Obama blasts Russia in tense call with Putin over Ukraine

Wednesday, 16 April 2014 01:34 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

REUTERS: US President Barack Obama told Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday that Russia’s actions in Ukraine were not conducive to a diplomatic solution of the crisis in that country, and the White House warned that Moscow would suffer further costs for its behaviour.

Obama spoke to Putin at the Russians’ request, a senior administration official said, describing the call as “frank and direct,” a diplomatic construction that usually means tense. “The President made clear that the diplomatic path was open and our preferred way ahead, but that Russia’s actions are neither consistent with or conducive to that,” the official said. Obama told Putin that Kiev had made “real offers” to address concerns about the decentralisation of powers to local governments in the country. “That is a matter for Ukrainians to decide,” the official said. “We have always and will continue to support an inclusive process.” Earlier, US officials stopped short of announcing a new set of sanctions against Russia but said they were in consultations with European partners about the prospect.

Separatists tighten grip on east Ukraine, EU agrees more sanctions on Moscow

REUTERS: Armed pro-Russian separatists seized more buildings in eastern Ukraine on Monday, expanding their control after the Government failed to follow through on threatened military crackdown leaving Moscow’s partisans essentially unopposed. European foreign ministers agreed to widen sanctions against Moscow and the White House said Washington was seeking ways to impose more “costs” on Russia, for what Kiev and its Western friends call a Russian plot to dismember Ukraine. Rebels in the town of Slaviansk, where the authorities failed to follow through with their announced “anti-terrorist” operation, called for Russian President Vladimir Putin’s help. Ukraine’s interim president Oleksander Turchinov said on Monday the offensive against the rebels would still go ahead. But in a sign of discord behind the scenes in Kiev, he sacked the State security chief in charge of the operation. In one of the first signs of a military deployment by Kiev’s forces, a Ukrainian column of two tanks and more than 20 armoured personnel carriers packed with paratroops was seen about 70 km (50 miles) northwest of Slaviansk on Monday evening, according to video journalist Maksim Dondyuk who filmed them. In Donetsk, rebels holed up in the administrative headquarters of a province that is home to 10% of Ukraine’s population said they planned to seize control of infrastructure and the levers of state power. They have declared an independent “People’s Republic of Donetsk” and sought Putin’s protection if they are attacked. Rebels have also seized buildings in around 10 other towns and cities across other eastern provinces which form the heartland of Ukraine’s heavy industry. In a bid to undercut the rebels’ demands, Turchinov held out the prospect of a countrywide referendum on the future shape of the Ukrainian state. Pro-Russian secessionists want separate referendums in their regions, which Kiev says is illegal. The uprising in eastern Ukraine began eight days ago but has accelerated sharply in the past 48 hours, with separatists seizing ever more buildings, including arsenals filled with weapons. They have met little opposition. Kiev says the separatists are organised by Moscow, seeking to repeat the seizure of the Crimea region, which Moscow occupied and annexed last month. Russia says the armed men are all locals acting on their own, but Western officials say the uprising is too well-coordinated to be entirely spontaneous, and bears too many similarities to the Russian operation in Crimea. “I don’t think denials of Russian involvement have a shred of credibility,” British Foreign Minister William Hague said, before a meeting with EU counterparts. Hague later announced that the ministers had agreed to expand a list of Russians barred from travelling or doing business in the EU. Work would begin to come up with new names for the sanctions list, Hague said.

The European Union agreed on Monday to step up sanctions against Moscow by expanding a list of people subjected to asset freezes and visa bans. “Russia continues to engage in provocative actions in eastern Ukraine. The mere presence of the troops, in addition to what else they’ve done inside Ukraine, creates a threat of destabilisation within Ukraine,” White House spokesman Jay Carney told reporters. “I can assure you that Russia’s provocations - further transgressions and provocations will come with a cost. And I’m not here to specify what cost will come from which specific action, but there have already been costs imposed on Russia; there will be further costs imposed on Russia.” The next round of US sanctions, which would be the fourth imposed since the Ukraine crisis began, is likely to target Russians close to Putin as well as Russian entities, three sources familiar with the discussions said on Sunday. US State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki noted that the United States was prepared to impose sanctions on individuals and entities in the financial services, energy, metals, mining, engineering and defence sectors. The sanctions have been the most visible sign of US anger at Russia’s annexation of the Crimea region in southern Ukraine last month, reflecting the deepest plunge in US-Russian relations since the Cold War. Obama spoke to French President Francois Hollande about the crisis on Monday and praised Ukraine’s government for showing “great restraint” and working to unify the country, the White House said. Carney also confirmed that the Director of the US Central Intelligence Agency, John Brennan, had been in Kiev over the weekend and decried what he called “false claims” levelled at the CIA by Russian authorities. “Senior level visits of intelligence officials are a standard means of fostering mutually beneficial security cooperation including US-Russian intelligence collaboration going back to the beginnings of the post-Cold War era,” Carney said. “US and Russian intelligence officials have met over the years. To imply that US officials meeting with their counterparts (in Kiev) is anything other than in the same spirit is absurd,” he said. According to media reports, Russia has urged Washington to explain what Brennan was doing in Ukraine.