Vladimir Putin demands Ukraine withdraw troops from troubled eastern regions
Ukrainian riot police humiliated in clash with separatists; Putin demands Kiev pull troops
(about 7 hours later)
MOSCOW — Russian President Vladimir Putin demanded Thursday that the Ukrainian government withdraw its troops from the troubled eastern part of the country, where pro-Russian separatists have been gaining ground.
DONETSK, Ukraine — This eastern Ukrainian city took another step toward mob rule Thursday as pro-Russian separatists stormed the state prosecutor’s office and forced dozens of riot police deployed to guard the building into a humiliating surrender.
Putin made the demand in a conversation with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who called the Russian leader Thursday about the deteriorating security situation in eastern Ukraine. She reached out to Putin a day after Ukraine’s acting president said he had lost control of that portion of his country.
The attackers, who threw stones and wielded sticks, were backed by a crowd of at least 1,000 men and women of all ages. They chanted “fascists” and “traitors” at the riot police and waved Russian flags as well as those of the self-styled Donetsk People’s Republic.
Merkel, who will meet with President Obama on Friday in Washington, pressed Putin to help secure the release of seven international observers — four of them German — who have been taken hostage by separatist forces in the eastern Ukrainian city of Slovyansk, her spokesman said Thursday.
Ukraine’s acting president admitted this week that the police force in the east was “helpless” to protect citizens and that some of its members were colluding with pro-Russian groups.
On Thursday, citing Russian interference in his country’s affairs and “threats of encroachment” from tens of thousands of Russian troops massed just across the border, Oleksandr Turchynov signed a decree reintroducing compulsory military service for men ages 18 to 25.
In Moscow, Russian President Vladimir Putin made what appears to be a politically impossible demand: that the Ukrainian government completely withdraw its troops from the southeastern part of the country. He made the comments in a telephone conversation with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who had called him about the deteriorating security situation in eastern Ukraine.
Putin told her that “it was imperative today to withdraw all military units from the southeastern regions” of Ukraine, and he called for a “broad national dialogue” about reforms to Ukraine’s constitution, the Kremlin said.
Putin told her that “it was imperative today to withdraw all military units from the southeastern regions” of Ukraine, and he called for a “broad national dialogue” about reforms to Ukraine’s constitution, the Kremlin said.
But on the ground in Ukraine, any hope of dialogue appeared to be slipping ever further away, as protesters opposed to the Ukrainian government in Kiev stormed the general prosecutor’s office in the eastern Ukrainian regional capital of Donetsk a day after they had taken over the city council building there.
But on the ground in Ukraine, any hope of dialogue appeared to be slipping ever further away, as protesters opposed to the government in Kiev stormed the general prosecutor’s office in the eastern regional capital of Donetsk.
Crowds of separatists massed in front of Donetsk’s police station Thursday, demanding that all pro-Russian activists be freed across eastern Ukraine. They waved Russian flags — and at least one banner depicting World War II-era Soviet leader Joseph Stalin and the Communist hammer and sickle symbol — and played Soviet patriotic songs. Then they turned their attention to the nearby the state prosecutor’s office, where dozens of black-clad riot police with metal shields stood in front of the entrance.
‘Put them on their knees’
A confrontation quickly ensued, as the riot police attempted to push the crowd away from the entrance with tear gas. The protesters, chanting “fascists,” threw rocks, breaking windows in the office building and demanding that the prosecutor come out. Men in black balaclavas quickly pushed the riot police away from the entrance and forced them to surrender, less than an hour after the pro-Russian protesters had arrived.
Arriving at the office, the mob ripped up stone walls at a nearby park to make rocks to use as projectiles. The protesters, some wearing black balaclavas, smashed windows and quickly forced the riot police on the steps of the building to retreat inside, seizing some of their shields as they did so.
If Ukraine’s interim government carries out military operations in the eastern part of the country, it “could lead to disastrous consequences,” the Russian Foreign Ministry warned Thursday.
Gunshots and small detonations rang out, and clouds of tear gas enveloped the building as the struggle continued inside. At one point, a Ukrainian armored personnel carrier approached the building in an attempt to relieve the siege but retreated when the mob turned in its direction.
“We are calling on Kiev, as well as the U.S. and the E.U. indulging it . . . not to commit criminal mistakes and to soberly assess the gravity of possible consequences of using force against the Ukrainian people,” the ministry said in a statement.
Later, a group of policemen cowered outside the building, crouched on the ground with their shields held over their heads, before finally surrendering. Stripped of their riot gear, they were led away through the crowd, their heads bowed as some separatists struck and spat at them.
In an acknowledgment of his weakness, acting President Oleksandr Turchynov on Wednesday said the Ukrainian government’s goal now was to prevent the agitation from spreading to other areas, and he called for the creation of special regional police forces so that a presidential election could take place May 25 as scheduled.
A woman carrying a small Russian flag on a pole shouted “parasites” as one policeman was put into an ambulance while others in the crowd bayed for blood.
Merkel’s trip to Washington will focus in large part on the security situation in eastern Ukraine in particular and in Eastern Europe more generally. NATO has sent troops and fighter jets to patrol the borders of Poland and the Baltic states. And the United States and Europe have made coordinated announcements of sanctions against Russia over its annexation of Ukraine’s autonomous Crimea region in March and the continuing violence in eastern Ukraine.
“They beat our guys! We should beat them too. We should put them on their knees,” a man and a woman yelled. But a pro-Russian activist in a riot helmet defended the police. “They are just officers on duty, doing their job,” he shouted back.
Pro-Russian gunmen extended their control over that part of the country Wednesday without encountering resistance.
A song called “The Russians Are Coming,” as well as another popular song written at the time of the Soviet war against Nazi Germany, blasted from the speakers of a car. The vehicle flew a flag carrying an image of World War II-era Soviet leader Joseph Stalin.
Ukraine’s acting president, Oleksandr Turchynov, admitted that police and security forces were either “helpless” to prevent the unrest or were actively colluding with separatist rebels.
Men with close-cropped hair and tattoos stood triumphantly on the steps of the captured building, banging confiscated batons on riot shields in unison as the crowd chanted “bravo.” Some carried pistols. A Ukrainian flag and coat of arms burned in a small bonfire close by, along with a pair of women’s high-heeled shoes.
But he warned that the threat of a Russian invasion was real and said his country’s armed forces have been placed on full alert.
Inside the building, looters grabbed items ranging from legal files to hard drives.
Turchynov spoke Wednesday in the capital, Kiev, as the insurgency consolidated its control of the Donetsk region and extended its influence into the neighboring region of Luhansk. Both regions border Russia.
Regional authorities said 26 people were hurt, including four with gunshot wounds or injuries from rubber bullets. One policeman was hospitalized.
Insurgents armed with automatic weapons took control Wednesday of the city council buildings in the cities of Horlivka in Donetsk and Alchevsk in Luhansk; the previous day, another mob seized control of the regional government headquarters in the city of Luhansk, smashing windows as they forced their way in.
The prosecutor was appointed by the national government in Kiev two months ago. He was investigating corruption charges against pro-Moscow former president Viktor Yanukovych, who was ousted in February after street protests in the capital and fled to Russia.
The neighboring regions, collectively known as Donbass, are Ukraine’s industrial heartland, home to steel smelters, heavy industry and coal mines. An armed uprising by Russian-speaking separatists began there in April, and the insurgents plan to hold a referendum on secession in the area on May 11, two weeks before the national presidential election.
The Donetsk region of eastern Ukraine was the heartland of Yanukovych’s support, and Thursday’s violence appeared partly orchestrated to prevent any investigation into the sources of his wealth here, as well as to attack a symbol of Ukrainian rule.
Many of the insurgents apparently hope to follow Crimea’s break from Ukraine in March and subsequent annexation by Russia, although popular support for such a path is thought to be considerably lower in eastern Ukraine than it was in Crimea.
May Day demonstration
In Horlivka, Anatoly Starostin, the commander of separatist forces, said they took control of a police station Tuesday evening without any problems, and he described the city’s police as “corrupt, weak and unprofessional.”
The demonstration, on International Workers’ Day, also known as May Day, began under a huge statue of another former Soviet ruler, Vladimir Lenin, with some flying the flag of the Soviet Union.
The separatists then took over city hall Wednesday with the agreement of the local mayor, who said he supported their cause and would remain in his post. A flag of the self-styled Donetsk People’s Republic flew over the building Wednesday.
“For 23 years I wanted to be in the Soviet Union,” said a 35-year-old miner who gave his name only as Sergey. Asked why, he said: “I don’t want to live with gays.” Later, Sergey, who came to the demonstration with his wife and son, stood among the crowd with a rock in his hand.
“All I want is to be a citizen of Russia, and for this part of Ukraine to be part of Russia,” Starostin, 42, said in an interview in the lobby of city hall.
The demonstrators then moved to the city police headquarters, where they forced the police to hang the flag of the Donetsk People’s Republic outside the building.
Starostin said he came from the city of Slovyansk, which has been under separatist control for about two weeks, with orders to take control of the city and recruit a “self-defense force” from among the people of Horlivka.
Demoralized, corrupt and poorly paid, the police in eastern Ukraine have been caught in the middle and have attracted the scorn of both sides.
The militiamen controlling city hall wore masks and carried automatic rifles; Starostin wore a new camouflage uniform without any insignia, and no mask.
On Monday, riot police in Donetsk stood by and watched as a pro-Russian mob attacked a peaceful rally in which about 1,000 marchers called for Ukraine to remain united. The city council denied permission for another pro-Ukrainian rally on Tuesday, ostensibly because it represented a “threat to the people” of Donetsk, according to a letter seen by The Washington Post.
“Russian soldiers do not go to war with masks on their faces,” he said, suggesting that although he is not a Russian soldier now, he aspires to be one eventually.
On Tuesday, the main police station in the eastern city of Luhansk was also stormed by a separatist mob.
Many residents of the run-down town appeared to welcome the takeover, which came as no surprise.
Michael Birnbaum in Moscow, and Anna Nemtsova and Alex Ryabchyn in Donetsk contributed to this report.
“We have become enemies” with the rest of Ukraine, tailor and dressmaker Pavel Kravchenko said. “Kiev and Western regions hate the Russian residents of Ukraine. They call us Moskali” — a derogatory word for Muscovites — “and, judging by how little resistance we see by authorities, they will let us go to Russia soon.”
In Kiev, Turchnyov, the acting president, told a meeting of regional governors that local security forces were unable to protect citizens.
“I will be frank: Today, security forces are unable to quickly take the situation in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions under control,” Turchynov said, according to the Interfax-Ukraine news service, calling them “helpless” and in some cases “cooperating with terrorist organizations.”
Turchynov instructed the governors to try to prevent the threat from spreading to other regions in the central and southern parts of the country.
“Our task is to stop the spread of the terrorist threat first of all in the Kharkiv and Odessa regions,” Turchynov was quoted as saying.
The mayor of Kharkiv, who had been credited with keeping Ukraine’s second-largest city calm, was shot in the back this week.
The Ukrainian government and the United States accuse Russia of fomenting the unrest.
“I think it’s very clear that what is happening would not be happening without Russian involvement,” Daniel Baer, the U.S. ambassador to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, told reporters in Vienna. The OSCE has 120 monitors in the region.
Russia has massed tens of thousands of troops near its border with Ukraine, although it says it has no plans to invade. But Turchynov told the regional governors that those assurances could not be trusted.
“I once again return to the real danger of the Russian Federation beginning a land war against Ukraine,” Turchynov said. “Our armed forces have been put on full military readiness.”
The insurgents now control buildings in about a dozen cities in eastern Ukraine and are holding some activists and journalists hostage, including a group of observers from the OSCE.
The Donbass region was the heartland of support for Viktor Yanukovych, Ukraine’s previous president, who was ousted in February amid street protests and fled to Russia. But support for Russian annexation of the region is far from universal, even among the Russian speakers who make up the majority of the population there.
On Wednesday, Ukraine’s richest man and the region’s most powerful oligarch, Rinat Akhmetov, said in a statement that he remained committed to Donbass remaining part of Ukraine.
Akhmetov was seen as close to Yanukovych, and his companies were seen as particularly favored by the previous government.
Denyer reported from Donetsk. Alex Ryabchyn in Donetsk contributed to this report.
