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Ukraine crisis: Joe Biden tells Moscow 'stop talking, start acting' Ukraine crisis: Joe Biden warns Russia ‘time is short’ for it to ease tensions
(about 2 hours later)
US vice president Joe Biden has warned the Kremlin it is time to “stop talking and start acting” in a show of support for the interim government in Kiev. The sparring between Russia and the West over the turmoil in eastern Ukraine intensified as United States Vice-President Joe Biden told Moscow that “time is short” for it to comply with an accord reached in Geneva last week on lowering tensions in the region if it is to avoid new punitive sanctions.
In the most high-level visit of a US official since the crisis erupted, Mr Biden said Moscow must "act without delay" to persuade pro-Russian supporters to vacate government buildings and disarm in an effort to de-escalate tensions in eastern Ukraine.Standing alongside Mr Biden, Ukrainian acting prime minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk said Russia should honour its international obligations and stop behaving like "gangsters in the modern century". As Mr Biden made his remarks on a high-profile visit to Kiev, the Russian Prime Minister, Dmitry Medvedev, told parliament in Moscow he was confident the country could “minimise” the impact of additional sanctions. “We will not allow our citizens to become hostages of political games,” he added.
Mr Biden insisted Ukraine must "remain one country" and reiterated the United States will never recognise Russia's "illegal" occupation of Crimea, adding that "no nation has the right to simply grab land from another nation". The accord hammered out in Geneva by Western powers, Russia and Ukraine last week appeared to be on life-support. Pro-Russia militants in several cities in eastern Ukraine have refused to lay down their arms and remain in control of several government buildings. Kiev said that one of its spotter planes in the area had been struck by bullets but had landed safely.
Coinciding with his visit to Ukraine, the White House announced it will offer a new $50 million aid package to help the government push forward with economic and political reforms. Worsening the tensions, the acting Ukrainian president, Oleksander Turchynov, vowed to intervene after the discovery of the body of a politician from his own party in the city of Slaviansk. The victim, he said, had been “brutally tortured”. “These crimes are being carried out with the full support and indulgence of the Russian Federation,” he said. “I call on the security agencies to relaunch and carry out effective anti-terrorist measures, with the aim of protecting Ukrainian citizens living in eastern Ukraine from terrorists.”
The US will also provide an additional $11.4 million package "to support the integrity" of the 25 May elections and a further $8 million in non-lethal military aid. The US has already signed a $1 billion loan guarantee to help Ukraine meet its financial obligations. While Moscow denies it is encouraging the rebellion, Mr Biden, who has returned to Washington, insisted the onus was on Moscow to end the crisis. “We’ve heard a lot from Russian officials in the past few days. But now it’s time for Russia to stop talking and start acting,” he told reporters. “We will not allow this to become an open-ended process. Time is short in which to make progress.”
Earlier, Mr Biden met with nine Ukrainian politicians, including three candidates running for president, most notably billionaire chocolate 'king' and front-runner Petro Poroshenko. He also called on President Vladimir Putin to pull back Russian troops deployed close to Ukraine’s border in Russia. “No nation should threaten its neighbours by amassing troops along the border. We call on Russia to pull these forces,” he said after meeting the Ukrainian Prime Minister, Arseny Yatseniuk.
He urged them to seize a historic opportunity to "make good on the promise of the Orange Revolution" and fight the cancer of corruption that is endemic in Ukrainian politics. On Monday officials in Washington said the US would act “within days” to intensify sanctions on Russia if progress on implementing the Geneva pact is not made. But in Brussels, top European Union diplomats signalled that new sanctions, though under preparation, were not imminent.
"The truth of the matter is your fellow countrymen expect a whole lot from you right now," Mr Biden added. “We are still thinking about giving the Geneva Accord a little bit more time,” one diplomat said.
His visit comes after a shootout erupted at a checkpoint manned by pro-Russian insurgents near the eastern town of Slovyansk in eastern Ukraine, which killed three people and triggered a new round of recriminations between Kiev and Moscow on Sunday. Michael Mann, a spokesman for EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton, confirmed the delay. “Clearly throughout this discussion, what happens in terms of sanctions is very much dependent on what is happening on the ground in Ukraine.” The EU has been adding Russian names to a sanctions target list.
While the Ukraine government said it was the fault of provocateurs from outside the country, the Russian foreign ministry placed the blame on so-called Ukrainian nationalists, the Right Sector, which later denied being involved in the shooting. Even as Mr Biden used his trip to offer symbolic support to the Ukrainian interim government, including pledging $50m more in aid, some of which will be earmarked to fund the elections next month, he also had strong words for its shortcomings, notably regarding endemic graft in the system. “To be very blunt... you have to fight the cancer of corruption,” he said.
In a statement, the Russian Foreign Minister, Sergei Lavrov accused Kiev of violating the Geneva accord signed last week, in which all sides agreed to de-escalate the situation and called on the illegal groups of militiamen that have seized government buildings to vacate the premises. In a meeting with leading members of parliament, including several candidates for the presidency, Biden spoke of the “heroism” of Ukrainians and of the “humiliating threats” they face in trying to create a united nation: “Getting it right is within your grasp,” he said. “And we want to be your partner, your friend in the project. And we’re ready to assist.”
Ukraine officials claim Russia has deployed its special forces to destabilise the volatile region. The 11-page document contains images of soldiers in eastern Ukraine wearing similar uniforms and brandishing Russian weapons. Ukrainian authorities have released a series of photographs in the wake of the Slovyansk shooting , which Kiev officials claim prove that Russian forces are operating in Ukrainian territory. The photos have since been distributed by the US state department. Mr Medvedev confirmed during his parliament speech that Russia is bracing itself for new sanctions from the West over Ukraine. “We will not give up on co-operation with foreign companies, including from Western countries, but we will be ready for unfriendly steps,” he declared.
Ukraine officials handed the documents to the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe last week to denounce the presence of Russian troops in government buildings seized by militiamen.
The 11-page document contains images of soldiers in  Kramatorsk and Sloviansk in eastern Ukraine wearing similar uniforms and brandishing Russian weapons. Their authenticity could not be independently verified by The Independent.
One set of photographs focuses on a bearded man who appears to have been photographed in Kramatorsk and Sloviansk in eastern Ukraine this year. He was also photographed in an image taken in Georgia in 2008. Another set of photographs show another militant in eastern Ukraine, and in a family photo of a Russian special forces group.
The US State Department said the photographs help bolster claims of ties between Russia and armed militiamen in eastern Ukraine. Spokesperson Jen Psaki said the photographs add "further evidence of the connection between Russia and the armed militants."
Russia has repeatedly denied it has deployed Russian units, special services or instructors in eastern Ukraine. Last Thursday, President Vladimir Putin rejected accusations that Moscow is fomenting unrest in the region.