Ukraine launches probe against Russian bank for funding

Ukraine has launched an investigation into a Russian state bank, Sberbank, for funding pro-Moscow separatists, the chief prosecutor said.
"We have started an investigation into Sherbank" on suspicion of 'financing terrorism,'" Oleg Makhnitskiy, told Ukraine's Channel 5 television network late yesterday.
Makhnitskiy said Ukrainian authorities had put an end to the financing of "terrorism" by 14 banks and brought more than 300 criminal cases to court. He did not identify the banks or give further details.
The actions underlined the determination of Kiev to strike back at Moscow, which it accuses of masterminding and coordinating the rebellion spreading in eastern Ukraine.

Ukraine's military has unsuccessfully this week tried to oust pro-Kremlin separatists from government buildings and police stations they seized in nearly 10 towns in the southeast.
Today, Ukraine was participating in Western-backed talks with Russia in which it was to exhort Moscow to stop interfering on its soil. Russia last month annexed Ukraine's largely Russified Black Sea peninsula of Crimea.