Also from our news desk:
German Court Sentences Nephew Of Russian Propagandist Kiselyov Over Ukraine War
A nephew of Dmitry Kiselyov, a Russian state media boss known for fiery anti-Western diatribes, has been sentenced to two years and three months in a German prison on charges of planning to take part in military activities alongside Russia-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine.
A court in Munich on February 28 sentenced Kiselyov's nephew, a German citizen whose name was spelled Sergej Kisseljow by German media, after convicting him of threatening state security and illegally possessing weapons.
The judge in the case said prosecutors failed to prove definitively that Kisseljow underwent training in the Russian city of St. Petersburg in 2014 in order to join the separatists' fight against Ukrainian government forces.
Kisseljow admitted that he was waiting to be sent to eastern Ukraine but denied that he'd received any paramilitary training. He also admitted that he eventually went to eastern Ukraine. But he insisted he did not kill anyone there.
German authorities began investigations against Kisseljow in late 2017. He was detained in Bulgaria several months later and deported to Germany.
The United Nations estimates some 13,000 people -- one-quarter of them civilians -- have been killed since April 2014 in the war between Ukrainian government forces and Russia-backed separatists who hold parts of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions.
The conflict erupted after Ukraine's pro-Russia former president, Viktor Yanukovych, fled to Russia in February 2014 in the face of mass protests known as the Maidan, and Russia seized control of Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula.
Kisseljow's uncle, Russian TV pundit Dmitry Kiselyov, has said twice in interviews that his nephew fought against Ukrainian armed forces in eastern Ukraine. He was also decorated with a medal from the pro-Russia separatists.
The Russian TV pundit heads the state-owned media company Rossia Segodnya. He is best known for propaganda against Washington and the West that he issues on a weekly program he hosts.
On February 23, Kiselyov ran a segment showing a map of the United States with targets that he said would be hit in the event of a nuclear war between the United States and Russia.
Those targets included the Pentagon and the U.S. presidential retreat Camp David outside Washington.
With reporting by RTVI and RBC
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.