'We Should Never Trust Russia,' Warns U.S. Ambassador To UN
By RFE/RL
WASHINGTON -- The U.S. ambassador to the United Nations says Washington should "never trust Russia," the latest in a series of hawkish statements that have made her a leading Russia critic in President Donald Trump's administration.
The statement by Nikki Haley in a television interview broadcast on March 16 came on the same day that the U.S. State Department issued a stern condemnation of Russia's 2014 annexation of Ukraine’s Crimea territory, which Haley has also publicly denounced.
Haley's comments also came amid the ongoing furor over what U.S. intelligence calls a Kremlin-directed campaign to meddle in last year's presidential election aimed at helping Trump defeat Democratic rival Hillary Clinton.
The Kremlin denies the charge.
After expressing initial skepticism, Trump conceded that he believes Russia was behind a hacking-and-propaganda effort to interfere in the election but that the operation did not influence the outcome of the vote.
Asked by the U.S. television network NBC what Trump should do about Russia's actions, Haley said: "Take it seriously."
"We should never trust Russia," she said, while adding that the United States needs "all the facts" in order to formulate a proper response to Moscow.
NBC asked whether Haley was on the same page with Trump "in terms of your level of distrust for Russia and [President] Vladimir Putin."
"I would not say that,” Haley replied. "I'm not going to talk about where the president is, because I don't know."
Throughout his campaign, Trump spoke positively about Putin and pledged to seek better relations with Russia.
Both Republicans and Democrats in Congress expressed concerns that a potential softer U.S. line on Russia under Trump could effectively give Moscow a pass for its expansionism in Ukraine.
U.S. Denounces Russia's Crimea Annexation On Referendum Anniversary
By Carl Schreck
WASHINGTON -- The United States on March 16 issued a sharp condemnation of Russia’s seizure of Crimea and the referendum that Moscow staged there and later held up as justification for its annexation of the Black Sea peninsula.
The denunciation by the U.S. State Department came on the third anniversary of the referendum organized following the seizure of key government buildings in Crimea by Russian special forces without insignia after former Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych fled to Russia amid mass street protests across the country.
It was also the latest example of the continuation of Washington’s tough public stance on Crimea that President Donald Trump, who has pledged to seek better ties with Moscow, inherited from his predecessor, Barack Obama.
"The United States does not recognize Russia's 'referendum' of March 16, 2014, nor its attempted annexation of Crimea and continued violation of international law," State Department spokesman Mark Toner said in a statement. "We once again reaffirm our commitment to Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity."
Trump said during his campaign that he would like to boost cooperation with Russia on a range of issues, including counterterrorism, and that he would seek to make a deal a "that's great -- not good, great -- for America, but also good for Russia."
Trump’s stated desire for rapprochement with Moscow -- and his suggestion that he could consider lifting sanctions imposed by the Obama administration on Russia in response to the Crimea annexation -- has rattled European allies who fear he could turn a blind eye to Russian expansionism.
Less than two months into Trump’s presidency, however, there is no public indication that his administration is giving ground on Crimea. Senior members of his cabinet -- most notably his ambassador to the UN, Nikki Haley -- have publicly denounced Russian "occupation of the peninsula."
In his March 16 statement, Toner said Washington "again condemns the Russian occupation of Crimea and calls for its immediate end."
"Our Crimea-related sanctions will remain in place until Russia returns control of the peninsula to Ukraine," he said.
Speaking to reporters in Moscow the same day, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov dismissed the possibility that Crimea could be returned to Ukraine under some sort of deal with the United States.
The Trump administration has also continued the Obama administration’s stiff opposition to Russia’s backing of armed separatists in eastern Ukraine in a conflict that has killed more than 9,750 since April 2014.
Earlier on March 16, the European Parliament called on Moscow to free more than two dozen "illegally and arbitrarily detained" Ukrainian citizens, "both in Russia and in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine, and to provide for their safe return."
European Parliament Calls On Russia To Free Ukrainians
By Rikard Jozwiak
The European Parliament is calling on Moscow to free more than 30 Ukrainian citizens who are in prison or other conditions of restricted freedom in Russia, Crimea, and parts of eastern Ukraine that are controlled by Russia-backed separatists.
In a resolution adopted on March 16, the parliament urged Russia to "release without further delay all illegally and arbitrarily detained Ukrainian citizens, both in Russia and in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine, and to provide for their safe return."
It listed 30 people, including filmmaker Oleh Sentsov, who is serving a 20-year sentence in a Russian prison after being convicted of plotting terrorist attacks in a trial supporters called absurd, and reporter Roman Sushchenko, held on suspicion of espionage.
The list, which the parliamentary statement said was not complete, also included several leaders of the Crimean Tatar minority, which rights groups say has faced abuse and discrimination since Russia seized the peninsula from Ukraine in April 2014.
The nonbinding resolution called on Russia "to allow all the above-mentioned people to travel freely, including Mykola Semena, who is being prosecuted for his journalistic work for Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty."
READ MORE: Crimean Journalist Risks Jail By Refusing To Follow Kremlin Line
Semena, an RFE/RL contributor in Crimea, is scheduled to go on trial in a Russian-controlled court there on March 20 on separatism charges based on an article he wrote on his blog that was critical of Moscow’s seizure of the peninsula.
He is barred from leaving Crimea and must request permission to travel outside its capital, Simferopol.
The European Parliament resolution was adopted on the third anniversary of the referendum that Russia staged in Crimea as part of its operation to seize control of the Black Sea peninsula.
The referendum, which came after Moscow sent in troops without insignia to establish control over key facilities, has been dismissed as illegal by Ukraine, the United States, and a total of 100 countries in the UN.
EU lawmakers also called for more sanctions against Russian nationals "responsible for gross human rights violations, including the freezing of assets in EU banks."
Estonian lawmaker Tunne Kelam, speaking before the vote in Strasbourg, said the bloc needed to "strike with all force on secret bank accounts of those responsible and deny them entry into the EU."
The resolution also calls for "EU support for Ukrainian and Crimean Tatar media projects" and initiatives to protect Crimean Tatars’ cultural heritage.
Russia has been sharply criticized by international rights groups and Western governments for its treatment of Crimea's indigenous Turkic-speaking, mainly Muslim Crimean Tatar population.
From our news desk:
Ukraine Imposes Sanctions On Five Russian Banks
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has imposed sanctions on five banks with Russian capital functioning in Ukraine.
A statement on the presidential website on March 16 said that Poroshenko signed a decree introducing sanctions on Sberbank, VS Bank, Prominvestbank, VTB Bank, and BM Bank for a one-year period.
The proposal to introduce sanctions was made by the National Security and Defense Council on March 15.
Poroshenko's decree ordered the Foreign Ministry to inform European Union and the United States about the sanctions and ask them to introduce similar measures against the banks.
The sanctions come after several days of protests across Ukraine against Sberbank and other Russia banks, which began after Sberbank said it would comply with Russian President Vladimir Putin's February 18 decree ordering Russian authorities to recognize identity documents issued by separatists who hold parts of Ukraine's Donetsk and Luhansk regions.
Sberbank on March 9 retracted its earlier statement and said it would not recognize separatist-issued documents.