Russian President Vladimir Putin has dismissed his former adviser on Ukraine. Vladislav Surkov was the man within the Russian government responsible for relations with Ukraine.
The announcement in Moscow follows the earlier statement by Ukrainian President Zelensky that Kiev has withdrawn two prosecutors from the international JIT team investigating the MH17 flight attack.
Last week, the Kremlin had already announced that Dmitry Kozak would take over Surkov’s role. According to sources, Surkov reacted furiously to this. Moscow and Kiev have been negotiating for some time about the situation in the eastern Donbass region and about improving their relations.
In 2014, Surkov negotiated with pro-Russian rebels in eastern Ukraine regarding the delivery of the BUK missile system, which shot down the Malaysian passenger plane MH17. Those rebels called Surkov 'our man in the Kremlin.'
Last year, when the Joint Investigation Team (JIT) announced the names of four suspects of the attack, the Dutch Public Prosecution also played a intercepted phone fragment. In it, Surkov consults with then-rebel leader Aleksandr Borodai about military aid to the rebels. Russia has always rejected the authority and investigation results of the JIT, possibly because Moscow had not been invited by the Netherlands at that time to participate.
The newly elected Ukrainian President Zelensky made restoring relations with Russia a spearhead of his policy. Both countries have had tense and disturbed relations since the dissolution of the Soviet Union, among other things due to Ukraine’s transit of Russian gas to Western Europe. On top of that, Moscow was greatly angered by the increasing voices in Ukraine calling for joining the European Union and NATO. European politicians openly campaigned for that.
Russian military support to the rebels in eastern Ukraine, and the annexation of Crimea, formed the recent low point. To improve relations, President Zelensky cooperated in a prisoner exchange with Russia, including one of the suspects in the MH17 attack.
Zelensky’s recent withdrawal of his investigators from the JIT team is seen by many as a new Ukrainian overture towards Russia. Critics say Zelensky apparently prefers to foster good relations with Moscow rather than pursue close ties with Western Europe.
In three weeks, the criminal trial will begin in the Netherlands against four suspects of shooting down MH17: three Russians and one Ukrainian. They will be accused by Dutch Justice of murder, among other charges. Nearly all of the almost 300 occupants of the flight from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur died in the disaster, including nearly two hundred Dutch nationals.