Manafort gets additional sentence
Paul Manafort, the former campaign chairman for U.S. President Donald Trump, has been sentenced to an additional 43 months in prison, a ruling that will put him behind bars for seven and a half years. The new sentence, handed down by U.S. Judge Amy Berman Jackson in Washington federal court, was the culmination of two separate but overlapping prosecutions against Mr. Manafort, stemming from his work on behalf of pro-Russian Ukrainian lawmakers. Judge Jackson said the case was about Mr. Manafort’s decade of lobbying on behalf of Ukrainian politicians, and the efforts he made to hide his income and, according to prosecutors, launder money. “It is hard to overstate the number of lies, the amount of fraud involved,” she said. “There is no question the defendant knew better and knew what he was doing.” In comments to court before his sentencing, Mr. Manafort, who was seated in a wheelchair and dressed in a suit and tie, expressed remorse, and asked the judge for leniency. “I am sorry for what I’ve done and for all the activities that brought us here today,” he said. “This case has already taken everything from me.” The Washington case stemmed from two conspiracy counts, one of which was directly related to the work Mr. Manafort did for a decade for Ukraine’s pro-Russia Party of Regions. Funded in part by wealthy and powerful Ukrainian oligarchs, Mr. Manafort’s political strategies helped resurrect party chief Viktor Yanukovych’s political career and propelled him to the presidency in 2010. In 2014, after Mr. Yanukovych was driven from office, Mr. Manafort’s income dried up, and, prosecutors found, he resorted to lying on mortgage and bank loan applications, and hiding income for tax purposes. Prosecutors charged him with conspiracy to defraud the United States by, among other things, failing to register as an agent working for a federal government. On March 13, shortly after Manafort’s sentencing hearing concluded, Cyrus Vance, the district attorney for Manhattan, announced more than a dozen new criminal charges against Manafort. The charges relate to mortgage fraud and similar fraud in the U.S. state of New York. (Mike Eckel of RFE/RL)
Ukraine’s Embassy protests to Google
The Ukrainian Embassy to the United States issued a statement that showing Crimea, the peninsula annexed by the Russian Federation from Ukraine in 2014, as Russian territory on Google Maps goes against the clear-cut stance of the U.S. Administration, the U.S. Congress and the United Nations. The Ukrainian ambassador’s post on Facebook particularly recalled that U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo stressing in the July 25, 2018, Crimea Declaration that “the United States rejects Russia’s attempted annexation of Crimea.” The Embassy has asked the top managers of Google Inc. to fix the wrong designation of the territory of Crimea on all Google Maps in accordance with international legislation and standards, as well as the official position of the United States, insisting on the inappropriateness of involving the international corporation and Google’s search service in the information warfare that Russia has been waging internationally by spreading disinformation, fakes and propaganda. “Google representatives have repeatedly stated in public speeches and interviews that Google’s policy is focused on the development of information technology outside of the information warfare,” the Embassy noted. On March 5 Google announced that it had corrected “an error that caused a small number of Russian iOS users to see incorrect information” following complaints from Russian State Duma officials. Russian lawmakers threatened to lodge a complaint with the Russian Prosecutor’s Office and the Federal Service for Supervision of Communications, Information Technology and Mass Media, or Roskomnadzor, thus seeking sanctions against Google Inc. Earlier, Google Inc. assured the Russian authorities that Crimea annexed by Russia from Ukraine in 2014 was shown as Ukrainian territory “for technical reasons” and “there is no politicization.” (Ukrainian Canadian Congress Daily Briefing)
Ukrainian Church complains to U.N., OSCE
The new Orthodox Church of Ukraine has appealed to the United Nations and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) over the mounting pressure on the Ukrainian Church in the temporarily occupied territories of Crimea and Donbas. In its statement the OCU’s Holy Synod mentioned that for more than five years the occupying Russian authorities never ceased persecuting the Crimean diocese headed by Archbishop Klyment of Symferopol and Crimea. Among most recent incidents is an attempt to seize the building of Ss. Volodymyr and Olha Cathedral in Symferopol, pressure on the church community in Yevpatoria, as well as the detention of Archbishop Klyment. The statement also says that “the situation is significantly worsening” with respect to the right to freedom of conscience and religion in certain areas of Donetsk and Luhansk regions of Ukraine [the territories which are currently controlled by the so-called “DPR” and “LPR”]. On March 1, the Russia-supported proxies issued a ban forbidding all OCU activities, granting full confiscation of property, and deportation of priests from the territory temporarily controlled by the Russian proxy forces in the DPR. “Considering these threats and an ongoing pressure on the clergy and believers of our Church in the Russian-occupied Ukrainian territories of Donbas and in Crimea, we appeal to the United Nations, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), the Minsk process guarantor states, the European Union and in general to all democratic countries, international and interfaith institutions with a call to influence those who make decisions in these territories to stop the escalation of persecution of our Church,” the statement reads. (Ukrainian Canadian Congress Daily Briefing)
22 officers hospitalized after clashes
Police in Ukraine say that 22 officers were injured in clashes with far-right protesters who tried to attack a presidential motorcade ahead of this month’s election. Police said in a statement on March 10 that 19 officers were hospitalized the previous day in the city of Cherkasy, where supporters of the National Corps party tried to block President Petro Poroshenko’s motorcade and called for arrests of figures linked to an alleged military corruption scandal. The clashes in Cherkasy erupted after Mr. Poroshenko made a speech for the March 31 presidential polls.
Police said that two law enforcement officers were also injured in clashes with National Corps activists near the presidential offices in Kyiv, with one hospitalized. Criminal investigations have been opened into the violence in both Kyiv and Cherkasy, about 150 kilometers southeast of the capital, police said. A media investigation last week detailed alleged embezzlement schemes in Ukraine’s military industry, including a factory controlled by Mr. Poroshenko. The investigation alleged that the son of close Poroshenko ally Oleh Hladkovskyy had organized a ring to smuggle spare military equipment from Russia in 2015, a year after Moscow seized Ukraine’s Crimea region and threw its support behind militant separatists in the eastern regions of Donetsk and Luhansk. After the report was broadcast on YouTube on February 25, Poroshenko announced that a probe has been launched into the allegations. He also dismissed the elder Hladkovskyy from his post. (RFE/RL, with reporting by AFP)
Girkin selling gold Crimea medal
The Russian former commander of militants in eastern Ukraine is out of cash and out of favor with the Kremlin, leading him to sell a gold medal he was awarded in 2014 for his role in the occupation of Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula. Igor Girkin, a 48-year-old self-described Russian nationalist who goes by the nom de guerre Strelkov, says he is selling the medal because he needs the money and has no respect for Russian President Vladimir Putin, who is depicted on the medal triumphantly wearing a laurel wreath. Mr. Girkin is under U.S. and European Union sanctions both for his role in the seizure of Crimea and as the onetime military leader of pro-Russian separatists fighting against Kyiv’s forces in eastern Ukraine’s Donetsk region. Since 2014, Mr. Girkin has been a critic of the Kremlin and has largely fallen off the media radar, though he was spotted in February riding alone on the Moscow subway and has held single-person protests. Mr. Girkin told followers on his page on the popular Russian social-media site Vkontakte on March 8 that he was selling his Crimea medal because he now faces financial problems. “I never felt reverence for this award because it’s a nonstate medal,” Mr. Girkin wrote. The award is not given for combat service, he said, and “bears the image of a person I never respected, excluding for a very short period of time in 2014, and who I have sincerely despised since 2015.” Mr. Girkin confirmed in the post that the award was given to him in the spring of 2014 by Russian billionaire Konstantin Malofeyev, a key figure linking the pro-Russian forces on the ground in eastern Ukraine to the political establishment in Moscow. Coins and Medals, a Moscow-based numismatics firm conducting the sale, says the auction will take place on April 13 at Moscow’s StandArt Hotel. It says the starting bid is 1 million rubles, or about $15,000. The firm says the gold medal includes the inscription “In memory of the reunification of the Crimea with Russia in 2014,” with Mr. Putin’s profile on the front and a map of Crimea on the back. (Ron Synovitz of RFE/RL)
Kyiv: Journalist barred ‘for his own safety’
Austrian reporter Christian Wehrschuetz said he feared being attacked by Ukrainian nationalists over reporting critical of the government in Kyiv, according to the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU). Now they’re using a one-year entry ban to keep him out of the country. In citing Mr. Wehrschuetz’s own purported concerns, the SBU appears to be contradicting the initial reason for the ban given to Austrian authorities: that he had violated Ukrainian law when his camera crew crossed the Kerch Strait via the Russian-built bridge connecting Russia to the annexed Crimean peninsula. That legislation allows for bans of up to three years for those who violate it. It also appears to skirt a dispute over whether or not Mr. Wehrscheutz actually broke the entry law, since he said he stayed behind while other members of the crew crossed the bridge. The ban sparked outrage from Vienna, which has summoned Ukraine’s ambassador, and prompted calls from international media watchdogs including the Committee to Protect Journalists and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE)’s office for press freedom to reverse the decision. Olga Chervakova, first deputy chairman of the Ukrainian parliament’s Committee on Freedom of Speech and Information Policy, told RFE/RL the SBU “did the right thing” and even “ruled mildly” by banning Mr. Wehrschuetz from Ukraine for one year instead of a possible three years. “It is important to understand the decision is not an attempt [at] censorship,” Ms. Chervakova said. “Ukraine has never created [nor] will ever try to interfere in or prevent ORF or any other Austrian media coverage.” (Christopher Miller of RFE/RL)
Hague court rules in favor of Naftogaz
The Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague ruled in favor of NJSC Naftogaz of Ukraine and six of its subsidiaries, concluding that the Russian Federation was liable for the unlawful seizure of Naftogaz assets in Crimea under the bilateral investment treaty between Ukraine and Russia. “It’s a very important victory, which will help put the aggressor to justice for the stolen assets,” commented Naftogaz CEO Andriy Kobolyev. “Thanks to efforts of both international community and Ukraine, the cost of Crimea annexation for Russia will constantly grow. The tribunal’s decision is an important step in this direction.” Ukrainian Naftogaz owned some of the most valuable energy assets in Crimea which became the top targets when Russia invaded and occupied Crimea in 2014. Later, The Hague tribunal will launch a second phase of the proceedings to determine the amount of compensation Russia owes to Naftogaz. Naftogaz experts have estimated the value of Naftogaz’s stolen assets at $5 billion. Naftogaz filed for arbitration against the Russian Federation in October 2016 pursuant to the Agreement between the Government of the Russian Federation and the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine on the Encouragement and Mutual Protection of Investments, more commonly known as the Russia-Ukraine bilateral investment treaty, or BIT. A hearing on matters of jurisdiction and liability was held at the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague in May 2018. The six Naftogaz subsidiaries are National Joint Stock Company “Chornomornaftogaz,” JSC Ukrtransgaz, Likvo LLC, JSC Ukrgasvydobuvannya, JSC Ukrtransnafta, and Subsidiary Company Gaz Ukraiiny. (Ukrainian Canadian Congress Daily Briefing)
UCC on election mission’s chief
The Ukrainian Canadian Congress (UCC) welcomes the March 13 announcement by Canadian Minister of Foreign Affairs Chrystia Freeland appointing Lloyd Axworthy as head of Canada’s Election Observation Mission in Ukraine. “The UCC welcomes the appointment of Mr. Axworthy, a distinguished Canadian, as head of mission,” said UCC National President Alexandra Chyczij. “We recognize and commend the government of Canada for its continued commitment to the democratic development of Ukraine, especially in the face of Russian military aggression and Russia’s amplified disinformation efforts.” Canada’s Election Observation Mission in Ukraine is administered by CANADEM, an international not-for-profit organization, dedicated to advancing democracy and international peace and security. In her news release Minister Freeland said the following about Mr. Axworthy: “An esteemed academic, eminent statesman and former Canadian minister of foreign affairs, Mr. Axworthy has devoted his career to the cause of promoting and protecting human rights and democracy around the world.…His nomination is a further reflection of Canada’s deep and abiding commitment to strengthening democracy in Ukraine.” (Ukrainian Canadian Congress)