‘BACK OFF,’ RUSSIA TOLD
Leaders seek peace deal as NATO boosts troops
The Harper government told Russia to “back off ” in Ukraine, as the leaders of Germany and France met Thursday with Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko in a hastily arranged mission to bring an end to fighting.
The increasing violence in eastern Ukraine and apparent buildup of Russian forces in the region was condemned by both Defence Minister Rob Nicholson in Brussels and Prime Minister Stephen Harper back home.
“Canada has responded strongly, as have many of our allies, but I think all of this indicates we need, if anything, more,” Mr. Harper said in Brampton, Ont. “We urge everybody to do more and have a forceful response, but obviously we will always work with our allies and our partners as we shape our response to those events.”
German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President François Hollande went to Kyiv Thursday with a peace plan that reportedly incorporates proposals from Russia.
“It will not be said that France and Germany together have not tried everything, undertaken everything, to preserve the peace,” Mr. Hollande said.
They will meet Friday with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow, as concerns rise about whether the U.S. would grant lethal aid to Ukraine and as NATO formed a quick-reaction force of 5,000 soldiers in response to Russia’s increased military muscleflexing.
Mr. Nicholson refused to commit to arming Ukraine.
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said President Barack Obama “is reviewing all his options; among those options obviously is the possibility of providing defensive systems to Ukraine.”
“We are not interested in a proxy war. Our objective is to change Russia’s behaviour,” he said.
The high-level diplomacy came as resurgent fighting killed eight more people in eastern Ukraine and fuelled fears the conflict is threatening Europe’s overall security. More than 5,300 people have been killed since the fighting started in April.
NATO agreed in Brussels to establish a series of six command centres and two regional headquarters deep inside eastern Europe, creating important hubs for training and the possible deployment of troops in a crisis. The defence ministers also said they will increase NATO’s rapid reaction force to 30,000 troops.
Mr. Nicholson said deploying headquarters units to Poland, Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia, Romania and Bulgaria is only good planning and is not provocative, even though Russia’s foreign minister paints it that way.
“Have a look at the way NATO runs and has always run,” Mr. Nicholson said in a conference call following the meeting. “They should get the message we and other countries have been delivering, that they should back off their aggression against Ukraine.”
Despite the tough talk, neither Mr. Harper nor Mr. Nicholson would immediately commit to send soldiers to staff any of the eight command units, saying instead that the government will examine where it can best help.
The defence ministers also met government representatives from the former Soviet republic of Georgia, which is seeking admission to NATO — something Mr. Nicholson says Canada supports.
The top NATO commander, U.S. Air Force Gen. Philip Breedlove, said that Russia continues to supply the separatists with heavy, state-ofthe-art weapons, air defences and fighters.
Details of the plan presented by Mr. Hollande and Ms. Merkel remained unclear, although Mr. Poroshenko said at the start of the meeting that it raised hopes for calling a quick cease-fire.
Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin said on Twitter that the leaders discussed “steps so that the Minsk agreement can start working.” That refers to a pact reached in September that called for a cease-fire, the
Our objective is to change Russia’s behaviour
pullback of heavy weaponry by both sides, international monitoring of the UkraineRussia border and a degree of autonomy for the east.
Western diplomats said Mr. Putin gave the French and Germans a nine-page peace plan, and that Mr. Hollande and Ms. Merkel were taking a repackaged version of that with them. The diplomats said the European version drops the most objectionable elements of the Russian plan to fit what Ukraine and the Europeans want, such as some autonomy for eastern Ukraine with special protections for language, culture and local taxes.
In Moscow, a Putin aide welcomed the new European initiative and said the Kremlin was ready for a constructive discussion.