BRUSSELS, Belgium -- European Union governments may agree to impose personal sanctions on more Russian-backed rebels on Monday in response to a separatist vote in eastern Ukraine, but are unlikely to discuss new steps against Russia itself until mid-December, officials said.
EU foreign ministers discussed how to respond to the Nov. 2 separatist election, which they say has no legal basis, as well as ways to launch reforms in Ukraine and engage Russia in finding a solution to the conflict.
"We will discuss what will be the best option today to react to the so-called elections on November 2, which we all said were illegal and illegitimate and might require some reaction from the European Union's side," EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini told reporters on arrival for the talks.
Ministers are expected to agree to add more Russian-backed separatists to a list of people banned from entering the European Union and those whose EU assets are frozen.
But ministers remain divided on the need for tougher economic sanctions on Russia, despite NATO's assertions - denied by Moscow - that Russia has sent tanks and troops to eastern Ukraine in recent days.
EU countries such as the Baltic states, Britain, Poland and Sweden have consistently pushed for tougher sanctions while countries such as Austria, Greece and Cyprus are reluctant.
Czech Foreign Minister Lubomir Zaoralek said his country was ready to support sanctions on people but new economic sanctions against Russia were only likely to be discussed by European leaders at their next summit on December 18 and 19.
Polish Foreign Minister Grzegorz Schetyna said the EU should start preparations now so leaders could quickly take tough sanctions on Russia if Moscow acted aggressively in Ukraine.
In a sign of the strained relations between Moscow and the 28-nation EU, Russia said several of its diplomats had been expelled from Poland and that a number of Polish diplomats had been ordered to leave Russia in response.
An international rights group said on Monday Russia should investigate increasing accusations of human rights abuses against Ukrainian activists and Muslim Tatars in the newly annexed territory of Crimea.
"In the past eight months, the de facto authorities in Crimea have limited free expression, restricted peaceful assembly, and intimidated and harassed those who have opposed Russia's actions in Crimea," Human Rights Watch said in a 37-page report.
Monday 17 November 2014
Dutch Investigators Collect Debris From Malaysian Plane Downed Over Ukraine
DONETSK, Ukraine -- Investigators on Sunday began winching large pieces of wreckage from the Malaysia Airlines passenger jet shot down over Ukraine last summer onto trucks to transport them back to the Netherlands, the Dutch Safety Board announced in The Hague.
The Dutch investigators said that they could not predict how long the operation would last, but that it would take at least several days.
Ever since Flight 17 was shot down in July en route from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, killing all 298 people on board, fighting in the area has interrupted attempts to study the wreckage.
But the race against time has become more pressing as investigators try to finish their work before winter sets in and snow blankets the area.
The current plan is to collect as much wreckage as possible near the crash site, then take it to an airport in the eastern city of Kharkiv for a flight back to the Netherlands, the statement said.
The safety board plans to reconstruct a section of the aircraft as part of its investigation.
Investigators were working with observers from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe as well as representatives of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic, which controls many of the fields and villages where debris landed.
In the meantime, the accusations and counteraccusations continue over who shot down the plane.
The general explanation in the West is that separatists wielding a Russian-supplied surface-to-air missile brought down the Boeing 777, mistaking it for one of the Ukrainian military aircraft they had shot down in previous weeks.
The rebels deny any role in the downing, and Moscow has long said that it does not arm the separatists.
Two Russian state television stations broadcast a video over the weekend that they said proved Russia’s claim that a Ukrainian fighter plane had fired the deadly projectile that brought the plane down.
Some Russian bloggers denounced the video as a crude fake.
The preliminary report by Dutch investigators released in September said that the plane had been peppered with “high-energy objects,” but it did not assign blame.
The Dutch investigators said that they could not predict how long the operation would last, but that it would take at least several days.
Ever since Flight 17 was shot down in July en route from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, killing all 298 people on board, fighting in the area has interrupted attempts to study the wreckage.
But the race against time has become more pressing as investigators try to finish their work before winter sets in and snow blankets the area.
The current plan is to collect as much wreckage as possible near the crash site, then take it to an airport in the eastern city of Kharkiv for a flight back to the Netherlands, the statement said.
The safety board plans to reconstruct a section of the aircraft as part of its investigation.
Investigators were working with observers from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe as well as representatives of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic, which controls many of the fields and villages where debris landed.
In the meantime, the accusations and counteraccusations continue over who shot down the plane.
The general explanation in the West is that separatists wielding a Russian-supplied surface-to-air missile brought down the Boeing 777, mistaking it for one of the Ukrainian military aircraft they had shot down in previous weeks.
The rebels deny any role in the downing, and Moscow has long said that it does not arm the separatists.
Two Russian state television stations broadcast a video over the weekend that they said proved Russia’s claim that a Ukrainian fighter plane had fired the deadly projectile that brought the plane down.
Some Russian bloggers denounced the video as a crude fake.
The preliminary report by Dutch investigators released in September said that the plane had been peppered with “high-energy objects,” but it did not assign blame.
Putin Warns He Won’t Let Ukraine Defeat Eastern Rebels
MOSCOW, Russia -- Russian President Vladimir Putin warned he won’t allow rebels in eastern Ukraine to be defeated by government forces as European Union ministers met to consider imposing more sanctions on the separatists.
“You want the Ukrainian central authorities to annihilate everyone there, all of their political foes and opponents,” Putin said in an interview yesterday with Germany’s ARD television.
“Is that what you want? We certainly don’t. And we won’t let it happen.”
German Chancellor Angela Merkel said yesterday the EU will keep its economic sanctions on Russia “for as long as they are needed.”
EU foreign ministers convened today in Brussels to discuss adding to sanctions that have limited access to capital markets for some Russian banks and companies and blacklisted officials involved in the conflict.
New measures will likely target pro-Russian separatist leaders, the EU said.
“Sanctions in themselves are not an objective, they can be an instrument if they come together with other measures,” European Union foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini told reporters before the meeting.
She said the EU’s three-track strategy consists of sanctions, encouragement of reforms in Ukraine and dialogue with Russia.
Six Ukrainian soldiers were killed and nine were wounded in fighting over the past 24 hours, military spokesman Colonel Andriy Lysenko told reporters today in Kiev.
He said government forces killed about 20 rebels and wounded 30 in one incident.
‘Neo-Nazi State’
“We are very concerned about any possible ethnic cleansings and Ukraine ending up as a neo-Nazi state,” Putin said according to an English translation of his remarks published by the Kremlin.
German Economy Minister Sigmar Gabriel, speaking today in Belgrade, said NATO “saber-rattling” on Russia’s border isn’t smart.
The ruble headed for a record low as oil traded near the weakest in four years.
The currency fell 0.4 percent to 47.3400 per dollar at 3:36 p.m. in Moscow, retreating for a third day.
Putin was told by Group of 20 leaders to stop arming pro-Russian rebels at a two-day summit that ended yesterday in Brisbane, Australia.
Russia rejects accusations that it’s supplying manpower and weapons to support the insurgents who have carved out separatist-controlled zones in eastern Ukraine.
‘Big Mistake’
Putin said his counterpart in Ukraine, Petro Poroshenko, made a “big mistake” by moving to sever banking services and pull out state companies from two breakaway regions.
“Why are the authorities in Kiev now cutting off these regions with their own hands?” Putin told reporters in Brisbane.
“I do not understand this. Or rather, I understand that they want to save money, but this is not the right occasion and the right time to do this.”
The government in Kiev is moving to revoke a law on greater autonomy and cut off links with rebel-held areas of the Luhansk and Donetsk regions after they held elections two weeks ago that Ukraine considers illegitimate.
The ballots, which were also condemned by the U.S. and European countries, raised tensions and threatened to plunge the region into open warfare again.
Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk already said Nov. 5 that the government will withhold budget payments totaling about 34.2 billion hryvnia ($2.2 billion) to parts of the country under the control of militants.
Under a presidential decree issued Nov. 15, state companies and institutions were ordered to suspend work and evacuate employees with their consent.
The central bank must stop Ukrainian lenders from servicing accounts used by individuals and companies in the breakaway areas, according to the document on Poroshenko’s website.
ko, made a “big mistake” by moving to sever banking services and pull out state companies from two breakaway regions.
“You want the Ukrainian central authorities to annihilate everyone there, all of their political foes and opponents,” Putin said in an interview yesterday with Germany’s ARD television.
“Is that what you want? We certainly don’t. And we won’t let it happen.”
German Chancellor Angela Merkel said yesterday the EU will keep its economic sanctions on Russia “for as long as they are needed.”
EU foreign ministers convened today in Brussels to discuss adding to sanctions that have limited access to capital markets for some Russian banks and companies and blacklisted officials involved in the conflict.
New measures will likely target pro-Russian separatist leaders, the EU said.
“Sanctions in themselves are not an objective, they can be an instrument if they come together with other measures,” European Union foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini told reporters before the meeting.
She said the EU’s three-track strategy consists of sanctions, encouragement of reforms in Ukraine and dialogue with Russia.
Six Ukrainian soldiers were killed and nine were wounded in fighting over the past 24 hours, military spokesman Colonel Andriy Lysenko told reporters today in Kiev.
He said government forces killed about 20 rebels and wounded 30 in one incident.
‘Neo-Nazi State’
“We are very concerned about any possible ethnic cleansings and Ukraine ending up as a neo-Nazi state,” Putin said according to an English translation of his remarks published by the Kremlin.
German Economy Minister Sigmar Gabriel, speaking today in Belgrade, said NATO “saber-rattling” on Russia’s border isn’t smart.
The ruble headed for a record low as oil traded near the weakest in four years.
The currency fell 0.4 percent to 47.3400 per dollar at 3:36 p.m. in Moscow, retreating for a third day.
Putin was told by Group of 20 leaders to stop arming pro-Russian rebels at a two-day summit that ended yesterday in Brisbane, Australia.
Russia rejects accusations that it’s supplying manpower and weapons to support the insurgents who have carved out separatist-controlled zones in eastern Ukraine.
‘Big Mistake’
Putin said his counterpart in Ukraine, Petro Poroshenko, made a “big mistake” by moving to sever banking services and pull out state companies from two breakaway regions.
“Why are the authorities in Kiev now cutting off these regions with their own hands?” Putin told reporters in Brisbane.
“I do not understand this. Or rather, I understand that they want to save money, but this is not the right occasion and the right time to do this.”
The government in Kiev is moving to revoke a law on greater autonomy and cut off links with rebel-held areas of the Luhansk and Donetsk regions after they held elections two weeks ago that Ukraine considers illegitimate.
The ballots, which were also condemned by the U.S. and European countries, raised tensions and threatened to plunge the region into open warfare again.
Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk already said Nov. 5 that the government will withhold budget payments totaling about 34.2 billion hryvnia ($2.2 billion) to parts of the country under the control of militants.
Under a presidential decree issued Nov. 15, state companies and institutions were ordered to suspend work and evacuate employees with their consent.
The central bank must stop Ukrainian lenders from servicing accounts used by individuals and companies in the breakaway areas, according to the document on Poroshenko’s website.
ko, made a “big mistake” by moving to sever banking services and pull out state companies from two breakaway regions.
Sunday 9 November 2014
Ukraine Truce Vanishes As Government Says 200 Rebels Dead
DONETSK, Ukraine -- Ukraine’s military said it killed as many as 200 rebels in an attack in Donetsk, inflicting the biggest blow from either side in the conflict in more than two months and removing pretense that a Sept. 5 truce is holding.
Accusing Russia of sending dozens of tanks and other military vehicles across its border yesterday into separatist-held areas in eastern Ukraine, military spokesman Andriy Lysenko said Ukraine’s army was preparing for “an adequate reaction.”
Lysenko said artillery strikes had killed the rebels and destroyed tanks and other armored vehicles after Ukrainian forces took fire at the Donetsk airport, where they have faced almost daily attacks.
Rising tension between the former Soviet republics is threatening to escalate back into the open separatist war that broke out after the February ouster of Russian-backed president Viktor Yanukovych and Vladimir Putin’s annexation of the Crimean peninsula from Ukraine a month later.
“Both sides seem to be shaping up, readying now for further conflict,” Tim Ash, chief economist for emerging markets at Standard Bank Group Ltd., said in an e-mail.
“Not seeing much on the diplomatic front in terms of de-escalation.”
The death toll wasn’t independently confirmed.
Lysenko said artillery strikes had killed the rebels and destroyed tanks and other armored vehicles after Ukrainian forces took fire at the Donetsk airport, where they have faced almost daily attacks.
Rising tension between the former Soviet republics is threatening to escalate back into the open separatist war that broke out after the February ouster of Russian-backed president Viktor Yanukovych and Vladimir Putin’s annexation of the Crimean peninsula from Ukraine a month later.
“Both sides seem to be shaping up, readying now for further conflict,” Tim Ash, chief economist for emerging markets at Standard Bank Group Ltd., said in an e-mail.
“Not seeing much on the diplomatic front in terms of de-escalation.”
The death toll wasn’t independently confirmed.
Animosity between the government in Kiev and pro-Russian rebels in Donetsk and Luhansk rose this week after the separatists held Nov. 2 elections condemned by the U.S. and European Union as illegitimate and a violation of the two-month-old cease-fire.
While they’ve blamed Russia, who said it “respected” the results, for inciting the conflict by delivering cash, weapons and fighters to the region, Putin says his country isn’t militarily involved.
Both sides have accused each other of breaking the truce agreed in Minsk, Belarus, with the Ukrainian government saying it’s suffered more than 100 killed and about 600 wounded since the cease-fire came into force.
The artillery strikes at the Donetsk airport yesterday were a response to rebel shelling with surface-to-surface Grad missiles, mortars and howitzers that killed five soldiers and wounded 16, Lysenko said.
“Four separatist tanks, two armored personnel carriers, two howitzers, and an infantry combat vehicle were destroyed, and up to 200 insurgents were killed,” Ukraine’s Defense Ministry said on Facebook.
While they’ve blamed Russia, who said it “respected” the results, for inciting the conflict by delivering cash, weapons and fighters to the region, Putin says his country isn’t militarily involved.
Both sides have accused each other of breaking the truce agreed in Minsk, Belarus, with the Ukrainian government saying it’s suffered more than 100 killed and about 600 wounded since the cease-fire came into force.
The artillery strikes at the Donetsk airport yesterday were a response to rebel shelling with surface-to-surface Grad missiles, mortars and howitzers that killed five soldiers and wounded 16, Lysenko said.
“Four separatist tanks, two armored personnel carriers, two howitzers, and an infantry combat vehicle were destroyed, and up to 200 insurgents were killed,” Ukraine’s Defense Ministry said on Facebook.
Putin said Nov. 5 that Ukraine’s “civil war” isn’t subsiding as cities continue to come under shelling and the civilian death toll rises.
Lysenko said 32 tanks, 16 howitzers, and 30 trucks with ammunition and manpower crossed the border from Russia into Luhansk yesterday.
Andrei Bobrun, a Russian Defense Ministry spokesman, wouldn’t immediately comment when reached by phone in Moscow.
The ruble has fallen 30 percent against the dollar this year, the world’s second-worst performer behind Ukraine’s hryvnia.
It retreated 7.7 percent this week and traded at 46.81 per dollar at 6 p.m. in Moscow.
Russia’s RIA Novosti state news service quoted Andrei Purgin, deputy premier of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic, as saying that Ukraine had begun a large-scale offensive against the separatists in the east.
Purgin said he sees “all-out war” and said Ukrainian forces had broken the Sept. 5 truce,
Lysenko said 32 tanks, 16 howitzers, and 30 trucks with ammunition and manpower crossed the border from Russia into Luhansk yesterday.
Andrei Bobrun, a Russian Defense Ministry spokesman, wouldn’t immediately comment when reached by phone in Moscow.
The ruble has fallen 30 percent against the dollar this year, the world’s second-worst performer behind Ukraine’s hryvnia.
It retreated 7.7 percent this week and traded at 46.81 per dollar at 6 p.m. in Moscow.
Russia’s RIA Novosti state news service quoted Andrei Purgin, deputy premier of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic, as saying that Ukraine had begun a large-scale offensive against the separatists in the east.
Purgin said he sees “all-out war” and said Ukrainian forces had broken the Sept. 5 truce,
Igor Girkin, a Russian who fought for the rebels as defense minister for the Donetsk People’s Republic under the nom de guerre Igor Strelkov before returning home earlier this year, called on Putin to “take actions to stop this murderous war,” according to an interview with LifeNews today.
“The people who came to power in Kiev are the enemies of Russia,” he said.
The Russian population in Ukraine “needs to be defended.”
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko told German Chancellor Angela Merkel during a telephone call today that “a significant deviation from the Minsk protocol is leading to further escalation in the conflict,” according to a statement on the website of Poroshenko’s office today.
Both repeated a call for a total cease-fire, Merkel spokesman Steffen Seibert said in a separate statement.
“The people who came to power in Kiev are the enemies of Russia,” he said.
The Russian population in Ukraine “needs to be defended.”
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko told German Chancellor Angela Merkel during a telephone call today that “a significant deviation from the Minsk protocol is leading to further escalation in the conflict,” according to a statement on the website of Poroshenko’s office today.
Both repeated a call for a total cease-fire, Merkel spokesman Steffen Seibert said in a separate statement.
Merkel expressed “serious concern about recent reports on renewed Russian troop movements into Ukrainian territory,” Seibert said.
Putin discussed the deteriorating security situation in eastern Ukraine with Russia’s security council, Interfax news service said yesterday.
In August, according to NATO and Ukraine, Russian forces helped rebels in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions wage a counteroffensive to break out after they were encircled by Ukraine’s army.
North Atlantic Treaty Organization countries have also said Russia is probing their borders.
NATO fighter jets intercepted a Russian military aircraft over the Baltic Sea, the latest in a series of similar incidents that have grown in frequency.
Latvia said today it spotted two Russian naval vessels near its territorial waters, a day after it said F-16s based in the Baltic region intercepted a Russian IL-20 surveillance plane, according to its Twitter account.
NATO says its jets have intercepted Russian aircraft 100 times this year, three times last year’s total.
Ukraine’s military said Russia’s air force had put some of its units on high alert.
A spokesman for Russia’s armed forces said by phone that he wasn’t able to comment.
Putin discussed the deteriorating security situation in eastern Ukraine with Russia’s security council, Interfax news service said yesterday.
In August, according to NATO and Ukraine, Russian forces helped rebels in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions wage a counteroffensive to break out after they were encircled by Ukraine’s army.
North Atlantic Treaty Organization countries have also said Russia is probing their borders.
NATO fighter jets intercepted a Russian military aircraft over the Baltic Sea, the latest in a series of similar incidents that have grown in frequency.
Latvia said today it spotted two Russian naval vessels near its territorial waters, a day after it said F-16s based in the Baltic region intercepted a Russian IL-20 surveillance plane, according to its Twitter account.
NATO says its jets have intercepted Russian aircraft 100 times this year, three times last year’s total.
Ukraine’s military said Russia’s air force had put some of its units on high alert.
A spokesman for Russia’s armed forces said by phone that he wasn’t able to comment.
Ukraine Accuses Russia Of Major Cross-Border Incursion To Aid Separatists
MOSCOW, Russia -- Ukraine accused Russia on Friday of supplying fresh military equipment and troops to pro-Russian rebels in eastern Ukraine, threatening the collapse of a tenuous two-month-old cease-fire.
Col. Andriy Lysenko, a Ukrainian military spokesman, said 32 tanks, 16 artillery launchers and 30 trucks carrying munitions and personnel had come into the Luhansk region from Russia.
He did not provide specific evidence to back up his claims, and since Ukraine does not control long stretches of its border with Russia, it was not immediately clear how the military obtained such specific information.
Ukraine’s military also said Friday that it had killed up to 200 separatist fighters who they said were firing on the army around the Donetsk airport, a scene of some of the most intense fighting in the region.
The military did not provide evidence to prove this claim, either.
Lysenko said five soldiers were killed in the past 24 hours, up slightly from previous days.
The charges came a day after Russia’s RIA Novosti news service quoted Andrei Purgin, the deputy prime minister of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic, claiming that Ukraine’s army had launched an “all-out war” on rebel militias.
Earlier in the week, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said the Western alliance had noticed Russian troops moving closer to the Ukrainian border.
A NATO military spokesman said Friday that the alliance was investigating the new Ukrainian reports.
Canadian Foreign Minister John Baird tweeted his concerns Wednesday about reports of “Russia's provocative actions,” calling them “proof that the Kremlin seeks to hamper the peace process in Ukraine.”
A spokesman for Russia’s Defense Ministry criticized Baird and denied NATO’s reports in a briefing in Moscow on Friday, just hours before Lysenko charged that the Russian military was not only approaching but had actually crossed the border into rebel-held regions.
Ukraine and Russia have traded accusations over responsibility for stoking a conflict between government troops and pro-Russian militias in eastern Ukraine that has raged for seven months and claimed more than 4,000 lives.
Those accusations have escalated in the wake of elections in the rebel-held areas of eastern Ukraine last weekend.
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said such elections jeopardized “the entire peace process.”
Earlier this week, he ordered the deployment of army units to parts of the east and south of the country to prevent a potential offensive.
He also called for scrapping a law granting special status to rebel-held areas of eastern Ukraine.
In a telephone call with German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Friday, Poroshenko did not bring up the topic of a military incursion from Russia, according to his office.
The Kremlin on Friday appeared to soften its rhetoric toward Kiev regarding the election.
Russian President Vladimir Putin’s top foreign policy aide, Yuri Ushakov, said that Russia “respects” the will of voters in the rebel election, rather than using the word “recognition,” apparently because it has weightier legal implications.
Ushakov also refrained from calling the rebel-held territory “Novorossiya,” or New Russia, the separatists’ term for the area, instead calling it the Donetsk and Luhansk region.
He said that although Putin and President Obama have not made specific plans to meet at upcoming summits in Beijing and Australia, “the leaders have a good chance of talking to each other on the go, on their feet.”
The back-and-forth came at the end of a difficult week for Russia’s economy, as the ruble slipped nearly 8 percent against the dollar over concerns about the falling price of oil and Russian companies’ ability to refinance their debts.
Col. Andriy Lysenko, a Ukrainian military spokesman, said 32 tanks, 16 artillery launchers and 30 trucks carrying munitions and personnel had come into the Luhansk region from Russia.
He did not provide specific evidence to back up his claims, and since Ukraine does not control long stretches of its border with Russia, it was not immediately clear how the military obtained such specific information.
Ukraine’s military also said Friday that it had killed up to 200 separatist fighters who they said were firing on the army around the Donetsk airport, a scene of some of the most intense fighting in the region.
The military did not provide evidence to prove this claim, either.
Lysenko said five soldiers were killed in the past 24 hours, up slightly from previous days.
The charges came a day after Russia’s RIA Novosti news service quoted Andrei Purgin, the deputy prime minister of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic, claiming that Ukraine’s army had launched an “all-out war” on rebel militias.
Earlier in the week, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said the Western alliance had noticed Russian troops moving closer to the Ukrainian border.
A NATO military spokesman said Friday that the alliance was investigating the new Ukrainian reports.
Canadian Foreign Minister John Baird tweeted his concerns Wednesday about reports of “Russia's provocative actions,” calling them “proof that the Kremlin seeks to hamper the peace process in Ukraine.”
A spokesman for Russia’s Defense Ministry criticized Baird and denied NATO’s reports in a briefing in Moscow on Friday, just hours before Lysenko charged that the Russian military was not only approaching but had actually crossed the border into rebel-held regions.
Ukraine and Russia have traded accusations over responsibility for stoking a conflict between government troops and pro-Russian militias in eastern Ukraine that has raged for seven months and claimed more than 4,000 lives.
Those accusations have escalated in the wake of elections in the rebel-held areas of eastern Ukraine last weekend.
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said such elections jeopardized “the entire peace process.”
Earlier this week, he ordered the deployment of army units to parts of the east and south of the country to prevent a potential offensive.
He also called for scrapping a law granting special status to rebel-held areas of eastern Ukraine.
In a telephone call with German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Friday, Poroshenko did not bring up the topic of a military incursion from Russia, according to his office.
The Kremlin on Friday appeared to soften its rhetoric toward Kiev regarding the election.
Russian President Vladimir Putin’s top foreign policy aide, Yuri Ushakov, said that Russia “respects” the will of voters in the rebel election, rather than using the word “recognition,” apparently because it has weightier legal implications.
Ushakov also refrained from calling the rebel-held territory “Novorossiya,” or New Russia, the separatists’ term for the area, instead calling it the Donetsk and Luhansk region.
He said that although Putin and President Obama have not made specific plans to meet at upcoming summits in Beijing and Australia, “the leaders have a good chance of talking to each other on the go, on their feet.”
The back-and-forth came at the end of a difficult week for Russia’s economy, as the ruble slipped nearly 8 percent against the dollar over concerns about the falling price of oil and Russian companies’ ability to refinance their debts.
Ukraine Says Russian Military Column Has Entered East Of Country
DONETSK, Ukraine -- A column of 32 tanks, 16 howitzer artillery systems and trucks carrying ammunition and fighters has crossed into eastern Ukraine from Russia, the Kiev military said on Friday.
“The deployment continues of military equipment and Russian mercenaries to the frontlines,” spokesman Andriy Lysenko said in a televised briefing referring to Thursday’s cross-border incursion.
NATO said it has seen an increase in Russian troops and equipment along the Ukraine border was looking into the reports.
“We are aware of the reports of Russian troops and tanks crossing the border between Ukraine and Russia,” a NATO military officer told Reuters.
“If this crossing into Ukraine is confirmed it would be further evidence of Russia’s aggression and direct involvement in destabilising Ukraine.”
The report of a new Russian movement of armour across the border follows a charge on Thursday by pro-Russian rebels in eastern Ukraine that Kiev government forces had launched a new offensive - which Kiev immediately denied.
Sporadic violence has continued since a 5 September truce in a conflict that has cost more than 4,000 lives.
But the ceasefire has looked particularly fragile this week, with separatists and the central government accusing each other of violations after separatist leaders held elections in self-proclaimed “people’s republics” last Sunday.
“Supplies of military equipment and enemy fighters from the Russian Federation are continuing,” Lysenko said.
He added that five Ukrainian soldiers had been killed and 16 wounded in the past 24 hours despite the ceasefire.
Fifteen civilians were wounded by shrapnel in Donetsk, the mayor’s office said, in a night of shelling in two neighbourhoods near the ruins of the airport, where government troops are holding out.
Some 150 mourners later attended an emotional memorial service in the city for two teenage boys killed when a shell hit a school playing field on Wednesday.
Kiev and the insurgents blamed each other for the incident.
Claims of fresh troop movements are reinforcing fears of a return to all-out fighting.
The Ukrainian president, Petro Poroshenko, said this week that the rushed elections in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, which the Kiev government and EU had declared illegal, had violated the September peace accord.
He said the votes - which the rebel leaders claimed gave them a mandate to negotiate directly with Kiev - had “torpedoed” an offer of autonomy for the east and ordered troops to reinforce frontline cities.
A Kremlin adviser said on Friday that Russia was committed to the two-month-old agreement and wanted further talks held to build on peace moves involving government forces and separatists.
Foreign policy adviser Yuri Ushakov also said Russia respected the will of voters after the separatist elections, but following western criticism of Moscow’s stance on Sunday’s vote, he said he had deliberately chosen the word “respect” rather than “recognise”.
The financial isolation over the Ukraine crisis - along with falling oil prices - has hammered Russia’s flagging economy, with the rouble plunging early on Friday to a new record low against the euro.
“The deployment continues of military equipment and Russian mercenaries to the frontlines,” spokesman Andriy Lysenko said in a televised briefing referring to Thursday’s cross-border incursion.
NATO said it has seen an increase in Russian troops and equipment along the Ukraine border was looking into the reports.
“We are aware of the reports of Russian troops and tanks crossing the border between Ukraine and Russia,” a NATO military officer told Reuters.
“If this crossing into Ukraine is confirmed it would be further evidence of Russia’s aggression and direct involvement in destabilising Ukraine.”
The report of a new Russian movement of armour across the border follows a charge on Thursday by pro-Russian rebels in eastern Ukraine that Kiev government forces had launched a new offensive - which Kiev immediately denied.
Sporadic violence has continued since a 5 September truce in a conflict that has cost more than 4,000 lives.
But the ceasefire has looked particularly fragile this week, with separatists and the central government accusing each other of violations after separatist leaders held elections in self-proclaimed “people’s republics” last Sunday.
“Supplies of military equipment and enemy fighters from the Russian Federation are continuing,” Lysenko said.
He added that five Ukrainian soldiers had been killed and 16 wounded in the past 24 hours despite the ceasefire.
Fifteen civilians were wounded by shrapnel in Donetsk, the mayor’s office said, in a night of shelling in two neighbourhoods near the ruins of the airport, where government troops are holding out.
Some 150 mourners later attended an emotional memorial service in the city for two teenage boys killed when a shell hit a school playing field on Wednesday.
Kiev and the insurgents blamed each other for the incident.
Claims of fresh troop movements are reinforcing fears of a return to all-out fighting.
The Ukrainian president, Petro Poroshenko, said this week that the rushed elections in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, which the Kiev government and EU had declared illegal, had violated the September peace accord.
He said the votes - which the rebel leaders claimed gave them a mandate to negotiate directly with Kiev - had “torpedoed” an offer of autonomy for the east and ordered troops to reinforce frontline cities.
A Kremlin adviser said on Friday that Russia was committed to the two-month-old agreement and wanted further talks held to build on peace moves involving government forces and separatists.
Foreign policy adviser Yuri Ushakov also said Russia respected the will of voters after the separatist elections, but following western criticism of Moscow’s stance on Sunday’s vote, he said he had deliberately chosen the word “respect” rather than “recognise”.
The financial isolation over the Ukraine crisis - along with falling oil prices - has hammered Russia’s flagging economy, with the rouble plunging early on Friday to a new record low against the euro.
OSCE Monitors Concerned About Convoys In E. Ukraine
DONETSK, Ukraine -- European monitors in Ukraine said they are very concerned after seeing convoys of heavy weapons and tanks in separatist-controlled areas of Ukraine.
Swiss foreign minister and current chairman of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, Karl Erjave, said he is worried about a resurgence of violence.
Erjave urged all sides Saturday to do all in their power to further consolidate the cease-fire and stay away from acts that could lead to a new escalation.
Meanwhile, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said in Beijing Saturday the U.S. and Russia agreed to exchange information about developments in Ukraine.
When it comes to sanctions against Russia, Kerry said choices Moscow makes on Ukraine will decide what happens.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, who met briefly with Kerry, said it is up to the separatists and Ukrainian government to finalize the cease-fire.
Ukraine says Russia has sent dozens of tanks, heavy weapons, ammunition and soldiers into Kremlin-backed eastern Ukraine.
NATO sources said that the vehicles appeared to be unmanned.
But a spokesperson said they "represent a potential for significant reinforcements of heavy weapons to the Ukrainian separatists."
Swiss foreign minister and current chairman of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, Karl Erjave, said he is worried about a resurgence of violence.
Erjave urged all sides Saturday to do all in their power to further consolidate the cease-fire and stay away from acts that could lead to a new escalation.
Meanwhile, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said in Beijing Saturday the U.S. and Russia agreed to exchange information about developments in Ukraine.
When it comes to sanctions against Russia, Kerry said choices Moscow makes on Ukraine will decide what happens.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, who met briefly with Kerry, said it is up to the separatists and Ukrainian government to finalize the cease-fire.
Ukraine says Russia has sent dozens of tanks, heavy weapons, ammunition and soldiers into Kremlin-backed eastern Ukraine.
NATO sources said that the vehicles appeared to be unmanned.
But a spokesperson said they "represent a potential for significant reinforcements of heavy weapons to the Ukrainian separatists."
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