Ukraine Announces Tentative Accord To End Crisis

KIEV, Ukraine -- European diplomats said on Friday that opposition leaders had agreed to sign an agreement with President Viktor F. Yanukovych to defuse the deadly political crisis here, although it was unclear whether they were demanding additional concessions from the government. The Germany Foreign Ministry announced in a Twitter message that the leadership council of the Ukrainian protest movement had authorized the signing of the deal, which calls for early presidential elections, a coalition government and reduction of presidential power through constitutional reforms. A spokeswoman for the protest movement told The Associated Press that opposition leaders were headed for the president’s office to discuss the agreement. Any deal that does not include the president’s departure, however, is unlikely to get the approval of the mass of protesters and it was uncertain whether, in the event of a final deal, the protest movement’s political leadership could deliver the support of an angry base comprising many different groups and factions. Several demonstrators in the street said that the Yanukovych plan was unacceptable and that the so-called opposition leadership did not speak for them. The government announced the agreement early Friday after days of bloodshed in which scores of protesters and security officers died and hundreds were injured in Kiev, the capital. Opposition representatives have not publicly commented on the agreement or the president’s apparent concessions, but leaders of the demonstrators on Independence Square in Kiev, the capital, called for their supporters to remain calm and avoid provoking the security forces. Previous agreements and truces have collapsed, although those deals were not reached with the involvement of high-level European Union and Russian mediators, as was the case in the overnight talks Friday. The statement from Mr. Yanukovych’s office said the talks had been “very difficult.” The statement said that negotiators had agreed to initial an agreement to “settle the crisis,” and that it would be signed later on Friday. In one indication of a possible easing of tensions, the Ukrainian Finance Ministry formally canceled plans to issue the latest installment of below-market-rate eurobonds for purchase by the Russian government, the form of financial aid that the Kremlin had been providing. The protesters want Ukraine to have closer ties with the European Union and the government’s rejection late last year of an accord to expand relations with Europe triggered the protest movement. The announcement on the Irish Stock Exchange, which had planned to manage the transaction, was posted late Thursday evening in Ukraine, as the talks began. The cancellation of this bond issue left open the prospect that Ukraine would back away from the Russian aid deal. The agreement that could end the violence came after the bloodiest day in the three-month-old confrontation. On Thursday, security forces fired on masses of antigovernment demonstrators in the capital, Kiev, in a drastic escalation that left dozens dead and Ukraine reeling from the most lethal day of violence since Soviet times. By late Thursday evening, the choices for Mr. Yanukovych had narrowed to a stark dilemma between a massacre of protesters or negotiation: exhausted and outnumbered riot police officers had withdrawn from their positions in front of the cabinet building and the Parliament, leaving 500 yards of eerily empty pavement between the last protest barricade near the Dynamo soccer stadium and the seats of power. But the windows of the cabinet building were fortified with sandbags to create firing positions onto the street below, the only option left to defend the building as talks continued through the night elsewhere in the capital with the opposition and the European and Russian envoys. European officials greeted the news of an agreement with caution, with some indicating it was premature to say an accord had really been reached. Many observers noted that Mr. Yanukovych’s office had announced an agreement but there was no immediate corroboration from the opposition. Laurent Fabius, the French foreign minister who helped mediate the talks, said much remained unresolved. “As long as things are not effectively completed, we must remain very prudent,” he said, according to The Associated Press. “The opposition wants to consult a certain number of its supporters, which is understandable,” Mr. Fabius said, according to The A.P. “We discussed all subjects during these negotiations. It was done in an extremely difficult atmosphere, because there were dozens of dead and the country is on the verge of civil war.” Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski of Poland, who was also in Kiev as a mediator, announced an end to the talks on Twitter just before the Ukrainian government’s statement. “After negotiations through the night, talks ended at 7:20,” Mr. Sikorski wrote. Prime Minister Donald Tusk of Poland said Friday that a draft agreement had been agreed on, but indicated it was too early to suggest that the crisis had ended. “The agreement has not yet been reached. What’s been settled is the agreement’s draft,” he was quoted as saying by Reuters. Britain’s minister for Europe, David Lidington, told the BBC that there were “proposals on the table” for a political solution in Ukraine but that those had not yet been agreed by all the parties. The agreement came after a day after the security forces fired on antigovernment demonstrators in Kiev. The shootings followed a quickly shattered truce, with enraged protesters parading dozens of captured police officers through Kiev’s central square. Despite a frenzy of East-West diplomacy and negotiations, there was little sign that tensions were easing. Mr. Yanukovych lost at least a dozen political allies, including the mayor of the capital, who resigned from his governing Party of Regions to protest the bloodshed. Mr. Yanukovych conferred with three foreign ministers from the European Union who had come to press for a compromise solution, practically within sight of the main conflict zone in central Kiev. Images of bullet-riddled bodies slumped amid smoldering debris, some of them shot in the head, and screaming medics carrying the dead and wounded to emergency clinics, including one in a hotel lobby, shocked the country and many people around the world. The opposition said that at least 70 and as many as 100 people had been killed, while the municipal authorities put the day’s death toll at 39. There were signs late Thursday that Mr. Yanukovych might be moving closer to compromise, apparently expressing willingness to hold presidential and parliamentary elections this year, as the opposition has demanded. But given the hostility and mistrust on both sides, aggravated by the deadly mayhem that has engulfed central Kiev, the prospects of any agreement seemed remote — particularly now that many of the president’s adversaries say they will settle for nothing less than his resignation. About the only thing that was clear early Friday was that protesters had reclaimed and even expanded territory in the center of Kiev that they had lost just two days earlier when the police began a bloody but unsuccessful assault on Independence Square, which has been the focal point of protests since late November. The widespread use of firearms in the center of the city was a new and ominous element for the protest movement. Late Thursday, the U.S. State Department issued a new travel warning in light of the violence, urging against “all nonessential travel to Ukraine due to the ongoing political unrest and violent clashes between police and protesters.” Earlier Thursday, there had been rumors that Mr. Yanukovych, his police ranks stretched thin, might declare a state of emergency, a move that could herald the deployment of the military to help quell the crisis in the former Soviet republic of 46 million. But his authority to do so was unclear. Opposition leaders convened a session of Parliament late Thursday, and together with defectors from the pro-government party they passed a resolution obliging Interior Ministry troops to return to their barracks and the police to their usual posts, and prohibiting the use of firearms against protesters. It also asserted that only lawmakers, rather than the president, could declare a state of emergency. Perhaps more than these assertions, the vote was significant for signaling that Mr. Yanukovych had lost control of a majority in Parliament. Both the United States and the European Union, which made good on pledges to slap punitive sanctions on Ukrainian officials deemed to be responsible for the deadly escalation, warned Mr. Yanukovych to avoid declaring a state of emergency, which could take the country deeper into civil conflict. But short of calling in troops, it looked unlikely that Mr. Yanukovych could restore his battered authority and regain control of the capital. As the protesters, reinforced by swarms of ordinary residents, erected barricades around their extended protest zone, a woman took to a stage to appeal for help from foreign governments to prevent the president from declaring a state of emergency. “A state of emergency means the beginning of war,” she said. “We cannot let that happen.” n the center of Kiev, however, war had basically broken out, with the police having been authorized to use live ammunition. Just after dawn, young men in ski masks opened a breach in the police barricade near the stage on Independence Square, ran across a hundred yards of smoldering debris from what had been called a protective ring of fire and confronted riot police officers who were firing at them with shotguns. Snipers also opened fire, but it was unclear which side they were on. Sviatoslav Khanenko, a lawmaker and a head of the medical service of the National Resistance Headquarters, said by telephone that about 70 people had been killed and more than 1,000 had been wounded. Some news reports said 100 people had been killed. The death tolls could not be corroborated. But even at the lower casualty numbers reported by Kiev’s municipal health authorities, Thursday was the most lethal day in Ukraine since independence from the Soviet Union more than 22 years ago. By noon, 11 corpses had been laid out in a makeshift outdoor morgue under a Coca-Cola umbrella at the end of Independence Square. Other bodies were taken elsewhere. The demonstrators captured more than 60 police officers, who were marched, dazed and bloodied, toward the center of the square through a crowd of men who heckled and shoved them. A Ukrainian Orthodox priest accompanied the officers, pleading with their captors not to hurt them. “People are very angry, but we must not act like Yanukovych does,” said the priest, the Rev. Mekola Hivailo. Others said later that the officers were taken to a hotel and released. But the mere act of parading police officers through the streets signaled a new level of defiance and rage by the protesters. In a sign of trouble for Mr. Yanukovych, the mayor of Kiev, Volodymyr Makeyenko, announced in a video statement that he could no longer remain in the governing party because ordinary people were dying. He noted bitterly that “no oligarch has died, no politician has died.” With Mr. Yanukovych’s allies in Parliament still resisting changes to the Constitution demanded by the opposition that would reduce the powers of the president, there were intense talks underway in Kiev in hopes of ending the violence. The foreign ministers of Germany, Poland and France met with Mr. Yanukovych for more than four hours on Thursday. “Ahead of us is a night of heavy negotiations,” Marcin Wojciechowski, a spokesman for the Polish foreign minister, Radoslaw Sikorski, wrote on Twitter. After the initial round of meetings, the Polish prime minister, Donald Tusk, said at a news conference in Warsaw that there were some indications that Mr. Yanukovych would be willing to schedule earlier parliamentary and presidential elections, something he had previously resisted. The presidential elections are scheduled for March 2015.

Battle for Kiev

The Battle of Kiev

After 25 Die, Protesters Prepare To Stand Their Ground In Ukraine

KIEV, Ukraine -- They've given up their ground before -- voluntarily, as a political concession. But that seems to be over. After the deaths of 25 people in clashes a day earlier, Ukrainian protesters are prepared to stand and fight again Wednesday. Police want to clear them out of central Kiev. Some of them died trying to stay put -- using projectiles and burning barricades to keep security forces at bay at Kiev's Maidan, or Independence Square. It was the deadliest day in the months-long standoff between the government and opposition leaders. Thousands of demonstrators have packed Independence Square since November, when President Viktor Yanukovych reversed a decision to sign a trade deal with the European Union and instead turned toward Russia. The unrest intensified after an anti-protest law went into effect. Throngs of demonstrators took to the streets to protest the law. Police and protesters were among Tuesday's dead. A journalist and a government employee died, too. More than 240 others were hospitalized, Ukraine's health ministry said. Overnight, demonstrators stocked up, passing stones hand to hand, filling Molotov cocktails and stoking flaming barricades with wood and tires. They prepared a makeshift compressed-air cannon to catapult the projectiles into police ranks. Hundreds of others came out to give moral support to those holding the square and to add their numbers to the throng wanting to keep the opposition movement alive. Corporate lawyer Volodymyr Solohub was one of them. Whenever police threaten to clear the Maidan he goes there. Tuesday, he watched as protesters rushed injured people from the front lines to medics. "Some of them had broken hands, and blood was flowing down their faces," he said Wednesday. Barrages of stun grenades shattered the air around him through the night. "When it goes off, the whole area vibrates," he said. But the barricades held, and it made him happy. When the sun rose Wednesday, smoke was still rising from them into the sky. Finger pointing Even as the European Union scheduled a meeting on Ukraine for Thursday and the leaders of France and Poland called for sanctions over the violence, Yanukovych fired fresh vitriol at his opposition. He pinned blame for the violence exclusively on protesters, but he would have none of it himself. "This is my life principle -- no power is worth a drop of blood spilled for it," he said in a statement. Yet he issued a veiled threat to protesters. Opposition forces should "disassociate themselves from the radical forces that provoke bloodshed and clashes with law enforcement," he said. Otherwise, admit to supporting them and be treated accordingly, Yanukovych demanded. Opposition leaders pointed the finger back, painting their supporters as the victims, not the aggressors. Neither side seems to have a monopoly on the use of violence, and in the mayhem, it is sometimes hard to tell who is carrying it out. The journalist who died Wednesday was shot the night before, after a group of masked people stopped a taxi he was riding in, according to a statement by his newspaper Ukrainian Vesti. They wore camouflage clothes and were throwing Molotov cocktails. They beat other passengers in the car, the paper reported. Hopes dashed hard Tuesday's violence followed what seemed like a rare breakthrough. The government had said it would drop charges against those arrested in the political unrest. After holding Kiev's City Hall for three months, protesters pulled back Sunday and unblocked streets in the city center. But hope died Tuesday, when the speaker of parliament refused to allow amendments that would limit the president's powers. Opposition anger reignited and poured into the streets. The government's prosecutor general accused the opposition of breaking "the truce," thus setting the stage for the security crackdown that ensued. Riot police plowed into the crowd with water cannons, stun grenades and night sticks. Some demonstrators fought back, swinging what looked like baseball bats. Protesters set fire to the headquarters of the ruling Party of Regions. But the opposition's headquarters, the Trade Unions House, was also smoldering at daybreak Wednesday. Authorities accused protesters of firing guns at security forces. An armored personnel carrier charged barricades but was quickly inundated and set alight. Kiev was the center of the action, as in the past. But police said the unrest has spread to western Ukraine, with protesters attacking police and local government offices in a number of regions. Political fuel, spark Flaming barricades have been a constant for three months all around Kiev's Independence Square. But Tuesday's bloodshed marked a decided escalation. Though the strife started over a trade pact, protesters' anger was fueled by underlying sentiments in favor of the West and against Russia. Their initial call for Yanukovych to reverse his decision on the EU trade deal avalanched over time into an attack on the President's power base. Yanukovych and his allies responded with some concessions, offering places in government to opposition leaders. But on-again, off-again talks have gone nowhere. Both sides have demanded that the other back down first, and neither is budging. Yanukovych and opposition leader and famed boxer Vitali Klitschko played another round of the you-first game in an overnight face-to-face meeting. Speaking to reporters afterward, Klitschko said there effectively was "no discussion." The President demanded the protesters back off first. Klitschko threw the demand back at him. "I told Yanukovych this," he said. "How can we negotiate when there is blood being spilled?" West vs. Moscow EU leaders condemned the violence and waved the possibility of sanctions at Kiev's government, placing most of the responsibility on its shoulders. EU Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso threatened "targeted measures against those responsible" in a statement. "Europe will certainly reconsider the restraint it has shown in deciding whether to impose sanctions on individuals," said German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier. But Russia is also waving money, standing by with billions in economic aid for Ukraine's economy. Since political tensions began, Washington and Moscow have weighed in on opposite ends and kept doing so Tuesday. U.S. Vice President Joe Biden called Yanukovych to press him to stop the violence, placing the responsibility to de-escalate mainly with government. Secretary of State John Kerry later backed up the Vice President's words. He called for the Ukrainian government to halt violence immediately, and reopen dialogue with the opposition. Russia accused Washington of meddling in Ukrainian affairs. Washington is trying to tell "the authorities of a sovereign state what they should do next and how they should do it," an article in Russia's state-run RIA Novosti's read. U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon condemned the clashes in a statement late Tuesday and called for them to stop. "He reiterates to all sides that the use of violence is unacceptable," it read. Ban said preventing more bloodshed is a "paramount priority." But in Kiev, the call may be falling on the deaf ears of embittered rivals.

U.S. Imposes Visa Ban On 20 Ukrainian Officials As Further Sanctions Are Threatened

BRUSSELS, Belgium -- Expressing alarm at the lethal escalation of political violence in Ukraine, the European Union and the United States scrambled for a quick response Wednesday, threatening punitive sanctions against senior figures in the Ukrainian government. The Obama administration later said it had placed 20 top Ukrainian officials on a visa blacklist. European diplomats and senior officials in Brussels began working on the logistics of imposing sanctions, in preparation for an emergency meeting of European Union foreign ministers called for Thursday. They also announced that the French, German and Polish foreign ministers would visit Kiev beforehand, to meet with members of the government and the opposition. President Obama warned the Ukrainian military to stay out of the crisis. “We have been watching very carefully and we expect the Ukrainian government to show restraint, to not resort to violence in dealing with peaceful protesters,” Mr. Obama said during a one-day visit to Mexico to meet with Mexican and Canadian counterparts. “There will be consequences if people step over the line.” In Washington, the State Department said it had imposed a visa ban on 20 senior Ukrainian officials, whom it accused of playing a role in the government’s crackdown. The State Department declined to say which officials were on the blacklist, which prevents them from traveling to the United States, but a senior State Department official said, “the list today includes the full chain of command responsible for ordering the violence last night.” The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said that if the violence continued, the United States, working with the European Union, would impose sanctions against Ukrainian officials “in a much broader and deeper way.” While this official said there were no signs of military involvement in the crackdown on Tuesday night, American officials were closely monitoring a “changing of the guard” at military barracks on Wednesday, saying it raised concerns that troops could be yet mobilized. Earlier Wednesday Secretary of State John Kerry, who was visiting Paris for meetings on the Middle East, had also warned that the United States might join a European sanctions response to the Ukraine crisis. “We are talking about the possibility of sanctions or other steps with our friends in Europe and elsewhere,” Mr. Kerry said in a joint appearance in Paris with the French foreign minister, Laurent Fabius. President François Hollande of France, speaking at a joint news conference with Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany after a regularly scheduled meeting in Paris, said, “There are unspeakable, unacceptable, intolerable acts being carried out in Ukraine.” Ms. Merkel, condemning the “shocking pictures which are reaching us from Ukraine,” made plain that sanctions would be applied against those responsible for the violence. E.U. foreign ministers have only to decide “which specific sanctions should be applied,” she said. “But sanctions alone are not enough,” she added. “We have to get the political process going again,” including both government and opposition representatives. She added that the French and German foreign ministers and top officials were using every available channel, including to Russia, to defuse the crisis. Mr. Kerry said the purpose of his warning to Ukraine was to “create the environment for compromise,” and that United States did not think it was too late for Ukraine’s president, Viktor F. Yanukovych, to negotiate with the opposition. “President Yanukovych has the opportunity to make a choice,” Mr. Kerry said. “Our desire is for Mr. Yanukovych to bring people together, dialogue with the opposition, find the measure of compromise and put the broad interests of the people of Ukraine out front.” Obama administration officials have said in recent weeks that the United States was prepared to move ahead with sanctions if Mr. Yanukovych cracked down on the opposition. American officials signaled on Wednesday morning that sanctions were under consideration. Poland’s foreign minister, Radoslaw Sikorski, said in a telephone interview en route to Kiev that “we will impose some sanctions tomorrow in Brussels.” But Mr. Sikorski said it was unclear whether sanctions would be imposed on Mr. Yanukovych himself. “After all, he’s still the democratically elected president, large numbers voted for him and he still controls the situation, though he’s made a complete mess of it,” Mr. Sikorski said. Prime Minister Donald Tusk of Poland said earlier that he would make the case for immediate measures against those who provoked the escalation that has left dozens dead and hundreds wounded. “We Poles will not remain indifferent to these events, because we know that the developments in Ukraine will decide the history and the future of the whole region, and thus also influences the future and the security of Poland,” said Mr. Tusk, who held an emergency cabinet meeting late Tuesday as events unfurled in Kiev. The imposition of so-called smart sanctions is a standard foreign policy reflex of the European Union when confronted by acts of violence. Over the years, officials have honed a system for identifying individuals deemed responsible for repression, usually imposing a travel ban preventing visits to the 28-nation European Union and often freezing bank accounts. Experts debate their effectiveness when applied to countries like Zimbabwe, but their likely use in this case underlines the extent to which the bloc’s efforts to use its influence in its own neighborhood have faltered. Nevertheless, they appear highly likely to be introduced, José Manuel Barroso, the president of the European Commission, the executive arm of the 28-nation bloc, having also said he expects targeted measures against those responsible for violence. Elmar Brok, chairman of the European Parliament’s Committee on Foreign Affairs, called for sanctions against specific individuals responsible for the violence. “This is not the time for news releases,” he told a news conference in Brussels. “We don’t call for sanctions against Ukraine but against certain responsible people.” Mr. Brok suggested a travel ban on leadership figures and measures to investigate the bank accounts held by individuals in countries such as Germany, the Netherlands and Britain. He was speaking alongside Ruslana Lyzhychko, a Ukrainian pop singer and protest leader, who said she would go on hunger strike if such sanctions were not introduced. If officials and diplomats decided on Wednesday and Thursday to go ahead with sanctions against individuals, they would be agreed formally by European foreign ministers at their emergency meeting Thursday. Any list of those targeted would normally be made public only when published in the European Union’s Official Journal, which puts sanctions into legal effect. The earliest that is likely would be Friday. The system is designed to avoid giving warning to those whose bank accounts are about to be frozen. The German foreign minister, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, also issued a warning to the Ukrainian government. “Whoever is responsible for the decisions which have led to the bloodshed in Kiev and other parts of Ukraine should expect Europe to reconsider its position on imposing sanctions on individuals,” Mr. Steinmeier said in a statement, as lethal mayhem engulfed the center of Kiev Tuesday night. Hours earlier, Mr. Steinmeier telephoned his Ukrainian counterpart, Leonid Kozhara, urging an end to violence.The clashes in Kiev erupted only hours after Mr. Steinmeier, who has repeatedly and bluntly urged the Ukrainian authorities to fulfill their promises to the opposition, had received the two main opposition leaders, Vitali Klitschko and Arseniy P. Yatsenyuk, in Berlin, where they also met Ms. Merkel for more than an hour. As those meetings were held, Russia made the surprise announcement that it would lend Ukraine the next $2 billion worth of assistance in a $15 billion package that Mr. Yanukovych signed with the Kremlin in December, but which Moscow suspended when the Kiev protests did not abate. The unusually high-level reception accorded the opposition leaders by Berlin showed how closely Germany has been tracking Ukraine’s crisis, but also illustrated how little leverage Europe’s most powerful economy has had as the tug of war between Russia and the West has unfolded over Ukraine. Alexander Kwasniewski, the former Polish president who has been European Parliament’s special envoy to Ukraine and visited dozens of times in the past year, called the events in Kiev a “Ukrainian Tiananmen,” alluding to the 1989 Chinese military crackdown on demonstrators in Tiananmen Square in which hundreds were killed. In comments to Poland’s RMF radio, reported by the German news agency DPA, Mr. Kwasniewski also acknowledged that Europe was relatively powerless to influence events. “One can’t do much to stop the bloodshed,” he said. “Diplomatic acts are like a howl in the desert.” “I fear the thin red line has been crossed,” the former Polish president added, saying that the worst of all situations had now arisen, “where the government does not want to negotiate and the opposition does not have the strength to control all the action.”

U.S. Embracing EU Leadership On Ukraine It Recently Cursed

WASHINGTON, DC -- Two weeks weeks ago, Victoria Nuland, the top U.S. diplomat for Europe, apologized for using a profanity during an intercepted phone call as she criticized the European Union for not moving fast enough to address the crisis in Ukraine. Now the U.S. is looking to the EU to take the lead in formulating a tough response after the standoff between President Viktor Yanukovych and anti-government protesters exploded into violence yesterday, stirring talk of a civil war. Secretary of State John Kerry indicated the U.S. is preparing to follow the EU in weighing economic sanctions in response to Yanukovych’s crackdown, which undercut Western efforts to encourage a political compromise in Kiev. “We are talking about the possibility of sanctions or other steps with our friends in Europe and elsewhere in order to try to create the environment for compromise,” Kerry said today before a meeting in Paris with French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius. The German, French and Polish foreign ministers were to fly to Kiev today for talks with Yanukovych. Tomorrow, EU foreign ministers will meet in Brussels to weigh “all possible options,” including “restrictive measures against those responsible for repression,” EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton said in an e-mailed statement. The sanctions being considered include freezing some Ukrainian officials’ assets in European banks and barring their travel to much of Europe, Lithuanian Foreign Minister Linas Linkevicius said in an interview yesterday in Washington. Easing tensions at least temporarily, the government and the opposition agreed on a truce and to continue talks to stop the bloodshed, Yanukovych said today on his website after meeting opposition leaders. Late yesterday, the U.S. took a first step in response to the crackdown by barring about 20 Ukrainian government officials from obtaining U.S. visas because of connections to human-rights abuses, according to a State Department official who briefed reporters under rules requiring anonymity. While U.S. law prohibits disclosing the names, they represent the full civilian chain of command responsible for ordering this week’s crackdown, the official said. Roman Popadiuk, who was the first U.S. ambassador to Ukraine following its 1991 independence from the Soviet Union, said such restrictions put pressure on Ukrainian officials to “become a little more appropriate” in their actions. Last month, the U.S. revoked visas held by several Ukrainians allegedly linked to attacks on anti-government protesters late last year. Beyond sanctions, Popadiuk, a principal at Bingham Consulting LLC in Washington, said the U.S. could take the lead in developing an international financial assistance package to free Ukraine, which is dependent on Russian natural gas and financing, from Moscow’s economic leverage. By one measure, the EU’s economic stake in Ukraine is more than 16 times that of the U.S. The EU reported that two-way trade with Ukraine in 2012, the most recent figures posted on the European Commission website, was 38.4 billion euros ($52.81 billion). U.S. trade with Ukraine that year totaled $3.29 billion, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. The EU accounts for about a third of Ukraine’s external trade, with Russia the other large trade partner. The EU also is the major source of foreign direct investment in Ukraine -- although such investment has dropped by more than half in the three years of Yanukovych’s term, to $7 billion from $15 billion in 2008 and 2009, according to the state statistical office. The EU and the U.S. share a broad geopolitical concern that Russian President Vladimir Putin is seeking to lock Ukraine in Russia’s orbit even as many Ukrainians aspire to expand ties with the EU. The anti-government protests were sparked by Yanukovych’s November decision to back out of a pending free-trade pact with the EU in favor of ties with Russia, which offered $15 billion of aid and cheaper natural gas. EU officials were “shell shocked” by Yanukovych’s reversal and their policy drifted, which is what explains Nuland’s widely cited expletive, said Damon Wilson, executive vice president of the Atlantic Council, a research group in Washington. Events this week in the streets of Kiev have brought a “stiffening of the spine” in the EU, and coordinated EU-U.S. measures “seem to be falling into line,” said Wilson, who was senior director for European affairs at the National Security Council from 2007 to 2009. “Frankly, I think sanctions are long overdue from both Brussels and Washington,” he said in a phone interview. U.S. Vice President Joe Biden called Yanukovych yesterday to express “grave concern” over the violence and urge the government to exercise restraint. Ian Bremmer, president of the New York-based research firm Eurasia Group, said he sees the Biden call as a sign that President Barack Obama isn’t deeply engaged on the Ukraine issue.

Ukraine President Fires Military Chief Amid Calls For Government To End Violence

KIEV, Ukraine -- As fires burned in Kiev during a second night of deadly clashes between Ukraine dissidents and police, President Viktor Yanukovych fired his military chief and the military announced it could take part in a national anti-terrorist operation to restore order. The move, announced in a decree from Yanukovych, came a day after 26 people were killed and nearly 425 injured in clashes between police and protesters at the sprawling protest camp in central Kiev. The announcement boded ill for any reconciliation efforts between Yanukovych's government and the protesters who have demanded his resignation for nearly three months. Officials have often referred to the demonstrators as "terrorists." President Barack Obama said the U.S. condemns the violence in the strongest possible terms, and said the Ukraine military should not step into a situation that should be resolved by civilians, it was reported. The White House, hoping to reduce the escalating tensions, said it would like to see Russia become more involved and support efforts to find a truce between the two sides, the report said. Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke with Yanukovych overnight, his spokesman said, but added that Putin told him that it’s up to the Ukrainian government to end the bloodshed. Meanwhile, EU member states have reached a consensus about imposing sanctions on Ukrainian officials, Poland's deputy foreign minister Piotr Serafin told reporters Wednesday. European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said he expects the EU to adopt "targeted measures against those responsible for violence and use of excessive force." The protests began in late November after Yanukovych froze economical ties with the European Union in exchange for a $15 billion bailout from Russia, but the political maneuvering continued and Moscow later suspended its payments. Both Moscow and the West have been eager to gain influence over this former Soviet republic. The Kremlin said it put the latest disbursement of its bailout on hold amid uncertainty over Ukraine's future and what it described as a "coup attempt"; it criticized the West for the escalation of violence. The recent wave of street violence began Tuesday when protesters attacked police lines and set fires outside parliament, accusing Yanukovych of ignoring their demands to enact constitutional reforms that would limit the president's power — a key opposition demand. Parliament, dominated by his supporters, was stalling on taking up a constitutional reform to do so. On Wednesday morning, the center of Kiev was cordoned off by police, the subway was shut down and most shops on Kiev's main street were closed. But hundreds of Ukrainians still flocked to the opposition camp, some wearing balaclavas and armed with bats, others, in every-day clothes and with make-up on, carrying food to protesters. A group of young men and women poured petrol into plastic bottles, preparing fire bombs, while a volunteer walked past them distributing ham sandwiches to protesters from a tray. Another group of activists was busy crushing the pavement into pieces and into bags to fortify barricades. "The revolution turned into a war with the authorities," said Vasyl Oleksenko, 57, a retired geologist from central Ukraine, who said he fled the night's violence fearing for his life, but returned to the square in the morning, feeling ashamed. "We must fight this bloody, criminal leadership; we must fight for our country, our Ukraine." Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt echoed a similar sentiment, saying "President Yanukovych has blood on his hands." In the western Ukrainian city of Lviv, where most residents yearn for stronger ties with the EU and have little sympathy for Yanukovych, protesters seized several government buildings Tuesday, including the governor's office, police stations, prosecutors and security agency offices and the tax agency headquarters. They also broke into an Interior Ministry unit and set it on fire. The building was still smoldering Wednesday morning and some protesters were driving around town in police cars they had seized during the night. Ukraine’s Health Ministry said some of the people who died in the clashes Tuesday suffered gunshot wounds, and Kiev hospitals were struggling to treat hundreds of injured. Activists also set-up a makeshift medical unit inside an landmark Orthodox Church not far from the camp, where volunteer medics were taking care of the wounded. It was the deadliest day yet in the protests. Opposition leader Vitali Klitschko has urged the protesters to defend the camp. The government has imposed restrictions for transport moving toward Kiev, apparently to prevent more opposition activists from coming from Western part of the country, and at least one train from Lviv was held outside Kiev. Several highways toward into Kiev were also blocked by police. Vice President Joe Biden phoned Yanukovych Tuesday and urged him to pull back forces and address the protesters' "legitimate grievances." A State Department spokesman said Secretary of State John Kerry shared Biden's "grave concerns," adding, "Ukraine's deep divisions will not be healed by spilling more innocent blood." The State Department also issued a travel alert for U.S, citizens in Ukraine late Tuesday, saying, "The situation in Ukraine is unpredictable and could change quickly. Further violent clashes between police and protesters in (Kiev) and other cities are possible." Shortly before midnight, Klitschko headed to Yanukovych's office to try to resolve the crisis. But he returned to the square early Wednesday without reaching any agreement on ending the violence. Klitschko told reporters that he had asked the president to stop the police action to clear the square and prevent further deaths, but Yanukovych's only proposal was that the demonstrators have to go home and stop the protests. Still, Klitschko urged the protesters and police to stop the escalation of violence. He said opposition leader Arseniy Yatsenyuk was trying to arrange for more negotiations with Yanukovych later Wednesday. In a statement published online early Wednesday, Yanukovych said that he had already made several attempts to compromise, but that opposition leaders "crossed a line when they called people to arms." Yanukovych said opposition leaders had to "draw a boundary between themselves and radical forces," or else "acknowledge that they are supporting radicals. Then the conversation ... will already be of a different kind." Tensions soared after Russia said Monday that it was ready to resume providing the loans that Yanukovych's government needs to keep Ukraine's ailing economy afloat. This raised fears among the opposition that Yanukovych had made a deal with Moscow to stand firm against the protesters and would choose a Russian-leaning loyalist to be his new prime minister. The European Union has called a meeting of its 28 member countries on Thursday to address Ukraine, and could impose sanctions on the country's government, including travel bans targeting Ukraine’s leadership and the freezing of its assets. Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius told reporters Wednesday in a joint appearance with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry that he and his counterparts from Germany and Poland will travel to Ukraine ahead of the meeting to talk with government and opposition figures. The European Investment Bank also announced Wednesday that it has frozen its activities in Ukraine, which include the extension of a metro train line, modernization of air traffic control facilities and a credit line designed to fund projects.

Ukraine Truce Shattered, Death Toll Tops 50

KIEV, Ukraine -- Fresh fighting broke out in central Kiev on Thursday, shattering a truce declared by Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovich, as the Russian-backed leader met European ministers demanding he compromise with pro-EU opponents. A Reuters photographer saw the bodies of 21 dead civilians in Independence Square, a few hundred meters (yards) from where the president met the EU delegation, after protesters who have occupied the area for almost three months hurled petrol bombs and paving stones to drive riot police out of the plaza. The foreign ministers of Germany, France and Poland were to report back in Brussels later in the day to EU colleagues, who will decide on possible targeted sanctions against those deemed responsible for the bloodshed. Russia criticized the European and U.S. measures, saying they would only make matters worse. A Ukrainian presidential statement said dozens of police were killed or wounded during the opposition offensive hours after Yanukovich and opposition leaders had agreed on a truce. Witnesses said they saw snipers firing during the clashes. The Health Ministry said two police were among Thursday's dead. That raised the total death toll since Tuesday to at least 51, including at least 12 police - by far the bloodiest hours of Ukraine's 22-year post-Soviet history. Local media said more than 30 protesters were killed in Thursday's flare-up. The country is the object of a geopolitical tug-of-war between Moscow, which sees it as the historical cradle of Russian civilization, and the West, which says Ukrainians should be free to choose economic rapprochement with the EU. The renewed fighting, which subsided after about an hour, heightened concern voiced by neighboring Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk that Ukraine could descend into civil war or split between the pro-European West and Russian-speaking east. The EU ministers' meeting with Yanukovich was delayed for security reasons but began an hour late. They expected to present him with a mixture of sanctions and enticements to make a deal with his opponents that could end the bloodshed. A statement from Yanukovich's office said: "They (the protesters) are working in organized groups. They are using firearms, including sniper rifles. They are shooting to kill. "The number of dead and injured among police officers is dozens," the statement on the presidential website said. Opposition leader Vitaly Klitschko said on Sky TV: "As we can see the truce has broken." Television showed activists in combat fatigues leading several captured, uniformed policemen across the square. POLICE OFFICERS CAPTURED Activists who recaptured the square, known as Maidan or "Euro-Maidan" to the opposition, appeared to lead away several uniformed officers. Dozens of wounded protesters were being given makeshift first aid treatment in the lobby of the Ukraine Hotel, where many foreign correspondents are staying. Reporters said there were bullet holes in the walls and windows of the hotel overlooking the square. Both sides have accused the other of using live ammunition. "Black smoke, denotations and gunfire around presidential palace ... Officials panicky," tweeted Polish minister Radoslaw Sikorski to explain the delay in the meeting at Yanukovich's office, a few hundred meters from the square. Pro-EU activists have been keeping vigil there since the president turned his back on a trade pact with the bloc in November and accepted financial aid from Moscow. Russia, which has been holding back a new loan installment until it sees stability in Kiev, has condemned EU and U.S. support of the opposition demands that Yanukovich, elected in 2010, should share power and hold new elections. In an apparent criticism of Yanukovich's handling of the crisis, Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said on Thursday that Moscow could only cooperate fully with Ukraine when its leadership was in "good shape", Interfax news agency said. The crisis in the sprawling country of 46 million with an ailing economy and endemic corruption has mounted since Yanukovich, under pressure from the Kremlin, took a $15-billion Russian bailout instead of a wide-ranging deal with the EU. The United States stepped up pressure on Wednesday by imposing travel bans on 20 senior Ukrainian officials, and European Union foreign ministers are due to meet in Brussels later on Thursday to consider similar measures. A statement on Yanukovich's website announced an accord late on Wednesday with opposition leaders for "the start to negotiations with the aim of ending bloodshed, and stabilizing the situation in the state in the interest of social peace". Responding cautiously, U.S. President Barack Obama deemed the truce a "welcome step forward", but said he would monitor the situation closely to "ensure that actions mirror words". "Our approach in the United States is not to see these as some Cold War chessboard in which we're in competition with Russia," Obama said after a North American summit in Mexico. At Russia's Winter Olympics in Sochi some members of Ukraine's team have decided to leave because of the violence at home, the International Olympic Committee said on Thursday. Protesters were in a truculent mood despite the overnight lull and columns of men, bearing clubs and chanting patriotic songs headed to Independence Square at 8:30 a.m. (0130 ET). "What truce? There is no truce! It is simply war ahead of us! They are provoking us. They throw grenades at us. Burn our homes. We have been here for three months and during that time nothing burned," said 23-year-old Petro Maksimchuk. "These are not people. They are killers. Sanctions will not help. They all should be sent into isolation in Siberia." Serhiy, a 55-year-old from the western city of Lviv who declined to give his surname, added: "It is bad that Ukraine is already broken into two parts. In the west the police and army are with us but in the east, they are against us. "It is the 'Yanukovichers' who are dividing us." In Lviv, a bastion of Ukrainian nationalism since Soviet times, the regional assembly declared autonomy from Yanukovich and his administration, which many west Ukrainians see as much closer to Moscow and to Ukraine's Russian-speaking east. Yanukovich, who replaced the head of the armed forces, had denounced the bloodshed in central Kiev as an attempted coup. His security service said launched a nationwide "anti-terrorist operation" after arms and ammunition dumps were looted. The EU ministers were expected to consider a series of possible steps including asset freezes and travel bans, even though diplomats doubt the are effective. Jumping out ahead of its EU allies, Washington imposed U.S. visa bans on 20 government officials it considered "responsible for ordering human rights abuses related to political oppression", a State Department official said. "These individuals represent the full chain of command we consider responsible for ordering the security forces to move against" the protesters, the official said. EU officials said Yanukovich himself would be excluded from such measures in order to keep channels of dialogue open. Diplomats said the threat of sanctions could also target assets held in the West by Ukrainian business oligarchs who have either backed Yanukovich or are sitting on the fence. Russian President Vladimir Putin, who has met Yanukovich six times since the crisis began, has kept quiet on the flare-up. But Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov blamed the West for inciting opposition radicals and called the threat of sanctions blackmail. Ukraine's hryvnia currency, flirting with its lowest levels since the global financial crisis five years ago, weakened again on Thursday. Possibly due to the risk of sanctions, three of Ukraine's richest magnates have stepped up pressure on Yanukovich to hold back from using force. "There are no circumstances which justify the use of force toward the peaceful population," steel and coal magnate Rinat Akhmetov, who bankrolled Yanukovich's 2010 election campaign said in a statement late on Tuesday.

Sochi games: Georgia protests as Russia expands border zone

Georgia has protested after Russia temporarily expanded its Olympic security zone into the breakaway Georgian territory of Abkhazia. It said Russia had created the new zone, 11km (seven miles) inside Abkhazia, for the duration of the Winter Olympic Games in nearby Sochi. The Georgian government expressed "deep concern" over the "illegal expansion". Russia is one of the few countries to recognise Abkhazia as a sovereign state since it broke away from Georgia. It is conducting the biggest security operation in the history of the Olympics for Sochi, which is less than 40km along the Black Sea coast from Abkhazia. The main threat of terrorist attack is seen as coming from Islamist militants based in the Caucasus Mountains. Abkhaz security forces will patrol the new border zone and local residents will have to carry ID cards at all time. Abkhazia and fellow breakaway Georgian region South Ossetia receive financial support from Moscow and are under Russia's military protection. Russia and Georgia have had no diplomatic relations since their brief war in 2008 over South Ossetia, although economic ties have partially been restored since the change of government in Georgia in 2012. While Russian officials did not confirm the border move, the Georgian foreign ministry said it would last until 21 March, when the Olympic Games and Paralympic Games are over.

Moscow school shooting: Student held after killing two

An armed student who entered a school in Moscow and shot dead two adults before taking more than 20 teenagers hostage has been arrested. Police said the student had killed one officer and a teacher. Another policeman was shot and injured. The hostages were freed after the student's father went in to the school. Russian President Vladimir Putin has described the incident as "tragic", while Moscow's mayor called for a review of school security. In comments at a meeting with theatre workers in the city of Pskov, Mr Putin suggested improved arts education could help prevent such incidents. "A new generation of spectators with good artistic taste should be brought up - capable of understanding and appreciating theatrical, dramatic and musical arts," he said. "Had we been doing this properly, maybe there would have been no tragedies similar to today's tragedy in Moscow." The gunman was a pupil at School No 263 on the northern outskirts of Moscow. Russian investigators named him as Sergei Gordeyev, and said he was an excellent student who appeared to have had an "emotional breakdown". He was armed with two rifles legally owned by his father. Vladimir Markin, a spokesman for Russia's main investigative agency, said a school security guard had been unable to stop Gordeyev from entering the school when he arrived carrying the weapons. But the guard did manage to hit an alarm before following the student to his classroom, he said. Gordeyev shot dead a geography teacher before locking more than 20 10th grade students - aged about 15 - inside a classroom. He then fired at least 11 shots at police officers who had responded to the alarm, wounding one and killing another, Mr Markin said, in the statement quoted by Russian news agencies. The stand-off was resolved when the student's father was called to the school; wearing a bullet-proof vest, he went into the building to speak to his son. The hostages were freed unharmed and all children and teachers were evacuated from the school. Soon after, the student was disarmed and taken into custody. Moscow's Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said he had "made a decision to conduct a complete review of how our school security system is working, and to take additional steps". chool shootings are incredibly rare in Russia. In the worst ever such incident, Chechen separatists took over a school in Beslan, North Ossetia, holding more than 1,000 people hostage. More than 300 people, mostly children, were killed as security forces stormed the school to end the siege. The latest incident comes amid heightened security across Russia as the country prepares to host the Winter Olympics in Sochi, in the far south, next week. Last month, 34 people were killed in two bomb attacks in the southern city of Volgograd. That incident was blamed on Islamist militants based in the Caucasus republics of Dagestan.

Suspected Volgograd bombing mastermind killed,

A suspected mastermind of twin bomb attacks in the Russian city of Volgograd was killed in a police operation in the restive North Caucasus republic of Dagestan, state media reported Wednesday. The man died in a shootout at a house in the town of Izberbash. Russia bombing suspects identified Olympic chief: Security our top priority One accomplice surrendered to police, but others were killed alongside the suspected mastermind. The attacks on Volgograd's public transit system in late December, which killed 34 people and injured about 100, shocked Russia and fueled security concerns ahead of the Sochi Winter Olympics. 57% of Americans think terror attack likely at Sochi Games One bombing targeted the city's main train station and the second, carried out within 24 hours, hit a trolley bus. Two other people were arrested last week on suspicion of transporting the suicide bombers to Volgograd. Russian security forces have carried out a number of operations in Dagestan in recent weeks. The southern republic is the hotbed of an ongoing Islamist insurgency blamed for previous terror attacks in Russia.

Massacre in Kiev: Riots go out of control

he U.S. accused the government of Ukraine of escalating violence in Kiev, where intense clashes between protesters and riot police took place on Sunday. The riots on January 19 became the largest during two months of the so-called Euromaidan. Thousands of protesters tried to break through police cordons to government and parliament buildings; a "provocative" attack on Berkut riot police officers was committed. In response, the police was forced to use tear gas, water cannons and stun grenades. About 100 people were hospitalized with gas poisoning. Many police officers suffered injuries too; about 40 of them were hospitalized, one was taken hostage. The latter was released and sent to hospital as well. A criminal case, entailing a punishment of up to 15 years, was filed into the fact of the riots. "We are deeply concerned by the violence taking place today on the streets of Kyiv and urge all sides to immediately de-escalate the situation. The increasing tension in Ukraine is a direct consequence of the government failing to acknowledge the legitimate grievances of its people. Instead, it has moved to weaken the foundations of Ukraine's democracy by criminalizing peaceful protest and stripping civil society and political opponents of key democratic protections under the law. We urge the Government of Ukraine to take steps that represent a better way forward for Ukraine, including repeal of the anti-democratic legislation signed into law in recent days, withdrawing the riot police from downtown Kyiv, and beginning a dialogue with the political opposition," NSC spokesperson Caitlin Hayden said. "From its first days, the Maidan movement has been defined by a spirit of non-violence and we support today's call by opposition political leaders to reestablish that principle. The U.S. will continue to consider additional steps - including sanctions - in response to the use of violence," she added. Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych, who had had a meeting with UDAR Party chairman, Vitali Klitschko, expressed willingness to engage in a dialogue with the opposition. According to Klitschko, Yanukovych promised to set up a commission of representatives of his administration, cabinet of ministers and opposition leaders to find a solution to the crisis in the country. Klitschko announced earlier on Sunday that the opposition considered illegal the laws adopted by the majority in the Parliament and signed by the President. The "no-laws," as he said, included the one that toughened the rules for holding rallies. Klitschko demanded early parliamentary and presidential elections. The officials, who execute these laws, should be removed from power, the leader of Freedom Party, Oleg Tyagnibok said. For the time being, events in the country show that the political crisis has been exacerbating, observers say. Meanwhile, spokespeople for the Party of Regions believe that the opposition has lost control over the protests, and the authorities may now resort to drastic measures to restore law order in the country. Large clashes between the opposition and the police sparked yesterday, on January 19, in Kiev. Over 100 people were injured in the clashes. Many were hospitalized with head injuries, bruises, fractures and poisoning from toxic substances, according to Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine. It was also said that the protesters destroyed about six police vehicles: 4 buses, a truck and a water jet. The police detained about 10 most active participants of the clashes. The conflict with the police began on Grushevsky Streets on January 19. Most aggressive individuals started throwing stones and Molotov cocktails at law enforcers and set fire to several police vehicles. Policemen used water cannons, gas grenades and rubber bullets against demonstrators. The so-called Euromaidan started in Kiev on November 21, 2013. The protest actions began after President Yanukovych refused to sign an association agreement with the EU.

Slowly but surely, Russia recovers its military power

Today, there is practically nothing left from the military-industrial complex of the USSR, which still strikes imagination of many historians around the world. The collapse of the Soviet military complex occurred after conversion and separation of the republics, where Soviet defense industry companies were located. Will Russia be able to bring back its erstwhile defense power? Twenty years ago, the system of defense enterprises vanished. The Soviet defense industry accounted, according to various estimates, for 40 percent of the economy of the USSR. State orders for the production of arms in 1992 decreased eight times. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, the need in a powerful defense industry similar to the one of the socialist period, was gone. The countries that previously were regarded as opponents, started to turn into partners. Russia's transition to the market economy led to military conversion, when many industrial companies were either transferred to the civilian sector or reconstructed in large corporations and given to private hands. It would seem that a lot of time has passed since the collapse of the USSR, and the military and industrial complex of Russia was supposed to adjust itself to working conditions in a new state. However, Russia still has to collect its fragments in former Soviet republics. The question of defense industry cooperation became especially important at the time when Ukraine announced association intentions with the EU. Although the agreement was not signed in the autumn of 2013, Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych decided not to step away from the path of European integration - he only suspended the talks. In this regard, spokespeople for the Russian Ministry for Industry and Trade expressed serious concerns for the Russian defense industry and set up an expert group to analyze adequate risks. It is quite obvious that the continuation of cooperation between Russia and Ukraine in the sphere of defense industry would jeopardize the national security of the Russian Federation, even though the EU has no intention to limit this relationship between the two countries. The Russian authorities made a good decision to give an interest-bearing loan to Ukraine and conclude a number of agreements on this background. In fact, Viktor Yanukovych and Vladimir Putin discussed the use of Ukrainian defense industry for the needs of the armed forces of the Russian Federation, which somewhat alleviated Russia's anxiety about the defense industry of its own. Chief editor of National Defense magazine, Igor Korotchenko, told Pravda.Ru that it was vital for Russia to strengthen partnership with only two countries - Belarus and Ukraine. "We have two states that have powerful military and industrial complexes. They are Ukraine and Belarus. The countries that remain hostile to Russia - the Baltic States and Georgia - fortunately, have no defense industries that Russia would be interesting in. Therefore, we will be building the policy of cooperation with only two countries - Belarus and Ukraine. I think that there are very good prospects at this point. As for Belarus, we have no problems with them at all. I also hope that the emerging policy of political and economic rapprochement between Kiev and Moscow will give birth to a number of large orders for the Ukrainian defense industry, that will work in the interests of the Russian Federation," Vladimir Korotchenko told Pravda.Ru. During the Soviet times, the powerful military-industrial complex embraced both the regions of modern-day Russia and the republics of Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan. In many of these areas, military companies of the USSR became town- forming ones with civilized neighborhoods built around them. Defense enterprises were created on the basis of national integrity, taking into account the need to provide jobs to people. When integrity was no longer a priority, and the foreign policy of breakaway republics changed under the pressure of world leaders and various circumstances, many production facilities were shut down for good. That, however, was no longer a concern for Russia. "In fact, the republics that became separate states (except, perhaps, for Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan) became quasi-states, failed independent countries that had completely lost their military complexes as corporations created in the Soviet Union," vice president of the Russian Academy of Geopolitical Problems, political scientist Vladimir Anokhin said in an interview with Pravda.Ru. "In my opinion, it is only Russia that now realizes the seriousness of creating a military-industrial complex. Everyone else have two ways to go: either become importers of military products of other countries, or find cooperative relations with Russia to act as participants in the creation of military and technical complexes. Presently, I do not see any republic, except for Ukraine, of course, that could fully cooperate with Russia in terms of defense. Therefore, the entire military-industrial complex of other former Soviet republics was actually plundered, destroyed and sold," the expert added. In recent years, Russia's defense spending has grown along with the volume of state orders. The industry began to move in 1998, when production began to show growth through private investment. Nowadays, the situation has been showing even more obvious changes for the better. In 2008, the federal budget allocated 800 billion rubles for military- industrial needs, in 2009 - one billion more than that, in 2010 - treasury allocated 1.1 trillion of investment. "Now Putin tries to put Russia back on the way of development. He tries to pull other countries through the Eurasian vector of Russian politics too, - President of the Academy of Geopolitical Problems of the Russian Federation, Doctor of History, Colonel General Leonid Ivashov told Pravda.Ru.. - As they say, let's hope it happens. But all these 20 years, even since Gorbachev - 25 years, were a historic zigzag: we were going ahead and then turned in the opposite direction." The development of public and private partnership in defense industry has been a topic for discussion lately. Should Russian businesses be granted access to the nation's defense industry, it will help solve such important tasks as technical upgrade of defense enterprises and the development of promising and breakthrough technologies, without which the creation of a reliable and powerful military-industrial complex is impossible. Military analyst of the Komsomolskaya Pravda newspaper, former head of the press service of the Ministry of Defense, retired colonel Victor Barantsev told Pravda.Ru: "Slowly but surely, we have been creating unified military space. We already have a group with Belarus, we now have a common air defense system with Kazakhstan, we have strategic interests in Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan. Russia is doing its best to stimulate the military-industrial enterprises that work on the territory of former Soviet republics. With every year, we connect these republics to the Russian defense industry stronger." According to Victor Barantsev, Russia must continue to move in this direction, because this is a basis for the Collective Security Treaty and global military strategic interests in general.

European Union still too much confused about Russia's Customs Union

Russia is set to erase trade boundaries between EurAsEC countries and the European Union. Free trade zone negotiations are underway, although the implementation of the idea is associated with many difficulties, Russian President Putin admitted. Experts believe that it would be easier to make these plans real if the European Union had a different attitude to the Customs Union. Vladimir Putin, at the summit EU-Russia, proposed to establish a free trade zone between the EU and the Eurasian Economic Union. The president admitted that the initiative was difficult to implement, although the creation of a free trade area would be highly appropriate. "It is important to start an appropriate expert dialogue," said Putin and invited the Europeans to study the question. It should be noted that this initiative receives positive reactions. Such cooperation would be beneficial not only to members of the Eurasian Economic Community, but also to the European Union. There are hundreds of free trade zones in the world, ensuring significant increase in turnover to participating countries. For example, there are no trade barriers between the U.S., Canada and Mexico (North American Free Trade Area, or NAFTA); the Baltic countries trade with each other freely (Baltic FTA), Eastern countries (Bangladesh, India, Laos, Republic of Korea and Sri Lanka), Australia and New Zealand and so on. And, of course, there is the European Free Trade Association, with which the Russian leadership was expecting a merger. At the same time, Russia, Belarus, Ukraine, Armenia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova already have a free trade agreement (FTA CIS) that was signed on 18 October 2011. "There are hundreds of free trade zones in the world. They are advantageous because trade barriers are eliminated, import duties are zeroed, and this is beneficial to both parties at some stage, under certain conditions. Naturally, negotiations have to be conducted before such a zone is created," Alexei Portansky, a professor at the Faculty of World Economy and International Politics at the Higher School of Economics, told Pravda.Ru. He is confident that there is a long way to go to implement the above-mentioned initiatives when it comes to Europe and the Eurasian Economic Community. However, Russia is not going to stop at the EU. In the short term, Russia may get rid of trade barriers with New Zealand and create similar barter conditions with Vietnam. They are the countries, with which free trade area negotiations are in full swing. Russia reportedly received similar requests from 35 countries, including from Central and South Americas and Arab states. There is nothing outlandish in the desire to expand trade with other countries, thereby to enhance economic development, and the Russian market, enormous in its potential, is very attractive for importers from all over the globe. Will Russia receive nothing but benefits from the reduction of trade barriers? "The problem is that a free trade area is a double-edged sword, - the head of the Laboratory for the Study of Market Economy of the Faculty of Economics, Andrei Kalganov said. - On the one hand, it activates the flow of goods, and on the other hand, it intensifies competition. In this sense, one should treat such measures with caution, because the competitiveness of the Russian economy is not high enough. In case a free trade area is created, Russia may suffer damage both from competition with cheaper products from less developed countries and from competition with better quality goods from developed countries." Indeed, in order to get a quality exchange of goods, one must have a good export potential. Russia already has a bitter experience of joining the WTO at the time of decline in domestic production. If we assume for a moment that trade barriers are removed, and European goods will pour into Russia at more affordable prices, then the idea of the FTA does not look so positive at all. The situation is the same with other members of the Customs Union, particularly Kazakhstan and Belarus. Will the domestic production of Russia's allies in the Customs Union endure competition with European goods? "This is a complex question. Like I said, this measure is a double-edged sword. It can bring benefits, but can also bring increased competitive pressure from more powerful countries in economic terms," says Kalganov. However, the leadership of Belarus and Kazakhstan in particular do not worry much about the influx of foreign goods - it is evidenced by their desire to join the WTO as soon as possible. Thus, Belarus hopes to join the worldwide organization in 2015. Kazakhstan is eager to become a WTO member too. Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev asked the EU leadership to accelerate the process of negotiations on Kazakhstan's accession to the organization. Vice Minister for Economy and Budget Planning, Timur Zhaksylykov, announced that it could happen as early as 2014. Thus, Customs Union members do not worry much about the problem of increased competition. WTO accession, however, is a separate issue of a each certain country, whereas all members of the Customs Union seek the creation of a free trade zone with the EU. This is where, according to Alexei Portansky, the main problem arises. "The EU does not recognize our Customs Union yet, so they do not understand whom they can build a free trade zone with. If it were with Russia, it would be more or less clear. As for the Customs Union, there are many problems inside the union, which is essential for Europe ... So they are not ready in legal terms to build relationships with our Customs Union," Professor Portansky said. Nevertheless, Putin clearly stated that the rapprochement with Europe would be taking place exclusively within the EurAsEC and stressed out that European and Eurasian integration processes did not contradict to each other.

Siberia to become the center of the universe

A bold initiative of the development of the Far East and Siberia threatens to turn into a transformation of the remote Russian regions into an energy and raw material appendage. A well-known economist and head of the analytical department of the Alpari agency Alexander Razuvaev is convinced that nothing would attract investors better than the raw materials segment. Alexander, you are saying that investors will come primarily to the minerals extraction sector. But when we talk about the development of the Far East and Siberia, we mean the socio-economic recovery of the region. Is it possible to shift from the raw materials industry to the development of other sectors of the economy of these regions, such as fishing or agriculture? Can these lands be used for something other than extraction, can they be developed somehow? "There are different margins here. Fishing in the Soviet era was a very profitable industry. Then all the money and the entire fleet have sailed away. As for the rest, it can be done, but it is still not comparable in terms of profits. Relatively speaking, the proceeds of Rosneft last year were $160 billion. This is roughly the size of the entire economy of Ukraine, and is slightly less than the size of the economy of Kazakhstan. When developing something, we must think not only about wages, about these areas, but also how cost-effective it is for the budget and for the country. Oil and gas are more than profitable. Incidentally, the Chinese have contacted "Gazprom." What took them so long? They wanted to see what the Americans achieve in terms of shale gas revolution. They have decided that there was no clarity yet, and that the Americans will not create anything interesting. The Chinese decided nevertheless to refocus on Russian traditional supplies. Again, we must understand that Russia is pursuing oil and gas production by conventional methods, respectively, Russia, unlike the United States, does not have environmental risks." But the Chinese have plenty of their own resources they are happy to use, I'm talking about coal. Coal is supplied to the Russian market from China in large quantities. Meanwhile, in Siberia we have enough Russian coal. Wouldn't it be more profitable for us to mine our own coal and abandon Chinese imports? "This is not only a question of politics but, above all, profitability. There used to be a time when Russian coal companies were doing well, but now it is a question of profitability. We must understand that our economy is stagnant, and, accordingly, it makes demand for energy resources stagnant. That is, if we look at the production of electrical power, it is falling. Why? Because the industrial production has stagnated, and if we take metallurgy, it is generally falling as well. Metallurgy used to consume a lot of electricity. Now it is consuming much less. We are hopeful that the situation will change, and when it does change, we will think about it." There are frequent talks about moving the capital from Central Russia to Siberia. Do you think it is possible? "From my point of view, there is politics, and there is economy. What is politics? If we do form a Eurasian Union, we should consider that Belarus is still small compared to Kazakhstan. If we rightly consider NATO and Europe a hostile unit, the capital should be somewhere in the middle, right? There is, of course, the question of Slavic brotherhood (in my opinion, it is very controversial), because a third of Ukrainians fought on the side of the Reich. They shot down our planes during the Georgian war in 2008; they fought against us in Chechnya. Our Slavic brothers Bulgarians fought against us on Hitler's side. I think that the Russian state was not founded by Svyatoslav, Princess Olga and Vladimir the Red Sun like classical textbooks tell us, but it was likely founded by Alexander Nevsky and Batu Khan. That is, Russia is a continuation of the Horde. It is no accident that Ukrainians call us the Mongols. If we act based on this assumption, the capital should be somewhere in the east. Again, many countries (a classic example is Kazakhstan) have created their capitals from scratch. I believe that the capital should be an ancient site, sacred, comparable with Moscow and St. Petersburg. I think the best capital would be Tobolsk. Tobolsk was the capital of Siberia, and then for a large bribe of Siberian merchants the capital was moved to Tyumen. Tobolsk has a lot to offer. This is a very ancient city. It's small, but just right if we want to make it the administrative center. Well, this is more about politics or ideology, but from an economic standpoint, should the capital be transferred to Siberia? The economy largely determines politics. If we're talking about money, Asian demand is very important now. The Soviet Union that sought global expansion was forced to tie its export flows to Europe, because at the time, in 1970s, it was nearly the center of the world. I think future center of the world in the 21st century is Asia. Accordingly, for this economic expansion, for the supply of raw materials, we need to move ideology and capital towards Asia.

Russians understand freedom of speech as freedom to say anything

Well-known journalist and TV host Vladimir Pozner said in an interview that it was "disgraceful," when the venue for the briefing of EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Catherine Ashton in Kiev was hidden from Russian reporters last week. "What is your attitude to what happened in Kiev? Russian journalists were not only allowed to the briefing, but their colleagues from other countries were told not to share any information about the topics and the place of the press conference with them." "I think it was a disgraceful and totally unacceptable attitude towards journalists." "Do you know any incidents, when foreign journalists were not allowed to press conferences of senior Russian officials?" "No, I do not know any." "Is there a difference in understanding of freedom of speech in Russia and in the West?" "There is a difference, definitely. In Russia, they understand freedom of speech as a right to say whatever they want. Freedom is generally understood as freedom. "In the West, freedom of speech necessarily involves responsibility. At the end of the 1920s, Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr., an Associate Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, said that people do not have a right to scream "Fire!" in a crowded movie theater just because they want to. Is this a restriction of freedom of speech, the judge asked? Yes, he replied, and this restriction is called responsibility. "In Russia, understanding of freedom of speech is completely different. As to freedom in general, the Russian understanding of freedom can be described with a saying "I do what I want." In the West, it is different, namely, the freest person is the most responsible one. This means that freedom stipulates not only "I do what I want to do", but also "I do what has to be done." "The most irresponsible person is a person, who is anything but free, a slave, who has no responsibility at all, for whom the owner is responsible."

U.S. And Europe Work On Aid Package For Ukraine

BERLIN, Germany -- Looking to defuse Ukraine’s crisis, the United States and Europe are trying to assemble a financial package that could ease the path for a new government there to guide the country out of its current impasse between Europe and Russia, American and European officials say. The diplomatic push involves regular contact with government and opposition leaders in Ukraine, which has been embroiled in months of turmoil since its president, Viktor F. Yanukovych, rejected political and free-trade accords with Europe and accepted a $15 billion loan package from Moscow. If that initial snub left the European Union looking outmaneuvered, Mr. Yanukovych now appears more embattled. Last week, in the face of unrelenting street protests, the president was forced to make concessions to his opponents, including sacrificing his pro-Moscow prime minister, who resigned. That prompted the Kremlin to suspend the promised loans, after having disbursed just $3 billion. The Russian president’s suspension of his aid package to Ukraine last Wednesday, a signal of his displeasure at Mr. Yanukovych’s talks with his opponents, may also provide a chance for the Americans and Europeans to take up an economic lever that Ukraine desperately needs as it faces default on its debts. On Monday, José Manuel Barroso, president of the European Commission, the European Union’s executive body, said that the bloc was trying to help Ukraine, but denied that there was any direct competition with Russia. “We are not going to a bidding competition of who pays more for a signature from Ukraine, because we believe that this is the path that most Ukrainians prefer,” Mr. Barroso said in Brussels. “They want to come closer to the European Union, and certainly we are ready to support that.” Senior American and European officials, speaking in Berlin and on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference last weekend, said they would try to assemble a financial package to help a new government, though one led by an opposition leader or a technocrat. The diplomatic effort appears aimed to help the Ukrainian leader and his opponents reach an agreement in their negotiations that would give Ukraine a government of experts, possibly led by an opposition leader, Arseniy P. Yatsenyuk, as well as a leadership that would be acceptable to protesters who have been on the streets for more than two months. At the same time, the negotiations appear intended to allow Mr. Yanukovych to serve out his term, which ends in the spring next year, albeit with reduced constitutional powers. As part of the inducements, the financial package by the Western officials, if a new government is approved, would be intended to get the highly indebted country through a transition period and allow it to carry out an economic overhaul that is a prerequisite for receiving a long-delayed loan from the International Monetary Fund. All involved emphasized that given the volatility of Ukraine’s politics since the country gained independence from the Soviet Union in 1991, there is no guarantee of success. Moscow remains an important player, bound by centuries of history to Kiev, and is Ukraine’s chief energy provider. Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr., Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany and Mr. Barroso have been in daily, rotating contact with Mr. Yanukovych since Kiev turned violent after the passage of tough laws against protesters on Jan. 16, officials said. Those laws were overturned by a parliamentary vote last week, but progress on an amnesty law for jailed protesters was then stymied by Mr. Yanukovych’s suddenly taking a sick leave. He returned to work on Monday. A stream of Western officials have visited Kiev or made their concern known to Ukrainian and Russian officials. Catherine Ashton, the European Union’s foreign policy chief, was scheduled to return there on Tuesday, while Victoria Nuland, the assistant secretary of state for European and Eurasian affairs, will visit the Ukrainian capital on Thursday. Any aid package “is very much a work in progress,” Maja Kocijancic, a spokeswoman for Ms. Ashton, said on Monday. During the Munich conference, Secretary of State John Kerry and senior aides met with the Ukrainian opposition figures Vitali Klitschko, Petro Poroshenko and Mr. Yatsenyuk, as did the German foreign minister, Frank-Walter Steinmeier. Mr. Klitschko, a former heavyweight boxer whose name has been on a column in Germany’s biggest-selling newspaper, Bild, since Ukraine’s revolt erupted, received an ovation after speaking to the conference — in contrast to the stony silence that greeted the Russian foreign minister, Sergey V. Lavrov, and his Ukrainian counterpart, Leonid Kozhara. Late last month, Mr. Yatsenyuk turned down an offer from the Ukrainian president to serve as prime minister, citing the need for real power over the flailing national economy. In the carousel that has been Ukrainian politics, Mr. Yatsenyuk has already served as foreign and economy minister and governor of the central bank. In an interview in December, he made plain that 12 years of dealing with Mr. Yanukovych had convinced him that the president was a tactician who would never voluntarily relinquish power, and would say or promise anything in maneuvering to keep it. However, the president’s room for such moves has narrowed, and it is in that space that foreign officials and the forces in Ukraine are seeking a solution to stave off more violence and economic pain in the country of 46 million people. Any financial package would be crucial, given Moscow’s offer of a sizable sum to Kiev after its rejection of the agreement with Europe. “These discussions are just at the beginning,” one European official said in Munich, adding that Mr. Yanukovych was “still playing for time,” despite last week’s blunt demand from the German foreign minister to stop moving so slowly.