July 8, 2016

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Groysman predicts EU membership

KYIV – Ukrainian Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman has predicted Ukraine will join the European Union within the next 10 years. In an interview with a German newspaper published on July 1, Mr. Groysman said Ukraine’s Association Agreement with the EU will serve as a catalyst for reforms in Ukraine. “We are going the European way and that means for us: freedom, human rights and a strong economy,” he told the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung. “We should bring our norms in compliance with EU norms. A lot has been already done, especially in battling corruption. For example, we have created a transparent public procurement system,” he added. Mr. Groysman said his country still believed strongly in the bloc, despite Britain’s recent vote to leave. “I respect the right of a sovereign state to take such a decision,” he said. “But I still think that achievements should be protected.” (RFE/RL, based on reporting by AFP and Ukraine Today)

EU officially extends sanctions 

BRUSSELS – The European Union has officially decided to extend its economic sanctions against Russia to January 31, 2017. The decision to roll over the measures was made by EU ambassadors already last week, but Italy slowed down the confirmation process and insisted that the final decision be taken after the EU summit in Brussels on June 28-29. The decision was finally taken by a so-called written procedure in which all the EU member states capitals had to approve the prolongation within a specific time frame that ended on July 1. The decision was published in the EU official journal on July 2. The sanctions, which hit Russia’s energy and banking sector and also target specific Russian politicians, were first adopted by Brussels in June and July 2014 after Russia’s forcible annexation of Crimea and its intervention in eastern Ukraine. (RFE/RL)

U.S., Georgia deepen military ties

TBILISI – The United States and Georgia plan to deepen their military cooperation as Secretary of State John Kerry underscored Washington’s commitment to supporting Georgia in its long-running standoff with two separatist regions backed by Russia. The two allies signed a new military cooperation agreement during Mr. Kerry’s July 6 visit to Georgia – his first to the Caucasus nation as secretary of state. The signing came two days before a major NATO summit in Poland, where Russian actions in Eastern Europe will be a major topic of discussion. “The United States remains steadfast in our support of Georgia’s sovereignty and territorial integrity,” Mr. Kerry said. “Russia’s occupation and militarization of parts of Georgia’s territory are unacceptable.” Russia has backed the separatist Georgian territories of Abkhazia and South Ossetia and recognized both as sovereign nations following a brief 2008 war with Tbilisi. The U.S. secretary of state demanded that Russia, which maintains troops in both Abkhazia and South Ossetia, adhere to the truce ending the 2008 war. The memorandum signed by Secretary Kerry and Georgian Prime Minister Giorgi Kvirikashvili pledges a “deepening [of] the defense and security relationship” between Washington and Tbilisi by giving Georgia access to additional U.S. military equipment, intelligence, and training. It also aims to boost Georgia’s cybersecurity and modernize the country’s security forces to enable their greater integration with NATO, which Georgia aspires to join. Moscow has objected fiercely to Georgia’s bid for membership in NATO, which said in 2008 that Tbilisi would eventually join the military alliance. Progress toward NATO ascension for Georgia has stalled, however, sparking frustration among top officials in Tbilisi who say that alliance members are hindering the process due to fears of an angry Russian reaction. This, Georgian officials say, essentially gives the Kremlin veto power on who can join NATO. Mr. Kerry pledged that the alliance would reaffirm its promise of Georgian membership but could not provide a timeline for its accession. Mr. Kerry was to travel on July 7 to Kyiv, where he was expected to discuss ways of ending Ukraine’s continuing war against Russia-backed separatists in the east of the country. (RFE/RL, based on reporting by AP and Reuters)

NATO-Russia meeting expected 

BRUSSELS – NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg says the alliance is set to hold formal talks with Russia shortly after a summit in Warsaw this week, which is expected to deepen tensions with Moscow. The NATO-Russia Council last met in April – after a hiatus of almost two years – but the talks ended in “profound disagreements” over Ukraine and other issues. “The NATO-Russia Council has an important role to play as a forum for dialogue” and could “increase predictability,” Mr. Stoltenberg told reporters on July 4, ahead of the two-day summit that starts on July 8. “That is why we are working with Russia to hold another meeting of the council shortly after the summit,” he added. The secretary-general said the alliance and Russia weren’t able to agree to hold a meeting before the summit, as NATO had wanted. Among other issues, the Warsaw summit is expected to discuss the deployment of four 1,000-strong battalions in Poland and former Soviet republics of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania, beefing up NATO’s presence closer to Russia’s borders. Relations between NATO and Russia have reached their lowest point since the Cold War over Moscow’s annexation of Crimea from Ukraine in 2014 and its role in the military conflict in eastern Ukraine. (RFE/RL, based on reporting by DPA and AFP)

Ukraine arrests four Berkut officers 

KYIV – Ukrainian authorities have arrested four former officers of the Berkut riot police for their alleged role in the violent dispersal of pro-European protesters in Kyiv in early 2014. Larysa Sarhan, a spokeswoman for Ukraine’s Prosecutor General’s Office, said on June 24 that the four suspects were serving on Ukraine’s national police force at the time of their arrest on June 23. The four are alleged to have used violent force to disperse protesters in Kyiv on February 18, 2014, during the final days of pro-Russia former President Viktor Yanukovych’s rule. They have been charged with abuse of power, attempted murder, and illegally preventing citizens from gathering and demonstrating. One of the suspects was also charged with the premeditated murder of more than one person. More than 100 people were killed in and around Kyiv’s central Independence Square, known as the Maidan, from February 18 to 20, 2014. (RFE/RL, based on reporting by UNIAN and Interfax)

Ukrainian soldiers reported killed

KYIV – Ukraine says three of its servicemen have been killed and 13 wounded in clashes in the country’s east. Military spokesman Andriy Lysenko said on July 5 that government forces suffered losses in the previous 24 hours across various parts of the 500-kilometer front line splitting the separatist-held areas from the rest of Ukraine. Col. Lysenko said the worst fighting centered on the separatist stronghold of Donetsk and the southeastern government-controlled city of Mariupol. On July 1, Col. Lysenko had reported that one Ukrainian soldier had been killed and four wounded in attacks over the past 24 hours by Russia-backed separatists in the east of the country. The conflict in eastern Ukraine has killed more than 9,300 people since April 2014 and NATO warned last week that the internationally monitored cease-fire there was barely holding. In a statement on June 29, Ivan Simonovic, head of the United Nations human rights chief’s office in New York, warned of a possible “re-escalation of wide-scale hostilities if urgent action is not taken to separate sides and remove heavy weaponry.” (RFE/RL, based on reporting by Interfax and AP)

Ukraine, Moldova committed to EU 

KYIV – Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has said in the aftermath of Britain’s vote to leave the European Union that he “expects the sanctions against Russia as a country-aggressor” to be extended. On June 24, Mr. Poroshenko linked European unity to the sanctions that Brussels has imposed against Russia for its role in Ukraine’s crisis. He said, “Today, the current challenge for the European Union is to find a way to the hearts of Euroskeptics so as not to allow a single chance to the opponents of the Euro-integration project.” In 2014, despite pressure from Russia, Ukraine signed an Association Agreement with the EU as part of its bid to eventually join the bloc. Meanwhile, Moldova’s pro-EU Prime Minister Pavel Filip on June 24 called Britain’s vote to leave the EU a “sad day for Europe.” Mr. Filip said Moldova remained committed to joining the EU, “despite the result in the U.K., because we trust the EU as a successful project.” Moldova also signed an Association Agreement with the EU in 2014. (RFE/RL, based on reporting by AP, Reuters and Unimedia.md)

FBI and NABU sign memorandum

KYIV – On June 29, Acting Deputy Assistant Director Mathew S. Moon of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and Director Artem Sytnyk of the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to strengthen existing cooperation between the agencies as they pursue anti-corruption initiatives. The memorandum establishes that the FBI and NABU will work together on crimes related to international money laundering, international asset recovery, and Ukrainian high-level official bribery and corruption. The memorandum sets out the framework for cooperation between the agencies in combating these crimes of mutual interest. The participants intend to implement the MOU in the spirit of partnership and cooperation in addressing the corruption problem. (U.S. Embassy Kyiv)

Ukraine, Eurojust sign agreement

OTTAWA – Ukraine and the European Organization for Justice (Eurojust) signed an agreement on cooperation on June 27. President Petro Poroshenko’s press service reported: “The conclusion of the agreement is a criterion of the plan of actions on the liberalization of the visa regime by the EU. It meets the intentions of Ukraine and the EU to develop relations in the sphere of justice and internal affairs. The entry into force of the agreement will create a legal framework for the use of Eurojust capabilities by Ukraine and provides real efficiency for competent authorities of Ukraine and the EU in the investigation and prosecution of serious crimes of transnational character, such as terrorism, drug trafficking, human trafficking, corruption, cybercrime, money laundering, fraud and other crimes involving cross-border criminal organizations.” (Ukrainian Canadian Congress Daily Briefing)

Poroshenko emphasizes security conditions

OTTAWA – Addressing Ukraine’s Parliament on June 28, on the occasion of Constitution Day, President Petro Poroshenko stated, “A full and lasting ceasefire must be implemented. Russia – the aggressor state, the occupying state – must withdraw its armies, weapons and materiel from Ukraine’s territory. The OSCE Special Monitoring Mission must have full access to all territory not under Ukrainian control, and also establish complete monitoring of the temporarily uncontrolled section of the Ukrainian-Russian border. Further, there must be a real disarming of all illegal groups on this territory.” He also said, “An important guarantee against armed provocations and of the implementation of a ceasefire, as well as the security of a future election process should be an armed OSCE police mission” and that local elections must be held “not under the guns of militants, but held according to Ukrainian law and OSCE criteria.” The president stated: “Only when these conditions are met will I be ready to appeal to the Parliament to vote for amendments [to the Constitution on decentralization] in second reading. And I want to reassure you – this will not be today, not tomorrow, …but when all security conditions are met.” Mr. Poroshenko also made it clear that in addition to the de-occupation of the Donbas, “the issue of the return of Crimea is on the agenda.” (Ukrainian Canadian Congress Daily Briefing)

Putin hints at troop movements

MOSCOW – President Vladimir Putin has indicated that Russia would move troops toward its border with Finland if the Nordic country became a member of NATO, whose eastward expansion since the fall of the Soviet Union has long angered the Kremlin. “Finnish forces would cease being independent, cease being sovereign in the full sense of that word,” Mr. Putin said after a July 1 meeting in Finland with President Sauli Niinisto. “They would become part of NATO’s military infrastructure, which overnight would be at the borders of the Russian Federation.” Mr. Putin added: “Do you think that we will continue as before by keeping our troops 1,500 [kilometers] away?” His comments came ahead of next week’s NATO summit in Warsaw that Mr. Niinisto has been invited to attend. Alliance members are expected to endorse a larger deployment of alliance military forces to Eastern Europe. NATO says the planned increase of forces on its eastern flank is in response to Russian aggression in Eastern Europe, including its 2014 seizure and annexation of Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula and the ongoing war between Russia-backed separatists and Kyiv’s military in eastern Ukraine. Finland has said it will continue to participate in NATO exercises and decide for itself whether or not to join the alliance. (RFE/RL, with reporting by RIA Novosti, Interfax, Reuters and Yle.fi)

OSCE PA resolution on sanctions 

TBILISI – At the Tbilisi Session (July 1-5), the Parliamentary Assembly of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) adopted resolutions in which it: “Underlines respect for the principles of the inviolability of frontiers and territorial integrity, peaceful settlement of disputes, equal rights and self-determination of peoples as stated in the Helsinki Final Act, and calls on the Russian Federation to restrain its aggressive practices and reverse the illegal annexation of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea. The OSCE PA also said it: “Recognizes that the duration of political and economic sanctions imposed against the Russian Federation for its illegal occupation and attempted annexation of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol, and armed intervention in certain areas of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions of Ukraine, is directly related to an end being brought to the illegal occupation of the Crimean peninsula of Ukraine and full implementation by the Russian Federation of its commitments under the Minsk Agreements.” (Ukrainian Canadian Congress Daily Briefing)

Ukraine receives counter-battery radars

KYIV – The United States delivered 14 counter-battery radars to the armed forces of Ukraine on July 2. Attending the transfer ceremony, Ukraine’s President Petro Poroshenko stated: “Today’s event is an additional step towards the enhancement of our interaction with American partners the purpose of which is to improve Ukraine’s defense capacity. This step is only a small part of military-technical assistance provided by the U.S. government to Ukraine this year.” He added, “We sincerely hope that our cooperation will be further increased. I am confident that investment in security and defense of Ukraine is an additional investment in European security and defense. For we are defending not only our territorial integrity and independence, but also freedom and democracy of the entire European continent.” (Ukrainian Canadian Congress Daily Briefing)

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