EU diplomat nominee says Balkans, Ukraine top foreign-policy priorities:
By RFE/RL
The EU's proposed new top diplomat wants to make the Balkans and the "eastern front of Europe" the 28-member bloc's main foreign-policy priorities.
At his confirmation hearing on October 7 before the European Parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee in Brussels, Josep Borrell highlighted growing tensions in the bloc with Russia, while lamenting that the world had "dramatically...changed for the worse" over the past decade.
He said the EU's international standing was under pressure from China's ascending power, disputes with the United States, and an assertive Kremlin.
"The Balkans and the eastern front of Europe, that's the priority of our external policy," the current Spanish foreign minister told members of the European parliament.
During his opening 15-minute speech, Borrell argued that the EU cannot "have ambitions to be global players if we cannot sort out problems at our own borders."
For that reason, he said Pristina, the capital of Kosovo, will be the destination of his fist official visit.
Kosovo declared independence from Serbia in 2008 in a move that Spain and four other EU countries don't recognize.
Altogether, more than 110 countries recognize Kosovo's statehood.
"We have to make an agreement between Serbia and Kosovo and it will be my priority," Borrell said. "I believe that if we as Europeans are not able to solve this problem in our immediate vicinity, it's very hard to believe that we are going to be a geopolitical power."
He emphasized a "balanced" approach toward Russia, amid uneasiness among Poland and the Baltic states over what they see as rapprochement efforts by countries like France and Finland toward Moscow.
Borrell, 72, said the best way "to address Russian expansionism is to help and reinforce Ukraine, their resilience and capacity for reforms and become a prosperous country."
He noted that Russia was under EU sanctions for seizing Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula in 2014 and for "destabilizing" eastern Ukraine by backing separatists.
"We should continue extending the sanctions against Russia until we see tectonic changes" on the part of Moscow, Borrell said.
He noted that the EU had given Ukraine $16.5 billion in assistance in the past five years, and "we have to continue helping them, because if we really want to face -- let's say -- the cold challenge from the east, the best way is to create a ring of democratic and prosperous countries on our eastern border, and it's not going to be free [of monetary costs]."
Borrell also emphasized the need to bolster the EU's efforts to counter disinformation "because it is a weapon."
Thus, he said, "let me stress from the beginning of my intention to engage on the reform and integration process in the Western Balkans [and to] support democracy and [the] territorial integrity of Ukraine."
It is foreseen that the new European Commission, including Borrell as EU foreign-policy chief, will assume office on November 1. (w/Ukrayinska Pravda)
Former lawmaker detained over shooting:
By RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service
Former Ukrainian member of parliament Serhiy Pashynskiy has been placed in pretrial detention for two months without the opportunity to post bail on charges that he caused "grievous bodily harm" when he shot a man on New Year's Eve in 2016.
A Kyiv court on October 7 ordered the four-term former lawmaker, most recently from the Narodniy Front party, to be held until December 4 as he faces charges that are punishable for up to 10 years in prison.
The charges stem from an incident on December 31, 2016 in outside Kyiv.
According to Pashynskiy, he noticed a vehicle parked on the median of a country road without its headlights on. When he approached the vehicle to ask the passengers to move the van, one of them approached him with a glass bottle while making verbal threats.
Armed with a Glock-19 pistol, Pashynskiy said he fired a warning shot into the air.
After the lawmaker was struck with the glass bottle and fell to the ground, he fired his weapon, wounding the man in the left leg.
Medical examiners said the man suffered a fracture to his left femur.
The shot man, Vyacheslav Khimikus, was charged with the lesser crime of hooliganism in November.
Prosecutors initially closed the case against Pashynskiy, who most recently had headed the parliamentary National Security and Defense Committee, on July 26, 2017 due to a lack of evidence.
In December 2017, a Kyiv court ordered prosecutors to reopen the case.
On October 4, the State Bureau of Investigations charged Pashynskiy with causing grievous bodily harm. (w/Interfax and Ukrayinska Pravda)
We are now closing the live blog for today, but we'll be back again tomorrow morning to follow all the latest developments. Until then, you can keep up with all our other Ukraine coverage here.