at the prosecutor’s office. Mr. Tryhubenko promised a thorough investigation. Police launched a probe into the attack, initially listing the case as hooliganism. They later changed that into “premeditated infliction of bodily harm with a goal to intimidate a person.” On August 1, Larysa Sarhan, spokeswoman of the Prosecutor-General’s Office, wrote on Facebook that the case was redefined again as “attempted murder with extreme violence.” (RFE/RL’s Ukrainian Service)
Crimean Tatar sets himself on fire
A Crimean Tatar activist set himself on fire in the Crimean capital, Symferopol, protesting plans by the Russia-imposed authorities to build apartment blocks on lands where Crimean Tatars houses now stand. Vatan Karabash doused himself with gasoline and set himself on fire on August 3, shouting he was protesting “the authorities’ lawlessness.” Several bystanders quickly knocked Mr. Karabash to the ground and extinguished the flames. His condition was not immediately clear. On August 2, police dispersed activists protesting the plans to build in the Strelkovaya area near Symferopol. Russia-imposed authorities announced earlier this year that a new district to be called Crimean Rose would be developed there, including new apartment blocks for 9,000 families. Local Crimean Tatars fear their houses will be demolished to make way for the planned apartments. Crimean Tatars built homes in the area in the late 1980s and early 1990s after returning from Central Asia, where they had been deported in 1944 by Soviet dictator Josef Stalin. The construction company Monolit that has been contracted to build the apartments said last month that “issues related to the legality of some houses raised in the area remain.” The takeover of Crimea and Russian support for separatists in eastern Ukraine prompted the United States, the European Union, and others to impose sanctions on Russia. (Crimea Desk, RFE/RL’s Ukrainian Service)
Saakashvili: Russia used Georgia as model
Former Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili says that Russia’s motive in the five-day war with Tbilisi a decade ago was to attack “Georgian statehood,” asserting that Moscow was concerned because reforms had made the South Caucasus country a “role model” for others in the region. Mr. Saakashvili spoke with Current Time TV ahead of the 10th anniversary of the August 2008 war, in which Russian forces drove deep into Georgia before pulling back in the wake of a European Union-brokered peace agreement. After the war, which Tbilisi and Moscow accuse each another of starting, Russia left thousands of troops in the breakaway regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia and recognized both as independent countries. “The objective of the Russian invasion was not only to attack Georgia as a country, but [to attack] Georgian statehood, because Georgian statehood had created problems [for Russia] in the form of successful reforms,” Mr. Saakashvili told Current Time, a Russian-language network run by RFE/RL in cooperation with VOA. He was speaking by Skype from an undisclosed location on July 27. Mr. Saakashvili, who conducted reforms and set Georgia on a firmly pro-Western course after he was swept to power in the Rose Revolution protests of 2003, said that the country had become “a role model” and that Russia “attacked us precisely because we were a role model.” He continued: “Unfortunately, the success created envy and nervousness on the side of the master of the Kremlin.” Before the war, Russian officials had made clear that they vehemently opposed Georgia’s efforts to achieve NATO membership under Mr. Saakashvili, and relations between the two countries were badly strained over issues including Moscow’s support for breakaway Abkhazia and South Ossetia. Russia contends that Georgia started the war by launching an offensive on the main city in South Ossetia, Tskhinvali. In the interview, Mr. Saakashvili reiterated his claim that Russia started it, saying, “Only complete idiots and complete imbeciles can say that Georgia started it.” (RFE/RL, with reporting by Reuters and DPA)
Seagal tapped as Russia’s special envoy
Many Russia-watchers are questioning or making light of the Russian Foreign Affairs Ministry’s surprise appointment of Steven Seagal as a special envoy for humanitarian ties with the United States – but not the action-film actor himself. “I take this honor very seriously,” Mr. Seagal tweeted late on August 5, a day after his appointment was announced by the Russian Foreign Affairs Ministry on Facebook. Mr. Seagal, who has warm ties with President Vladimir Putin and was granted Russian citizenship in 2016, said he was “deeply humbled and honored” by the appointment. “I hope we can strive for peace, harmony and positive results in the world,” the actor wrote. Mr. Seagal, 66, starred in Hollywood action movies such as “Above the Law” (1988), “Hard to Kill” (1990), and “Under Siege” (1992). His films were popular in the Soviet Union and then in Russia and other ex-Soviet republics. Mr. Seagal has vehemently defended Mr. Putin’s policies, including Moscow’s 2014 annexation of Ukraine’s Crimean peninsula, along with criticizing the U.S. government. Kyiv last year banned Mr. Seagal from entering Ukraine for five years, citing what it said were national security grounds. The Russian Foreign Affairs Ministry statement said that Mr. Seagal’s task will be to “foster the further development of Russian-American relations in the humanitarian sphere, including interactions in… culture, the arts, public and youth exchanges and so forth.” The position is not paid and will be similar to the United Nations’ goodwill ambassador positions, the statement said. (RFE/RL)