21.
Duelling pro-Russian Ukrainian peace plans
During the election, foreigners were trying to get at least two “peace plans” before Trump’s team in the hopes of ending the conflict between Moscow and Ukraine over the Kremlin’s 2014 annexation of Crimea. But the plans both appeared to heavily favor Russia and were funnelled through Trump associates now caught up in Mueller’s investigation.
The first plan brought together Michael Cohen, Trump’s personal attorney, Felix Sater, a Trump business associate involved in the Trump Tower Moscow project, and Andrii Artemenko, a Ukrainian politician and member of a pro-Russian political party. According to The New York Times, the plan involved leasing Crimea to Russia for 50 years in exchange for ending the ongoing war in Ukraine’s Donbass region. The pact also called for the Trump administration drop sanctions against Russia imposed by the Obama White House.
After Sater introduced Artemenko to Cohen, the offer made it all the way to Flynn’s desk during his brief tenure as national security adviser, the Times reported. Cohen has denied that account, saying he threw the document away instead of giving it to Flynn. Artemenko was ejected from his party when his back-channel scheming was revealed, and later investigated for treason. Mueller subpoenaed him and he appeared before a grand jury last May.
The second plan was apparently a plot hatched between Paul Manafort, the now-imprisoned former Trump campaign manager, and Konstantin Kilimnik, a Russian-Ukrainian national that Mueller’s team said has ties to Russian intelligence.
The contours of that deal are less clear, but according to court filings, Manafort “‘conceded’ that he discussed or may have discussed a Ukraine peace plan with Mr. Kilimnik on more than one occasion.” Mueller accused Manafort of initially lying to authorities about these talks, which may have occurred both during and after the election.
from Trend Gossip Now https://ift.tt/2upZy3H
0 Comments