[Vis-a-vis Kiev, Moscow is constantly playing a cat-and-mouse game, trying to leverage, to the maximum extent possible, its considerable military might coupled with its immediate proximity to Ukraine and significant influence over a section of Ukrainian populace from a position of very significant economic weakness in relation to the US-EU combine. But even here it holds a strong card as the supplier of gas to the EU and Ukraine. So, it's a highly complex situation. Right at the moment, it appears that it has decided to play the mouse, however transitorily.]
I/III. http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/10/27/us-ukraine-crisis-election-recognition-idUSKBN0IG1BQ20141027 Russia to recognize Ukraine election results: Lavrov MOSCOW Mon Oct 27, 2014 9:20am EDT (Reuters) - Russia will recognize the results of Ukraine's parliamentary election, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov was quoted as saying on Monday by RIA news agency. "Taking everything into account, this election took place, though not on all of Ukraine's territory," Lavrov was quoted as saying. "I think we will recognize this election because it is very important for us that Ukraine finally will have authorities which do not fight one another, do not drag Ukraine to the West or to the East, but which will deal with the real problems facing the country." (Reporting by Gabriela Baczynska and Alexander Winning, editing by Elizabeth Piper) II/III. http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/10/27/us-ukraine-crisis-election-idUSKCN0IF00R20141027 Ukraine leader wins pro-West mandate but wary of Russia By Richard Balmforth and Timothy Heritage KIEV Mon Oct 27, 2014 1:09pm EDT 1 of 10. A local resident places her ballot into a mobile ballot box during a parliamentary election, at her home in Horodyshche near Chernihiv, October 26, 2014. Credit: Reuters/Stringer (Reuters) - Pro-Western parties will dominate Ukraine's parliament after an election handed President Petro Poroshenko a mandate to end a separatist conflict and steer the country further out of Russia's orbit into Europe's mainstream. Poroshenko held preliminary power-sharing talks with Prime Minister Arseny Yatseniuk on Monday after their political groups led other pro-Western forces committed to democratic reforms in sweeping pro-Russian forces out of parliament. "The main task is to quickly form a pro-European coalition for carrying out agreements with the EU," Yatseniuk said at a meeting with election observers. International observers from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe gave a further lift to the pro-Western Kiev leadership, saying Sunday's election had "largely upheld democratic commitments" despite the conflict in the east. It was "an amply contested election that offered voters real choice and (had) a general respect for fundamental freedoms," Kent Harstedt, OSCE special coordinator, told a news conference. Despite a dire result for parties sympathetic to Russia, Moscow was not immediately confrontational. Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said he thought Russia would recognize the election. But after months of conflict and turmoil there was no euphoria from Poroshenko's allies. The president faces huge problems: Russia opposes his plans to one day join the European Union, a ceasefire is barely holding between government forces and pro-Russian separatists in the east, and the economy is in dire straits. Russian President Vladimir Putin can also still influence events, as the main backer of the rebels in the east and through Moscow's role as natural gas supplier to Ukraine and the EU. He could also remove trade concessions from Kiev if it looks West. Poroshenko's first task is to cement an alliance with Yatseniuk's People's Front, which was running neck and neck with his bloc on about 21 percent support after more than half the votes on party lists were counted. Ukrainska Pravda, an online newspaper, calculated that an alliance between those two leading blocs would still not give Poroshenko and Yatseniuk a majority in the assembly. They are likely to turn to Selfhelp, a like-minded party with just over 11 percent of votes. Final results for party list voting and in single constituency seats are due on Oct. 30. The tandem between the 49-year-old confectionery magnate Poroshenko and the professorial Yatseniuk, who has gone out ahead as an anti-Russian hawk in recent weeks, was emerging as a relationship likely to dominate the new political scene. Several commentators said Yatseniuk, a favorite in the West for his stewardship of the war-ravaged economy, would probably remain prime minister to see through deep and possibly unpopular reforms, though he once called the job "political suicide". RETURN OF NORMALCY Poroshenko and his allies are trying to restore normalcy to the sprawling country of 46 million and draw a line under a year of upheaval that began with street demonstrations against Poroshenko's pro-Russian predecessor, Viktor Yanukovich. Yanukovich was overthrown in February in what Russia called a "fascist coup". Moscow responded by swiftly seizing and annexing Ukraine's Crimea peninsula and backing separatist rebellions in eastern regions. More than 3,700 people have been killed in the conflict in the east, including 298 passengers on a Malaysian airliner shot out of the sky over pro-Russian rebel-held territory. Moscow has also halted gas supplies to Ukraine in a row over the price and unpaid bills, causing alarm in the EU which gets a third of its gas needs from Russia, half of this via Ukraine. The Kiev government says it is hoping for modest economic growth next year after a 6 percent decline in 2014, but the World Bank expects the economy to continue shrinking. In line with measures agreed with the IMF, Yatseniuk's government has cut budget expenditure and let the Ukrainian hryvnia float. The currency has lost about 40 percent of its value against the dollar since the start of the year. The economic decline has been aggravated by the fighting in the east, where the Kiev military said two Ukrainian soldiers were killed on Sunday as they tried to break through separatist lines in an armored vehicle to relieve a government checkpoint. Heavy shelling was also reported on the outskirts of the rebel stronghold of Donetsk on Monday despite a ceasefire. Some allies of Yanukovich will be in parliament: the latest figures put the Opposition Bloc of ex-Fuel Minister Yuriy Boiko on 9.80 percent, easily enough to put the party into parliament. But other traditional allies of Russia, such as the communists, flopped and the make-up of the assembly seemed likely to spell future tensions with Moscow. It is the first time the communists are not in parliament since Ukraine won independence from the Soviet Union in 1991. After months of beating back the separatists, Ukraine's troops faced sharp reversals in August, which Kiev and its Western backers say was caused by Moscow sending armored columns with hundreds of troops to aid the rebels. Moscow denies intervening directly on the ground. Since then, Poroshenko has said he will resolve the conflict only by political negotiations. NATO says Russia is still supporting the rebels in the east with soldiers and equipment. Voting did not take place in areas held by the rebels or in Crimea. Separatists in the big eastern cities of Donetsk and Luhansk said they were ignoring the election and plan a rival vote on Nov. 2 to further their calls for independence. (Additional reporting by Pavel Polityuk and Natalia Zinets,; and Thomas Grove in Donetsk; Editing by Peter Graff) III. http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-29782513 27 October 2014 Last updated at 16:08 Ukraine elections: Pro-Western parties set for victory Petro Poroshenko says he hopes he can form a unity government within 10 days Ukraine's president and prime minister are set to publish a draft coalition agreement, after an apparently sweeping victory for pro-Western parties in Sunday's parliamentary elections. With half the vote counted, President Petro Poroshenko's bloc and the party of Arseniy Yatseniuk were neck-and-neck with more than 21% of the vote each. Both men said they expected other parties to join their coalition talks. There was no voting in eastern areas controlled by pro-Russian separatists. As a result, a number of parliamentary seats in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions will remain vacant, as will those for Crimea, which was annexed by Russia in March. The separatist rebels plan to hold their own elections next Sunday. The legislative polls were the first since pro-Russian former President, Viktor Yanukovych, was driven from power in February after he refused to sign an agreement on closer ties with the European Union. 'Path to Europe' With 50.08% of ballots for party lists counted, Mr Poroshenko's bloc - comprising his own Solidarity Party and Udar, led by former boxing champion Vitali Klitschko - had 21.45% of the vote. Ukraine's Prime Minister Arseniy Yatseniuk votes in his country's parliamentary elections in Kiev (26 October 2014) Prime Minister Arseniy Yatseniuk's bloc could be one of Mr Poroshenko's main partners But the People's Front of the president's ally, Mr Yatseniuk, was fractionally ahead with 21.61%. Self Help, based in western Ukraine and led by Lviv mayor Andriy Sadovyi, was third with 11.1%, followed by the Opposition Bloc of Mr Yanukovych's former Energy Minister Yuri Boiko on 9.82%. line Analysis: David Stern, BBC News, Kiev If results hold, Ukraine's parliamentary elections could potentially spell an electoral earthquake - a second revolution, only one that has taken place at the ballot box. For the first time in country's history, a broad pro-European, pro-reform coalition seems to be in the makings. Just as significantly, two groupings that have long dominated the political landscape appear to have been considerably weakened - the Communist Party, which for the first time may not enter parliament, and the remnants of the Party of Regions, which look set to have a much smaller role in the new legislature. In the end, President Poroshenko may enjoy a two-thirds "super majority", with which he will be able to enact his long-promised reform programme with little resistance. The question, then, will be what Mr Poroshenko would manage to do should such power be delivered to him. [image: line] [image: Ukraine election: early results] The full party-list results expected later on Monday will cover only 225 of the 450 seats. "More than three-quarters of voters who took part in the polls gave strong and irreversible backing to Ukraine's path to Europe," Mr Poroshenko told a news conference. "We must create... the best government in Ukraine because no other government will cope with the challenges that the country is facing today," he added. The president held preliminary power-sharing talks with Prime Minister Yatseniuk on Monday, Reuters news agency reported. At a meeting with election observers, Mr Yatseniuk said: "The main task is to quickly form a pro-European coalition for carrying out agreements with the EU." A Ukrainian serviceman stands guard at a military camp near the eastern Ukrainian town Kramatorsk, near of Sloviansk, 26 October 2014. Ukrainian soldiers have been battling pro-Russian rebels in the east for months 'Important milestone' European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said the result was a "victory of democracy" and a pro-European agenda. International observers from the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe said the election had "largely upheld democratic commitments" and had "offered voters real choice". Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told RIA news agency that his country was likely to recognise the poll. "It is very important for us that Ukraine finally will have authorities which do not fight one another, do not drag Ukraine to the West or to the East but which will deal with the real problems facing the country," he is quoted as saying. US President Barack Obama also praised the election as "another important milestone in Ukraine's democratic development". Turnout on Sunday was more than 52%. However, it varied widely between the east and west of the country, with some three million people in separatist-controlled areas in Donetsk and Luhansk unable to vote. Ukraine vote map More than 900 observers from 43 countries monitored the polls. Anger in eastern Ukraine at the overthrow of Mr Yanukovych turned to unrest with pro-Russian separatists seizing government buildings and beginning an insurgency in April. At least 3,700 people have been killed since then, 300 of them in sporadic clashes between the Ukrainian army and separatists around the city of Donetsk since a truce was agreed on 5 September. On Monday morning, a government-held military base in the Avdiivka area, on the outskirts of Donetsk, was hit by rockets. Shelling also disrupted vote counting in Volnovakha, 60km (40 miles) to the south. -- Peace Is Doable -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Green Youth Movement" group. 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