This article is from the source 'nytimes' and was first published or seen on . It last changed over 40 days ago and won't be checked again for changes.

You can find the current article at its original source at http://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/22/world/europe/ukraine-crisis.html

The article has changed 5 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.

Version 0 Version 1
New Violence Reported in Eastern Ukraine Russian Foreign Minister Accuses Kiev of Flouting Ukraine Accord
(about 3 hours later)
DONETSK, Ukraine — A city in eastern Ukraine controlled by pro-Russian militants descended into a deeper spiral of murky violence on Monday after two bodies were reportedly pulled from a river DONETSK, Ukraine — Russia’s foreign minister accused the interim authorities in Kiev on Monday of flagrantly violating the international accord reached last week aimed at defusing the crisis in eastern Ukraine, in remarks that suggested Russia may be further preparing the groundwork for a military intervention.
The report came a day after at least three people died in a shootout at a checkpoint, and an international observer mission with the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe was unable to enter the city for reasons that were not clear. Russia agreed to the observer mission at Germany’s insistence, and the group’s inability to reach the area made it all the more difficult to determine why law and order was unraveling in the area. The accusations made by the foreign minister, Sergey V. Lavrov, came as Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. arrived in Kiev in a show of support for its increasingly besieged government, which the Kremlin regards as a result of a Western-backed coup that seized power in late February after months of protests.
A spokesman for the O.S.C.E. told the Russian news agency Interfax that the observer mission “could not access this town out of concern for security,” without elaborating. Russia and the Ukrainian central government have blamed each other for the violence. Russia annexed Ukraine’s southern Crimean Peninsula last month in response to the crisis in Ukraine, and Mr. Lavrov’s accusations suggested the Kremlin was creating a basis to justify a similar territorial grab in eastern Ukraine despite its repeated denials. Thousands of Russian troops have been massed on the border for weeks.
Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. was to arrive Monday in the capital, Kiev, where he was scheduled to hold talks with members of the interim government on Tuesday about economic development and constitutional reform. He planned to meet with the acting prime minister, Arseniy P. Yatsenyuk, the acting president, Oleksandr V. Turchynov, and lawmakers and pro-democracy activists. The Obama administration has warned that it will impose increasingly harsh sanctions on Russia if it does not help defuse the crisis in eastern Ukraine. But Mr. Lavrov threw that warning back at the Americans in his angry assertions at a news conference in Moscow.
The Russian foreign minister, Sergey V. Lavrov, on Monday accused Ukraine of violating an accord reached in Geneva last week that intends to reduce tensions in the region. “Steps are being taken — above all by those who seized power in Kiev — not only that do not fulfill, but that crudely violate, the Geneva agreement,” Mr. Lavrov said at a news conference in Moscow, according to Reuters. “Before giving us ultimatums, demanding that we fulfill demands within two or three days with the threat of sanctions, we would urgently call on our American partners to fully accept responsibility for those who they brought to power,” Mr. Lavrov told reporters. He said all attempts to isolate Russia would fail, because Russia is “a big, independent power that knows what it wants.”
Mr. Lavrov said the shootout at the checkpoint revealed the Ukrainian government’s unwillingness to control “extremists,” Reuters reported. “The authorities are doing nothing, not even lifting a finger, to address the causes behind this deep internal crisis in Ukraine,” he said. He rejected accusations that Russia is covertly manipulating events in eastern Ukraine and subverting the accord reached in Geneva last Thursday between himself, Secretary of State John Kerry and representatives of Ukraine’s interim government and the European Union.
In eastern Ukraine, the police in Slovyansk pulled two bodies from a fork of the Donetsk River, which loops through the city, the man appointed by militants to serve as the “people’s mayor,” Vyachislav Ponomaryov, told the Russian newspaper Moskovsky Komsomolets. “The authorities are doing nothing, not even lifting a finger, to address the causes behind this deep internal crisis in Ukraine,” Mr. Lavrov said. The Geneva agreement, he said, “is not only not being fulfilled, but steps are being taken, primarily by those who seized power in Kiev, that are grossly breaching the agreement reached in Geneva.”
“Today I went to the morgue to identify another two corpses,” Mr. Ponomaryov said. He said both were pro-Russian militants. They had died, he said, from stab wounds and been thrown in the river. Mr. Ponomaryov said the city was under attack by a Ukrainian nationalist group, Right Sector, and the Ukrainian Army, although there has been no clear sign of either since a Ukrainian armored column surrendered to the separatists in a humiliating setback for the central government last week. Mr. Lavrov blamed the killings of three people in a shootout at a checkpoint in eastern Ukraine on Sunday on the interim government and its sympathizers. “The fact that extremists started to shoot at unarmed civilians is unacceptable,” he said.
Pro-Russian militants have, though, produced for journalists a captured Ukrainian woman who they say is Irma Krat, an activist who took part in pro-European Union demonstrations in the capital last winter. The woman had a bag over her head and was pleading for help, the newspaper Ukrainska Pravda reported, citing social media posts and republishing photographs of the hooded prisoner that had been posted online. Mr. Lavrov’s criticisms came as new evidence emerged on Monday of violence aimed at pro-Russian militants in eastern Ukraine, with bodies of two members of a Moscow-backed militia pulled from the Donetsk River in Slovyansk.
At the same time, an international observer mission with the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe was unable to enter Donetsk, an epicenter of pro-Russia separatism, for reasons that were not clear. Russia agreed to the observer mission at Germany’s insistence, and the group’s inability to reach the area made it all the more difficult to determine why law and order seemed to be unraveling there.
A spokesman for the European organization told the Russian news agency Interfax that the observer mission “could not access this town out of concern for security,” without elaborating. Russia and Kiev have blamed each other for the violence.
Vyachislav Ponomaryov, the de facto mayor of Slovyansk appointed by militants, told the Russian newspaper Moskovsky Komsomolets that he had identified the two corpses pulled from the river as pro-Russian militants.
They had died, he said, from stab wounds and been thrown in the river. Mr. Ponomaryov said the city was under attack by a Ukrainian nationalist group, Right Sector, and the Ukrainian Army, although there has been no clear sign of either since a Ukrainian armored column surrendered to the separatists in a humiliating setback for the central government last week.
Pro-Russian militants have, though, produced for journalists a captured Ukrainian woman they say is Irma Krat, an activist who took part in pro-European Union demonstrations in the capital last winter. The woman had a bag over her head and was pleading for help, the newspaper Ukrainska Pravda reported, citing social media posts and republishing photographs of the hooded prisoner that had been posted online.
Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry issued a statement on Sunday dismissing the assertion by pro-Russian militants that attackers in and around the city were members of Right Sector. The group also denied any involvement.Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry issued a statement on Sunday dismissing the assertion by pro-Russian militants that attackers in and around the city were members of Right Sector. The group also denied any involvement.
The shootout on Sunday at a roadblock run by pro-Russian militants near Slovyansk left at least three people dead, highlighting the fraying in eastern Ukraine of an agreement last week in Geneva in which the United States, Russia and others called on militants to stand down.The shootout on Sunday at a roadblock run by pro-Russian militants near Slovyansk left at least three people dead, highlighting the fraying in eastern Ukraine of an agreement last week in Geneva in which the United States, Russia and others called on militants to stand down.
Around 2 a.m. on a road lined with blossoming apricot trees, four cars drove toward the checkpoint, according to the pro-Russian militants who control the city. Their occupants opened fire, killing three local men who were standing guard, the militants said.Around 2 a.m. on a road lined with blossoming apricot trees, four cars drove toward the checkpoint, according to the pro-Russian militants who control the city. Their occupants opened fire, killing three local men who were standing guard, the militants said.
“We thought nothing would happen because it was the holy night,” said Yevgeny Bondarenko, 62, who said he had been there to celebrate Easter with the people at the checkpoint. “Who can we trust now?”“We thought nothing would happen because it was the holy night,” said Yevgeny Bondarenko, 62, who said he had been there to celebrate Easter with the people at the checkpoint. “Who can we trust now?”
It was unclear whether the shooting was an event staged by provocateurs, an accident or an attack on pro-Russian militants. The difficulty in determining what happened will resonate far beyond Slovyansk: The United States has said it will impose additional sanctions on Russian businessmen, and possibly on a bank or oil company, if the Geneva accord is not heeded. So far, militants have neither budged from the buildings they are occupying nor handed in their guns.It was unclear whether the shooting was an event staged by provocateurs, an accident or an attack on pro-Russian militants. The difficulty in determining what happened will resonate far beyond Slovyansk: The United States has said it will impose additional sanctions on Russian businessmen, and possibly on a bank or oil company, if the Geneva accord is not heeded. So far, militants have neither budged from the buildings they are occupying nor handed in their guns.