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Pro-Russian protesters wind up tension in eastern Ukraine Armed pro-Russian protesters seize city in eastern Ukraine
(about 2 hours later)
Men in the uniforms of Ukraine's now-defunct riot police on Saturday occupied police headquarters in Donetsk, the eastern city that is one of the flashpoints of a wave of pro-Russia protests, hours after armed men seized local police headquarters and local branch of the security service in a nearby city. Armed separatists took control of a city in eastern Ukraine on Saturday and Kiev prepared troops to tackle what it called an "act of aggression by Russia", pushing the conflict between the neighbours into a dangerous new phase.
Interior minister, Arsen Avakov described the unrest as "Russian aggression" and said Ukraine's security officials would be gathering for an extraordinary meeting late on Saturday evening. Pro-Russian activists carrying automatic weapons seized government buildings in Slavyansk, a town about 90 miles from the Russian border, and set up barricades on the outskirts of the city.
The unrest in Donetsk and the city of Slovyansk, about 55 miles to the north, were the latest shows of spiraling anger in eastern Ukraine, which has a large Russian-speaking population and was also the support base for Viktor Yanukovych, the Ukrainian president who was ousted in February after months of protests in the capital, Kiev. Ethnic Russians in Ukraine's east widely fear that the authorities who took over after Yanukovych's fall will suppress them. In Kramatorsk, some 80 km to the north, gunmen seized the police station after a shootout with police, a Reuters witness said.
In Slovyansk, the mayor said the men who seized the police station were demanding a referendum on autonomy and possible annexation by Russia. Protesters in other eastern cities have made similar demands after a referendum in Crimea last month in which voters opted to split off from Ukraine, leading to annexation by Russia. Government buildings in several other towns in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions were attacked in what Washington said were moves reminiscent of the events that preceded Russia's annexation of Ukraine's Crimean peninsula.
Witnesses said the men who entered the police building in Donetsk were wearing the uniforms of the Berkut, the feared riot police squad that was disbanded in February after Yanukovych's ouster. Berkut officers' violent dispersal of a demonstration in Kiev in November set off vast protests in the capital that culminated in bloodshed in February when more than 100 people died in sniper fire; the acting government says the snipers were police. "We are very concerned by the concerted campaign we see under way in eastern Ukraine today by pro-Russian separatists, apparently with support from Russia," said Laura Lucas Magnuson, spokeswoman for the White House National Security Council.
It was not immediately clear if the men who occupied the Donetsk police building had made any demands, but the Donetsk police chief said on national television that he was forced to offer his resignation. Interfax Ukraine reported that pro-Russian protesters had invited the former police chief to resume his duties. "We saw similar so-called protest activities in Crimea before Russia's purported annexation.
In Slovyansk, about 20 men in balaclavas and armed with automatic rifles and pistols were guarding the entrance to the police station in the city of about 120,000 people, and another 20 were believed to be inside. They wore Saint George's ribbons, which have become a symbol of pro-Russian protesters in eastern Ukraine. The ribbons were originally associated with the Soviet Union's victory in the second world war. "We call on president (Vladimir) Putin and his government to cease all efforts to destabilize Ukraine, and we caution against further military intervention."
A masked guard in Slovyansk, who gave his name only as Sergei, said that they have "only one demand: a referendum and joining Russia." The West accuses Russia of destabilising the region as a pretext to potentially sending in troops to protect the local Russian-speaking population, as it did in Crimea. NATO says Russian armed forces are massing on Ukraine's eastern border, while Moscow says they are on normal manoeuvres.
The man said they seized the building because they wanted to protect it from radical nationalists from western Ukraine and "the junta who seized power in Kiev." Any escalation would increase the risk of a "gas war" that could disrupt energy supplies across Europe.
"We don't want to be slaves of America and the West," he said, speaking at the seized police station. "We want to live with Russia." Ukraine's interior minister, Arsen Avakov, called the attacks in the east "a display of external aggression from Russia."
Avakov said in a Facebook post Saturday evening that unknown men opened fire on a police station in Kramatorsk, a town near Slovyansk, and police were engaged in a gunfight with them. In Krasnyi Lyman, another town in the area, men armed with Russian-made automatic rifles attacked a police station, he said. "Units of the interior and defence ministries are implementing an operational response plan," he added.
The interior ministry said in a statement that the attackers in Slovyansk used teargas and stun grenades when they stormed the building, injuring three policemen. The attackers' goal was to seize arms from the police station, authorities said, adding that there were about 40 automatic rifles and 400 pistols as well as ammunition inside. Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov said Ukraine was "demonstrating its inability to take responsibility for the fate of the country" and warned that any use of force against Russian speakers "would undermine the potential for co-operation" including talks due to be held on Thursday between Russia, Ukraine, the United States and the European Union.
The interior ministry reported later on Saturday that men from the same group had seized the building of the local security service. In Slavyansk, at least 20 men with pistols and automatic weapons took over the police station and a security service headquarters before spreading out through the city.
Local journalists captured a video outside the police station showing one man carrying a sniper rifle. Gunshots rang out in the background in the video from the scene after an armed man shouted to a cameraman to stop recording. Officials said the militants, wearing mismatched combat fatigues, balaclavas and bulletproof vests, seized hundreds of pistols from weapons stores in the buildings.
An AP reporter saw another man loading the magazine of a pistol at the station and sympathisers building barricades outside. The city's mayor said she supported the protesters and more than a thousand people gathered in front of the police station, chanting: "Moscow, Crimea, Russia!".
About 10 men wearing camouflage and carrying automatic rifles set up a makeshift checkpoint at the entrance to the town late on Saturday afternoon. They cheered as the Ukrainian flag was replaced with the blue, black and red of the self-declared Donetsk Republic.
The Kiev authorities and the United States have accused Russia of fomenting the unrest in the east and seeking to use it as a pretext for sending in troops. Russia has reportedly massed forces in areas near the Ukrainian border. "We want to join Russia. We would be very grateful if Russia helps us," said a gunman who gave his name as Alexander, wearing camouflage fatigues and a black balaclava mask.
But Slovyansk mayor Nelya Shtepa said that she held talks with the protesters and said they were local residents, not Russians. "We will stand until victory. Honestly, it's not scary for me to die for freedom."
"They told me: 'We don't have anything against you,' " she said, adding that the men said they "want to be heard, want a dialogue with authorities in Kiev." On a road into Slavyansk, men with automatic rifles set up a roadblock and checked vehicles entering the city.
Russia's foreign ministry on Friday warned the Ukrainian government against using force against protesters, saying that such action would derail the talks on settling the crisis between the United States, the European Union, Russia and Ukraine set for next week, as well as any other diplomatic efforts. It was unclear if local law enforcement agencies were taking orders from Kiev any more after the regional police chief quit.
Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov pressed the complaint in a telephone call with his Ukrainian counterpart, Andriy Deschytsia, on Saturday. Kostyantyn Pozhydayev came out to speak to pro-Russian protesters at his offices in the regional capital, Donetsk, and told them he was stepping down "to avoid bloodshed".
Lavrov told Deschytsia of "the unacceptability of the constant threats from Kiev to storm buildings held by protesters," according to a foreign ministry statement. Ukrainian commentator Sergei Leshchenko said the burst of activity by pro-Russian groups was an attempt by the Kremlin to secure a strong negotiating position before the international talks about Ukraine in Geneva next Thursday.
Russia is expected to argue at the talks for a revamp of Ukraine's constitution to give a large degree of autonomy to eastern Ukraine, something Kiev and its Western backers reject.
"Russia will come to the talks with the position that 'Donetsk and several neighbouring regions are already ours - now let's talk about federalisation'," said Leshchenko, a commentator with the Ukrainska Pravda newspaper.
With the crisis in Ukraine still unresolved, the gas dispute threatens to affect millions of people across Europe.
A large proportion of the natural gas that EU states buy from Russia is pumped via Ukrainian territory, so if Russia makes good on a threat to cut off Ukraine for non-payment of its bills, customers further west will have supplies disrupted.
Russia is demanding Kiev pay a much higher price for its gas, and settle unpaid bills. Russian state-owned gas giant Gazprom and its Ukrainian counterpart, Naftogaz, are in talks, but the chances of an agreement are slim.
"I would say we are coming nearer to a solution of the situation, but one in the direction that is bad for Ukraine," Ukrainian Energy Minister Yuri Prodan said in an interview with the German newspaper Boersenzeitung.
"We are probably steering towards Russia turning off its gas provision," he was quoted as saying.
That raised the spectre of a repeat of past "gas wars", when Ukraine's gas was cut off with a knock-on effect on supplies to EU states.
The scope for compromise narrowed after the Naftogaz chief executive told a Ukrainian newspaper that Kiev was suspending payments to Gazprom pending a conclusion of talks on a new deal.
Ukraine has de facto stopped payments already because it failed to make an instalment of over $500m due this month to Russian state gas giant Gazprom.
Moscow says it does not want to turn off Ukraine's gas if it can be avoided, and that it will honour all commitments to supply its EU customers.