I/II. http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/09/08/us-ukraine-crisis-idUSKBN0H30HM20140908 Ukraine president visits frontline city amid 'shaky' ceasefire
By Aleksandar Vasovic <http://blogs.reuters.com/search/journalist.php?edition=us&n=alexandarvasovic&;> and Gabriela Baczynska MARIUPOL/DONETSK Ukraine Mon Sep 8, 2014 4:36pm EDT 1 of 14. Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko speaks during his visit to the Ilich Iron and Steel Works in the coastal town of Mariupol, September 8, 2014. Credit: Reuters/Mykola Lazarenko/Ukrainian Presidential Press Service/Handout via Reuters (Reuters) - Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko visited the eastern port of Mariupol on Monday and promised to deal a "crushing defeat" to pro-Russian rebels massed on the edge of town if they tried to advance in violation of a ceasefire agreement. "I have ordered (the military) to secure the defense of Mariupol with howitzers, multiple rocket launchers, tanks, anti-tank weapons and air cover," Poroshenko told a crowd of steel workers in the port on the Sea of Azov near the Russian border. The ceasefire, which took effect on Friday evening, is part of a peace plan intended to end a five-month-old conflict the United Nations' human rights envoy said had killed more than 3,000 people. It has also caused the sharpest confrontation between Russia and the West since the Cold War. The truce was largely holding on Monday, though each side accused the other of sporadic shelling, including in Mariupol, a city of about half a million, shortly after the president's arrival there. The Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), which is monitoring the ceasefire, urged the two sides to seek a political "breakthrough", though they remain far apart on the future of eastern Ukraine, home to much of the country's heavy industry. The rebels refuse to accept rule from Kiev. "Mariupol was, is and will be Ukrainian," Poroshenko declared. "The enemy will suffer a crushing defeat," said Poroshenko, who agreed to the ceasefire and a wider peace plan after the rebels - backed, Kiev says, by Russian firepower - made sweeping battlefield gains. Russia denies involvement. In the earlier days of the uprising, rebels seized control of part of Mariupol, occupying some buildings including a police station. Some offices were badly damaged or burnt down. Since the rebels were driven out by Ukrainian forces, sentiment appears to have swung more in favor of the government. Residents built fortifications around the town, whose port is vital for Ukraine's steel exports, and set up a militia. Shops have reopened and Ukrainian flags are widely visible. Mariupol was the scene of fierce fighting before the ceasefire, when rebels advanced in an attempt to retake it, and also saw the most serious violation of the ceasefire on Saturday night when government forces there came under artillery attack. A woman was killed and four people injured in that shelling. The cities of Donetsk and Luhansk, strongholds of the rebellion, remain in rebel hands. SANCTIONS Poroshenko, who received a warm welcome in Mariupol, said the rebels had so far handed over about 1,200 prisoners-of-war to the Ukrainian side under the terms of the ceasefire accord. OSCE chair Switzerland described the ceasefire as "shaky" and said the next few days would be crucial. Swiss President Didier Burkhalter said the truce alone was not sufficient, adding: "The different actors must really push for a (political) breakthrough." After his trip to Mariupol, Poroshenko said a number of NATO countries had agreed on the direct supply of arms to Ukraine during the alliance's annual summit in Wales. "(We) managed to agree with a series of NATO countries on direct deliveries of modern weapons which will help us defend ourselves and win," said a statement on the president's website. A senior aide to Poroshenko said on Sunday Kiev had agreed in Wales on the provision of weapons and military advisers from five NATO states, but four of the five swiftly denied any such deal had been reached. U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said in Turkey he was not aware of any "secret deal that was made in Wales about supplying lethal weapons to the Ukrainians". Earlier, Ukrainian military spokesman Andriy Lysenko told a news briefing in Kiev that Ukrainian forces were observing the ceasefire except in self-defense and had remained in their positions since Friday evening. In rebel-held Donetsk, eastern Ukraine's industrial hub, "prime minister" Alexander Zakharchenko of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic made similar accusations against the Ukrainian side, adding: "We have shown the whole world we are not terrorists, we are ready for talks and we can listen." Kiev and its Western backers accuse Russia of sending troops across the border and arming the rebels, charges Moscow denies. Lysenko said on Monday Ukraine had seen no sign of Russian troop movements over the border in the past 24 hours. A Kremlin statement said Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke by phone on Monday with Poroshenko on "steps that will facilitate a peaceful resolution to the situation", without giving further details. Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said Moscow would respond to any new Western economic sanctions imposed over its role in Ukraine, adding it might target flights over Russia. The European Union planned to put Russia's top oil producers and pipeline operators Rosneft, Transneft and Gazprom Neft on its list of state-owned firms that will not be allowed to raise capital or borrow on European markets, an EU diplomat said. In general, the EU sanctions on raising money in the EU for Russian companies will apply to firms that have turnover of more than 1 trillion rubles($26.95 billion), at least half of it generated from the sale or transport of oil, the diplomat said. But EU governments delayed signing off on the package because some governments want to discuss how to suspend the sanctions if a ceasefire holds, diplomats said. EU sanctions do not encompass the gas sector and in particular state-owned Gazprom, the world's biggest gas producer and the biggest gas supplier to Europe. "FASCISTS" In Donetsk, authorities declared Monday a public holiday to mark the expulsion of "fascists" from the heavily industrialized, mainly Russian-speaking Donbass region. The separatists have used the word "fascist" to denote the central government in Kiev since Poroshenko's predecessor Viktor Yanukovich, who came from eastern Ukraine and was backed by Moscow, fled to Russia in February after months of anti-government protests in the Ukrainian capital. On Monday afternoon a Reuters reporter heard renewed mortar fire near to the government-held airport north of Donetsk. Most residents of Donetsk blame Kiev for the conflict, after months of heavy bombardment of the city by government forces, but some had harsh words also for the separatists and few expected the current ceasefire to last. "The ceasefire is not holding, that's clear from just the few days I have been back in the city," said Yevgenia, who has taken refuge with relatives in western Ukraine. "We came back for warm clothes and are leaving right away. It's so sad to see the city empty, deserted, armed people with cars crossing at red traffic lights, kidnapping people or taking away their cars. What good can they build here?" (Additional reporting by Thomas Grove <http://blogs.reuters.com/search/journalist.php?edition=us&n=thomas.grove&;> and Timothy Heritage <http://blogs.reuters.com/search/journalist.php?edition=us&n=timothy.heritage&;> in Moscow, Pavel Polityuk in Kiev, Philip Stewart in Ankara and Stephanie Nebehay <http://blogs.reuters.com/search/journalist.php?edition=us&n=stephanienebehay&;> in Geneva; Writing by Gareth Jones <http://blogs.reuters.com/search/journalist.php?edition=us&n=gareth.jones&;>; Editing by Andrew Roche <http://blogs.reuters.com/search/journalist.php?edition=us&n=andrew.roche&;>) II. http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-09-08/eu-slows-new-russia-sanctions-as-it-gauges-ukraine-truce.html EU to Assess Ukraine Cease-Fire as New Russian Sanctions Weighed By Jonathan Stearns Sep 9, 2014 7:52 PM GMT+0530 European Union governments tomorrow will reopen discussions about the viability of a cease-fire in Ukraine as the bloc weighs whether to pull the trigger on tougher sanctions against Russia <http://topics.bloomberg.com/russia/>. The scheduled talks in Brussels among diplomats from the 28 member nations follow the EU's abrupt decision yesterday to put on hold for at least a "few days" a second package of economic penalities against Russia over its encroachment in Ukraine. The delay offered more time to assess the effectiveness of the cease-fire without risking further trade retaliation by the Kremlin. The planned sanctions -- originally due to be published in the Official Journal today -- include barring some Russian state-owned defense and energy companies from raising capital in the EU, according to a European official who spoke on the usual condition of anonymity. "Now it's up to the member states to look at this situation again and examine the implementation of the cease-fire agreement and decide how to take this forward," Maja Kocijancic, spokeswoman for EU foreign-affairs chief Catherine Ashton, told reporters today in Brussels. The Sept. 5 cease-fire between the Ukrainian government and pro-Russian separatists has raised the prospect of a lasting truce that would be the biggest breakthrough yet to end a conflict that has killed at least 3,000 people and soured Russia's relations with its former Cold War foes. Eastern Ukraine The agreement to halt fighting came in the midst of an EU push to ratchet up penalties against Russia in coordination with the U.S. in a bid to force Russian President Vladimir Putin to end support for the rebels in eastern Ukraine. Putin's backing of Ukrainian separatists and his annexation of Crimea have jolted the security order in Europe. *Related:* - Air-Crash Probe Points to Missile Bringing Down MH17 <http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-09-09/malaysia-air-crash-report-says-mh17-hit-by-high-energy-objects-.html> - Ukraine Truce Wobbles as Poroshenko Visits Frontline City <http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-09-06/ukraine-sees-cease-fire-holding-as-russian-troops-poised.html> Finnish Prime Minister Alexander Stubb said yesterday that he is "very worried" about the possibility of Russian counter-sanctions should the EU enact the new package. At the same time, "we are strongly of the opinion that the cease-fire has so far not been permanent," Stubb told reporters in Helsinki. Frontline City In a sign the cease-fire accord has been shaky, Ukrainian Defense Ministry spokesman Oleksiy Dmytrashkovskyi said today in a YouTube video that pro-Russian rebels overnight shelled government positions near the airport of the eastern city of Donetsk, as well as four more positions of Ukrainian troops in other areas, without causing troop casualties. Yesterday, Ukraine said the rebels targeted Mariupol, a frontline city in the east of the country, after Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko announced a visit there. Road blocks near the port city on the Sea of Azov came under fire from militants yesterday, presidential spokesman Svyatoslav Tsegolko said on Twitter. "I am not optimistic at all -- I have not been optimistic from the beginning," Didier Burkhalter, chairman of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, which helped mediate and is monitoring the cease-fire, said at a news conference in Geneva. Even so, "we want to give it a chance." Sanctions Plan Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said today that it appears the cease-fire is being observed on the whole. Speaking to reporters in Moscow, he said Russia hopes the truce "will be consolidated" within days. In an initial set of economic sanctions imposed in late July, the EU barred five state-owned Russian banks from selling shares or bonds in Europe; restricted the export of equipment to modernize the oil industry; prohibited new contracts to sell arms to Russia; and banned the export of machinery, electronics and other civilian products with military uses -- so-called dual-use goods -- to military users. Those measures prompted Russia to ban imports of some EU farm goods, a step that has cut off about 5 billion euros ($6.5 billion) of annual trade and left the bloc scrambling to aid its producers. In a statement on Sept. 6, the day after EU member-state diplomats drew up the latest sanctions plan, the Russian government signaled it would take further retaliatory action should the extra penalties be enacted. Russian Businesses "In the case that they are introduced, a reaction from our side will undoubtedly follow," the Foreign Ministry said in a statement in Moscow. EU sanctions decisions require the support of all EU governments, giving any one leverage to seek concessions. Several European leaders including Stubb and his Hungarian counterpart, Viktor Orban, have expressed concerns about the impact of penalties against Russia on the EU economy. The delayed EU package would extend to three energy companies -- OAO Gazprom Neft (SIBN) <http://www.bloomberg.com/quote/SIBN:RM>, OAO Rosneft and OAO Transneft -- as well as to nine defense companies the ban on share or bond sales in the EU, according to the European official who spoke anonymously. It would also shorten to 30 days from 90 days the threshold for the maturity of debt whose sale in the bloc by the targeted Russian businesses is banned; prohibit European banks from offering syndicated loans to sanctioned Russian companies; expand the restrictions on dual-use goods and widen the curbs on technologies for the oil industry, according to the official. Political Sensitivities In a sign of the political sensitivities of applying the tougher measures, EU diplomats met on short notice yesterday evening in Brussels to discuss the package they had approved three days earlier. An additional outcome last night was that the EU put on hold a parallel plan to expand a blacklist of people and companies subject to asset freezes in Europe in connection with the Ukrainian crisis. EU leaders on Aug. 30, beyond calling for more economic penalties against Russia to be prepared, asked for proposals to blacklist people and institutions "dealing with" separatist groups in the Donbass region of eastern Ukraine. The latest people who would be targeted include the new leadership in Donbass, the government of Crimea and "Russian decision-makers and oligarchs," Van Rompuy said in a Sept. 5 statement after the EU diplomats had approved the new measures and sent them to the bloc's national governments for final approval yesterday. The new blacklist would add 24 people, including two additional Kremlin "cronies," according to a second European official who spoke on the usual condition of anonymity. Like the tougher economic penalties, the latest blacklist targets had been due to be disclosed today in the Official Journal. The economic penalties would normally take effect the day after publication, while the blacklist decisions would enter into force the same day. To contact the reporter on this story: Jonathan Stearns in Brussels at [email protected] To contact the editors responsible for this story: Alan Crawford at [email protected] Jones Hayden, Andrew Langley -- 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.
