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Cease-Fire in Ukraine Falters as Rebels Down Copter, Government Says Putin Urges Extension of Ukraine Cease-Fire
(about 2 hours later)
DONETSK, Ukraine — A cease-fire agreement between combatants in eastern Ukraine appeared shaky on Tuesday as separatist rebels shot down a Ukrainian military helicopter, according to a spokesman for the Ukrainian Army. All nine aboard are feared dead, he said. MOSCOW — President Vladimir V. Putin said on Tuesday that a temporary cease-fire declared by separatists in eastern Ukraine should be extended, just hours after he called on the upper house of Russia’s Parliament to rescind a March resolution authorizing the use of his country’s armed forces in Ukraine.
The Mi-8 helicopter was carrying equipment and specialists to monitor the fragile cease-fire near the rebel-held city of Slovyansk, a center of the conflict, when it was struck by a missile fired from a man-portable air defense system, the spokesman, Vladislav Seleznyov, said in a statement posted online. The rebels did not immediately confirm the attack. Both moves came as the United States and some European leaders warned that Russia faced a third, stiffer round of economic sanctions, specifically targeting sectors like banking and high technology, if it did not do more to end the Ukraine crisis. European leaders are due to discuss the sanctions during a summit in Brussels on Friday.
The missile strike came as President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia said the temporary cease-fire, agreed to a day earlier by Russia, Ukraine and the pro-Russian rebels, should be extended, and signaled his interest in negotiations to end the fighting. In eastern Ukraine, the unexpected cease-fire announced by pro-Russian separatists on Monday night proved shaky, with a spokesman for the Ukrainian armed forces accusing the rebels of shooting down a military helicopter with nine people aboard.
Hours earlier, Mr. Putin sent a request to the upper chamber of Russia’s Parliament asking that it rescind a March 1 resolution authorizing the use of the country’s armed forces in Ukraine, his spokesman said. The Mi-8 helicopter was carrying equipment and specialists to monitor the cease-fire near the rebel-held city of Slovyansk, which has been the epicenter of the conflict, when it was struck by a missile fired from a man-portable air defense system, said Vladislav Seleznyov, the spokesman, in a statement posted online. He said all aboard were believed to have been killed.
Those developments followed a warning by the United States and some European leaders that Russia faced a third, stiffer round of economic sanctions, specifically targeting sectors like banking and high technology, if it did not do more to end the Ukraine crisis. European leaders are due to discuss the sanctions during a summit in Brussels on Friday. The attack on the helicopter took place in the hills in the town of Karachun on the outskirts of Slovyansk, Mr. Seleznyov said.
Speaking in Vienna, where he had gone to shore up support for a new, southern route for Russian gas exports in the face of European opposition, Mr. Putin said the cease-fire, which was supposed to last through Friday, was evidently insufficient. The rebel outfit defending Slovyansk, the scene of the heaviest fighting in the two-month conflict, is run by a shadowy military commander named Igor Strelkov who was not present at negotiations on the cease-fire in the eastern city of Donetsk on Monday evening. But an aide to the prime minister of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic said in an interview that Mr. Strelkov was aware of the temporary truce.
Mr. Putin’s spokesman, Dmitri S. Peskov, was quoted by the Russian news media as saying that Mr. Putin had sent a formal request “aimed at normalizing the situation in the eastern regions of Ukraine” in response to the beginning of “trilateral negotiations on this matter.” Maintaining a truce could prove tough. There is minimal trust between the government in Kiev, the capital, and the patchwork of militias and rebellious political organizations that have laid siege to eastern Ukraine.
The move was largely symbolic — Mr. Putin can get whatever he needs from the rubber-stamp Parliament at any time. But it had been one step requested by the United States and by other Western powers to indicate that Moscow was serious in seeking a negotiated solution to the conflict in Ukraine. Earlier Tuesday, Mr. Seleznyov said in an interview that rebels had continued using mortars to attack several government checkpoints near Slovyansk. He said there had been isolated fighting near the border between Russia and Ukraine as well, with some injuries.
Russia had been pressuring Ukraine to talk directly to the rebels, and Mr. Putin’s public move to take the Russian armed forces out of the equation was evidently a means to endorse the first results from the talks. Speaking in Vienna, Mr. Putin said a weeklong cease-fire announced by President Petro O. Poroshenko on Friday and accepted by the separatists, who want increased autonomy for the eastern regions of Donetsk and Luhansk, was insufficient. He said he had told Ukraine, “To declare a cease-fire is not enough; it is necessary to start substantive talks on the nature of the problem.”
The attack on the helicopter took place close to 5 p.m. and came from hills in the town of Karachun on the outskirts of Slovyansk, Mr. Seleznyov said. Slovyansk, the scene of the heaviest fighting in the two-month conflict, is defended by a rebel outfit run by a shadowy military commander named Igor Strelkov, who was not present at negotiations on the cease-fire in the eastern city of Donetsk on Monday evening. Mr. Putin said declaring a cease-fire and asking the rebels to disarm without addressing their long-term political grievances would yield nothing.
But an aide to the prime minister of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic said in an interview that Mr. Strelkov was aware of the temporary truce. “If we see there are substantive talks, so that people in eastern Ukraine can finally understand how their legal interests will be guaranteed, then there is a high possibility of success,” Mr. Putin said at a news conference.
Mr. Putin’s decision to rescind the resolution on the use of force will put added pressure on President Petro O. Poroshenko of Ukraine to negotiate directly with the separatists, who have been waging an armed campaign for increased autonomy for the eastern regions of Donetsk and Luhansk. Mr. Putin said he was “pleased” by the first contacts on Monday between the Kiev authorities and the rebel representatives of Donetsk and Luhansk. “No big agreements were reached, but the fact that the dialogue has begun is a highly important moment,” he said.
In announcing a 15-point peace plan on Friday, and again in a speech to the nation on Saturday, Mr. Poroshenko ruled out talks with those who had taken up arms against the Ukrainian government. The separatists in turn rejected the idea of talking directly with the government in Kiev, the Ukrainian capital. The Russian president listed some of his standard complaints about Ukraine, including that it had not done enough to disarm a rabidly anti-Russian group called Right Sector. Without that, Mr. Putin said, it did not make sense to call on the militias in the east to disarm.
Mr. Putin was in Vienna to help push for a new, southern route for Russian gas exports in the face of European opposition. Russia is seeking alternative routes for its troubled exports via Ukraine, with the Ukrainian portion of the exports again shut down over pricing and political disputes.
The energy giant Gazprom, owned 50 percent by the Russian government, signed a deal on Tuesday with OMV, an Austrian oil and gas company, for a joint construction project for the Austrian segment of the southern pipeline known as the Southern Stream.
The European Union has expressed opposition to future construction because Gazprom has balked at European laws that allow for open access to the infrastructure.
Mr. Putin accused the United States of trying to wreck the market for Russian gas in order to export more American gas, and said Russian gas was more competitively priced.
Before Mr. Putin left for Vienna, his spokesman, Dmitri S. Peskov, issued a statement saying that Mr. Putin had sent a formal request to the Federation Council, the upper house of Russia’s Parliament, to rescind what was tantamount to an endorsement to invade Ukraine passed on March 1. Russia used its military that month to annex Crimea, at the time a Ukrainian region, and there has been tension over a possible similar move in the troubled southeastern region of Ukraine for months.
In his statement, Mr. Peskov said the move to rescind the authorization was “aimed at normalizing the situation in the eastern regions of Ukraine.”
The changed position was largely symbolic — Mr. Putin can get whatever he needs from Parliament at any time, and indeed, members of the upper house said it would make the change Wednesday. But the change was one step requested by the United States and other Western powers to indicate that Moscow was serious in seeking a negotiated solution to the conflict in Ukraine.
It came after a rough deal was worked out on Monday involving all sides for a temporary cease-fire lasting through Friday. Russia had been pressuring Ukraine to talk directly to the rebels, and Mr. Putin’s public move to take the Russian armed forces out of the equation was evidently a means to endorse the first results from the talks.
In announcing a 15-point peace plan on Friday, and again in a speech to the nation on Saturday, Mr. Poroshenko ruled out talks with those in the southeast who had taken up arms against the Ukrainian government. The separatists in turn rejected the idea of talking directly with the government.
Mr. Putin cautiously endorsed the plan over the weekend, but demanded direct talks. President Obama spoke by telephone on Monday with Mr. Putin, and the White House said Mr. Obama had pressed Mr. Putin to aid Mr. Poroshenko’s efforts to defuse the crisis.Mr. Putin cautiously endorsed the plan over the weekend, but demanded direct talks. President Obama spoke by telephone on Monday with Mr. Putin, and the White House said Mr. Obama had pressed Mr. Putin to aid Mr. Poroshenko’s efforts to defuse the crisis.
The West had been threatening a third round of far more serious sanctions against Russia in sectors like finance and high technology. The West has accused Moscow of supporting, if not directing, the separatist movement by dispatching Russian mercenaries. Moscow has denied any direct role and has said it has no control over volunteer fighters. The West has accused Moscow of supporting, if not directing, the separatist movement by dispatching Russian mercenaries. Moscow has denied any direct role and has said it has no control over volunteer fighters. But the United States has been leading the effort to impose new sanctions.
Earlier Tuesday, Mr. Seleznyov said in an interview that rebels had continued using mortars to attack several government checkpoints near Slovyansk, but that no one there had been injured in the shelling. He said there was also isolated fighting near the border between Russia and Ukraine, where there was an unspecified number of injuries. In Kiev, Mr. Poroshenko issued a statement calling the move by Mr. Putin “the first practical step” by Moscow to resolve the crisis in the east since the Russian leader endorsed the peace plan.
In Kiev, Mr. Poroshenko issued a statement calling the move by Mr. Putin “the first practical step” by Moscow to resolve the crisis in the east since the Russian leader endorsed the peace plan over the weekend. The Poroshenko peace plan proposes amnesty for rebel fighters who have not committed serious crimes, as well as safe passage for mercenaries seeking to return to Russia. It also calls for decentralization of the national government, which would allow for greater self-rule in the east, a key Russian demand.
The collapse of the cease-fire agreement illustrated the depth of distrust between the government in Kiev and the patchwork of militias and rebellious political organizations that have laid siege to eastern Ukraine. Even before the helicopter attack, there were accusations and counteraccusations about violations of the cease-fire. At their meeting on Monday, European foreign ministers imposed a ban on imports of goods made in Crimea. But they stopped short of endorsing further sanctions.
No sooner had the announcement of Mr. Putin’s request been made than a representative of the upper house of Parliament, known as the Federation Council, said it would be passed. The representative, Andrei Klimov, the deputy head of the council’s foreign affairs committee, said that it would back the decision and that the full council would reverse its March 1 vote on Wednesday, according to the Interfax news agency. Frank-Walter Steinmeier, the German foreign minister, who has been shuttling for months to try to defuse the Ukraine crisis, headed to Kiev once more on Tuesday to try to build on the progress made with the cease-fire. His main proposals include sending a police training mission to help restore law and order in Ukraine.
The separatist leaders met on Monday in Donetsk with Leonid D. Kuchma, a former president of Ukraine who is acting as the main representative for the Kiev government; the Russian ambassador in Ukraine; and an envoy from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe. The talks were scheduled to continue on Tuesday.
The Poroshenko peace plan proposes amnesty for rebel fighters who have not committed serious crimes, as well as safe passage for mercenaries seeking to return home to Russia. It also calls for decentralization of the national government, which would allow for greater self-rule in the east, a key Russian demand.
On Monday, the foreign ministers of the 28-member European Union said they would send a training mission later this summer to help Ukraine reform its police force and to implement the rule of law. The police are widely considered corrupt and often evaporate in clashes between supporters and opponents of the government.
The Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a statement saying that by sending such a mission, the European Union would be taking on a “considerable share” of responsibility for the security situation in the country, and that law and order should be applied equally to all citizens.
At their meeting on Monday, the European foreign ministers imposed a ban on importing goods made in Crimea and the port of Sevastopol, where Russia has its Black Sea fleet. Russia annexed Crimea, then a Ukrainian region, in March. Frank-Walter Steinmeier, the German foreign minister, who has been shuttling for months to try to defuse the Ukraine crisis, headed to Kiev once more on Tuesday to try to build on the progress made with the cease-fire.
The ban on imports from Crimea was intended to send “a very, very clear signal that the annexation of Crimea by Russia has not been recognized, and will not be,” said one official, speaking on condition that he not be identified because of the delicate diplomacy involved.
European Union leaders also intend to step up contingency planning for next winter, given the current Russian blockade on natural gas deliveries to Ukraine, which is also the main transit route for energy supplies to European nations farther west.
The Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a statement criticizing the European Union’s ban on Crimean goods, calling it “completely unacceptable” and a blow against ordinary people there.