Posted on 04/13/2014 9:46:36 AM PDT by Kaslin
The crisis in Ukraine took a turn for the worse this weekend. Many distinct events are in play. Here are a few top headlines
Armed Men Seize Police Station in Slavyansk
The Wall Street Journal reports Pro-Russia Protests Spread, Police Station Seized.
Pro-Russia protests spread Saturday in eastern Ukraine as armed men, some in unmarked, military-style uniforms, moved to commandeer more government buildings—a dramatic escalation that the Ukrainian government and Washington tied to Moscow.
Ukraine's acting president called an emergency meeting of the country's top security officials in the capital, Kiev, as police clashed with attackers in several spots in the largely Russian-speaking, eastern part of the country.
Some 20 men wearing camouflage, some with military-style equipment and weapons, commandeered a police station and security-service office early Saturday in Slavyansk, a small city that previously hadn't seen the kind of pro-Russian fervor that erupted anew in the area last weekend.
Ukraine's Interior Minister Arsen Avakov said Saturday evening that police were fighting with attackers in the nearby town of Kramatorsk and had repelled a similar attack in a third town, Krasny Liman.
Saturday afternoon, police in Poltava Region said they had stopped several buses carrying what they said were pro-Russian activists carrying gasoline bombs and makeshift weapons. They were headed to Kharkiv, where protests were scheduled. Police detained about 70 of the activists.
Protesters remain barricaded Saturday in the regional government headquarters in Donetsk and the security-service offices in Luhansk, which they had occupied last Sunday. Authorities pushed a group out of a government building in Kharkiv earlier in the week.
Western officials say Moscow has tens of thousands of troops on its side of the border that could invade Ukraine in a matter of hours. Moscow denies that.
Ukraine Prepares Armed Response
Reuters reports Ukraine Prepares Armed Response as City Seized by Pro-Russia Forces.
Armed separatists took virtual control of a city in eastern Ukraine on Saturday and Kiev prepared troops to deal with what it called an "act of aggression by Russia".
Pro-Russian activists carrying automatic weapons seized government buildings in Slaviansk and set up barricades on the outskirts of the city. Official buildings in several neighboring towns were also attacked.
The developments have increased concerns of a possible "gas war" that could disrupt energy supplies across the continent.
Washington backed Kiev's assessment that Moscow was responsible. "Worrisome violence in ... Ukraine today. Russia again seems to be behind it," State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said on Twitter.
ROADBLOCKS AROUND CITY
On a road leading into Slaviansk, other members of the group, armed with automatic rifles, set up a roadblock and checked vehicles entering the city, a Reuters reporter said.
There was no sign of any Ukrainian law enforcement officials in the city.
Ukraine's Western-backed government warned of tough action if the militants did not lay down their weapons, but it was unclear if the local law enforcement agencies were taking orders from Kiev any more after the local police chief quit.
Kostyantyn Pozhydayev came out to speak to pro-Russian protesters at his offices in the regional capital, Donetsk, and told them he was stepping down "in accordance with your demands". Some of his officers left the building.
The occupations are a potential flashpoint because if protesters are killed or hurt by Ukrainian forces, that could prompt the Kremlin to intervene to protect the local Russian-speaking population, a repeat of the scenario in Crimea.
Ukraine's acting foreign minister, Andriy Deshchytsia, said he had spoken by telephone with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and demanded Moscow stop what he called "provocative actions" by its agents in eastern Ukraine.
Lavrov, in a statement issued by his ministry, said there were no Russian agents in the region and that it would be "unacceptable" if Ukrainian authorities were to order the storming of the buildings.
Ukraine Suspends Gas Payments to Russia
Reuters reports Ukraine Suspends Gas payments to Russia
Ukraine's state-run energy company Naftogaz has suspended gas payments to Russia until the conclusion of price talks, chief executive Andriy Kobolev was quoted as saying on Saturday.
Russian gas giant Gazprom earlier this month increased gas price for Ukrainian consumers to $485 per 1,000 cubic meters (tcm) from $268 for the first quarter, saying Kiev was no longer eligible for previous discounts.
"The question of repayment of debt is directly linked to the maintenance of gas prices at the level of the first quarter," Kobolev told the Zerkalo Nedely weekly in an interview, referring to the original price of $268 per tcm.
"We see no reason to revise the price. We consider the price at around $500 as non-market, unjustified and unacceptable. Accordingly, we have suspended payments for the period of the price negotiations."
Russian President Vladimir Putin warned on Thursday that Moscow could cut off gas to Ukraine, potentially threatening European supplies, but later played down the threat.
"I want to say again: We do not intend and do not plan to shut off the gas," he said on Friday.
Gas Wars
Given that Ukraine has suspended payments, I find Putin's statements puzzling. If Putin will not shut off the gas, then Ukraine has no incentive to pay.
Expect Putin to quickly change his mind about shutting the pipeline if Ukraine does indeed refuse to pay. He will have a legitimate reason.
As for market prices, Russia can charge what it wants in my opinion. Countries can either pay or not pay.
This is the consequence of being dependent on a single supplier.
Where Putin is concerned, Putinistas see no reason for International Law. He’s their hero.
Crimea is part of Russia now. And Russia does not recognize the current leadership of Ukraine.
Tyrannical logic:
Make a deal with a country to use their(Ukraine's) facilities (Crimea).
Invade their country and their facilities and rip up the deal.
Kiev signed contracts and it must honor its contracts. If it doesn’t want to do so, it can make alternative arrangements.
Every one else is paying market rate for Russian gas and you would be right it would be unjustified and exorbitant if the price being charged Ukraine was out of line with the prevailing price of the gas being supplied to Europe.
It isn’t.
I bet they pay (in one way or another).
Come and get me copper!
8^)
I suspect the EU will pay.
It better not be us.
Is there no Ukranian Chris Rock? He would have a field day about paying the utility bills with this.
The current leadership in Kiev did not honor their agreement that was also signed by Yanukovych, Russia, Poland and Germany in late February.
Final 6:45
Agreement on the Settlement of Crisis in Ukraine
Concerned with the tragic loss of life in Ukraine, seeking an immediate end
of bloodshed and determined to pave the way for a political resolution of the
crisis,
We, the signing parties, have agreed upon the following:
1. Within 48 hours of the signing of this agreement, a special law will be adopted,
signed and promulgated, which will restore the Constitution of 2004 including
amendments passed until now. Signatories declare their intention to create a
coalition and form a national unity government within 10 days thereafter.
2. Constitutional reform, balancing the powers of the President, the government
and parliament, will start immediately and be completed in September 2014.
3. Presidential elections will be held as soon as the new Constitution is adopted
but no later than December 2014. New electoral laws will be passed and a new
Central Election Commission will be formed on the basis of proportionality and in
accordance with the OSCE & Venice commission rules.
4. Investigation into recent acts of violence will be conducted under joint
monitoring from the authorities, the opposition and the Council of Europe.
2 / 3
5. The authorities will not impose a state of emergency. The authorities and the
opposition will refrain from the use of violence. The Parliament will adopt the
3
rd amnesty, covering the same range of illegal actions as the 17th February 2014
law.
Both parties will undertake serious efforts for the normalisation of life in the cities
and villages by withdrawing from administrative and public buildings and
unblocking streets, city parks and squares.
Illegal weapons should be handed over to the Ministry of Interior bodies within
24 hours of the special law, referred to in point 1 hereof, coming into force. After
the aforementioned period, all cases of illegal carrying and storage of weapons
will fall under the law of Ukraine. The forces of authorities and of the opposition
will step back from confrontational posture. The Government will use law
enforcement forces exclusively for the physical protection of public buildings.
6. The Foreign Ministers of France, Germany, Poland and the Special
Representative of the President of the Russian Federation call for an immediate
end to all violence and confrontation.
Kyiv, 21 February 2014 3 / 3
Signatories:
President of Ukraine: For the Opposition:
Viktor Yanukovych Vitaliy Klichko, UDAR
Oleh Tyahnibok, Svoboda
Arsenij Yatseniuk, Batkivshchyna
Witnessed by:
For the EU: For the Russian Federation
Poland Germany France
Radoslaw Sikorski Frank-Walter Steinmeier Laurent Fabius Vladimir Lukin
Foreign Minister Foreign Minister Foreign Minister Special Envoy
The world community should demand an election so Ukranians can vote these inept thugs out of power. Would any of this have happened if they didn't decree that Russian was no longer an official language?
I'm trying to apply logic. It isn't surprising that these eastern Ukranian cities and towns are having well-planned, well-armed coordinated protests. A majority of the military stationed in Crimea chose to leave the Ukranian forces and stay in Crimea. Those who stayed are trained military, they know the area, they have weapons (such as they are) left by Ukraine and probably their own. Of course they can run a counter-insurgency.
The Kiev thugs, what are they trying to prove? I'd think they'd be better off having a popular election while there's anyone at all left who supports them. I'd think if they'd done that after Crimea left they would've had a good chance of winning, since all of those Russians in Crimea wouldn't be voting.
This whole thing is amazing. The only reasonable conclusion is that those who write the globalist agenda want a war over Ukraine, or at the very least want a rebirth of Nazism there.
France was also a signatory to the deal between the Ukrainian leadership and opposition at the time, not just Germany, Poland and Russia.
Maybe I should just write my check directly to Putin, and cut out the middle man.
Wouldn't bet on it. It fits so well with Obama's plan to impoverish the US.
“The Kiev thugs, what are they trying to prove?”
It says a LOT that they couldn’t depend on local police and Special forces Units, and had to bring in the “National Guard” of 350 Right-Sector thugs, and Special Forces from Western Ukraine, to try and put this down, in one small city.
That people are now getting killed shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone. This will now spiral out of control, giving Russia any pretext they need to act, if they choose to.
The idiots running the show in Kiev obviously aren’t very smart. All they had to do was allow referendums. Despite the propaganda, did they think they would lose an open election?Instead, they choose the violent route.
The MP's in the Rada passed the law.
Yanukovich never signed it!!
And of course regardless it wouldn't excuse Russia for invading Ukraine and ripping up their gas deal.
and so, the battle for resources continues...little difference today, as in 1940 when Japan was forced to run blockades to have oil...hence Pearl Harbor...
“Poland pays $500/tcm to Gazprom. Why should Ukraine pay $268/tcm?”
1. Because that was the amount in the long-term contract.
2. The former price just a few years ago was less than $200, but Russia has been raising the rates to extortionist levels in later negotiations because it has been useful in destablizing the economies and governments in Europe.
3. Poland is currently willing to temporarily pay more only because it has not yet fully succeeded in replacing the Russian volumes of natural gas. Poland has reduced its volumes from 90% of its natural gas supplies to 60%. Poland is paying more to import LNG from Qatar in order to negotiate for better prices from Russia until such time as PAoland can despense with Russian supplies altogether, if need be in the event of further strained relations or war.
4. Ukraine cannot afford the increase in price, which is precisely why Russia has tripled the prices to Poland, the Ukraine, and other nations in the last few years. Russia knew the customers would face mcuh higher replacement costs for a number of years before anyone could replace the Russian supplies with alternative supplies at more normal market prices.
5. Russia is now engaged in a war of aggression against the Ukraine and is violating Ukrainian territorial integrity, which gives the Ukraine the natural legal authority to void or suspend all prior contracts and seize all Russian assets, including the accounts receivable owed by the Ukraine to Russia, as war reparations.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.