In 2012 Maeve McClenaghan reported that,"
(i) In 1992, Putin was investigated for a deal he oversaw while an official in the mayor’s office. The deal involved the export of $100m worth of raw materials in exchange for food for the citizens of St Petersburg. The materials were exported, but the food never arrived.
(ii) In June 1999, as Putin prepared for the role of first deputy prime minister, a criminal case was opened looking into his past. Lt. Col. Andrei Zykov, a former senior investigator at the Russian Interior Ministry, was put in charge of criminal case number 144 128.
(iii) However, in 2000, Russia’s prosecutor general shut the investigation down on the grounds of ‘insufficient proof’. Zykov was fired a year and half later." (Bureau of Investigative Journalism : 19 April 2012)(my emphasis)
YOUTUBE : 9 Jan. 2015
Fast forward to 2019 and we have Trump appointed US Attorney General William Barr, like Russia's Prosecutor General in 2000 who argued that as president Putin cannot be criminally indicted, also now arguing that President Trump cannot be investigated for any crimes that he may have, or may, commit.
President Zelensky is now sandwiched between Putin the autocrat and Trump, who is actively being cloaked with the mantle of an autocrat by US Attorney General William Barr.
And looming ahead for Zelensky is the Normandy Four meeting which, according to Ukrainian Foreign Minister Vadym Prystaiko (left), will be held in November of this year.As Censor Net reports,
"President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyi is now doing everything possible to hold a meeting in the Normandy format. We hope that this meeting will take place next month," Prystaiko said during "An Hour of Questions to the Government" in Parliament on Friday". (Censor Net : 18 Oct 2019) (my emphasis)
Zelensky's conditions (cf. also UNIAN : 23 Oct. 2019) for having this Normandy Four meeting include :-
- disengagement between Putin's Russian soldiers and proxies and the Ukrainian forces in the THREE areas of in Stanytsia Luhanska, Zolote, and Petrivske
- when the 'mythical' "Steinmeier Formula" is agreed upon by Putin, Merkel, Macron, and himself
- that since the Law on the Special Status of Donbas (the area controlled by Putin's Russian soldiers and proxies) is now in effect, the issues surrounding this 'Special Status' should be discussed.
YOUTUBE : 1 October 2019
Zelensky himself spoke about his interpretation of the "Steinmeier Formula" but NEVER fully outlined the specific details of what is contained within this formula.
Nobody knows what these specific details are. Are there "Steinmeier" protocols that have been set out, as in the case of the Minsk2 protocols?
YOUTUBE : 6 October 2019
These "conditions" outlined by Zelensky for the upcoming Normany Format meeting in November thus do not quite square with the original Minsk2 protocols.
(2) Pull-out of all heavy weapons by both sides to equal distance with the aim of creation of a
security zone on minimum 50 kilometres (31 mi) apart for artillery of 100mm calibre or more,
and a security zone of 70 kilometres (43 mi) for multiple rocket launchers (MRLS) and 140
kilometres (87 mi) for MLRS Tornado-S, Uragan, Smerch, and Tochka U tactical missile systems:
for Ukrainian troops, from actual line of contact;
for armed formations of particular districts of Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts of Ukraine, from the
for Ukrainian troops, from actual line of contact;
for armed formations of particular districts of Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts of Ukraine, from the
contact line in accordance with the Minsk Memorandum as of 19 September 2014
The pullout of the above-mentioned heavy weapons must start no later than the second day after
The pullout of the above-mentioned heavy weapons must start no later than the second day after
the start of the ceasefire and finish within 14 days.
This process will be assisted by OSCE with the support of the Trilateral Contact Group.
(3) Effective monitoring and verification of ceasefire regime and pullout of heavy weapons by OSCE
will be provided from the first day of pullout, using all necessary technical means such as
satellites, drones, radio-location systems etc.
(4) On the first day after the pullout a dialogue is to start on modalities of conducting local elections
(4) On the first day after the pullout a dialogue is to start on modalities of conducting local elections
in accordance with the Ukrainian legislation and the Law of Ukraine "On temporary Order of
Local Self-Governance in Particular Districts of Donetsk and Luhansk Oblasts," and also about
the future of these districts based on the above-mentioned law.
Without delays, but no later than 30 days from the date of signing of this document, a resolution
has to be approved by the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, indicating the territory which falls under
the special regime in accordance with the law "On temporary Order of Local Self-Governance in
Particular Districts of Donetsk and Luhansk Oblasts," based in the line set up by the Minsk
Memorandum as of 19 September 2014.
Are we now to assume that the Minsk2 protocols are completely 'dead in the water'?
Which brings us back to Putin and Trump.
In my last blog entry (18/10/2019) I stated that,
"Just as the scarlet thread of the Maidan Revolution of Dignity has inextricably woven Trump and Putin together into a tight embrace, it has now woven Trump and Zelensky together into a deadly embrace."
The niggling questions that now have to be answered is :-
- Why has the "mythical Steinmeier Formula" suddenly surfaced to now take centre-stage in the upcoming Normany Format meeting scheduled for some time in November?
- Why is Zelensky focusing all his attention on the "mythical Steinmeier Formula"? (cf video above)
- What was discussed during the phone conversations between Putin and Zelensky both prior to, and after, Zelensky's call with Trump on the 25 July, 2019?
The truth has a strange way of always bubbling to the surface.
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