I/II. http://www.smh.com.au/world/ukraine-crisis-kiev-says-russia-wants-to-start-a-third-world-war-20140425-zqzsk.html
Ukraine crisis: Kiev says 'Russia wants to start a third world war' DateApril 26, 2014 - 1:07AMMarc Burleigh and Anna Smolchenko Masked pro Russian militants stand guard at the barricades in Slaviansk. *Photo: AP* *Kiev: Kiev has accused Moscow of seeking to trigger a "third world war" as military tensions soared in eastern Ukraine and US President Barack Obama led a diplomatic charge against Russia.* *Russian President Vladimir Putin. Photo: AFPA rocket-propelled grenade blew up a Ukrainian military helicopter sitting on the tarmac at a base near the eastern town of Kramatorsk, officials in Kiev said. The pilot escaped but was wounded. Smoke spewed in the sky over the nearby rebel-held town.The brazen attack by the insurgents came amid an army offensive to dislodge pro-Kremlin gunmen who are holding a string of eastern towns.Kiev announced on Friday that its forces were seeking to "blockade" rebels inside another flashpoint town, Slaviansk, to prevent militant reinforcements arriving.* A Ukrainian Army helicopter dropping leaflets to local citizens outside Slaviansk. *Photo: AP* On Thursday, Ukrainian armoured vehicles and commandos had made a brief but dramatic incursion into Slaviansk, killing one 22-year-old insurgent. Russia responded by ordering its troops massed on Ukraine's border to launch a new military exercise. The developments prompted German Chancellor Angela Merkel to call Russian President Vladimir Putin to voice "great concern" over the situation and to urge implementation of a Geneva accord signed a week ago that was meant to defuse tensions. Merkel's spokesman Steffen Seibert also warned of fresh sanctions against Russia, telling reporters in Berlin: "Sanctions are already in place ... you have to face the facts - in case nothing changes - it is important to be prepared for more." Ramping up the Cold War-style rhetoric, Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk accused Russia of trying to spark a global conflict. "The world hasn't forgotten the Second World War and Russia wants to start a third world war," he said. "Russia's support for the terrorists in Ukraine constitutes an international crime and we call on the international community to unite against the Russian aggression." US Secretary of State John Kerry said the Kremlin was making an "expensive mistake" by meddling in Ukraine, stressing that further Western sanctions on Moscow were poised to be unveiled. Moscow, Kerry said, was trying to "actively sabotage the democratic process through gross external intimidation", described the latest Russian drills as "threatening". "Let me be clear: if Russia continues in this direction, it will not just be a grave mistake, it will be an expensive mistake," he said. Obama, on a visit to South Korea, said he would be consulting with key EU leaders later on Friday. Russia Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov hit back by charging that Washington was "smearing" Moscow and claimed the United States wanted to "seize" Ukraine for its own "geopolitical ambitions and not the interests of the Ukrainian people". Lavrov also complained that during private talks with his US, British and French counterparts he had come under pressure to call back Russian agents from Ukraine's east. Ukraine's acting President Oleksandr Turchynov has vowed to push on with the "anti-terrorist" offensive to put down the rebellion in the east. "We will not back down from the terrorist threat," Turchynov said in a televised address Thursday. While Obama has ruled out sending US or NATO forces into Ukraine, Washington has begun deploying 600 US troops to boost NATO's defences in nearby eastern European states. France also said it was sending four fighter jets to join NATO air patrols over the Baltic states. The rocketing tensions sent oil prices up for a second day Friday and stocks in Asia lower. Russia, which supplies gas to Ukraine and to many EU countries, has said it can weather US sanctions, but warned they would trigger a tit-for-tat cycle which no-one would win. The United States and the European Union have already targeted Putin's inner circle with visa and asset freezes and imposed sanctions on a key Russian bank. Further punishment, though, has raised fears among some EU states that diminished Russian gas supplies could undermine a fragile European economic recovery. Gas supply cuts, though, would also hurt Russia's economy, which is forecast to go into recession this year. *AFP * II. http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/apr/25/russia-offers-proposal-resolve-ukraine-crisis Russia offers proposal to resolve Ukraine crisis Foreign minister Sergei Lavrov says pro-Moscow militants will lay down arms if Kiev clears occupied square and buildings - Julian Borger <http://www.theguardian.com/profile/julianborger>, diplomatic editor, and Dan Roberts<http://www.theguardian.com/profile/dan-roberts> in Washington - - theguardian.com <http://www.theguardian.com/>, Friday 25 April 2014 13.29 BST Workers are already removing barricades and cleaning up Independence Square in Kiev. Photograph: Sergey Dolzhenko/EPA The Russian foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, appears to have offered a deal to resolve the crisis in eastern Ukraine<http://www.theguardian.com/world/ukraine>, suggesting that if the country's government clears out the nationalist protest camp in Kiev, then pro-Moscow separatists will lay down their arms. Western officials greeted the proposal with scepticism, noting that such confidence-building measures were at the heart of an international agreement reached last week, but which failed to end the separatists' occupation of public buildings in eastern Ukraine. They said the protest camp in Independence Square in Kiev, erected in February during the uprising that toppled the Russian-backed president, Viktor Yanukovych, was already being dismantled. The Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe<http://www.theguardian.com/world/europe-news>, which is monitoring the situation in Ukraine, reported that its team in the capital "observed the ongoing clearing of barricades in the Maidan square". "The situation in the capital city was calm," the report added. One western official raised the possibility that Lavrov might be seeking to use the dismantling of the camp as a face-saving way out of the crisis, but cautioned that there were few other signs of compromise from Moscow. Lavrov's comments came as the Ukrainian government launched further military operations against some of the pro-Russian separatists who have seized government buildings across eastern Ukraine, having killed up to five rebels on Thursday. He said the pro-Russian militias in the east "will be ready" to lay down arms and vacate the buildings "only if Kiev authorities get down to implementing the Geneva accords, clear out that shameful Maidan [Independence Square] and liberate the buildings that have been illegally seized". Lavrov spoke after Barack Obama told reporters in Seoul he would call European leaders during the course of the day to discuss action since the failure of the Geneva agreement, a possible prelude to new US and EU sanctions against Russia <http://www.theguardian.com/world/russia>. The crisis is already showing signs of seriously damaging the Russian economy. The Standard & Poor's credit agency cut the country's credit rating on Friday for the first time in more than five years, following concerns about capital flight and risks to investments. Link to video: Russia making an expensive mistake over Ukraine, says John Kerry<http://www.theguardian.com/world/video/2014/apr/25/russia-mistake-ukraine-john-kerry-video> In unusually blunt language, the US secretary of state, John Kerry, said on Thursday that unless Moscow took immediate steps to de-escalate the situation in Ukraine, Washington would have no choice but to impose additional sanctions<http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/apr/25/russia-ukraine-john-kerry-us-sanctions>. He said it would be a grave and "expensive mistake". Kerry's comments came amid an increasingly bitter war of words over who is to blame for the crisis, which is becoming steadily more violent. The Ukrainian prime minister, Arseniy Yatsenyuk, made the strongest comments yet on Friday when he accused Russia of trying "to start world war three"<http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/apr/25/russia-third-world-war-ukraine> and acting like a gangster. The US says Russia is fomenting unrest and separatist sentiment in eastern Ukraine following its annexation of the strategic Crimean peninsula. Russia accuses the US of encouraging a pro-western government in Kiev to adopt anti-Russian policies. The US accused Russia of reneging on the Ukrainian peace deal on Thursday, as both sides insisted on contradictory explanations of clashes overnight on Wednesday with pro-Russia militants. In its most explicit comments yet on the apparent collapse of last week's agreement, the US state department claimed it had seen no sign of Russia abiding by its commitments. "Since Geneva, Russia has failed not only to provide public support for the de-escalation of tensions but has actively stoked tensions in eastern Ukraine by engaging in inflammatory rhetoric," the state department spokeswoman, Jen Psaki, told reporters. "The secretary of state has spoken with foreign minister Lavrov six times since Geneva and he has never once taken responsibility for the implementation of Russia's Geneva commitments and he has gone so far as to say the Geneva agreement demands no action from Russia." Officials in Washington angrily rejected Moscow's characterisation of clashes with Ukrainian soldiers that raised tensions between the two cold war foes to dangerously high levels. -- Peace Is Doable -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Green Youth Movement" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To post to this group, send an email to [email protected]. Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/greenyouth. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
