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Russia
accused the Ukrainian government of failing to rein in extremists as
escalating tensions threaten to undermine a diplomatic accord reached
last week and stoke calls in the U.S. for economic sanctions.
Ukrainian and Russian officials traded accusations about responsibility for attacks that killed three during the weekend. Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Moscow called on the U.S. to hold the Ukrainian authorities accountable for observing the agreement signed in Geneva, which calls for all illegal groups to disarm and seized buildings to be returned.
With pro-Russian forces holding their ground in several eastern cities, skepticism is growing that the accord reached by Ukraine, the U.S., the European Union and Russia will ease the standoff. The government in Kiev has said Russia is behind the unrest, exploiting the situation to prepare an invasion.
“I see this as a creeping destabilization,” Angela Stent, director of the Center for Eurasian, Russian and East European Studies at Georgetown University in Washington, said in an interview yesterday. “I’m not sure it’s a civil war yet, but the preconditions for a civil war are there.”
U.S. Vice President Joe Biden arrived today in Kiev to offer support for Ukraine’s democracy, sovereignty and economy as the administration weighs the imposition of economic sanctions on Russia, according to an official who briefed reporters on the plane.
Lavrov called on the U.S. to avoid threats of sanctions, while brushing off accusations that Russian forces are involved in attacks in Ukraine. Russia is getting increasing requests to intervene in eastern Ukraine to protect the Russian speaking population, he said today.
At least three “activists” were shot dead at a roadblock in Slovyansk in eastern Ukraine yesterday, the Interior Ministry said. The clash wounded three others, the ministry said. The assailants took “wounded and killed along with them,” it said, without providing details. Ukraine’s Security Service said saboteurs carried out the assault.
“This is a crime carried out by those who want to abort the implementation of the Geneva agreement,” Lavrov said today in Moscow. “Everything points to the fact that the Kiev authorities either don’t want to or can’t control the extremists.”
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andriy Deshchytsia said Lavrov seems uninformed about measures discussed at daily four-party meetings to ensure the Geneva accord and calm the situation, Unian news service reported.
Ukraine’s hryvnia was unchanged at about 11.30 versus the dollar, after rallying 12 percent last week, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
Russia’s Micex Index (INDEXCF) snapped three days of gains, falling 0.1 percent to 1,355.11 as of 5:30 p.m. in Moscow. The ruble weakened 0.1 percent versus the central bank’s target dollar-euro basket to 41.7882.
Turchynov, speaking on the Ukraina television channel yesterday, said his government is willing to increase the autonomy of local regions and appoint governors “proposed by residents of Donetsk, Luhansk regions” in the restive east. Those offers have done little to quell the violence.
Kharkiv Governor Ihor Baluta said yesterday in an interview that the autonomy Ukraine plans to give its regions is greater than Russia’s federal structure offers. There is no justification for mass protests, he said, calling any use of Russian troops in Ukraine “state terrorism.”
As the violence continues, U.S. President Barack Obama is facing growing pressure to add to the measures in place against some Russian officials and business leaders. Two members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee -- Democratic Senator Chris Murphy of Connecticut and Republican Senator Bob Corker of Tennessee -- urged the imposition of sanctions on Russia’s banking and energy sectors yesterday on “Meet the Press.”
Nothing has been done to implement the Geneva agreement, and there are no signs that the pro-Russia separatists who occupied government buildings in eastern Ukraine will be dislodged, said Stent, author of a new book on U.S.-Russian relations called “The Limits of Partnership.”
Any civil war likely would be confined to those eastern towns, where the separatist movement is based, Stent said.
“It’s not a large-scale civil war, but it’s political paralysis because nothing’s going to move forward,” she said.
To contact the reporters on this story: Henry Meyer in Moscow at hmeyer4@bloomberg.net; Kateryna Choursina in Kiev at kchoursina@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Torrey Clark at tclark8@bloomberg.net
Ukrainian and Russian officials traded accusations about responsibility for attacks that killed three during the weekend. Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Moscow called on the U.S. to hold the Ukrainian authorities accountable for observing the agreement signed in Geneva, which calls for all illegal groups to disarm and seized buildings to be returned.
With pro-Russian forces holding their ground in several eastern cities, skepticism is growing that the accord reached by Ukraine, the U.S., the European Union and Russia will ease the standoff. The government in Kiev has said Russia is behind the unrest, exploiting the situation to prepare an invasion.
“I see this as a creeping destabilization,” Angela Stent, director of the Center for Eurasian, Russian and East European Studies at Georgetown University in Washington, said in an interview yesterday. “I’m not sure it’s a civil war yet, but the preconditions for a civil war are there.”
U.S. Vice President Joe Biden arrived today in Kiev to offer support for Ukraine’s democracy, sovereignty and economy as the administration weighs the imposition of economic sanctions on Russia, according to an official who briefed reporters on the plane.
Sanction Threat
The U.S. hasn’t seen progress that would prevent the next round of sanctions and a decision will be made in days, said the official, who isn’t authorized to speak publicly.Lavrov called on the U.S. to avoid threats of sanctions, while brushing off accusations that Russian forces are involved in attacks in Ukraine. Russia is getting increasing requests to intervene in eastern Ukraine to protect the Russian speaking population, he said today.
At least three “activists” were shot dead at a roadblock in Slovyansk in eastern Ukraine yesterday, the Interior Ministry said. The clash wounded three others, the ministry said. The assailants took “wounded and killed along with them,” it said, without providing details. Ukraine’s Security Service said saboteurs carried out the assault.
“This is a crime carried out by those who want to abort the implementation of the Geneva agreement,” Lavrov said today in Moscow. “Everything points to the fact that the Kiev authorities either don’t want to or can’t control the extremists.”
Ukrainian Nationalists
Russia’s Foreign Ministry blamed the Ukrainian nationalist group Pravyi Sektor for the attack in Slovyansk -- an allegation that Pravyi Sektor denied in a statement. Viktoria Syumar, first deputy head of the National Security and Defense Council in Kiev, said on her Facebook page that Russia’s accusation and statements show it is preparing grounds to invade Ukraine.Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andriy Deshchytsia said Lavrov seems uninformed about measures discussed at daily four-party meetings to ensure the Geneva accord and calm the situation, Unian news service reported.
Ukraine’s hryvnia was unchanged at about 11.30 versus the dollar, after rallying 12 percent last week, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
Russia’s Micex Index (INDEXCF) snapped three days of gains, falling 0.1 percent to 1,355.11 as of 5:30 p.m. in Moscow. The ruble weakened 0.1 percent versus the central bank’s target dollar-euro basket to 41.7882.
Seeking ‘Extermination’
Ukraine’s acting president, Oleksandr Turchynov, accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of seeking the “extermination of independent Ukraine,” a charge Russia denies.Turchynov, speaking on the Ukraina television channel yesterday, said his government is willing to increase the autonomy of local regions and appoint governors “proposed by residents of Donetsk, Luhansk regions” in the restive east. Those offers have done little to quell the violence.
Kharkiv Governor Ihor Baluta said yesterday in an interview that the autonomy Ukraine plans to give its regions is greater than Russia’s federal structure offers. There is no justification for mass protests, he said, calling any use of Russian troops in Ukraine “state terrorism.”
As the violence continues, U.S. President Barack Obama is facing growing pressure to add to the measures in place against some Russian officials and business leaders. Two members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee -- Democratic Senator Chris Murphy of Connecticut and Republican Senator Bob Corker of Tennessee -- urged the imposition of sanctions on Russia’s banking and energy sectors yesterday on “Meet the Press.”
Nothing has been done to implement the Geneva agreement, and there are no signs that the pro-Russia separatists who occupied government buildings in eastern Ukraine will be dislodged, said Stent, author of a new book on U.S.-Russian relations called “The Limits of Partnership.”
Any civil war likely would be confined to those eastern towns, where the separatist movement is based, Stent said.
“It’s not a large-scale civil war, but it’s political paralysis because nothing’s going to move forward,” she said.
To contact the reporters on this story: Henry Meyer in Moscow at hmeyer4@bloomberg.net; Kateryna Choursina in Kiev at kchoursina@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Torrey Clark at tclark8@bloomberg.net