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Ukraine Retakes Crimea Airports After Russian ‘Invasion’

Ukraine Retakes Crimea Airports After Russian ‘Invasion’

Simferopol (Ukraine) (AFP) – Ukrainian authorities said Friday they had regained control of two Crimean airports seized during an “armed invasion” by Russian forces that prompted the country’s new pro-EU leaders to appeal for protection from the West.

The spiraling tensions in a nation torn between the West and Russia are set to take another dramatic turn when ousted president Viktor Yanukovych briefs reporters in Russia on Friday after winning protection from Moscow.

The head of Ukraine’s security and defense council said Russian soldiers and local pro-Kremlin militia were responsible for the dawn raids on Crimea’s main airport and another base on the southwest of the peninsula where pro-Moscow sentiment runs high.

A spokesman for Russia’s Crimea-based Black Sea Fleet denied any involvement in the airport occupations. But Ukraine’s parliament immediately appealed to the U.S. and Britain to uphold a 1994 pact with Russia that guaranteed the country’s sovereignty in return for it giving up its Soviet nuclear arms.

Both lawmakers and UN Security Council chair Lithuania said they would also ask the world body to address the Crimea crisis at its next session — a request that would need to gain support from veto-wielding members such as Russia.

Interim president Oleksandr Turchynov meanwhile attempted to regain control over unraveling security in the vast nation of 46 million by sacking the armed forces chief appointed by Yanukovych at the height of deadly protests last week.

Western governments have been watching with increasing alarm as Kiev’s new rulers grapple with the dual threats of economic collapse and secession by Russian-speaking southern and eastern regions that had backed Yanukovych.

Russian President Vladimir Putin this week stoked concerns that Moscow might use its military might to sway the outcome of Ukraine’s three-month standoff by ordering snap combat drills near the border involving 150,000 troops and nearly 900 tanks.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry attempted to relieve diplomatic pressure in a crisis that has increasingly assumed Cold War overtones by announcing that Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov had assured him Moscow “will respect the territorial integrity of Ukraine”.

Putin also appeared to take a more conciliatory approach Thursday by vowing to work on improving trade ties and promising to support international efforts to provide Kiev with funds that could keep it from declaring a debt default as early as next week.

But tensions were soaring by the hour in Russian-speaking Crimea — a scenic Black Sea peninsula that has housed Kremlin navies for nearly 250 years and was handed to Ukraine as a symbolic gift by a Soviet leader in 1954.

Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council chief Andriy Parubiy told reporters that security forces had successfully repelled “an attempt to seize the airports” by Russian soldiers and local pro-Kremlin militias.

“The airports are now controlled by Ukrainian law enforcement authorities,” Parubiy said in televised remarks.

Dozens of men in battle fatigues and armed with Kalashnikovs had earlier encircled the Simferopol airport and were checking all incoming and outgoing traffic although flights continued on schedule.

AFP reporters also saw soldiers with machine guns and dressed in green military fatigues that carried no national identification blocking the main road leading to Ukraine’s Belbek military air base near the city of Sevastopol — home to Russia’s Black Sea Fleet.

Interior Minister Arsen Avakov said he viewed the incident as “an armed invasion and an occupation” by Russia.

The peninsula of nearly two million people has been in crisis since dozens of pro-Kremlin gunmen seized Crimea’s parliament and government buildings Thursday and raised the Russian flag.

Crimean lawmakers appointed Russian Unity party member Sergiy Aksyonov as regional premier in place of a Kiev ally in a vote held late Thursday under the watchful eye of the militiamen.

Aksyonov said Friday he still recognized Yanukovych as Ukraine’s legitimate head of state.

The fugitive leader has not been seen since making a brief taped television appearance that aired Saturday only hours before parliament stripped him of power in the wake of a week of carnage in Kiev that claimed nearly 100 lives.

Ukraine’s bloodiest crisis since its 1991 independence erupted in November when Yanukovych made the shock decision to ditch an EU trade pact in favor of closer ties with old master Russia, sparking mass anti-government protests.

The 63-year-old announced from an undisclosed location on Thursday that he still considered himself Ukraine’s legal head of state and was “compelled to ask the Russian Federation to ensure (his) personal security.”

Sources in his entourage said the deposed leader will appear before the media in Rostov-on-Don — a Russian city less than two hours’ drive from the Ukrainian border.

But Ukraine’s general prosecutor said that Kiev would ask Moscow to extradite Yanukovych — accused of “mass murder” over the protest deaths — if his presence in Russia is confirmed.

Meanwhile Switzerland said it was freezing the assets of 20 Ukrainian figures, including Yanukovych and his multi-millionaire son Olexandr, and also launching a money laundering probe.

Austria announced a similar move against 20 Ukrainian figures but did not identify them.

It is unclear whether Yanukovych himself has any funds in Switzerland. But his 40-year-old son opened a branch of his Management Assets Company (MAKO) in Geneva in late 2011.

Switzerland said it wanted to “avoid any risk of misappropriation of Ukrainian state assets”.

Ukraine’s new leaders are suffering from Moscow’s decision to freeze a $15-billion bailout package Putin promised to Yanukovych in return for his rejection of the EU deal.

The central bank was forced on Friday to lower the maximum amount of money individuals can withdraw from banks in a day to about $1,400 from a $5,500 limit imposed on February 7.

The hryvnia had plunged about 13 percent between Wednesday and Thursday before regaining some strength on Friday amid expectations of the imminent delivery of urgent Western aid.

Photo: Viktor Drachev via AFP

Ukraine Needs $35 Billion In Aid To Avert Default, Interim Leaders Say

Ukraine Needs $35 Billion In Aid To Avert Default, Interim Leaders Say

By Carol J. Williams, Los Angeles Times

MOSCOW — Ukraine’s interim leaders said Monday that the country will need $35 billion in foreign aid over the next two years to avert default and called for an international donors’ conference to craft a rescue plan.

The appeal by acting Finance Minister Yuri Kolobov followed by a day his Russian counterpart’s announcement that Moscow would be cutting off further aid and loan supports to Ukraine until its new transitional leadership is in place and it is clear with whom the Kremlin will be dealing.

Opposition leaders, who have been in control of Kiev since a European Union-brokered pact to quell last week’s violence was signed Friday, have said the new slate of ministers could be decided as early as Tuesday. The new government is unlikely to be as friendly to Moscow, though, as was that of President Viktor Yanukovich, who has been stripped of his office by parliament and has fled Kiev for the Russian-leaning east.

Group of 20 finance ministers met in Sydney, Australia, over the weekend and pledged help for Ukraine once its provisional leadership is in place. Political leaders from the United States, the EU and Russia have urged the opposition figures now in control of Kiev and western Ukraine cities to put together a genuinely inclusive Cabinet to represent all segments of Ukraine’s badly divided population.

Yanukovich fled after many of the lawmakers from his Party of Regions defected to the opposition in protest of the bloody crackdown on demonstrators last week that killed at least 82 people. The acting Ukrainian interior minister announced Monday that an arrest warrant had been issued for Yanukovich to stand trial on charges of mass murder for his role in the deadly turmoil.

The uprising against Yanukovich began in November after the president’s decision to scrap an association deal with the European Union that would have boosted Ukraine’s trade with the West and eventually set a path for potential membership in what is now a 28-nation bloc.

On Monday, EU Economics Commissioner Olli Rehn said the association deal was still on offer.

“We are at a historical juncture, and Europe needs to live up to its historical moment and be able to provide Ukraine with accession prospects in the medium to long term — if it can meet the conditions of accession,” Rehn said in Sydney, where he took part in the G-20 gathering.

“We are ready to provide substantial financial assistance to Ukraine once a political solution, based on democratic principles, is finalized, and once there is a new government that is genuinely and seriously engaged in institutional and economic reform,” Rehn said, referring to the massive waste and corruption that have pushed Ukraine’s economy to the brink of bankruptcy.

Russia had encouraged Yanukovich’s decision to drop the EU association agreement in favor of closer economic ties with Moscow with an offer of $15 billion in loans and energy subsidies. Russia bought about $3 billion in Ukrainian debt in December and had announced a second tranche of $2 billion for last week but suspended it as security and government authority unraveled in Kiev.

In announcing the freeze on further aid to Ukraine on Sunday, Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov suggested Kiev turn to the International Monetary Fund for assistance, a possible sign that Russia will be paring down its economic assistance if, as appears likely, the new government is controlled by pro-Western liberals opposed to joining his Eurasian Union of former Soviet states.

IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde told reporters in Sydney that the global lender was prepared to come to Ukraine’s aid “not only from a humanitarian point of view but also from an economic point of view.”

AFP Photo/Angelos Tzortzinis

Ukraine President Seeks To Defuse Crisis, Calls For Early Elections

Ukraine President Seeks To Defuse Crisis, Calls For Early Elections

By Sergei L. Loiko, Los Angeles Times

KIEV, Ukraine — Embattled Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovich acknowledged the opposition’s victory Friday by initiating early presidential and parliamentary elections and a plan to form a coalition government.

“In these tragic days when Ukraine suffered such heavy losses, when people died on both sides of the barricades, I consider it my duty in solemn memory of the slain to state that there is nothing more important than human life,” Yanukovich said in a statement published on his official website after a meeting with opposition leaders in Kiev.

“There are no such steps which we ought not to take together to restore peace in Ukraine.”

Among the steps Yanukovich named were early elections for president and parliament, the reduction of presidential powers in favor of parliament and the formation of a coalition government.

“As president of Ukraine and guarantor of the constitution, I am fulfilling today my duty before the people, before Ukraine and before Lord God for the sake of preserving the state, in the name of preserving human lives, in the name of peace and calm on our soil,” read the statement. It provided no details on how and when the proposed measures would be implemented.

The announcement came on the first peaceful day this week, after the most violent week in the history of post-Soviet Ukraine in which more than 100 people were killed, most of them protesters, and hundreds were injured in Kiev and across the country.

On Thursday, the Supreme Rada, or national parliament, voted to outlaw the so-called anti-terrorist operation declared earlier in the week by the national Security Service. Parliament also barred law enforcement officers from using firearms and confined them to barracks.

As reduced forces of riot police continued to protect key government buildings, protesters fortified new barricades in Grushevsky Street and around Independence Square in central Kiev.

“Yanukovich’s word is worth nothing with us,” said Alexander Chekmaz, a 38-year-old lawyer from the city of Mykolayev, dressed in a camouflage suit with a military helmet and club while manning an opposition checkpoint in Grushevsky Street.

“Yanukovich has deceived many times before, so we will only believe him when he steps down.”

Opposition leader and former world heavyweight boxing champion Vitali Klitschko expressed impatience with the lack of specifics in Yanukovich’s statement.

“We must do everything to schedule early presidential elections,” he said after the meeting with Yanukovich. “What is happening now in the streets does not leave us any time to contemplate. We have to take a decision immediately.”

But Alexander Yefremov, leader of the ruling party faction in parliament, told Interfax that the agreement between the president and the opposition provides for a September vote on the required changes in the constitution and for new elections in December.

Sergei L. Loiko/Los Angeles Times/MCT

Deal Reached On Ukraine Crisis, President’s Office Says

Deal Reached On Ukraine Crisis, President’s Office Says

McClatchy Tribune News Service

KIEV — Negotiators from the European Union and Russia have agreed with Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych and the opposition on a solution to the political crisis, the president’s office says.

The deal was expected to be signed later Friday.

The announcement came after marathon talks to resolve the crisis in Ukraine had gone on through the night.

Ukraine’s Health Ministry said Friday that political unrest in the capital Kiev had claimed at least 77 lives since Tuesday.

Hundreds of people have been injured in clashes between anti-government demonstrators and security forces, centered on the main protest site in Independence Square.

Yanukovych told European Union ministers on Thursday he was ready to hold early presidential and parliamentary elections, as the bloc paved the way for sanctions on individuals responsible for deadly violence.

Sergei L. Loiko/Los Angeles Times/MCT