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The Ukrainian State Border Guard seized anti-tank missile components, reportedly the AT-4 Spigot, destined for Iran on Jan. 19. The weapons were concealed in the cargo section of a UM Airlines flight from Kiev to Tehran. Ukraine deserves praise for capturing the illicit cargo, but Kiev continues to let Iran use its aviation sector to evade a U.N.-implemented sanctioned international arms embargo and Western sanctions.

Banned Iranian carriers like Caspian Airlines and Mahan Air continue to benefit from close cooperation with Ukrainian airlines, and Kiev's failure to enforce U.S. sanctions against Iran should loom large as the Trump administration reviews its foreign policy options toward Ukraine.

The Iranian aviation sector's reliance on Kiev is not new. Publicly available data from commercial flight trackers show that Dart Airlines is currently leasing aircraft to Iran's privately owned Kish Air. Dart's fleet is also frequently chartered for Iran and Lebanon routes by unknown operators. Iran Air Tours, ATA Airlinesand Zagros Airlines, among others, also lease aircraft from Ukrainian operators.

None of these private companies is under U.S. sanctions, but Ukraine's fleet caters to sanctioned entities, too. Data show that one of Air Khors's aircraft is currently leased to the Iraqi Al-Naser Airlines, which the U.S. Treasury sanctioned in May 2015 when the company fronted for Mahan Air.

Air Khors has also leased a Boeing 737 to Naft Airlines, which is being operated by U.S.-sanctioned Caspian Airlines. Treasury also slapped sanctions on two more Ukrainian airlines for assisting Mahan Air: Bukovyna Airlines and UM Airlines, which was carrying the missile parts seized last week.

Since last year, there are daily flights between Kiev and Tehran, including a weekly Mahan flight that commenced last March, when Mahan and UM announced an expanded partnership. Their cooperation connects Kiev to Mahan's Asian destinations through Tehran, giving Ukrainian passengers a convenient connecting hub to Asia.

It also enables Mahan to officially enter the Ukrainian market.

Rather than concealing a partnership that Washington has sanctioned since 2013, Kiev and Tehran actually announced it with pomp, with the inaugural Mahan flight to Kiev welcomed by former Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko and Oleh Barna, a senior member of the Ukrainian parliament and ally of current President Petro Poroshenko. Also in attendance were Eugene Dykhne, acting head of Kiev's Boryspil International Airport; theIranian ambassador to Kiev; and Mahan Air's managing director for international relations.

This is further evidence that the lack of U.S. sanctions enforcement under the Obama administration greatly eroded U.S. credibility and deterrence. Yushchenko, after all, led a pro-Western government in Kiev from 2005 to 2010.

The current government, so well-represented at the ceremony, is clamoring for more U.S. military assistance and a tougher Western stance in its current predicament against Russia in Eastern Ukraine. Yet, it sees no contradiction between its demands for Western support and its deepening partnership with Iran's sanctioned aviation sector.

Merhej boasted this summer about the increasing popularity of the Kiev-Tehran route. "The occupancy is increasing every day. We have about 75 passengers per flight today," he said. "Two months ago, it was 55 passengers. I am confident that we will reach 100 passengers by the end of June."

What Merhej failed to address is that UM Airlines, via its support of Mahan Airlines, has been involved in moving illicit cargo for the Syrian regime and the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps' external arm, the Qods Force. The U.S. Treasury confirmed in 2013 that UM Airlines has trained Mahan Air pilots and engineers, and transferred airplanes to Mahan Air. UM has now been caught transferring weapons as well.

Last week's seizure of weapons shows that UM Airlines has not stopped its illicit activity with Mahan Airlines, and that this illicit activity has only increased since the initial designations by Treasury. Given the airlines' record of illicit activity, its increased business partnership is a major red flag.

The question remains whether last week's weapons seizure was just the tip of the iceberg in illicit activity facilitated by UM and Mahan Airlines. Since its conflict erupted in 2014, Ukraine has become a "supermarket"for the illicit arms trade a platform that Iran could easily exploit through its direct air connection to Kiev.

Authorities in Ukraine should be commended for seizing the weapons shipment, but when Kiev asks the United States for economic and military assistance, the least it can do is prevent sanctioned entities such as UM and Mahan Airlines to operate from its soil.

Emanuele Ottolenghi is a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, where Boris Zilberman is deputy director of congressional relations and a Russia analyst. FollowOttolenghiandZilbermanon Twitter @eottolenghi and @rolltidebmz.

The views of contributors are their own and not the views of The Hill.

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Ukraine needs to enforce US sanctions on Iran - The Hill (blog)

WASHINGTON, Feb. 7, 2017 Defense officials are concerned about the recent violence in eastern Ukraine, a Defense Department spokesman said today.

The violence has been largely centered around Avdiivka-Yasynuvata, Navy Capt. Jeff Davis, the director of defense press operations, told reporters at the Pentagon.

"We're deeply concerned with the recent spike in violence in eastern Ukraine," he said. "We reaffirm U.S. support for full implementation of the Minsk agreements and we continue to provide security assistance to Ukraine."

Assistance for Ukraine

Davis pointed out the 2016 package of U.S. security assistance to Ukraine was $335 million. The training program is being conducted by about 350 U.S. soldiers in cooperation with other allies and partners, he said.

"We have a robust advisory effort to advance the implementation of key defense reforms and equipment to support the operational needs of Ukraine's security forces," he said.

"We do however continue to believe that there's no military solution to the crisis and that the Minsk agreements are the only way to resolve the conflict peacefully," he said.

"Our focus has been on supporting Ukraine and pursuing a durable diplomatic solution that respects Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity," he said.

Davis described the violence as the most significant flare up there since 2015.

"We're troubled by it, we've taken note of it," he said. "I can tell you what we havent seen is any sort of large-scale movement of Russian forces that would suggest that this is part of something bigger."

(Follow Lisa Ferdinando on Twitter @FerdinandoDoD)

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Displaced residents talk to UNHCR staff in the front line village of Luhanske, in eastern Ukraine. UNHCR/Evgeny Maloletka

UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, is increasing its humanitarian assistance to help civilians affected by the recent spike in fighting and the harsh winter conditions in eastern Ukraine.

Fierce clashes over the last two weeks have caused civilian casualties and damaged homes and schools in the government-held townof Avdiivka. After a decline in hostilities over the weekend, 20 new families lost their homes due to shelling on Monday night. In total, close to 150 houses and 30 apartments have been damaged or destroyed by shelling and fighting in Avdiivka since last week.

Last Thursday, UNHCR delivered 40 metric tons of shelter material and relief items for 2,000 people in the town as part of a government-led response. These included blankets, bedding and towel sets, jerrycans, buckets and winter clothing.

Although electricity, water and heating have now been restored in most of Avdiivka, people living in houses close to the contact line are still without services.

Some 300 people, including 135 children, were voluntarily evacuated from Avdiivka last week. However further fighting and damage to critical infrastructure could lead to a new wave of displacement among the more than 800,000 people still residing in the conflict zone.

According to one of our partner organizations, some 46 unaccompanied children arrived in the neighboring town of Slovyansk, some of them without documentation. UNHCR is working with local authorities and partners to provide them with legal assistance and relief items, including blankets, bedding sets and winter jackets.

We welcome the more active role the Ukrainian Government is starting to play in the coordination of humanitarian assistance, both at the provincial and central levels.

The fighting is also severely impacting civilians living in and around Mariupol, insouth eastern Ukraine. Over the weekend, the city of Mariupol, which hosts half of million people, was left without electricity for several hours, while some 70 houses were damaged in neighboring villages.

Renewed fighting is also affecting non-government controlled areas. Communities living along the contact line near the city of Donetsk are particularly affected, with more than 20 villages still without electricity, despite temperatures expected to fall below minus 20 C this week.

According to the de-facto authorities of the Donetsk region, some 500 people have been displaced since the surge of fighting late January, the majority of whom are now being sheltered in collective centers.

UNHCR has distributed plastic sheeting and basic relief items to the most vulnerable and to those accommodated in the collective centers in Donetsk. Some 2,000 vulnerable families have also received coal, as part of our winterization programme in non-government controlled areas.

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After eight years in office that started with a historic economic crisis and ended with a historic defeat for his party, Barack Obama has earned some time off. But the former president's photos from his beach vacation with billionaire tycoon Richard Branson are creating a typhoon of mixed emotions on social media.

Branson posted the above video on his YouTube feed of the duo's friendly competition to see if Obama could stay up longer on a kiteboard than Branson could on a foilboard. The ex-POTUS won and it quickly became the top trending video on the platform Tuesday morning.

But the images from Obama's life after leading the free world left many feeling a little envious, or like the president was rubbing that gorgeous azure salt water in a fresh wound.

Many people found themselves feeling a little like an ex who comes out on the short end of a break-up.

Of course, there are also plenty of well-wishers.

Oh well, I mean YOLO, right? But when is the Obamas' vacation finally going to end? I mean you do you and all, Mr. President but geez, it's still winter back here at home.

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NPR	Barack Obama Goes Kitesurfing NPR Obama wasn't allowed to do watersports as president it was too risky. Now many of those safety restrictions are no more, and he's taking full advantage by kitesurfing in the British Virgin Islands. Facebook; Twitter. Google+. Email ...

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