Trump and Putin have been secretly setting the scene for the unilateral removal of sanctions against Russia

Andrea Shalal, Sabine Siebold and Andreas Rinke report that,

"Ukraine must have a say in any deal struck between Russia and the United States aimed at ending violence in eastern Ukraine, its deputy foreign minister said on Wednesday.

Ukraine, which has been battling pro-Russian separatists in its eastern Donbass region for nearly three years, is worried that U.S. President Donald Trump will cut Kiev out of any peace negotiations as he attempts to improve ties with Moscow.

"Because we are talking about the future of our country, we don't want to be excluded from the negotiations," Deputy Foreign Minister Olena Zerkal (right) told Reuters. "We don't want to be a card (to be played). We want to be an actor."

"I don't believe in gentleman's agreements anymore," Zerkal said, noting Russia had violated an earlier deal - the 1994 Budapest Memorandum on Security Assurances, under which Ukraine, Belarus and Kazakhstan gave up nuclear weapons in exchange for assurances of territorial integrity - when it annexed Crimea. (Reuters : Wed Jan 25, 2017)

These concerns of Olena Zerkal stem not only from the close ties between Putin and Trump's Secretary of State, Rex Tillerson, but also because of the recent unprecedented purge at the US State Department and the fact that,

"“Putin is not interested in a reset with the Trump administration that doesn't involve the lifting of sanctions, so I read the Tillerson nomination as a clear sign of intent that Trump is going to remove sanctions.” (Elana Schor and Austin Wright : Politico : 13/12/2016) (my emphasis)

                                           Rachel Maddow (MSNBC) Part 1 (26/1/17)
                                                                                
                                           Rachel Maddow (MSNBC) Part 2 (26/1/17)

As Roland Oliphant  also reports,

"... a senior official in the Centre for Information Security, the FSB department responsible for combating hacking and cyber espionage, Kommersant, a Russian daily, reported. 

Sergei Mikhailov was detained in connection with a probe into allegations that officers at the agency had received money from an unnamed foreign company via an intermediary who worked at a Russian information security firm, the paper reported citing sources close to the FSB. (Daily Telegraph : 25 January 2017) (my emphasis) (cf also: The Moscow Times , RBTH , CyberScoop , Security Affairs)

Sergei Mikhailov and Ruslan Stoyanov (right), the arrested FSB and Kaspersky Labs. officers respectively,  are now being charged with treason by Putin, the first treason charges in Putin's Russia since the fall of the USSR. 

                                             Rachel Maddow (MSNBC) (26/1/17)

In light of these new revelations coming out of Putin's Russia, is it any co-incidence that,

"Russia has been reducing financial assistance to the breakaway republics (the so-called "Donetsk and Luhansk People's Republics" - Ed.) with each passing month. It started about four months ago while the occupant and representatives of these so-called "republics" no longer deny this fact. The Russia's capital erosion is efficient," [Deputy Minister of the Temporarily Occupied Territories and IDPs Heorhii Tuka (left)] said. (Censor Net : 23.01.17) (my emphasis)

Can it also be any co-incidence that, according to Ilya Kiva, adviser to Ukraine's Interior Ministry,

"Russia has now started to partially withdraw its troops. It has begun, and there's a move. But it has created very good logistics recently that if the Ukrainian army starts to advance or if there is a political or individual will, they will mass as well," [he said]" (UNIAN : 23 January 2017) (my emphasis)

And whilst this 'partial' reduction of Putin's Russian soldiers in eastern Ukraine (Donbas) is ostensibly taking place, Putin is hedging his bets of a Trump removal of sanctions by mobilizing more forces on the Ukraine-Russian border.

As reported by UNIAN,

"The 150th Motorized Rifle Division of the Armed Forces of Russia is actively being formed near the Ukrainian border, which, according to experts, will consist of more than 10,500 men. Inspectors have found large artillery units of the Russian army near Novocherkassk. The Ukrainian side does not exclude that the personnel and armament of the 150th division can be used to facilitate the work of the Russian occupation forces in Ukraine," (UNIAN : 25 January 2017) (my emphasis)

The concerns of Olena Zerkal, it now emerges, are not without foundation.

Trump and Putin have been secretly setting the scene for the unilateral removal of sanctions against Russia, sanctions that were put in place because of Putin's illegal annexation of Ukrainian Crimea and his invasion of eastern Ukraine (Donbas) which, so far, has claimed the lives of more than 10,000 men.

(to be continued)