KIEV,
Ukraine — An American-backed deal to settle the crisis in eastern
Ukraine fell flat on Friday as pro-Russian militants vowed to stay in
occupied government buildings, dashing hopes of a swift end to an
insurgency that the authorities in Kiev portray as a
Kremlin-orchestrated effort to put Ukraine’s industrial heartland under
Russian control.
But
the agreement, reached in Geneva on Thursday by diplomats from the
European Union, Russia, Ukraine and the United States, appeared to
arrest, at least temporarily, the momentum of separatist unrest in
Ukraine’s Russian-speaking east. Armed pro-Russian militants, who have
seized buildings in at least 10 towns and cities since Feb. 6, paused
their efforts to purge all central government authority from the
populous Donetsk region.
It
was clear all along that for the pact to have a chance of success, the
Kremlin would have to pressure the militants to leave the buildings they
had seized. So far, it has shown no inclination to do so, blaming the
Ukrainian government for the turmoil and denying that Russia has any
ties to the rebels.
With
militants vowing to ignore the agreement but halting what had been a
daily expansion of territory under their control, officials in Kiev, the
capital, voiced some hope that a settlement was still possible. They
were skeptical, however, about Russia’s willingness to push the
separatists to disarm and vacate occupied buildings.
“If
Russia is responsible before not just Ukraine but the world community,
it should prove it,” said Andrii Deshchytsia, the acting Ukrainian
foreign minister, who took part in the Geneva talks.
Western
officials said the United States planned to reassure Eastern European
members of NATO by conducting company-size — about 150 soldiers — ground
force exercises in Estonia and Poland. The exercises would last a
couple of weeks and would most likely be followed by other troop
rotations in the region.
In
a sign of the chasm separating Russian and Ukrainian views, Russia’s
Foreign Ministry issued a statement on Friday that made no mention of
the pro-Russian militants driving the unrest. It said the call for
militants to disarm “meant in the first place” the disarming of
Ukrainian nationalist groups hostile to Russia, like Right Sector “and
other pro-fascist groups which took part in the February coup in Kiev.”
The
state-run Russian television channel, Rossiya, reporting from an
occupied building in Horlivka in the Donetsk region, featured a masked
gunman who pledged to “fight to the end for his convictions.” He
displayed an armband emblazoned with a swastika-like symbol, which he
said had been seized from supporters of the Ukrainian government.
Doubts
about the Kremlin’s readiness to push pro-Russian militants to
surrender their guns have been strengthened by its insistence that it
has no hand in or control over the separatist unrest, which Washington
and Kiev believe is the result of a covert Russian operation involving,
in some places, the direct action of special forces.
“I
don’t know Russia’s intentions,” Mr. Deshchytsia said, noting that
during the negotiations, Russia’s foreign minister, Sergey V. Lavrov,
had repeatedly asserted “that Russia was not involved.” He said Mr.
Lavrov had been “cooperative and aggressive at the same time.”
Russia’s
denials have stirred concerns that it went along with the agreement not
to curb the turmoil in eastern Ukraine, but to blunt American and
European calls for tougher sanctions that could severely damage Russia’s
already sickly economy. Western sanctions have so far been limited to a
travel ban and asset freeze on a few dozen individuals and a Russian
bank.
Secretary
of State John Kerry called Mr. Lavrov on Friday and urged Russia to
ensure “full and immediate compliance” with the agreement, a senior
State Department official said. Mr. Kerry, the official added, “made
clear that the next few days would be a pivotal period for all sides to
implement the statement’s provisions, particularly that all illegal
armed groups must be disarmed and all illegally seized buildings must be
returned to legitimate owners.”
.....
In Ukraine, Pro-Russia Radicals Reject Call To Leave Occupied Buildings
April 18, 2014
Pro-Russia
radicals occupying official buildings in eastern Ukraine say they will
only leave if the pro-Western government in Kyiv resigns.
Denis Pushilin, the self-declared leader of the radicals in Donetsk, told reporters on April 18 that he did not consider his men bound by a compromise agreement between Russia and Ukraine to disarm and vacate occupied buildings.
The agreement was reached at four-party talks on April 17 in Geneva also involving the United States and the European Union.
Pushilin said the government in Kyiv was illegitimate and also must vacate public buildings that he said it was occupying illegally.
Local media reports on April 18 said none of the government buildings seized across eastern Ukraine had yet been vacated.
Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk told parliament on April 18 that the government had drafted a law that would offer an amnesty to insurgents who would lay down their arms and leave the occupied buildings.
Denis Pushilin, the self-declared leader of the radicals in Donetsk, told reporters on April 18 that he did not consider his men bound by a compromise agreement between Russia and Ukraine to disarm and vacate occupied buildings.
The agreement was reached at four-party talks on April 17 in Geneva also involving the United States and the European Union.
Pushilin said the government in Kyiv was illegitimate and also must vacate public buildings that he said it was occupying illegally.
Local media reports on April 18 said none of the government buildings seized across eastern Ukraine had yet been vacated.
Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk told parliament on April 18 that the government had drafted a law that would offer an amnesty to insurgents who would lay down their arms and leave the occupied buildings.
.....
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