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8 tweets,
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1/8 Lots of Twitter chatter a proposed agreement for the Donbas region of Ukraine, seized by Russian backed forces in 2014 when Russia illegally annexed Crimea: Here is a good backgrounder (from April, but still relevant) :swp-berlin.org/10.18449/2019R…
2/8 Trump's special envoy for Ukraine Kurt Volker was tasked with representing the US in multilateral negotiations involving Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE): Read about the OSCE's involvement in monitoring and negotiations here:osce.org/ukrainecrisis
3/8 US policy until now has been to oppose "sham elections, orchestrated by Russia" in Donbas which "contravene Russia’s commitments under the Minsk agreements and flout UNSC Resolution 2202 (2015)." state.gov/joint-statemen…
4/8 Now Ukrainian President Zelensky appears to be coming to an agreement to hold elections on 'special autonomy' in Donbas, which many experts worry would legitimize Russian control. Indeed, this was official US policy until very recently.
5/8 Any signs Trump pressured Zelensky to come to a pro-Moscow agreement with Russian Pres. Putin over Donbas, or signaled a shift in US policy would be extremely significant, given consistency of US policy since 2014.
6/8 More important, there will be an extensive documentary trail that Congress can follow. If Trump's interactions with Zelensky involved any pressure over Donbas, Congress can and should subpoena State Dept. and NSC discussions over last few months regarding US policy.
7/8 Any shift in US policy would normally result from extensive inter-agency discussion and consultation with a host of European allies. Which makes records of Kurt Volker's and Gordon Sondland's July 26 meeting with Ukrainian officials a vital subject of Congressional inquiry.
8/8 If, and this is a big if, there was a shift in US policy over Donbas, it will be impossible to hide the discussions at the agency and inter-agency level. This is also something Congress should ask former US Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitchabout during her testimony.
