U.S. NATO envoy talks about Russian troops in Ukraine:
The U.S. ambassador to NATO says Russian troops have been active in eastern Ukraine since the conflict began there in April, but he does not expect another large-scale Russian military intervention soon.
Douglas Lute said before a NATO defense ministers meeting in Brussels on February 4 that Russian specialists had a "command-and-control role" in eastern Ukraine and were operating sophisticated military equipment that would be difficult for untrained pro-Russian separatists to use.
He said Russian troops there include intelligence operatives and soldiers, both with and without military uniforms.
Lute said there was a "spike" in August 2014 "in direct Russian intervention in the form of Russian military units," including "Russian battalions as coherent formations deployed into Ukraine."
But he said, "We don't see another such direct intervention [by Russia] as imminent." (Reuters)
Russian "cancellation" of Soviet transfer of Crimea rumbles on:
The head of the Russian Federation Council says legislation will be adopted during the spring that retroactively proclaims the Soviet Union's 1954 transfer of Crimea to Ukraine as "legally void and nonbinding" from the moment the transfer was enacted.
Valentina Matviyenko told reporters on February 4 that draft legislation on the issue is currently being studied by experts.
Matviyenko said that if the law was passed, it would not have "any legal consequences."
She said the legislation would be a "historical document for future generations" aimed at showing that the transfer in 1954 was "an injustice committed against Crimea and Sevastopol."
In December, Matviyenko said Russian legal analysts determined the transfer of Crimea to Ukraine under Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev was "unlawful" because it violated the constitution and legal procedures of the time.
Russia annexed Crimea from Ukraine in March after deploying Russian troops across the peninsula and quickly conducting an independence referendum that has been condemned around the world as a violation of Ukrainian and international law. (TASS, Interfax)
In today's Daily Vertical, RFE/RL's Brian Whitmore says he believes Russian President Vladimir Putin wants another Yalta-type postwar conference, but first he needs a war.
EU considers expanding Ukraine sanctions list:
The European Union is reportedly discussing a proposal to expand a list of people and entities subjected to visa bans and asset freezes over Russia's involvement in the war in eastern Ukraine.
Diplomats in Brussels told RFE/RL that EU ambassadors were likely to agree later on February 4 to add about 25 individuals and entities.
They said senior Russian officials were not likely to be included on the expanded list.
The proposal is expected to be formally approved by EU foreign ministers on February 9.
The decision to add more names and entities to the sanctiosn list was made at an EU foreign ministers meeting on January 29.
At the same meeting, the ministers agreed to extend until September an initial blacklist that targets Russians and pro-Russia separatist leaders in Ukraine due to the ongoing conflict in eastern Ukraine.
Without the extension, the initial sanctions list would have expired in March.