Berlin Prosecutors Investigate German Journalist Named In Ukraine Arson Attack
By Carl Schreck
Berlin prosecutors are investigating a far-right German journalist who was implicated by a defendant in a Polish court of involvement in the firebombing of a Hungarian cultural center in western Ukraine last year.
The preliminary investigation into Manuel Ochsenreiter, a vocal supporter of Moscow-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine who has been interviewed numerous times in Russian state media, is based on “suspicion of serious arson,” a spokesperson for the Berlin prosecutor’s office told RFE/RL on January 18.
The existence of the investigation into Ochsenreiter was first reported on January 17 by the German newspaper Die Zeit, which cited its own “information.”
The confirmation of the probe comes four days after a Polish defendant, one of three currently on trial for the February 2018 firebombing in the Ukrainian city of Uzhhorod, told a Krakow court that Ochsenreiter had directed and financed the attack.
The incident, in which no one was injured, and a similar attack weeks later fanned tensions between Budapest and Kyiv over a Ukrainian law that Hungary says infringes on the rights of ethnic Hungarians to receive education in their native language in Ukraine.
The suspects allegedly intended to make it look as if Ukrainian ultranationalists were responsible for the incident, which included the painting of Nazi symbols on the headquarters of the Hungarian Cultural Association in Uzhhorod, the capital of the western Zakarpattya region.
The three Polish defendants currently on trial all have had previous links to far-right political movements.
Ochsenreiter, who had worked for a member of Germany’s parliament from the anti-immigration AfD party, denied earlier to RFE/RL that he had any involvement in the attack.
A representative for the journalist, German lawyer Ralf Hoecker, told RFE/RL in a January 14 e-mail that the allegation was “false.”
No criminal charges against Ochsenreiter have been announced by Polish or German authorities.
Neither Hoecker nor Ochsenreiter immediately responded to a January 18 e-mail seeking comment on the preliminary investigation by Berlin prosecutors.
Markus Frohnmaier, the German parliamentarian for whom Ochsenreiter had worked since September, said on the opening day of the trial that he intended to keep the journalist on as a consultant until he was charged with a crime – and that he would only put him on leave pending the results of a trial.
But Frohnmaier was quoted by Die Zeit on January 18 as saying that Ochsenreiter had “offered” to be released from his position as a consultant, and that the lawmaker had agreed.
With reporting by Die Zeit
Journalists Find Businesses In Russia 'Linked' To Ukrainian Comic Who Wants To Be President
By RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service
KYIV -- Investigative journalists say they have found that a popular Ukrainian actor and prospective presidential candidate has links with several entertainment businesses in Russia, although he denied having any ongoing interests there.
Reporters taking part in Skhemy (Schemes), a joint project by RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service and Ukrainian TV channel UA: Pershiy say they found that three Russian film and TV production companies -- Vaisberg Pictures, Platinumfilms, and Green Films -- are connected to Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who last month announced his intention to run for president. The three companies made about $13 million between 2014 and 2017.
The three companies were founded by a Cyprus-registered company -- Green Family LTD, which is also a co-founder of another entertainment firm, Quarter 95. Zelenskyy has publicly acknowledged that he is the owner of Quarter 95.
Last month, Zelenskyy told Ukrainian media that he had shut down all his businesses in Russia in 2014 after Moscow annexed Ukraine's Crimea and incited separatism in Ukraine's east.
In a December 25 interview, Zelenskyy also said that his last movie was shot in Russia in 2012 and his last appearance on Russian TV was in 2014.
On January 18, Zelenskyy said in a Facebook video that he was ready to answer questions by the Skhemy journalists after previously refusing to talk to them.
In the video, Zelenskyy said neither he nor his company are involved in any projects in Russia "after what Russia did to Ukraine."
"They in Russia even launched a probe against me because I financially supported our army through Q95," Zelenskyy said.
"We trade with 21 foreign countries, with all the member states of the Commonwealth of Independent States. We sell intellectual rights. The money we get from royalties goes to various Western countries and later returns to Ukraine," Zelenskyy added.
In a separate letter to Skhemy, his office said that Quarter 95 "does not produce any programs on the territory of the Russian Federation now."
Just hours after the campaign period for the March 31 presidential election was launched on December 31, Zelenskyy announced his intention to run on one of his TV shows, saying he would “try to change something in Ukraine.”
Incumbent President Petro Poroshenko has been harshly criticized by the Ukrainian opposition for allegedly owning businesses in Russia.
In September, he claimed that a shipyard he used to own in Russia-annexed Crimea had been taken away from him by Russian authorities and he does not own it anymore.
Poroshenko also said that he had shut down his chocolate factory in the Russian city of Lipetsk in 2014 after he became president.
The West has imposed sanctions on Russia and those doing business there in the aftermath of the annexation of Ukraine's Crimea.
Poroshenko has not yet officially announced he will seek a second five-year term but is widely expected to.
After taking 54 percent of the vote in the 2014 election, Poroshenko's public approval ratings have plummeted amid ongoing economic woes and a lack of progress in the fight against corruption.
Poroshenko's main rival appears to be former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, who is credited in the most recent opinion polls with 12.7 percent.
The same poll conducted in December unexpectedly put 40-year-old Zelenskyy in second place, with 9 percent, while Poroshenko came in third, with 8.6 percent.
Zelenskyy currently stars in the popular television comedy series Servant Of The People, where he portrays a regular schoolteacher who becomes president.
The Central Election Commission should announce a final list of presidential candidates by February 8.