Seized ships returned in bad condition
Ukraine’s Navy says that the three ships captured by Russia almost a year ago and released on November 19 have been returned in very poor condition and are not able to make it back to port under their own power. Vice-Admiral Ihor Voronchenko said on November 20 that, because of their condition, the ships – two small Ukrainian armored artillery vessels and a tug boat – were being moved slowly by other vessels. “They cannot sail on their own. The Russians ruined them – even took lamps, power outlets and toilets. We will show the whole world the Russian barbarism towards them,” Admiral Voronchenko said. The ships arrived at the port of Ochakiv in the southern Mykolayiv region on November 20. On November 25, 2018, Russian coast guard vessels fired on and seized the three ships and their crews, consisting of 24 sailors, in the Kerch Strait, while they were on their way from the Black Sea to the Ukrainian port of Mariupol, on the Sea of Azov. Ukraine called the attack and subsequent capture of the 24 crewmen a violation of international maritime law. On May 25, the United Nations’ maritime tribunal ordered Russia to immediately release the crewmen and impounded boats, a ruling that Moscow ignored. The Ukrainian crewmen were released on September 7 as part of a prisoner exchange between Russia and Ukraine, during which each side swapped 35 captives. The release of the ships comes less than a month before a December 9 summit between Ukraine, Russia, France and Germany. The so-called Normandy Format talks are aimed at ending the conflict. The summit will be the highest-level negotiations on the conflict since 2016. (RFE/RL, with reporting by Reuters and UNIAN)
France: Ships’ return builds ‘trust’
France welcomed Russia’s return of three Ukrainian naval vessels that were seized by Moscow in the Black Sea last year, saying that the move would facilitate a planned December summit in Paris on resolving the conflict between Russia and Ukraine. “The gesture… contributes to strengthening the trust in the dialogue between Russia and Ukraine,” the French Presidency said in a November 18 statement following a telephone conversation between French President Emmanuel Macron and Russian President Vladimir Putin. The statement added that the two leaders had discussed “preparations” for the December 9 summit in Paris between Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Mr. Putin. The meeting will also be attended by Mr. Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel. Russia’s Foreign Affairs Ministry said in a statement on November 18 that the vessels had been returned after “investigators fully studied them” in an ongoing probe “on illegal border crossing” and “their further presence in Russia is unnecessary.” (RFE/RL, with reporting by AP, AFP and TASS)
Crimean Court orders church’s demolition
A Russian-controlled court in annexed Crimea has ordered the Orthodox Church of Ukraine (OCU) to demolish its chapel in Yevpatoria. The decision can be appealed within a month. The Russian administration had been trying to vacate the territory on which the church stands over allegations that the OCU didn’t have the proper building permits when construction began in 2014. Metropolitan Epifaniy, the head of the independent OCU, said on Facebook that the court decision “grossly violates one of the fundamental human rights: freedom of conscience and religion.” The Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group said in September: “All faiths, except the Orthodox Church under the Moscow Patriarchate, have come under fire in occupied Crimea.” (Crimea Desk, RFE/RL’s Ukrainian Service)
Kyiv ready for ‘reasonable compromise’
Ukrainian Foreign Affairs Minister Vadym Prystaiko says Kyiv is ready to accept a “reasonable compromise” next month during the so-called Normandy format talks on ending the bloody five-year conflict in eastern Ukraine. “We are going to the Normandy meeting with open ideas, an open mind, ready to accept a reasonable compromise,” Mr. Prystaiko told reporters on November 19 in Kyiv during a joint news conference with German Foreign Affairs Minister Heiko Maas. The leaders of Ukraine, Russia, Germany, and France are scheduled to meet in December in an effort to end the conflict between Ukrainian government forces and Russia-backed separatists in parts of the Donbas and Luhansk regions that has killed more than 13,000 people since 2014. Mr. Maas said following the meeting with his Ukrainian counterpart that Germany and France will do all they can to assist the sides in reaching a permanent solution to the conflict. He added that, “from our point of view, it’s time for Russia to step up to the plate” to help end the conflict. (RFE/RL, with reporting by Reuters and DPA)
Pompeo champions Trump’s Ukraine actions
As the U.S. House of Representatives’ impeachment inquiry begins its second week of public hearings to determine whether President Donald Trump abused the power of his office by withholding military aid to Ukraine, the top U.S. diplomat defended his policy. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo sought to defend Mr. Trump’s Ukraine policy ahead of testimony from nine people with knowledge of the president’s handling of U.S. relations with Ukraine, including officials from the National Security Council (NSC) and Defense and State departments. Mr. Pompeo said during a November 18 news conference in Washington that Mr. Trump had “reversed the massive failures” of the Barack Obama administration by giving lethal weapons to Ukraine, which is battling Russia-backed forces in its two easternmost regions. “I am proud of what we have done. President Trump’s policy has been consistent throughout. The State Department is fully supportive,” Mr. Pompeo said. Three officials had testified a week earlier that Mr. Trump’s personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, was running a parallel Ukraine foreign policy that included pushing for the dismissal of then-Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch. Mr. Pompeo dismissed the notion that there was something “nefarious” about her ouster, pointing to the fact that she was replaced by career diplomat William Taylor. However, the secretary of state declined to defend Ms. Yovanovitch during the news conference. He also refused to answer whether Mr. Taylor – whose testimony the previous week was critical of the president – still has Mr. Trump’s confidence. (RFE/RL, with reporting by Todd Prince, National Public Radio, AP and CNN)
Sondland says he was following Trump’s orders
Gordon Sondland, the U.S. ambassador to the European Union, says he kept the White House and State Department informed of efforts to pressure Ukraine to investigate a political rival of President Donald Trump, expressly saying there was a “quid pro quo” involved in the matter. In remarks delivered on November 20 before the Democratic-led impeachment inquiry in the House of Representatives, Mr. Sondland also confirmed that he spoke by phone with President Donald Trump one day after the president pressed Ukraine’s leader to investigate Democratic rival Joe Biden. Mr. Sondland said he was following “the president’s orders” in dealing with Ukraine and that he worked with Mr. Trump’s personal attorney, Rudy Giuliani. “Mr. Giuliani demanded that Ukraine make a public statement announcing investigations” into debunked theories of Ukrainian – and not Russian – meddling in the 2016 U.S. election and a Ukrainian gas company with ties to Mr. Biden’s son. “Mr. Giuliani was expressing the desires of the president of the United States, and we knew that these investigations were important to the president,” Mr. Sondland said. In his prepared opening statement, Mr. Sondland said he specifically told Vice-President Mike Pence of his “concerns” that military aid to Ukraine “had become tied” to the investigations. “Everyone was in the loop,” Mr. Sondland testified in opening remarks before the impeachment inquiry. “It was no secret,” he added. The comments came as part of the fourth day of public hearings in the impeachment inquiry of President Trump and his dealings with Ukraine. (RFE/RL, with reporting by AP, Politico and CNN)
Volker ‘refreshes’ account
During the public hearing before the House of Representatives on November 19, former U.S. special envoy to Ukraine Kurt Volker appeared to alter certain portions of previous testimony he has given. In particular, he said that only recently did he realize that the Ukrainian energy firm Burisma was linked to Hunter Biden, whom President Donald Trump had prodded Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy into investigating, in addition to his father. Ambassador Volker drew a distinction between an investigation into the Burisma Group, which he said would be “appropriate and unremarkable,” and into the Bidens, which he said would be “unacceptable.” He furthermore said it was a “conspiracy theory” that Joe Biden was corrupt in his dealings with Ukraine while serving as vice president. “I have known Vice-President Biden for 24 years. He is an honorable man and I hold him in high regard,” Mr. Volker said. His testimony was in reference to a July 19 meeting with Mr. Trump’s personal attorney, Rudy Giuliani, when they discussed Joe Biden’s role as vice-president when his son had been a hired board member of Burisma. He also said, “I did not understand that others believed that any investigation of the Ukrainian company, Burisma, which had a history of accusations of corruption, was tantamount to investigating Vice-President Biden. I drew a distinction between the two.” (RFE/RL, with reporting by AP, Politico and CNN)
Vindman: Call with Zelenskyy ‘improper’
Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman, a U.S. Army officer at the National Security Council, testified that he believes a July 25 call between U.S. President Donald Trump and Ukraine’s new president was “improper” and that he reported his misgivings to the chain of command because he felt it “would undermine our national security.” Lt. Col. Vindman, the White House National Security Council’s top Ukraine expert, on November 19 told a Democratic-led House of Representatives impeachment inquiry into Trump and his dealings with Ukraine that “it is improper for the president of the United States to demand a foreign government investigate a U.S. citizen and political opponent.” He was among those tasked with listening in on the call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, which has become the focus of the probe as lawmakers seek to learn whether President Trump abused his office for personal and political gain by prodding Ukraine to investigate his political foes, including former Vice-President Joe Biden, in exchange for releasing hundreds of millions of dollars’ worth of military aid. Later in the questioning. Lt. Col. Vindman said he “knew that I had to report [his concerns about the call] to the White House counsel. I had concerns and it was my duty to report my concerns to the proper people in the chain of command.” Lt. Col. Vindman, whose family fled the Soviet Union when he was 3 1/2 years old, said that pressuring Kyiv to conduct an investigation into political rivals in return for military aid would “undermine our Ukraine policy and it would undermine our national security.” (RFE/RL, with reporting by AP, AFP and Reuters)
Naftogaz exec cooperating in Giuliani probe
U.S. federal prosecutors are planning to interview Andrew Favorov, an executive of the Ukrainian state-owned Naftogaz oil and gas conglomerate, as part of an investigation into the business dealings of Rudy Giuliani and two of his Soviet-born business associates. A lawyer for Mr. Favorov confirmed to AP on November 19 that the dual Ukrainian-U.S. citizen is scheduled to meet voluntarily with prosecutors. Mr. Favorov has since November 2018 headed the integrated gas division of Naftogaz, responsible for natural-gas production, and the wholesale and retail sale of gas. The lawyer, Lanny Breuer, declined to say when or where Mr. Favorov would be interviewed. The Justice Department is investigating Mr. Giuliani, President Donald Trump’s personal attorney, for possible campaign-finance violations and a failure to register as a foreign agent as part of its probe. Mr. Giuliani’s close associates Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman have been indicted on charges of federal campaign-finance violations, conspiracy, making false statement and falsification of records. They and Mr. Giuliani have been involved in back-channel meetings with current and former Ukrainian officials regarding investigations into former Vice-President Joe Biden, his son Hunter, and Democratic Party activities in the 2016 presidential election. Before joining Naftogaz, Mr. Favorov was a managing partner and director of Energy Resources of Ukraine. A graduate of Georgetown University in Washington, he was in 2010-2014 the commercial director of the DTEK energy holding owned by billionaire Rinat Akhmetov. (RFE/RL, with reporting by Fortune and AP)
Zelenskyy‘s issues for summit on Donbas
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said he will advance four key issues during an upcoming four-way meeting with the leaders of Germany, France and Russia on a potential peace settlement to the Donbas conflict. While visiting the opening of a reconstructed bridge in the frontline town of Stanytsia Luhanska on November 20, Mr. Zelenskyy said the most important discussion point was conducting local and regional elections in territories that Kyiv doesn’t currently control. Holding elections “is one of the difficult ones because it has many components,” he said. “This is an opportunity to hold local elections already on the territory of Ukraine, not on the temporarily occupied territory of Ukraine. It’s the most important issue.” The return of all Ukrainian captives is another priority as is regaining control over Ukraine’s border with Russia. According to the Ukrainian State Border Guard Service, Kyiv doesn’t control 409 kilometers of its eastern border with Russia. Sealing a permanent ceasefire is paramount, the president said, while adding that the current truce in the Donbas, where Moscow-backed militants have fought Ukrainian forces since April 2014, was “fake,” adding, “It’s, you know, temporary. For two-three days there could be no shooting and then somebody starts shooting, which over time becomes serious and we start to lose people. Therefore, we need a serious ceasefire when no shots are fired.” Mr. Zelenskyy complained that the current road map for peace in the Donbas, known as the Minsk accords, didn’t stipulate consequences for ceasefire violations. “I want to talk about this and achieve a result,” the president said. The four-way talks are planned for December 9 in Paris where French President Emmanuel Macron is expected to host delegations led by Russian President Vladimir Putin, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and President Zelenskyy. (RFE/RL’s Ukrainian Service)
Ukraine detains suspected IS group leader
An elite Ukrainian police unit has apprehended a suspected 30-year-old member of the Islamic State (IS) extremist group in the Zhytomyr region west of Kyiv. The Russian citizen was detained based on an Interpol notice related to murder and was hiding in Ukraine to evade arrest, the National Police said in a statement released on November 21. The unnamed suspect was born in the easternmost Ukrainian region of Luhansk but had lived in Russia for an extended period. “According to reports, the detainee is a member of the terrorist radical organization Islamic State and even the leader of one of its groups,” the police said. “By ethnicity, he is Daghestani, but was born in the Luhansk region of Ukraine. He lived in Russia for a long time. He was hiding on the territory of our country in order to avoid responsibility for murder.” Last week, Ukrainian authorities, in coordination with the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency and Georgia’s Internal Affairs Ministry, detained Al-Bara Shishani, a top IS commander. The Georgian national had served as a deputy to Abu Omar al-Shishani, the man the Pentagon has described as the militant group’s “minister of war.” After the latter was killed in 2016, Al-Bara Shishani fled to Turkey and in 2018 used a fake passport to enter Ukraine, where he continued to coordinate IS activities, the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) said. He was detained in the Kyiv region near a private home where he resided, the SBU said. (RFE/RL’s Ukrainian Service)