14 March 2014

Russian foreign minister, Lavrov, held talks today with US Secretary of State, Kerry, in London. Lavrov insisted in a press conference following their meeting that, "there is no need for an international structure in dealing with Russian-Ukrainian relations." Russian government has not shifted at all in its view of Ukraine being a province of Russia, a ‘younger brother’ that is theirs to control.

The Russian foreign minister issued a statement in response to violent clashes between demonstrators in Donetsk claiming that: “Radical far-right gangs armed with traumatic firearms and clubs, who began to arrive in the city from other regions of the country, attacked peaceful protesters who came out on the streets to express their attitude toward the destructive position of the people who call themselves the Ukrainian government." They maintain that Kyiv and Ukrainian government is incapable of managing a rioting, violent population throughout Ukraine.

Anti-war rallies and peaceful demonstrations continuing in Kyiv (in Maidan) and throughout Ukraine (and Russia) illustrate a different picture. “Everyone is afraid of war and Russian troops" – see image for this blog post: Crimean Tatar women continuing their roadside protests.

Many residents of Eastern Ukrainian cities (Donetsk, Lugansk and Kharkov) have voiced serious concern that Russia is deliberately trying to provoke violence. There have been violent clashes in Donetsk, and so far the only deaths reported have been pro-Ukrainian demonstrators. Ukrainians fear that Russia is deliberately waiting for a death as an excuse to invade the three major Eastern cities.

How long can people be held in such tension and fear before individuals do react to violence with violence?

Ukrainian military troops continue to be barricaded in army bases throughout Crimea, surrounded by armed Russian forces. So far, there has been no violence there. Yet in many cases, the Ukrainian army has had their weapons taken from them—what will happen after Sunday’s so-called referendum? Will the Russian groups refrain from annihilating these soldiers, if a) Russian government has demonstrated complete disregarded for the territorial integrity of Ukraine and international law b) Russian government continues to claim that these ‘self-defense units’ are not Russian military (in spite of them being Russia speakers, armed with weapons that clearly are funded by some forces beyond Crimean neighbourhoods).

Meanwhile, in preparation for Sunday’s referendum, the residents of the Crimea receive blank invitations for the referendum, which do not contain either names of the voter or polling stations or territorial district numbers.