Vakarchuk resigns from Verkhovna Rada
Ukrainian rock star and lawmaker Svyatoslav Vakarchuk, who founded the Holos (Voice) party last year, has announced he will give up his mandate in Parliament but remain in politics. The 45-year-old Vakarchuk, who won a seat in the Verkhovna Rada in July last year, told journalists in Kyiv on June 11 that he had filed a request to leave the chamber of deputies as his mission has been “partially accomplished” by bringing “a wonderful faction to Parliament.” Explaining his decision, Mr. Vakarchuk said, “In the last three years there have been persistent attempts to pour dirt and negativity on my name, which failed to affect me. That started when a thought appeared in someone’s paranoid imagination that I would run for president.” Mr. Vakarchuk’s statement came exactly three months after he announced he was stepping down from the leadership of his party. It is not the first time the rock star has called it quits from Parliament. In 2007, the leader of the popular Okean Elzy (Elza’s Ocean) rock group was elected to the Verkhovna Rada on the lists of the Our Ukraine-People’s Self-Defense political bloc. In September 2008, he gave up his mandate. There are 20 Holos members in the current Verkhovna Rada. (RFE/RL’s Ukrainian Service)
Defense requests more time in MH17 trial
Lawyers for a Russian suspect in the trial in absentia of four men accused of downing Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 (MH17) over eastern Ukraine in 2014 have requested more time to prepare their case, saying that the coronavirus pandemic has severely impeded their efforts to defend their client. As proceedings resumed on June 8 after a coronavirus lockdown was eased in the Netherlands, hearings restarted with extra social-distancing measures in place, including plexiglass panels separating the judges and lawyers and family members spread out through the courtroom. MH17 was shot down July 17, 2014, by a Russian-made Buk missile fired from territory in eastern Ukraine controlled by pro-Russian militants. The civilian passenger plane was on a flight from Amsterdam to Malaysia when it was shot down. All 298 passengers and crew were killed. The victims included 193 Dutch citizens as well as 43 Malaysians and 38 Australians. Four defendants went on trial on March 9 over the downing of MH17 after nearly six years of research by international investigators, accused of arranging the supply of the Russian missile system used to shoot down MH17. The four – Russian citizens Igor Girkin, Sergei Dubinsky and Oleg Pulatov, and Ukrainian Leonid Kharchenko – remain at large despite the issuance of international warrants for their arrests. Only Mr. Pulatov has appointed defense lawyers to represent him at the trial in the Netherlands. The second hearing, which was held amid the lockdown on March 23, was immediately adjourned until June 8 in order to give Mr. Pulatov’s lawyers more time to prepare their case. Mr. Pulatov’s defense said on June 8 that the travel restrictions imposed because of the pandemic made it impossible to meet their client and prepare a proper defense. They said they had only spoken with Mr. Pulatov “superficially through intermediaries” since the lockdown in March. Prosecutors said it was possible that Mr. Pulatov refused extensive contact with his lawyers, which should not impact the trial’s timetable. “The prosecution says Pulatov chose to limit contact, but that was not Pulatov, that was the coronavirus,” said lawyer Sabine ten Doesschate. The prosecution spent the rest of June 8 detailing the investigation into the case so far. Mr. Girkin, a former colonel in Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB), was the top military commander of a militant group in eastern Ukraine, while Ukrainian Mr. Kharchenko was in charge of a combat unit in the region, according to the Dutch-led Joint Investigation Team (JIT). Messrs. Dubinsky and Pulatov were connected with Russia’s Military Intelligence Service (GRU), the investigators concluded. Despite evidence that Russia’s military was directly involved in shooting down MH17, the Kremlin has repeatedly denied any involvement. The Kremlin also denies providing any military or financial support to Ukraine’s pro-Russia “separatists,” despite evidence assembled by the JIT and the Bellingcat open-source investigative group. (RFE/RL, with reporting by AFP, AP, Reuters and DPA)
Babies born to surrogates meet parents
Foreign couples who waited two months because of coronavirus-related border closures have finally collected their babies from surrogate mothers in Ukraine. Ukraine’s human rights ombudswoman, Lyudmila Denisova, said June 10 that 31 couples had arrived and been united with their infant children. There were emotional scenes as new parents cried and held their babies after a long ordeal because of the pandemic. “It’s a very good ending of the story, unbelievable,” said Andrea Diez of Argentina, who held her baby for the first time. The babies have been stranded in Ukraine since the country closed its borders because of the pandemic. The Ukrainian Foreign Affairs Ministry finally allowed the families to enter, conditional on a two-week quarantine and negative COVID-19 test. A total of 125 babies born to surrogates across Ukraine were awaiting parents from abroad. The issue received wide attention when Biotexcom, the country’s largest surrogacy operation, posted a video showing more than 60 babies in cribs at a hotel where the clients usually stay. Ms. Denisova said 88 more families have received permits to enter the country and will arrive in the coming weeks. Ukraine is one of the few countries that allows foreigners to use surrogate birth services at about 50 clinics. (RFE/RL, with reporting by AP and RFE/RL’s Ukrainian Service)
Poroshenko a suspect in art case
Ukraine’s State Bureau of Investigation (known by the Ukrainian-based acronym DBR) has announced that prosecutors consider former Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko a suspect in a case about the alleged illegal transfer of valuable paintings across the border. The DBR announced on June 10 after meeting with Mr. Poroshenko that the former president was officially served with a document informing him that his status was changed from witness to suspect in the case. However, one of Mr. Poroshenko’s lawyers, Ilya Novikov, rejected the DBR’s announcement, saying that his client cannot be officially considered as a suspect in the case as the document informing him of his status was handed over with procedural violations. “There was no questioning, because there was no plan to hold questioning to start with. In fact, the whole idea was to hand Petro Poroshenko the document recognizing him as a suspect in the case,” Mr. Novikov said. According to Mr. Novikov, in cases similar to that in question, Prosecutor General Iryna Venedyktova must personally announce that a person is a suspect in a criminal case. “Since the proceeding was not in accordance with the law, we refused to communicate with the person and left the DBR building right away,” Mr. Novikov added, stressing that his client was called to the bureau not for questioning, as the summons said, but for officially serving him with the document recognizing him a suspect. Before entering the DBR building on June 10, Mr. Poroshenko spoke to journalists and criticized President Volodymyr Zelenskyy for what he called “persecution of the opposition.” Mr. Poroshenko came to the DBR six days after a court in Kyiv ruled that he can be brought in by force if need be after he twice ignored a summons in May. Investigators said they wanted to question him as a witness in the case about 43 paintings by world-famous artists that crossed the border without proper customs clearance. On May 29, DBR investigators said they also wanted to question Mr. Poroshenko in an investigation into audio recording of individuals thought to be Mr. Poroshenko and former U.S. Vice-President Joe Biden. In May, National Deputy Andriy Derkach said the recordings proved that Mr. Poroshenko had committed “high treason.” Mr. Poroshenko’s lawyers have said the ex-president did not show up at the DBR because the summons had been made via the agency’s website. They said their client should have been served the subpoena personally. Mr. Poroshenko has been questioned as a witness several times in recent months in investigations launched after he failed to win a second term as president last year. In January, the DBR said it was looking into 13 possible cases in which Mr. Poroshenko or his associates were implicated. A billionaire confectioner, Mr. Poroshenko currently serves as a member of Parliament. His party ran on a pro-European, anti-Russian ticket in July 2019 parliamentary elections, winning 25 seats. (RFE/RL’s Ukrainian Service)
Ex-paramilitary leader suspected of murder
A controversial former leader of a far-right Ukrainian paramilitary group says he is officially suspected of premeditated murder and possession of an illegal bladed weapon in the killing of a man he claims was self-defense. Serhiy Sternenko, who once led the Right Sector group in the city of Odesa, wrote in a post on Facebook on June 11 that the Security Service of Ukraine (known as the SBU) had handed him a document informing him that he was a suspect in the case. Mr. Sternenko was attacked by two men late in the evening on May 26, 2018, while walking with his girlfriend. He fought off the attackers, suffering numerous head injuries and a cut to his arm in the process. Mr. Sternenko injured one of the assailants who later died in hospital. “There was no murder, but necessary self-defense, which was confirmed by an investigator earlier when he called the attackers suspects. As for the knife, several forensic evaluations established that it is not a bladed weapon,” Mr. Sternenko wrote. The SBU confirmed that Mr. Sternenko is a suspect in the case, saying that, after he defended himself using his knife, the attackers fled the scene. But Mr. Sternenko, whose life and health were no longer in danger, chased one of them and stabbed him several times, inflicting wounds that led to the man’s death. On May 18, when hundreds of Mr. Sternenko’s supporters rallied in front of the SBU building, the SBU said Mr. Sternenko was not a suspect in the case. Mr. Sternenko, who was questioned on that day, told his supporters that he was given the status of victim in one of the cases and the status of witness in another one. The attack was the third against Mr. Sternenko in three months. (RFE/RL’s Ukrainian Service)
Ukraine Embassy open for consular service
The Ukrainian Embassy in the United States is gradually restoring the reception of citizens, and these will be carried out exclusively by appointment, the Ukrainian diplomatic mission said. “We inform that from June 9, 2020, the Embassy is gradually restoring the reception of visitors on consular issues,” the Embassy said on its Facebook page on June 7. (Interfax-Ukraine)
Defense Department plans $250 M for Ukraine
The U.S. Department of Defense announced its plans for $250 million in Fiscal Year 2020 Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative (USAI) funds “for additional training, equipment and advisory efforts to strengthen Ukraine’s capacity to more effectively defend itself against Russian aggression.” The department’s released noted: “This reaffirms the long-standing defense relationship between the United States and Ukraine – a critical partner on the frontline of strategic competition with Russia. The United States remains steadfast in its support for Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity within its internationally recognized borders. The USAI funds – $125 million of which was conditional on Ukraine’s progress on defense reforms – will provide equipment to support ongoing training programs and operational needs. This includes capabilities to enhance Ukraine’s defensive lethal capabilities and situational awareness in the maritime domain, air surveillance systems to monitor sovereign airspace, command and control and survivability of Ukraine’s Land and Special Operations Forces through the provision of counter-artillery radars and tactical equipment, military medical treatment and combat evacuation procedures, and cyberdefense and strategic communications to counter Russian cyber offensive operations and misinformation.” The Department of Defense also underlined: “The United States remains committed to assisting Ukraine with the implementation of defense and anti-corruption reforms in line with Euro-Atlantic principles. These reforms will bolster Ukraine’s ability to defend its territorial integrity in support of a secure, prosperous, democratic and free Ukraine.” (Ukrainian Canadian Congress Daily Briefing)
Rada’s appeal on genocide of Crimean Tatars
The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine on June 2 adopted an appeal to international organizations to honor the victims of genocide of the Crimean Tatar people. The Parliament adopted the decree, No.3449, “On the appeal of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine to the United Nations, the European Parliament, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly, the NATO Parliamentary Assembly, the BSEC Parliamentary Assembly, world governments and parliaments to honor the victims of the genocide of the Crimean Tatar people and condemn violations by the Russian Federation as an aggressor state of the rights and freedoms of the Crimean Tatar people.” The resolution was supported by 310 national deputies. In the resolution, the Rada called on the aforementioned international bodies “to take additional measures to continue the policy of non-recognition of attempts to annex Crimea and exercise international control over their full compliance.” The Verkhovna Rada also urged international organizations “to increase pressure on the aggressor state – the Russian Federation, using all possible sanctions, political, diplomatic and economic mechanisms in order to stop Russia’s violations of the fundamental principles of international law and the requirements of the international community, in particular the restoration of Ukraine’s state sovereignty over the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol and the adjacent waters of the Black and Azov seas.” Ukraine’s Parliament also asked international organizations “to recognize the deportation of Crimean Tatars from Crimea in 1944 as genocide of the Crimean Tatar people and to honor on May 18, the Day of Remembrance for the Victims of Deportation of the Crimean Tatar People, the memory of the genocide’s victims.” (Ukrinform)
Republican committee: strengthen sanctions
The U..S House of Representatives Republican Study Committee (RSC) released its report titled “RSC National Security Strategy: Strengthening America & Countering Global Threats.” The report calls for “the toughest package of sanctions on Russia ever proposed by Congress, including secondary sanctions on Russian oil and gas projects, sanctions on Russian sovereign debt, sanctions on Russian proxies in other countries, and designating Russia as a State Sponsor of Terrorism.” The strategy also calls the expulsion of Russia from the SWIFT international payments system. (Ukrainian Canadian Congress Daily Briefing)