Russians likely to stir pot, Intelligence, CIA chiefs tell Congress

WASHINGTON, Feb. 25 - U.S. spy agencies expect continuing upheaval in Ukraine, top intelligence officials told Congress on Thursday, Reuters reported.

James Clapper, the U.S. Director of National Intelligence, told a House of Representatives Intelligence Committee hearing that Russia still considers Ukraine to be "Little Russia." He said Russia "will continue I think to be a proxy for separatists to sustain their interests in Ukraine."

CIA chief John Brennan said that there is "still uncertainty about how the Russians themselves are going to extricate themselves" from Ukraine conflict.

Ukraine and pro-Russian rebels on Saturday exchanged nine prisoners captured in the country's war-torn east in the first such swap this year.

Kiev is seeking the release of 134 people in captivity, said lawmaker Iryna Gerashchenko, one of Ukraine's envoys in Minsk.

More than 9,000 people have been killed and 20,000 injured since the revolt against Ukraine's new pro-Western leadership erupted in April 2014, according to the United Nations.

Kiev and the West accuse Russia of supporting the insurgents and sending regular troops across the border, claims that Moscow denies.

Germany and France have been spearheading Western efforts to end a 22-month conflict in eastern Ukraine that has claimed more than 9,000 lives in the European Union's backyard.

But a peace plan signed one year ago that was meant to find a permanent solution by the end of 2015 has expired with few of its commitments met.

One of those involves Ukraine adopting a law on elections that grants rebel-run regions temporary special status -- a step at which Kiev has balked.

That refusal has fanned daily exchanges of mortar and artillery fire that has already driven more than 1.5 million Ukrainians from their homes across the industrial war zone.

Ukraine has insisted that it cannot conduct polls in separatist regions under international laws unless its porous border with Russia is secured first. (rt/afp/ez)