Posts
Kiev
orders ‘state protection’ of protester-held govt HQ in Donetsk
Ukraine’s
coup-imposed president Aleksandr Turchinov has ordered the
protester-held local govt HQ in Donetsk to be taken under ‘state
protection’ as armed personnel and armored vehicles have been
reported moving into the eastern region of Ukraine.
RT,
9
April, 2014
Ukraine’s
coup-imposed president Aleksandr Turchinov has ordered the
protester-held local govt HQ in Donetsk to be taken under ‘state
protection’ as armed personnel and armored vehicles have been
reported moving into the eastern region of Ukraine.
According
to a decree signed by Turchinov, the local administration building in
Donetsk and surrounding territory is an “important
government facility, which is a subject to state protection.”
The
decree entered into force upon signature and Turchinov has already
given Ukraine's state security service appropriate directions,
Itar-Tass reports.
Ukraine’s
acting interior minister Arsen Avakov stated earlier on Wednesday
that a “special
police task force” had
already arrived in Donetsk, Lugansk and Kharkov from western regions
of Ukraine and was ready to take them under control within 48 – using
force,
if needed.
The
buildings of power structures in the eastern cities of Donetsk and
Lugansk remain under control of the protesters. While so far there
have been no attempts to recapture the occupied buildings, activists
continue building barricades preparing for a possible attack by
forces shipped in from other regions of Ukraine.
People
are burning bonfires to stay warm in front of the barricades and
singing songs to keep up their spirits, with Russian and regional
flags waiving in the background. Many women and elderly people are
among those on nightwatch in the center of city.
“We
will be on duty here all night, because the assault could begin at
any moment,” one
of the activists told Ria Novosti. Thousands more people are ready to
stand up against attackers at the first call of those keeping watch
around the perimeter. Several times over the last few days activists
assembled to train their response to emergency situations.
Activists
expect the military operation to take place overnight in Donetsk and
Lugansk simultaneously. Local administration in Kharkov was already
stormed on Tuesday by armed men without insignia and masked law
enforcement officers, after the local police in Kharkov refused to
fulfil orders from Kiev.
About
a hundred fighters from the newly-formed Ukraine’s National Guard
reportedly arrived in the airport of Donetsk, the deputy director of
a local group called People’s Militia of Donbas, Sergey Tsyplakov,
told Ria Novosti.
“In
Donetsk airport about a hundred of people from the National Guard
have been housed,” Tsyplakov said. “Around a hundred of Right
Sector thugs are also in the city, as well as a hundred employees
from a private US military company operating under contract with Kiev
junta.”
“Totally
around 300 professionals or well-trained and motivated fanatics,”
Tsyplakov added. “This is a major force, but we are ready to
fight.”
Earlier in the day, pro-federalization activists in Donetsk blocked two busses carrying unbadged armed men in camouflage near the military commissariat. According to Tsyplakov activists believe they were mercenaries but were unable to identify gunmen as they kept silent and refused to answer any questions.
In
the meantime, Ukrainian personnel and armored vehicles were spotted
moving closer to the city of Donetsk. In an amateur video posted on
YouTube shows locals were trying to stop machinery from progressing
further.
Activists were also posting photos of special trains reportedly carrying armored vehicles to Donetsk.
Protests
against the new government in Kiev have been continuing in eastern
Ukraine for weeks now. Avakov warned that the coup-imposed government
is ready within the next 48 hours to use force in order to retake
control of the local administrative buildings held by protesters.
Vladimir
Putin has high
hopes of positive outcome
for Ukraine summit
But
diplomats predict little chance of breakthrough as four powers meet
for first time since President Yanukovych fled
RT,
9
February, 2014
Vladimir
Putin said on Wednesday he hoped talks between Russia, Ukraine, the
EU and US due next week would have a "positive" outcome,
but warned that Ukraine's interim government should not do anything
that could not "be fixed later".
The
four-way talks, the first since the crisis, were announced on Tuesday
night.
"I
hope that the initiative of Russian foreign ministry on adjusting the
situation and changing it for the better will have consequences, and
that the outcome will be positive," the Russian president told a
televised government meeting. "At the very least, I hope that
the acting [leaders] will not do anything that cannot be fixed
later."
John
Kerry, the US secretary of state, and Sergei Lavrov, Russia's foreign
minister, discussed the meeting on the phone on Wednesday, according
to the Russian foreign ministry. It said the two men had urged all
sides to refrain from violence in eastern and southern Ukraine.
But
diplomats said it was unlikely the talks would produce any major
breakthroughs, given Russia and the west viewed the situation in
Ukraine so differently, with both sides accusing the other of stoking
tension.
"We
don't have high expectations for these talks, but we do believe it is
very important to keep that diplomatic door open," said Victoria
Nuland, the US assistant secretary of state.
The
situation in the east of Ukraine is tense, with Ukrainian authorities
promising on Wednesday morning to end the occupation of
administrative buildings by pro-Russian separatists within 48 hours,
either by negotiations or force.
"A
resolution to this crisis will be found within the next 48 hours,"
said Arsen Avakov, interior minister, in Kiev, referring to the
eastern cities of Luhansk and Donetsk where protesters remain in
control of government buildings.
"For
those who want dialogue, we propose talks and a political solution.
For the minority who want conflict, they will get a forceful answer
from the Ukrainian authorities," he said.
A
group of pro-Russian protesters calling themselves the Army of the
Southeast were occupying the security service headquarters in
Luhansk. Members of the building's defence who identified themselves
as former Berkut (special police) officers from other regions, said
they would not fire first but if attacked would fight back until
Russian forces arrived.
The
Kremlin has said it is prepared to intervene as in Crimea to protect
ethnic Russians in other parts of Ukraine, amid reports of a Russian
troop buildup along the border.
The
masked commander said the security service building's defence
included him and 42 other former members of the elite Alpha division
of the now-disbanded Berkut, who were known as former president
Viktor Yanukovich's shock troops during the Euromaidan protests in
Kiev. He said the former president, who fled to Russia in February,
had betrayed them.
A
few hundred demonstrators stood in the square in front of the
building, protesting against the new regime in Kiev, which many said
had been installed by the US government.
Tatiana
Pogukai, a spokesperson of the Luhansk division of the interior
ministry, told the Guardian that a group of security service and law
enforcement officials and politicians continued to negotiate with the
occupiers, who are demanding a referendum on "the region's
economic independence from Kiev".
Kiev
has claimed the protesters are directed by Russian security services,
and, on Tuesday, Kerry accused Moscow of stirring up unrest, possibly
as a pretext for Crimea-style military intervention.
There
are concerns about the new government in Kiev, but support for
actually joining Russia is not widespread among the population,
unlike in Crimea.
In
Moscow, Putin met the cabinet on Wednesday and discussed possible
economic responses to Ukraine. Gazprom, the Russian gas monopoly,
says it has not received any money for March gas deliveries to
Ukraine and still has a $2.2bn (£1.6bn) debt outstanding. Kiev has
said it will pay the debt but has protested at an 80% increase in gas
prices announced last week.
Putin
said it was possible that Russia could make Ukraine pay up front for
deliveries of gas, but he instructed the government to wait until
"further consultations" with Kiev before introducing the
measure.
The
gas dispute is another way for Moscow to put pressure on Kiev, and is
likely to be another issue at the talks next week, which will be the
first four-way meeting since Viktor Yanukovych fled Ukraine and the
new government was formed.
Since
then, Russia has annexed Crimea, and Kiev and Moscow have been
engaged in a bitter war of words, with both sides accusing the other
of sponsoring terrorism.
The
Kiev government claimed it had evidence that Russian security
services were behind the violence that left more than 100 dead in
Kiev in February, while Russian security services say they have
arrested a number of Ukrainians acting on official orders and
planning terror attacks inside Russia.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: only a member of this blog may post a comment.