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Inside Ukraine's Secret Mission To Capture The MH17 'Suspect' Traded With Russia
Barring any major events, that ends the live blog for today. See you again tomorrow!
Good morning. We'll get the live blog rolling today with a few Ukraine stories that were filed overnight by RFE/RL news desk, starting with this one by Todd Prince:
U.S. House Committees Launch Investigation Into Possible Trump Pressure On Ukraine
WASHINGTON -- Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives have launched an investigation into whether President Donald Trump is pressuring Ukraine to produce dirt on a potential presidential contender, including by withholding $250 million in military aid.
The House Committees on Foreign Affairs, Intelligence, and Oversight and Reform – all controlled by Democrats -- sent a letter on September 9 to the president’s counsel, Pat Cipollone, demanding that the White House turn over documents, including a transcript of Trump’s call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and any records related to the potential suspension of aid.
“If the President is trying to pressure Ukraine into choosing between defending itself from Russian aggression without U.S. assistance or leveraging its judicial system to serve the ends of the Trump campaign, this would represent a staggering abuse of power, a boon to Moscow and a betrayal of the public trust,” the letter said.
Trump's personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, accused the Democrats' inquiry of being politically motivated, saying it was a form of harassment.
"This is not legitimate. It is harassment -- a political operation by the Democratic National Committee, not by Congress," Giuliani said during a September 9 phone interview with The Hill. "They need three committees to do this, and there is only one of me."
Earlier this year, the United States approved another $250 million in military assistance to Ukraine as it battles Russian-backed separatists in its eastern provinces. The U.S. has given Ukraine a total of $1.5 billion in military assistance during the five-year war, which has claimed the lives of approximately 13,000 people.
Ukraine officials in August 2016 published documents showing Trump’s campaign chairman at the time, Paul Manafort, received $12.7 million in off-the-book payments for consulting work from the country’s pro-Russian Party of Regions, forcing him to step down and subsequently receive jail time for money laundering.
The news set off renewed speculation about the Trump campaign’s connections to Russia less than three months before the presidential election, though he eventually won.
A Ukrainian lawmaker and former investigative journalist, Serhiy Leshchenko, was quoted by Financial Times in August 2016 as saying Trump was “a pro-Russian candidate who could change the pro-Ukrainian agenda in American foreign policy.”
Now Trump is trying to turn the tables and use Ukrainian officials to discredit Joe Biden, the current leading presidential contender for the democratic ticket, his opponents contend.
In 2014, Biden's son, Hunter Biden, the board of Burisma Holdings, a Ukrainian gas producer owned by Mykola Zlochevskiy, a former minister who served under ousted President Viktor Yanukovych.
Ukrainian prosecutors investigated whether Burisma illegally received gas production licenses while Zlochevskiy was the ecology minister.
Biden – who served as vice president and was the White House's point man on Ukraine during Barack Obama’s presidency -- demanded Kyiv fire its prosecutor-general, who was considered corrupt.
Trump’s personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani has traveled to Ukraine to inquire whether Biden halted the investigation into Burisma, an accusation the democratic contender has denied.
Hunter Biden stepped down from the board earlier this year as his father declared his intention to run for the presidency.
Ukraine’s presidential press service hinted that Trump may have raised the Biden case during his call with Zelenskiy in July.
Trump told Zelenskiy he hoped Ukraine would "complete the investigation of corruption cases, which inhibited the interaction between Ukraine and the USA," according to a transcript on the Ukrainian president’s website.
A meeting between the two leaders in Washington – initially expected in late July or early August – has yet to be announced.
Zelenskiy is expected to visit the U.S. to attend the UN General Assembly on September 23, Ukraine’s foreign minister said on September 9.
The Democrats have also asked the White House to turn over all records relating to Giuliani, Hunter Biden, Burisma, and Manafort as they pertain to those cases in Ukraine.
With reporting by the Financial Times and The Hill
Ukraine's Ex-Central Bank Head Hontareva Mulls Seeking Political Asylum
Ukraine's former central bank chief, Valeria Hontareva, says she is not ruling out the possibility of applying for political asylum in Britain where she currently resides after experiencing an alleged hit-and-run attack and her daughter-in-law’s car being set on fire.
"If our country is going to treat its own reformer like dirt, to politically and physically persecute, then I’ll have no choice to but to ask for political asylum," Hontareva told Ukrainian news site Liga on September 9.
On September 5, her daughter-in-law's car was set on fire in Kyiv. On August 26, a car ran over Hontareva’s foot in London sending her to the hospital with broken bones.
She called the two incidents "part of the same link in a chain" of events and attributed them to her tenure as chairwoman of the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) in 2014-2018.
In less than four years, Hontareva shuttered 80 banks whose owners were essentially using them as their personal piggy banks by engaging in pervasive third-party lending, including Privatbank, then the country’s biggest private lender.
International auditors had found a $5.5 billion hole in Privatbank’s balance sheet so the NBU nationalized it with taxpayers' money.
It was co-owned by billionaire oligarch Ihor Kolomoyskiy whom Hontareva accuses of threatening her and of being behind the incidents in London and Kyiv.
In previous interviews, Kolomoyskiy – a former business associate of President Volodymyr Zelenskiy -- has said he did nothing wrong at Privatbank and that there is no evidence tying him to the events involving Hontareva and her family.
Hontareva said she started receiving veiled threats from Kolomoyskiy three years ago and public threats in her direction a year ago.
Specifically, she accused the oligarch of threatening her in an interview she gave to BBC in June.
"I want this to be clear to everyone. If something happens to me, I want it so that everyone knows why," Hontareva said.
Authorities are investigating Hontareva in two criminal probes. In one of the cases she is a witness; in the other she is a suspect under investigation for abuse of office as a central bank official.
She hasn’t appeared for questioning in Ukraine, calling the cases "fabricated" and aimed at applying pressure on her for her role in nationalizing Privatbank.
On August 27, a Kyiv court granted authorities permission to "forcibly" bring her in for questioning, although she has lived in Britain for a year as a research fellow at the London School of Economics and Political Science.
With reporting by Liga.net
Trump Says Ready To Join Normandy Talks On East Ukraine Conflict
U.S. President Donald Trump has said he isn't averse to joining talks with Germany, France, Ukraine, and Russia aimed at ending the conflict in eastern Ukraine.
Known as the Normandy format, Trump told Voice of America on September 9 in Washington that he'd join the talks if the participants needed him.
"I believe the fact that the exchange of prisoners between Russia and Ukraine took place…is a very big step, and a very positive step. If they need me to join, I would join [the Normandy format]," Trump said.
France, Germany, and Ukraine have called for talks to take place by the end of this month. Russia has said it is ready to meet once "concrete steps" are taken before the meeting.
The last round of Normandy talks took place in 2016.
Ukraine blames Moscow for stoking the conflict in eastern Ukraine where Russia-backed separatists have fought government forces since April 2014.
Russia denies involvement and has portrayed the war as an internal affair.
More than 13,000 have been killed in the conflict, according to the UN.
Based reporting by RFE/RL’s Ukrainian Service and Voice of America
Ukraine's Zelenskiy To Visit U.S. Later In September
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy will visit the United States on September 23 to attend the UN General Assembly in New York.
Speaking to journalists in Kyiv on September 9, Foreign Minister Vadym Prystaiko said a specific date on when Zelenskiy would meet U.S. President Donald Trump hasn’t been set yet.
Prystaiko said the Ukrainian president "had a good conversation with U.S. Vice President Mike Pence" in Warsaw recently where a bilateral meeting between Trump and Zelenskiy was discussed.
He said Zelenskiy has an invitation to not "simply visit the United States [to attend the UN General Assembly], but to also visit Washington and meet with the president and government of the United States."
The minister said there are different dates being examined for a visit to Washington. "We are working on it now," he added.
In July, Ukraine's presidential office said Zelenskiy had a phone conversation with Trump.
The 74th UN General Assembly opens on September 17 and closes on September 30.
Based on reporting by RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service