November 6, 2015

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Top prosecutor ‘escapes assassination’ 

KYIV – Ukrainian authorities have opened a criminal investigation into an alleged sniper attack on Prosecutor-General Viktor Shokin. Deputy Procurator-General Anatoliy Matios said an unknown assailant fired three rounds at a window in Mr. Shokin’s office late on November 2 as he held a meeting with several coworkers. Only bulletproof windows allowed Mr. Shokin to escape, Mr. Matios said. Mr. Shokin, who was appointed by President Petro Poroshenko in February, has been under pressure to resign amid criticism he has blocked efforts to fight corruption. He has faced accusations of stalling high-profile corruption cases against allies of former President Viktor Yanukovych, who was toppled by pro-European protests in February 2014. In September, U.S. ambassador to Ukraine Geoffrey Pyatt publicly blamed “corrupt actors” within the Procurator General’s Office for obstructing efforts to combat corruption and shielding its own employees from graft investigations. (RFE/RL, based on reporting by the Associated Press, Bloomberg.com, UNIAN and Interfax)

Former mayoral candidate arrested 

KYIV – Security forces in Ukraine have arrested Hennadiy Korban, who ran unsuccessfully for mayor of Kyiv last month. Officials say Mr. Korban, who is the head of the UKROP party and who is a close associate of former Dnipropetrovsk governor and oligarch Ihor Kolomoyskiy, was arrested in Dnipropetrovsk on October 31 on suspicion of participating in an organized crime group. UKROP issued a statement saying that the arrest and searches of the party’s offices and the homes of party officials were an act of “political repression.” Mr. Korban is accused of involvement in several kidnappings when he served as deputy governor of Dnipropetrovsk in 2014-2015. He is also accused of stealing about $1.7 million from a fund earmarked for Ukrainian soldiers fighting against Russia-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine. About 500 security officers were involved in the operation, and an unknown number of other arrests were also made. Mr. Kolomoyskiy, Ukraine’s second-richest man, served briefly as head of Dnipropetrovsk Oblast and was credited with preventing the spread of separatist sentiment in the region. But President Petro Poroshenko dismissed him in 2015, accusing him of setting up a private militia and trying to take over a state-affiliated oil company. (RFE/RL, based on reporting by Agence France-Presse and The Kyiv Post)

Countering propaganda: long-term effort 

WASHINGTON – A State Department official has said U.S. efforts to counter misinformation and propaganda generated by the Kremlin will be a long-term effort that includes bolstering independent media in Eastern Europe and Eurasia. Benjamin Ziff, deputy assistant secretary of state for European and Eurasian affairs, told a Senate Foreign Relations subcommittee that the Obama administration had proposed a 26 percent increase – to $83 million – in funding for the coming fiscal year for civil society groups and independent media “in countries most vulnerable to Russian pressure.” He testified at the November 3 hearing that “The free flow of reliable information is our best defense.” Mr. Ziff added, “We view this work against the Kremlin propaganda as not necessarily a short-term effort; this is a medium- and long-term effort to make sure there is no fertile ground in Europe or Eurasia for the kind of efforts they are doing.” He also said the U.S. administration has not ruled out supplying lethal weaponry and military equipment to Ukraine’s military, and he added that the administration was considering prolonging economic sanctions again Russia if the provisions of the Minsk ceasefire agreement aren’t fully implemented in eastern Ukraine. (RFE/RL)

Kyiv: Depot fire might be terrorist act 

KYIV – Ukrainian officials say a fire that caused multiple explosions at an ammunition depot that killed two people is being investigated as a “terrorist act.” The Defense Ministry said on October 30 that the string of blasts took place at a military complex in the town of Svatove, about 100 kilometers from territory in the Luhansk region controlled by pro-Russian separatists. The ministry said in a statement that a fire started after a flare landed in the complex “from outside the base” and this led to several explosions. It did not say whom it suspected of the alleged attack. Vladislav Deinego, a separatist representative in Luhansk, said the separatists had “nothing to do” with the incident. Video showed huge clouds of smoke billowing up from the depot, which reportedly contained some 3,500 tons of ammunition. The two people killed were civilians. Four other people and four soldiers were also injured in the incident. The incident comes as a thorough ceasefire continues, allowing for the withdrawal of heavy weapons from the front line. More than 7,900 people have been killed in fighting in eastern Ukraine since April 2014. (RFE/RL, based on reporting by Reuters and Interfax)

Law allows foreigners in armed forces 

KYIV – Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has signed into law a bill that allows foreign citizens to serve in Ukraine’s armed forces. The legislation, which had been passed by the Verkhovna Rada in Kyiv on October 6, allows foreigners a legal possibility to serve under a contract in the Ukrainian armed forces and other military formations. A statement from the president’s office said the law “will increase the combat capability of Ukraine’s military forces” by receiving “several combat-capable, experienced and motivated battalion-level units with a total number of up to 1,000 personnel.” Mr. Poroshenko’s office said the influx of foreigners also would “help reduce the need for the conscription of Ukrainian citizens as part of mobilization” in response to fighting with Russian-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine. (Crimean Desk of RFE/RL’s Ukrainian Service, with reporting by Interfax and 1+1 TV)

Forbes: Putin ranked as most powerful

NEW YORK – Russian President Vladimir Putin takes the top spot out of 73 on Forbes’ seventh annual ranking of “The World’s Most Powerful People” (November 23 issue of Forbes magazine) for the third year in a row. German Chancellor Angela Merkel (No. 2) moved up three spots from last year, while President Barack Obama (No. 3) dropped one spot, making it the first year a sitting U.S. president has not made it into the top two. Pope Francis (No. 4) retained his place this year, ahead of General Secretary of China’s Communist Party Xi Jinping (No. 5), who fell two spots. Rounding out the top 10 are Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation Co-chair Bill Gates (No. 6), Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen (No. 7), U.K. Prime Minister David Cameron (No. 8), India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi (No. 9) and Alphabet CEO Larry Page (No. 10). Others on this year’s list include U.S. presidential candidate Hillary Clinton (No. 58), a returnee who was No. 16 in 2011 and ahead of husband and Clinton Global Initiative founder Bill Clinton (No. 64); Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau (No. 69); and entrepreneur and U.S. presidential candidate Donald Trump (No. 72). Thirty-eight percent, 28 of the 73 on the list of the world’s most powerful, are billionaires. Eight are from China, four from Japan, four from Russia, three each from India and France. Thirty are from the U.S. Nine out of the 73 are women, the same number as last year. (Business Wire)

Ukraine may stop buying Russian gas

KYIV – Ukrainian authorities said they will buy natural gas from Russia until the end of the year, but will purchase all Ukraine’s gas from Europe in the first quarter of 2016 if Russia does not offer a competitive price. “We expect and hope that Russian gas sellers will be rational and propose competitive prices to us,” Naftohaz Ukrainy Chief Executive Andriy Kobolev said at a company briefing in Kyiv November 3. “If there is no such offer we will be purchasing all gas from Europe,” he said. Mr. Kobolev said that no additional agreement needs to be signed on first quarter gas purchases, as it is possible for Ukraine to act in the framework of documents signed earlier this year. He added that Naftohaz Ukrainy is expecting “a serious fall” in gas prices, starting in the second quarter of next year. (RFE/RL, based on reporting by Reuters, Interfax and TASS)

Trial date for alleged Russian soldiers 

KYIV – A court in Kyiv has set the date for the trial of two alleged Russian soldiers detained in Ukraine’s east. A Kyiv court said on November 3 that the trial of Aleksandr Aleksandrov and Yevgeny Yerofeyev will start on November 10. It also prolonged the two suspects’ detention until January. Both deny charges of terrorism. In a video published in May, Messrs. Aleksandrov and Yerofeyev said they were on active duty with the Russian military in eastern Ukraine when they were captured on May 16. Moscow says the two men were no longer employed by the state when they were captured. Russia denies accusations by Kyiv and the West that it is providing weapons, training, and personnel to pro-Russian rebels in eastern Ukraine who are involved in a conflict that has killed more than 7,900 people since April 2014. (RFE/RL, based on reporting by UNIAN and Interfax)

Separatists lift ban on U.N. agencies 

MOSCOW – Russian-backed separatists in Ukraine’s Luhansk region have agreed to lift a ban on humanitarian aid deliveries by United Nations agencies, an official with the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe said October 27. “Today I announce with satisfaction that according to the information we have received, the U.N. agencies can work in some areas of the Luhansk region,” said OSCE mediator Martin Sajdik. He said he hoped that separatists in the Donetsk region would soon follow suit. Separatists last month had ordered U.N. agencies such as the World Food Program working in Luhansk to leave the area by September 25, citing their failure to meet accreditation requirements. The Luhansk ban was followed last week by a similar ban imposed by pro-Russian separatists in the Donetsk region. The bans have included private charities as well, such as Doctors Without Borders, which operates a unique anti-tuberculosis program in Donetsk prisons. The Donetsk separatists spared the International Committee of the Red Cross and the Czech Republic’s People in Need, however. The easing of the ban on humanitarian groups by Luhansk separatists comes after Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko criticized the measures and a new round of European-organized peace talks began in Minsk October 27. Despite the puzzling move to oust charity groups that offer in some cases irreplaceable medical care and other services, Russia and the Russian-backed separatists have blamed Ukraine for the growing humanitarian crisis in separatist-held areas. Russian Foreign Affairs Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova earlier this month blamed the crisis on “the military operation and trade and economic blockade imposed by Kyiv on the rebel regions.” The United Nations estimates that the Ukrainian conflict has killed more than 7,900 people and displaced 1.5 million. (RFE/RL, with reporting by Agence France-Presse and TASS)

Russian OSCE monitor says too much 

KYIV – A Russian member of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe’s (OSCE) Special Monitoring Mission in eastern Ukraine has lost his job after revealing his bias. The Ukrainian-language TSN news channel, a partner of Ukraine Today, on October 27 aired video footage of a man identified as Maksim Udovichenko revealing his past as a Russian military officer and giving locals his opinion on the situation in Ukraine. In one video, he is seen speaking to an elderly woman in a city identified as Severodonetsk, a government-controlled city in eastern Ukraine. “This is all rubbish, you know, your Ukraine is rubbish,” he says. “There is the great Russia, you know. It stands near.” In another, an apparently drunk and secretly recorded Mr. Udovichenko is shown telling unseen individuals inside a hotel room that he is a retired lieutenant colonel with the Special Purpose Forces, known as Spetsnaz, and served as a commander of a military unit in Chechnya in 1994. Holding a bottle of beer, Mr. Udovichenko says he retired from the Russian army in 2010, and also explains the circumstance of how he came to be an OSCE monitor. The Special Monitoring Mission to Ukraine issued a statement on its Facebook page shortly after the TSN report aired, announcing that, “following an incident in Severodonetsk last week of highly inappropriate behavior,” immediate steps were taken to “separate the individual from the mission.” The OSCE says Mr. Udovichenko was fired immediately after the report appeared for the violation of the organization’s Code of Conduct. “The Code of Conduct violation [in his case] was the abuse of alcohol and also the Code of Conduct requires all monitors to act with the highest standards of professionalism and impartiality,” the mission’s spokesman Michael Bociurkiw told RFE/RL by telephone. “His unacceptable conduct was observed and action was immediately taken to separate him from the mission, so he is no longer part of our mission,” Mr. Bociurkiw added. He said that the OSCE mission in Ukraine has nearly 600 monitors from more than 40 countries, including about 35 observers from Russia; more than 50 percent of the monitors are former military personnel and members of law enforcement agencies. “It would be very unfortunate if the conduct of one individual tarnished the reputation of the mission and entire work of monitors,” Mr. Bociurkiw said. (RFE/RL)

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