WRAPUP 4-Ukraine’s restive east slipping from government’s grasp
(Adds Yatseniuk, Lavrov, Kremlin, Merkel comments)
* Kyiv government losing control of east
* Gunmen in military fatigues wear no badges
* Take control of government offices in eastern Horlivka
* IMF says sanctions hurting Russian economy
HORLIVKA, Ukraine, April 30 (Reuters) – Pro-Moscow
separatists seized government offices in more Ukrainian towns on
Wednesday, in a further sign that authorities in Kyiv are losing
control of the country’s eastern industrial heartland bordering
Russia.
Gunmen who turned up at dawn took control of official
buildings in Horlivka, a town of almost 300,000 people, said a
Reuters photographer. They refused to be photographed.
The heavily armed men wore the same military uniforms
without insignia as other unidentified “green men” who have
joined pro-Russian protesters with clubs and chains in seizing
control of towns across Ukraine’s Donbass coal and steel belt.
Some 30 pro-Russian separatists also seized a city council
building in Alchevsk, further east in Luhansk region,
Interfax-Ukraine news agency said. They took down the Ukrainian
flag and flew a city banner before allowing workers to leave.
Attempts to contain the insurgency by the government in Kyiv
have proved largely unsuccessful, with security forces
repeatedly outmanoeuvred by the separatists. The West and the
new Ukrainian government accuse Russia of being behind the
unrest, a charge Moscow denies.
Daniel Baer, the U.S. ambassador to the OSCE, a European
security watchdog which has monitors in the region, told
reporters in Vienna: “I think it’s very clear that what is
happening would not be happening without Russian involvement.”
A police official in Donetsk, the provincial capital where
separatists have declared a “People’s Republic of Donetsk”, said
separatists were also in control of the Horlivka police station,
having seized the regional police headquarters earlier in April.
The murder of a town councillor from Horlivka who opposed
the separatists was cited by Kyiv last week among reasons for
launching new efforts to regain control of the region.
Wednesday’s takeovers followed the fall of the main
government buildings on Tuesday further east in Luhansk, capital
of Ukraine’s easternmost province, driving home just how far
control over the densely populated region has slipped from the
central government in Kyiv.
“They’ve taken them. The government administration and
police,” the police official said of Horlivka.
SECESSION REFERENDUM
The town sits just north of Donetsk, unofficial capital of
the whole Donbass area, where mainly Russian-speaking
separatists have called a referendum on secession for May 11.
Many hope to follow Crimea’s break from Ukraine in March and
subsequent annexation by Russia, following the overthrow of
Ukraine’s Moscow-backed president Viktor Yanukovich in late
February in a tug-of-war between the West and Russia over the
strategic direction of the former Soviet republic.
The Donbass region is home to giant steel smelters and heavy
plants that produce up to a third of Ukraine’s industrial
output. An armed uprising began there in early April, with Kyiv
almost powerless to respond for fear of provoking an invasion by
tens of thousands of Russian troops massed on the border.
Many Russian-speaking business “oligarchs” from the Donbass
backed Yanukovich and exercise great influence over the region.
On Wednesday, the most powerful of these, Ukraine’s richest
man Rinat Akhmetov issued a formal statement saying he remained
committed to his investments in the Donbass and to keeping the
region as part of Ukraine.
Prime Minister Arseny Yatseniuk warned his ministers their
jobs were on the line if the east remained out of reach – “The
country demands action,” he said.
Oleksander Turchinov, Ukraine’s acting president until after
an election on May 25, reiterated on Wednesday that police were
incapable of reasserting control in the region and said the
armed forces were on full alert for a Russian invasion.
That prompted a return volley from Moscow, where the Foreign
Ministry demanded that Kyiv “immediately ceases the bellicose
rhetoric, which is aimed at intimidating its own population”.
There were, however, more conciliatory noises elsewhere.
Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Russia would not “do
stupid things” in response to Western sanctions.
Describing a phone call between President Vladimir Putin and
British Prime Minister David Cameron, the Kremlin said they
agreed that only “peaceful means” could resolve the conflict –
although Putin has shown little sign of backing down to
sanctions.
In Germany, Chancellor Angela Merkel said she ruled out any
military solution to the conflict over Ukraine, which is
sandwiched between Russia and the U.S.-led NATO bloc:
“Would we have learned anything 100 years after the start of
World War One and 75 years after the start of World War Two if
we resorted to the same methods? No,” said Merkel, who will
visit U.S. President Barack Obama on Friday. “We will not
resolve our conflicts in Europe with military means.
“Military solutions can be excluded.”
SANCTIONS COST
There were further signs on Monday that Russia is paying an
economic price for its involvement in Ukraine. The International
Monetary Fund said international sanctions imposed on Moscow
over the crisis in Ukraine were hurting the economy.
The IMF cut its 2014 growth forecast for Russia to 0.2
percent from 1.3 percent and forecast capital outflows of $100
billion this year.
The IMF mission chief to Russia, Antonio Spilimbergo, also
told reporters that Russia was “experiencing recession” and that
a resolution of the Ukraine crisis would significantly reduce
Russia’s own economic uncertainties.
“If you understand by recession two quarters of negative
economic growth then Russia is experiencing recession now,”
Spilimbergo said.
Ukraine is also suffering from the turmoil, with economic
output falling 1.1 percent year-on-year in the first three
months of 2014, according to government figures released on
Wednesday. Gazprom said Ukraine’s unpaid bill for gas
supplied by the Russian energy giant was now $3.5 billion.
However, the European Union said it was ready to provide
economic aid to Ukraine along with the IMF.
(Additional reporting by Pavel Polityuk, Natalia Zinets and
Elizabeth Piper in Kyiv, Lidia Kelly in Moscow; Writing by Matt
Robinson and Giles Elgood Editing by Peter Millership and
Alastair Macdonald)