Here's another item from our news desk:
Ukraine Lawmaker Faces 'Treason' Inquiry Over Back-Channel Peace Plan
KYIV -- Ukraine's top prosecutor says his office is investigating a previously obscure lawmaker on suspicion of treason after he presented associates of President Donald Trump with a controversial peace plan for Ukraine and Russia.
Prosecutor-General Yuriy Lutsenko told reporters on February 21 that Andriy Artemenko may have committed a treasonous offense in designing a plan to lease Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula to Russia in exchange for Kyiv regaining control of land held by Russia-backed separatists in the east.
The peace-for-sanctions-relief plan Artemenko claimed he co-authored thrust him into the spotlight on February 20 after The New York Times reported that it had wound up on the desk of Trump's short-lived national security adviser, Michael Flynn.
A document announcing the inquiry shared on Facebook by Lutsenko accuses Artemenko of carrying out subversive activities against Ukraine.
Such actions are punishable in Ukraine by 10 to 15 years in prison.
Artemenko, who was ousted on February 20 from the Radical Party, could not immediately be reached for comment.
Reporting by Christopher Miller
Bit of a spat brewing here:
Here's our news desk's report on the Firtash case:
Ukrainian Tycoon Firtash Detained In Vienna On European Arrest Warrant
An Austrian court has approved the extradition of Ukrainian tycoon Dmytro Firtash to the United States to face bribery allegations, overturning an earlier ruling that had said the U.S. request was politically motivated.
Firtash, once an ally of former Moscow-backed Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych, has rejected the allegations as "absurd and unfounded."
Extradition, however, is still not a certainty. Firtash can appeal against the February 21 verdict at Austria's Supreme Court.
Ultimately, the final decision rests with Justice Minister Wolfgang Brandstetter, said Judge Leo Levnaic-Iwanski who headed the panel of the Upper State Court.
Minutes after Levnaic-Iwanski announced the verdict, a spokeswoman for Austrian prosecutors said Firtash had been detained on a European arrest warrant based on a separate Spanish request.
The spokewoman said it was too early to say if implementing the European warrant might impact the extradition proceedings. Spanish media said the request was in relation to suspected money laundering.
Firtash is a co-owner along with Russia's Gazprom of RosUkrEnergo, a Swiss-registered company that exports natural gas from Turkmenistan to Eastern Europe. He is said to have made his fortune selling gas to the Ukrainian government when Yanukovych was in power.
Firtash was indicted by a U.S. grand jury in 2013 in connection with some $18.5 million in bribes allegedly paid for a permit to mine titanium in India.
He was detained in Vienna in March 2014 on the U.S. charges, but he was set free after posting bail of 125 million euros ($133 million), and an Austrian judge rejected a U.S. extradition request as politically motivated.
On February 21, Judge Levnaic-Iwanski said the United States had provided further documents to strengthen its case against Firtash since the previous Austrian court ruling.
Firtash, who is also wanted on criminal charges in Ukraine, has not left Austria since his initial detention.
A U.S. Justice Department spokeswoman, in an email sent in reply to an RFE/RL request for comment, said: "While, as a general policy, the U.S. Department of Justice does not comment on the particulars of pending extradition cases, we would like to extend our thanks to the Government of Austria for our close cooperation on law enforcement matters."
With reporting by Reuters, AP, and AFP
There's been a development in the case of Dmytro Firtash, the controversial Ukrainian oligarch: