A reluctant Ukrainian government agreed to launch discussions yesterday on giving more powers to the regions under a peace plan brokered by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), but it remains wary of engaging with pro-Russian insurgents who have declared independence in two eastern regions.
Acting Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk was to chair the first in a series of round tables set to include national lawmakers, government figures and regional officials in line with proposals drafted by the OSCE, a top trans-Atlantic security and rights group that includes Russia and the US.
Russia has strongly backed the Swiss-drafted road map, but Ukraine has remained cool to the plan and US officials view its prospects for success skeptically.
Photo: Reuters
Ukraine and the West have accused Moscow of fomenting the unrest in eastern Ukraine, where pro-Russian insurgents seized administrative buildings, fought government forces and declared independence for the Donetsk and Luhansk regions after a controversial weekend referendum.
The Ukrainian government and Western powers have rejected the referendum as a sham.
Speaking in Brussels on Tuesday, Yatsenyuk thanked the OSCE for its plan, but said Ukraine has its own plan for ending the crisis and said the people of his country should settle the issue themselves.
Ukrainian forces have mounted an offensive against the armed insurgents, and dozens have died in the fighting across the east.
On Tuesday, the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense said six soldiers were killed by insurgents who ambushed a convoy near the city of Kramatorsk in the Donetsk region.
Yesterday morning, journalists saw charred carcasses of a Ukrainian armored personnel carrier and a truck at the site of the clash.
The OSCE plan calls on all sides to refrain from violence and urges amnesty for those involved in the unrest, as well as talks on decentralization and the status of the Russian language. It 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.
The first round table set to be held in Kiev will include Ukraine’s former presidents, officials and lawmakers, but there has been no word about inviting rebels as the government has staunchly refused to talk to “separatists.”
Ukrainian Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Yevhen Perebiynis lamented that the OSCE deal does not specifically oblige Russia to do anything, saying that Moscow must be urged to stop sponsoring terrorists to de-escalate the conflict.
Russia has dismissed the accusations and assailed the Ukrainian authorities for their reluctance to hold talks with its opponents in the east before the May 25 presidential vote.
In Moscow, Sergei Naryshkin, the speaker of the lower house of Russian parliament, said that the Ukrainian authorities’ refusal to speak to its foes and the continuing military operation in the east will undermine the legitimacy of the presidential vote, but added that the failure to hold it would be even worse.
Moscow had previously called for postponing the presidential vote, saying it must be preceded by a constitutional reform that would turn Ukraine into a federation, but it has recently taken a more conciliatory stance, reflecting an apparent desire to ease the worst crisis.
However, the insurgents in Luhansk have already said they would not hold the balloting, and the leader of pro-Russian activists in Donetsk, Denis Pushilin, said they will use unspecified “means and methods” to prevent the vote from happening.
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