Court approves seizure of tanker
A Ukrainian court has formally approved the seizure of a Russian tanker that was detained by Ukrainian authorities at the Danube River port of Izmayil last week, Ukraine’s Chief Military Prosecutor Anatoliy Matios said on July 30. According to documents posted on social media by Mr. Matios, the court in Ukraine’s southern city of Odesa issued the ruling on July 29 regarding the seizure of the tanker Nika Spirit. “The court seized the said vessel,” Mr. Matios said. “We did it legally.” The Russian vessel was seized on July 25 by Ukraine’s SBU security service and the Military Prosecutor’s Office for its alleged involvement in an incident in November 2018 off the coast of Ukraine’s Russia-occupied Crimean Peninsula. The SBU says the Russian tanker is material evidence in a case over the November 2018 Kerch Strait incident, alleging that the tanker was used to block three Ukrainian naval ships as they attempted to transit the Kerch Strait from the Black Sea to reach the Sea of Azov. The Russian Navy fired at the Ukrainian ships in the altercation and seized the vessels along with 24 Ukrainian sailors on board. Russia continues to hold the Ukrainian sailors in detention and plans to put them on trial, despite a May 25 ruling by the United Nations’ Hamburg-based International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea that Russia must “immediately” release the sailors and Ukrainian ships. The Russian Embassy in Ukraine told TASS on July 30 that Russia’s Consulate General in Odesa has lodged a note with Ukraine’s Foreign Affairs Ministry demanding explanations for the seizure of the Russian tanker. Ukrainian investigators seized documents on board and questioned its 10 crew members. The 10 Russian crew members were later released and were allowed to return to Russia. The Embassy said Russia has “not received any official documents” from Ukraine concerning the seized tanker and has not yet replied to the diplomatic note. (RFE/RL, with reporting by Reuters, AFP, Interfax and TASS)
Kyiv to launch Russian-language TV
A senior aide to Ukraine’s president says Kyiv plans to launch a worldwide Russian-language television channel in an attempt to counter Russian state-controlled media broadcasts to people living in separatist-controlled parts of eastern Ukraine and in Russia. “It must be admitted that Ukraine practically lost the information war for the minds of people in the occupied territories of Donbas and in occupied Crimea,” Kyrylo Tymoshenko, newly elected President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s deputy chief of staff, told the Interfax Ukraine news agency on July 29. “But there is still a chance to turn the situation around.” He added, “We have developed the option to launch a Ukrainian Russian-language channel, with which we will be able to cover the Russian-speaking population throughout the world.” The channel should be state-run but would source some content from private Ukrainian television channels, Mr. Tymoshenko said. (RFE/RL, with reporting by Reuters)
Trump, Zelenskyy discuss meeting
U.S. President Donald Trump congratulated his Ukrainian counterpart, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, on his parliamentary victory as the leaders discussed the agenda of their first tête-à-tête. Presidents Trump and Zelenskyy spoke by phone on July 25 to discuss “ways to strengthen the relationship between the United States and Ukraine, including energy and economic cooperation,” the White House said in a statement. No date has yet been set for their first meeting, which will take place in Washington most likely before the end of the summer. Mr. Zelenskyy will come to the White House with a strong mandate for change after his Servant of the People party swept a majority of the seats in Parliament during the July 21 elections, the first party in the history of independent Ukraine to control the Rada. Mr. Trump congratulated Mr. Zelenskyy on his party’s success, the White House said. Mr. Zelenskyy’s office said in a statement that Mr. Trump voiced confidence that the new Ukrainian government could improve the nation’s image and complete the investigation of corruption cases that have “held back U.S.-Ukrainian cooperation.” The United States has repeatedly called on Ukraine to tackle corruption and weaken the influence of business tycoons that control power behind the scenes. The Ukrainian president’s office said that Mr. Trump expressed U.S. support for the country’s large-scale reform program as well as its territorial integrity. Mr. Zelenskyy thanked Mr. Trump for keeping and strengthening sanctions against Russia, which annexed Ukraine’s Crimean peninsula and backed militants in eastern Ukraine, kicking off a five-year war that has killed around 13,000 people. Ukraine and the United States have held high-level talks over the past few weeks in preparation for the meeting. Ivan Bakanov, first deputy chief of the Security Service of Ukraine, presidential assistant Andriy Yermak, and potential prime minister Oleksandr Danylyuk have traveled to Washington for meetings. Kurt Volker, the U.S. special envoy to Ukraine, traveled to Kyiv this week with U.S. Ambassador to the European Union Gordon Sondland. During his trip to Washington, Mr. Zelenskyy will also meet with members of Congress. The Congressional Ukraine Caucus has asked House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to invite President Zelenskyy to address both chambers during his visit to Washington. Pelosi has yet to answer. (RFE/RL)
Portnov questioned over Maidan
Andriy Portnov, a former deputy head in the administration of ex-Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych, has been questioned by the Prosecutor General’s Office as a witness about obstruction of justice allegations against his former boss stemming from the deadly response to the Euro-Maidan protests. Mr. Portnov wrote on Facebook that his questioning on July 29 was an attempt to “distract me from my work on [former Ukrainian President Petro] Poroshenko.” He told Hromadske TV, “I think their main goal was… to give me a signal to make me slow down my activities against Poroshenko. We will not slow down… There is no point in trying to frighten us.” Mr. Portnov, who fled Ukraine after President Yanukovych was toppled in late February 2014, returned to the country on May 19. After coming back a day before President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s inauguration, he filed several lawsuits against Mr. Poroshenko, accusing him of crimes including economic misdeeds and illegal attempts to retain power. (RFE/RL, with reporting by Hromadske TV)
Klitschko sues Kolomoisky’s TV channel
Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko says he has filed a libel lawsuit against the 1+1 TV channel for “launching a widespread campaign” to discredit him and his former boxing champion brother, Wladimir. Vitali Klitschko announced the lawsuit at a press conference on July 26, questioning the fairness of the channel, owned by tycoon Ihor Kolomoisky, at a time when the government is rumored to be considering replacing Mr. Klitschko as chairman of Kyiv’s City State Administration with the station’s General Director Oleksiy Tkachenko. “There is not a single day when this, one of the most popular television channels, does not attack the Kyiv mayor. Lies, manipulation, fabricated information,” Mr. Klitschko said. “How can one say the television channel is unbiased when its leader has been named a key nominee to the post of Kyiv’s city state administration?” he added. According to Mr. Klitschko, the station broadcast incorrect information about him when covering the alleged mishandling of some construction projects in the Ukrainian capital. Mr. Klitschko also said that he disagrees with the government’s decision, initiated by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, to divide the duties of the Kyiv mayor and the chief of the Kyiv City State Administration. The positions are usually held by the same person, though the law allows for the seats to be held by two different people as Kyiv’s mayor is elected by city residents, while the chief of the city state administration is appointed by the president. Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman said on July 26 that the issue of Mr. Klitschko’s removal from the post of city state administration chief will be discussed at an upcoming government session. Talking to RFE/RL later on July 26, Mr. Klitschko called Mr. Zelenskyy’s idea “an attempt to gain control over Kyiv’s mayor, who was elected by the people.” He noted: “A key clause in the law on the Ukrainian capital says that the mayor elected by the city residents is appointed as the chairman of the Kyiv city state administration. That is made for the executive and legislative branches of the city power to unite, so that the efforts of the elected mayor are as effective as possible.” Mr. Klitschko added that “the influence of the president and the government on local administration contradict European Charter.” He also said he will fight to preserve his duties as Kyiv’s mayor and as the chief of the Kyiv City State Administration. “I will not give in, ever. I will do everything to protect local self-governing institutions. This is a matter of principle that our city must have,” Mr. Klitschko said. President Zelenskyy is believed to have close ties with Mr. Kolomoisky, and Mr. Kolomoisky’s former lawyer, Andriy Bohdan, led the Zelenskyy presidential campaign and is now the head of the Office of the President. (RFE/RL’s Ukrainian Service)
Probe suspended in Handzyuk killing
A decision by Ukraine’s prosecutor general to suspend an investigation against a high-ranking regional official charged in the death of a Ukrainian anti-corruption activist has sparked concern in the country. Kateryna Handzyuk, a 33-year-old civic activist and adviser to the mayor of the Black Sea port city of Kherson, died in November 2018 – three months after she was severely injured in an acid attack. Prosecutors in February arrested Vladyslav Manher, head of the regional council in the southern region of Kherson, and charged him with ordering the Handzyuk attack. Mr. Manher was later released on bail. He has denied any involvement in the attack. In a July 25 statement, the Prosecutor General’s Office announced that the probe into Mr. Manher and a second suspect, Oleksiy Levin, had been suspended because Mr. Levin’s whereabouts remain unknown. The statement was published shortly after the news portal Slidstvo.info reported the move, revealing that the prosecution’s decision was in their possession. The statement said Mr. Manher and Mr. Levin’s involvement in the case is connected, and cited as legal basis for the suspension paragraphs 2 and 3 of Article 280 of Ukraine’s Criminal Procedural Code. The two paragraphs allow the suspension of an investigation when a suspect’s whereabouts are unknown and/or an international arrest warrant was issued. Yevhenia Zakrevska, a lawyer for the Handzyuk family, on July 25 publicly challenged the decision to suspend the investigation, saying the justification was unconvincing and the move could help the two men evade justice. The Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group, a Ukrainian watchdog, also questioned the prosecutor-general’s move, arguing on July 26 that Mr. Manher’s whereabouts are known. In June, five men were sentenced to prison terms between three and six and 1/2 years for organizing and executing the attack, after they pleaded guilty and made deals with investigators. (RFE/RL’s Ukrainian Service, with reporting by Gordon, Ukrayinska Pravda and UNIAN)
Former president’s car is attacked
At least four men rushed toward the vehicle of former Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, with one of them jumping on the hood, after the ex-president was questioned as a witness on July 25 over the sale of his shipbuilding plant. Video footage from local media show the ex- president’s bodyguards pull the assailant down from the car. He, in turn, sprayed gas in the face of one of the guards. Another bodyguard is seen defending himself with an umbrella from the other attackers. A scuffle ensued, after which the assailants fled when some two dozen police officers arrived at the scene, giving chase. In the background, a group of people could be heard shouting, “Poroshenko, shove off.” Mr. Poroshenko lost his re-election bid in April. Mr. Poroshenko’s party ran on a pro-European, anti-Russian ticket in the July 21 parliamentary elections, winning 25 seats. Local media report that Mr. Poroshenko is being questioned on matters related to tax evasion and money laundering when he sold a shipbuilding plant to a Ukrainian businessman. Mr. Poroshenko, a billionaire confectioner, has said several of his businesses are being investigated, including his TV channel. (RFE/RL, based on reporting by RFE/RL’s Ukrainian Service, Interfax, Ukrayinska Pravda and Reuters)
Zelenskyy team wants new IMF loan
Ukraine wants a new, longer-term International Monetary Fund (IMF) program with an emphasis on attracting foreign investment, selling state-owned assets, and lifting the ban on the sale of farmland. Oleksiy Honcharuk, who leads Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s economic team, told Bloomberg in an interview published on July 30 that he wants to pursue market-based policies. To help do that, Mr. Honcharuk, 35, said he wants to replace the current 14-month, $3.9 billion IMF program that expires at the end of this year. Instead he wants a staff-level agreement for up to four years as early as September. “When we show changes in the approach to privatization, farmland sales, when we attract a couple of big companies to extract natural resources – all of these examples will give clear signals that the rules have changed,” Mr. Honcharuk said. Kyiv currently is targeting yearly economic growth of 5 percent, an improvement on the past three years when the economy increased on average by 2-3 percent. To unlock growth, creating a farmland market by lifting the moratorium could add $15 billion a year to economic output and increase yearly gross domestic product by about 1.5 percentage points, according to the World Bank. Mr. Honcharuk said talks are under way with the World Bank on whether to allow foreigners to purchase farmland or limit the size of sales. Ukraine has more than 40 million hectares of fertile farmland that covers nearly 70 percent of its territory. “We’re looking for the least painful but most efficient version,” Mr. Honcharuk told Bloomberg. (RFE/RL, with reporting by Bloomberg)
Ex-police officer suspected of spying
The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) says a former police officer has been detained in the southern region of Zaporizhzhia on suspicion of spying for Russia. In a statement on July 31, the SBU said that the ex-officer, whose name was not disclosed, “collected data on the social, political and economic situation in Zaporizhzhia and regularly visited Crimea” following Russia’s seizure of the Ukrainian Black Sea peninsula in 2014. In Crimea, the suspect “handed the collected data to a representative” of Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB),” it said. The announcement comes after the SBU said on July 18 that it had arrested an unidentified former police officer in the central Ukrainian region of Poltava on similar charges. Russia seized and annexed Crimea in March 2014 after Moscow-friendly Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych was pushed from power by the pro-European Maidan protest movement the previous month. Moscow has also fomented unrest and backed militants in eastern Ukraine, where more than 13,000 people have been killed in the ensuing conflict since April 2014. (RFE/RL)