Dutch "confident" Moscow will agree to talks on findings of MH17 probe:
By RFE/RL
The Netherlands says it is "increasingly confident" Russia will agree to formal talks about the findings of an international investigation that Moscow bears legal responsibility for its role in the 2014 downing of a Malaysian passenger jet over Ukraine.
The Dutch Foreign Ministry on February 7 said initial diplomatic contacts with Russia took place in "a positive atmosphere" and that it was hopeful the discussions will lead to formal talks on the matter.
"We are in contact with Russia over national accountability via diplomatic channels," a Foreign Ministry spokeswoman said. "We are increasingly confident that we will sit down with the Russians shortly."
Foreign Minister Stef Blok told reporters that "there are diplomatic contacts to see if we can begin formal talks about national responsibility for shooting down MH17."
He said it was too early to speculate on where and when formal talks might be held.
A Dutch-led international criminal investigation has concluded that the Buk missile that shot down the Malaysia Airlines flight over Ukraine in 2014 came from Russia's 53rd Antiaircraft Missile Brigade.
The Joint Investigative Team (JIT) "has come to the conclusion that the Buk-TELAR that shot down MH17 came from the 53rd Antiaircraft Missile Brigade based in Kursk in Russia," top Dutch investigator Wilbert Paulissen told reporters on May 24. "The 53rd Brigade is part of Russia's armed forces."
The JIT comprised authorities from the Netherlands, Australia, Belgium, Malaysia, and Ukraine.
MH17 was shot down over the conflict zone in Ukraine's Donetsk region on July 17, 2014, killing all 298 people on board.
About two-thirds of the people killed were Dutch citizens. The Netherlands has been one of the main driving forces behind seeking accountability for the attack.
Following the announcement of the JIT findings, Russia's Defense Ministry reiterated it had nothing to do with the downing of the plane.
The Russian Foreign Ministry said the findings were based on "fake data" presented by bloggers and that Moscow's information regarding the case was largely ignored.
Months after the downing, the Russian military made a new claim, asserting that the missile that brought the flight down was sent to Soviet Ukraine after it was made in 1986 and never returned to Russia.
Kyiv swiftly disputed the Russian assertion, which a senior Ukrainian official called an "awkward fake," while the JIT said that it was still waiting for Russia to send documents it requested long before and that Moscow had made "factually inaccurate" claims in the past.
If Russia were ultimately to acknowledge some form of legal responsibility, it could lead to compensation claims from relatives of the people killed.
The United States, Britain, and other allies have backed the JIT findings.
"It is time for Russia to acknowledge its role in the shooting down of MH17 and to cease its callous disinformation campaign," U.S. State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said at the time. (w/Reuters, Meduza, and AP)
France backs changes to EU energy rules seen as threat to Nord Stream 2:
By RFE/RL
France says it supports European Union energy-rules amendments that could potentially threaten the completion of an underwater natural-gas pipeline between Russia and Germany under the Baltic Sea.
EU member states were set to discuss extending EU gas-market regulations to offshore pipelines such as the planned Nord Stream 2 pipeline at a meeting in Brussels on February 8.
On the eve of the talks, the French Foreign Ministry said that France "intends to support the adoption of such a directive."
"Work is continuing with our partners, especially Germany, on the changes that could be made to the text," it added.
The move puts Paris at odds with Berlin, which has championed the planned 1,230-kilometer project, which is also being pushed by the Kremlin.
However, the project faces opposition from the United States and many countries in Eastern and Central Europe, because it would avoid existing gas pipelines through Ukraine and increase Europe's energy dependence on Russia.
"We are not for or against Nord Stream 2," a French diplomatic source told the AFP new agency. "We are asking that there are guarantees for the security of Europe and for the security and stability of Ukraine."
An EU source has said that France's vote will be decisive, likely leaving Germany short of a blocking minority, according to Reuters.
The EU executive wants a say over how Nord Stream 2 is used before its construction, which involves European companies, is completed.
In the United States, a bipartisan group of senators drafted a resolution calling for the cancelation of the pipeline project, and leaders of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee said they would take up the resolution at their next meeting.
In its current form, Nord Stream 2 is fully owned by Russian state energy giant Gazprom and would not be compliant with the proposed new rules.
In a joint op-ed published by Germany's Deutsche Welle, the U.S. ambassadors to Germany, Denmark, and the European Union on February 7 urged EU member states to support the proposed change in the EU regulations.
"Nord Stream 2 would further increase Europe's vulnerability to Russian blackmail in the energy sector," the ambassadors wrote.
Russian officials and German Chancellor Angela Merkel have insisted that the pipeline is a purely economic project.
Speaking during a visit to Slovakia, Merkel said on February 7 that Nord Stream 2 would not make Germany dependent on Russia for gas "if we diversify at the same time."
Germany considers it important for Ukraine to maintain its role as a transit country for Russian gas, she added.
In Moscow, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova expressed "hope that when making [their] decision, EU member countries will be guided by their own national interest." (w/dpa, AFP, Reuters, and Interfax)