Ukraine holds national unity talks; foes missing

KIEV: The Ukrainian government launched talks Wednesday on decentralizing power as part of a European-backed peace plan but did not invite its main foes, the pro-Russia insurgents who have declared independence in the east.
That deliberate oversight left it unclear what the negotiations might accomplish.
In his opening remarks, acting President Oleksandr Turchynov said authorities were “ready for a dialogue” but insisted they will not talk to the separatists who have seized buildings and fought government troops across eastern Ukraine.
Turchynov chaired the first in a series of round tables with spiritual leaders, lawmakers, government figures and regional officials as part of a peace plan drafted by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, a security group that also includes Russia and the United States.
Turchynov said that Russia’s hotly disputed annexation of Crimea in March had cost his country around $100 billion.
“The occupation of Crimea has caused losses of more than $100 billion (73 bn euros),” he said at round-table talks on Ukraine’s deepening crisis, charging that the Russian “aggression has not stopped” and has spread to the east, where Kiev is battling an armed insurgency.
The OSCE road map aims to halt fighting between government forces and pro-Russia separatists in the east and de-escalate tensions ahead of Ukraine’s May 25 presidential vote. It lets the Ukrainian government decide the specifics of the talks.
The Ukrainian leader also said the government would not stop its offensive to retake eastern cities now under the control of the separatists who declared independence Monday in the Luhansk and Donetsk regions, home to 6.6 million people.
Insurgents in the east shrugged off the round table as meaningless.
“We haven’t received any offers to join a round table and dialogue,” Denis Pushilin, an insurgent leader in Donetsk. “If the authorities in Kiev want a dialogue, they must come here. If we go to Kiev, they will arrest us.” Even so, European officials applauded the start of the talks. The EU’s enlargement commissioner, Stefan Fule, welcomed the round table on his Twitter account, voicing hope the next meeting would take place in eastern Ukraine.
Sawsan Chebli, a spokeswoman for German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier, said Ukraine’s acceptance of the round-table format was a step in the right direction, whether the pro-Russia separatists were invited or not.
“We are of the opinion that this national dialogue will help to de-escalate the situation,” she said.
The OSCE itself would not comment on the invitee list.
Russia has strongly backed the OSCE road map while the United States, which says it’s worth a try, views its prospects for success with skepticism.
Ukraine and the West have accused Moscow of fomenting the unrest in eastern Ukraine, where insurgents have seized administrative buildings, fought government forces and declared independence for the Donetsk and Luhansk regions.





On Wednesday morning, about 15 men with automatic weapons arrived at a military base in Donetsk and demanded that the soldiers pledge allegiance to the self-proclaimed rebel Donetsk People’s Republic, said Viktoria Kushnir, a spokeswoman for Ukraine’s National Guard. The men blocked the base’s gate with a truck for half an hour but the servicemen eventually persuaded them to go, Kushnir said.
The OSCE plan calls on all sides to refrain from violence, an amnesty for those involved in the unrest, and talks on decentralization and the status of the Russian language. It envisages a quick launch of high-level round tables across the country.
Measures taken against Russia after its annexation of Ukraine’s Crimea region are already “starting to bite,” US Assistant Secretary of State Victoria Nuland said on Wednesday.
Speaking at a security conference in Bratislava, Nuland also said it was important that people in the eastern Ukrainian regions of Donetsk and Luhansk had a chance to take part in a coming presidential vote.
Western nations are watching closely Ukraine’s presidential ballot on May 25. EU foreign ministers hinted this week that any disruption of the elections could trigger new economic sanctions against Russia.
“You see us working with our partners globally to try to set forward a very clear and well understandable deterrent,” Nuland told the Globsec conference in the Slovak capital.
“Namely to say that if the May 25 elections don’t go forward, if Russia continues to destabilize ... there will be further, deeper and, now, sectoral economic sanctions on Russia.
“And we do believe what we have already done is starting to bite,” she added.