From this, it seems better that Kiev should stay more closer to Moscow than The West.
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From this, it seems better that Kiev should stay more closer to Moscow than The West.
Another Eastern citiy trying for independence through the ballot box:
Putin might take a trip:
new york times
German FM in Ukraine to help broker dialogue
Associated Press By NATALIYA VASILYEVA
KIEV, Ukraine (AP) — Germany's foreign minister on Tuesday tried to broker a quick launch of talks between Ukraine's central government in Kiev and the pro-Russia separatists who declared independence a day ago in two eastern regions.
Speaking at Kiev's main airport, envoy Frank-Walter Steinmeier said Germany supports Ukraine's efforts to arrange for a dialogue between the central government and its opponents in the eastern Donetsk and Luhansk regions that form the nation's industrial heartland.
Pro-Russia insurgents have seized government buildings, clashed with government forces and have captured a number of hostages across eastern Ukraine during the past month. Steinmeier voiced hope for a quick release of the hostages, a handover of occupied government buildings and stressed the importance of holding Ukraine's presidential vote as planned on May 25.
Steinmeier's trip is part of the road map for settling Ukraine's crisis laid out by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, a top trans-Atlantic security and rights group. Russia, which is an OSCE member, has welcomed its efforts to mediate the crisis.
Russia's Foreign Ministry on Tuesday assailed what it called the Ukrainian authorities' reluctance to talk with pro-Russia insurgents, saying "it poses a serious obstacle on the path of de-escalation." Russia urged the United States and the European Union to persuade authorities in Kiev to prioritize discussions of giving more powers to Ukraine's regions ahead of the May 25 presidential vote.
The separatists held a referendum Sunday and claimed that about 90 percent of those who voted in Donetsk and Luhansk backed sovereignty. The two regions declared independence on Monday and insurgents in Donetsk even asked to join Russia.
Ukraine's acting president called the vote a sham and Western governments said it violated international law.
The Kremlin has shown no immediate intentions of annexing eastern Ukraine like it did the Crimean Peninsula in March. Instead, Moscow has pushed for talks between Ukraine's central government and eastern regions on Ukraine's future — a cautious stance suggesting that Russia prefers a political rather than a military solution to its worst standoff with the West since the Cold War.
The Ukrainian government and the West have accused Russia of fomenting the mutiny in the east to derail Ukraine's presidential vote and possibly grab more land. The insurgents in Luhansk said they wouldn't hold the presidential vote.
The OSCE plan presented Monday by Swiss President Didier Burkhalter calls on all sides to refrain from violence and urges immediate amnesty for those involved in the unrest, talks on decentralization and the status of the Russian language. Burkhalter said the OSCE will set up rapid response teams to quickly investigate all acts of violence.
He said the plan envisages a quick launch of high-level round tables across the country bringing together national lawmakers and representatives of the central government and the regions.
Serhiy Taruta, the Kiev-appointed governor of the Donetsk region, on Tuesday urged the Ukrainian parliament to authorize a referendum on June 15 that could help the regions gain more powers while remaining part of Ukraine.
While he dismissed the vote held by pro-Russian protesters on Sunday as an "opinion poll," Taruta said everyone in Ukraine, including those in the rebellious east, "should hear answers to the questions that they are concerned about."
Taruta said key issues include possibly devolving more powers to local authorities, creating municipal police forces and a broader use of languages other than Ukrainian.
The interim government in Kiev had been hoping the May 25 presidential vote would unify the country behind a new, democratically chosen leadership. Ukraine's crisis could grow even worse if regions start rejecting the presidential election. Dozens of people have been killed since Ukrainian forces began trying to retake some eastern cities from the separatists.
On Tuesday, insurgents said unidentified assailants fired at a car carrying Valery Bolotov, a separatist leader in the Luhansk region. Bolotov was hospitalized with wounds but they were not life-threatening, the insurgents said. Bolotov was the one who announced independence Monday for his region.
Vladimir Isachenkov in Moscow and Peter Leonard in Donetsk contributed to this report.
Associated Press By NATALIYA VASILYEVA
KIEV, Ukraine (AP) — Germany's foreign minister on Tuesday tried to broker a quick launch of talks between Ukraine's central government in Kiev and the pro-Russia separatists who declared independence a day ago in two eastern regions.
Speaking at Kiev's main airport, envoy Frank-Walter Steinmeier said Germany supports Ukraine's efforts to arrange for a dialogue between the central government and its opponents in the eastern Donetsk and Luhansk regions that form the nation's industrial heartland.
Pro-Russia insurgents have seized government buildings, clashed with government forces and have captured a number of hostages across eastern Ukraine during the past month. Steinmeier voiced hope for a quick release of the hostages, a handover of occupied government buildings and stressed the importance of holding Ukraine's presidential vote as planned on May 25.
Steinmeier's trip is part of the road map for settling Ukraine's crisis laid out by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, a top trans-Atlantic security and rights group. Russia, which is an OSCE member, has welcomed its efforts to mediate the crisis.
Russia's Foreign Ministry on Tuesday assailed what it called the Ukrainian authorities' reluctance to talk with pro-Russia insurgents, saying "it poses a serious obstacle on the path of de-escalation." Russia urged the United States and the European Union to persuade authorities in Kiev to prioritize discussions of giving more powers to Ukraine's regions ahead of the May 25 presidential vote.
The separatists held a referendum Sunday and claimed that about 90 percent of those who voted in Donetsk and Luhansk backed sovereignty. The two regions declared independence on Monday and insurgents in Donetsk even asked to join Russia.
Ukraine's acting president called the vote a sham and Western governments said it violated international law.
The Kremlin has shown no immediate intentions of annexing eastern Ukraine like it did the Crimean Peninsula in March. Instead, Moscow has pushed for talks between Ukraine's central government and eastern regions on Ukraine's future — a cautious stance suggesting that Russia prefers a political rather than a military solution to its worst standoff with the West since the Cold War.
The Ukrainian government and the West have accused Russia of fomenting the mutiny in the east to derail Ukraine's presidential vote and possibly grab more land. The insurgents in Luhansk said they wouldn't hold the presidential vote.
The OSCE plan presented Monday by Swiss President Didier Burkhalter calls on all sides to refrain from violence and urges immediate amnesty for those involved in the unrest, talks on decentralization and the status of the Russian language. Burkhalter said the OSCE will set up rapid response teams to quickly investigate all acts of violence.
He said the plan envisages a quick launch of high-level round tables across the country bringing together national lawmakers and representatives of the central government and the regions.
Serhiy Taruta, the Kiev-appointed governor of the Donetsk region, on Tuesday urged the Ukrainian parliament to authorize a referendum on June 15 that could help the regions gain more powers while remaining part of Ukraine.
While he dismissed the vote held by pro-Russian protesters on Sunday as an "opinion poll," Taruta said everyone in Ukraine, including those in the rebellious east, "should hear answers to the questions that they are concerned about."
Taruta said key issues include possibly devolving more powers to local authorities, creating municipal police forces and a broader use of languages other than Ukrainian.
The interim government in Kiev had been hoping the May 25 presidential vote would unify the country behind a new, democratically chosen leadership. Ukraine's crisis could grow even worse if regions start rejecting the presidential election. Dozens of people have been killed since Ukrainian forces began trying to retake some eastern cities from the separatists.
On Tuesday, insurgents said unidentified assailants fired at a car carrying Valery Bolotov, a separatist leader in the Luhansk region. Bolotov was hospitalized with wounds but they were not life-threatening, the insurgents said. Bolotov was the one who announced independence Monday for his region.
Vladimir Isachenkov in Moscow and Peter Leonard in Donetsk contributed to this report.
Putin took the Chrimea because the EU and US were tempting Ukraine with EU and NATO membership. In recent years Russia has found themselves surrounded by NATO allies and US bases and feared that they would loose their naval base on the Black sea in the Chrimean peninsula. It's exactly what the US would have done if they perceived such an encroachment on their boarders and strategic assets from Russia.
Jagger69
Three lullabies in an ancient tongue
Oh Crimea river! Putin wants to restore Russia to the borders that were in effect when the good ol' Soviet Union was still around. He's got a good start but he'll have some serious problems attaining his ultimate vision of rebuilding Stalin's USSR again. Still, Russian nationalism is s strong incentive....we'll see what happens next. Should be fun to watch.
The top BRIC countries China, India, and Brazil are support of Russia. They've refused to kick Russia out of the G20. The West said nothing when Saudi Arabia helped put down the Shia Arabia Spring in Bahrain. The Russian people didn't want to fight for Eastern Ukraine. Putin has a ton of power, but the vast majority of Russians support his policies. Boris Yeltsin is mostly response for Russia's current political system, so the vast majority of Russians give Putin a pass on government corruption. Russia is not the USSR. The Russian military is mostly the people's military. Putin would be in trouble, if millions of anti government protestors marched on Red Square. That's why Putin will not give up control of Russian state television stations. Putin cares about staying in power and increasing his personal wealth.
European natural gas and oil exports are paying for Russia's rearmament program. The BMPT-72 (video below) is a tank support vehicle. The Russian armored forces are very good today, but they will scare in a few years. Tanks are very vulnerable against massed infantry in urban areas. The BMPT-72 should help solve that problem for the Russians.
European natural gas and oil exports are paying for Russia's rearmament program. The BMPT-72 (video below) is a tank support vehicle. The Russian armored forces are very good today, but they will scare in a few years. Tanks are very vulnerable against massed infantry in urban areas. The BMPT-72 should help solve that problem for the Russians.
Russia's Putin calls for compromise in Ukraine
Associated Press By LYNN BERRY
2 hours ago
MOSCOW (AP) — Russian President Vladimir Putin publicly expressed support Sunday for Ukraine's declaration of a cease-fire in its battle against pro-Russian separatists and called on both sides to negotiate a compromise.
Putin said such a compromise must guarantee the rights of the Russian-speaking residents of eastern Ukraine, who must feel like they are "an integral part" of their own country. Putin's statement appeared to signal that he sees their future in Ukraine.
Separatists in the eastern Donetsk and Luhansk regions have declared independence and asked to join Russia. Moscow has rebuffed their appeals, but is seen by Ukraine and the West as actively supporting the insurgency. Putin's conciliatory words came as Russia began large-scale military exercises and after NATO accused Russia of moving troops back toward the Ukrainian border.
Putin appears determined to keep up the pressure to force the Kiev government to give the eastern industrial regions more powers and to prevent Ukraine from moving too close to the European Union or NATO. But he also wants to avoid more punishing sanctions from the U.S. and particularly from the European Union, whose leaders will meet Friday in Brussels, and therefore needs to be seen as cooperating with efforts to de-escalate the conflict.
The Kremlin initially dismissed the peace plan that Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko laid out on Friday. But in a statement issued late Saturday, Putin said he welcomed the cease-fire and Poroshenko's "intention to take other concrete steps to reach a peaceful settlement."
As part of his plan, Poroshenko suggested a decentralization of power to give the regions more political authority. He also proposed new local and parliamentary elections, and measures to protect the language rights of Russian speakers in the east.
Putin was more specific on Sunday, when he spoke publicly following ceremonies commemorating the Nazi invasion of the Soviet Union on June 22, 1941.
"That President Poroshenko announced a truce is without a doubt an important part of a final settlement, without which no agreement can be reached, and there is no doubt that Russia will support this intention, but in the end the most important thing is a political process," Putin said.
Putin discussed the cease-fire on Sunday with German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Francois Hollande, Merkel's office and the Kremlin said.
"After the Russian government too referred to the cease-fire in positive terms, the interlocutors emphasized the need for all sides to abide by it now and for a political dialogue to be put in motion," Merkel's office said in a statement. "Another topic of the conversation was the issue of securing the Ukrainian-Russian border."
U.S. Vice President Joe Biden welcomed Ukraine's unilateral cease-fire declaration in a telephone conversation with Poroshenko, but expressed concern that separatist leaders have refused to reciprocate, Biden's office said in a statement.
In Kiev, Poroshenko also addressed his nation on the day on which Ukrainians and Russians mourn the millions who died during World War II. He called for peace, but urged his compatriots to stand strong and united.
"It was so during the violent struggle against the Nazis and it should be the same now," Poroshenko said. "Facing a real threat, we must unite even more and secure our historical choice, defend our right to live freely on our land."
Also Sunday, a few hundred pro-Ukrainian activists marched outside Kiev Pechersk Lavra, a revered Orthodox monastery, which was guarded by riot police, some on horseback. The activists had come to prevent pro-Russian supporters from holding their own march at the monastery, which is under the jurisdiction of the Moscow patriarchy.
Putin has appealed to both sides to halt all military operations and sit down at the negotiating table.
It remained unclear whether the pro-Russia separatists would comply and how much pressure Russia would put on them to cease fire.
Putin said Sunday that fighting was continuing, including what he said was artillery fire from the Ukrainian side. Poroshenko has said his troops reserve the right to fire back if separatists attack them or civilians.
Poroshenko, in turn, told Biden that "Russian-backed separatists continued to attack Ukrainian forces, including with the use of artillery, following the cease-fire declaration," Biden's office said.
Biden reiterated that the U.S. was working with its G-7 partners to prepare further economic sanctions against Russia if Moscow failed to take actions "to stop the flow of arms and militants across the border and use its influence to publicly call on the separatists to lay down their arms."
Tensions between Russia and Ukraine escalated sharply in February when protests in favor of closer Ukrainian ties with the European Union drove pro-Russia President Viktor Yanukovych from power. Russia denounced the events as a coup and annexed Ukraine's mostly Russian-speaking Crimea region. Rebellion in the eastern regions broke out shortly afterward, with Ukraine accusing Russia of supporting it. Hundreds of people have been killed and tens of thousands have fled their homes.
Associated Press By LYNN BERRY
2 hours ago
MOSCOW (AP) — Russian President Vladimir Putin publicly expressed support Sunday for Ukraine's declaration of a cease-fire in its battle against pro-Russian separatists and called on both sides to negotiate a compromise.
Putin said such a compromise must guarantee the rights of the Russian-speaking residents of eastern Ukraine, who must feel like they are "an integral part" of their own country. Putin's statement appeared to signal that he sees their future in Ukraine.
Separatists in the eastern Donetsk and Luhansk regions have declared independence and asked to join Russia. Moscow has rebuffed their appeals, but is seen by Ukraine and the West as actively supporting the insurgency. Putin's conciliatory words came as Russia began large-scale military exercises and after NATO accused Russia of moving troops back toward the Ukrainian border.
Putin appears determined to keep up the pressure to force the Kiev government to give the eastern industrial regions more powers and to prevent Ukraine from moving too close to the European Union or NATO. But he also wants to avoid more punishing sanctions from the U.S. and particularly from the European Union, whose leaders will meet Friday in Brussels, and therefore needs to be seen as cooperating with efforts to de-escalate the conflict.
The Kremlin initially dismissed the peace plan that Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko laid out on Friday. But in a statement issued late Saturday, Putin said he welcomed the cease-fire and Poroshenko's "intention to take other concrete steps to reach a peaceful settlement."
As part of his plan, Poroshenko suggested a decentralization of power to give the regions more political authority. He also proposed new local and parliamentary elections, and measures to protect the language rights of Russian speakers in the east.
Putin was more specific on Sunday, when he spoke publicly following ceremonies commemorating the Nazi invasion of the Soviet Union on June 22, 1941.
"That President Poroshenko announced a truce is without a doubt an important part of a final settlement, without which no agreement can be reached, and there is no doubt that Russia will support this intention, but in the end the most important thing is a political process," Putin said.
Putin discussed the cease-fire on Sunday with German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Francois Hollande, Merkel's office and the Kremlin said.
"After the Russian government too referred to the cease-fire in positive terms, the interlocutors emphasized the need for all sides to abide by it now and for a political dialogue to be put in motion," Merkel's office said in a statement. "Another topic of the conversation was the issue of securing the Ukrainian-Russian border."
U.S. Vice President Joe Biden welcomed Ukraine's unilateral cease-fire declaration in a telephone conversation with Poroshenko, but expressed concern that separatist leaders have refused to reciprocate, Biden's office said in a statement.
In Kiev, Poroshenko also addressed his nation on the day on which Ukrainians and Russians mourn the millions who died during World War II. He called for peace, but urged his compatriots to stand strong and united.
"It was so during the violent struggle against the Nazis and it should be the same now," Poroshenko said. "Facing a real threat, we must unite even more and secure our historical choice, defend our right to live freely on our land."
Also Sunday, a few hundred pro-Ukrainian activists marched outside Kiev Pechersk Lavra, a revered Orthodox monastery, which was guarded by riot police, some on horseback. The activists had come to prevent pro-Russian supporters from holding their own march at the monastery, which is under the jurisdiction of the Moscow patriarchy.
Putin has appealed to both sides to halt all military operations and sit down at the negotiating table.
It remained unclear whether the pro-Russia separatists would comply and how much pressure Russia would put on them to cease fire.
Putin said Sunday that fighting was continuing, including what he said was artillery fire from the Ukrainian side. Poroshenko has said his troops reserve the right to fire back if separatists attack them or civilians.
Poroshenko, in turn, told Biden that "Russian-backed separatists continued to attack Ukrainian forces, including with the use of artillery, following the cease-fire declaration," Biden's office said.
Biden reiterated that the U.S. was working with its G-7 partners to prepare further economic sanctions against Russia if Moscow failed to take actions "to stop the flow of arms and militants across the border and use its influence to publicly call on the separatists to lay down their arms."
Tensions between Russia and Ukraine escalated sharply in February when protests in favor of closer Ukrainian ties with the European Union drove pro-Russia President Viktor Yanukovych from power. Russia denounced the events as a coup and annexed Ukraine's mostly Russian-speaking Crimea region. Rebellion in the eastern regions broke out shortly afterward, with Ukraine accusing Russia of supporting it. Hundreds of people have been killed and tens of thousands have fled their homes.
Putin.
Call for peace, regroup and then ratchet the violence again.
Bet you the black boxes recovered are not the ones from the plane shot down.
Fuck Putin! Despite the Russian babe in my Avi.
Call for peace, regroup and then ratchet the violence again.
Bet you the black boxes recovered are not the ones from the plane shot down.
Fuck Putin! Despite the Russian babe in my Avi.
I thought Putin had his eyes on Moldova next.
I was going to rep you , but couldn't.
For your signature. Great show.
- - - Updated - - -
I was going to rep you , but couldn't.
For your signature. Great show.
IMO, Foxnews is doing the best job of covering the Ukrainian Civil War.
http://www.foxnews.com/world/2014/0...anitarian-crisis-as-excuse-to-invade-ukraine/
http://www.foxnews.com/world/2014/0...anitarian-crisis-as-excuse-to-invade-ukraine/
Don't mess with nuclear Russia, Putin says
http://news.yahoo.com/putin-says-russia-ready-respond-aggression-123956691.html
This guy is Hitler and is turning the clock back to the cold war.
http://news.yahoo.com/putin-says-russia-ready-respond-aggression-123956691.html
This guy is Hitler and is turning the clock back to the cold war.
What a fucking idiot playing the nuke card. Never mind that all the children he was addressing would be vaporized in a counter strike.
Agree 100 %.
Ukraine Got Talent
Anastasia Sokolova - the world's best pole dancer. Damn, she is tight.
Anastasia Sokolova - the world's best pole dancer. Damn, she is tight.
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