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US not planning to appoint special representative for Donbas
Former US ambassador to Ukraine (2003-2006) John Herbst told Radio NV in an interview that he considers it unlikely that the US will appoint a special representative for the Donbas.
“Volker is a very talented diplomat… and the fact that he has left is a certain loss. As far as I know, they have decided not to replace him, there will not be a new extraordinary ambassador for this matter – not for Ukraine, but for Donbas affairs,” said Herbst.
With respect to the appointment of a new US …
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Ukraine suspends prosecutors investigating MH17 case
All of the Ukrainian prosecutors who had been investigating the MH17 catastrophe have been suspended from work as part of departmental reforms, the Dutch newspaper NRC Next reports, citing one of the dismissed prosecutors.
A total of six prosecutors were involved in the investigation on Ukraine’s behalf, two of them as part of the Joint Investigation Team. In recent months, the JIT has not had a single participant from Ukraine.
Commenting on the dismissal of the prosecutors, Ukrainian Foreign …
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Kremlin names three conditions for improving relations with Europe
Russia is “carefully analyzing” French President Emmanuel Macron’s offer to improve dialog with Moscow, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grushko said on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference, as cited by RBC news agency. The deputy minister remarked that Russia “is appraising the situation on the basis of reality”, and understands that, in order to bring about systemic changes to the status quo, Europe needs to take concrete steps towards cooperation.
According to Grushko, …
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Russian ambassador to Turkey receives new threats
Russian Ambassador to Turkey Alexey Yerkhov has been receiving new threats and insults online, directed against him personally and against Russia as a whole, he told the newspaper Zvezda.
“The most recent [threats] include things like: ‘We’ll build skyscrapers from the skulls of your soldiers’ and ‘You’ll pay the price for every drop of blood you’ve spilled,’ and so on,” said Yerkhov.
He said that such insults are unacceptable, since threats directed against an entire country can “radicalize …
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US sends convoy of military vehicles from Iraq to Syria
A US convoy of military vehicles has departed from Iraq towards Syria, Sky News Arabia reports, citing sources in the Iraqi security service.
According to the source, the convoy consists of more than 50 military vehicles, and has already crossed the border from Iraq to Syria.
The radio station Sham FM reported that a convoy of 55 American military trucks had arrived in the Hasakah province in north-eastern Syria. The convoy’s destination and objectives were unknown.
The transfer of US …