In Geneva, after seven hours of negotiations
between Ukraine, Russia, the EU and the US, an agreement was reached to
‘deescalate the crisis’ in Ukraine. The agreement was that all sides would refrain
from violence, intimidation or provocative actions. It calls for the disarming
of all illegally armed groups and for control of buildings seized by
pro-Russian separatists during the protests to be turned back over to
authorities. It also gives amnesty to protesters who comply with the demands,
except those found guilty of committing capital crimes.
In a televised
question-and-answer session with the Russian public, an annual talk-show-style
programme, Putin denied claims that
Russian special forces were fomenting unrest in eastern Ukraine. But he called
the Ukrainian government's effort to quash the uprising a ‘crime.’ Putin
criticized the U.S. and its European allies for having what he called a double
standard and said he hoped he would not have to deploy troops to Ukraine.
Putin also pointed out that he had secured
authorisation in March from Russia's upper house of parliament to use force in
Ukraine
From BBC foreign correspondent Jonathan Marcus: There's going to be a lot of talk in Geneva -
and beyond - using terms like "decentralisation",
"federalism" and "regionalisation". Even the interim
Ukrainian government is willing to discuss greater decentralisation. For if
Ukraine is to have any reasonable future then constitutional change of some
kind is widely seen as necessary. The trouble is that all of these terms mean very different
things to different people. Russia for example sees "federalism" as a
way of weakening the hold of Kyiv and seems to want regions to be able to enter
into relationships with a foreign country - Russia - irrespective of the views
of the central government in Kyiv.
In other news in Ukraine, border guards at a railway
border crossing southeastern Ukraine have detained three individuals from
Crimea who were carrying UAH 5 million. The individuals admitted they were
couriers and were delivering money to pay for anti-Ukrainian demonstrations in
the eastern regions of Ukraine.
Armed militants detained journalist Serhiy
Lefter in Slovyansk. Ukrainska Pravda reports, ‘Russia is preventing the
collection and publication of objective information about events in Eastern
Ukraine. Meanwhile, the aggressive Russian propaganda continues to spread false
information in the region and around the world, which results in the escalation
and deepening of conflict between Ukraine and Russia.’
An example of the way that the movement for
separatism is based on constructed threats and provocateurs: Russian media
featured a Kharkiv resident who burned a ‘Bandera-supporter’ flag. Turns out, the flag was actually that of the
Donetsk Shakhtar football club, and he was speaking in a dialect which is not understood
in the region.
During the night, unidentified armed men
stormed a Ukrainian military base 3057. Three assailants were killed, thirteen
were wounded and sixty-three have been detained. Their weapons were confiscated.
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