August 25, 2017

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Volker meets with Surkov in Minsk 

MINSK – The new U.S. special envoy for efforts to end the conflict in eastern Ukraine, Kurt Volker, has met with a Kremlin aide in the Belarusian capital, Minsk. The Belarusian Foreign Affairs Ministry said on Twitter that Ambassador Volker and Vladislav Surkov, an aide to Russian President Vladimir Putin and the Kremlin’s point man for the conflict in eastern Ukraine, met behind closed doors. The U.S. State Department announced on August 18 that Ambassador Volker and the Russian representative would discuss “Russian-Ukrainian relations.” After the meeting, Mr. Surkov said his discussion with Ambassador Volker was “useful and constructive,” Russian news agencies reported. There was no immediate comment from Ambassador Volker. The U.S. envoy’s talks with Mr. Surkov kicked off three days of U.S. diplomacy on the war between Russia-backed separatists and government forces in eastern Ukraine, which has killed more than 10,000 people since April 2014. From Minsk, Ambassador Volker headed to the Lithuanian capital, Vilnius, to meet with senior government officials on August 22 to discuss “the way forward in Ukraine,” the State Department said. On August 23, Ambassador Volker was to join U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis in meetings with senior Ukrainian government officials to discuss “the next steps in diplomatic negotiations to restore Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity,” the department said. U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson named Mr. Volker, a former U.S. ambassador to NATO, as the U.S. special representative for Ukraine negotiations in July. In an interview with Current Time TV in July, Ambassador Volker said that ending the fighting will require agreement by all sides on two major principles – the “territorial integrity of Ukraine, security of all the people” – and a change in Russia’s approach. Current Time TV is the Russian-language network, run by RFE/RL in cooperation with VOA. He said that the United States is considering sending Kyiv weapons to help government forces defend themselves against Russia-backed separatists. To date, the United States has provided only nonlethal military aid. Relations between Moscow and Washington have been driven to a post-Cold War low by disagreements over issues including Russia’s aggression in Ukraine, its role in the war in Syria, and its alleged interference in the U.S. presidential election in 2016. (RFE/RL)

Surkov: ‘Fresh ideas’ were discussed

MINSK – Kremlin aide Vladislav Surkov has made upbeat remarks after talking with the new U.S. special envoy for efforts to end the conflict in eastern Ukraine, saying they discussed “fresh ideas” in a “constructive” meeting. U.S. Ambassador Kurt Volker met with Mr. Surkov, Russian President Vladimir Putin’s point man for the conflict in eastern Ukraine, behind closed doors in the Belarusian capital, Minsk, on August 21. “The meeting was useful and constructive,” Mr. Surkov told Russian reporters afterward. “The two sides proposed fresh ideas and novel approaches” for implementing the February 2015 Minsk agreement. That deal set out steps to end the war and resolve the status of the portion of the Donbas region held by Russia-backed separatists, but progress toward implementation has been very slow. “We agreed that the peace process on the political track, as well as in the sphere of security, can and should go faster” and that the current situation in Ukraine is unacceptable, Mr. Surkov said. Ambassador Volker did not comment after the meeting. (RFE/RL, with reporting by Reuters and Interfax)

Putin visits Russia-annexed Crimea 

KYIV – Russian President Vladimir Putin on August 18 visited the city of Sevastopol in Crimea, triggering an angry rebuke from Kyiv, which accused him of disregarding international law by traveling to the Ukrainian peninsula seized by Moscow three years ago. Mr. Putin’s visit included a trip to a memorial complex honoring a coastal battery that defended Sevastopol during World War II, where he and Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev placed flowers and met with members of the Night Wolves, a pro-Kremlin biker movement. The trip is at least the ninth visit by Mr. Putin to Crimea since it was annexed by Russia in March 2014. Both the United States and the European Union have hit Moscow with several waves of sanctions over the land grab and Russia’s backing of separatists in eastern Ukraine. The Ukrainian Foreign Affairs Ministry denounced the latest Putin visit in an August 18 statement, condemning it as a “gross violation of Ukraine’s state sovereignty and territorial integrity.” The ministry added that it had delivered a note of protest to the Russian Foreign Affairs Ministry over what it called Moscow’s “cynical and demonstrative disregard” for “generally accepted norms of international law.” In March 2014, the United Nations General Assembly passed a resolution declaring that the Russian-orchestrated referendum on Crimea’s secession from Ukraine was invalid and urging the international community “not to recognize any alteration of the status” of the peninsula. The measure passed by a vote of 100-11 with 58 abstentions. “Crimea and the city of Sevastopol are and will remain an integral part of Ukraine within its internationally recognized borders,” the Ukrainian Foreign Affairs Ministry said. (RFE/RL, with reporting by TASS)

Veterinarians to treat Chornobyl’s stray dogs 

BOSTON – A Boston-based international animal-welfare group says it is sending a veterinary team to Ukraine to treat dogs near the site of the 1986 Chornobyl nuclear disaster. The Four Paws group said  on August 20 that hundreds of descendants of abandoned dogs in the Chornobyl area are wandering in and around the destroyed reactor and many live in areas with radioactive contamination, including in the ghost city of Prypiat. The veterinarians will join a group of other experts already in the region to provide rabies vaccinations, medical treatment and neutering services to dogs living within the so-called exclusion zone. “Due to wild animals who also live within the exclusion zone, the stray dogs are often infected with rabies, posing a risk to people who work at the plant,” the group said. The dogs survived despite what was called “open season,” when soldiers were allowed to hunt the animals after the nuclear disaster, the group said. “Originally, the dogs retreated to the surrounding woods after the exclusion zone was established, but packs of wolves and food scarcity forced them back to the abandoned city and toward the still-active nuclear plant,” said Julie Sanders, Four Paws international director of companion animals. “There, the workers began to feed the dogs and they have stayed ever since,” she said. The explosion and fire at the Chornobyl plant on April 26, 1986, was the world’s worst civilian nuclear accident and has left radioactivity levels high in areas around the plant. Work has been under way since 2010 to build a massive shelter over the damaged reactor and seal in about 200 tons of uranium thought to be still there. (RFE/RL)

Yanukovych’s state-appointed lawyer quits

KYIV – The state-appointed lawyer defending former Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych in his in-absentia treason trial has quit. Vitaliy Meshechek told the judge at a hearing on August 17 that he was withdrawing, citing the “particular difficulty” of the case and saying he could not handle it properly without assistants. Judge Vladyslav Devyatko accepted Mr. Meshechek’s decision and said a new lawyer would be appointed to represent Mr. Yanukovych, who dismissed his own lawyers on July 6 and announced that he would not take part in what he called a politically motivated trial. Mr. Yanukovych abandoned office in late February 2014 and fled to Russia in the face of protests triggered by his decision to scrap plans for a landmark deal with the European Union and improve trade ties with Moscow instead. Dozens of people were killed when his government attempted to clamp down on the pro-European protests known as the Euro-Maidan. Prosecutors are seeking life imprisonment for Mr. Yanukovych, who is accused of treason, violating Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, and abetting Russian aggression. After he fled, Russia seized Ukraine’s Crimean peninsula and fomented opposition to the central government in eastern Ukraine, where the ensuing war between Kyiv’s forces and Russia-backed separatists has killed more than 10,000 people. At the hearing on August 17, the judge said that Mr. Yanukovych will be invited to participate in the trial again by means of an announcement in the media, the court’s website, and letters to be sent to all known addresses for Mr. Yanukovych, including those in Russia. Judge Devyatko reiterated a previous ruling saying that Mr. Yanukovych can take part in the trial via video-link. Mr. Yanukovych’s lawyers have insisted that the court must formally ask Russia, where Mr. Yanukovych has been residing since February 2014, for assistance to set up a video-link for their client. The court has rejected the request, saying that Mr. Yanukovych can take part via any video-link available on the Internet – meaning that a formal request is not needed. Judge Devyatko adjourned the trial until September 6 and announced the dates of 12 more hearings for the period from September 7 to October 26. (RFE/RL, with reporting by UNIAN and ukranews.com)

Ukraine cites incendiary attack 

KYIV – Officials in Ukraine have accused Russia-backed separatists of firing on the settlement of Zaitseve, in a government-controlled part of the Donbas region. Ukrainian military officials said on August 20 that the settlement came under fire late on August 19. Incendiary weapons caused fires that destroyed several homes and other property. No injuries were reported. Ukrainian forces did not return fire because of a cease-ire that is in place, officials said. According to the United Nations, nearly 10,000 people, including 2,700 civilians, have been killed in the conflict since early 2014. Nearly 24,000 people have been injured and more than 1.7 million people have been displaced. (RFE/RL’s Ukrainian Service, with reporting by Current Time television)

Russia to buy trains from Siemens 

MOSCOW – Russia’s state railway monopoly plans to order additional trains from Siemens despite a recent scandal over Moscow’s delivery of four of the German company’s turbines to Crimea in violation of sanctions, Russian news agencies report. Siemens said last month it was reviewing its dealings with Russia after it discovered the power-generating turbines intended for use in southern Russia were instead delivered to Crimea in violation of European Union sanctions imposed over Moscow’s illegal annexation of the Ukrainian peninsula in 2014. Siemens said the turbines were delivered without its knowledge and against its wishes. The incident prompted the EU to impose additional sanctions on Moscow. “It will not affect our relationship,” Aleksandr Misharin, Russian Railways first vice-president, told reporters in Dvoriki in the Vladimir region on August 16, adding that the company planned to buy more high-speed Sapsan trains from Siemens. A spokesman for Siemens declined to comment. Russian Railways has been buying trains from Siemens for decades and will receive delivery of 13 Lastochka electric passenger trains this year under previously signed contracts. Siemens has a joint venture in Russia with Dmitry Pumpyansky’s Sinara Group, which supplies Russian Railways with electric locomotives and Lastochka trains. (RFE/RL, based on reporting by Reuters, Interfax, and TASS)

Court refuses to freeze Siemens turbines

MOSCOW – The Arbitration Court of Moscow has declined to place a freeze on gas turbines manufactured by the German firm Siemens that were transferred to the illegally annexed region of Crimea earlier this year. The court on August 20 also agreed to begin hearing Siemens’ suit on September 18. Siemens claims the turbines were illegally transferred to Crimea in violation of European Union sanctions imposed against Russia following its illegal annexation of the Ukrainian region in 2014. Siemens filed the suit on July 11, accusing the firm’s Russian partners of shipping four gas turbines for generating electricity to Crimea after claiming they were to be installed at a plant in Taman. The turbines were manufactured in Russia by a joint project of Siemens and the Russian firm Silovye Mashiny. After it was revealed that the turbines had been shipped to Crimea, the EU introduced a new packet of sanctions targeting three Russian companies that worked with Siemens and three individuals, including Russian Deputy Minister of Energy Andrei Cherezov. (RFE/RL’s Russian Service with reporting by Dozhd TV)

Cabinet OKs public administration reform

OTTAWA – Ukraine’s Cabinet of Ministers on August 17 approved a series of regulations opening the next stage of public administration reform. As part of public service reform, the government is launching an open competition for new positions in 10 pilot ministries and several government agencies. The Cabinet of Ministers stated, “In accordance with the decisions approved by the Cabinet of Ministers, new structural units – policy directorates, as well as strategic planning and European integration directorates will be created in the pilot ministries, focusing on the key function of the ministries – the formation of policies in their spheres of responsibility. Open competitions will be held for the appointment of the heads of directorates.” The Cabinet also said: “The government expects that, due to open competitions, the public service will be replenished by a significant number of new professionals in business, civil society, as well as from the best employees in the public sector. Candidates for all available vacancies will be selected through a transparent competition according to international recruitment standards.” (Ukrainian Canadian Congress Daily Briefing)

EU supports public administration reform

KYIV – The European Union Delegation to Ukraine, in an August 18 statement, noted: “The EU Delegation supports the reorganization of 10 Ukrainian ministries towards a citizen-friendly public administration and a new generation of Ukrainian civil servants.” The statement went on to say: “The EU Delegation welcomes today’s government decision to take steps in reforming the civil service by adopting a number of regulations. This decision represents the first real step to create a modern public administration in Ukraine. An efficient and less bureaucratic civil service is important for succeeding with sectoral reforms and provide better services to Ukrainian citizens. This package of regulations will introduce profound changes to the way ministries work today. The new approach foresees the reorganization of 10 pilot ministries and creating new directorate-generals. Their role will be to work on making the reforms a reality and implement the EU-Ukraine Association Agreement.” The EU said it “supports a full and comprehensive public administration reform and welcomes the commitment of the government, and in particular the personal leadership of Prime Minister [Volodymyr] Groysman to create an efficient and citizen-friendly public administration for the benefit of Ukrainian citizens. The EU provides dedicated assistance of more than 100 million euros for public administration reform conditional upon fulfilling specific requirements essential for the reform to succeed between 2017-2020.” (Ukrainian Canadian Congress Daily Briefing)

Ukrainian climber dies on Mont Blanc 

CHAMONIX, France – A 42-year-old climber from Ukraine has died on Mont Blanc in the Alps during an attempt to scale Western Europe’s highest peak, rescue teams say. Officials on August 19 said the man had become trapped in a storm on the 4,810-meter mountain on the French-Italian border. His identity was not immediately released. The mountain unit of the gendarmerie in nearby Chamonix, France, said the man had “lost track of where he was” and sent out a distress message on the night of August 18. “But it was impossible to launch a rescue operation because the mountain was in the middle of major storm,” the gendarmerie said. After the weather improved early on August 19, a search helicopter found the man’s body at about the 4,000-meter level. Several fatalities have been reported in recent weeks of people attempting to scale Mont Blanc. On August 18, French authorities said the body of a 46-year-old Frenchman attempting to climb Mont Blanc was found after he fell into a crevasse. (RFE/RL, based on reporting by AFP, Ouest France, and Chamonix.ne)

Georgia seeks extradition of Saakashvili 

TBILISI – Georgia has requested that Ukraine extradite Mikheil Saakashvili, the former Georgian president and ex-governor of Ukraine’s Odesa Oblast who was stripped of his Ukrainian citizenship last month. The Georgian Prosecutor-General’s Office said on August 18 that it was cooperating with Ukrainian authorities on Mr. Saakashvili’s extradition. The statement came two days after Mr. Saakashvili, who is currently in Poland, announced that he planned to return to Ukraine on September 10 by crossing the Polish-Ukrainian border in Ukraine’s western region of Lviv. President Petro Poroshenko stripped Mr. Saakashvili of his Ukrainian citizenship on July 26, a move that the former Georgian president condemned as an “illegal way to remove me from the political scene in Ukraine.” Ukrainian authorities have said they will bar Mr. Saakashvili from entering the country and will confiscate his passport should he attempt entry. When Mr. Saakashvili was still the Odesa Oblast governor, Kyiv refused to extradite him to Georgia at least twice. Mr. Saakashvili was stripped of his Georgian citizenship in 2015 after he took Ukrainian citizenship in order to become Odesa governor, the post he resigned from in November, saying that the government in Kyiv was sabotaging crucial reforms. Georgia is seeking Mr. Saakashvili’s extradition to face charges related to the violent dispersal of protesters and a raid on a private television station. He says those charges are politically motivated. (RFE/RL, with reporting by Imedi-TV and Interfax)

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