Here's another item from our news desk:
Russian Black Sea Fleet Officer, Partner Jailed As Spies For Ukraine
An officer of Russia's Black Sea fleet and his partner have been imprisoned on charges of spying for Ukraine, Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) said on February 28.
Russia's North Caucasus Regional Military Court sentenced Major Dmitry Dolgopolov to 10 years in prison and Anna Sukhonosova to 9 years after convicting the couple of selling classified materials to Ukraine's Security Service (SBU).
Both the FSB and the Russian military court described Sukhonosova as Dolgopolov's "common-law wife."
"The named individuals collected and handed to Ukraine’s Security Service materials containing state secrets on operations of units of the Black Sea Fleet," an FSB statement said.
The FSB statement said Dolgopolov and Sukhonosova pleaded guilty to the charges.
The two were arrested in September 2017 by the FSB in Ukraine's Russian-occupied region of Crimea.
Based on reporting by RIA Novosti and Interfax
Tymoshenko Accuses Parliament's Leadership Of Blocking Presidential Impeachment
By RFE/RL
Ukrainian lawmaker and former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko has accused the leadership of parliament -- the Verkhovna Rada -- of intentionally impeding an impeachment process against President Petro Poroshenko just a month before Ukraine's presidential election.
Tymoshenko, a presidential candidate whose Batkivshchyna (Fatherland) party has joined with other parties to start the impeachment process, told parliament on February 28 that the Verkhovna Rada's leadership had annulled forms to support the impeachment drive.
She also said the parliamentary leadership has refused to register a draft resolution on creating a temporary commission to investigate the alleged involvement of Poroshenko's close associates in the smuggling of spare parts from Russia for military equipment.
"That means that [parliament's leadership] is covering up the crime, is trying to silence it," Tymoshenko said.
Parliament speaker Andriy Parubiy rejected Tymoshenko's statement and called on her "to stop imposing pressure on parliament's activities."
Tymoshenko announced her party's move to impeach the president on February 26, accusing Poroshenko of treason.
The move came a day after a media outlet aired a program alleging that people close to Poroshenko enriched themselves by smuggling spare parts for military equipment from Russia.
With the March 31 election less than five weeks away, the report on media outlet Bihus.Info's program Nashi Hroshi (Our Money) threw an explosive new element into the election campaign.
Poroshenko, a pro-Western tycoon who came to power after Moscow-friendly President Viktor Yanukovych fled to Russia in early 2014, is trying to overcome a steep drop in public support in order to be reelected.
The election comes amid persistent economic challenges in the country and an ongoing war in eastern Ukraine against Russia-backed separatists.
Poroshenko on February 28 issued his first public reaction to the investigative journalists' report, saying on his presidential website that a probe has been launched into the allegations.
The presidential website said the Prosecutor-General’s Office, the National Anticorruption Bureau (NABU), and the Specialized Anticorruption Prosecutor (SAP) are investigating the case.
"If the facts are confirmed, then, no doubt, neither names nor posts will save anyone involved.... I remind that following the investigation, all guilty persons will be held accountable," Poroshenko said.
Meanwhile, three Ukrainian lawmakers on February 28 announced that they've decided to quit Poroshenko's political group, the Bloc of Petro Poroshenko (BPP), because of the investigative report.
Mustafa Nayyem wrote on Twitter that he and the BBP "have been on different sides of the barricades for a long time," and his decision to quit was just a formality.
Serhiy Leshchenko and Svitlana Zalishchuk announced about their decision to quit the BPP on Facebook.
Allegations about ties or transactions involving Russia are particularly sensitive In Ukraine because of Moscow's seizure of Ukraine's Crimea and its role in the war that has killed some 13,000 people in eastern Ukraine, where Russia-backed separatist hold parts of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions.
The Ukrainian Constitution says the president "can be impeached if he or she commits high treason or other crimes."
Among other things, the process requires an investigation by a special prosecutor and multiple votes in parliament, including a three-fourths vote following approval by the Constitutional Court.
With reporting by UNIAN
Ukraine's Constitutional Court Annuls Legislation On Illegal Enrichment
By RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service
KYIV -- Ukraine's Constitutional Court has annulled legislation aimed at fighting against illegal enrichment among officials, in a move that was denounced by a Ukrainian law enforcement agency fighting against corruption as a "step back."
The court ruled on February 27 that a provision of the Criminal Code’s Article 368 forcing suspected officials to prove that their assets are legitimate violates the principle of the presumption of innocence.
Ukraine introduced the law in 2015 to meet a requirement of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and be able to receive badly needed loans from the lender. The IMF in 2015 authorized $17.5 billion in aid to Ukraine to support reforms.
The National Anticorruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) said in a statement that the constitutional court’s ruling “is politically motivated and contradicts Ukraine's obligations on the ratified UN Convention against Corruption [and] its agreements with the International Monetary Fund and the European Union.”
The agency said that about 65 corruption cases it is currently investigating and involving some $20 million will now be closed.
The court's ruling came two days after an investigative group in Ukraine made public the results of its investigation alleging that individuals close to President Petro Poroshenko's associates illegally enriched themselves by smuggling spare parts of military equipment from Russia.
The allegations, made just weeks before the March 31 presidential election, caused a public outcry.
One of the major presidential candidates, former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, announced on February 26 that her Batkivshchyna party and other political parties had started a process for Poroshenko's impeachment.
Poroshenko said on February 27 that he will instruct his government to draft new legislation to punish corrupt officials and that the text will be submitted to parliament as soon as possible.
Western officials say corruption hurts Ukraine's chances of throwing off the influence of Russia, which seized the Crimean Peninsula in 2014 and backs separatists whose war with Kyiv has killed about 13,000 people in eastern Ukraine.