Russia grants gas respite but seeks UN vote on Ukraine

DONETSK, Ukraine/MOSCOW: Russia accused Ukrainian authorities on Monday of escalating violence against civilians in the rebel-held east of the country, even as it offered Kiev a brief respite in a dispute over billions of dollars’ worth of unpaid gas bills.
In the latest fighting, Ukrainian border guards said a pro-Russian militia had attacked one of their posts with automatic weapons and grenade launchers in the early hours, triggering a battle that was still raging many hours later.
“Shooting is continuing. There has been no let-up in firing for seven hours now,” border post spokesman Oleh Slobodin said.
“We have 8 or 9 wounded. The attackers have five dead and 8 wounded,” he said.
Ukraine’s eastern region has been riven with separatist armed rebellion for the past two months which the Kiev government says is fomented by Russia. It says armed fighters from Russia and the Caucasus region are fighting alongside rebels who are fighting rule from Kiev.
Another statement from the Ukrainian border service said the separatists at the Luhansk border post were sniping from private apartments and had stopped people leaving the residential block they had occupied, making it difficult for the border guard forces to return fire.
Ukraine and its Western allies accuse Moscow of fueling the pro-Russian uprising that threatens to break up the former Soviet republic of 45 million people. Russia denies orchestrating the unrest, and says Ukraine’s attempts to end it by military force are making the situation worse.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Moscow would submit a draft resolution to the United Nations Security Council later on Monday, calling for an immediate end to the violence and the creation of humanitarian corridors to help civilians escape the fighting.
In pointed comments aimed at newly elected Ukrainian president Petro Poroshenko, Lavrov said that Western nations had assured Russia the situation in Ukraine would improve after the May 25 election that brought him to power. Instead of that, he said, “Everything is happening in exactly the opposite way.”
“People are dying every day. Peaceful civilians are suffering more and more — the army, military aviation and heavy weapons continue to be used against them,” Lavrov told reporters in Moscow.



Poroshenko and Ukraine’s pro-Western government have defied Moscow’s repeated calls for an end to what Kiev calls its ‘anti-terrorist’ operation against armed separatists in the eastern Donetsk and Luhansk regions, who want to follow the example of Crimea by splitting from Ukraine and joining Russia.
The annexation of Crimea prompted the European Union and the United States to impose sanctions on some Russian firms and individuals in the worst standoff between Moscow and the West since the Cold War ended.
On the opposite side of the continent, Poroshenko and Russian President Vladimir Putin will both attend a series of events in France this week to mark the 70th anniversary of the D-Day landings that opened the Western front against Nazi Germany in World War Two.
While no formal meeting between the two is scheduled, even a handshake would be significant. Moscow refused for months to recognize the Ukrainian leadership that replaced its ally, Viktor Yanukovich, when he was toppled by protests in February.
Poroshenko is due to be inaugurated on Saturday and will immediately face an array of crises, including a new deadline in Ukraine’s long-running dispute with Russia over gas prices.
On Monday, Russia’s Gazprom gave Ukraine an extension into next week to resolve the price question. It had previously said it would switch off the gas on Tuesday unless Kiev agreed to start paying in advance — a step that might also have hit supplies to European countries via Ukraine.
Europe gets a third of its gas needs from Russia, and almost half of these supplies are sent via Ukraine.
Since Yanukovich’s overthrow, Russia has demanded a sharp increase in the price Ukraine pays for gas. Kiev says it cannot afford it and wants to pay a discounted price, which it negotiated in the past.
The United States said Monday that Russia is continuing to support the pro-Russian insurgency in Ukraine, despite US sanctions aimed at punishing it for its alleged interference in its neighbor.
“There is evidence that Russia continues to allow the free flow of weapons, funds, and fighters across its borders and President (Vladimir) Putin’s next steps are still not clear,” Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew said, in a speech in Washington.
Lew said the United States had worked with the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank and its G7 partners to coordinate a response to the crisis and provide Ukraine with financial and technical assistance.
“Our goal was to impose a cost on Russia for its occupation and attempted annexation of Crimea and to deter Russian military intervention in Ukraine,” he said, according to prepared remarks for an event at the Center of Strategic and International Studies.
Lew said the Treasury’s coordinated and precise sanctions had put “enormous pressure” on Russia, with limited collateral damage to the US, European and global economies.
President Barack Obama, he said, “has given us the authority to take even more powerful action if Russia continues to support armed separatists in eastern Ukraine.”
A fierce battle was underway on Monday in Ukraine’s rebellious east after a pro-Russian militia attacked a Ukrainian border post with automatic weapons and grenade launchers in the early hours.
Security sources said a force of separatists had occupied the upper floors of a nearby apartment block and were shooting into the border post on the southern edge of Luhansk, a city very close to the frontier with Russia.
“Shooting is continuing. There has been no let-up in firing for seven hours now,” border post spokesman Oleh Slobodin said.
“We have 8 or 9 wounded. The attackers have five dead and 8 wounded,” he said.
Ukraine’s eastern region has been riven with separatist armed rebellion for the past two months which the Kiev government says is fomented by Russia. It says armed fighters from Russia and the Caucasus region are fighting alongside rebels who are fighting rule from Kiev.
Another statement from the Ukrainian border service said the separatists at the Luhansk border post were sniping from private apartments and had stopped people leaving the residential block they had occupied, making it difficult for the border guard forces to return fire.
The Ukrainian army is taking part in an “anti-terrorist” operation to try to crush the rebellions in the east. Border guards said on Monday that the army had not yet reinforced to help them fend off the attack in Luhansk.