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This isnt a cold war; its a hot war. And experts caution that the conflict in Eastern Ukraine could soon get a whole lot hotter if fighting damages huge industrial storage units of chlorine gas and there is a deadly release of the toxic gas.

If one of those uncontrolled sites containing chemicals were to detonate, tens of thousands of people could be poisoned. It is a potential disaster on the scale of Chernobyl, Robert Amsterdam, Russian political expert and lawyer at international law firm Amsterdam & Partners, told Fox News.

The risk is hardly hypothetical. Late last month a stray artillery shell hit the Donetsk Filter Stations chlorine gas depot, which holds 15,000 pounds of chlorine gas. While the containers -- by sheer luck were not damaged, the incident raised serious red flags.

In a situation like this, where a war zone is near a concentration of industrial facilities where toxic and explosive chemicals are manufactured and stored, it is possible that massive releases of toxic chemicals could be released, Rudy Richardson, professor of toxicology at the University of Michigan, told Fox News. And that would result in high levels of civilian casualties.

According to Baskut Tuncak,U.N. special rapporteuron human rights and hazardous substances and wastes, damage to just one chlorine-filled, 2,000-pound container has the potential to kill anyone within a 600-foot distance and poses dire health risks to the tens of thousands of surrounding residents.

RUSSIA SAYS US MISSILE SYSTEMS A RISK TO REGIONAL SECURITY

Large chemical and industrial facilities are in areas where fighting is ongoing, Tuncak said. Battles are now being fought in cities, close to industrial centers with factories increasingly at risk of being hit: The consequences for anyone living close by would be severe.

The three-year war which started as a trade agreement dispute but then burgeoned into a bloody conflict between support for Western-backed Ukraine and the Kremlin-supported separatists has already claimed the lives of more than 10,000 people, including 2,000 civilians, and wounded some 23,000. An estimated 2 million have been displaced or deeply impacted by dire shortages of food, electricity, water, heat, medical and social services.

Before the war, the Donbass region held more than 5,300 operational industrial enterprises, many of which are now under the control of separatist rebels who seized control of dozens of factories and mines, including those used to distribute aid.

John Gilbert, a senior science fellow with the Center for Arms Control and Non Proliferations Chemical and Biological Arms Control Working Group who previously conducted inspections in Russia and the Ukraine as a U.S. military officer concurred that a chlorine release would result in significant injuries and would be fatal to most. He also said that steps should be put in place now to minimize potential fallout.

The fact that there are many large industrial facilities and water treatment plants in the conflict zone is cause for concern. Ensuring that workers in the vicinity of toxic stockpiles have immediate access to protective equipment (such as masks) is important, Gilbert noted, cautioning that safety equipment is both costly and requires training to don and wear properly, in addition to having a limited shelf life. Collateral or even intentional chemical casualties from the Ukraine conflict is a real possibility.

AS CASUALTIES MOUNT IN EASTERN UKRAINE, SOME WONDER WHETHER PUTIN IS TESTING TRUMP

A reportissuedlast week by the Geneva-based Zoi Environment Network and the Toxic Remnants of War Project claimed that the damage to industrial installations has already resulted in a number of civilian health risks, and reinforced concerns over future disaster.

Gilbert stressed that there are precautions that industrial facilities can take, such as dispersing chemical storage containers rather than clustering them and looking at outside storage rather than inside a building. However, it is unknown if any such precautions are being implemented.

Several civilian sources on the ground in the conflict zone told Fox News that the chemical issue isnt even one being routinely discussed among them that they are merely trying to eat, keep a roof over their heads and live to see another day.

Russian forces have been accused of using chemical weapons in the Ukraine already, during the 2015 battle over the Donetsk airport in which 80 Ukrainian soldiers showed symptoms of being exposed to nerve agents, James Kirchick, author of The End of Europe, said. The Ukraine transferred its chemical weapons stockpiles to Russia after the collapse of the Soviet Union, and is not known to be in possession of any chemical weapons while Russia maintains stockpiles of VR, Sarin and mustard gas.

Hollie McKay has been a FoxNews.com staff reporter since 2007. She has reported extensively from the Middle East on the rise and fall of terrorist groups such as ISIS in Iraq. Follow her on twitter at @holliesmckay

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Chernobyl-scale chemical disaster looms in Eastern Ukraine war, experts warn - Fox News

Paul Manafort, who served as President Trumps campaign chairman during the summer of 2016, is wanted for questioning in a Ukrainian corruption case, CNN reported.

Ukraine first sent requests to question Manafort to U.S. authorities in December of 2014 in case related to Oleksandr Lavrynovych, a former Ukrainian justice minister.

U.S. officials confirmed the requests to CNN but refused to provide further comment to the network.

"We believe they wanted to avoid the time-consuming competition they would have had to organize to hire the law firm legally, so they drew up the undervalued contract and probably arranged to pay the real fee in cash," Serhiy Gorbatyuk, the prosecutor for special investigations in Ukraine, told CNN.

According to documents reviewed by the news network and provided by Ukrainian officials, prosecutors told U.S. officials that the probe"established that the well-known American political strategist Paul Manafort is implicated in the relationship."

One letter sent to the U.S. Department of Justice said Manafort "was likely the person who advised representatives of the former Government of Ukraine to hire the law firm and was present during talks about this issue."

Manafort, who the story notes is not being charged, refused to comment for CNNs story.

Manafort resigned from the Trump campaign in August of 2016 following reports that he was paid millions of dollars for work for the Russia-supported former president of Ukraine, Viktor Yanukovych.

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Manafort wanted for questioning in Ukraine: report | TheHill - The Hill

20.03.17 (UKRAINE) - Fedcominvest will strongly contest the politically motivated freezing of the Ukrainian assets of the company`s Chairman, Alekszej Fedoricsev. The company is confident that the arbitrary nature of the State of Ukraine`s actions will be uncovered in the appropriate courts.

Fedcominvest would like to make it clear that any accusations of wrongdoing against its Chairman by the controversial and discredited National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) are strenuously denied and are part of an ill-informed and politically motivated attack.

This attempt by the State of Ukraine to seize Mr Fedoricsev`s assets has its origins in a series of contracts entered into by the State Food and Grain Corporation of Ukraine, PJSC (SF&G) to export grain from Ukraine to China.

In 2012, SF&G entered into a US$ 3 billion `loan-for-grains` contract, which the Ukrainian Government agreed with the Chinese government, knowing that the maximum transhipment capacity of their own terminals was just 2.4 million tonnes per year. From more or less the commencement of the loan term, China demanded more grain from Ukraine than could be transhipped through State terminals. In 2013, demand reached such a level that the SF&G was unable to perform its obligations to China.

The SF&G therefore sought use of Ukraine`s privately owned terminals to tranship grain. They approached the owner of TIS terminals Mr Fedoricsev, as TIS terminals are the largest deep-water terminals in Ukraine, with transhipment capacities of 27 million tonnes per year.

Unaccustomed to using private terminals and abiding by accepted market practices, SF&G entered into a commercial dispute over a deal made in Mr Fedoricsev`s TIS terminals with a separate company (Lirtavis). It is important to note that Mr Fedoricsev has no commercial or other interest in Lirtavis. Despite having no legal interest in the dispute between SF&G and Lirtavis, the Ukrainian anti-corruption authorities have now seized the assets of Mr Fedoricsev as part of a wide-ranging and arbitrary criminal investigation flowing from the dispute.

The ultimate objective of the Ukrainian state`s investigations appear to be to appropriate the privately owned TIS terminals in order to service the SF&G`s growing need for transhipment capacity and meet the current high demand for grain exports. Only last year, SF&G`s Deputy Chairman, Andriy Repko admitted that the Ukrainian Government needed to build a new grain terminal suitable for large vessels in order to meet the demand of grain shipments to China. Their desperation is only exacerbated by the fact that the Chinese Import-Export bank has already brought arbitration proceedings against Ukraine for defaulting on the loan.

Spotting an opportunity to appropriate Mr Fedoricsev`s property, the Ukrainian authorities expanded their criminal investigation against SF&G into arbitrary and unlawful criminal investigation into Mr Fedoricsev`s companies. They have unjustly pursued key figures at Mr Fedoricsev`s TIS terminals and Mr Fedoricsev himself. This has now culminated in the unreasonable freezing of Mr Fedorisev`s Ukrainian assets.

Fedcominvest is completely confident that these illogical state actions will be overturned in the appropriate courts. Mr Alekszej Fedoricsev will of course help the authorities in any way he can.

Mr Fedoricsev says,

"I am disappointed by the lack of due process and malicious lies that have been spread about me and my businesses in Ukraine. It is unfathomable to think that I am being punished by the authorities for giving them the opportunity to meet their obligations under a loan which is hugely important to the Ukrainian state. It is clear to me that those who invest in Ukraine`s infrastructure, create employment and improve its economy are rewarded by the State with nothing but contempt. These arbitrary actions are indicative of a desperate State which is willing to go to any length to protect itself, with no regard for its people or economy."

Marco Garzone, Vice President of Fedcominvest, says, "We are confident that these malicious and cruel actions taken by the Ukrainian Anti-Corruption Bureau will be proven to be groundless by the appropriate courts. This absolutely baseless attack by the NABU on our Chairman, who is a well-respected international businessman, will not be accepted by Fedcominvest. We will support him completely throughout this ordeal."

Read More

**ENDS**

Background information:

1. Fedcominvest Europe SARL

Fedcominvest Europe SARL, is a world-leading export business, specialising in the trading of grain, sulphur and fertilizers.

Founded in 2009 in the Principality of Monaco, the company has expertise in the storage, shipping and distribution of a variety of commodities. Fedcominvest has a significant presence in Western Europe and is a market-leader in the supply of grain from the deep-water ports of Odessa region to countries in the MENA region.

In 2016 Fedcominvest shipped over 5 million tonnes of grain to countries around the world including, Bangladesh, Malaysia, Saudi Arabia and Vietnam.

2. Alekszej Fedoricsev

Alekszej Fedoricsev is a successful Russian-born businessman. He is the founder of Fedcominvest, a global export business, specialising in the trading of sulphur and fertilizers.

After starting his career as a professional footballer for Moscow club FC Dynamo, Mr Fedoricsev began trading in car parts during the fall of the Soviet Union. He quickly became a specialist in the business of logistics, concentrating on transporting and trading in grain and chemicals including ammonia, phosphates and sulphur. His company, Fedcominvest, is now a global leader in the field.

A values-driven and self-made businessman, Mr Fedoricsev`s business ethos is centred on re-investing profits back into his businesses. This has proven to be a hugely successful model, with his business interests now spanning across commodities, sport, media, shipping and property.

A passionate sportsperson, Mr Fedoricsev is a leading figure in European football. Fedcominvest is a sponsor of Monaco FC and Mr Fedoricsev previously owned a significant stake in FC Dynamo (Moscow). As part of his commitment to make football accessible to all, he bought the rights to show football in Russia and allowed fans to watch the matches for no charge.

3. 2012 Loan-For-Grains Contract between the Governments of China and Ukraine

In 2012, the Ukrainian Government entered into a Loan-For-Grains Contract with the China National Complete Engineering Corporation ("CCEC") under which the Chinese Government agreed to provide Ukraine with access to $3 billion in credit lines in exchange for supplies of corn. It was reported that the Export-Import Bank of China ("Eximbank") agreed to lend this money at six-month LIBOR+4.5% over 15 years with a five-year grace period.

The first $1.5-billion tranche of a loan was sent by China`s Eximbank to the State Food and Grain Corporation of Ukraine in 2013.

At the time this agreement was reached the Ukrainian Farm Minister Mykola Prysyazhnyuk was quoted as stating that Ukraine expected to supply between 2.0 million to 2.5 million tonnes of maize to China every year to pay off the $3 billion loan.

See: https://www.ft.com/content/79bc2174-0276-11e2-8cf8-00144feabdc0 http://china.aiddata.org/projects/42559

4. The dispute between SF&G and Lirtavis

In 2012, SF&G entered into a US$ 3 billion `loan-for-grains` contract, which the Ukrainian Government agreed with the Chinese government, knowing that the maximum transhipment capacity of their own terminals was just around 2 million tonnes per year.

From more or less the commencement of the loan term, China demanded more grain from Ukraine that could be transhipped through State terminals. In 2013, this demand reached such a level that the SF&G was unable to perform its obligations under the loan. SF&G therefore sought use of Ukraine`s privately owned TIS terminals to tranship their grain.

In order to secure the transhipment services at privately owned terminals in Odesa region SF&G had to do two things they were unaccustomed to doing:

Due to Ukrainian currency restrictions on foreign companies, SF&G were unable to pay for transhipment directly to the foreign company (which was Mr Fedoricsev`s logistics company Grain-Trans, which provides informational and commercial support of the transhipment process) and agreed with TIS terminals` owner, Mr Fedoricsev, that they would pay the part of transhipment costs to the foreign company once the restrictions are lifted.

To facilitate the deal, SF&G secured their obligation to pay for transhipment with the grain to a third company (Lirtavis), which would prepay the transhipment costs to Grain-Trans. It is important to note that Mr Fedoricsev has no commercial or other interest in Lirtavis. He is, however, the owner of the terminals which SF&G desperately required to meet demand for grain exports.

To this day, SF&G has not paid the balance of transhipment costs to Grain-Trans, so Lirtavis has lawfully withheld part-payment of the grain to cover this expense.

5. National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU)

The National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) is a Ukrainian law enforcement agency founded in October 2014 which investigates corruption in Ukraine and prepares cases for prosecution. NABU has investigatory powers although it cannot indict suspects directly and must pass any evidence of corruption over to the Prosecutor General of Ukraine.

NABU was created at the request of the International Monetary Fund and the European Commission in return for the relaxation of visa restrictions between Ukraine and the European Union. NABU`s funding by the Ukrainian Government is mandated under US and European Union aid programs.

NABU recently received funding from the UK Department for International Development (DFID) as part of the Good Governance Fund for Eastern Europe and the Western Balkans.

The NABU`s first 70 detectives only started work on 1 October 2015 and NABU has already been the subject of allegations of corruption and ineffectiveness.

The Ukrainian Prosecutor General`s office has strongly criticised the bureau`s impartiality and President Poroshenko is currently trying to appoint his choice to be the independent auditor to NABU, despite the Ukrainian Parliament`s backing a different candidate.

In February 2017, the Head of the EU Delegation to Ukraine Hugues Mingarelli expressed concern about proposed amendments to the laws governing NABU and noted the EU Delegation was `alarmed` at the state of anti-corruption efforts in Ukraine.

Contact: media@fedcominvestmonaco.com

This announcement is distributed by NASDAQ OMX Corporate Solutions on behalf of NASDAQ OMX Corporate Solutions clients.

The issuer of this announcement warrants that they are solely responsible for the content, accuracy and originality of the information contained therein. Source: Fedcominvest Monaco SAM via GlobeNewswire HUG#2089147

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Fedcominvest denounces Ukraine's politically motivated attack on its Chairman, Alekszej Fedoricsev - Yahoo Finance

Prosecutors alsoshowed CNN documentation they sent to the DOJ in which they told the US authorities that their investigation had "established that the well-known American political strategist Paul Manafort is implicated in the relationship between the Skadden Arps. firm and the Justice Ministry of Ukraine." Of Manafort, the letter said he "was likely the person who advised representatives of the former Government of Ukraine to hire the law firm and was present during talks about this issue."

Right now, Manafort isnt facing charges in this case but its far from his only legal issue.

Why the United States hasn't moved to make Manafort available to Ukraine under a treaty of mutual assistance is unclear.

The final letter was dated September 2016: Ukraine's Prosecutor General, the equivalent of a US Attorney General, sent a letter directly to FBI director James Comey asking for clarification for why the US authorities would not help.

The actions in question happened before Manafort was Donald Trumps manager, but after he had already picked up a nice apartment inTrump Tower. In fact, its not clear when, or even if, Manaforts associationwith pro-Russian forces in Ukraine ended.Several of Manaforts actions in Ukraine continue to be the subject of potentialattention from courts.

Actions such as arranging proteststhat Putin used as an excuse for invasion.

The senior Ukrainian prosecutor alleges that in 2006 Mr. Manafort orchestrated a series of Anti-Nato, Anti-Kiev protests in Crimea led by Viktor Yanukovychs pro-Russian Party of Regionsnow a designated criminal organisation. The protests forced planned Nato exercises there to be cancelled.

And violating U.S. laws on foreign lobbying:

Donald Trump's campaign chairman helped a pro-Russian governing party in Ukraine secretly route at least $2.2 million in payments to two prominent Washington lobbying firms in 2012, and did so in a way that effectively obscured the foreign political party's efforts to influence U.S. policy.

Andarranging a riot in which U.S. Marines were attacked:

We had rocks thrown at us. Rocks hit Marines. Buses were rocked back and forth. We were just trying to get to our base.

And taking more than $12 millionin off the books cash:

government investigators examining secret records have found his name, as well as companies he sought business with, as they try to untangle a corrupt network they say was used to loot Ukrainian assets and influence elections during the administration of Mr. Manaforts main client, former President Viktor F. Yanukovych.

That last claim is already thought to be at the center of an FBI investigation into Manafort. So perhaps the answer to why wont you let us question Manafort about his second-hand involvement in misappropriating $1 million is because were about to indict him for a lot more than that.

It appears that Manafort may have been blackmailed using knowledge of not justhis under-the-table funds for helping out Russian interests in Ukraine ...

Attached to the text is a note to Paul Manafort referring to bulletproof evidence related to Manaforts financial arrangement with Ukraines former president, the pro-Russian strongman Viktor Yanukovych, as well as an alleged 2012 meeting between Trump and a close Yanukovych associate named Serhiy Tulub.

...but also for arranging a meeting between Donald Trump and a pro-Russian Ukrainian official.

The White House did not respond to a question about whether Trump had met with Tulub, a hunting buddy of Yanukovychs who had served as part of government when Yanukovych was prime minister.

None of this has stopped Manafort from seemingly trying to secure Ukraine for Putin, and hes not the only one on the Trump team working to that end.

The new story explains that a group of Trump operatives, including top lawyer Michael Cohen and fired former campaign manager Paul Manafort, along with a pro-Putin Ukrainian parliamentarian named Andrii V. Artemenko and Mr. Sater are pushing President Trump on a 'peace plan' for Russia and Ukraine.

The ManafortArtemenkoCohen plan ended up on Flynns desk shortly before National Security AdviserMichael Flynn left office, supposedly over his conversations with the Russian ambassador and not his failing to register as a foreign agentwhich Trump already knew about. And of course, Trump himself made sure that the Ukraine remained a soft target for Moscow.

Inside the meeting, Diana Denman, a platform committee member from Texas who was a Ted Cruz supporter, proposed a platform amendment that would call for maintaining or increasing sanctions against Russia, increasing aid for Ukraine and providing lethal defensive weapons to the Ukrainian military.

Trump staffers in the room, who are not delegates but are there to oversee the process, intervened. By working with pro-Trump delegates, they were able to get the issue tabled while they devised a method to roll back the language.

One of those Trump staffers has since been identified asJ. D. Gordon:

The Trump campaign's national-security policy representative for the Republican National Convention, J.D. Gordon, told CNN on Thursday that he pushed to alter an amendment to the GOP's draft policy on Ukraine at the Republican National Convention last year to further align it with President Donald Trump's views.

Note thatits not as if Gordon was acting on his own:

The two Trump staffers claimed to a delegate that they had to call and talk to Mr. Trumpperhaps name-dropping as obnoxious staffers, or perhaps Trump really was involved at the highest level with this particular amendment. The Trump staffers told the delegate that they had discussed Ukraine policy directly with Trump.

Donald Trump, whose level of sophistication on foreign policy comes down to shouting about Sweden because he misheard a story on Fox, has detailed views on the language surrounding wording of how Ukraine should be assisted against Russian forces.

Why would that be?

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Trump campaign chair Paul Manafort wanted for questioning in Ukraine corruption case - Daily Kos

For weeks, conflict has been escalating in eastern Ukraine. Hardly a day goes by without an exchange of fire. Heavy weapons are being used again. The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), which should be monitoring to ensure that the long-established cease-fire isrespected, can scarcely deliver more than helpless reports of a war that is still not over after three years.

Politically speaking, all sides - the leadership in Kyiv, as well as the separatists and their supporters in the Kremlin - are pouring fresj fuel on the fire. They are cementing the division of Ukraine step by step. And now it is Kyiv itself that has moved to speed up thisprocess: The Security Council of Ukraine has decided to stop all freight traffic with the rebel-occupied areas in Luhansk and Donetsk.

Armed activists surrendered

The financial transfer between Kyiv and the separatist parts of Donbass has long been interrupted - with devastating consequences for the people, especially the elderly. They must take the dangerous route across the dividing line to retrieve their pensions or other social benefits from Kyiv. With the economic blockade that has now been decided, Kyiv is also cutting back on shipments of all kinds of goods to Donbass.

The Ukrainian government, with President Petro Poroshenko at the head, is thus bendingto the pressure of armed activists who interrupted the railways between Donbass and the rest of Ukraine two months ago. A few politicians in Kyiv have criticized this, as did Poroshenko. Now, a controversial action by activists has become a state blockade in the name of national security.

Residents left to an uncertain fate

Officially, Kyiv continues to stress that the occupied areas around Luhansk and Donetsk belong to Ukraine. The blockade on the movement of goods is theoretically to be stopped as soon as the separatists withdraw the recently decided illegal "nationalization" of factories. Ukraine is apparently taking over the political initiative. But in actual fact it is likely to play into the hands of Russian separatists and Russia itself, who will say that Kyiv has given up the people of Donbass.

The Ukrainian plans for a reintegration could become so much wasted paperwith such action. Politicians in eastern Ukraine - along with many in Kyiv -have long pointed out that Ukraine is doing too little to win back the people of Donbass. Now those goalposts seem to be moving further and further away.

Bernd Johann of DW's Ukrainian desk

Pushing partners away

With this decision, Kyiv is essentially also making fools out of countries that are working to resolve the Donbass conflict. These include Germany and France, which have always stood for the unity of Ukraine within the framework of the Minsk process - which is why they are opposed to any measure that could lead to a worsening of the conflict. The imposition of an economic blockade is precisely such a step. The German government's reaction to the blockade imposed by Kyiv and the illegal seizure of factories by the separatists is correspondingly sharp.

Only Russia, which after the annexation of Crimea launched the conflict in eastern Ukraine as well, will probably be pleased at Kyiv's moves, which provide it with a welcome opportunity. Only recently, the Kremlin began to recognizepassports issued by the separatists in eastern Ukraine as valid travel documents. This recognition accelerates the process of division. The economic blockade in Ukraine is now pushing Donbass furtherinto the arms of Moscowand advancing the division of Ukraine.

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Originally posted here:
Opinion: Kyiv risks divided Ukraine - Deutsche Welle