Red Cross Says Russian Convoy Details Expected Soon

The international Red Cross is close to working out details of a safe-passage plan for a Russian aid convoy intended for southeast Ukraine, after four-way talks on a halt to the fighting reached an impasse in Berlin.

The crisis, in which Ukrainian troops have been battling pro-Russian separatists for months, can only be stemmed once the government in Kyiv calls off its army as part of an unconditional cease-fire, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said yesterday in the German capital. Ukraine says it will declare a truce if the pro-Russian rebels lay down their arms and Russia stops supplying them with weapons.

Galina Balzamova, a spokeswoman for the International Committee of the Red Cross, said the Geneva-based agency expects to work out “soon” details of how to accompany the Russian aid trucks and related issues. She gave no estimate of timing for a safety guarantee, and said the ICRC is “extremely concerned” about the humanitarian crisis in the battle-plagued regions.

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In Kyiv, military spokesman Andriy Lysenko said yesterday that separatists shelled a column of civilian vehicles in the Luhansk region, killing “dozens of people.” There was no independent confirmation.

Russia’s benchmark Micex stock index gained for an eighth day today, rising 0.7 percent at 11:09 a.m. in Moscow.

‘Military Solution’

Waging Financial War

“As long as they’re betting on a military solution, and as long as the authorities in Kyiv are using military victories over their own people to shore up their position in Kyiv, I don’t think there’s any point to what we’re trying to do now,” Lavrov said. He said no resolution was reached in the talks with his Ukrainian, German and French counterparts. No date has been set for a resumption.

European leaders are pushing to halt the conflict that’s killed more than 2,000 people and fractured Ukraine since Russia annexed Crimea in March. The war, which Ukraine and its allies say is being fueled by President Vladimir Putin’s support for the insurgents, has led to sanctions that have hurt trade and threatened to send Russia’s $2 trillion economy into a recession. Russia denies it’s helping the separatists.

‘Playing for Time’

“There’s an element of playing for time in the Berlin talks on Russia’s part but they also want to take some of the air out of the crisis,” Jan Techau, director of the Brussels office of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, said by telephone yesterday. “Russia wants the crisis to simmer, so it has a means of control over Ukraine, but doesn’t want it to run out of control.”

Lavrov said there was progress in securing the border between Russia and Ukraine. The government in Kyiv says its forces are being targeted by artillery from Russian territory and alleges that its neighbor is supplying the fighters with arms, men and financing.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin said the Berlin talks brought “moderate progress,” though he called on Russia to follow words with actions.

“The idea is that Russia, at least half-heartedly, is ready to talk about some measures about the border, but not about taking responsibility, influencing the terrorists, or separatists, or rebels — how Russia used to call them — to ensure that the border is closed, and that is a critical issue,” Klimkin said in an interview with Bloomberg Television.

‘Intense Exchange’

Klimkin and Lavrov “had an intense exchange of opinions” during more than five hours of talks, German Foreign Ministry spokesman Martin Schaefer said yesterday. Chancellor Angela Merkel is considering an invitation by President Petro Poroshenko to visit Ukraine this week, Christiane Wirtz, a German government spokeswoman, told reporters in Berlin.

The Red Cross is planning to send more workers to the southern Russian Rostov region from Geneva today, Victoria Zotikova, a Moscow-based spokeswoman, said by telephone. The organization plans to reinforce officials already on the ground to examine and accompany the aid trucks. It’s demanded safety guarantees before starting to inspect the first 16 vehicles.

Ukraine agreed to let the supplies cross the border into territory held by Russian-backed separatists under supervision of the ICRC.

“We need guarantees from all sides involved in the process,” said Balzamova, the Red Cross spokeswoman. “Once we get the guarantees of security, an inspection will start.”

To contact the reporters on this story: Daryna Krasnolutska in Kyiv at dkrasnolutsk@bloomberg.net; Anton Doroshev in Rostov, Russia at adoroshev@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Balazs Penz at bpenz@bloomberg.net Eddie Buckle, Alan Crawford