Russian outrage at Ukraine killing

Daniel Sandford hears from a man who says he witnessed the attack

Russia has expressed outrage at a fatal shooting in eastern Ukraine which it blamed on Ukrainian nationalists.

Russian state media reported that five people had been killed in a gun attack on a checkpoint manned by pro-Russian activists near the town of Sloviansk.

A Ukrainian official said it may have been a shootout between criminals. Nationalists have denied involvement.

The incident comes as pro-Russian groups continue to occupy government buildings defying a deal to leave.

Ertogrul Apakan, who heads the special mission of the Organisation for Co-operation and Security in Europe in Kiev, said his deputy would be in Donetsk to try to get them to comply with an agreement reached on Thursday to ease the crisis.

Russia, Ukraine, the EU and US agreed during talks in Geneva on Thursday that illegal military groups in Ukraine must be dissolved, and that those occupying government premises must be disarmed and leave.

But the separatists' spokesman in the city of Donetsk said that the Kiev government was "illegal", and vowed they would not go until it stepped down.

TV pictures showed what was described as the aftermath of an attack on a pro-Russian checkpoint at about 01:00 local time (22:00 on Saturday GMT), including the body of a man under a cover.

The BBC is unable to verify the footage. However, a Reuters journalist at the scene reported seeing two bodies in a truck.

Daylight Reuters TV footage of the scene shows several burnt-out vehicles.

The Russian foreign ministry said the Ukrainian far-right group Right Sector was behind the attack. A business card with the name of its leader Dmytro Yarosh appeared in the unverified Russian TV pictures.

"Russia is indignant about this provocation by gunmen, which testifies to the lack of will on the part of the Kiev authorities to rein in and disarm nationalists and extremists," it said in a statement.

Right Sector spokesman Artyom Skoropadsky told the BBC the group had nothing to do with the shooting.

"Right sector was not there, and whatever happened there was an obvious provocation from the Russian secret services," he said.

A pro-Russian activist at a captured building in Sloviansk

Viktoriya Siumar, deputy head of Ukraine's National Security Council, also speaking to the BBC, said the shooting was being investigated, but said there were indications that it was "an argument between local criminal groups".

"The level of criminality in eastern Ukraine increased substantially recently," he added.

This is the first fatal incident in the region since Thursday's agreement, prompting Sloviansk rebel leader and self-proclaimed mayor Vyacheslav Ponomarev to call on Russian President Vladimir Putin to send peacekeepers. He also asked for food and weapons.

Mr Ponomarev added that a "people's army of Donbass" was being set up. Donbass (Don river basin) is the industrial area of eastern Ukraine made up of Donetsk and Luhansk regions.

The BBC's James Reynolds in Donetsk says that the Geneva deal is already in trouble and events in Sloviansk will do little to change that.

'Threat to the globe'

Meanwhile in an interview for NBC's Meet the Press aired on Sunday, Ukraine's interim Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of trying to "restore the Soviet Union".

"It's crystal clear that for today, Russia is the threat to the globe, and the threat to the European Union, and a real threat to Ukraine," Mr Yatsenyuk said.

Ukraine has been in crisis since President Viktor Yanukovych was toppled in February.

Russia then annexed Crimea following a regional referendum that approved joining the Russian federation. The annexation provoked international outrage.

Pro-Russian activists then occupied buildings in several eastern Ukrainian cities, many calling on Moscow to support them.

Ukraine has said that operations against the pro-Russian militants have been suspended over Easter.

Ukraine's interim authorities have appealed for national unity and promised to meet some of the demands of pro-Russian protesters.

These include the decentralisation of power and guarantees for the status of the Russian language.

But the US has warned the next few days will be pivotal and has threatened more sanctions against Russia if it fails to abide by the agreement.

US Vice-President Joe Biden is set to visit Kiev on Tuesday.

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Published on: 5:37 PM

Putin, Obama speak by phone as US moves to counter Russian aggression

President Obama and Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke for an hour by phone Thursday as the administration moved on several fronts to counter Russia's aggression in Ukraine's Crimean peninsula.

The White House said Obama emphasized to Putin that "Russia's actions are in violation of Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity, which has led us to take several steps in response in coordination with our European partners."

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These included sending U.S. fighter jets to allied countries, imposing visa restrictions on Russians and strongly decrying a planned referendum in Crimea to split from Ukraine and join Russia.

The call was the first known contact between the two leaders since Saturday, shortly after Russian troops moved into Crimea.

The White House said Obama told Putin there still was a way to resolve the situation diplomatically, which would include the Ukraine and Russian governments holding direct talks, international monitors and Russian forces returning to their bases. There was no indication of Putin's response.

Earlier Thursday, Obama said at the White House,"We are well beyond the days when borders can be redrawn over the heads of democratic leaders."

Obama was reacting to a vote in Crimea to join Russia -- which is scheduled for a referendum in 10 days. Obama, echoed by the State Department, said this move would "violate the Ukrainian Constitution and violate international law."

The president said there is still a path to resolve the crisis, and urged Russia to let international monitors into Ukraine as part of that. But, referring to a boosted U.S. military presence among NATO partners, Obama said the U.S. is taking steps "to reaffirm our commitment to the security and democracy of our allies in Eastern Europe."

Among those steps, six F-15s landed in Lithuania, along with two K-135 refueling tankers, on Thursday morning.

Polish officials also claimed that the U.S. was sending 12 F-16s to Poland, along with 300 U.S. troops. The Pentagon, though, said no decision had been made, though "Secretary Hagel is committed to increasing our participation in the aviation detachment in Poland, a detachment he visited recently."

The U.S. Navy also announced it is sending a guided-missile destroyer to the Black Sea as part of a "scheduled" deployment.

The Navy stressed that the USS Truxtun would be leaving from Greece for "previously planned" exercises with Romanian and Bulgarian Naval forces. But the ship movement comes as the Pentagon overtly boosts its NATO presence in the region, as part of an effort to shore up allies in the face of Russia's advances.

The USS Truxtun will be detaching from the USS George H.W. Bush strike group, currently in the Mediterranean. Another ship, the USS Taylor, had previously been in the Black Sea but ran aground and is currently undergoing repairs in Turkey.

Meanwhile, the Obama administration was moving ahead Thursday with additional sanctions and visa restrictions on Russians in response to the country's incursion in Ukraine.And the House voted Thursday to approve a $1 billion loan guarantee package for Ukraine.

At a hearing on Capitol Hill, a top State Department official also blasted Russia's version of events, which it used to justify its use of the military -- just hours after the department issued a blistering fact sheet on the topic.

"There are no confirmed reports of threats to ethnic Russians," Deputy Assistant Secretary of State in the Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs Eric Rubin testified before the House Foreign Affairs Committee.

Rubin continued, "No confirmed reports of a massive movement of ethnic Russian refugees, no threat to Russian naval bases. The interim Ukrainian government is a body that represents the will of the Ukrainian people. It is not an extremist cabal. Russia's assertions are nothing more than veneer used to justify its military action."

The State Department fact sheet, called "President Putin's Fiction: 10 False Claims About Ukraine," aimed to counter what the State Department calls Russia's false narrative to justify its illegal actions in Ukraine. The State Department wrote: "The world has not seen such startling Russian fiction since Dostoyevsky wrote, 'The formula 'two times two equals five' is not without its attractions.'"

Meanwhile, the latest actions by Crimea itself are also on tenuous footing. Crimea's parliament has asked to join Russia, which citizens could formalize with a vote in a March 16 referendum. But there are no legal grounds for this move, according to Ukraine's interim Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk.

Although several House Foreign Affairs Committee members gave strong statements about punishing Russia for its transgressions, Treasury official Daleep Singh noted the limits to the effectiveness of sanctions. Singh did point out that Europe's reliance on Russian energy is a two-way street: Europe depends on Russia for energy, but Russia depends on Europe for revenue from that energy.

Rubin also spoke about the recently announced visa restrictions.

"Pursuant to the president's guidance, the State Department is putting in place visa restrictions on a number of officials and individuals, reflecting a policy decision to deny visas to those responsible for or complicit in threatening the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine," he said.

Other options are on the table.

Florida Republican Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen brought up the Magnitsky Act. She suggested new names be added to the list to "name and shame" the Russians known to have committed human rights violations. To this, Rubin indicated that the State Department is indeed actively considering adding new names.

The Magnitsky Act, officially the Russia and Moldova Jackson-Vanik Repeal and Sergei Magnitsky Rule of Law Accountability Act of 2012, is a bipartisan bill passed in late 2012 intended to punish Russian officials linked to the death of Sergei Magnitsky. It would block their entrance to the United States and use of their banking system. Worldwide, the act has been hailed as groundbreaking for human rights.

Putin said at the time the act was "unfriendly" and threatened bilateral relations. Russia responded to the Magnitsky Act by barring Americans from adopting Russian children.

Fox News' Justin Fishel and James Schneider contributed to this report.

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Published on: 7:14 PM