U.S. to Russia: hand over MH17 evidence
With their trial set to start in a few days, the United States has called on Russia to hand over suspects in the 2014 downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 (MH17), a disaster that cost the lives of all 298 people on board. “It is long past time for Russia to comply, to reveal what it knows and to turn over those individuals who have been indicated in these cases,” U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs Christopher Robinson said in an interview with RFE/RL during a visit to Prague on March 2. Russian citizens Igor Girkin, Oleg Pulatov and Sergei Dubinsky, and Ukrainian national Leonid Kharchenko have been charged by Dutch prosecutors with shooting down the Boeing 777 with a Russian-made Buk missile as it flew over territory held by Russia-backed militants in eastern Ukraine. The men are unlikely to be present at their first hearing scheduled for March 9 at a high-security courthouse near Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport. The men are all believed to be hiding in Russia, which does not extradite its citizens, or in separatist-controlled territory in Ukraine. A fifth suspect, Volodymyr Tsemakh, was among 35 prisoners sent to Moscow from Kyiv in the September 7, 2019, swap of 70 people captured during the conflict in eastern Ukraine. The Dutch-led Joint Investigation Team (JIT) has concluded that Russia’s 53rd Anti-Aircraft Missile Brigade had transported the Buk in 2014 to and from Ukraine. Mr. Robinson said the array of public information available indicates that the MH17 downing happened in an area under Russian control. Russia denies involvement in the incident. “This is another case where Russia engages in aggression, Russia fails to reveal the truth, it puts out disinformation and lies, and tries to distort the truth,” Mr. Robinson said. “I think Russia has behaved reprehensibly in this issue.” The JIT had pleaded with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to keep Mr. Tsemakh in Ukrainian custody. Russian President Vladimir Putin reportedly insisted that Mr. Tsemakh be included in the exchange, or the swap would be called off. MH17 took off from Amsterdam for Kuala Lumpur on July 17, 2014. About two-thirds of the passengers were Dutch nationals. (RFE/RL, with reporting by Mike Eckel)
TV channel for occupied territories
Ukraine’s Culture Ministry has unveiled a new television channel that has started broadcasting in Russia-occupied Crimea and parts of the easternmost Donetsk and Luhansk regions that the government in Kyiv doesn’t control. Called Dom (Home), the channel started the pilot broadcast on March 1, said Yulia Ostrovska, the acting CEO of public broadcaster UATV. During the presentation in Kyiv, she noted that “54 percent of people in the occupied territories don’t have access to Ukrainian television channels, and 43 percent can’t access Ukrainian websites.” One of the channel’s goals is the “de-occupation of consciousness” of Ukrainians, Ms. Ostrovska added. It was in reference to Russia’s takeover of Ukraine’s Crimea peninsula in early 2014 and subsequent support of pro-Moscow militants in eastern Ukraine in a conflict that has killed more than 13,000 people. However, the channel might not be available to residents of Crimea and parts of eastern Ukraine due to electronic warfare methods, said Mykyta Poturayev, a member of Parliament who took part in delivering the presentation. The channel will get its content from the existing major Ukrainian TV networks, including about 15 percent from the studio that brought current President Volodymyr Zelenskyy fame as an actor and comedian. As such, it will be available to digital, not analog, TV owners. Anchors on the channels will speak both Ukrainian, the state language, and Russian, the predominant language spoken in eastern Ukraine and Crimea. News also will be delivered in the Ukrainian and Russian languages and cover national and regional news. Mr. Poturayev said the editorial policy of Dom will not be to repeat Russian propaganda messages. “Nobody on this channel will talk about ‘rebels,’ ‘civil war,’ and will not call Russian tanks ‘pink unicorns’ who came with love, from Russia with love,” he said. The combined 2020 budget for the channel and state-run Ukrinform news agency is 257 million hrv ($10 million U.S.). Among the consultants employed at the channel are people from the 112 Ukrayina channel, a TV network affiliated with pro-Russian lawmaker Viktor Medvedchuk, whose daughter’s godfather is Russian President Vladimir Putin, according to the deputy head of the Presidential Office, Kyrylo Tymoshenko, who also took part in the presentation. (RFE/RL’s Ukrainian Service, with reporting by Ukrayinska Pravda and Hromadske)
Prisoner swap may be held in March
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s chief of staff, Andriy Yermak, said Moscow and Kyiv intend to carry out another prisoner swap later this month. Mr. Yermak made the comments on March 1 following a meeting in Minsk with Dmitry Kozak, Russia’s chief negotiator to peace talks in eastern Ukraine, according to a statement posted on the Ukrainian president’s website. Mr. Zelenskyy has made ending the nearly six-year war in eastern Ukraine that has killed more than 13,000 people a priority since coming to power in May. President Zelenskyy and Russian President Vladimir Putin agreed in December 2019 to a ceasefire in eastern Ukraine and additional swaps of prisoners. Mr. Zelenskyy has already overseen two prisoner exchanges during his first nine months in office. In September 2019, Russia and Ukraine each exchanged 35 prisoners. In December 2019, Ukraine turned over 124 prisoners to the Russian-backed rebels in exchange for 76 Ukrainians they held. (RFE/RL)
Marie Yovanovitch signs book deal
Former U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch, who played a key role in the House of Representatives hearings on the impeachment of President Donald Trump last November, has signed a deal to write a book about her career. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt told the Associated Press news agency on February 21 that it had struck a deal with Ms. Yovanovitch to publish her planned memoir. The book, currently untitled, will focus on her long diplomatic career, in which she served in places such as Kyiv and Mogadishu, Somalia. It is expected to be published in early 2021. Ambassador Yovanovitch was abruptly recalled from Kyiv in May 2019 following an intense campaign to oust her that was coordinated by Mr. Trump’s personal attorney, Rudy Giuliani. After her recall following a 33-year career in the foreign service, Ms. Yovanovitch retired from the State Department in January. In November 2019, Ms. Yovanovitch testified before the House impeachment inquiry into President Trump’s actions with Ukraine, accusing Mr. Giuliani of organizing an “irregular channel” of diplomacy in Ukraine that was aimed, in part, at promoting Mr. Trump’s domestic political interests. “Shady interests the world over have learned how little it takes to remove an American ambassador who does not give them what they want,” the 61-year-old Ms. Yovanovitch told the inquiry. Mr. Trump denied any wrongdoing and was acquitted in a historic Senate impeachment trial. Ms. Yovanovitch was appointed U.S. ambassador to Kyiv in 2016 by President Barack Obama. (RFE/RL, based on reporting by AP)
One soldier killed, four wounded
One Ukrainian soldier was killed and four were wounded during an artillery attack on March 3 in the eastern part of the country, where a conflict with Russia-backed militants is in its sixth year. Ukraine’s military reported that mortar rockets were fired on Ukrainian positions and high-caliber machine guns were also used. Fifteen Ukrainian service members were killed in January-February of this year and more than 13,000 people have been killed in the conflict since March 2014. The war in Ukraine has uprooted more than 1.5 million people from their homes in the easternmost regions of Donetsk and Luhansk. (RFE/RL’s Ukrainian Service)
Poroshenko: Opposition being persecuted
Former Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has called on his successor, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, to stop “persecuting” the opposition and instead carry out his presidential duties. Speaking before he was questioned at the State Bureau of Investigation (DBR) on February 28, Mr. Poroshenko told his supporters that a judge of Kyiv’s Shevchenko district court had ruled to close the case he was summoned to be questioned about, as there were no elements of crime found. Mr. Poroshenko also compared Mr. Zelenskyy with former Russia-friendly President Viktor Yanukovych, who was toppled in deadly anti-government protests in February 2014. Mr. Poroshenko was summoned for questioning as a witness in a case about alleged interference into court activities. “Volodymyr Oleksandrovych [Zelenskyy], do your job as president. Defend the country, strengthen the world’s solidarity, help solve social problems of the people and do not turn into a Yanukovych. He had a very bad past and his future doesn’t look rosy either. Leave judicial and law enforcement systems alone as their goal is to be independent,” Mr. Poroshenko said, adding that his questioning looked like an attempt by President Zelenskyy’s team to distract attention away from the country’s social problems. Mr. Poroshenko’s lawyer, Ilya Novikov, said later in a televised interview to Pryamiy television that his client was questioned for six hours. The DBR had asked prosecutors to be allowed to forcibly bring Mr. Poroshenko in for questioning, but the former president arrived on his own. Mr. Poroshenko, who is currently a national deputy in the Verkhovna Rada, was questioned as a witness several times last year in cases looking into several other investigations launched after he failed to win a second term as president. The DBR said on January 20 that it was looking into 13 possible cases where Mr. Poroshenko or his associates were implicated. (RFE/RL)
Semena removed from “terrorist” list
RFE/RL contributor Mykola Semena – a journalist who was convicted of separatism in Ukraine’s Russia-occupied Crimea region before a court there expunged his criminal record – has been removed from Russia’s list of “terrorists and extremists.” The news was reported on February 27 by Graty, a Ukrainian non-profit that receives funding from the Czech People in Need foundation to monitor judicial and law enforcement issues. Mr. Semena, 69, is listed in the section of individuals who have been “removed” from the list on the website of the Russian Federal Financial Monitoring Service. Rights groups in Ukraine say that, in its current form, the terrorist and extremist list is an additional method of pressuring people Russia deems objectionable because, contrary to the principle of presumption of innocence, it allows authorities to impose sanctions before court decisions are made. The Crimean journalist is currently seeking medical care in Kyiv for a heart condition and damaged spine. In 2017, Mr. Semena was convicted of separatism and handed a two-and-a-half-year suspended sentence together with a ban from “public activity” for three years. On January 14, a court in Crimea’s capital, Symferopol, ruled to prematurely terminate Mr; Semena’s sentence period and expunge his criminal record. The journalist has said he has plans to “indefinitely” stay in mainland Ukraine. “As long as part of Ukraine is occupied, I cannot consider it my home. My family thinks the same,” he said of Crimea, which Russia invaded and annexed in 2014. (RFE/RL’s Ukrainian Service)
Former Aidar member detained by Greece
A Ukrainian who founded and led a volunteer battalion in eastern Ukraine has been detained by Greek authorities while crossing over from Bulgaria on March 2 with his pregnant wife and 9-year-old child. Serhiy Melnychuk, 48, posted a video on Facebook from the alleged detention center in Greece, saying that his arrest was based on a notice requested from Russia through Interpol, the world’s international police force. A search through Interpol didn’t reveal Mr. Melnychuk’s name as a wanted person but not all notices are made public. In early 2014, Mr. Melnychuk established and led the Aidar Battalion, which was composed mostly of natives of the easternmost Luhansk region. Aidar fought Russian-backed militants that year and took part in liberating towns and cities in the industrial region. Before it was incorporated into the armed forces in September 2014, Mr. Melnychuk and the battalion he led faced allegations of human rights abuses, looting and marauding in the early phases of the war in which more than 13,000 people have been killed. He was voted into Parliament in 2014 with the Radical Party, then headed by Oleh Lyashko, whose political movement has no seats in the current legislature. Mr. Melnychuk is from Ukraine’s west-central region of Vinnytsia. He said in his Facebook post that he was detained for unknown reasons. (RFE/RL, based on reporting by Hromadske and Ukrayinska Pravda)
More U.S. Javelins for Ukraine
The U.S. Defense Department has signed a new contract for the production of Javelin anti-tank missile systems for partner countries, including Ukraine, Ukrinform reported on March 3. The U.S. Army contract is dated February 28, is worth more than $18 million, and was awarded to Raytheon and Lockheed Martin, with work to be performed in Arizona. The category of the award is for “guided missile and space vehicle manufacturing.” It has an estimated completion date of June 25, 2020. The beneficiary countries listed as part of the award include Georgia, Ukraine, Australia, Czech Republic, Estonia, France, Indonesia, Ireland, Jordan, Lithuania, New Zealand, Norway, Oman, Qatar, Turkey and United Arab Emirates. The State Department in October approved the sale of $39.2 million in military equipment to Ukraine, including a second batch of Javelins, the world’s most effective anti-tank missiles, to help Kyiv in its ongoing six-year war against Russia-backed separatists. The deal reportedly included 150 Javelin missiles and 10 launch units, adding to the 210 missiles and 37 launchers that Ukraine bought from the United States in 2018. (RFE/RL, based on reporting by Ukrinform)