Yanukovych being tried in absentia
KYIV – Former Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych is being tried in absentia on high treason charges in Kyiv. The trial began on May 4 at the Obolon District Court in the capital, with two lawyers representing Mr. Yanukovych. Mr. Yanukovych abandoned office in late February 2014 and fled to Russia in the face of massive protests triggered by his decision to scrap plans for a landmark deal with the European Union and improve trade ties with Moscow. Dozens of people were killed in attempts to clamp down on the protests. Mr. Yanukovych, who remains in Russia, is accused of treason, violating Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, and abetting Russian aggression. In the wake of Mr. Yanukovych’s downfall, Russia seized control of the Crimean peninsula and fomented separatism across eastern and southern Ukraine. Kyiv and NATO say Moscow has given separatists who took over parts of the eastern Donbas region substantial military support in a war that has killed more than 9,900 people since April 2014. Ukrainian authorities say a key piece of evidence against Mr. Yanukovych is a letter in which they say he asked the Russian leadership to intervene. Russia’s ambassador to the United Nations at the time, the late Vitaly Churkin, displayed the letter at a U.N. Security Council meeting on March 4, 2014, two weeks before Moscow claimed to have completed the procedure of making Crimea part of Russia. A man officials say was a key witness in the case, former Russian lawmaker Denis Voronenkov, was shot dead in broad daylight in Kyiv on March 23. Ukrainian authorities called the slaying of Mr. Voronenkov, who had defected to Ukraine in October, the “public killing of a witness” in the case. Ilya Ponomaryov, another former Russian lawmaker who has left Russia, is expected to testify as a witness. Mr. Ponomaryov was the only member of the State Duma, Russia’s lower house of Parliament, to vote against the annexation of Crimea in 2014. After a debate between the state prosecutor and defense lawyers at the court session on May 4, Judge Vladyslav Devyatko ruled that Mr. Yanukovych should be given the opportunity to take part in the trial by video-link. The judge then adjourned the proceedings until May 18. The Ukrainian Prosecutor General’s Office said on May 3 that the international police agency Interpol had ceased searching for Mr. Yanukovych, adding that the decision will be appealed. Mr. Yanukovych could be sentenced to 15 years in prison if convicted, but he is protected by Russia and would be unlikely to travel to Ukraine and serve the time. (RFE/RL, with reporting by RFE/RL’s Ukrainian Service)
Lutsenko speaks on Yanukovych trial
OTTAWA – Ukraine’s Prosecutor General Yurii Lutsenko addressed the Ukrainian people on May 1 regarding the upcoming trial of Ukraine’s former President Viktor Yanukovych. Mr. Lutsenko stated, “On May 4, a trial, unprecedented for Ukraine will begin. The Prosecutor General’s Office of Ukraine, in the name of the Ukrainian state, will accuse a former president of state treason. This process is not only about the citizen Yanukovych. It is also about his Kremlin masters, who used a document signed by Yanukovych in order to occupy Ukraine’s Crimea; cover Ukraine’s Donbas in blood and to try to bring our state to its knees. This trial will be fundamentally different from the political trials of the time of Yanukovych, through which I had to pass. I am certain that during this process the rights of the defendant, guaranteed by Ukrainian legislation, will be guaranteed.” Mr. Lutsenko added, “Ukrainian prosecutors in this trial will be representing not only the Ukrainian state. They will be speaking in the name of the thousands of dead, tens of thousands of wounded, and millions displaced from Ukraine’s Crimea and Donbas. This will not be a trial of revenge. We need justice and rule of law.” (Ukrainian Canadian Congress Daily Briefing)
Poroshenko, Merkel discuss Donbas war
KYIV – Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko’s office says he and German Chancellor Angela Merkel discussed her meeting last week with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Mr. Poroshenko’s office said in a May 8 statement that a telephone call between the two leaders earlier that day also addressed Kyiv’s conflict with Russia-backed separatists and the death last month in eastern Ukraine of a monitor with the Organization for Security and Cooperation (OSCE). The call follows Ms. Merkel’s May 2 meeting with Mr. Putin in Russia’s Black Sea port of Sochi for talks that focused on the conflicts in Ukraine and Syria. Germany has been a key broker between Kyiv and Moscow over the conflict in eastern Ukraine, which has killed at least 9,940 since April 2014, according to the United Nations. Ms. Merkel has been a staunch supporter of the EU’s sanctions targeting Russia over its backing of the separatists and seizure of Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula in March 2014. Ms. Merkel “informed the Ukrainian president about the results of her negotiations in Russia on May 2,” Mr. Poroshenko’s office said in its statement. It added that the two leaders stressed the importance of fulfilling the Minsk accords aimed at ending the violence in the region, as well as the April 23 death of an OSCE monitor in a land-mine explosion in eastern Ukraine. There was no immediate statement from Merkel’s office about the call. The Ukrainian statement said Mr. Poroshenko warned that any displays of weaponry in “occupied territories” – a reference to Crimea and separatist-held areas of eastern Ukraine – as part of May 9 Victory Day celebrations would be “unacceptable.” Russia was gearing up for its nationwide celebration of Victory Day, commemorating the defeat of Nazi Germany in World War II. (RFE/RL)
Former envoy testifies on sanctions
OTTAWA – Testifying on April 27 before the U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs during a hearing on “Countering Russia: Further Assessing Options for Sanctions,” former U.S. Ambassador to NATO Nicholas Burns stated: “The United States should maintain sanctions on Russia due to its continued aggression in Ukraine. The Congress and the Trump administration should now also consider additional sanctions over the Russian government’s interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential elections..” He added, “Russia is the most dangerous U.S. adversary in the world today. For more than a decade, Russian President Vladimir Putin has used the power of the Russian state to undermine American interests in Europe, the Middle East and now in the heart of our democratic system here in the U.S. …Putin has acted to undermine neighboring states and to gain effective control over their futures so that they may not seek closer ties to either the European Union or NATO.” Mr. Burns noted that “Sanctions have not been sufficiently robust to cause the Russian government to withdraw its military forces from Crimea and eastern Ukraine. But, the sanctions have isolated Russia internationally and have been a unifying factor in galvanizing Western opposition to Putin and in ensuring non-recognition of Russia’s land grab in Ukraine. The fact that Putin and his government have worked so hard to have the sanctions lifted is an indication that they are a cause of great concern for Moscow. The Russian government continues to attempt to divide the European Union on this issue.” The ambassador underscored: “The U.S. must now mount a renewed strategy to combat this dangerous Russian campaign. The first step is for the administration to maintain and possibly increase sanctions on Russia. A second step is for Congress and the Administration to agree to provide lethal defensive arms to Ukraine so that it can defend its people and its borders. A third step is to make permanent the recent stationing of NATO military forces on the territory of Poland, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. Finally, the Trump administration should also continue the policy of President [Barack] Obama to rebuild the strength and armored capacity of U.S. military forces in Europe as a deterrent to Putin’s truculent behavior.” (Ukrainian Canadian Congress Daily Briefing)
Rasmussen for providing lethal weapons
OTTAWA – Former NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen (2009-2014) met with U.S. Secretary of Defense James Mattis in Copenhagen on May 9. Mr. Rasmussen said of the meeting: “Ahead of the NATO leaders’ mini-summit on May 25, we discussed the role NATO can play in fighting terrorism and I set out some thoughts on how the alliance could be more active in training forces in Iraq to build local capacity in the fight against Daesh. We also talked about Russia, where it is clear the United States continues to take a firm stance towards Moscow’s aggression in Ukraine, and its ongoing efforts to destabilize Western institutions – including NATO. I asked for Washington to step up its support for Ukraine through the delivery of lethal weapons to act as a deterrent and the granting of a Major Non NATO Ally (MNNA) status for Ukraine to underline Washington’s commitment to the U.S.-Ukraine security partnership.” (Ukrainian Canadian Congess Daily Briefing)
Poroshenko congratulates Macron
OTTAWA – Ukraine’s President Petro Poroshenko congratulated Emmanuel Macron on his election as president of France on May 7, the presidential press service reported. In a written message to Mr. Macron, Mr. Poroshenko stated: “The choice of the French people is a vivid evidence of victory of the program of a progressive Europe of freedom over an alternative Europe of nationalism. …Your position in the course of the election campaign gives confidence that with your victory Ukraine has gained a reliable ally in the Normandy format and in its efforts to restore sovereignty and territorial integrity.” (Ukrainian Canadian Congress Daily Briefing)
Ukraine bans film star Steven Seagal
KYIV – Ukraine has banned U.S. action film star Steven Seagal from entering the country, labeling him a national security threat. The Ukraine National News (UNN) agency on May 5 quoted the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) as saying Mr. Seagal would be banned for five years. The actor, who received Russian citizenship in November of last year, has publicly supported Moscow’s illegal annexation of Ukraine’s Crimean peninsula and participated in a concert there in August 2014. The United States and the European Union have imposed sanctions on Russia in retaliation for its actions in Ukraine. Mr. Seagal, 65, grew up in California but claims Russian and Mongolian ancestry. Reports have said he holds a black belt in aikido and is a friend of Russian President Vladimir Putin, who also is a fan of the martial arts. Other celebrities have been banned from Ukraine after taking Russian citizenship and expressing support for Russia’s annexation of Crimea, including French film star Gerard Depardieu. (RFE/RL, based on reporting by DPA, UNN, Interfax, Apostrophe.ua and The Guardian)
Deputy stripped of Ukraine citizenship
KYIV – Andriy Artemenko, a Ukrainian lawmaker whose plan to resolve the three-year-old conflict in Ukraine reportedly wound up on the desk of then-U.S. National Security Adviser Michael Flynn, has been stripped of his citizenship by presidential decree, the State Migration Service said. The migration service said in a statement on May 5 that President Petro Poroshenko had terminated Mr. Artemenko’s Ukrainian citizenship over the lawmaker’s voluntary acceptance of foreign citizenship. Mr. Artemenko had previously acknowledged that he holds Canadian citizenship. Mr. Artemenko’s “peace plan,” which calls for holding a national referendum on leasing Crimea to Russia for a period of 30 to 50 years, made headlines in February when he was quoted in a New York Times report as saying he had given the document to associates of President Donald Trump who then passed it to someone who put it on Mr. Flynn’s desk. The news caused a scandal in Kyiv, and Mr. Artemenko was ejected from the Radical Party as a result. Ukrainian investigators later opened a treason case over his actions. Russia says it will never return Crimea to Ukraine, making the idea of leasing it to Moscow improbable even if it could gain support in Ukraine, where many people would oppose voluntarily granting Russia any form of control over the peninsula. Mr. Artemenko’s plan never made it to Mr. Flynn, who was forced out in February after it was revealed that he misled Vice-President Mike Pence about his contacts with Russia’s ambassador to the United States during the election campaign. Mr. Flynn is currently under formal investigation by the Pentagon over apparently undisclosed Russian payments. Mr. Artemenko did not immediately respond to RFE/RL’s request for comment. But when RFE/RL communicated with him via Facebook Messenger on May 2, the lawmaker did not respond directly to questions about what were then rumors of his loss of citizenship. “Fake news destroyed careers and unfortunately kills people!!!! Still waiting official confirmation or denial from president administration on my deputy request. So will see what next…” Mr. Artemenko wrote, adding that he was in Washington. He did not explain what the “deputy request” was. “I have a couple of very important meetings with U.S. and Canada officials and Ukrainean [sic] diaspora,” he claimed. Asked if he was still pushing his “peace plan” for Ukraine and trying to meet with Trump administration officials, he wrote, “Exactly.” Mr. Artemenko did not say whether he would return to Ukraine. (Christopher Miller of RFE/RL)
Celebration of diversity at Eurovision
KYIV – One could forgive the casual observer for thinking revolution had returned to the Ukrainian capital, what with the boisterous tent city that sprang up this week on the Khreshchatyk. Fear not – it’s the Eurovision village. As Kyiv prepared to host more than 20,000 visitors expected to arrive for the annual Eurovision Song Contest, the city was in overdrive to conceal the scars of its past and put on its best face in an attempt to show the West that Ukraine has overcome political upheaval, endured a bloody war, and become more European in recent years. The Eurovision village, with its beer garden, giant screens and high-tech stage, now stands where blood was spilled during the Euromaidan uprising that ousted Ukraine’s Kremlin-friendly president, Viktor Yanukovych, three years ago. It officially opened on May 4, as rehearsals for the May 9-13 song contest got under way at the main venue across the Dnipro River. On nearby Independence Square, the hub of the 2013-2014 protests, a canvas screen reading “Freedom is our religion” in English and Ukrainian covered the Trade Union Building that was gutted by fire during that unrest. And everywhere you look in the city, there is the slogan for this year’s event: “Celebrate Diversity.” But some Ukrainians are questioning whether Kyiv is merely papering over more deep-seated problems. The visible changes for the song contest, they suggest, might reflect a cynical and superficial approach by the government to crucial reforms – especially relating to diversity, inclusion and human rights – since the Euro-Maidan swept new leaders into power. Others point to scandals involving corruption and Russia, afflictions that Ukraine has been unable to shake since independence, as evidence that it has not shifted as far west as it might claim. “The [Eurovision] slogan sounds hollow in a country where LGBT people still do not enjoy equal protection under law and in employment, journalists and rights activists are harassed and attacked for a different point of view, and people with disabilities are virtually invisible in public life,” Tanya Cooper, a Kyiv-based Ukraine researcher for Human Rights Watch (HRW), told RFE/RL. “It seems that the authorities put on the show for public and international partners by taking a step forward just to take two steps back later.” Ms. Cooper acknowledged that there has been some improvement in Ukraine’s human rights situation in recent years, including better protection of public LGBT events, some investigations into the Euro-Maidan-related violence against protesters, and the acquittal of Ruslan Kotsaba, a journalist and blogger convicted of obstructing the military over his defiance of a conscription order to avoid participating in what he regarded as Ukraine’s “fratricidal war” against Russia-backed separatists. But, she added, “the lack of enthusiasm and genuine commitment to meaningful human rights reforms is palpable.” Ukraine earned the right to host this year’s contest by winning Eurovision 2016 with a song by Crimean Tatar singer Jamala that was inspired by the Soviet authorities’ deportation of her relatives to Central Asia in 1944. Her win prompted calls by some Russian officials, who said the song was political and thus violated contest rules, to boycott this year’s event in protest. This year, Ukraine went a less political route in choosing the rock band O.Torvald to represent the country with its song “Time.” Oleksiy Ryabchin, a reform-minded Fatherland lawmaker, said he hopes the band – and a successful job on the part of Kyiv hosting the event – will help convince visiting Europeans who might still see the country as existing in an “Iron Curtain” zone that “Ukraine is a European country.” (Christopher Miller of RFE/RL; to read the full story go to https://www.rferl.org/a/ukraine-eurovision-diversity-critics-complain/28472671.html)
Two Russian reporters denied entry
KYIV – Ukraine has blocked entry to the country of two Russian journalists who were going to Kyiv to cover the Eurovision Song Contest. Two reporters from the newspaper Komsomolskaya Pravda, both accredited to work at the contest, were detained at the border and eventually turned away and barred from entering Ukraine for three years, according to border service spokesman Oleh Slobodyan. “The state border service notes that having accreditation for Eurovision does not give you the right to cross the border,” Mr. Slobodyan wrote on Facebook on May 7. The newspaper confirmed to the TASS news agency that the reporters were denied entry to Ukraine. In April, Ukraine banned Russia’s entrant to the contest, singer Yulia Samoilova, because she violated Ukrainian law by performing in Crimea in 2015. Russia illegally annexed the Ukrainian peninsula in 2014. Russia slammed Kyiv’s ban and rejected a compromise under which Ms. Samoilova would be allowed to compete via satellite link. The country later pulled out of the contest altogether. Ukraine fears Russian-orchestrated provocations during Eurovision, Mariana Betsa, head of communications for the Ukrainian Foreign Affairs Ministry, said. The semifinals were on May 9 and May 11, while the final was scheduled for May 13. (RFE/RL, with reporting by TASS and AFP)