Large, unauthorized convoy enters east Ukraine from Russia: Ukrainian military

KIEV Sun Nov 30, 2014 8:46am EST

Russian humanitarian trucks are seen in Donetsk, eastern Ukraine, November 30, 2014.
Credit: Reuters/Antonio Bronic
KIEV (Reuters) - Ukraine said on Sunday that a convoy of 106 vehicles had entered its eastern territory from Russia without Kiev's permission and accused Moscow of once again using humanitarian aid shipments to send weapons and ammunition to separatist rebels.
In the separatist-held city of Donetsk, fighting intensified at the local airport, a Reuters witness said. There has been continued shelling from both government forces and the rebels, even after a peace deal signed on Sept. 5.
Months of fighting in Ukraine's separatist regions have left many without sufficient food and medical supplies. Russia has regularly dispatched shipments of aid, a move which the pro-Western Kiev government has denounced as cynical.
"The lion's share of humanitarian supplies find their way to the rebels partly in the form of food, but mostly it is ammunition, equipment and other things for combat operations," Ukrainian military spokesman Andriy Lysenko said in a televised briefing.
The latest delivery of Russian supplies is the eighth since mid-August, Russian news agency RIA cited Russia's emergency ministry as saying, adding that a total of 9,500 tonnes of mainly food, building materials and medicine had been delivered by the first seven convoys.
A Reuters witness in Donetsk said repeated volleys of artillery fire could be heard from the direction of the local airport, a strategic point that both Ukrainian troops and rebels lay claim to.
Both sides have accused each other of violating the terms of the truce, raising fears it could collapse entirely.
Lysenko said three Ukrainian servicemen and an 82-year-old civilian had been killed in the past 24 hours.
He also said Ukrainian positions in Mariupol, a strategic city on the Sea of Azov, were once again coming under attack from rebel shelling.
(Reporting by Natalia Zinets in Kiev, Maria Tsvetkova in Donetsk; Additional reporting by Alexander Winning in Moscow; Writing by Alessandra Prentice; Editing by Raissa Kasolowsky)

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Russia calls for end to sanctions as EU targets Ukraine separatists

By Vladimir Soldatkin and Robin Emmott
MOSCOW/BRUSSELS Sat Nov 29, 2014 11:32am EST

Russian President Vladmir Putin (L) speaks with Finance Minister Anton Siluanov during their meeting at the Novo-Ogaryovo state residence outside Moscow, July 18, 2014.
Credit: Reuters/Alexei Babushkin/RIA Novosti/Kremlin
MOSCOW/BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Russia urged the European Union on Saturday to lift sanctions against Moscow and promised to waive its food embargo, but a top EU official rejected such a move as the bloc imposed fresh measures on Ukrainian rebels.
The European Union and the United States imposed economic sanctions on Russia in late July, targeting the Russian energy, banking and defense sectors to punish Moscow's support for rebels in eastern Ukraine, the West's toughest steps yet.
In retaliation, Moscow has banned most Western food imports, worth $9 billion a year.
"We don't expect anything from our European partners. The only thing we expect is for them to leave the meaningless sanctions spiral and move onto the path of lifting the sanctions and dropping the blacklists," Russia's deputy foreign minister, Alexei Meshkov, was quoted as saying by Interfax news agency.
"This, in turn, would allow us to drop our lists."
The gesture from Moscow came as the European Union imposed sanctions on 13 Ukrainians accused of organizing rogue elections in eastern Ukraine on Nov. 2, hitting the separatists and their organizations with asset freezes and travel bans.
Jean-Claude Juncker, the new president of the European Commission, said Russia's annexation of Ukraine's Crimea region in March left Europe with two options: go to war against Russia or impose economic sanctions.
"If you don't want a war the only possibility is sanctions ... You have to take sanctions that produce an effect," Juncker told RTL radio in Luxembourg, his home country.
"One has to maintain those sanctions as long as, on the ground, we do not see Russian gestures aimed at pacifying the region," he said, referring to Ukraine.
Earlier this week, Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov said lower oil prices and Western financial sanctions will cost Russia around $130 billion-$140 billion a year, equivalent to around 7 percent of its economy.
Meshkov put the losses from sanctions for the EU at $50 billion next year, adding that trade turnover in some products between Russia and Europe had declined by double digit percentages.
A Reuters report this month showed that European exports to Russia fell almost 20 percent in August compared to July because of the sanctions.
'ILLEGAL, ILLEGITIMATE'
Juncker said he did not see the point of constantly threatening more sanctions but warned that more measures could come if Moscow did not take steps to resolve the conflict in eastern Ukraine.
EU officials are concerned that a September ceasefire in Ukraine is not being upheld and say that the vote by rebels in eastern Ukraine was encouraged by Russia to undermine Kiev's sovereignty.
Rebels argued the Nov. 2 vote was the next step after local referendums in May calling for independence from Ukraine.
The United States and European Union denounced the vote as "illegal and illegitimate", but Russia has said it would recognize the result, deepening a crisis that began with the popular overthrow of Ukraine's Moscow-backed president in February and Russia's annexation of the Crimean peninsula.
In its official journal, the European Union said Sergey Kozyakov, who was election commission chief in the Luhansk region "has actively supported actions and policies which undermine the territorial integrity, sovereignty and independence of Ukraine".
Others on the sanctions list are election organizers and separatist ministers in Luhansk and in the eastern region of Donetsk. They are accused of the same wrongdoing as Kozyakov.
(Additional reporting by Michele Sinner in Luxembourg; Editing by Rosalind Russell)

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Russia calls for end to sanctions as EU targets Ukraine separatists

AppId is over the quota
By Vladimir Soldatkin and Robin Emmott
MOSCOW/BRUSSELS Sat Nov 29, 2014 11:32am EST

Russian President Vladmir Putin (L) speaks with Finance Minister Anton Siluanov during their meeting at the Novo-Ogaryovo state residence outside Moscow, July 18, 2014.
Credit: Reuters/Alexei Babushkin/RIA Novosti/Kremlin
MOSCOW/BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Russia urged the European Union on Saturday to lift sanctions against Moscow and promised to waive its food embargo, but a top EU official rejected such a move as the bloc imposed fresh measures on Ukrainian rebels.
The European Union and the United States imposed economic sanctions on Russia in late July, targeting the Russian energy, banking and defense sectors to punish Moscow's support for rebels in eastern Ukraine, the West's toughest steps yet.
In retaliation, Moscow has banned most Western food imports, worth $9 billion a year.
"We don't expect anything from our European partners. The only thing we expect is for them to leave the meaningless sanctions spiral and move onto the path of lifting the sanctions and dropping the blacklists," Russia's deputy foreign minister, Alexei Meshkov, was quoted as saying by Interfax news agency.
"This, in turn, would allow us to drop our lists."
The gesture from Moscow came as the European Union imposed sanctions on 13 Ukrainians accused of organizing rogue elections in eastern Ukraine on Nov. 2, hitting the separatists and their organizations with asset freezes and travel bans.
Jean-Claude Juncker, the new president of the European Commission, said Russia's annexation of Ukraine's Crimea region in March left Europe with two options: go to war against Russia or impose economic sanctions.
"If you don't want a war the only possibility is sanctions ... You have to take sanctions that produce an effect," Juncker told RTL radio in Luxembourg, his home country.
"One has to maintain those sanctions as long as, on the ground, we do not see Russian gestures aimed at pacifying the region," he said, referring to Ukraine.
Earlier this week, Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov said lower oil prices and Western financial sanctions will cost Russia around $130 billion-$140 billion a year, equivalent to around 7 percent of its economy.
Meshkov put the losses from sanctions for the EU at $50 billion next year, adding that trade turnover in some products between Russia and Europe had declined by double digit percentages.
A Reuters report this month showed that European exports to Russia fell almost 20 percent in August compared to July because of the sanctions.
'ILLEGAL, ILLEGITIMATE'
Juncker said he did not see the point of constantly threatening more sanctions but warned that more measures could come if Moscow did not take steps to resolve the conflict in eastern Ukraine.
EU officials are concerned that a September ceasefire in Ukraine is not being upheld and say that the vote by rebels in eastern Ukraine was encouraged by Russia to undermine Kiev's sovereignty.
Rebels argued the Nov. 2 vote was the next step after local referendums in May calling for independence from Ukraine.
The United States and European Union denounced the vote as "illegal and illegitimate", but Russia has said it would recognize the result, deepening a crisis that began with the popular overthrow of Ukraine's Moscow-backed president in February and Russia's annexation of the Crimean peninsula.
In its official journal, the European Union said Sergey Kozyakov, who was election commission chief in the Luhansk region "has actively supported actions and policies which undermine the territorial integrity, sovereignty and independence of Ukraine".
Others on the sanctions list are election organizers and separatist ministers in Luhansk and in the eastern region of Donetsk. They are accused of the same wrongdoing as Kozyakov.
(Additional reporting by Michele Sinner in Luxembourg; Editing by Rosalind Russell)

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Ukraine ratifies EU deal, offers special status to rebels

By Richard Balmforth and Pavel Polityuk
KIEV Tue Sep 16, 2014 11:28am EDT

1 of 2. Ukraine's President Petro Poroshenko shows a signed landmark association agreement with the European Union during a session of the parliament in Kiev, September 16, 2014.
Credit: Reuters/Valentyn Ogirenko
KIEV (Reuters) - Ukraine ratified a sweeping agreement with the European Union on Tuesday - an issue at the heart of the Russia-West crisis over its future - and sought to blunt the independence drive of Russian-backed separatists by offering them temporary and limited self-rule.
But though Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko savored a historic triumph with parliament's seal of approval for the EU deal, his peacemaking efforts drew derision from separatists and some mainstream politicians, while his military reported three more deaths of Ukrainian servicemen despite an 11-day ceasefire.
"No nation has ever paid such a high price to become Europeans," Poroshenko told parliament referring to the bloody conflict that has gripped Ukraine since his predecessor, Viktor Yanukovich, walked away from the EU pact last November in favor of closer ties with Ukraine's former Soviet master, Russia.
After Yanukovich fled to Russia in February in the face of huge street protests, Moscow denounced a pro-Western "coup" against him, annexed Ukraine's Crimean peninsula and subsequently backed armed pro-Russian separatists in eastern regions in their drive for independence from Kiev.
The chain of events has provoked the worst crisis between Russia and the West since the Cold War. The United States and its Western allies imposed sanctions against Moscow over a conflict with pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine in which more than 3,000 people have been killed.
Just moments earlier, at a closed session of parliament, deputies voted in support of Poroshenko's plan to grant "special status' to the 'people's republics' proclaimed by the separatists.
Poroshenko elaborated the plan after reluctantly agreeing to a ceasefire on Sept. 5 following battlefield losses and heavy Ukrainian casualties which Kiev said were caused by Russian troops entering the fight on behalf of the rebels.
The law would grant self-rule to separatist-minded regions for a three-year period and allow them to "strengthen and deepen" relations with neighboring Russian regions.
It would allow the heavily-armed rebels to set up their own police forces and hold their own local elections in December.
A separate law also crucially offered freedom from prosecution to separatists who have been fighting government forces - though there would be no amnesty for those involved in the July 17 shooting down of the Malaysian airliner nor people involved in purely criminal acts.
"These laws are an attempts to create a chance for the gradual peaceful settlement of the crisis in the Donbass," political analyst Volodymyr Fesenko said.
"It has to be understood that other variants for the development of events are either freezing the conflict, or war in which Ukraine can lose the whole of the Donbass and possibly even more."
REBELS DENOUNCE
But they quickly drew criticism from both sides.
Rebel leader Andrei Purgin told Reuters in the separatist-held city of Donetsk: "The basic part of the document which forsees us politically staying on Ukrainian territory - that is, naturally, not acceptable."
"We will insist that any political unions with Ukraine are not possible now in principle," Purgin said, renewing charges against the Ukrainian military of violating the Sept. 5 truce.
No breakdown of the parliamentary vote was given after the closed-door session.
Poroshenko risks falling foul of his supporters in the pro-Western establishment if he is perceived as laying the ground for a permanent breakaway state within Ukraine and under Russian protection, similar to those in other ex-Soviet states such as Moldova and Georgia.
"I consider it absolutely wrong to vote capitulation after all these losses. We need peace, and not a truce - but not at any price. We consider these draft laws to be a complete capitulation," said Oleh Tyahnibok, leader of the nationalist Svoboda (Freedom) party, before the session.
"No-one gave the President the right to put the fate of the people of the Donbass (the industrial east) into the hands of terrorists. If this law comes into force it will only lead to an escalation of the conflict," Andriy Senchenko, a deputy of the Batkivshchyna (Fatherland) party, said before the closed session.
Incidents of mortar shelling in and around Donetsk continued to put the ceasefire under pressure and claimed further lives.
"The terrorists and Russian forces have stepped up their shelling of positions of the 'anti-terrorist operation'," said military spokesman Andriy Lysenko. Three more Ukrainian soldiers had been killed overnight, he told journalists.
A Reuters correspondent in Donetsk said that at least five mortar shells struck a funeral parlor and a car service station in the center of Donetsk on Monday evening. Rebels said three people had been killed there.
"The truce is not being observed at all," Leon, a local commander, said. "Latterly they (the Ukrainian army) have begun to shell apartments, houses, where there are civilians."
SYNCHRONIZED EU VOTE
The EU agreement on association and trade, whose ratification was synchronized with that of the European Parliament in Strasbourg, won unanimous support from the 355 deputies who took part in the vote.
Despite the Western sanctions against Moscow, the European Union and Ukraine agreed last Friday to delay implementation of the free-trade part of the EU deal until the end of next year in a concession to Russia.
Russia, which says its economy could be badly hurt by a sudden flood of duty-free EU goods onto its market via Ukraine, had threatened to slap import tariffs on Ukrainian goods from Nov. 1.
Under the ambitious agreement, Ukraine will continue to enjoy privileged access to the EU market until January 1, 2016, but, in a concession by Brussels, it will not have to cut duties on imports from the EU in return.
Kiev had been concerned that allowing EU products more cheaply onto its market could undercut local goods, creating more problems for its weak economy.
Referring to this breathing space, Poroshenko told parliament: "The national economy has got a year and a half to become competitive and ready itself for competition with European markets.
"Thank you Europe for this multi-billion bonus!"
(Reporting by Pavel Polityuk in Kiev; additional reporting by Anton Zverev in Donetsk and Adrian Croft in Brussels; Writing By Richard Balmforth; editing by Ralph Boulton)

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