John Bolton has been talking to journalists in Kyiv again:
Bolton Warns Of 'Unfair Chinese Trade Practices' During Kyiv Visit
U.S. national-security adviser John Bolton says he has discussed Washington’s concerns about the threat of "unfair Chinese trade practices" with Ukrainian officials during his trip to Kyiv.
Asked on August 28 about a possible acquisition by China of Ukrainian defense company Motor Sich, Bolton said he did not want to discuss specific companies and that such deals were a sovereign matter for Ukraine, according to Reuters.
But he made clear that the U.S. administration disapproved of the transaction, telling reporters: "We laid out our concerns about...unfair Chinese trade practices, threats to national security we've seen in the United States."
Speaking to RFE/RL in Kyiv on August 27, Bolton said the possible sale of Motor Sich -- a maker of engines for missiles, helicopters, and jets – to the Chinese “is an issue that I think is significant for Ukraine, but [also] significant for the U.S., for Europe, for Japan, for Australia, Canada, other countries."
He accused Beijing of using its "trade surpluses to gain economic leverage in countries around the world, to profit from defense technologies that others have developed."
Earlier this month, Ukrainian media reported that two Chinese companies had reached an agreement with state-owned military concern Ukroboronprom to jointly purchase Motor Sich.
The Chinese firms, which are believed to be close to the government in Beijing, would receive a controlling stake, while Ukroboronprom would receive a blocking stake.
Motor Sich employs more than 20,000 people in the southwestern Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhya.
A possible sale to the Chinese provoked a raid of its headquarters by Ukraine's Security Service in April 2018 and the seizure of its shares. At the time, the company was valued at nearly $500 million.
During his meeting with Bolton in Kyiv, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy expressed hope that the United States will become more involved in the negotiation process aimed at putting an end to the fighting in eastern Ukraine, according to a statement on the presidential website.
Zelenskiy also said that Ukraine would welcome the United States in the so-called Normandy format of negotiations, which currently involves Ukraine, Russia, Germany, and France.
French President Emmanuel Macron announced earlier this week that the leaders of the four countries would hold talks on the conflict next month.
After his talks with Zelenskiy, Bolton tweeted that he was "very impressed by his commitment to real reform to benefit the Ukrainian people," adding that "a stable, prosperous, and free Ukraine is key to stability in Europe and beyond."
He wrote in an earlier tweet that he had met with the acting head of Ukraine's SBU security service, Ivan Bakanov, with whom he discussed "various ways Ukraine and the U.S. can strengthen collaboration across a wide range of national security activities."
The White House national-security adviser told journalists that he underlined the "U.S. commitment to Ukrainian sovereignty and territorial integrity" during his talks with Ukrainian officials.
He also said he would travel on to Moldova and then to Belarus, and raised the prospect of Zelenskiy meeting U.S. President Donald Trump at an event in the Polish capital, Warsaw, this weekend to mark 80 years since the Nazi invasion of Poland.
The United States has been a supporter of Ukraine since Russia annexed its Crimean Peninsula in March 2014 and started backing separatists in eastern Ukraine in April 2014 in a conflict that has killed more than 13,000 people.
Washington has given Ukraine more than $3 billion in aid, including $1.5 billion in military goods over the past five years, and is advising the country on the reform of its armed forces.
Neighboring Belarus's presidential office announced on August 27 that Bolton was set to travel to Minsk where he would hold talks with President Alyaksandr Lukashenka.
No date was given for the trip, which would mark the highest-level U.S. government visit to Belarus in the past 20 years.
The government of another former Soviet republic, Moldova, said earlier that Bolton would visit its capital, Chisinau, on August 29.
Bolton’s East European tour will most likely irritate Moscow, which has been trying to restore its influence over former Soviet republics in recent years.
With reporting by Reuters, AFP, and RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service
A few tweets from the U.S. national-security adviser, who is currently visiting Kyiv.
We are now closing the live blog for today, but we'll be back again tomorrow morning to follow all the latest developments. Until then, you can keep up with all our other Ukraine coverage here.
Good morning. We'll get the live blog rolling today with this item on what's happening in the Verkhovna Rada today. By the sound of it, it seems the Ukrainian parliament has a busy day ahead.
Ukraine's New Parliament Has Packed Agenda For First Session
KYIV -- Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s ruling Servant of the People party has held a closed-door meeting to hammer out the new parliament's first-day agenda for August 29.
Zelenskiy, 41, arrived at the Parkova exposition center on August 28 with deputy presidential office heads Oleksiy Honcharuk and Ruslan Ryaboshapka, who are favored to be the next prime minister and prosecutor-general. respectively.
The 27 agenda items for the marathon session include appointing a prime minister and forming a new cabinet of ministers, appointments that party chairman Dmytro Razumkov this week said wouldn't take place on the legislature’s first working day.
Consideration of a bill to lift lawmakers' immunity from prosecution is also on the agenda. Because it's a constitutional amendment, the bill requires a two-thirds majority vote that Servant of the People lacks.
Abolishing immunity has for Ukrainians consistently been one of the most desired anti-corruption measures, according to public opinion polls.
For a time, it was a condition for a visa-free travel deal with the European Union, but the demand was dropped after a report by the EU’s legal counsel advised against it.
'Up To 100 Draft Laws'
Preceding that, outgoing Prime Minister Volodymyr Hroysman will resign, parliamentary factions and groups will form, and a speaker and two deputy speakers will be chosen.
Zelenskiy then will deliver a state-of-the-nation address on his 102nd day in office.
A new defense and foreign minister will be appointed, and the current state security chief will be dismissed as well as the prosecutor-general. Their replacements should be appointed the same day.
Between 30 and 100 legislative bills will be considered, People of the Servant deputy Yuriy Kamilchuk told 112 Ukraine channel.
"Tomorrow we will consider draft laws, which I think we prioritized today, although the main ones are constantly talked about in the media," Kamilchuk said. "There is a chance that we’ll adopt more than 30, and maybe up to 100 draft laws."