U.S. Accuses Russia Of Stoking Conflict In Ukraine
By RFE/RL
The United States has accused Russia of stoking the conflict in Ukraine by disregarding its commitments under peace accords.
The U.S. State Department said in a statement on February 13 that Russia continues to deny its direct involvement in the violence that erupted in April 2014 and has seen more than 10,300 people killed by fighting between Kyiv's forces and the separatists who control parts of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions.
Cease-fire deals announced as part of the Minsk accords -- September 2014 and February 2015 pacts aimed to resolve the conflict -- have failed to hold.
“Sadly, Russia continues to disregard its commitments under the Minsk agreements, stoking a hot conflict in Ukraine,” the statement said.
Earlier in the day, Ukraine said one of its soldiers had been killed and two wounded in clashes in the country's east.
The Defense Ministry added that Russia-backed separatists violated a frequently breached cease-fire 11 times during the previous 24 hours, firing machine guns, grenade launchers, and mortars.
Meanwhile, the separatists claimed that Ukrainian government forces violated the cease-fire nine times using the same types of weapons.
A new cease-fire agreement was reached in late 2017 and was meant to begin on December 23, but both sides have accused each other of repeated violations since then.
Since Russia’s annexation of Crimea and the outbreak of fighting in eastern Ukraine, the United States and the European Union have imposed asset freezes, travel bans, and related financial restrictions on a number of Russian people and companies, as well as separatist leaders in the region.
On January 26, the U.S. government hit 21 people and nine companies linked to the conflict with new economic sanctions in the latest effort by Washington to put pressure on groups most actively involved in the nearly 4-year-old conflict.
“Working closely with France and Germany, the United States continues to urge the Russian government to cease its aggression in Ukraine,” the U.S. State Department statement said.
“The United States takes this opportunity to reiterate that our sanctions will remain in place until Russia fully implements its commitments under the Minsk agreements. Our separate Crimea-related sanctions will remain in place until Russia returns the peninsula to Ukraine,” it added.
With reporting by Interfax and TASS
Odesa Mayor Detained At Airport In Embezzlement Probe
By RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service
The mayor of the Ukrainian Black Sea port city of Odesa, Hennadiy Trukhanov, has been detained upon arrival from abroad on suspicion of embezzlement.
Officials at Boryspil international airport told RFE/RL that Trukhanov was detained by border guards and handed over to officers of the National Anticorruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) after his flight arrived from Warsaw on February 14.
In a February 13 statement, NABU said that Trukhanov had been officially informed that he is a suspect in an investigation into suspected embezzlement.
It said that a deputy mayor and two Odesa City Council members were also informed that they were suspects in the case.
Trukhanov had been away from his office for 50 days. His press service said on February 14 that he had to cut short a business trip to the Czech Republic and "return to Ukraine to take part in the ongoing investigation."
It said Trukhanov would make a public comment later.
Trukhanov returned to Ukraine a day after former Odesa region Governor Mikheil Saakashvili was deported from Ukraine, whose government says he was in the country illegally after being stripped of his citizenship in 2017 by President Petro Poroshenko.
As governor, Saakashvili accused Trukhanov of corruption and pledged to bring him to justice. But he quit in 2016, accusing Poroshenko's government of undermining his efforts to fight corruption and carry out reforms.
Last autumn, NABU said it searched Trukhanov's office, his residence, and premises of the Odesa City Council.
Trukhanov said at the time that the investigators searched not his apartment but that of his ex-wife.
Here is today's map of the security situation in eastern Ukraine, according to the National Security and Defense Council (CLICK TO ENLARGE):
Putin Personally Ordered Crimea Annexation, Ex-Duma Deputy Testifies
By RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service
KYIV – A Russian former lawmaker has testified before a Kyiv court that Russian President Vladimir Putin personally ordered the annexation of Ukraine’s Crimea region in 2014.
Speaking at the trial of Ukraine’s ex-President Viktor Yanukovych, Ilya Ponomaryov said on February 14 that he “knows for sure” Putin pushed forward the seizure of Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula in the night of February 22.
That’s when Russia-friendly Yanukovych fled from Ukraine to Russia amid massive pro-European protests known as Euromaidan or Maidan.
According to Ponomaryov, many Russian officials were against the March 2014 annexation of Crimea but Putin pressured them to support the idea.
"Putin watched the Maidan events and realized that the man he was supporting was losing. And therefore he had to personally take care of his evacuation and save his life. Putin saw all of that as a betrayal by the international community, as an interference into his personal interests," the ex-lawmaker said.
Ponomaryov, the lone State Duma representative to vote against the March 2014 annexation of Crimea from Ukraine, has been living in the Ukrainian capital since 2015.
Ukrainian prosecutors are seeking life imprisonment for Yanukovych, who is accused of treason, violating Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity, and abetting Russian aggression.
After he fled, Russia seized control of Crimea and fomented opposition to the central government in eastern Ukraine, where an ensuing war between government forces and Russia-backed separatists has killed more than 10,300 people since April 2014.