Ukraine crisis: Pro-Russia militants shrug off Geneva deal

The self-declared leader of pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine, Denis Pushilin, said on Friday that he did not consider his men to be bound by an agreement between Russia and Ukraine to disarm and vacate occupied buildings.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei “Lavrov did not sign anything for us, he signed on behalf of the Russian Federation,” Pushilin, head of the self-declared Donetsk People’s Republic, told journalists in Donetsk.

Ukraine and Russia on Thursday agreed to take tentative steps toward calming tensions along their shared border after more than a month of tensions.

But Pushilin, speaking at the insurgent-occupied regional administration’s building, said the deal specifies that all illegally seized buildings should be vacated and in his opinion the government in Kyiv is also occupying public buildings illegally.

“This is a reasonable agreement but everyone should vacate the buildings and that includes Yatsenyuk and Turchynov,” he said referring to the acting Ukrainian prime minister and president.

Pushilin said his men will only consider leaving public buildings when the government in Kyiv does the same. He said he was continuing preparations for a referendum on increased autonomy from Kyiv on May 11.

‘Anti-terrorist operation’ continues

State security authorities say Ukraine’s military-led drive to root out pro-Russian separatists in the east of the country will continue despite the four-way agreement reached in Geneva.

“The anti-terrorist operation is still going on and how long it continues depends on how long terrorists remain in our country,” Marina Ostapenko, a spokeswoman for Ukraine’s State Security Service, told reporters.

The Geneva agreement, brokered by the United States, Russia, Ukraine and the European Union, will require all illegal armed groups to disarm.

Ukraine announced a military-backed operation last weekend to flush out pro-Russian rebels who have taken over state buildings including police stations in the Donbass region, though the operation faltered when pro-Russian forces seized several army troop carriers.

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