Russia and West reach surprise deal on Ukraine crisis
There was little detail however on how the parties could meet the challenge of
persuading the pro-Russian protest movement to withdraw from public
buildings as well as convince the anti-Russian militia groups in western
Ukraine to accept Russia demands for all armed groups to disband.
President Barack Obama warned that the West could not count on Russia to
honour the terms of an agreement to ease tensions in eastern Ukraine and
that the US was prepared to further ramp up sanctions against Moscow if it
failed to uphold the deal.
Hours after talks in Geneva produced the surprise agreement the president
struck a sceptical note.
“My hope is that we actually do see follow-through over the next several
days, but I don’t think, given past performance, that we can count on that,”
Mr Obama said.
The deal remains fraught with problems and may not be able to surmount the
divisions between the pro-EU government in Ukraine and the Moscow-leaning
eastern regions.
Ukrainians take part in a nationalist and pro-unity rally in Donetsk (AFP)
Protesters in Donetsk’s occupied administration building have already nearly
come to blows over the question of whether or not they would quit the
building for an amnesty. So it is not clear that the turmoil unleashed so
far can be easily put back in the bottle.
The agreement will also be a test not just of Russia’s sincerity, but of the
Western assumption that Mr Putin and his cohorts are closely orchestrating
events on the ground.
In a demonstration of the difficulties ahead, a separatist leader in eastern
Donetsk declared the first concession must come from the revolutionaries
that drove out former president Viktor Yanukovych after occupying central
Kyiv for months.
Alexander Zakharchenko, a protest leader inside the Donetsk regional
government building, said: “If it means all squares and public buildings,
then I guess it should start with the Maidan in Kyiv. We’ll see what they do
there before we make our decision here.”
During the Russian President’s annual marathon television phone-in the Russian
leader confirmed for the first time that Russian troops had been involved in
the Kremlin’s takeover of the Crimea in February.
He asserted that Russia retained the right to intervene in the eastern Ukraine
region, pointing out that Russia had the “right” to send troops into Ukraine
to protect the Russian-speaking population.
“I very much hope that I am not obliged to use this right,” said Mr Putin.
Provocatively, he referred to as “Novorossiya”, the historical term used in
Russia as the country’s borders were extended to the Black Sea in the
Tsarist era. But he denied Russian troops were present in eastern Ukraine.
Russia has set nerves on edge by massing tens of thousands of troops at the
border and has warned Kyiv’s untested new leaders – whom it does not
recognise as legitimate – not to unleash force in Ukraine.
The Geneva deal puts on hold the additional economic sanctions the West had
threatened to impose on Russia in retaliation for the perceived
orchestration of the violence.
Sergei Lavrov, the Russian foreign minister, declared the crisis would not
resolved by seizing buildings but added all sides must refrain from the
threat of violence.
“The Ukrainians themselves must resolve this crisis,” Mr Lavrov said. “It
gives us hope that the US and the EU are showing genuine interest to use
this four-way format to convince Ukrainians to resolve this by themselves.”
Andriy Deshchytsia, Ukraine’s foreign minister, said the deployment of the
OSCE, would demonstrate that Ukraine was not attacking its own people. “We
look to OSCE to make sure force not used,” he said. “Ukraine will not use
force first.”