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| Pro-Russian gunmen seize police headquarters in eastern Ukraine | |
| (about 1 hour later) | |
| MOSCOW — Trouble flared in eastern Ukraine Saturday as pro-Russian gunmen occupied a police headquarters in a small city north of Donetsk and attacked government buildings in several nearby towns. | |
| To Ukrainian officials it looked like the beginning of a replay of the Crimea takeover by Russia, which began with men in unmarked uniforms storming the regional parliament, then spreading their control throughout the peninsula. | To Ukrainian officials it looked like the beginning of a replay of the Crimea takeover by Russia, which began with men in unmarked uniforms storming the regional parliament, then spreading their control throughout the peninsula. |
| Saturday’s action involved only a few dozen men, but the simultaneous assaults in various places — and the modern weapons the men were carrying — suggested a coordinated operation. | Saturday’s action involved only a few dozen men, but the simultaneous assaults in various places — and the modern weapons the men were carrying — suggested a coordinated operation. |
| Jen Psaki, a U.S. State Department spokeswoman, tweeted, “Worrisome violence in [eastern Ukraine] today. #Russia again seems to be behind it.” | Jen Psaki, a U.S. State Department spokeswoman, tweeted, “Worrisome violence in [eastern Ukraine] today. #Russia again seems to be behind it.” |
| The main action took place in the city of Slavyansk, strategically located on a crossroads about 55 miles north of Donetsk and 90 miles from the Russian border. After protesters took over the main police building, they immediately began constructing barricades on roads leading into the city. | The main action took place in the city of Slavyansk, strategically located on a crossroads about 55 miles north of Donetsk and 90 miles from the Russian border. After protesters took over the main police building, they immediately began constructing barricades on roads leading into the city. |
| Thousands of Russian troops — U.S. and NATO officials say 40,000 — are nearby, conducting a long-running exercise on their side of the border. | |
| And Donetsk has been the scene of a week-long occupation of the regional government headquarters by pro-Russian agitators. | And Donetsk has been the scene of a week-long occupation of the regional government headquarters by pro-Russian agitators. |
| Eastern Ukraine, generally hostile to the new government in Kiev and tied by language and business interests to Russia, has become the focal point of Ukraine’s continuing political crisis. But public support for separatism has been scant, and that may have provoked the more aggressive actions of the past week. Officials in Kiev accuse Russia of fomenting trouble to create a pretext for invasion. Moscow denies that. | Eastern Ukraine, generally hostile to the new government in Kiev and tied by language and business interests to Russia, has become the focal point of Ukraine’s continuing political crisis. But public support for separatism has been scant, and that may have provoked the more aggressive actions of the past week. Officials in Kiev accuse Russia of fomenting trouble to create a pretext for invasion. Moscow denies that. |
| Ukraine’s acting foreign minister, Andriy Deschytsia, spoke by phone Saturday with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. | |
| “Deschytsia demanded an end to the provocative activity by Russian special agents in the eastern regions of Ukraine,” the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry said in a statement. | “Deschytsia demanded an end to the provocative activity by Russian special agents in the eastern regions of Ukraine,” the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry said in a statement. |
| Deschytsia said Russia is trying to disrupt a meeting Thursday in Geneva that is scheduled to bring together representatives of Russia, Ukraine, the European Union and the United States to seek a resolution to the Ukrainian issue. Russia has been insisting that the Ukrainian delegation must represent a broad sampling of Ukrainian opinion, not just the views of the government in Kiev. | |
| Lavrov, in a television interview to be broadcast Sunday, said no Russian agents or troops are in southeastern Ukraine. | |
| An issue facing authorities in Kiev is the reliability of their police forces. The head of the Ukrainian Interior Ministry’s main office in the Donetsk region, Kostiantyn Pozhydayev, met with pro-Russian demonstrators at his headquarters Saturday and announced his resignation. | |
| There were reports that the militants had seized the building, but the Interior Ministry denied that. The ministry said Saturday evening that its forces had repelled attacks on buildings in the towns of Kramatorsk and Krasny Liman. | |
| In Slavyansk, the mayor, Nelly Shlepa, told the Unian.net news agency that her city would immediately hold a referendum. Crimea, before it appealed to Russia for annexation, held a similar snap vote. Shlepa said 92 percent of Slavyansk’s business is with Russia, and she referred to Russia as an “older brother.” |