Ukraine News in brief. Monday 26 February. [Ukrainian sources]

MONDAY HEADLINES:
The US court temporarily dismissed Manaforth from house arrest.  US Treasury Department will consider the possible introduction of sanctions against 13 citizens of the Russian Federation.  The US ambassador told when sanctions against Russia could be canceled. US Ambassador Yovanovitch: Crimea-related sanctions to remain in place until Russia returns full control of peninsula to Ukraine.  Most members of the European Parliament against the relaxation of anti-Russian sanctions.  Thoughts failed: in the West they were told how Putin changed his plans about Ukraine.  In France, picked up the alleged cottage for Putin's daughter: the estate was hung with anti-Putin posters. Militants in the Donbas arrested miners for refusing to serve in the "DPR".  Ukraine became a member of the UN Human Rights Council.  Former Austrian Chancellor Gusenbauer may have received money from Manaforth for lobbying for the rapprochement between Ukraine and the EU.  A foreigner who recruited Ukrainian women for prostitution abroad was detained at the Metropolitan airport, the National Police.  Appellate Instance of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation will consider the complaint Sobchak on the decision on the legality of Putin's registration as a presidential candidate.

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In the US, the court temporarily released from the arrest of the former Party of Regions political technologist and former head of the US presidential contender Donald Trump Paul Manaforth to be able to take part in the funeral of the test.

As informs Tsensor.NET with reference to the League , according to the publication The Hill.

Manaforth was allowed to leave the house in Alexandria, Virginia, where he was under house arrest, from 26 to 27 February.

The funeral will take place in New York.

The judge also ordered Manaforth to appear in court on Wednesday following new charges brought forward by him last week.

February 23, 2018 Richard Gates, who was Manaforth's assistant during his work as the head of the Trump Election Headquarters in the 2016 elections, found himself guilty of conspiracy against the United States and lied to the investigation. He now collaborates with the office of the Special Prosecutor Robert Müller, who investigates Russia's role in the American elections.

Among the allegations against Manaforth and Gates are money laundering. Later this was followed by an accusation of concealing $ 30 million and tax evasion.

February 25, Manafort asked the court to release him from home arrest to visit the funeral of his father-in-law in New York.

ua.censor.net.ua  In Ukrainian/український

The US Treasury Department will consider the possible imposition of sanctions against 13 Russians, against which the US Justice Ministry has previously raised allegations of interference in the 2016 presidential election.

As informs Tsensor.NET, informs Interfax-Ukraine.

"We continue to study the interference (RF. - Ed.) In the election. I can only add that we are working closely with the FBI on information regarding a recent lawsuit, and if necessary we will consider imposing sanctions against individuals based on the information they have" - said the journalists head of the US Treasury Department, Stephen Mnuchin on Saturday.

Earlier, the official spokesman for the State Department, Heather Noorth, has ruled out the possibility of imposing sanctions on 13 Russian citizens.

"Sanctions are something we usually do not predict, but we can potentially consider it," she said.

The US Justice Department has been charged with intervening in the US presidential election against 13 Russian citizens. According to the investigation, all the accused are employees of the Agency for Internet Research, based in St. Petersburg. Among the accused there is a businessman Eugene Prigozhin, whom the US relates to the agency. Meanwhile, Y.Prygozhin denies the connection with the company.

Michael Bistrov, Mikhail Burchyk, also known as Mikhail Abramov, Alexander Krylov, Anna Bogacheva, Sergei Polozov, Maria Bovda (Maria Belyaeva), Robert Bovda, Vadim Podkopayev, Gleb Vasilchenko, Iryna Kaverzin, Vladimir Venkov and Dzheyhun Aslanov were included into the list of accused.

These individuals are accused of "conspiring for fraud against the United States", as well as "conspiring for the fraudulent use of electronic means of data transmission and for bank fraud", as well as "stealing personal data for aggravating circumstances."

The indictment contains three legal entities: Internet Research Agency, Concord Management and Consulting, Y.Prygozhina, and also Concord Catering related to it.

ua.censor.net.ua  In Ukrainian/український

The United States will not lift sanctions against the Russian authorities until Crimea returns to Ukraine's sovereignty

This was stated by the American ambassador to Ukraine Marie Jovanovic, reports Interfax-Ukraine.

"Our position is very clear: Crimea is Ukraine, and sanctions related to the Crimea will continue until Ukraine takes control of the Crimea," she stressed.

According to Yovanovich, the question of the de-occupation of the peninsula remains on the agenda of the American authorities and international organizations, in particular the United Nations.

"The United States will never recognize the temporary occupation of the Crimea, and sanctions will act until the Russians leave the peninsula," Yovanovich summed up.

-President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko has discussed with the deputy head of the US State Department John Salivan the situation in the Donbass and introduction of new anti-Russian sanctions.

-Earlier, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said that the United States could impose new sanctions on Russians.

-Prior to this, US Treasury Secretary Stephen Mnuchin said that Russia would soon be subject to new sanctions.

espreso.tv  In Ukrainian/український

We can not weaken sanctions against Russia, confident co-chairman of the European Free Alliance European Free Parliamentary Group, Rebecca Harms.

She said this on the international forum "The Captured Peninsula: Four Years of Resistance" on February 26 in Kyiv, Interfax-Ukraine reports.

"I would like to convey to you, on behalf of the majority of the members of the European Parliament, that all the talk about lifting, the relaxation of sanctions against Russia, is, from our point of view, incorrect. Those sanctions that we continued along the Crimea and the Donbas should continue to work until Putin pulls out his troops from the territory of Ukraine, and while Putin does not abandon his strategy of distorting the process of democratic change in Ukraine, "she said.

At the same time, she called the "very risky tendency" the fact that "many people in the West are thinking about recognizing the legal status of the occupation of the Crimea by the Russian Federation."

Harms noted that she has no prescription for completing the occupation of the peninsula, because there is no military way to solve the problem.

"The real chance we have is to make Ukraine a truly democratic state. And here we are on the right track", - added the MEP.

hromadske.ua  In Ukrainian/український

Russia failed to implement the main plan for the annexation of Donbass and was forced to improvise on the move.

A senior research fellow at the Center for European Policy Analysis (CEPA) in Washington, DC, and Senior Analyst for Russia at the main editorial board of the RFE / RL in Prague Brian Whitmore told an interview with "Apostrophe".

"First of all, they hoped to, I think, lay a land corridor to the Crimea, get what they called" Novorossiia": a band of land from Kharkiv to Odessa, but they were grossly depleted.If you listen to" Glaziev's films"(recordings of telephone conversations by an adviser to the President of the Russian Federation Sergei Glaziev, concerning the aggression and seizure of Ukrainian territories - "Apostrophe"), it is obvious that they really thought that it would be easy, and there were predicted the same actions as in the Crimea,"- said the expert.

Now the Kremlin's back-up plan is also failing and Russia intends to develop a "plan C".

"Then they switched to" Plan B. "It was that the project of federalization was to force Ukraine to accept Donbass back to its composition on the conditions of Moscow, under which it would be a Trojan horse, which spoils Kiev any decisions. and this plan is failing, and Moscow is looking for a "plan C." Let's see how it will be", - summarized Whitmore.

apostrophe.ua  In Ukrainian/український

In the French city of Biarritz, activists held a picket near the estate, which is considered the secret cottage of Vladimir's daughter Vladimir Putin Catherine

Video promo has appeared on Youtube.

On the gates, the postcard was hung with posters with the inscriptions Putin - the thief, Putin - the murderer of justice, "Krajia and kata from Biarritz", "Putin - dictator", "FSB (ex KGB), Gestapo Russia", "The Kremlin shakraiv -comparatives to answer !!!". Posters were written in Russian, French and English.

The event was attended by Russian-speaking residents of Biarritz and the French. They called for boycotting the elections in Russia and telling passers-by why fighting against the Putin regime was necessary.

According to journalists, the estate is owned by the former wife of the president of Russia Lyudmila Putin and their daughter Kateryna Tikhonova, 31, Biarritz is a city and commune in the department of the Atlantic Pyrenees in Aquitaine, in the southwest of France, a center for maritime tourism.




-Recall that in March, Russia will hold presidential elections.

-Due to Russia's unlawful conduct of elections in the territory of the occupied Crimea, Ukraine will demand from Europe the recognition of the president of Russia illegitimate.

espreso.tv  In Ukrainian/український

In the occupied Makiyivka, a group of local miners was arrested by militants in the absence of a summons to the military.

This is reported by the Donetsk-Lugansk regional department of the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine.

Residents of the Donetsk region received subpoenas in the so-called DPR, but did not want to serve in the ranks of illegal armed groups. When crossing the "DNR Customs" they were arrested.

According to the State Border Guard Service, such cases are becoming more widespread. The personnel of the armed forces of the militants is under-assembled, so we have to resort to such measures.

In addition, in the training centers and at the "republic" ranges, classes are being actively conducted with forced recruits, which become locals. For those deprived of work, the service of illegal formations often remains the only alternative to working in deadly "mines".

apostrophe.ua  In Ukrainian/український

Ukraine began membership in the UN Human Rights Council.

This was written by Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko in his Twitter.

"Having completed the mission of a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council, today Ukraine has begun a three-year membership in the UN Human Rights Council. Our protection of human rights around the world, including in the temporarily occupied Crimea and the Donbass, is our priority!" - wrote the head of state in Twitter.

Ukraine was elected a member of the Council for 2018-2020 in October 2017. Ukraine's membership was a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council.

Завершивши місію непостійного члена РБ ООН, сьогодні Україна розпочала трирічне членство в Раді ООН з прав людини.

Захист прав людини по всьому світу, у т.ч. в тимчасово окупованому Криму та на Донбасі, - наш пріоритет! pic.twitter.com/d8zU26RffN

— Петро Порошенко (@poroshenko) February 26, 2018

TRANSLATION:
Having completed the meeting of the non-permanent member of the UN RB, the United Nations issued a three-member membership in the United Nations Radio on Human Rights. Zahist rights of the people in the east, in t.ch. in timchasovo ocupovanomu Krim on the Donbas, - our priority!

apostrophe.ua  In Ukrainian/український

Former Austrian Chancellor Gusenbauer may have received money from Manaforth for lobbying for the rapprochement between Ukraine and the EU



New data released on Friday by the Special Prosecutor Robert Muller, who investigates Russian interference in the election of the American president, shed light on a campaign to lobby for Ukraine's interests in Washington, organized by Paul Manaforth on behalf of President Viktor Yanukovych and his entourage.

According to Cenzor.NET, with reference to Politico , Manaforth "secretly hired" several former high-ranking European politicians to secretly advance Ukraine's interests in Washington.

"Despite the fact that former politicians may have given their independent assessments to the actions of the Ukrainian government, they actually paid for lobbying for Ukraine," says Muller's new indictment on Manaforth.

One of the public prosecutors of the Muller team, Andrew Wiesman, said at a hearing on Friday that a group of European lobbyists, known as the Habsburg group, acted under the leadership of "a former chancellor of one of the European countries" and in 2012 and 2013 received over 2 million euros for its services.

The materials of the case did not mention the name of the former chancellor, but it seems that they are talking about Alfred Guzenbauer, who was the Chancellor of Austria from 2007 to 2008.

"I have never taken part in any activity for Yanukovych or the Party of Regions," Gusenbauer told the Austrian press. - "During public events in Paris, Brussels and Berlin, I advocated the EU to approve an association agreement with Ukraine."

Gusenbauer said that he was paid for his work, but refused to specify how much. He also denied having worked for Yanukovych or Manaforth.

At the same time, the Austrian politician admitted that he had met Manafort two times, "to drink coffee" - once in Europe and once in the United States.

ua.censor.net.ua  In Ukrainian/український

Law enforcers detained an attacker in the capital's airport who wanted to send three Ukrainian women to Spain for further sexual exploitation.

This is reported by the Department of Communications of the National Police, informs Tsensor.NET.





The employees of the management of combating human trafficking in Odesa oblast found that a 46-year-old citizen of a neighboring state organized an international channel for trafficking in human beings.

The operatives detained the suspect in the capital's airport, together with the employees of the State Border Guard Service, the investigating police department in the Odessa region under the procedural guidance of the Odessa Regional Prosecutor's Office.

Also read on "Censor.NET": Scandalous Nastya Rybka, who wrote a book about sex with Vice Prime Minister of the Russian Federation Prikhodk on a yacht Deripaska, and her "sex instructor" detained in Thailand. VIDEO

At present, urgent investigative actions are being conducted and the issue of choosing a preventive measure against the detainee is being resolved. In addition, the number of persons involved in a criminal offense is established, and other circumstances.



ua.censor.net.ua  In Ukrainian/український

The appeals court of the Russian Supreme Court on Monday will consider the complaint of Russian presidential candidate Ksenia Sobchak to a decision to recognize the legitimate actions of the Central Election Commission, which registered Vladimir Putin as a candidate for the presidential election.
As informs Tsensor.NET, informs Interfax-Ukraine.

On February 16, the first instance of the Supreme Court of Russia refused to comply with the Sobchak's demand that Vladimir Putin be declared illegitimate as a candidate for the presidential election.

According to Sobchak, Putin does not have the right to put up this post under the Constitution, since he has already served two terms in a row. In this regard, she requested the Armed Forces of Russia to declare illegal and to cancel the decision of the Central Election Commission of the Russian Federation of February 6, 2018 on the registration of Putin as a presidential candidate of the Russian Federation.

ua.censor.net.ua    In Ukrainian/український