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| Putin says Russian troops on Ukrainian border are coming home | |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| KIEV, Ukraine — Ukraine began a tense countdown Monday to weekend elections as Russian President Vladimir Putin said troops deployed near the border with restive eastern Ukraine have been ordered home. | |
| Putin previously claimed that some 40,000 Russian troops massed on Ukraine’s border had been withdrawn, but the United States and NATO insisted they saw no signs of that. Putin’s office issued a statement Monday morning saying the troops involved in “routine spring” exercises in the Rostov, Belgorod and Bryansk regions have been ordered back to their barracks. | Putin previously claimed that some 40,000 Russian troops massed on Ukraine’s border had been withdrawn, but the United States and NATO insisted they saw no signs of that. Putin’s office issued a statement Monday morning saying the troops involved in “routine spring” exercises in the Rostov, Belgorod and Bryansk regions have been ordered back to their barracks. |
| Ukraine is due to go to the polls Sunday in historic presidential and mayoral elections that could affect the country’s very makeup and its alignment between the West and Russia. Tensions remained high in the troubled Donetsk and Luhansk regions near the country’s border with Russia as the week began. | |
| The front-runner in Sunday’s presidential election is billionaire Petro Poroshenko, 48, widely known as the “chocolate king” for the fortune he made in the confectionery business. Poroshenko, who previously served in several top government posts, is leading in the polls, though he appears to be still falling short of the absolute majority required to avoid a runoff on June 15. | |
| Pro-Russian militants, who have seized government buildings in eastern Ukraine and fought government troops in the industrial region, have said they will boycott the elections. They allege that recent chaotic referendums held in eastern Ukraine asking for self-rule are valid. Kiev called the referendums a farce and the West declared them illegal. Russia said they should be respected. | Pro-Russian militants, who have seized government buildings in eastern Ukraine and fought government troops in the industrial region, have said they will boycott the elections. They allege that recent chaotic referendums held in eastern Ukraine asking for self-rule are valid. Kiev called the referendums a farce and the West declared them illegal. Russia said they should be respected. |
| On Saturday, the second round of Ukrainian national unity talks were held in Kharkiv, allowing the more moderate representatives of the eastern region, the country’s industrial heartland, to vent their grievances. Although the talks have shown little signs of a breakthrough, and pro-Russian militants are not attending, Western diplomats have hailed the process for putting the interim government and some of its domestic critics in one room. | On Saturday, the second round of Ukrainian national unity talks were held in Kharkiv, allowing the more moderate representatives of the eastern region, the country’s industrial heartland, to vent their grievances. Although the talks have shown little signs of a breakthrough, and pro-Russian militants are not attending, Western diplomats have hailed the process for putting the interim government and some of its domestic critics in one room. |
| Participants took turns venting, as they had in the first session last week, and expressing divergent views on live television. Easterners complained of Kiev’s high-handed treatment of their region, while officials of the interim government extended an olive branch, promising to address demands for decentralizing power by ceding more authority to Ukraine’s regional capitals. | Participants took turns venting, as they had in the first session last week, and expressing divergent views on live television. Easterners complained of Kiev’s high-handed treatment of their region, while officials of the interim government extended an olive branch, promising to address demands for decentralizing power by ceding more authority to Ukraine’s regional capitals. |
| The transfer of some power is a key demand, particularly in the heavily ethnic Russian east. But just how to carry it out, as well as how much power to cede, are hotly debated. | |
| The talks are aimed at de-escalating tensions in the east, but since the separatists are not taking part, it remained unclear to what extent representatives from the east could influence the separatists to lay down their arms. The talks, backed by the European Union, are being held under the auspices of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, a Vienna-based body that includes European powers as well as the United States and Russia. Russia appears to be backing the effort. | |
| Hauslohner reported from Moscow and Kunkle from Donetsk. |