Here's another item from RFE/RL's news desk:
Russia Detains Ukrainian Man With Ties To Crimea Blockade Activists
Russian authorities say they have detained a Ukrainian member of a Crimean-Tatar activist group that has led a blockade of the annexed peninsula.
The Federal Security Service (FSB), Russia’s main security agency, said on February 17 that Seit-Ibragim Zaitullaev attempted to "illegally" cross into Crimea, which Moscow seized and annexed from Ukraine in 2014.
An FSB statement cited by Russian state news agencies claimed it found evidence that Zaitullaev belongs to a Crimean-Tatar organization called Asker, which has spearheaded a civilian-led blockade along the border with the Moscow-controlled peninsula.
There was no immediate comment from the Ukrainian government.
Lenur Islyamov, the leader of Asker, confirmed to RFE/RL Russian Service reporter Anton Naumlyuk that Zaitullaev was previously a member of the organization but said he had left the group two months ago.
Russia seized control of Crimea from Ukraine in March 2014 after sending in troops to secure key facilities and staging a referendum dismissed as illegitimate by Ukraine, the United States, and more than 100 countries in the United Nations General Assembly.
Russia has since made it a criminal offense to question Russia's territorial integrity within what the government claims are its borders.
Rights watchdogs and Western governments have accused Moscow of carrying out a broad crackdown on independent media and dissent in Crimea.
The FSB statement said Zaitullaev faces charges of "illegally crossing the border of the Russian Federation."
The statment claimed Zaitullaev told investigators that Asker "prepares specialists for acts of sabotage in Crimea," Russia’s state-run TASS news agency reported.
That language echoes allegations against at least five Ukrainian citizens arrested by Russian law-enforcement agencies in Crimea in November.
The FSB described them as suspected members of a Ukrainian "saboteur group."
Ukraine's Defense Ministry called those allegations "another fabrication of the Russian secret services aimed at justifying its own repressive measures against local residents and [discrediting] Ukraine [in] the international arena."
With reporting by RFE/RL’s Russian Service, the Crimean Desk of RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service, TASS, and RIA Novosti
And here's a video of Petro Poroshenko's remarks in Munich:
Poroshenko Warns Against 'Appeasement' Of Russia
Ukraine President Petro Poroshenko has warned against any "appeasement" of Russia. He told the Munich Security Conference on February 17 that he is hearing some calls among Western allies to ease up on Moscow, but "to move in that direction would be naive, wrong and dangerous." The United States and Western allies have maintained sanctions against Russia after its annexation of Ukraine's Crimea Peninsula in 2014, and Moscow's backing for separatists fighting in eastern Ukraine. (AP)
Here's a report on Petro Poroshenko's comments at the Munich Security Conference from RFE/RL's Steve Gutterman:
Ukraine's Poroshenko Warns Against 'Appeasing' Russia
MUNICH, Germany -- Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has urged Western nations to reject calls for the "appeasement" of Russia.
In impassioned remarks during a panel discussion at the Munich Security Conference on February 17, Poroshenko suggested that U.S. and EU sanctions imposed over Moscow's interference in his country should remain in place.
Poroshenko said that Russian President Vladimir Putin "hates Ukraine" and "sees no place for Ukraine on the political map of Europe."
Russia seized the Crimean Peninsula from Kyiv's control in March 2014, after sending in troops and staging a referendum considered illegitimate by most countries.
The Kremlin also supports pro-Russia separatist forces in a war that has killed more than 9,750 people in eastern Ukraine since April 2014.
Lamenting what he said were "increasing calls for some degree of appeasement" of Moscow, Poroshenko warned that "it would be a mistake to think that Russia's appetite" is limited to Ukraine.
He called on the West to help stop "Russian revanchism," saying: "The time is now, and the place is Ukraine."
Poroshenko said that three Ukrainian servicemen had been killed and 12 wounded in eastern Ukraine in the previous 24 hours, adding that most of the casualties were in Avdiyivka -- a government-held town where fighting has flared up in recent weeks.
Speaking on the same panel at the annual conference in Munich, U.S. Senator John McCain urged the West to step up support for Ukraine.
McCain said Russians "are killing" Ukrainians every day, and said he thinks "it's going to get worse, because...this is a time of testing" the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump by countries such as China and Russia.