NATO chief urges pressure on Russia
BRUSSELS – NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg has called for continued diplomatic pressure and sanctions on Russia until Moscow respects a February 2015 agreement aimed at ending the Ukraine conflict. “The international community must keep pressuring Russia to respect its obligations, especially while the security situation in eastern Ukraine remains so serious,” Mr. Stoltenberg said after talks with NATO and Ukraine foreign ministers in Brussels on December 7. “It’s important that economic sanctions be maintained,” he added. Separately, German Foreign Affairs Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said he expected European Union leaders to prolong sanctions on Russia when they meet in Brussels next week. Stoltenberg said there was a “massive increase in cease-fire violations” in Ukraine’s east, where fighting between government forces and Russia-backed separatists has killed more than 9,600 people since April 2014. He said hundreds of explosions are sometimes reported daily, including many caused by heavy weapons banned under the Minsk peace accords. Last week, a meeting of foreign affairs ministers from Russia, Ukraine, France and Germany intended to shore up the peace process ended without any new breakthrough. (RFE/RL, based on reporting by AP and AFP)
EU set to extend Russia sanctions
BRUSSELS – European Union diplomats say EU leaders are highly likely to prolong economic sanctions on Russia through July 31, 2017, when they meet in Brussels for a summit next week. Several EU diplomats close to talks on the sanctions have told RFE/RL that EU leaders might give a green light for the six-month extension of the sanctions without a discussion when they meet on December 15. EU ministers or ambassadors would formally adopt the extension a few days later, according to the diplomats, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the sensitive geopolitical matter publicly. The sanctions are currently set to expire at the end of January. Speaking at an event on Ukraine in Brussels on December 6, the U.S. chargé d’affaires to the EU, Adam Shub, said the United States is confident that “there will be no easing of sanctions until Russia fully complies with Minsk” – a reference to a February 2015 agreement aimed to end the conflict between Kyiv’s forces and Russia-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine. “I think that our European partners are on the same wavelength,” he said. Sanctions targeting Russia’s banking and energy sectors were first imposed in the summer of 2014, in response to Russia’s seizure of Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula and support for the separatists. (Rikard Jozwiak of RFE/RL)
EU, NATO herald ‘trans-Atlantic bond’
BRUSSELS – NATO and the European Union heralded a “new important era” of cooperation on December 6, endorsing an agenda for closer collaboration amid uncertainty over U.S. President-elect Donald Trump’s foreign policy and approach to the alliance. NATO foreign affairs ministers in Brussels agreed on plans to combat cyberattacks, information warfare and sea operations, and improve defenses for neighboring countries. “Today we start a new important era in EU-NATO cooperation,” EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini told reporters at the alliance’s headquarters. Mr. Trump, who is set to succeed outgoing President Barack Obama in January, suggested earlier this year that the United States might not protect fellow NATO members from attacks if they do not pull their financial weight in the alliance. Washington has long demanded that NATO members meet the alliance’s target of spending 2 percent of their GDP annually on defense, a threshold that only a handful of members are meeting. Mr. Trump’s comments during the campaign rattled NATO’s easternmost members, who are wary of Russia’s intentions in the region following its annexation of Ukraine’s Crimean peninsula in 2014 and backing of armed separatists in eastern Ukraine. The Republican president-elect has also spoken positively about Russian President Vladimir Putin, expressing a desire to mend battered bilateral ties with Moscow and saying he would examine the possibility of lifting sanctions targeting Russia in response to its actions in Ukraine. NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said in Brussels on December 6 that he is “absolutely certain that the United States will remain committed to the trans-Atlantic bond, will remain committed to NATO, and will live up to… security guarantees to Europe.” Speaking after talks with his NATO counterparts, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said that “the change of the administration will not change the unwavering commitment of the U.S. to… our NATO obligations.” Appearing at his final NATO ministerial meeting, Kerry added that “unity is very, very important” for the alliance. “We need to come together, to make sure there is a strong Europe, a strong NATO and that the values and the interests that we all share, we are continuing to work on together,” he told reporters. (RFE/RL, with reporting by AP, Reuters, AFP and DPA)
Deadly ‘friendly fire’ incident
KYIV – Ukrainian authorities say Prosecutor General Yuriy Lutsenko will personally oversee the probe into what officials are calling a “friendly fire” shootout between police and state guards service agents that left at least five law-enforcement officers dead. Authorities say the deadly incident occurred at about 4 a.m. on December 4, during a search for suspected armed robbers in the village of Knyazichi outside Kyiv. The Prosecutor General’s Office said on its website on December 5 that the Kyiv regional prosecutor’s office had given the green light for investigations into the shooting. Ukrainian media reports said that a number of armed robbery suspects were detained later on December 4. President Petro Poroshenko on December 4 said the tragedy “should not be politicized” and called on Ukrainians “not to use it to destabilize” the situation in the country. (RFE/RL, with reporting by ua112.ua and UNIAN)
UCC applauds additional Canadian sanctions
OTTAWA – The Ukrainian Canadian Congress (UCC) applauded the November 28 announcement by Canada’s Department of Global Affairs that 15 individuals, including six members of the Russian State Duma, have been subjected to asset freezes and dealings prohibitions for their role in Russia’s continuing illegal occupation of Crimea. The Department of Global Affairs stated, “These sanctions are in response to the September 18 election of officials residing in Crimea to Russia’s State Duma. Canada does not support the legitimacy or the outcome of these elections held in the occupied Crimean peninsula, as it has never recognized Russia’s illegal annexation of Ukraine’s Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol.” Minister of Foreign Affairs Stéphane Dion, stated, “In the face of ongoing Russian military aggression and illegal occupation, Canada has taken a number of steps to support the Ukrainian people as they work to restore political and economic stability, including imposing sanctions against those responsible for the ongoing crisis. Today’s announcement of additional sanctions underscores Canada’s unwavering commitment to the sovereignty of Ukraine.” Paul Grod, national president of the UCC stated, “Crimea was, is and always will be sovereign Ukrainian territory. Russia’s ongoing illegal occupation has brought terror and fear to the people of Crimea; Crimean Tatars and Ukrainians are especially targeted for persecution by the Russian regime. It is crucial that Canada and our allies maintain the pressure on Russia until the occupation of Crimea is reversed and Russia stops its war of aggression in eastern Ukraine.” (UCC)
Russia’s case against Ukrainian commanders
MOSCOW – Prosecutors in Russia have launched a criminal case against Ukrainian security agencies for alleged war crimes committed in the eastern Ukrainian Donbas region. Svetlana Petrenko, a spokeswoman for Russia’s Investigative Committee, told journalists on November 28 that prosecutors have uncovered “previously unknown incidents” of artillery strikes on civilians by Ukrainian military forces. As a result, a criminal probe against six Ukrainian military commanders has been launched, she said, naming Col. Oleksandr Hruzevych, Lt. Col. Mykhaylo Drapaty, Col. Serhiy Panchenko, Col. Serhiy Perets and Lt. Col. Volodymyr Horbatyuk. The commanders are accused of “the use of prohibited means and methods of warfare.” The officers “fulfilled the clearly criminal orders of senior officials of the Ukrainian Defense Ministry,” Ms. Petrenko said. Ukraine has not commented on the charges. (RFE/RL, based on reporting by Interfax and TASS)
Ukraine accuses Russian actor of terrorism
KYIV – Ukraine has launched investigations against Russian actor Ivan Okhlobystin on suspicion of terrorism. A spokeswoman for Ukraine’s Security Service (SBU), Olena Hitlyanska, wrote on Facebook on December 2 that the probe was launched after he obtained a “passport” from Russia-backed separatists in the eastern region of Donetsk. Russian media reports said on November 30 that Mr. Okhlobystin received the passport from separatist leader Aleksandr Zakharchenko. The reports quoted Mr. Okhlobystin as calling the separatist-controlled territory “a fortress of the Russian world” and openly expressing support to the separatists and Russia’s annexation of Ukraine’s Crimean peninsula in March 2014. On December 1, Ukraine’s Internal Affairs Ministry called on Western countries to impose sanctions against Mr. Okhlobystin. In 2015, the SBU barred him from entering Ukraine, and more than 70 movies and TV shows featuring him were banned in the country. (RFE/RL, with reporting by UNIAN)