Nemtsov Sought to Show Russia Is in Ukraine, Poroshenko Says
(Bloomberg) — Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said
his “friend” Boris Nemtsov, a Russian opposition leader gunned
down on a sidewalk near the Kremlin overnight, wanted to show
proof that his country’s troops are in Ukraine.
Nemtsov, who was scheduled to lead a Sunday protest against
Russian President Vladimir Putin and the conflict in Ukraine,
was working on a report about Russia’s involvement, according to
fellow opposition activist Ilya Yashin. His murder happened just
before artillery fell mostly silent for the second time in a
week as government forces and the separatists said they were
pulling back weapons in line with a Feb. 15 cease-fire.
“A few weeks ago I spoke to him about how to build
relations between Ukraine and Russia,” Poroshenko was cited as
saying by news service Interfax. “Boris declared that he must
show convincing proof of Russian troops’ participation in
Ukraine. Someone was afraid of that very much. Boris wasn’t
afraid, but his executioners were. They killed him.”
Ukraine accuses Putin of stoking the war by supplying
separatists with weapons, cash, intelligence and troops from
across the border in Russia. Putin rejects the accusations. The
European Union and the U.S. have threatened to intensify
sanctions against Russia if Putin doesn’t use his sway to help
stop the conflict, which has killed more than 5,600 people and
brought ties between the Cold War foes to their lowest level
since the fall of the Iron Curtain.
Arms Withdrawal
Russia’s opposition blamed the government for creating the
atmosphere that led to the assassination and scheduled a march
through the Russian capital to replace Sunday’s protest rally.
“One of not many whom I can call a friend,” Poroshenko
said on Facebook on Saturday. “He was a bridge between Ukraine
and Russia. It’s ruined by murderers, I think not
accidentally.”
The rebels continue to amass weapons, munitions and
fighters, and Russia continues to send them supplies from across
the border, Ukrainian military spokesman Andriy Lysenko said in
Kyiv on Saturday.
In Ukraine’s conflict area, militia in the self-proclaimed
Donetsk People’s Republic began a new stage of withdrawing heavy
arms Saturday morning, according to the separatist-run DAN news
service.
Shelling ceased across most of the eastern region
overnight, with some sporadic rebel fire still continuing around
Donetsk, the Defense Ministry said in a statement.
Hryvnia Panic
The pull-back of heavy weapons is a key part of the cease-fire and is meant to be followed with intensified monitoring by
officials from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in
Europe. OSCE officials said this week that separatists are still
restricting access for their observers.
A pause in fighting may give Ukraine breathing space to
deal with a spiraling currency crisis and the threat of Russia
cutting off natural gas supplies. The nation is still awaiting a
disbursement from a $17.5 billion International Monetary Fund
rescue. Investors are also nearing talks to ease terms on the
government’s foreign debt.
The hryvnia has plunged more than 40 percent this year amid
a deepening recession and international reserves at the lowest
in at least a decade. Ukraine’s central bank tightened capital
controls this week and announced more curbs may be on the way to
stop the currency’s meltdown.
“Panic must be stopped and we are doing that now,”
National Bank of Ukraine Governor Valeriya Gontareva said on
Friday in Kyiv.
Gas Talks
Gas shipments have been another flashpoint. A dispute
reignited last week over supplies to rebel-held areas in eastern
Ukraine. Russia demanded the government in Kyiv pay to supply to
the region, while state-run NAK Naftogaz Ukrainy refused and
accused Russian exporter OAO Gazprom of failing to meet its fuel
requests.
Naftogaz will cut gas imports from Russia to keep the fuel
flowing for the next six days as the former Soviet republics
prepare for EU-brokered talks in Brussels on Monday. The company
will continue pre-paying Gazprom for supplies if the Russian
company abides by an Oct. 30 contract, Naftogaz Chief Executive
Officer Andriy Kobolyev said on Saturday in Kyiv.
“This gas dispute is clearly tied to the dynamics of
military operations in the east of Ukraine,” said Vasily
Kashin, an expert at the Center for Analysis of Strategies and
Technologies in Moscow.
To contact the reporters on this story:
Daryna Krasnolutska in Kyiv at
dkrasnolutsk@bloomberg.net;
Volodymyr Verbyany in Kyiv at
vverbyany1@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story:
Balazs Penz at
bpenz@bloomberg.net
Michael Winfrey, Laurence Arnold