Crisis en Crimea entre Ucrania y Rusia

¿Qué pasa en Ucrania y por qué Rusia desplegó sus tropas?

Desde principios del Siglo XX la península de Crimea es disputada entre Rusia y Ucrania. Empezó a formar parte de lo que entonces era el Imperio Ruso en 1783. Tras la revolución rusa de 1917, Ucrania se convirtió en una de las Repúblicas Socialistas que conformaron la Unión Soviética (URSS). En 1954, Stalin decidió expulsar a los tártaros de Crimea por haber colaborado con el nazismo en la Segunda Guerra Mundial. Desde entonces, dejó de tener el estatus de república y pasó a formar parte de Ucrania.



Redacción AN
marzo 3, 2014 3:31 pm


Ucrania vive una crisis, que saltó a la vista del mundo desde noviembre 2013, cuando comenzaron protestas en la calle a raíz de que el hoy depuesto presidente, Viktor Yanukóvich, no firmó un acuerdo para que su país se incorpore a la Unión Europea.

Hoy por hoy, las tropas rusas se encuentran en Crimea por órdenes del presidente ruso Vladimir Putin.

La región de Crimea pertenece a Ucrania, pero ahí hay una mayoría de habitantes rusos.

¿Cuáles son los antecedentes históricos?

- Ucrania comenzó a formar parte de la Unión de Repúblicas Socialistas Soviéticas (URSS) en 1922, después de ser derrotada en una guerra contra Polonia.
- En la Segunda Guerra Mundial (1939-1945)  los ucranianos combatieron en contra de los invasores nazis, al mismo tiempo se formaron grupos militares que lucharon contra los rusos. Por ello, para pocos pueblos la Segunda Guerra supuso una prueba más difícil que para el ruso, pues muchos rusos tuvieron que elegir en qué campo combatir.
- Aunque Rusia era atacada por la Alemania nazi, un elevado número de rusos optó por endosarse el uniforme germano para intentar acabar con el comunismo, en vez de enrolarse en un propio Ejército para combatir al atacante.
- Ucrania consiguió su independencia de la URSS en 1991, después de estar limitada casi todo el siglo XX.Con la disolución de la URSS en 1991, y la declaración de la independencia de Ucrania, la península volvió a convertirse en un botín de guerra entre el nuevo estado y Rusia
- Desde entonces la tensión entre Rusia y Ucrania por la región de Crimea han estado presentes, sin embargo Ucrania jamás ha cedido el territorio y hoy en día sigue firme en su postura.
- A partir de su independencia, Ucrania comenzó a voltear más a Occidente, hacia la Unión Europea. Pero persiste una división dentro de la nación, por una parte las generaciones más jóvenes que viven en el oeste del país han buscado el acercamiento con la Unión Europea, pero está el otro lado el del oriente y sur que se encuentra cercano a Rusia y que no ve con desagrado la época en que pertenecieron a la URSS.
- Los rusos cuentan con una larga e importante experiencia en cuanto a intervenciones militares, como en Hugría en 1956 y hasta la más reciente de la que se tiene registro, en Georgia en 2008.

En Crimea, Rusia cuenta con una base militar. Cabe señalar que Ucrania depende de Rusia para el abastecimiento de gas.

Hoy en día las relaciones son cada vez más complicadas; el Ejército ruso se encuentra en Crimea, mientras que el gobierno de Ucrania ha insistido que no cederá. La Organización de las Naciones Unidas, la Unión Europea y Estados Unidos han instado al gobierno ruso para que no viole la soberanía de Ucrania y opte por un diálogo político que ponga fin al conflicto.

El pasado fin de semana, Vladimir Putin solicitó al Consejo de la Federación, la cámara alta del parlamento ruso, que apruebe “el recurso al ejército en Ucrania hasta la normalización de la situación política en ese país”.

“Debido a la situación extraordinaria en Ucrania y de la amenaza que pesa sobre la vida de los ciudadanos rusos, de nuestros compatriotas, de las fuerzas armadas rusas desplegadas en Ucrania”, sostuvo el mandatario a través de un comunicado del servicio de prensa del Kremlin.

(Con información de El País y BBC Mundo)

Russia’s big bet on Putinomics
By Robert J. Samuelson,

What’s occurring in Ukraine, says the Peterson Institute’s Fred Bergsten, is an unwelcome consequence of globalization. Russian President Vladimir Putin thinks he can enjoy political and military freedom in dealing with Ukraine without experiencing crippling economic costs from sanctions or the exit of multinational firms from Russia.

Call this Putinomics. It presumes that Russia’s “trading and investment partners are so committed to their own economic interests that, for all the talk of tough sanctions, they will not upset the apple cart in meaningful ways,” Bergsten says. Commerce dominates geopolitical interests. This gives Putin the freedom to pursue both. In this skewed system, economic interdependence makes effective sanctions difficult and often impossible.

To be sure, Russia has suffered economically from seizing Crimea and threatening Ukraine. Capital outflows have surged: Investors dump Russian stocks and bonds, convert the proceeds from rubles to dollars or euros and move the money out of Russia. Economist Lubomir Mitov of the Institute of International Finance, an industry think tank, says that capital outflows jumped to a near record $70 billion in 2014’s first quarter and might be as high as $170 billion for the year. The ruble depreciates, making imports more expensive and raising inflation.

Economist Anders Aslund of the Peterson Institute, an expert on Russia and Eastern Europe, predicts inflation of 6.5 percent for the year and thinks that the crisis “has shaved off 2 percent” of gross domestic product (GDP), the economy’s output. This would signal a recession. Russia’s growth last year was a meager 1.3 percent, reports the consultancy IHS. Uncertainty and capital flight will weaken consumer spending and business investment, says IHS.

But Putin treats these setbacks — driven mostly by market decisions, not government sanctions — as short-term costs dwarfed by the long-term gain of reacquiring Crimea. His further ambitions are unclear. “My basic view is that Putin is intent on taking half of Ukraine,” says Aslund. “The question is when” — and whether added sanctions might deter him. So far, sanctions have been modest, mainly involving asset freezes and visa restrictions on a few Russian officials.

Toughening sanctions will be hard for both macro and micro reasons. Start with the macro. Russia is among the world’s top oil producers. Logically, stern sanctions would crimp oil sales, which provide the bulk of Russia’s exports and tax revenues. But reduced Russian sales would probably push up oil prices and weaken the fragile global economic recovery. Not popular.

Now the micro.

Among big firms, the distaste for sanctions is tangible. In late March, Joe Kaeser, chief executive officer of the giant German firm Siemens, flew to Moscow, met with Putin and declared that “we support a trusting relationship with Russian companies.” Siemens sells high-speed trains to Russian Railways. In 2011, ExxonMobil signed a co-production agreement with Rosneft, the largest Russian oil company. ExxonMobil chief executive Rex Tillerson recently said cooperation was proceeding normally.

At best, the record on sanctions is mixed. A Peterson Institute study of 204 cases from 1914 to 2000 judged two-thirds as failures. Sanctions did not cause Castro’s Cuba to collapse. They did not deter North Korea from building nuclear weapons. Although they may have pushed Iran into serious negotiations over its nuclear program, they haven’t yet forced it to change the program significantly.

Sanctions fail because target countries believe other goals (including survival) outweigh economic costs. Sanctions are also evaded. To succeed, they must be widely honored. In 1980, after the Soviets invaded Afghanistan, President Jimmy Carter limited grain shipments to them. Led by Argentina, other suppliers filled the void. The Reagan administration later barred Caterpillar from selling 200 pipe-layers to the Soviet Union; the business went mainly to Japan’s Komatsu.

Economic warfare is often costly for both sides. Putin’s central insight is that the other side is risk-averse. Although sanctions could be strengthened, the odds seem against it. Many U.S. executives see sanctions as a “lose-lose” proposition: U.S. firms lose foreign sales (“you get tagged as an unreliable supplier,” says a Caterpillar executive); and the U.S. government doesn’t achieve its political goals. With closer ties to Russia, Europe has greater reservations. It also dreads the effects of a cutoff of Russian natural gas, even though this gas supplies only about 7 percent of Europe’s total energy.

The essence of Putinomics is to exploit these fears. Collective commerce, which was supposed to muffle bellicose behavior, loses much of its restraining power. Bergsten worries that China may one day resort to military aggression to achieve its goals on the same assumption that its economic partners can’t — or won’t — retaliate. It’s an unsettling thought.

Ukraine hits rebels amid civil war warnings

Russian president says neighbour is on verge of civil war after Kiev launches operations against separatists in east.
Last updated: 15 Apr 2014 23:39


Russia has said Ukraine is lurching towards a state of civil war after Kiev began military operations against pro-Russian separatists in the east of the country, seizing control of an airfield.

The acting president, Oleksandr Turchynov, said his forces had on Tuesday taken the airfield in Kramatorsk in the first action of a threatened "anti-terrorist" campaign.

Videos showed military jets patrolling the skies around the airfield as the general in command of Ukraine's forces told pro-Russian crowds to disperse. Ukrainian soldiers were also seen stationed around the site.

The Reuters news agency reported that airborne forces had also landed in the nearby town of Slovyansk but were pulled back to base after meeting a hostile reception from local civilians.

Later on Tuesday, Russia's president, Vladimir Putin, warned that "the sharp escalation of the conflict has placed the country, in effect, on the verge of civil war".

His comments came in a telephone conversation with the German chancellor, Angela Merkel, to discuss international negotiations on Ukraine in Geneva on April 17.

But the leaders both "emphasised the importance" of the talks, the Kremlin said in a statement. "The hope was expressed that the meeting in Geneva can give a clear signal to return the situation to a peaceful framework."

Military action

Al Jazeera's Kim Vinnell, reporting from Kramatorsk on Tuesday, said military aircraft were sent from Izyum to bring Kramatorsk's airfield back under government control.

Itar-Tass, the Russian news agency, cited witnesses that one of four Ukrainian military jets has been shot down. That was not confirmed by Ukrainian sources.

The developments came a day after a deadline set by Ukraine's acting Turchynov, calling on pro-Russian separatists to lay down arms and leave occupied government offices, expired on Monday at 0600 GMT.

The separatists, many of them armed, continued to occupy government, police and other administrative buildings in at least nine cities in the country's Russian-speaking east, demanding broader autonomy and closer ties with Russia.

Russia had earlier warned Ukraine against using force, saying that could prompt the country to walk out of Thursday's talks in Geneva.

"You can't send in tanks and at the same time hold talks. The use of force would sabotage the opportunity offered by the four-party negotiations in Geneva," said Sergey Lavrov, Russia's foreign minister.

But Ukraine found backing from Anders Fogh Rasmussen, NATO's secretary-general, who said in Luxembourg, where NATO ambassadors are due to meet on Wednesday, that Russia was meddling in the crisis in eastern Ukraine.

"From what is visible, it is very clear that Russia's hand is deeply engaged in this."
Source:
Al Jazeera and agencies

Russian president says neighbour is on verge of civil war after Kiev launches operations against separatists in east.

Putin’s Ukraine gambit


By Charles Krauthammer, Published: February 27

Henry Kissinger once pointed out that since Peter the Great, Russia had been expanding at the rate of one Belgium per year. All undone, of course, by the collapse of the Soviet Union, which Russian President Vladimir Putin called “the greatest geopolitical catastrophe of the [20th] century.”

Putin’s mission is restoration. First, restore traditional Russian despotism by dismantling its nascent democracy. And then, having created iron-fisted “stability,” march.

Use the 2008 war with Georgia to detach two of its provinces, returning them to the bosom of Mother Russia (by way of Potemkin independence). Then late last year, pressure Ukraine to reject a long-negotiated deal for association with the European Union, to draw Ukraine into Putin’s planned “Eurasian Union” as the core of a new Russian mini-empire.

Turns out, however, Ukraine had other ideas. It overthrew Moscow’s man in Kiev, Viktor Yanu­kovych, and turned to the West. But the West — the E.U. and America — had no idea what to do.

Russia does. Moscow denounces the overthrow as the illegal work of fascist bandits, refuses to recognize the new government created by parliament, withholds all economic assistance and, in a highly provocative escalation, mobilizes its military forces on the Ukrainian border.

The response? The E.U. dithers and Barack Obama slumbers. After near- total silence during the first three months of Ukraine’s struggle for freedom, Obama said on camera last week that in his view Ukraine is no “Cold War chessboard.”

Unfortunately, this is exactly what it is for Putin. He wants Ukraine back.

Obama wants stability, the New York Times reports, quoting internal sources. He sees Ukraine as merely a crisis to be managed rather than an opportunity to alter the increasingly autocratic trajectory of the region, allow Ukrainians to join their destiny to the West and block Russian neo-imperialism.

Sure, Obama is sympathetic to democracy. But it must arise organically, from internal developments. “These democratic movements will be more sustainable if they are seen as . . . coming from within these societies,” says deputy national security adviser Benjamin Rhodes. Democracy must not be imposed by outside intervention but develop on its own.

But Ukraine is never on its own. Not with a bear next door. American neutrality doesn’t allow an authentic Ukrainian polity to emerge. It leaves Ukraine naked to Russian pressure.

What Obama doesn’t seem to understand is that American inaction creates a vacuum. His evacuation from Iraq consigned that country to Iranian hegemony, just as Obama’s writing off Syria invited in Russia, Iran and Hezbollah to reverse the tide of battle.

Putin fully occupies vacuums. In Ukraine, he keeps flaunting his leverage. He’s withdrawn the multibillion-dollar aid package with which he had pulled the now-deposed Ukrainian president away from the E.U. He has suddenly mobilized Russian forces bordering Ukraine. His health officials are even questioning the safety of Ukrainian food exports.

This is no dietary hygiene campaign. This is a message to Kiev: We can shut down your agricultural exports today, your natural gas supplies tomorrow. We can make you broke and we can make you freeze.

Kissinger once also said, “In the end, peace can be achieved only by hegemony or by balance of power.” Either Ukraine will fall to Russian hegemony or finally determine its own future — if America balances Russia’s power.

How? Start with a declaration of full-throated American support for Ukraine’s revolution. Follow that with a serious loan/aid package — say, replacing Moscow’s $15 billion — to get Ukraine through its immediate financial crisis (the announcement of a $1 billion pledge of U.S. loan guarantees is a good first step). Then join with the E.U. to extend a longer substitute package, preferably through the International Monetary Fund.

Secretary of State John Kerry says Russian intervention would be a mistake. Alas, any such declaration from this administration carries the weight of a feather. But better that than nothing. Better still would be backing these words with a naval flotilla in the Black Sea.

Whether anything Obama says or does would stop anyone remains questionable. But surely the West has more financial clout than Russia’s kleptocratic extraction economy that exports little but oil, gas and vodka.

The point is for the United States, leading Europe, to counter Russian pressure and make up for its blandishments/punishments until Ukraine is on firm financial footing.

Yes, $15 billion is a lot of money. But it’s less than one-half of one-tenth of 1 percent of the combined E.U. and U.S. GDP. And expending treasure is infinitely preferable to expending blood. Especially given the strategic stakes: Without Ukraine, there’s no Russian empire.

Putin knows that. Which is why he keeps ratcheting up the pressure. The question is, can this administration muster the counterpressure to give Ukraine a chance to breathe?

How the Ukraine crisis ends

By Henry A. Kissinger, Published: March 5

Henry A. Kissinger was secretary of state from 1973 to 1977.

Public discussion on Ukraine is all about confrontation. But do we know where we are going? In my life, I have seen four wars begun with great enthusiasm and public support, all of which we did not know how to end and from three of which we withdrew unilaterally. The test of policy is how it ends, not how it begins.

Far too often the Ukrainian issue is posed as a showdown: whether Ukraine joins the East or the West. But if Ukraine is to survive and thrive, it must not be either side’s outpost against the other — it should function as a bridge between them.

Russia must accept that to try to force Ukraine into a satellite status, and thereby move Russia’s borders again, would doom Moscow to repeat its history of self-fulfilling cycles of reciprocal pressures with Europe and the United States.

The West must understand that, to Russia, Ukraine can never be just a foreign country. Russian history began in what was called Kievan-Rus. The Russian religion spread from there. Ukraine has been part of Russia for centuries, and their histories were intertwined before then. Some of the most important battles for Russian freedom, starting with the Battle of Poltava in 1709 , were fought on Ukrainian soil. The Black Sea Fleet — Russia’s means of projecting power in the Mediterranean — is based by long-term lease in Sevastopol, in Crimea. Even such famed dissidents as Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn and Joseph Brodsky insisted that Ukraine was an integral part of Russian history and, indeed, of Russia.

The European Union must recognize that its bureaucratic dilatoriness and subordination of the strategic element to domestic politics in negotiating Ukraine’s relationship to Europe contributed to turning a negotiation into a crisis. Foreign policy is the art of establishing priorities.

The Ukrainians are the decisive element. They live in a country with a complex history and a polyglot composition. The Western part was incorporated into the Soviet Union in 1939 , when Stalin and Hitler divided up the spoils. Crimea, 60 percent of whose population is Russian , became part of Ukraine only in 1954 , when Nikita Khrushchev, a Ukrainian by birth, awarded it as part of the 300th-year celebration of a Russian agreement with the Cossacks. The west is largely Catholic; the east largely Russian Orthodox. The west speaks Ukrainian; the east speaks mostly Russian. Any attempt by one wing of Ukraine to dominate the other — as has been the pattern — would lead eventually to civil war or break up. To treat Ukraine as part of an East-West confrontation would scuttle for decades any prospect to bring Russia and the West — especially Russia and Europe — into a cooperative international system.

Ukraine has been independent for only 23 years; it had previously been under some kind of foreign rule since the 14th century. Not surprisingly, its leaders have not learned the art of compromise, even less of historical perspective. The politics of post-independence Ukraine clearly demonstrates that the root of the problem lies in efforts by Ukrainian politicians to impose their will on recalcitrant parts of the country, first by one faction, then by the other. That is the essence of the conflict between Viktor Yanu­kovych and his principal political rival, Yulia Tymo­shenko. They represent the two wings of Ukraine and have not been willing to share power. A wise U.S. policy toward Ukraine would seek a way for the two parts of the country to cooperate with each other. We should seek reconciliation, not the domination of a faction.

Russia and the West, and least of all the various factions in Ukraine, have not acted on this principle. Each has made the situation worse. Russia would not be able to impose a military solution without isolating itself at a time when many of its borders are already precarious. For the West, the demonization of Vladimir Putin is not a policy; it is an alibi for the absence of one.

Putin should come to realize that, whatever his grievances, a policy of military impositions would produce another Cold War. For its part, the United States needs to avoid treating Russia as an aberrant to be patiently taught rules of conduct established by Washington. Putin is a serious strategist — on the premises of Russian history. Understanding U.S. values and psychology are not his strong suits. Nor has understanding Russian history and psychology been a strong point of U.S. policymakers.

Leaders of all sides should return to examining outcomes, not compete in posturing. Here is my notion of an outcome compatible with the values and security interests of all sides:

1. Ukraine should have the right to choose freely its economic and political associations, including with Europe.

2. Ukraine should not join NATO, a position I took seven years ago, when it last came up.

3. Ukraine should be free to create any government compatible with the expressed will of its people. Wise Ukrainian leaders would then opt for a policy of reconciliation between the various parts of their country. Internationally, they should pursue a posture comparable to that of Finland. That nation leaves no doubt about its fierce independence and cooperates with the West in most fields but carefully avoids institutional hostility toward Russia.

4. It is incompatible with the rules of the existing world order for Russia to annex Crimea. But it should be possible to put Crimea’s relationship to Ukraine on a less fraught basis. To that end, Russia would recognize Ukraine’s sovereignty over Crimea. Ukraine should reinforce Crimea’s autonomy in elections held in the presence of international observers. The process would include removing any ambiguities about the status of the Black Sea Fleet at Sevastopol.

These are principles, not prescriptions. People familiar with the region will know that not all of them will be palatable to all parties. The test is not absolute satisfaction but balanced dissatisfaction. If some solution based on these or comparable elements is not achieved, the drift toward confrontation will accelerate. The time for that will come soon enough.

A vocal minority in Ukraine's east wants to join Russia, and Kiev has so far been unable to put down the separatists.
Katherine Jacobsen Last updated: 17 Apr 2014 13:43

Pro-Russian activists declared the so-called 'Donetsk People's Republic' on April 7 [AFP/Getty Images]

Donetsk, Ukraine - Behind several layers of barbed wire, sandbags, tyres and wooden posts, sits the headquarters of the self-proclaimed "Donetsk People's Republic".

Donetsk, like much of eastern Ukraine, opposed the anti-government protests that toppled former president Viktor Yanukovich in February and the pro-Western government that has replaced him. Today, a vocal minority here support joining Russia, whose borders are only about 100km away.

On Wednesday afternoon, men - some masked, others bare-faced - stood guard around the 11-storey headquarters of the Donetsk Republic. The building was festooned with banners denouncing the European Union, the United States and "fascists".


A stage in front of the headquarters' main entrance hosted entertainment ranging from recorded kitsch music to a lively poetry reading about the evils of the West. Donetsk resident Andrey Alimov was not wooed by the show. "It all terrifies me a little. I'm sick of all of the unrest," Alimov told Al Jazeera as he headed away from the headquarters.

The building, officially known as the Donetsk Regional Administration, was seized more than a week ago by protesters opposed to Ukraine's new government. Shortly after the takeover, the protesters replaced the Ukrainian flag with the Russian tricolour and blotted out Ukrainian insignia with spray paint.

But these separatists appear to represent the small minority of Donetsk residents who want to separate from Ukraine. A poll conducted by the Institute of Social Research and Political Analysis, based in Donetsk, found that 65 percent of people in the city preferred it to remain part of Ukraine.

Yet although the 36-year-old Alimov still feels a sense of patriotism towards Ukraine, the fact remains that no one in Donetsk - or anywhere else in the country - seems to know exactly what they're doing, Alimov said.

Weak control

Bands of separatists similar to those in Donetsk have sprouted up across Ukraine's east in recent weeks - and the fledgling government in Kiev has so far proven unable to quell these uprisings.
Ukraine struggles to bring east under control

Interim Ukrainian President Oleksandr Turchynov announced an "anti-terrorist operation" against pro-Russian forces on Tuesday. But in the centre of Donetsk, this promise sounded more like a catch-phrase than an actual call to action. Separatists have met little, if any, resistance from local police units.

On Wednesday evening, the Donetsk police milled about the crowd of about 200 people around the regional administration building. But no police were present at the nearby Donetsk City Council building, which had been captured by separatists earlier that day. Instead, the building was guarded by a local militia, a member of which told Al Jazeera they planned to take down the Ukrainian flag later in the evening.

"The police have 'post-Maidan syndrome'," wrote Vitaliy Sizov, a journalist from local news site Novosti Donbassa, referring to the name of the protest movement that brought down Yanukovich.

Many of the local police were appointed by Yanukovich, who was the governor of the Donetsk region from 1997 to 2002. After Yanukovich was ousted as president, the police now have few qualms about allowing anti-government takeovers as a kind of revenge, Sizov told Al Jazeera.

The separatist protesters object to the way in which Yanukovich was removed from power. For many of them, the incident is just one more example of how western Ukrainians, taken in by the temptations of Europe and the US, were willing to topple a lawfully elected president.

Centralisation, federalisation, secession?

However, the separatist protesters in Donetsk lack a united message and popular support that could lead to any decisive political action, such as separating from Ukraine. And some residents say that a more palatable alternative for many Donetsk residents could be federalisation, which would allow Ukraine's regions more control over their local government.
Tension raised in Ukraine's Donetsk region

Near Donetsk's Lenin Statue, Denis Odentsov is handing out flyers with information about how a decentralised government would solve problems in the region.

"People in Kiev just don't understand what it's like here," the 24-year-old said, adding that greater autonomy might give a boost to the region's economy.

Ultimately, federalisation of power in Ukraine might be part of an eventual compromise, said Timothy Frye, director of the Harriman Institute at Columbia University. "One of the ironies of the current crisis is that the power Yanukovich centralised for himself is now in the control of his opponents," Frye told Al Jazeera.

Ukraine's election results have usually split along regional lines, with the east voting for one candidate and the west for another. This has meant that whoever is in power tends to represent the interest of one side of the country over the other.

However, with Russia in the equation, "federalisation has become associated with Russia's efforts to devolve power to regions [in Ukraine], which would allow the regions to be on equal footing with the central government", Frye said. This could give Moscow significantly more leverage in Ukraine.

This, Frye said, could likely be the Kremlin's end-game - given his belief that a Crimea-like secession seems unlikely in eastern Ukraine. Instead, he holds that an energetic minority in eastern Ukraine has given voice to the idea of secession.

"If it weren't for the Russian troops on the other side of the border," he said, referring to the militias in eastern Ukraine, "I don't think we would even see this happening".
Source:
Al Jazeera

No Easy Answers for Ukraine

by Olga Oliker

Events in Ukraine moved fast. While Russia had long asserted its “privileged” interests in its neighborhood, few, if any, suspected that protests against the government of former President Viktor Yanukovych would escalate to Russian annexation of Crimea. Today, with Russian troops uncomfortably close to the border and East Ukrainians skeptical of the interim government in Kiev, the United States and EU face several quandaries and no easy answers.

The United States is on record: Russia’s annexation of Crimea is illegitimate, illegal and unacceptable. However, Washington is no less clearly on record that it has no intention of using military force in this crisis. Indeed, a threat of military action by the United States over Ukraine, which is not a treaty ally, would not be credible. As a result, U.S. and European responses have largely taken the form of economic sanctions. These sanctions, particularly the harsher set announced on March 20, will inflict pain on some very important Russians and on the Russian economy as a whole. However, they are unlikely to quickly change Russian policy vis-à-vis Ukraine. Rather, the Putin regime will make much of its ability to stand up to U.S. pressure, gaining it credit at home and in some quarters abroad.

Ukraine's interim government is in a horrible position. Put in place by parliament to replace a semi-legally ousted corrupt administration, it soon found itself in charge of a country one peninsula smaller than it had been days before. The people of Ukraine's east and south are terrified of the political chaos, right-wing militias and economic austerity that Russian television has told them to expect, enough that some of them are thinking a Russian invasion isn't such a bad bet.

Worse yet, although some of these threats are exaggerated, none are imaginary: Ultra-nationalists are part of the government, militias have been patrolling the streets and seem disinclined to put down arms, and economic reforms could in the near term hurt Ukraine more than U.S. sanctions could ever begin to hurt Russia. Ukraine needs elections, it needs reform and it needs a massive infusion of cash, which must not be stolen or misused. For the United States and Europe, Russia's aggression makes it imperative to show steadfast support for Kiev — which makes imposing real conditionality on assistance that much harder.

An outright land grab and annexation of part of Ukraine that came after assurances of respect for the country's territorial integrity is a difference in kind, not degree from, the 2008 war with Georgia. Russia's action in Crimea was a stark violation of not only international law, but also Russia's own long-standing commitment to principles of sovereignty. Of course, in Russia's view, sovereignty doesn't apply to Ukraine. Russia never made a secret of its proprietary approach to its neighbor. Washington and Brussels had hoped that time, peace and growing prosperity would change minds and attitudes such that both Ukraine and Russia would be integrated into a European, and global, community of nations, precluding unpleasantness such as this. Enough time, it seems, was bought for Ukraine to feel independent, but not enough for Russia to agree. And enough integration and cooperation took place that sanctions on Russia will hurt investors and energy consumers, among others, in the EU. The United States is less economically exposed, but it has gotten used to Russian supply routes in and out of Afghanistan (and Russian helicopters to provide to the Afghans). The need to make clear that Russia's behavior is a game changer thus wars with the desire to keep as many of the game pieces in working order as possible.

The silver lining, such as it is, is that buried in the challenges are, if not easy answers, some possible hard ones. What Russia seeks from its adventure is status, importance and free reign in its neighborhood, for a start. If sanctions and other responses are short-lived, Moscow will feel victorious, and possibly emboldened to future aggression. But if all it gets is a peninsula on which its own Black Sea Fleet continues to rust, at a cost of a damaged economy and a shrinking capacity to attain global goals, well, while it's unlikely to change Putin's mind, whoever succeeds him might rethink things a bit.

Such a rethink will not happen quickly. In the coming years, international isolation and sanctions will be used by Russia to justify oppression at home and saber rattling abroad. But there is a huge difference between a Cold War, in which countries the world over take sides with superpowers, and the EU and United States limiting their cooperation with Russia to only what is necessary to their own needs and goals. In this context, the United States faces two challenges going forward: to stay on course and not get pulled into the escalation Russia seeks, and to avoid demonizing Russia such that should changes of mind occur, the United States, EU and Ukraine are open to exploring alternatives.

In the meantime, everything must be done to ensure that Ukraine succeeds. This means that as important as shows of support are, aid must be conditioned on implementation of economic and political reforms, respect for human rights and making all Ukraine's citizens, regardless of ethnicity or location, far better off with Kiev than they would be with Moscow. Financial assistance must reach throughout the country (and not line personal coffers). Racist rhetoric must lead to exclusion, not government positions.

What if Russia wants more than Crimea? Military aggression in East Ukraine will actually make things worse still for Moscow, and more quickly. While direct military action will stay off the table for NATO as a whole, individual NATO members may well feel differently. Moreover, Moscow knows that if parts of east Ukraine (or more) are occupied, Russia will almost certainly face a nasty insurgency, supported from abroad. Indeed, it is this, not the threat of additional sanctions, that could deter it from further action.

Olga Oliker is associate director of the International Security and Defense Policy Center at the nonprofit, nonpartisan RAND Corporation.

The Deep Policy Failures That Led to Ukraine

Nikolas K. Gvosdev

April 17, 2014

Now that there's a crisis in Ukraine, American politicians and foreign-policy experts are fast and furious in rolling out the policy proposals. Supply Ukraine's military with advanced weapons to blunt a possible Russian offensive; promote new economic-development projects that will generate prosperity in Ukraine's industrial east and decrease reliance on Russia; wean Europe away from its dependence on Russian supplies of oil and natural gas. The problem is that all of these are long-term projects, which would take months and years to reach fruition. Yet the crisis is now being measured out in hours and days. The provision of arms to the Ukrainian military, for instance, presupposes a force that's already been trained to use such equipment, and that protocols are in place which will ensure that weapons will not be diverted to purposes that are askance of other U.S. policy priorities—things which cannot be done overnight.

Ukraine is just the latest demonstration of a systemic weakness in the U.S. foreign-policy apparatus—the seeming inability to plan and be proactive, especially across presidential administrations from different parties. The narrative that there has been a new "intelligence failure" because the White House did not have forty-eight hour notice of Russian plans to take over the Crimean peninsula misses the point that even if early warning had been provided, the U.S. didn't have the policy tools in place to make much of a difference.

But Ukraine also cannot be categorized as a black-swan event. The talks to conclude an association agreement between Ukraine and the European Union had been going on for years—and Russian objections to various provisions in those arrangements had been vocal and on the record. And once outgoing Secretary of State Hillary Clinton had put down a very clear marker at the end of 2012 that the United States would take a vigorous stance opposing the Moscow-driven Eurasian Union project as an attempt to "re-Sovietize" the region, the planning should have begun to ensure that that was not simply empty rhetoric.

One thing which seems very surprising in retrospect was why more effort was not undertaken to connect the dots between finding new markets for Ukraine's industries and the push to create the so-called southern corridor that would bring more Eurasian energy (from non-Russian sources) to markets independent of the existing Russian routes. Ukraine has remained dependent on the Russians to purchase most of its industrial manufactures, including piping and equipment for the energy industry, as well as trucks, railcars and aerospace manufactures. In the eastern parts today—precisely those areas plagued by unrest—the risk of losing access to Russia as a export market could wreak considerable havoc on Ukraine's economy. Having Ukrainian firms be given firm contracts to supply proposed new pipelines like TANAP (the trans-Anatolian line) that would connect the Caspian basin to southeastern Europe and TAP (the trans-Adriatic pipeline from the Turkish border to Italy) would have provided alternative contracts and helped to diversify Ukraine's markets.

If those pipelines were further along in construction—or even done—then the risk of European energy disruptions caused by a new round of gas wars between Ukraine and Russia over prices and unpaid bills would be mitigated. It might have also changed the European risk tolerance for imposing stronger sanctions on Russia.

But such measures cannot be implemented at the drop of a hat. They take time, careful preparation, and committed investment.
Fiscally strapped Western governments can argue that such planning would not pass muster in an age of growing austerity. The status quo—with Russia supplying a significant portion of Europe's energy needs within the confines of a long-term energy partnership and Ukraine's industries geared towards supplying a Russian/Eurasian market—seemed to make perfect sense even six months ago.

If that was the case, then there was a critical mismatch between the economic realities of leaving Ukraine economically tied to Russia and political aspirations of moving the country closer to the West. Were these discontinuities not flagged in the respective policy shops of the key Euro-Atlantic countries, or worse, was there a naive belief that Vladimir Putin would simply have to accept new geopolitical realities? Putin had made it clear in the years since the Orange Revolution of 2004 that he considered Ukraine to be a vital national interest, and that he would take drastic action if needed to secure Moscow's equities in Ukraine.

So now we have a crisis in Ukraine, and one where we will have to spend much more, both in terms of resources and in political capital, to try to get to a settlement that will be less advantageous to Western (or even Ukrainian) interests than if the groundwork had been laid, either for Ukraine's westward movement or to reach some sort of accommodation with Moscow. And while Ukraine dominates the headlines—and sucks up all the oxygen in the policy process—what other long term troubles quietly stirring under the water where proactive action might make a difference are being ignored—until we have our next Ukraine erupting into the headlines?

Nikolas K. Gvosdev, a contributing editor at The National Interest, is a professor of national-security studies at the U.S. Naval War College. The views expressed are entirely his own.

Interim PM says Russian special forces are operating in eastern Ukraine - and calls on Moscow to pull them out.
Last updated: 22 Apr 2014 14:38


Biden and acting Ukraine prime minister, Arseniy Yatsenyuk, in Kiev [AP]

Arseny Yatseniuk, the interim Ukrainian prime minister, says Russian special forces are operating in eastern Ukraine to undermine a presidential election due on May 25, as he called on Moscow to pull them out.

At a news conference after meeting Joe Biden, the United States vice president, on Tuesday, Yatseniuk also urged Russia to remove its troops from Crimea, annexed by Moscow last month.

He also said he would welcome "the widest possible" cooperation with US and EU companies in the energy sector, which would help Ukraine reduce its dependence on Russian gas.

"We need investments in our energy sector. And the best answer to Ukraine's energy dependence on Russia will be the presence of European and American investors here in Ukraine," he said.

"Everything that is now happening in the east and which Russia is supporting is aimed at wrecking the presidential election," Yatseniuk said, as he called on Russia to fulfill its obligations.

"We don't ask anything from Russia. We demand only one thing: fulfill international agreements and don't behave like gangsters."

Earlier on Tuesday, Biden told Ukraine's new pro-Western leadership that it had the backing of the US against "humiliating threats" and encouraged them to root out corruption as they rebuilt their government.

In the most prominent visit of a US official since the crisis erupted in Ukraine, Biden told leaders from various political parties that he was bringing a message of support as they faced a historic opportunity to usher in reforms.

The gathering at a hearing room in the Kiev parliament, or Rada, included three candidates running in the presidential election - most notably the billionaire chocolate magnate and front-runner, Petro Poroshenko.

"You face some very daunting problems and some might say humiliating threats are taking place," Biden told them.

"The opportunity to generate a united Ukraine and getting it right is within your grasp. We want to be your partner and friend in the project. We're ready to assist."

However, he told the meeting: "You have to fight the cancer of corruption that is endemic in your system.''

Later on Tuesday, at a news conference, Biden said that Ukraine must remain "one united Ukraine", and criticised Russia's takeover of Crimea.
"No nation has the right to simply grab land from another nation," he said. "We will never recognise Russia's illegal occupation of Crimea, and neither will the world."
Critical timing

Biden also said Russia needed to defuse confrontations in the east of Ukraine.

"No nation should threaten its neighbour by massing troops on the border. We call on Russia to pull these forces back. We call on Russia to stop supporting men, hiding behind masks, sewing unrest in eastern Ukraine.

Biden's visit comes at a critical time, just days after a tenuous international agreement was reached to de-escalate violence in eastern Ukraine, where pro-Russia rebels oppose the government in Kiev.

Under the international deal, signed by Ukraine, Russia, the US and the EU, rebels were to disarm and give up buildings they seized in the east of Ukraine.

Meanwhile, hundreds gathered on Tuesday for the funeral service of three pro-Russian men who were allegedly killed in a recent shootout at a checkpoint manned by pro-Russian militia near the city of Slovyansk.

Sergey Rudenko, 53, Alexander Siganov, 24 and Pavel Pavelko, 42 were shot and killed on Easter Sunday in an incident that pro-Russian separatists said was a grave breach of the fragile self-declared Easter truce.

Russia's Foreign Ministry issued a statement blaming militant Ukrainian nationalists for Sunday's attack, while the Ukrainian Security Service said it was staged by provocateurs from outside the country.

Masked gunmen attended the ceremony that hailed the victims as heroes of the separatist drive.

Ukrainian journalist and activist Irma Krat, who was detained on Monday by pro-Russian separatists in Slovyansk also said - as one of her captors stood beside her - that she was "being treated well".

Russia insists that Kiev pull back its troops from eastern Ukraine, as it accuses Washington of distorting Geneva pact.
Last updated: 23 Apr 2014 16:20

Russia has insisted that Kiev pull back its troops from eastern Ukraine as it accused Washington of distorting an agreement to ease the most serious confrontation between Moscow and the West since the end of the Cold War.

"The Russian side once again insists on the immediate de-escalation of the situation in Ukraine's southeast, the pullback of units of the Ukrainian army and the start of a genuine internal Ukrainian dialogue involving all of the country's regions and political formations," the foreign ministry said on Wednesday.

"Moscow is extremely surprised by the distorted interpretations by Kiev authorities as well as by our US partners of the contents of a declaration adopted in Geneva on April 17 as a result of a four-way meeting between representatives of Russia, the United States, the European Union and Ukraine."

The Russian foreign ministry said while the Geneva accord called on all "illegal armed units" to lay down arms, Kiev and Washington were turning a blind eye to what Moscow called continuing provocations by ultra-right militants in Ukraine.

"The Russian side continues to believe that our Western partners are serious when they declare their intention to facilitate a peaceful settlement of the political crisis in Ukraine," the foreign ministry said.

"Alas, the facts suggest the opposite however. We are still waiting for Kiev, which is responsible for establishing dialogue with Ukraine's regions, including in the southeast, to fulfil its promises."

Blunt warning

Moscow said it had expected Joe Biden, the US vice president who visited Ukraine this week, to influence the Ukrainian authorities with an eye to ease the crisis.

"However, immediately after his departure from the Ukrainian capital it was announced there that an 'anti-terrorist operation' in Ukraine's eastern regions would resume," the foreign ministry said.

Earlier, Russia's top diplomat Sergei Lavrov issued a blunt warning it would respond if its interests were attacked in Ukraine, in a sign Moscow was upping the ante in the crisis.

In an interview with Russia Today, the Russian foreign minister said that "Russian citizens being attacked is an attack against the Russian Federation".

The comments were released after the Vitaly Yarema, Ukraine's acting first deputy prime minister, said "appropriate measures" were being taken against pro-Russian separatists in the country's east.

"We have obtained the support of the United States, that they will not leave us alone with an aggressor. We hope that in the event of Russian aggression, this help will be more substantive."

Lavrov said that it was no coincidence that the resumption of operations came after Biden's visit, and charged that the US was "running the show".

The US also announced on Tuesday that it was sending 600 troops to Poland to begin a series of military exercises in four countries across eastern Europe.

The exercises are part of an effort announced last week aimed at reassuring NATO allies of the US's commitment to the region's defence.
Source:
Agencies

Kiev takes "appropriate measures" against eastern separatists, as Russia warns of response if interests are threatened.
Last updated: 23 Apr 2014 09:51


Russia has said it will respond if its "legitimate interests" are attacked, as Ukraine announced it had ended an Easter truce and was relaunching "anti-terrorist" operations against pro-Russian separatists on its territory.

In an interview with Russia Today due to be aired on Wednesday, Sergey Lavrov, the Russian foreign minister, said that "Russian citizens being attacked is an attack against the Russian Federation".

He referenced the Georgian war of 2008, where Russia invaded Georgia after Tblisi attacked rebels in the breakaway Georgian region of South Ossetia, which had aligned itself with Moscow.

"If our interests, our legitimate interests, the interests of Russians have been attacked directly, like they were in South Ossetia for example, I do not see any other way but to respond in accordance with international law."

The comments were released after the Vitaly Yarema, Ukraine's acting first deputy prime minister, said "appropriate measures" were being taken against pro-Russian separatists in the country's east.

"We have obtained the support of the United States, that they will not leave us alone with an aggressor. We hope that in the event of Russian aggression, this help will be more substantive."

The announcement came a day after the US vice president, Joe Biden, ended his two-day visit to Ukraine, the highest profile US politician to have travelled to the country.

Lavrov said that it was no coincidence that the resumption of operations came after Biden's visit, and charged that the US was "running the show".

Torture claims

The latest warning came after Ukraine's acting president, Oleksandr Turchynov, on Tuesday said: "I demand the resumption of effective counter-terrorism measures to protect Ukrainian citizens in the east from terrorism."

Turchynov said that bodies with signs of torture had been found near the city of Slovyansk, which is in the hands of pro-Russian separatists.

One was that of Volodymyr Rybak, a member of Turchynov's Batkivshchyna party, who had recently been abducted by "terrorists", the president said.

"These crimes are being carried out with the full support and indulgence of the Russian Federation."

A video released on Wednesday showed Rybak confronted by an pro-Russian crowd as he tried to remove a "Donetsk Republic" banner from a building in Horlivka. Ukraine authorities say he was kidnapped hours later, tortured and murdered.

The US also announced on Tuesday that it was sending 600 troops to Poland to begin a series of military exercises in four countries across eastern Europe.

The exercises are part of an effort announced last week aimed at reassuring NATO allies of the US's commitment to the region's defence.
Source:
Al Jazeera and agencies

Ukraine orders military action in the east
Acting president orders new operation against rebels after a local politician was found dead with signs of torture.
Last updated: 23 Apr 2014 05:57


Ukraine's acting president has ordered a military operation against pro-Kremlin separatists in the east of the country, after the body of a local politician from his own party was found showing signs of torture.

"I demand the resumption of effective counter-terrorism measures to protect Ukrainian citizens in the east from terrorism," Oleksandr Turchynov said on Tuesday, according to a statement from his other office as parliamentary speaker.

Turchynov said that "brutally tortured" bodies had been found near the city of Slaviansk, which is in the hands of pro-Russian militants.
Al Jazeera's Jacky Rowland reports from Donetsk

One was that of Volodymyr Rybak, a member of Turchynov's Batkivshchyna party, who had recently been abducted by "terrorists".

"These crimes are being carried out with the full support and indulgence of the Russian Federation," he said.

Turchinov's comments came as the US deployed troops to Poland to begin a series of military exercises in four countries across eastern Europe.

Rear Admiral John Kirby, a Pentagon spokesman, said the exercises would last about a month, and involve about 600 troops.

About 150 soldiers from the 173rd Airborne Brigade based in Vicenza, Italy, will start the exercises on Wednesday in Poland. Similar exercises will be conducted in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania and troops could arrive in those countries by Monday.

The exercises are part of an effort announced last week aimed at reassuring NATO allies of the US's commitment to the region's defence.

Call for pullout

Earlier on Tuesday, Arseny Yatsenyuk, the interim Ukrainian prime minister, said Russian special forces were operating in eastern Ukraine to undermine a presidential election due on May 25, and called on Moscow to pull them out.

At a news conference after meeting Joe Biden, the US vice president, Yatsenyuk also urged Russia to remove its troops from Crimea, annexed by Moscow last month.

"Everything that is now happening in the east and which Russia is supporting is aimed at wrecking the presidential election," Yatseniuk said, as he called on Russia to fulfil its obligations.

"We don't ask anything from Russia. We demand only one thing: fulfil international agreements and don't behave like gangsters."

Biden said that Ukraine must remain "one united Ukraine", and criticised Russia's takeover of Crimea.
"No nation has the right to simply grab land from another nation," he said. "We will never recognise Russia's illegal occupation of Crimea, and neither will the world."

Critical timing

Biden also said Russia needed to defuse confrontations in the east of Ukraine.

"No nation should threaten its neighbour by massing troops on the border. We call on Russia to pull these forces back. We call on Russia to stop supporting men, hiding behind masks, sewing unrest in eastern Ukraine."

Biden's visit comes at a critical time, just days after a tenuous international agreement was reached to de-escalate violence in eastern Ukraine, where pro-Russia rebels oppose the government in Kiev.

Under the international deal, signed by Ukraine, Russia, the US and the EU, rebels were to disarm and give up buildings they seized in the east of Ukraine.

In another development, a Ukrainian military surveillance plane was struck by gunfire over the contested eastern city of Slovyansk, but landed safely with no one injured, the country's Defence Ministry said.

The Antonov AN-30 was hit multiple times by shots from armed pro-Russian forces, the ministry added.
Source:
Agencies

Moscow insists that Kiev pull back its troops from eastern Ukraine, as it accuses Washington of distorting Geneva pact.
Last updated: 24 Apr 2014 04:49


Russia has insisted that Kiev pull back its troops from eastern Ukraine as it accused Washington of distorting an agreement to ease the most serious confrontation between Moscow and the West since the end of the Cold War.

"The Russian side once again insists on the immediate de-escalation of the situation in Ukraine's southeast, the pullback of units of the Ukrainian army and the start of a genuine internal Ukrainian dialogue involving all of the country's regions and political formations," the Foreign Ministry said on Wednesday.

"Moscow is extremely surprised by the distorted interpretations by Kiev authorities as well as by our US partners of the contents of a declaration adopted in Geneva on April 17 as a result of a four-way meeting between representatives of Russia, the United States, the European Union and Ukraine."

The Russian Foreign Ministry said while the Geneva accord called on all "illegal armed units" to lay down arms, Kiev and Washington were turning a blind eye to what Moscow called continuing provocations by ultra-right militants in Ukraine.

"The Russian side continues to believe that our Western partners are serious when they declare their intention to facilitate a peaceful settlement of the political crisis in Ukraine," the foreign ministry said.

"Alas, the facts suggest the opposite however. We are still waiting for Kiev, which is responsible for establishing dialogue with Ukraine's regions, including in the southeast, to fulfil its promises."

Blunt warning

Moscow said it had expected Joe Biden, the US vice president who visited Ukraine this week, to influence the Ukrainian authorities with an eye to ease the crisis.

"However, immediately after his departure from the Ukrainian capital it was announced there that an 'anti-terrorist operation' in Ukraine's eastern regions would resume," the foreign ministry said.

Earlier, Russia's top diplomat Sergey Lavrov issued a blunt warning it would respond if its interests were attacked in Ukraine, in a sign Moscow was upping the ante in the crisis.

In an interview with Russia Today, the Russian foreign minister said that "Russian citizens being attacked is an attack against the Russian Federation".

The comments were released after the Vitaly Yarema, Ukraine's acting first deputy prime minister, said "appropriate measures" were being taken against pro-Russian separatists in the country's east.

"We have obtained the support of the United States, that they will not leave us alone with an aggressor. We hope that in the event of Russian aggression, this help will be more substantive."

Lavrov said that it was no coincidence that the resumption of operations came after Biden's visit, and charged that the US was "running the show".

The US also announced on Tuesday that it was sending 600 troops to Poland to begin a series of military exercises in four countries across eastern Europe.

The exercises are part of an effort announced last week aimed at reassuring NATO allies of the US's commitment to the region's defence.
Source:
Agencies

Russian jets conduct military scrambles on Ukrainian border after Ukraine kills separatists while taking Slovyansk.
Last updated: 24 Apr 2014 18:14

The Russian military has conducted fighter-jet drills in the southwestern Krasnodar region, close to Ukrainian territory.

The southern military district's Sukhoi-25 fighter jets on Thursday held drills in overcoming enemy missile defence and firing at land targets.

The Kremlin ordered the new military exercises on Ukraine's border after the Ukrainian government said its troops killed five "terrorists" in operations to take back the pro-Russian stronghold of Slovyansk.

NATO estimates Russia has also deployed up to 40,000 troops to the border areas.

An amateur video published on Thursday showed a large Russian military convoy moving in the town of Novoshakhtinsk just 10 kilometres from the Ukrainian border.

The footage shows numerous military trucks, as well as tanks and armoured personnel carriers moving on a highway.

Russia has maintained it has the right to protect Russian-speakers if they come under threat, a reason it gave for annexing the Crimean peninsula from Ukraine last month.

Separatists killed

Earlier on Thursday Ukraine's interior ministry said Ukrainian troops had killed the pro-Russian separatists in the Slovyansk operations as paratroopers took over three "illegal checkpoints" around the town, which has been in separatist control for almost two weeks.

Videos posted online showed smoke rising from barricades around the town. Reports said rebels had set fire to the barricades as they abandoned them and retreated from Ukranian forces.

Russian Defence Minister Sergie Shoigu said Russia was "compelled to react to such a situation".

"From today, military exercises have started in regions bordering Ukraine involving battalions of tactical forces of the southern and western military districts," Shoigu said.

Vladimir Putin, the Russian president, had warned earlier on Thursday that there would be consequences if the Ukraine army was used against pro-Russian activists.

"If Kiev really began to use the army against the country's population... that is a very serious crime against its own people," he said.

The Slovyansk operation came hours after the Ukrainian government reported that its forces had taken control of the town hall in the city of Mariupol, and repelled an attack on an army base in the eastern town of Artemivsk, the ministries said.

Separatist sources also reported the loss of the town hall in Mariupol. The city was the scene of a rebel attack on troops last week that left three rebels dead. The separatists had held the town hall since April 13.

"The town hall is liberated and can function normally," Arsen Avakov, Ukraine's interior minister, said on his Facebook page.

Ukraine's defence ministry said in a statement that Ukranian forces repelled nearly 100 separatists in an attack on the military base in Artemivsk, just north of rebel-held Donetsk.

"The attackers were repelled and suffered significant losses," Oleksandr Turchinov, Ukraine's acting president, said.
Ukraine's army moves to reclaim eastern town

US President Barack Obama said on Thursday that Russia had failed to abide by the spirit of a deal to ease tensions in Ukraine, and that new sanctions against Russia were being "teed up".

He said "malicious armed men" continued to occupy buildings in eastern Ukraine, in contradiction to a deal agreed last week in Geneva by Ukraine, Russia, the European Union and the US.

"So far we have seen them not abide by the spirit or the letter of the agreement in Geneva," Obama said.

If that continued, he said, "there will be further consequences and we will ramp up further sanctions".

Both Moscow and Transnistria say Kiev is effectively mounting an economic blockade of the breakaway state.
Last updated: 24 Apr 2014 03:49



Kiev is turning its attention to the breakaway state of Transnistria, located between Moldova and Ukraine.

It has increased security at the border over fears about weapons and ammunition getting into the country.

And, as Al Jazeera's David Chater reports, businesses are also being affected.

Eastern Ukraine: A new pawn in Putin's dangerous game

By issuing ultimatums and then failing to follow up, Kiev has further emboldened the rabble-rousers.
Last updated: 24 Apr 2014 08:12


Peter Zalmayev is director of the Eurasia Democracy Initiative (EDI), an international non-profit organization dedicated to the promotion of democracy and rule of law in post-Communist transitional societies of Eastern and Central Europe, the Caucasus and Central Asia.


Ukrainians carry anti-Russian placards during a march in Odessa, Ukraine [EPA]

A city mayor is placed under house arrest and held incommunicado, a local and then a foreign journalist get kidnapped, and three bodies are pulled out of a river, one of them apparently belonging to the president's political party. Meanwhile, just across the border, less than 100km to the east, looms a 40,000-strong Russian army, ready to pounce at a moment's notice.

This is the reality of life in Ukraine's eastern provinces, where cities and towns have been taken hostage by mysterious bands of pro-Russian "people's defenders". Many of these "defenders" appear to be well-armed, wear a green camouflage and balaclavas (earning them the moniker "green men") and have an unmistakable Russian accent. Just as unmistakable is the resemblance of the scenario being played out in eastern Ukraine to that in Crimea on the eve of the Russian invasion: As in Crimea, Moscow has strenuously denied any involvement in eastern Ukraine, despite mounting evidence to the contrary.

With their calls for Russian President Vladimir Putin to send tanks to "defend" the people from the "fascist" government in Kiev, the pro-Russia protesters do not seem to represent the majority of the population in the east, which, though not enthusiastically pro-Kiev, would be content to be allowed to use Russian at work and to have their children taught in the language, to enjoy an increased regional autonomy, and simply to live in peace. Yet, despite their obvious minority status, the pro-Russian thugs have been able to take advantage of the power vacuum, relying on the apparently Moscow-supplied weaponry and logistical support to keep whole cities in terror and to have brought the entire region to the precipice of a civil war.

A student of Political Economy 101 might recognise the developments in Ukraine's east as following the logic of "concentrated benefits and diffuse costs", whereby a particular group will pull out all stops to achieve its goals, while the majority is too apathetic to take action to counter the active minority because it does not necessarily perceive the outcome as detrimental to its well-being. So, while the majority would prefer to continue carrying Ukrainian passports, they are too disenchanted, after two decades of lawlessness, corruption, kleptocracy by the few and the attendant impoverishment of the many, to make a stand for Ukraine's statehood.

Pro-Moscow agitators

In contrast, the pro-Moscow agitators are well-coordinated, well-compensated and within reach of the miraculous promise of spoils to be had in a new power configuration, just as it currently seems to be happening in Crimea. Eastern Ukrainian oligarchs, meanwhile, like the country's richest man Rinat Akhmetov, are biding their time and wetting their finger to see which way the wind blows before casting their lot with either side.

By all accounts, the group that stands to gain the most should Russia invade eastern Ukraine are the disgraced former President Viktor Yanukovich, his son and their acolytes, who are too unpopular to return from their reported hiding place in Moscow on their own and to re-establish power at least on a regional level. They are therefore hoping they could ride Russian tanks to reclaim their fiefdom, whether it be a de jure independent "Donetsk People's Republic" and a de facto Russian protectorate, or a Russian province outright. Yanukovich's latest statement lends credence to suspicions that he and his posse have underwritten at least some of the recent unrest: In it, he insists on Ukraine's federalisation and dialogue with the east's "people's leaders" as the only way to keep Ukraine from disintegrating.

Therefore, the government in Kiev is facing an impossible, damned-if-you-do, damned-if-you-don't dilemma, having already offered its restless eastern provinces all of the concessions it could, including a maximum of autonomy and a pledge to keep Russian on the books as the second official language.

Now that the insurgents have refused to budge and vacate the occupied administrative buildings, Kiev must show strength and enforce its writ by all means necessary, which would risk a bloody escalation and Russia's threatened invasion under the pretext of defending its Russian-speaking brethren. By issuing ultimatums and then failing to follow up, Kiev has further emboldened the rabble-rousers. Indeed, the central government's reluctance (or inability) to restore order in the east may have already forced the insurgents' and their Moscow benefectors' hand: Official Kiev has claimed that the two bodies which were pulled from a river near the town of Slovyansk and blamed by the city's self-appointed pro-Russian mayor on the Ukrainian nationalist "Red Sector" movement, were a provocation designed to ratchet up the pressure for Russia's military intervention.


The West's influence on the course of events in eastern Ukraine is limited, as it will not intervene militarily, avoiding direct confrontation with Russia's army. Apart from solidarity gestures, such as US Vice President Joe Biden's visit to Kiev on Tuesday, financial aid to allow the government in Kiev to reform Ukraine's defunct economy and to solidify its hold on the territory it does control and a threat of further sanctions, Washington and Brussels are passive observers of the growing cancer in eastern Ukraine. Furthermore, US and European publics simply do not feel there is as much at stake for them in Ukraine. Putin's government, in contrast, appears to have staked much of its prestige and credibility with its own population on the outcome in Ukraine and will continue to act as a spoiler there indefinitely.

Indeed, with its antecedents in Moldova's Transnistria and Georgia's breakaway territories of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, all of which remain under Russian control, Ukraine is the most important piece in Moscow's emerging "New Russia" policy, publicly articulated by Putin recently. Although technically referring to Ukraine's southern and eastern provinces, which Putin apparently considers to be historically Russian, this policy is part of the larger stated objective of defending Russian speakers everywhere. This new doctrine has implications far beyond Ukraine's borders and may eventually encompass areas throughout the former USSR with a large ethnic Russian presence. To name just a few: The predominantly Russian-speaking northern Kazakhstan and the Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, all with large ethnic Russian communities.

The world in suspense

Putin's course of action in Ukraine remains clear only to himself (if that) and it is hard not to assume that he enjoys keeping the whole world in suspense and on edge. At the very least, the continuing unrest in eastern Ukraine is a way for Moscow to have a say-so in Ukraine's May 25 presidential election, to achieve its goal of Ukraine's federalisation (and de facto partition) and to prevent Ukraine from drifting further into the Western orbit and joining NATO.

But while Putin's next move is not clear, his message is: This is not really about Ukraine, which Putin and Co have never recognised as a fully-fledged independent state anyway. Rather, this is about Russia and its return on the world stage to reclaim at least some of its past Soviet glory, to resume playing a major role in world's affairs and to refuse to be pushed around, ignored and dismissed.

The wave of patriotic jingoism which Putin rode all the way to the warm waters of Crimea is, indeed, unprecedented in Russia’s post-Soviet history. A reincarnation of the Soviet empire this newly resurgent and belligerent Russia is not, though, deprived as it is of of the Leninist ideology which dictated the necessity of worldwide class struggle. Furthermore, Russia is systemically corrupt, dependent on the high price of oil to keep its populace acquiescent and to bankroll adventures like Crimea, and bleeding hard currency as its businessmen large and small continue to stash away their wealth in foreign offshore accounts. Its citizenry’s support is as strong as the government's ability to pay its bills and to keep the media firmly muzzled. The Western sanctions, which have been modest so far, may yet take a serious bite out of Russian economy should Putin decide to move his tanks across Ukraine's eastern border.

And yet, having unleashed the beast of 19th century-style politics of territorial expansion in the service of a unifying national narrative, Putin's very survival depends on his ability to continue to feed it. Whether keeping this beast happy will involve gobbling up eastern Ukraine in the near future may not matter as much, considering that a dangerous precedent has already been set with Crimea, threatening to unravel the very fabric of the post-World War II order of international relations. And while the Kremlin likes to point to the US' own adventures in Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya and Syria as having set that very precedent, they did not involve annexation of a sovereign country's territory.

Russia may one day rue its Crimea adventure when, say, in 20 years, Beijing decides to send tanks across the border to Russia's far east, ostensibly to protect its Mandarin-speaking guest labourers there, who by then may number in the millions.

Peter Zalmayev is director of the Eurasia Democracy Initiative (EDI), an international non-profit organisation dedicated to the promotion of democracy and rule of law in post-Communist transitional societies of Eastern and Central Europe, the Caucasus and Central Asia.

The views expressed in this article are the author's own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeera's editorial policy.
Source:
Al Jazeera

Government reports up to five "terrorists" die as Russia orders military exercises around the Ukrainian border.
Last updated: 24 Apr 2014 14:25


Ukraine's government has said its troops have killed five "terrorists" in operations to take back the pro-Russian stronghold of Slovyansk, an operation which has prompted Russia to order new military exercises on the Ukrainian border.

The Ukrainian interior ministry said on Thursday that the pro-Russian rebels were killed as paratroopers took over three "illegal checkpoints" around the town, which has been in separatist control for almost two weeks.

Videos posted online showed smoke rising from barricades around the town. Reports said that rebels had set fire to the barricades as they abandoned them and retreated from Ukranian forces.

The Reuters news agency reported that Ukrainian troops had set up new positions around the town. The AFP agency said that Ukrainian forces had told pro-Russian rebels to leave government buildings they were occupying, although this was not confirmed by any other source.

The operation prompted Russia to order new military exercises in regions bordering Ukraine.

NATO has estimated its deployment at 40,000 troops.

"We are compelled to react to such a situation," Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu told Russian news agencies.

"From today, military exercises have started in regions bordering Ukraine involving battalions of tactical forces of the southern and western military districts."

President Vladimir Putin had warned earlier on Thursday that there would be consequences if the Ukraine army was used against pro-Russian activists.

"If Kiev really began to use the army against the country's population... that is a very serious crime against its own people," he said.

The operation came hours after the government reported that its forces had taken control of the town hall in the city of Mariupol, and repelled an attack on an army base in the eastern town of Artemivsk, the ministries said.

Separatist sources also reported the loss of the town hall in Mariupol. The city was the scene of a rebel attack on troops last week that left three rebels dead. The separatists had held the town hall since April 13.

"The town hall is liberated and can function normally," Arsen Avakov, Ukraine's interior minister, said on his Facebook page.

The Defence Ministry said in a statement that Ukranian forces repelled nearly 100 separatists in an attack on the military base in Artemivsk, just north of rebel-held Donetsk.

"The attackers were repelled and suffered significant losses," Oleksandr Turchynov, Ukraine's acting president, said.

US President Barack Obama said on Thursday that Russia had failed to abide by the spirit of a deal to ease tensions in Ukraine, and that new sanctions against Russia were being "teed up".

He said "malicious armed men" continued to occupy buildings in eastern Ukraine, in contradiction to a deal agreed last week in Geneva by Ukraine, Russia, the EU and the US.
Barnaby Phillips and Peter Sharp report

"So far we have seen them not abide by the spirit or the letter of the agreement in Geneva," Obama said.

If that continued, he said, "there will be further consequences and we will ramp up further sanctions".

On Wednesday Sergey Lavrov, the Russian foreign minister, warned that Russia would respond if its interests were threatened, and made reference to Russia’s invasion of Georgia in 2008 after Georgian forces attacked separatists in its pro-Moscow region of South Ossetia.
Source:
Al Jazeera and agencies

Kiev: Moscow wants to start third world war
Russia accused of trying to spark global conflict as Ukrainian forces push to regain control of eastern territory.
Last updated: 25 Apr 2014 15:06


Pro-Russian groups have refused to give up occupied buildings in eastern Ukraine [Reuters]

Kiev has accused Moscow of seeking to trigger a "third world war" as military tensions soared in east Ukraine and US President Barack Obama led a diplomatic charge against Russia.

Ukraine's military on Friday mounted a second phase of an aggressive operation to regain control of the besieged city of Slovyansk even as one of its helicopters was blown up after being hit with rocket fire at a base outside the city.

Officials in Kiev said a rocket-propelled grenade blew up the military helicopter sitting on the tarmac at a base near the eastern town of Kramatorsk. The cause of the explosion has not yet been verified.

The incident came amid an offensive to drive pro-Kremlin gunmen out of eastern Ukraine.

Kiev announced its forces were seeking to "blockade" rebels inside the flashpoint town of Slovyansk to prevent more of what it calls "terrorists" arriving.

Al Jazeera's Hoda Abdel-Hamid, reporting from Donetsk said Slovyansk was still accessible despite claims it had been surrounded.

"We haven't seen any sign of that yet on the ground. Based on what we have seen over the past ten days it seems they have had some false starts it is difficult for them to apply on the ground," she said.

Moscow responded to the military action by saying Kiev's crackdown in the east is a bloody crime and Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov warned Ukraine that it would face justice for waging a war against its own people.

Russian troops massed on the border with Ukraine have also relaunched military exercises in response to the crackdown.

The situation in Ukraine has become increasingly militaristic, despite an apparent deal being reached in Geneva whereby all sides agreed to an amnesty for protesters who gave up occupied buildings and a blanket disarming of unauthorised groups.

Global conflict

On Friday Latvia welcomed American troops on its soil, part of a US force of 600 sent to the region to reassure the Baltic states amid concern over Russia's actions in Ukraine.

Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk accused Russia of trying to spark a global conflict.

"The world hasn't forgotten the Second World War and Russia wants to start a third world war," he said.

"Russia's support for the terrorists in Ukraine constitutes an international crime and we call on the international community to unite against the Russian aggression."

US Secretary of State John Kerry said the Kremlin was making an "expensive mistake" by meddling in Ukraine, stressing that further Western sanctions on Moscow were poised to be unveiled.

Moscow, Kerry said, was trying to "actively sabotage the democratic process through gross external intimidation".

"Let me be clear: if Russia continues in this direction, it will not just be a grave mistake, it will be an expensive mistake," he said during a press conference on Thursday.
Source:
Al Jazeera and agencies

Ukrainians living in Russia are choosing to keep a low profile amid high tension between the countries.
Ian Bateson Last updated: 25 Apr 2014 07:26


Many Russians supported their country's annexation of Ukraine's Crimean peninsula [Ian Bateson/Al Jazeera]

Moscow, Russia - One day last month Roman Romanenko, a Ukrainian living in the Russian city of Vologda, came home to find a swastika painted on his door and flyers stuffed in his neighbours' mailboxes.

The flyers read: "Living in your building is a piece of Lviv scum", referring to a western Ukrainian city with a strong sense of national identity, many of whose residents supported the protest movement that led to the ousting of former Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovich.

The flyers warned that Romanenko supported the protest movement, and that his apartment could become a centre for anti-Russian Ukrainian extremists.

Romanenko, who is originally from eastern Ukraine and not Lviv, is the editor of a local newspaper. He recently wrote a popular Facebook post asking Russian President Vladimir Putin to send Russian troops to Vologda, as he had done in Crimea - but this time, to protect local Russians from corruption.

Recently questioned by the local prosecutor's office, he said the situation has become harder for Ukrainians in Russia over the past few months. "I don't really talk about Ukraine anymore - not because I don't have anything to say, but because the topic is just too hot."

Many Russians were euphoric at their country's takeover and annexation last month of the Crimean peninsula, which had belonged to neighbouring Ukraine. But Russia's sizeable Ukrainian minority has remained conspicuously silent. "If you try and talk about Ukraine, they just call you a Banderite [a follower of Ukrainian nationalist Stepan Bandera] or a Maidan protester," Romanenko told Al Jazeera.

'Nasty and unpleasant' environment

Though leaders of Russia's Ukrainian community said they have not suffered from widespread physical abuse or discrimination, many are afraid of publicly defending Ukraine out of fear of repercussions.

Alexander Botezatu, 25, is originally from Vinnitsa in central Ukraine, and has been studying and working in Moscow for the past eight years. According to Botezatu, the situation has grown increasingly tense. "It's nasty and unpleasant living in an environment where you are constantly surrounded by people aggressively attacking your country," said Botezatu, who works in the telecommunications sector.
Ukraine orders military action in the east

In moving to Russia, both Botezatu and Romanenko chose a path that millions of other Ukrainians have taken. Nearly two million people described themselves as Ukrainian in Russia's 2010 census, and many more Russians are of mixed Ukrainian heritage. Putin said last month there are three million Ukrainian citizens currently working in Russia.

In the Soviet Union, Russians and Ukrainians lived and worked closely together. Behind Russia, Ukraine was the second-largest republic within the Soviet Union.

Historical ties go back further - with both Ukrainians and Russians tracing the origins of their countries back to the medieval kingdom of Kievan Rus.

Russia's President Putin regularly emphasises their similarities, referring to Ukrainians as Russia's "brothers" and saying the two ethnicities are in fact "one people".

But for many Ukrainians who once believed in that fraternal closeness, the annexation of Crimea and Russia's current support for separatist movements in eastern Ukraine have spoiled that relationship.

Media-fuelled hostility

The atmosphere soured when Yanukovich was deposed after three months of protests, with Ukraine's new leaders then setting their sights on European Union membership.

Russian state television stepped up a campaign against the new Ukrainian leaders, beaming footage into Russian homes portraying the country as being on the verge of civil war, with "neo-Nazi" gangs threatening the lives of Russian speakers.

"The media in Russia is lying as if it were North Korea. I never believed it, but 90 percent of people in Russia do," Botezatu told Al Jazeera. "Some believe it 100 percent, some 70 percent and some 30 percent. But the end result is that even those who believe only 30 percent of it are staunchly against Ukraine and see Nazis everywhere."

Russian media frequently draw comparisons between Ukrainian nationalists and Stepan Bandera, the leader of a nationalist movement founded in western Ukraine with ties to Nazi Germany's army during its occupation of Ukraine.

"Here they always try and call me a 'Banderite'," said Valeriy Semenenko, vice president of the Russia branch of the Ukrainian World Congress. "But I'm from Dnipropetrovsk [in eastern Ukraine], so it doesn't work. They don't understand how you can be from the east and speak Ukrainian."

Ukrainians in Russia make up the largest single diaspora of the Ukrainian people, and they are the largest ethnic group in the country after ethnic Russians and Tatars.

Large numbers of Ukrainians came to Moscow seeking work during Russia's oil-fuelled energy boom in the early 2000s, where wages were often higher than in Ukraine for unskilled labourers and skilled workers alike.

But this was a cause for bitterness among some Russians, who believe that Ukrainians are welcomed with open arms even while their country's government adopts policies they regard as anti-Russian. "I can't understand these khokhli," said Natalya, 62, a Russian pensioner, using a derogatory term for Ukrainians. "They were supposed to be our brothers, and they do this. And they all come to Moscow to work on construction sites and scrounge off us."

'One nation'

The hostility is not entirely new. There has always been some friction between Ukraine and Russia, last coming to a head during the 2004-05 Orange Revolution, which ushered in pro-European leaders in Ukraine. But they lost power when Yanukovich was elected in 2010.

The Federal Association of Ukrainians in Russia, another organisation in which Semenenko was involved, was shut down in 2012. The official reason was that it violated financial regulations, but it had also been accused of "presenting a negative image of Russia".

Worried about persecution, Ukrainians have largely kept their feelings to themselves during the ongoing crisis. Some Ukrainians complain that, while Russian state media has claimed the rights of Russian speakers in Ukraine are threatened, Russia does not treat its own Ukrainian minority any better.

Little attention is paid, they say, to the fact that, unlike the Russian minority in Ukraine, the Ukrainian minority in Russia has no access to schools or universities in the Ukrainian language.

'Little Russians'

During Soviet times, Russian language and culture were granted a dominant position. All languages and cultures were guaranteed state protection in the Soviet Union, but Ukrainians and other non-Russian peoples were only granted the opportunity to develop their culture within the administrative borders of their respective republics. When they moved to other parts of the Soviet Union, they were largely assimilated into the local Russian-speaking culture.

Some pundits say Ukrainians will never be treated entirely equally in Russia, because of a long history of being treated as second-class citizens. During the Russian Empire, Ukrainians were often referred to as "little Russians", and the Ukrainian language was banned from being used in education.

"In Russia, Ukrainians are not considered a separate nation, and the Ukrainian language is considered a dialect of Russian," said Gasan Gusejnov, a professor at the National Research University's Higher School of Economics in Moscow, who has written on Ukrainian identity. "That's why anti-Ukrainian sentiment is outraged that Ukrainians have any sort of national identity of their own."

Gusejnov's remarks suggest the atmosphere is not going to improve quickly for Russia's Ukrainian minority. "Ukrainians have historically been considered second class, as poor copies of Russians," he said.

Follow Ian Bateson on Twitter: @IanBateson
Source:
Al Jazeera

Many fear a partial ban would deprive patients of life-saving equipment and supplies.
Last updated: 26 Apr 2014 15:53


Russia is considering a partial ban on foreign medical equipment, as it faces more crippling sanctions over the Ukraine crisis.

Up to 80 percent of all medical supplies are thought to be imported - many of them life-saving equipment like blood transfusion kits and infant incubators.

Al Jazeera's Peter Sharp reports from Moscow, where there is widespread concern that a sudden ban will deprive patients of life-saving equipment.
Source:
Al Jazeera

Amid continuing tensions between Moscow and Kiev, how are current events impacting the Russian economy?
Counting the Cost Last updated: 26 Apr 2014 07:39


This week, Counting the Cost looks at Russia, which is the eighth largest economy in the world and has the earth's largest reserves of natural gas.

Russia provides one-third of Europe's energy needs, yet after its foray into Crimea and increasing activity in eastern Ukraine, its economy has seen the most difficult conditions since the 2008 financial crisis.

It has seen capital flight of $63bn in the first three months of this year as investors dump the ruble. And that haemorrhaging of the economy is predicted to continue; the Russian finance minister said this week that the economy may see zero growth this year because of the unrest in Ukraine.

Al Jazeera's Peter Sharp reports from Moscow on the potential fallout to the Russian economy. And we count the cost of Putin's Ukrainian adventure with Cornelia Meyer, an economist, energy specialist, and the CEO of MRL Corporation.

Greece rising?

Just four years ago, Greece almost forced the eurozone into collapse. This week there were signs of green shoots, but we ask is this early optimism is just smoke and mirrors.

Unemployment in Greece stands at 26.7 percent, and public indebtedness has surged to 180 percent of the GDP - a number that analysts say is unsustainable for a small economy like Greece's.

Austerity measures in response to the financial crisis have also taken a human toll, especially on the country's public health system. There have been reports of rising infant mortality rates and even the return of malaria.

Dimitrios Droutsas, a lawyer and politician who served as minister of foreign affairs between 2010 and 2011, the height of the crisis, talks to Counting the Cost about the state of the Greek economy.

Everest: Closed for business

On Everest, this week the world's highest mountain closed to climbers for the remainder of 2014. Guides, known as Sherpas, are refusing to scale the mountain following the deaths of 16 of their colleagues; they were killed in the worst accident in the mountain's history.

The Sherpas want better insurance and medical cover, and a fairer share of the profits that come to the Nepalese government from commercial mountaineering. We look at why trouble on top of the world could prove a wake-up call for the mountaineering business.

Also on this week's show, Al Jazeera's Dominic Kane looks at Barack Obama's visit to Tokyo and the stalled talks between the United States and Japan about a Pacific Rim trade pact.

And Rob Reynolds reports on cost-effective ways of harnessing solar power in California.
Watch each week at the following times GMT: Friday: 2230; Saturday: 0930; Sunday: 0330; Monday: 1630. Click here for more Counting the Cost .

Follow Kamahl Santamaria @KamahlAJE and business editor Abid Ali @abidoliverali

Source:
Al Jazeera

Ucrania asegura que enfrenta una posible invasión rusa en cualquier momento y advierte que se defenderá

Por: Redacción / Sinembargo - abril 25 de 2014 - 15:03



Naciones Unidas, 25 abr (EFE).- El viceministro de Asuntos Exteriores ucraniano, Danylo Lubkivsky, aseguró hoy que su país se enfrenta a una posible invasión rusa “en cualquier momento” y advirtió de que Ucrania se defenderá.

“Si Rusia cruza la frontera, lucharemos para defender nuestro país”, aseguró Lubkivsky en una conferencia de prensa en la sede de Naciones Unidas.

“Hay momentos en la historia de cada nación en los que hay que defender la patria, el país y la independencia”, insistió.

El representante de Kiev subrayó, en todo caso, que la voluntad de su Gobierno es lograr una solución pacífica al conflicto y llamó por ello a Moscú y a los separatistas prorrusos a retomar las negociaciones.

Según Lubkivsky, Rusia está incumpliendo los acuerdos sellados la pasada semana en Ginebra y está poniendo en peligro los principios en los que se basa la comunidad internacional.

“Esto no es sólo sobre Ucrania o sobre Crimea, es sobre todos nosotros. Sobre la ONU, sobre los principios de la paz y el orden internacional”, aseguro el viceministro ucraniano.

Lubkivsky aseguró que la presencia de tropas rusas junto a la frontera ucraniana “pone en peligro la paz y la seguridad” e insistió en que Moscú debe retirarlas.

El viceministro ucraniano, que visitó Washington antes de viajar a Nueva York, admitió que su Gobierno está discutiendo con países aliados una posible cooperación en el ámbito militar.

“Esto es algo bastante natural cuando tu soberanía está amenazada, buscar cualquier medio para protegerse. Y vamos a defender Ucrania de cualquier invasión”, insistió.

Lubkivsky recalcó al mismo tiempo que la “opción principal” de Kiev es lograr “una solución pacífica para el país” y “evitar cualquier derramamiento de sangre”.

Añadió, que la actual situación en el este del país es “explosiva”, pero las autoridades la tienen “bajo control” y siguen adelante con la “operación antiterrorista” puesta en marcha contra los milicianos prorrusos que han tomado el control en varias localidades.

En su viaje a Estados Unidos, Lubkivsky ha pedido a Washington que apruebe lo antes posible sanciones adicionales contra Rusia, un paso que la Administración estadounidense dijo hoy estar dispuesta a dar.

“Se está acabando el tiempo para que Rusia cambie el rumbo (…). Estamos preparados para actuar”, dijo el secretario de Estado, John Kerry, en una declaración en la que lamentó que Rusia continúe con su “intento de sabotear Ucrania a marchas forzadas” una semana después de firmarse el acuerdo a cuatro bandas en Ginebra. EFE

APRIL

April 1: NATO announcesit is suspending "all practical civilian and military co-operation" with Russia.
Pro-Russian activists seize control of government buildings in three Ukrainian cities [EPA]

April 2: Ukraine's ousted president admits he was "wrong" in inviting Russian troops into Crimea and vows to try to persuade Moscow to return the peninsula.

April 7: Pro-Russian activists seize control of government buildings in the eastern cities of Donetsk, Luhansk and Kharkiv, calling for a referendum on independence. Ukraine authorities regain control of Kharkiv buildings the next day.

April 11: Ukraine's interim prime minister offers to give more powers to the eastern regions, as pro-Russia separatists continue to occupy buildings in Donetsk and Luhansk.

April 12: Pro-Russian gunmen take over the police station and security services building in the town of Slovyansk, 60 kilometres from Donetsk where pro-Russian militants take over the police headquarters.

April 13: Ukrainian special forces fail to dislodge pro-Russian gunmen in Slovyansk. One Ukrainian officer is killed and five are wounded.

April 14: Administration building of Slovyansk seized and armed group ask Putin to send troops. Putin and Obama confront each other during telephone talks. EU foreign ministers agree to expand the list of those hit with sanctions for their role in the Ukraine crisis.

April 15: Ukraine action in Slovyansk fails to gain ground. Putin declares that Ukraine is on the brink of civil war. Politicians in Moldova's Transdniestr region call on Moscow and the UN to recognise its independence.

April 16: Ukrainian troops turn back from Slavyansk while pro-Russian group seizes the town hall in Donetsk.

April 17: Ukrainian troops repel an overnight attack in Mariupol, killing three assailants. Around 200 hundred people then demonstrate in the town against Kiev. Putin acknowledges that Russian forces were deployed in Crimea during the March referendum on joining Russia, but says he hopes not to have to use his "right" to send Russian troops into Ukraine. Lavrov announces in Geneva a deal has been reached with Ukraine, the United States and the European Union to "de-escalate" tensions in Ukraine.

April 18: Pro-Russia groups say they will not be moved from occupied buildings until the government in Kiev, which they see as illegitimate, is also removed. Russia condemns talks of more sanctions. Ukraine interim government pledges broad independent governance and says Russian language will be given a "special status" in the country.

April 20: A deadly gunfight in a town in restive east Ukraine on Sunday shatters a fragile Easter truce, with Russia declaring it is "outraged" at the return to violence in the crisis-hit former Soviet republic.

April 21: In Lugansk protesters pledge to hold their own local referendum on autonomy on May 11.

April 22: In Kiev, US Vice President Joe Biden says Russia faces "isolation". Washington orders 600 soldiers to Poland and the ex-Soviet Baltic states. Ukraine orders a military operation against pro-Kremlin separatists to resume.

April 23: Russia says it will respond if its interests are attacked in Ukraine.

April 24: Ukraine's military launches an assault on Slovyansk. Up to five rebels are killed, according to Kiev. Special forces seize back control of the town hall in the southeastern port city of Mariupol. Putin says that deployment of military in east Ukraine by the Kiev authorities is a crime that will "have consequences. The Russian army starts new exercises at the border with Ukraine.

April 25: Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk accuses Moscow of seeking to trigger a "third world war".
The Ukrainian military launches a offensive for a second day to besiege Slovyansk while rebels vow: "We will not surrender the town." Western powers led by US President Barack Obama warn that Russia faces fresh sanctions. They stress that a presidential poll scheduled for May 25 is "essential" to stabilise the country. Seven OSCE military observers detained in Slovyansk, the interior ministry says.

Hundreds of pro-Russian activists storm regional government headquarters in city of Luhansk unopposed by police.
Last updated: 29 Apr 2014 14:33


Hundreds of pro-Russian separatists have stormed the regional government headquarters in Ukraine's eastern city of Luhansk, unopposed by police, the Ukrainian government says.

Kiev has all but lost control of its police forces in parts of eastern Ukraine, where pro-Russian activists have seized buildings in the region's second biggest city of Donetsk and several smaller towns.

"The regional leadership does not control its police force," Stanislav Rechynsky, an aide to Arsen Avakov, the interior minister, told Reuters news agency on Tuesday. "The local police did nothing."

Rechynsky said the ministry had information that they would next try to take the local television centre.

Video footage showed men, some dressed in green camouflage fatigues and holding shields, walking around what appeared to be the foyer of the government headquarters as hundreds massed outside the building's large wooden doors.

Pro-Russian separatists had previously occupied only the local security services' building in Luhansk, which they took in early April.

Sanctions against Moscow

Earlier on Tuesday, Russia's foreign ministry said the European Union should be "ashamed" for "doing Washington's bidding" by punishing Moscow with sanctions over the Ukraine crisis.

The ministry's comment came hours after the EU imposed asset freezes and travel bans on 15 more names of Russian and pro-Moscow Ukrainian officials, including Russia's deputy prime minister, deputy chairman of state Duma and chief of staff of armed forces.

"Instead of forcing the Kiev clique to sit at the table with southeastern Ukraine to negotiate the future structure of the country, our partners are doing Washington's bidding with new unfriendly gestures aimed at Russia," the foreign ministry said.

"If this is how someone in Brussels hopes to stabilise the situation in Ukraine, it is obvious evidence of a complete lack of understanding of the internal political situation ... and a direct invitation for the local neo-Nazis to continue to conduct lawlessness and reprisals against the peaceful population of the southeast," it said in a statement. "Are they not ashamed?"

Grigory Karasin, the deputy foreign minister, said separately that the United States and EU sanctions were "an absolutely counterproductive, trite measure that would force the already critical situation in Ukraine into a dead end," the state-run RIA news agency reported.

Russia has not yet announced any steps in response to the new sanctions.

Pro-Russians react

Vyacheslav Ponomaryov, the de facto mayor of a separatist-held town Slovyansk, said on Tuesday that he would discuss the release of detained military observers with the West only if the EU dropped sanctions against rebel leaders.

The six observers were in Ukraine under the auspices of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, a democracy watchdog. They were detained last week after separatists said they had found a Ukrainian spy with them.

Meanwhile, John Kerry, the US secretary of state, told the Wall Street Journal late on Monday that the Ukraine crisis was centred on the motivations of Russia's president, Vladimir Putin.

"You almost feel that he's creating his own reality, and his own sort of world, divorced from a lot of what's real on the ground for all those people, including people in his own country," Kerry said, just hours after the US administration announced another round of economic sanctions on Russian individuals and companies.

The crisis is "an amazing display of a kind of personal reaction to something that just doesn't fit into the lessons learned for the last 60 years or 70 years... It's unfortunate for the Russian people, clearly don't fit into the costs that are being attached to this, it appears to be so personal to President Putin."

No one in the corridors of power in Moscow was anticipating that events in Kiev would take such a dramatic twist.
Last updated: 29 Apr 2014 10:34
Alexander Nekrassov

Alexander Nekrassov
Follow @StirringTrouble

Alexander Nekrassov is a former Kremlin and government adviser.

What are Russian President Vladimir Putin's options in Ukraine?

The thing to understand about the way the crisis in Ukraine is perceived from the Kremlin is that Putin and his entourage were initially taken by surprise by the way the US and the European Union pushed for the removal of Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovich and his government. In January, and even in the first part of February, no one in the corridors of power in Moscow was anticipating that events in Kiev would take such a dramatic twist - especially as Yanukovich was seen as playing games with both Russia and the West, trying to get something out of both in return for nothing.

The big wake-up call came on that fateful day in February when leaders of the Ukrainian opposition - with encouragement from abroad - decided to raise the stakes in their game and, as a result, the protests in Kiev turned violent and the shooting started.

Privately, many Russian officials admit that state intelligence had failed spectacularly in predicting such a turn of events whatever the spooks say now, and in effect the crisis was allowed to spiral out of control, with senior Russian officials insisting that Ukraine could wait until the Sochi Winter Olympics were over. So the bottom line is that Moscow had not been on top of the situation for at least two and a half months, failing to anticipate how far the opposition - and allegedly the West - were prepared to go to change the status quo in Kiev.

Moscow's low-key approach

Yanukovich's refusal to sign the association agreement with the European Union, which is always mentioned as the spark that had supposedly ignited the popular protests, was obviously not the main reason for the overthrow of the regime. It was primarily Moscow's low-key approach that emboldened both the protesters and their foreign backers, that was the main reason for the dramatic climax of the violence in Kiev. But, as they say, it's not winning the battle that counts but winning the war, and one has to hand it to Putin and his people for the way they turned failure into a resounding success.

It all started to go horribly wrong for the "victorious" opposition practically from the word go. First, it made a terrible mess out of Yanukovich's impeachment which had been conducted in the Rada - the Ukrainian parliament - with armed thugs surrounding the building and even walking around the chamber and brandishing weapons. Instead of the complicated process that should have involved several sittings of the specially formed committee, followed by the decision of the Constitutional Court and the Supreme Court, deputies were simply told by the new "leadership" to vote in support of "sacking" Yanukovich.

And then came the chaotic election of the interim president, the unremarkable Oleksandr Turchinov, and the shameful rubberstamping of new laws that played into the hands of the new lot in power, with some pretty threatening rhetoric against Russia and the Russian-speaking population in the east and south, coming thick and fast.

The emergence of the so-called "unity government" turned into a farce, with not a single representative from the east of the country allowed to join it. Not to mention that four portfolios were given to the members of the Freedom Party that has been known for its ultra-nationalist views and open hatred for "foreigners", including Jews and Russians.

Meanwhile law and order on the streets of Kiev was provided by several thousand members of the Right Sector, a neo-Nazi movement that became the interim regime's private army. Was it any wonder that political infighting broke out in earnest between the different sections of the opposition? Especially as everyone was expecting the West to start showering the new regime with money, which hasn't happened up to now.

It was then that Moscow regained the initiative and started to use the confusion to its advantage. The operation to defend Crimea from the "junta" in Kiev was conducted like clockwork, and without a shot being fired in anger as the peninsula held a referendum on its status and became part of Russia, before anyone in Kiev could figure out what was going on.

A chain reaction

But events in Crimea initiated a chain reaction in the east and south of Ukraine that Moscow hadn't bargained for. All of a sudden, several towns and cities in the east were taken over by anti-government protesters who were demanding a referendum, along the lines of the one which was held in Crimea. Suddenly a new problem had arisen for the Kremlin, especially after the interim regime announced an anti-terrorist operation against the "separatists", as they called them, in the east.

One city, Slavyansk, has already seen fighting between government troops and protesters. The talks in Geneva between Russia, Ukraine, the EU and the US on finding a solution to the crisis might as well have not taken place at all, considering that there was no one there representing the east of the country. And even though Washington and Moscow are now blaming each other for the failure of these talks, pretty much everyone knew that they would not produce a workable framework.

So what are the options that Putin and his closest aides are looking at? Well, one of them would involve a wait-and-see approach, exchanging angry statements with the West in the run-up to the presidential elections in Ukraine, with candidates going for each other's throats. It's now becoming apparent though that if they actually take place, former minister and confectionary billionaire Pyotr Poroshenko, would win. But will his presidency ever get off the ground? That is another question altogether if Moscow and the east do not accept his legitimacy, considering that he is a supporter of Ukraine joining NATO. Not to mention that it is difficult to imagine how these elections would actually take place when there is something of a popular uprising going on across the east and south.

The other option for Moscow is to actually get involved in the stand-off between the government troops and the protesters in the east, something the Kremlin wants least of all to do for all sorts of reasons. This is the most dangerous route and it would take some dramatic worsening of the situation on the ground for it to happen.

The third option would be creating a federation in Ukraine, with the east given substantial autonomy and devolved powers. But for this to happen, a leader has to emerge in the east and at the moment Moscow is looking at all possible candidates, even keeping Yanukovich as an unlikely option.

The biggest worry, of course, is that Russia and the West can talk themselves into some sort of confrontation, issuing threats and counter-threats, with the regime in Kiev growing more desperate by the day while it runs out of money. That's why a bit more restraint should be welcomed on all sides.

Alexander Nekrassov is a former Kremlin and government adviser.

The views expressed in this article are the author's own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeera's editorial policy.
Source:
Al Jazeera

The Kremlin's Faux 'Freedom Fighters'
Russia denies that it's meddling in Ukraine. But the pro-Russian forces out there don't always hide their links to Moscow.

BY Andrew Foxall , Ola Cichowlas
APRIL 25, 2014



Since the current crisis began in eastern Ukraine, Russian President Vladimir Putin has repeatedly denied that Moscow has a hand in events there. The Kremlin strives to portray the actions of pro-Russian insurgents as a purely local response to simmering grievances.

Yet, Moscow hasn't been entirely successful at covering its tracks. When pro-Russian forces declared a "People's Republic of Donetsk" on April 6 and demanded with it a Crimea-style referendum, several separatists thanked the "National Liberation Movement" (NLM) for supporting their endeavour. This supposedly grassroots movement is led by Putin. (In the photo above, NLM supporters distribute flyers at a rally in Donetsk on March 1.)

Since 2011, the NLM (or RusNOD as it's commonly known in Russia) has been fomenting pro-Russian sentiments throughout "the Russian world" -- the Russky Mir, as Putin has encouraged Russians to say when referring to the lands of the former Russian and Soviet Empires.

During the crisis in Ukraine, the NLM has provoked separatist sentiment in Donetsk and elsewhere in eastern Ukraine, organized pro-war marches inside Russia, and attacked anyone who opposes Putin's partition of Ukraine. It provides a telephone helpline for "victims" in Ukraine of aggressions by "German-American interventionists" -- alluding to Soviet-era narratives warning of the threat posed by Nazi fascism and U.S. imperialism -- and warns these same outside forces to "prepare for a second Nuremberg" (referring to the post-World War II war crimes trials).

Formed in 2011, the NLM has adopted the Ribbon of St. George (a Tsarist-era symbol that today represents loyalty to the Kremlin) and the slogan "Motherland! Freedom! Putin!" -- redolent of the World War II-era Soviet call to arms "For the Motherland, For Stalin." The movement combines radical anti-Americanism and anti-Semitism with Russian imperialism and a bizarre cult of personality around Putin. Its militant brand of liberation seeks to avenge Russia's "humiliation" -- its imperial collapse, economic hardship, and political disorder -- at the hands of the West during the 1990s and aims to "restore Russian sovereignty" throughout the former Soviet Union. As the Kremlin airs ever more aggressive anti-Western propaganda and marginalizes alternative voices in Russia, the popularity of groups like the NLM is increasing amongst Putin's traditional supporters.

The NLM's coordinator is Yevgeny Fedorov, a Duma deputy from St. Petersburg whose public profile has increased since the start of the Ukrainian crisis. Nationalist, xenophobic, and an ardent Putinist, Fedorov is fast becoming one of the most vocal supporters of Russian aggression on its Western borders. He has claimed that Putin is "saving the world from genocide" by amassing Russian troops on Ukraine's eastern border and that the United States wrote the Russian constitution. Fedorov recently made the headlines by calling for former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev to be prosecuted for letting the USSR collapse, an event described by Putin as "the greatest geopolitical catastrophe" of the 20th century.

When chaos first broke out in eastern Ukraine in late March, Western leaders voiced concern that the Kremlin was responsible. The chain of events in eastern Ukrainian cities such as Donetsk and Luhansk appeared to be following the same pattern as Russia's takeover of Crimea four weeks earlier. Just as in Crimea, where so-called "little green men" in unmarked military fatigues patrolled the peninsula and refused to identify themselves, here, too, evidence strongly suggested that the agitators were operating at Moscow's behest. On April 12, the pro-Russian deputy chairman of the Council of Ministers of Crimea announced that Russia's "liberation of southeast Ukraine has begun."

Over centuries, Russian leaders have demonstrated that they have a warped understanding of the word "liberation." The country has a dark history of providing "brotherly help" in Eastern Europe. The Polish foreign minister, Radek Sikorski, alluded to this in February 2014, when he stated: "Russia has never actually invaded Poland -- instead, it always ‘came to help' national and religious minorities." Through groups like the NLM, Putin is creating yet another generation of Kremlin "freedom fighters."

The NLM is not the only pro-Kremlin youth group active in Ukraine. On March 3, a pro-Russian demonstrator planted a Russian flag atop the main administrative building in Kharkiv. The demonstrator was later revealed to be a "journalist" for a pro-Kremlin Moscow-based website financed by the Kremlin's youth movement, Nashi. On April 7, the pro-Kremlin Eurasian Union of Youth claimed to have agents provocateurs in eastern Ukraine.

So is eastern Ukraine slipping into Russian hands? Events in Donetsk region suggest so, despite the fact that opinion polls show the majority of eastern Ukrainians want to live in a united Ukraine, reject unification with Russia, and oppose Russian military intervention.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry earlier this month accused "Russian special forces and agents" of stoking pro-Russian separatism in eastern Ukraine. His Russian counterpart rejected the allegation, insisting Moscow has no military or intelligence operatives in Ukraine and blaming the West -- and Ukraine's pro-Western interim government -- for the turmoil. Nevertheless, Kiev is conscious that Russia may use such operatives to destabilize eastern Ukraine ahead of the May 25 presidential elections.

Over recent weeks, Ukraine's security agency has detained over a dozen individuals suspected of collecting intelligence for Moscow. Some were Ukrainian nationals, while others are suspected of being Russian "war tourists." At least one was a Russian "spy" (albeit one apparently unaware that posting a photograph of herself holding an automatic rifle to VKontakte, Russia's equivalent of Facebook, is not a usual part of espionage). Kiev has begun to limit the access of such individuals to Ukraine; it has ended unrestricted travel for Russians to the country and begun to turn away Russian journalists at the border. The rather farcical way Ukraine has gone about this, however, illustrates just how hard it will be for Kiev to find a workable approach.

But there are other policies that also deserve attention from the government in Kiev. While Russia's aggression must be condemned in the strongest possible terms, the prevalence of genuine pro-Russian sentiments in eastern Ukraine means that the interim government must do more to reassure eastern Ukrainians that its intentions are benign. Despite numerous ultimatums, Kiev only recently launched military operations against separatists occupying government buildings in eastern Ukraine -- sending a clear message that it will not abandon its troublesome east, like it did Crimea.

There is much that the United States. and its European allies can do to help. Western intelligence services should work to expose the activities of groups like the NLM who have so far avoided any scrutiny over their links with the Kremlin. The European Union should offer more to Kiev than foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton's "I am gravely concerned" statements and Brussels' half-hearted economic sanctions. U.S. President Barack Obama's awkward phone calls with the Kremlin are not nearly enough.

Russian tanks may not yet have crossed the Ukrainian border, but the Kremlin has already begun to invade eastern Ukraine. Moscow has infiltrated the Donetsk region with weapons more effective than Kalashnikovs: a new generation of Russian "liberators." These men -- convinced that Russia is surrounded by enemies and that only they understand what is needed to save it -- are working overtime to restore "stolen" lands to the Kremlin. And they will not stop at Ukraine.

Ukrainian opposition leader Vitali Klitschko on what his country really needs from the West and why Putin's politics just don't make sense.

BY David Patrikarakos
APRIL 27, 2014


The headquarters of the Ukrainian opposition party, the United Democratic Alliance for Reform (UDAR), are located in an inconspicuous brick building on a pleasant street in central Kiev. A single Ukrainian flag hangs over the entryway -- the only clue as to the building's political significance. The party won 40 seats in the 2012 parliamentary elections and it is a growing national force, popular with Ukraine's youth and its pro-European intelligentsia.

Inside, leader of the UDAR, Vitali Klitschko stands six foot and seven inches tall, dominating the conference room. Foreign Policy met with the former world heavyweight boxing champion turned politician on April 24 to discuss Ukraine's growing crisis. The acronym UDAR means "punch" in Ukrainian and it is indicative of the way Klitschko has spent almost the past ten years using his global celebrity status to transform himself from an internationally known athlete into one of Ukraine's leading politicians. Klitschko had been considered to be a contender for the upcoming presidential elections on May 25, but he decided to focus his attention on running for mayor of Kiev instead.

During the Euromaidan revolution that overthrew President Viktor Yanukovych in February, Klitschko was an almost continuous presence in Independence Square -- known in Ukraine as Maidan Nezalezhnosti. What began as a peaceful protest against Yanukovych's ultimate refusal to strengthen ties with Europe by signing an European Union Association Agreement (opting instead to take a $15 billion loan and reduced gas-price agreement with Russian President Vladimir Putin) turned into outright rebellion after government forces used violence against protestors.

In this small conference room, Klitschko positively looms over the table, leaning forward frequently to emphasize his points. Next to him sits a member of his entourage who scribbles notes throughout. Also in the room are the interviewer's assistant and translator, whose services Klitschko declines, opting instead to speak in English to "save time." (Still, at various points in the interview, when he struggles for the right phrasing or cannot remember a word, he turns to the translator for clarification.)

Throughout the interview his giant hands rest almost delicately on the table. As he talks, Klitschko makes intense and consistent eye contact. At times his voice rises passionately, but his words are always measured; he is careful about what he says.

Foreign Policy: First let's talk about Maidan. What was its single biggest achievement?

Vitali Klitschko: It's vital to democracy for civil society to show that it has power. Everyone, even a president has to listen. That was actually [Viktor] Yanukovych's motto: "I listen to everyone." Maidan stayed peaceful for two months but it was clear that the president wasn't listening; that he wasn't seeing; that he wasn't paying attention to the people. Then it got worse; he sent in the riot police to "cleanse" Maidan.

It's critical for politicians to talk to the people, to find a solution and a compromise. Yanukovych didn't want to do that and the results [of Maidan] stemmed from that.

Maidan showed the strength of the Ukrainian society. The people said that they had had enough of living without rules; enough of living with corruption; enough of living without a future. They rose up and they overthrew the president, who we later discovered lived in a virtual world. When the people visited his home they discovered that he had an entire loaf of bread made from solid gold -- and many of these people don't have enough real bread to eat.

FP: So the entire system was wrong?

VK: The system was totally corrupt. It didn't serve society; it was a pyramid with the president at the top.

I often tell a story about why I wanted to smash the system. My father was an Air Force officer and he died because he spent a lot of time working in Chernobyl. My mother was able to receive compensation: ten months salary. She was told she would get the money but only if she would have to give 50 percent as a "kickback." I found the letter detailing this and asked her about it. She told me that if she hadn't paid, she would have got nothing.

There are thousands, hundreds of thousands, of similar examples. What did my father die for? We need justice here. The people came to Maidan to find justice -- to create a society with rules. And it set a precedent. If someone comes to power now and they don't listen to the people the same thing can happen again.

FP: Moving to current events. Do you think Russia is behind what is happening in East Ukraine?

VK: Yes. There are numerous examples of this. I was recently in East Ukraine and spoke to many Russians who had come there -- I call them "political tourists." They told me, "We want to support the Russian-speaking community in the East of Ukraine because Maidan radicals want to [threaten] them."

I was at Maidan. I am Russian-speaking. My mother is Russian. I am not a radical. Where does this come from? Why is there instability in the East of Ukraine? Because of the huge influence of Russian media -- their propaganda works is [relentless]. Just a couple of days ago I watched Russian TV and I was shocked. They do things very professionally. And in East Ukraine they watch [a lot of] Russian TV and it has [a] huge influence. They claim radical and nationalists are trying to threaten the [speaking of the] Russian language here.

Language? We have to support Russian language? Sorry, in East Ukraine, only 54 percent of schools are Ukrainian speaking. Every parent has the right to choose which school they send their children to. In Crimea there are 650 schools, just seven of them are Ukrainian-speaking. And people say we are threatening the speaking of Russian? It's just propaganda. It's not true.

Right now the people who lost power -- the [Ukrainian] politicians -- are trying to use propaganda to try to divide the country. No one in Ukraine who speaks Russian is under threat or is unable to speak Russian in any part of the country. Equally, no one Ukrainian-speaking has a problem speaking Ukrainian in any part of the county.

[These] politicians talk about language, nationality, and history. These questions aren't important now. What is important are jobs, social standards, the future. Our people don't believe in the future. Seven million Ukrainians are living outside Ukraine; 70 percent of our youth dream of leaving the country. We have to change our standards of living. And we can do it.

We want to sign the EU Association agreement. We want to start European reforms, justice reforms, police reforms. We have to implement numerous reforms and open up the economy for small businesses because right now we have a system of monopolies. We can create more jobs; we can increase the budget -- it can work.

We have huge problems with the Ukrainian economy. Let me give you a number. I speak emotionally but numbers don't have emotions. Just a couple of weeks ago, I Googled some interesting facts: Ukraine is just 0.5 percent of the world's territory but we have 36 percent of world's reserves of black soil. Can you imagine? And this in a country where many people don't have enough to eat, and are just trying to survive. Something is wrong. This is why we need reform.

We need to change a lot of things in Ukraine -- we have the chance right now and it is critical that we take that chance. In 2004, after the Orange Revolution, people dreamed of making changes but were ultimately disappointed because the politicians who promised that [went back on their promises] and nothing was done. We can't make the same mistakes we did ten years ago.

FP: Why do you think Russia is doing what it is doing in the East?

VK: Because what is happening in Ukraine is dangerous for Russia. It sets an example: Ukraine has shown the positive results of its revolution in a very short space of time. This can be an example to others.

FP: What action should be taken to deal with the separatists? What should be done to resolve the situation?

VK: First of all, we have to try to talk to people, to try to change their opinions and to find a compromise. We will discuss issues like the decentralization of budgets, more rights for local communities, and decentralization of power. We have to talk -- if they want to talk in Russian, let's do it. We have around 70 nationalities in Ukraine; here we speak Bulgarian, Ukrainian, Hungarian, and some regions don't even speak Russian or Ukrainian but local dialects. But the main language should be Ukrainian -- that's our clear vision. We support every language.

FP: But you have military people in the East now? How are you going to resolve the situation there now?

VK: If people aren't ready to find a compromise, if they aren't ready to talk and want to create separate republics and leave Ukraine -- not whole regions just small sections of the population who have occupied the government buildings -- we have to defend the country. Are they using legal or illegal weapons? Illegal. We have to return the weapons to the police -- if they refuse to do that we have no choice but to act.

FP: So the army will have to do it?

VK: [Let me give you] a few figures: There are 300,000 Ukrainian police officers. We have just 100,000 soldiers. We have a strong enough police force that we don't need to use the army.

FP: Do you think Putin will stop?

VK: I don't understand Putin's politics. Ukrainians and Russians are very close: We have so much in common. White Russia: Belarus, Ukraine, and Russia have huge ties, and he is trying to divide us all with this idea of a "great empire." Why is he doing this? I speak to many Russians and they are angry at Ukraine; Putin has 80 percent approval ratings. Why? Propaganda.

FP: So you think Putin wants to establish a new Russian Empire?

VK: I don't think I know. He said it, openly. He said Crimea was always Russian territory. Now is he going to say East Ukraine was always Russian territory? Kiev is the "mother of Russian cities" -- is that next? The next step will be Poland -- it, too, used to be a part of the Russian Empire.

FP: So you think that if he is not stopped he will continue?

VK: I don't know but what he is doing is not logical. It's [all based on] a sick idea of rebuilding an empire.

FP: What action would you like to see the international community now take against Russia?

VK: They have to support our independence. In the 1994 Budapest Agreement the U.S., Great Britain, Russia, France, and China all guaranteed Ukraine's independence when we gave up our nuclear weapons. We need a guarantee. If this doesn't happen the only way to stop Putin will be nuclear war.

FP: Should more sanctions be placed on Russia? What would you like to see happen?

VK: Sanctions are a good way to deal with Russia. I watch Russian propaganda: It says the U.S. has a bad economy, that it's a bad country, that is has no human rights. It says that the EU is on the point of collapse. If this is the case, why do Russians send their children to be educated in Europe? Why do Russians with health problems immediately fly to Germany or France or Great Britain? Why do they buy real estate there and take their holidays there? They enjoy the European lifestyle and yet they criticize it.

[The benefits of EU membership can be seen with] Poland. Ten years ago Poland's GDP was three times less than Ukraine's. Now the situation has been reversed. If you drive through Poland you can see the improved infrastructure everywhere -- in ten years they have made huge strides. Ukraine has a lot in common with Poland -- territory, population, mentality, etc. It is a good example for us. But geopolitical interests are preventing us from achieving this.

FP: So what increased support would you like to see from the United States?

VK: We need support across the board. We need political support; we need financial support; we need technological support. We would greatly appreciate weapons support from the United States.

FP: So do you foresee that there might be an armed conflict in the future?

VK: I hope not. I can't imagine fighting my relatives -- to kill my brothers. But history shows that so many wars are wars between brothers. I don't even want to think about that and I hope we find a political solution.

FP: But how do you find it with Putin when he doesn't seem to want one?

VK: The whole world has to keep its attention on the situation here. What is happening here is a precedent and the world needs to take note. What is happening to us can happen to anyone.

FP: Agreed. So what is the best way to stop Russia now?

VK: We have to talk about political and economic sanctions.

FP: Have the sanctions so far been sufficient or do they need to be increased?

VK: If Russia continues we have to go a new level of financial and political sanctions.

FP: How can NATO help in this crisis?

VK: It is now abundantly clear that our decision to become a non-aligned state was a mistake...

FP: ... So you think Ukraine should join NATO?

VK: Russia has taken the decision for us. It has driven us into NATO.

FP: Will it be possible for Ukraine to join NATO?

VK: I don't want to talk about that because it's like waving a red flag under Russia's nose.

FP: Is joining the EU still possible?

VK: I am very pro-European and as I said before Russians enjoy Europe very much. Whenever I speak to Russians about the Ukraine-EU issue, I always say: "We are doing everything we can to bring Europe closer to you! It will make it easier for you to enjoy your European luxuries!"

FP: You've talked about the importance of the upcoming presidential elections on May 25. Do you think Russia is trying to destabilize the elections?

VK: I am more than sure. Russia constantly says our current government is not legitimate. These elections are one way to legitimize the government and stabilize the country. Russia is trying to destabilize them in two ways. First, by conducting a media war on the elections. They lie about the situation here in Ukraine, and they do it very professionally. And second, by its actions in East Ukraine. We have discovered so many Russian military experts working with the separatists and we see how he lies. He claimed he had no idea who the armed "green men" were [in Crimea] and then one day he said, "Oh, sorry, they were Russian soldiers after all, there to support the Russian-speaking population."

FP: What do you think of the accusations of fascism again the Ukraine government? Both sides call the other "fascists."

VK: It's all artificial. The same politicians are trying to play on sore topics.

FP: Why is this an especially sore topic in Ukraine?

VK: [Long pause.] We never ever had right-wing radicals here but against Yanukovych the whole of society was radicalised. There might be small number of right-wing radicals who support neo-fascism and fascism but it has never been a problem in Ukraine. It is blown out of all proportion. It's never touched me, my friends, or my family. We have a history of fighting fascism and we in Ukraine more than anywhere in the world understand how bad fascism is. How many people were killed by it -- hundreds of thousands of Jews were killed for no reason other than their religion. We know that better than anyone; we know what fascism means.

FP: What message do you have for the world while Ukraine is in crisis?

VK: Ukraine is one of the largest countries in Europe. We have a population of 46 million and huge resources. We have huge potential. Instability in such a large country can bring instability to the whole region and that's why the whole world must help us. We have serious problems in our economy after Yanukovych's rule: We need economic help, we need political support, we need moral support, and technological know-how. Ukraine can be a success story and it can be useful to Europe and to the world but right now we need to stabilize the situation.

We are a hardworking people who want to live as a modern, European country. It's really that simple.

Etienne De Malglaive/Getty Images

El FMI acepta prestar 17.000 millones de dólares a Ucrania

Publicado: 30 abr 2014 | 21:15 GMT Última actualización: 1 may 2014 | 3:04 GMT

El Fondo Monetario Internacional ha aprobado la concesión a Ucrania de un préstamo por 17.000 millones de dólares estadounidenses que será entregado a lo largo de los dos próximos años.

Según estipula el programa de ayuda al país adoptado por la junta directiva del fondo, Kiev podría contar con el primer tramo, de cerca de 3.200 millones de dólares, en los próximos días. Posteriormente se planifica efectuar las transferencias cada dos meses al revisar los resultados preliminares de implementación del programa (de recortes) por parte de las autoridades nacionales.

El ministro ucraniano de Finanzas en funciones, Alexánder Shlapak, avisó de que 1.000 millones de dólares del primer tramo irían al Banco Nacional de Ucrania, mientras que otros dos financiarían el déficit presupuestario. El funcionario espera también que esta decisión abra al país el camino a los recursos crediticios de otras instituciones financieras internacionales y eleve el volumen total de los préstamos a 27.000 millones de dólares.

A finales del año 2013 el entonces primer ministro de Ucrania, Nikolái Azárov, admitió que el país se encontraba al borde de la bancarrota y un colapso social. En aquel entonces un acuerdo crediticio con Rusia permitió redactar un presupuesto orientado al desarrollo social.

Desde que se desencadenaron los enfrentamientos callejeros en Kiev y el presidente legítimo de Ucrania, Víktor Yanukóvich, fue alejado del poder por el 'Euromaidán', la situación financiera del país se agravó de nuevo y se desestabilizó con más fuerza.

Por el momento, Kiev tiene una deuda de aproximadamente 3,5 millones de dólares con la empresa rusa Gazprom por el gas natural consumido, que se ha acumulado en lo que va del año. De esta manera, la deuda corriente ante un suministrador supera el montante de dinero que el FMI se ha comprometido a desembolsar en los próximos dos meses.

Hennady Kernes undergoing surgery and "doctors are fighting for his life" after being shot in the back, his office said.
Last updated: 28 Apr 2014 19:21


The mayor of Ukraine's second-largest city has been shot in the back and pro-Russia separatists have seized yet another government building as tensions rise in eastern Ukraine ahead of a new round of US sanctions.

Hennady Kernes, the mayor of Kharkiv, was shot in the back on Monday morning, his office said. Kernes was said to be undergoing surgery and "doctors are fighting for his life," according to the city hall.

Armed separatists in the city are seeking more autonomy in the region from the interim government in Ukraine, which pro-Russia groups do not recognise as legitimate.

The shooting happened as Barack Obama, the US president, promised to levy new sanctions on Russian individuals and companies in retaliation for Moscow's alleged provocations in eastern Ukraine, the Associated Press news agency.

Officials have not commented on the circumstances of the shooting and it was not clear who was behind it.

Kernes was a staunch opponent of the pro-West Maidan movement that toppled President Viktor Yanukovich in February and was widely viewed as the organiser of activists sent to Kiev from eastern Ukraine to harass those demonstrators.

But he has since softened his stance towards the new Kiev government and insisted that he does not support the pro-Russia separatists or any annexation of Ukrainian territory.

Kharkiv is in eastern Ukraine where pro-Russian gunmen have seized government buildings, set up roadblocks or staged protests to demand greater autonomy or outright annexation by Russia.

Ukraine's acting government and the West have accused Russia of orchestrating the unrest, which they fear Moscow could use as a pretext for an invasion.

Last month, Russia annexed Crimea weeks after seizing control of the Black Sea peninsula.

On Monday, masked men with automatic weapons seized another city hall building in eastern Ukraine, this time in Kostyantynivka, 160km from the Russian border.

Sanctions on exports

Kostyantynivka is just 35km south of Slovyansk, a major city in eastern Ukraine that has been in separatists' hands for more than three weeks now.

President Obama said on a visit to the Philippines earlier on Monday that the targets of the latest US sanctions would include high-technology exports to Russia's defence industry.

The full list, which is also expected to include wealthy allies of Putin, will be announced by officials in Washington later on Monday.

The European Union is also planning more sanctions against Russia, with ambassadors from the bloc's 28 members to meet on Monday in Brussels to add to the list of Russian officials who have been hit by asset freezes and travel bans.

Acting president says police and security forces are "helpless" to quell unrest in two eastern regions bordering Russia.
Last updated: 30 Apr 2014 15:15

Ukraine's police and security forces are "helpless" to quell unrest in two eastern regions bordering Russia, and in some cases are cooperating with pro-Russian gunmen who have seized scores of government buildings and taken people hostage, the country's acting president says.

Oleksandr Turchynov said on Wednesday his goal now was to prevent the agitation from spreading to other territories.

"I will be frank: today, security forces are unable to quickly take the situation in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions under control," Turchynov said at a meeting with regional governors.

"The security bodies ... are unable to carry out their duties of protecting citizens. They are helpless in those matters.

"Moreover, some of those units are either helping or cooperating with terrorist organisations," he said.

Turchynov instructed the governors to try to prevent the threat from overtaking more central and southern regions.

"Mercenaries and special units that are active on Ukrainian territory have been tasked with attacking those regions. That is why I am stressing: our task is to stop the spread of the terrorist threat first of all in the Kharkiv and Odessa regions," Turchynov was quoted as saying by the Interfax news agency.

Military drills

Kiev city authorities, meanwhile, announced unexpected middle-of-the night military drills starting on Wednesday night to Thursday morning which will involve military equipment, further stoking tensions.

Russia has placed tens of thousands of troops near the border with Ukraine, and Turchynov said the threat of a Russian invasion was real.

He called for creating regional self-defence units throughout the country, according to Interfax.

Some Ukrainians said they were appalled by the loss of control over eastern regions and accused the central government of inaction.

"In a normal society when Oleksandr Turchynov admits the fact that the authorities do not control the situation in the east of the country is ground for resignation. And not just of him, but all the security forces," Valeriy Kalnysh, former editor of the Kommersant daily, wrote on Facebook. "But can we afford this now? .... And is it the right move in the conditions of an undeclared war with Russia?"

Turchynov spoke hours after pro-Russian gunmen seized more administrative buildings in eastern Ukraine. Insurgents wielding automatic weapons took control and hoisted an insurgent flag on top of the city council building on Wednesday morning in the city of Horlivka in the Donetsk region. They also took control of a police station in the city, adding to another police building which they had controlled for several weeks.

An Associated Press reporter saw armed men standing guard outside the building and checking the documents of those entering.

One of the men said foreign reporters would not be allowed in and threatened to arrest those who did not obey orders. Similar guards were also seen outside the police station in the city.

The pro-Russian separatists now control buildings in about a dozen cities in eastern Ukraine, demanding broader regional rights as well as greater ties or outright annexation by Russia. They are holding some activists and journalists hostage, including a group of observers from a European security organisation.

In Luhansk, one of the largest cities in eastern Ukraine, gunmen in camouflage uniforms maintained control of several government offices they seized on Tuesday.

Eastern Ukraine, which has a large Russian-speaking population, was the heartland of support for Viktor Yanukovych, the ousted president who fled to Russia in February.

The government that replaced him in Kiev has resisted the separatists' demands, fearing they could lead to a breakup of the country or mean that more regions could join Russia, as Crimea did.

Kiev and Western governments accuse Moscow of orchestrating the protests in eastern Ukraine. The United States and the European Union rolled out a fresh set of economic sanctions against Russia this week, but Moscow has
remained unbowed, denying its role in the unrest and saying the actions were Kiev's fault.

Pro-Russians tighten grip on Ukraine town
Pro-Russian rebels strengthen position in Horlivka, seizing town hall and police headquarters.
Last updated: 30 Apr 2014 13:58

Pro-Kremlin rebels in military fatigues have stormed a regional police building and the town hall in the eastern Ukrainian town of Horlivka, local officials said as the separatists tightened their grip on the country's east.

Igor Demin, Horlivka's police chief, told AFP news agency on Wednesday the rebels had taken control of the police headquarters in the town, which they declared part of the "People's Republic of Donetsk".

The municipality said in a statement that the rebels now in charge of the town hall were "not hindering" the council's work and Yevgen Klep, the mayor, had met them.

The seizures extended the grip of pro-Russian armed rebels on the town, who took over another police station on April 14.

Oleksandr Turchynov, Ukraine's acting president until an election on May 25, reiterated on Wednesday that police were incapable of reasserting control in the region.

"Our main task is to prevent the terrorist threat from spreading to other regions of Ukraine," he told a meeting of
regional governors in Kiev.

"The Russian leadership is doing everything to prevent the election. But the election will take place on May 25," he said.

Turchynov said the Ukrainian army was on full combat alert as "the threat of Russia starting a war against mainland Ukraine is real".

Meanwhile, the International Monetary Fund said the that Russia was "in recession" on Wednesday.

Antonio Spilimbergo, the fund's mission chief to Moscow, said on Wednesday that international sanctions imposed on Moscow over the crisis in Ukraine, and the threat of more to come, were also hurting the economy and threatened investment.

Ukraine minister: Russia planning invasion
Andrii Deshchytsia, foreign minister, says Russia has infiltrated Ukraine's eastern areas and plans further incursions.
Last updated: 01 May 2014 12:13


Pro-Russian gunmen have taken over several key state buildings in eastern Ukraine [AP]

Ukraine's foreign minister has accused Russian troops of infiltrating and destabilising the east of the country, saying Moscow plans to invade and annex other regions.

In an interview with Al Jazeera, Andrii Deshchytsia said that Russian "special troops" and intelligence officers were blackmailing and intimidating Ukrainian citizens to create a false impression of popular support for Moscow.

The comments came as his Russian counterpart, Sergey Lavrov, suggested both sides hold talks under the aegis of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe.
Andrii Deshchytsia, Ukraine's foreign minister

"Russia believes that such a dialogue could be arranged between the authorities in Kiev and their opponents in other regions," Lavrov told Rossiya-24 TV.
OSCE military monitors are in eastern Ukraine following an agreement struck in Geneva between the US, the EU, Russia and Ukraine to ease tensions. However, staff have been blocked and harassed, with one group being arrested by pro-Russian separatists.

Deshchytsia said: "Special troops from the Russian army and intelligence have infiltrated eastern Ukraine. These well-equipped groups resort to guns, oppression and blackmail to intimidate people ... in an effort to channel them to their own purposes, and thus create the false impression that their demands are backed by broad public support."

He said that the Geneva agreement "remained on paper" as Russia had done nothing to implement its terms.

"Ukraine took certain steps in this regard such as gearing down anti-terrorism operations, drafting an amnesty law, ensuring evacuation of government buildings and streets seized by various groups, embarking on a constitutional reform for local administrative bodies, and making things easier for the OSCE mission."

"Russia's major goal is to destabilise and control the country. We will not let this happen. Russia wants to hamper the presidential elections in May and also to make the legitimacy of the new government disputable.

"They want to destabilise Ukraine. If they cannot achieve that, they will want to invade and annex certain parts of Ukraine through a direct military intervention."

He said he understood the West would not enter an armed conflict with Russia, but that it could do more to stop the Russian machine working.

"Western countries should implement tougher sanctions which should target certain Russian sectors. Oil and natural gas revenues allow Russia to arm its military forces and invade territory," he said, adding that sanctions should be brought against "decision-makers", including the Russian president, Vladimir Putin.

The International Monetary Fund on Wednesday announced a $17bn bailout for Ukraine, while also announcing that Russia was entering into a recession.

Deniz Berktay interviewed Andrii Deshchytsia for Al Jazeera Turk.

Moscow insists Kiev owes $3.5bn in unpaid bills, but Ukraine refuses to pay and calls for international arbitration.
Last updated: 02 May 2014 20:45


Officials from Europe, Ukraine and Russia have met in Poland to try and resolve a dispute over gas supplies and prices.

Moscow said Kiev now owes $3.5bn towards its gas bill.

Alexander Novak, Russia's energy minister, said that state-owned Gazprom might cut back on deliveries if Ukraine does not pay it's June bill in advance.

But at Friday's three-way talks in Warsaw, Ukraine again insisted that it would not pay the money to the Russian gas company and demanded international arbitration.

Al Jazeera's Nadim Baba reports from Moscow.