Pro-Russian militants refuse to leave Ukraine buildings despite crisis deal

 

DONETSK, Ukraine –  Pro-Russian insurgents in Ukraine's east who have been occupying government buildings in more than 10 cities said Friday they will only leave them if the interim government in Kiev resigns.

Denis Pushilin, a spokesman of the self-appointed Donetsk People's Republic, told reporters that the insurgents do not recognize the Ukrainian government as legitimate. 

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Ukraine and Russia on Thursday agreed to take tentative steps toward calming tensions along their shared border after more than a month of bloodshed. But Pushilin, speaking at the insurgent-occupied regional administration's building in Donetsk, said the deal specifies that all illegally seized buildings should be vacated and in his opinion the government in Kiev is also occupying public buildings illegally.

"This is a reasonable agreement but everyone should vacate the buildings and that includes Yatsenyuk and Turchynov," he said referring to the acting Ukrainian prime minister and president.

The deal calls for the immediate return of all government buildings seized by pro-Russian militia. But none of the government buildings seized across eastern Ukraine has yet been vacated, according to local media.

Pushilin on Friday reiterated the insurgents' call for a referendum that he said will allow "self-determination of the people."

Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk told the parliament Friday morning that the government has drafted a law that would offer amnesty to all those who will be willing to lay down their arms and leave the occupied government buildings.

On Thursday, thousands gathered at peaceful demonstrations in at least four eastern cities to denounce Russia for its perceived meddling in Ukrainian affairs. Political developments in eastern Ukraine have for weeks been dominated by a small but vocal and armed opposition to the interim government in Kiev.

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Published on: 10:26 PM

WILL DOME BE BUILT?Chernobyl cap at risk amid crisis in Ukraine

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  The first half of the arch has already been completed and sits in a waiting position near reactor four until the second half is finished.SSE Chernobyl NPP photo

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  The arch will cost over $1.5 billion once completed and will envelope reactor four to replace the crumbling concrete sarcophagus already in place.Reuters

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  A rendering of what the containment arch at Chernobyl will look like once completed. The project was scheduled to be finished by October 2015 but is now delayed indefinitely.Reuters

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  A hazard sign indicating radiation is seen in front of a containment shelter for the damaged fourth reactor at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant.REUTERS/Gleb Garanich

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  A containment shelter for the damaged fourth reactor (L) and the New Safe Confinement (NSC) structure (R) at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant are seen from Ukraine's abandoned town of Pripyat.REUTERS/Gleb Garanich

Ukraine's political and economic meltdown could spell doom - or at least delay - for a containment dome being built over Chernobyl.

Construction of the coated steel, climate-controlled sarcophagus was begun in 2010 to cover the site of the infamous 1986 meltdown, scene of the worst nuclear accident in history. But finishing the $2.1 billion project requires money and, likely, stability from the Ukraine government and international backers. Planned in sections comprised of two 300-foot-high arches that will span the site and then be walled on the sides, the project will never be completed by the original goal of 2015, officials acknowledge.

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“Delay of the project should end immediately."

- Roksolana Stojko-Lozynskyj, of the Ukranian Congress Committee

And given Ukraine's economic and political crisis, it's anyone's guess when the project, designed to last at least 100 years, will ever be completed. Called the New Safe Confinement Arch project, it is  funded by Ukraine and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development. But Ukraine is broke, and donor nations may be leery of investing amid political instability.

“In our financial analysis we are of course making the working assumption that it will not receive any money from Ukraine in the near term,” Vince Novak, director of nuclear safety at the EBRD said in a recent interview with Nuclear Engineering magazine.

Chronically cash-strapped Ukraine has been in turmoil for months after a revolution ousted President Viktor Yanukovych, who had backed out of a deal to join the European Union in favor of a funding package from Russia. In recent weeks, tensions between Ukraine and Russia have flared, after Russia invaded Crimea and signaled that it may want an even bigger piece of its neighbor.

The planned structure would entomb the reactor building and be built of steel coated with polycarbonate, which is effective at degrading radiation levels. The first half of the arch was recently completed and is being held in a makeshift waiting area near the plant site, but the second half is on hold. 

Novak said it is not just funding that is holding up the project, some 85 miles north of Kiev.

“It [the delay] has been largely driven by the finalization design and to a certain extent the design of the auxiliary system,” he told FoxNews.com.

The new containment cap would replace the existing sarcophagus which was constructed immediately after the reactor meltdown in 1986. Made from concrete, the original containment structure at the reactor building is starting to deteriorate, leaving open the possibility that more radiation could escape if there is even a partial collapse.

Activists and experts say containing Chernobyl is a top priority.

“Delay of the project should end immediately,” Roksolana Stojko-Lozynskyj, of the Ukrainian Congress Committee, told FoxNews.com. “It ecologically vital to the region and should go on regardless of what is currently happening. It’s not only a matter of safety for Ukraine but for Europe as a whole.”

The Chernobyl disaster occurred in in April 1986 while Ukraine was still under the rule of the Soviet Union. It killed 31 immediately, though thousands more are believed to have died or suffered from radiation poisoning. The nearby city of Pripyat was left a ghost town, and a 1,000-square-mile area around is dubbed the "Chernobyl Exclusion Zone, although some people insist on living there. 

Cancers and deformities have been reported in the last few decades in the region in Northern Ukraine as well as nearby Belarus.

It would seem that it is in everyone's interest to seal off the source of the deadliest nuclear accident in history.

“You would think Russia would have an interest in finishing the structure,” Jonathan Lesser, an economist specializing in energy, told FoxNews.com. “Then again, they could use completion as yet another bullying point to continue their moves on Ukraine.” 

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Published on: 2:14 AM

7 days to solve Crimea crisis

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• Daniel Treisman: Only a few days are left to stop the Crimea breakaway
• He says if Crimea votes to rejoin Russia, that will greatly strengthen Putin's position
• U.S. and EU need to apply economic pressure, make the case for a "no" vote, he says
• Treisman: Crimea must see the choice is between prosperity and stagnation

Editor's note: Daniel Treisman is a professor of political science at the University of California, Los Angeles, and author of "The Return: Russia's Journey from Gorbachev to Medvedev."

(CNN) -- President Putin's endgame in Crimea is now clear -- and the West has only a few days to act.

On Thursday, the Crimean parliament voted 78-0 to hold a referendum on March 16. The main question will ask whether voters want the region to secede from Ukraine and become part of Russia. Previously, a referendum had been scheduled for March 30 on the less politically charged question of whether Crimea should have greater autonomy within Ukraine.

If, as expected, a majority endorses secession, the story will change overnight from one about Russia's unprovoked military invasion to one about a minority's right to self-determination. That is the Kremlin's plan.

Daniel Treisman

European leaders, already having trouble agreeing on a response to naked aggression, will find it much harder to oppose the popular will of the Crimean people. At that point, risky actions to force Crimea back into Ukraine will become difficult for Western politicians to explain to their own domestic voters.

The legal status of the planned referendum is more than murky. Ukrainian acting president Oleksandr Turchynov has called it a "farce" and a "crime against the nation." But, for democratic politicians -- and the societies they represent -- going against a majority vote is never easy.

If Russia can change the subject in this way, Crimean secession will become an established fact. Putin, who assured journalists on Tuesday that Russia did not mean to annex Crimea, will then be able to claim that he was "forced to yield to the will of the people."

A people who died but would not die out

'Best case Ukraine can hope for is ... '

With just a few days to turn the situation around, temporizing needs to stop. Allowing Russia "more time" at this point, as some European leaders have proposed, is exactly what the West should not do. That Russia's Crimean clients have moved the referendum date forward suggests nervousness in Moscow -- and a recognition that time is of the essence.

In the remaining time before March 16, the West must convince both the Kremlin-connected Russian elite and the population of Crimea that the region's secession to Russia would be a mistake. Direct threats are counterproductive, but clearly and calmly articulating the consequences of such a move can produce results.

First, all the European Union states plus the United States should make absolutely clear that they will not recognize the results of a referendum held while armed bands of "self-defense forces" roam Crimea. Any decision to secede that results from such a referendum will be considered illegitimate.

To increase Moscow's isolation, it is worth exploring whether a large majority would support a resolution in the United Nations General Assembly -- of course, Russia would veto in the Security Council -- reasserting the inviolability of borders in this case.

Second, the EU and U.S. should announce that economic relations would be frozen between the West and a Crimea in legal limbo following secession. In part, this freeze would be enforced by the markets themselves.

Crimea's tourism industry would have to forget about attracting Western visitors to the region's beaches. International investors would demand huge risk premiums. But Western restrictions on investment and trade with Crimea could amplify the effect. The region's agricultural produce could be banned from European and Ukrainian markets.

Crimeans must be helped to understand the choice they face: between becoming another Abkhazia -- a failed statelet on intravenous drip from Moscow -- or a flourishing region within the new, broader Europe. The EU should quickly earmark some portion of the 11 billion euros already promised to Ukraine for projects to develop Crimea's economy if it remains Ukrainian.

Third, the United States should work out a set of restrictions to place on Russian banks and corporations that do business in a Crimea that has illegally seceded. As economist Anders Aslund has pointed out, existing rules against money laundering could be enforced more rigorously against various Russian entities.

All of this needs to be done rapidly. While Washington has reacted quickly as the crisis unfolded, the EU has suffered from its chronic lack of central decision-making authority. The next few days constitute a test.

If Brussels cannot forge a strong, common position in time, then management of future crises will simply revert to the foreign ministries of Germany, France, and Britain, with the EU's foreign policy role narrowed to coordinating long-term policies.

While spelling out the costs that threaten the Crimean population and the Russian political elite, Western leaders must continue to devise "off-ramps" to outcomes that Putin could conceivably accept, but that, nevertheless, will not be seen as rewarding aggression.

The West can call for a significant increase in Crimea's political autonomy within Ukraine, negotiated with Kiev. U.S. and European leaders should also speak out far more audibly in favor of minority language and cultural rights. They should have responded with outrage when the Rada, Ukraine's parliament, canceled the status of Russian as an official language and should now praise the promised veto of this law.

It may still be possible to prevent the illegal annexation of Crimea. Putin is sensitive to the danger of splits within his political elite. The West must show him that he has underestimated the extent of political isolation and economic disruption that annexation would cause. It must work on winning the hearts and minds of the Crimean population. The clock is ticking.

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The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Daniel Treisman.

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Published on: 3:06 AM

Kerry, Lavrov to meet after war of words heightens over Ukraine crisis

Secretary of State John Kerry will meet with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov to discuss the crisis in Ukraine on Wednesday, a day after the U.S. escalated a war of words with Russian President Vladimir Putin over Moscow's military intervention in Crimea.

Kerry and Lavrov are expected to meet on the sidelines of a long-planned conference on Lebanon, which is likely to be overshadowed by ongoing tensions in Ukraine, according to the BBC.

The top diplomats from Russia, Ukraine, the U.S., Britain and France are not necessarily all at the same table, but French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said everyone has been working non-stop for a diplomatic solution over the crisis in Ukraine. 

Lavrov, speaking in Spain ahead of meetings planned with Kerry, warned against Western support of what Moscow views as a coup.

"If we indulge those who are trying to rule our great, kind historic neighbor, we must understand that a bad example is infectious," Lavrov said. 

Meanwhile, Russian lawmakers were working on a draft law to allow the confiscation of property, assets and accounts of European or U.S. companies if sanctions are imposed on Russia, RIA news agency said, according to Reuters.

The news agency quoted Andrei Klishas, head of the constitutional legislation committee in the upper parliament house, as saying the bill "would offer the president and government opportunities to defend our sovereignty from threats." 

On Tuesday, Kerry met in Ukraine with the new government's acting president, prime minister, foreign minister and top parliamentary officials. Speaking to reporters afterward, Kerry urged Putin to stand down and said the U.S. is looking for ways to de-escalate the mounting tensions. 

"It is clear that Russia has been working hard to create a pretext for being able to invade further," Kerry said. "It is not appropriate to invade a country, and at the end of a barrel of a gun dictate what you are trying to achieve."

In Washington, President Obama said his administration's push to punish Putin put the U.S. on "the side of history that, I think, more and more people around the world deeply believe in, the principle that a sovereign people, an independent people, are able to make their own decisions about their own lives. And, you know, Mr. Putin can throw a lot of words out there, but the facts on the ground indicate that right now he is not abiding by that principle." 

Speaking at a fundraiser later Tuesday, Obama said it might be possible for the situation to "de-escalate in the next several days and weeks."

The Obama administration announced a $1 billion energy subsidy package in Washington as Kerry was arriving in Kiev. The fast-moving developments came as the United States readied economic sanctions amid worries that Moscow was ready to stretch its military reach further into the mainland of the former Soviet republic.

Earlier Tuesday, Putin hammered away at his message that the West was to blame for Ukraine's turmoil, saying its actions were driving Ukraine into anarchy. He warned that any sanctions the United States and European Union place on Russia will backfire.

American threats of punitive measures are "failure to enforce its will and its vision of the right and wrong side of history," Russia's Foreign Ministry said — a swipe at Obama's statement a day earlier that Russia was "on the wrong side of history."

The Obama administration, meanwhile, said it will boycott the Sochi G-8 summit unless Moscow reverses its position on Ukraine, according to Reuters, which cited a senior administration official. 

Russia took over the strategic Crimean Peninsula on Saturday, placing its troops around its ferry, military bases and border posts. Two Ukrainian warships remained anchored in the Crimean port of Sevastopol, blocked from leaving by Russian ships.

On Wednesday, tensions remained high as Russian forces seized two Ukrainian missile defense battalions in Crimea, Reuters reported, citing an Interfax news agency report. The Ukrainian Defense Ministry was unable immediately to confirm on the report. 

In Donetsk, the home city of outsted president Viktor Yanukovich, police said they were evacuating a government building occupied since Monday by pro-Russian demonstrators, according to Reuters. 

Witnesses told the news agency a Russian flag on the roof of the building was replaced with a Ukrainian flag, but another Russian flag was still flying from a flagpole in front.

In other developments:

• Laurent Fabius, the French foreign minister, said European Union leaders meeting in Brussels on Thursday could decide on sanctions against Russia if there is no "de-escalation" by then, Reuters reported. 

• NATO alliance on Tuesday accused Russia of continued violations of its international commitments and Ukraine's sovereignty and said it will directly confront Moscow with the allegations during a special meeting on Wednesday.

• Kerry said it was “incredibly moving” to visit the sites where dozens of protesters were killed during anti-government demonstrations that led to Yanukovych’s ouster.

Speaking from his residence outside Moscow on Tuesday, Putin said he still considers Yanukovych to be Ukraine's leader and hopes Russia won't need to use force in predominantly Russian-speaking eastern Ukraine.

Putin pulled his forces back from the Ukrainian border on Tuesday, yet said that Moscow reserves the right to use all means to protect Russians in the country but hopes it doesn't have to. Putin warned that any sanctions the West might place on Russia for its actions there will backfire.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Published on: 1:33 AM