Talks to end Ukraine revolt urged
SIVERSK, Ukraine—Ukraine’s new Western-backed leader and Russian President Vladimir Putin have both called for dialogue to end a pro-Moscow uprising that has threatened the ex-Soviet state’s survival and brought Europe to the edge of war.
The twin calls on Sunday from the central figures of the worst East-West crisis since the Cold War era came with the ragtag militias in Ukraine’s eastern rustbelt showing no desire to end their independence drive.
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko—who will crown his May 25 election promise by signing a historic EU trade pact in Brussels on Friday that pulls Kiev further out of the Kremlin’s reach—called a peaceful settlement “our plan A.”
Detailed plan B
“But those who are planning to use peaceful negotiations only to buy time and regroup their forces must know that we have a detailed plan B. I amnot going to speak of it now because I believe that our peaceful plan will work out,” he said in a 12minute television address.
The 48-year-old confectionery tycoon added that he had no intention of negotiating with those implicated in “murder and torture.”
Putin promised to stand behind Poroshenko’s peace efforts as long as they led to “substantial dialogue” and resulted in ethnic Russians winning broader language and other civil rights.
Several European foreign ministers are threatening further sanctions if Russia fails to cooperate with Ukraine’s proposed peace plan and doesn’t stop the flow of arms and militants across its border into eastern Ukraine.
British Foreign Secretary William Hague said on Monday in Luxembourg that the European Union will be able to agree further sanctions against Russia at a summit of the bloc’s 28 leaders on Friday, if necessary.
Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt accuses Russia of “conducting a propaganda war with full speed ahead and no signs of their closing the border,” saying Russia must face further sanctions unless it changes course.
The European Union has so far ordered visa bans and asset freezes for a list of officials, but has refrained from imposing broader economic sanctions. EU leaders will review the situation on Friday. The Ukraine crisis dominated Monday’s EU foreign ministers’ meeting in Luxembourg amid uncertainty about Russia’s real intentions just days before Brussels signs the historic association accord with Kiev.