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In reply to the discussion: Kiev government powerless as east Ukraine slips out of its control [View all]Iterate
(3,020 posts)Prosecutor General: Yanukovych took $32 billion to Russia, financing separatism in Ukraine (UPDATED)
April 29, 2014, 1:52 p.m. | Ukraine by Ivan Verstyuk
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Today the Russian Federation is officially harboring criminals, such as Yanukovych, (former Prosecutor General Viktor) Pshonka, (ex-Interior Minister Vitaliy) Zakharchenko, and does not recognize them as guilty, said Makhnitsky.
Russias Prosecutor General Yuriy Chayka publicly stated that Russia will not extradite them because they are considered legitimate Ukrainian government officials.
In mid-April, the U.S. State Department announced that the U.S. had sent a group of FBI agents and financial and legal officials to Kyiv to facilitate the return of Ukrainian assets from abroad. An asset recovery team from Great Britain is also participating in the project. Londond hosts a two-day meeting this week devoted to recovering Ukrainian assets. The U.S., UK and Ukrainian representatives are participating.
Makhnitsky said the country has already identified some $3 billion of stolen assets and expects to find billions more. He said the former regime acted as an organized crime gang that left the country's treasury bare.
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http://www.kyivpost.com/content/ukraine/prosecutor-general-yanukovych-took-32-billion-to-russia-financing-separatism-in-ukraine-345544.html
That's a year's budget for Ukraine. I'd grant the coup argument if its proponents would just admit it is happening on the Yanukovych/Russian side, with elected officials shot, detained, threatened, and disappeared.
Also, it's not yet "eastern Ukraine" that's slipping away, just a 50 mile triangle.