The Sunday Show: Ukraine’s Reported Trump Deal, Black Market For Guns, Russian Dirty Money

✅ Did Ukraine Freeze Manafort Probes?

If there’s one story that broke Ukrainian internet, it’s this. On May 23, BBC reported citing anonymous sources that Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko paid over $400,000 for his June 2017 meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump. Earlier in May, the New York Times reported that the javelins Ukraine received this year from the U.S. were done so in exchange for Ukraine freezing the investigation into Manafort’s shady business in Ukrainian politics. Hromadske spoke to Serhiy Horbatiuk, Head of the Special Investigation Department of the Prosecutor General's Office, who is in charge of the Manafort case in Ukraine.

Serhiy Horbatiuk

Head of the Special Investigation Department of the Prosecutor General's Office

✅ Is There A Black Market For Guns in Ukraine?

Ukraine believes this to be a successful operation thwarting a far-right terrorist group in Europe. France, on the contrary, does not seem too convinced. On May 21, a Ukrainian court sentenced French national Gregoire Moutaux to six years in prison for an alleged attempt at weapon smuggling and planning a terror attack. Our team traveled to several locations in France to find out who Moutaux is and why he could have wanted to bring weapons into France. And Sébastien Gobert, a French journalist living in Kyiv, will provide his take on the situation in our studio live.

Sébastien Gobert

French journalist

✅ UK Steps Up Its Control Over Russian ‘Dirty Money’

When the United Kingdom failed to promptly renew Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich’s visa, many saw it as a mounting crackdown on numerous Russian oligarchs who store their money in British banks. While it is not yet proven whether Britain’s action (or rather lack of) was deliberate, U.K. has just passed The Sanctions and Anti-Money Laundering Bill that includes a Magnitsky Act that allows the U.K. to sanction individuals suspected of human rights abuse. Days before the law was passed, Hromadske talked to Bill Browder, a businessman and the driving force behind the 2012 Magnitsky Act in the U.S.

Bill Browder

businessman, legal activist

✅ NATO Special Representative On Women In The Military

According to the Ministry of Defense, there are currently more than 50,000 women in the Ukrainian army. Since the start of the Russian-led conflict in eastern Donbas, they have played a key role in the battle for Ukraine’s sovereignty. Clare Hutchinson is the NATO Secretary General's Special Representative for Women, Peace and Security. Earlier, she told Hromadske how war affects female soldiers and what Ukraine can do to draw more women into the army.

Clare Hutchinson

NATO Secretary General's Special Representative for Women, Peace and Security

✅ Investigation Identifies Russian Trail in MH17 Downing

Nearly four years on since the downing of Malaysia Airlines’ Boeing 777, which was traveling from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur and over the war-torn Donbas, the official investigation reveals that a Russian missile brigade was behind the shoot-down. Later, investigative group Bellingcat have also announced a suspect in the event to be Russian citizen and military officer Oleg Ivannikov. Hromadske caught up with the founder of Bellingcat Eliot Higgins to learn about the long-anticipated progress in the investigation.

Eliot Higgins

Bellingcat founder