Going nowhere fast
Eastern approaches 2014-04-18
Summary:
HOPES that an accord struck on April 17th in Geneva between Ukraine, Russia, America and the European Union would lead to a swift resolution of the Ukrainian crisis have been swiftly dashed. Denis Pushilin, the chairman of the self-proclaimed People’s Republic of Donetsk, speaking in the region’s occupied administration building, said that Sergei Lavrov, Russia’s foreign minister “did not sign for us”.
As part of the agreement, illegal armed groups are to be disarmed and illegally occupied buildings and other places vacated. An amnesty is to be extended to protestors and there will be a new constitutional process that includes “all of Ukraine’s regions and political constituencies”.
Mr Pushilin rejected the deal made on their behalf by Russia, saying that the buildings now under the control of his Donetsk Republic would only be vacated after all the buildings occupied in Kiev had been vacated. By this he meant that the new Ukrainian government was illegal and hence it had to disband first, before orders would go out for the same to happen in...Continue reading