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As Ukraine Announces Cease-Fire, White House Points Finger at Russia
As Ukraine Announces Cease-Fire, White House Points Finger at Russia
(about 11 hours later)
WASHINGTON — On a day that the Ukrainian government announced a unilateral cease-fire in its battle with separatists in the country’s east, the Obama administration raised the stakes with Russia on Friday, accusing the Kremlin of continuing to covertly arm the rebels.
DONETSK, Ukraine — President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia on Saturday ordered troops across central Russia on combat alert and began surprise military drills, renewing concerns about a Russian buildup a day after Ukraine ordered a government cease-fire in the country’s troubled east.
A spokesman for the Ukrainian military, Vladislav Seleznyov, said the cease-fire would begin at 10 p.m. local time on Friday. Ukraine’s new president, Petro O. Poroshenko, has stressed that the plan hinges on the sealing of the porous border with Russia, to prevent the flow of fighters and arms.
The order for drills in Russia’s central military district, which does not border Ukraine, was announced by Defense Minister Sergei K. Shoigu and involves around 65,000 Russian troops, including several thousand members of an airborne unit.
There was no immediate reaction from separatist leaders, but the Kremlin issued an angry statement complaining about artillery fire that struck a Russian border post, with demands for an investigation and an apology.
The drills will last a week, officials said in comments carried by Russian state news agencies.
“The statement by the president of Ukraine, Petro Poroshenko, on the temporary cessation of hostilities was accidentally or deliberately made against the backdrop of shelling of Russian territory,” the Kremlin said in its statement, adding that a building at the border post had been destroyed and a customs agent seriously injured. “The Russian side is waiting for an explanation and an apology,” the Kremlin said, adding, about the cease-fire, “The initial analysis, unfortunately, shows that this is not an invitation to peace and negotiations but an ultimatum for the militias of southeast Ukraine to surrender.”
Ukraine and the United States have accused Russia of covertly supplying rebel forces in eastern Ukraine with fighters and heavy arms, including tanks and rocket launchers, in recent weeks.
In addition, the Russian foreign minister, Sergey V. Lavrov, spoke by phone with the new Ukrainian foreign minister, Pavlo Klimkin, and Mr. Lavrov complained about demands that Russian tighten control of its border with Ukraine.
On Friday, a senior Obama administration official said Russia had “redeployed significant military forces to its border with Ukraine.” The official said Russian special forces along the border were also providing support to rebel fighters in Ukraine.
Mr. Lavrov, in the call, again insisted that Russia did not control — or speak for — the separatist rebels. Russia’s vehement reaction was somewhat surprising, given that the halt in military operations was part of a broader peace plan that Mr. Poroshenko has been developing in recent weeks in consultation with Russia and Western leaders.
Ukrainian military officials said on Saturday that fighting between army and rebel forces had continued overnight, despite President Petro O. Poroshenko’s declaration of a unilateral weeklong cease-fire in the region.
In Washington on Friday, American officials added another element to an increasingly complex situation, accusing Russia of working to undermine the prospects for peace even as President Vladimir V. Putin consulted with Mr. Poroshenko virtually daily on his peace proposal. President Obama warned Mr. Putin this month that the West would impose “additional costs” on Russia if its provocations were to continue.
Mr. Poroshenko declared the cease-fire on Friday as he introduced a 14-point peace plan that would establish a six-mile demilitarized zone along the Ukrainian-Russian border and provide an escape corridor for Russian and Ukrainian mercenaries that the Ukrainian government has said are involved in the fighting.
“We have information that Russia has redeployed significant military forces to its border with Ukraine,” a senior Obama administration official told reporters on Friday. “Russian Special Forces are also maintaining points along the Ukrainian border to provide support to separatist fighters.”
Moscow responded harshly to the deal, saying it was an ultimatum to the pro-Russian rebels in eastern Ukraine and did not provide for talks between the government and rebel leaders.
The State Department reported last week that three aging Russian T-64 tanks had been sent to Ukraine, and Ukrainian officials recently told Western officials that 10 more Russian tanks have been provided to Ukrainian separatists. Adding to Western concerns, the senior Obama administration official said, artillery has been moved to a deployment site inside southwest Russia and may soon be shipped across the border.
“The plan lacks a key part: a call for dialogue,” Sergey V. Lavrov, the Russian foreign minister, said Saturday from Jidda, Saudi Arabia.
American officials said Russia was providing older weapons that its forces had phased out but that were known to remain in the Ukrainian military’s inventory.
“We are alarmed and concerned that, simultaneously with the proposal of this plan, the activity of the so-called antiterrorist military operation is increasing,” Mr. Lavrov said in remarks carried by the Interfax news agency.
“The desire here is to mask the Russian hand” by allowing Ukrainian separatists to claim the weapons were captured on the battlefield, the administration official said. The official asked not to be identified by name, in line with the Obama administration’s protocol for briefing reporters.
Military and political leaders of the self-declared people’s republics in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions of eastern Ukraine have said they will not lay down arms.
Mr. Putin appears to be calculating that he can continue to provide military support to the separatists without triggering tough economic reprisals as long as the Kremlin denies that it is involved and avoids obvious provocations, like sending conventional Russian military units into eastern Ukraine, American officials said.
Alexander Borodai, prime minister of the Donetsk People’s Republic, said flatly that “there is no cease-fire” and called for peacekeepers from Russia to enter the country to prevent “a humanitarian catastrophe.”
To date, the United States and European allies have imposed only limited sanctions, directed at Russian individuals or specific companies, in response to the Russian annexation of Crimea and allegations that it is linked to the violence in eastern Ukraine. The next stage would involve tougher sanctions against sectors of the Russian economy like finance, energy and defense industries.
“How can I comment on a plan that is only a fantasy?” Mr. Borodai said when asked if he was aware of the peace plan proposed by Mr. Poroshenko on Friday.
On Friday, the Treasury Department imposed sanctions on seven Ukrainian separatists, including Vyacheslav Ponomarev, once the self-proclaimed mayor of Slovyansk, and Denis Pushilin, the leader of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic.
Late on Saturday, a commander named Vadim whose unit defended the city of Seversk predicted that, within a day, his forces would retake the Yampil checkpoint near Krasny Liman, where heavy fighting has raged for several days.
The White House said Friday night that Mr. Obama had called Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany and President François Hollande of France, and that the three leaders had agreed the United States and the European Union would impose additional sanctions “should Russia fail to take immediate, concrete steps to de-escalate the situation in eastern Ukraine.”
On a central square in Donetsk on Saturday, about 100 armed rebels swore an oath of allegiance to the people’s republic.
Before the cease-fire was announced, skirmishes for control of Krasny Liman, a railroad hub north of Donetsk, stretched into a second day. The Ukrainian military deployed both air and artillery strikes to oust pro-Russian separatist fighters, said Vladislav Seleznyov, a spokesman for the Defense Ministry.
The Ukrainian Defense Ministry and the Border Ministry reported attacks by pro-Russian militants overnight at two posts on the border, as well as at a Ukrainian military base in Avdiivka, near Donetsk, and a military post at Karachun, near the rebel stronghold of Slovyansk.
Mr. Seleznyov said seven government soldiers had been killed and 30 injured since fighting over a conduit road into the town began Thursday morning. He also said 300 rebel fighters had died in the fighting since Thursday, a figure that could not be independently verified. Mr. Seleznyov said the number was a “hard number,” not propaganda. But that figure was far higher than those provided Thursday night by rebel forces, which said their number of dead and injured was in the single digits.
Mr. Poroshenko introduced his peace plan at a Ukrainian military base in Svyatogorsk on Friday in his first visit to the eastern region of Donbass, where the rebels are strongest. In his remarks, he said Ukrainian forces would not advance but would protect themselves if fired upon.
In tandem with announcing the cease-fire, Mr. Poroshenko released the official version of his peace plan, with some 14 points that he had outlined in broad strokes previously.
Vladislav Seleznyov, the spokesman for the government campaign against the rebels, said all attacks against government positions had been repulsed.
It called for a general amnesty for those who had not committed serious crimes and the release of hostages. Mr. Poroshenko also wants to create a six-mile buffer zone along the lengthy border with Russia.
Mr. Borodai, of the Donetsk People’s Republic, said some rebels were wounded but declined to give precise numbers.
On the issue of decentralization, a key Russian demand, he said the executive committees that run each province would be elected, that the Russian language would be protected and that those and possible further changes would be enshrined in a new constitution. It also said the people in the Donbass area would be consulted on who runs the federal agencies in their areas.
Even people in the southeast who do not support the separatists complain that Kiev too often ignores their concerns and appoints officials without any local consultations.
The fighting in Ukraine this week also prompted Mr. Putin to call Ms. Merkel and Mr. Hollande to express his “grave concern” about Ukraine’s continuing military operations, the Kremlin news agency said. While denying any role in directing the separatist violence, Russia has acknowledged that it has forces near Ukraine’s border.
“Given the situation in the east, the tightening of Russian border security requires certain measures,” Dmitry Peskov, Mr. Putin’s spokesman, told the Rossiya 24 cable news channel. “The armed forces are being called in.”
The senior Obama administration official told reporters that some Russian forces near Ukraine had taken up positions that “are within a handful of kilometers of Ukrainian territory, the closest that they’ve been since the invasion of Crimea.”
“We also have information that additional forces are due to arrive in coming weeks,” the senior administration official added.
