The Ukrainian government said it will not attack pro-Russian separatists over the Easter weekend as its US ally threatened Moscow with new sanctions if it fails to persuade the militants to surrender.
The Kremlin denies having control over gunmen who want their eastern regions to follow Crimea in being annexed by Russia. Moscow scolded Washington for treating Russia like a “guilty schoolboy” following their agreement in Geneva on Thursday that Ukrainian militants should disarm and vacate occupied buildings.
Ukraine’s government, short of effective forces, has shown little sign of trying to recapture the dozen or so town halls, police stations and other sites seized over the past two weeks, despite proclaiming the launch of an “anti-terrorist operation”.
The Foreign Ministry promised “the suspension of the active phase of the anti-terrorist operation” among a list of government initiatives to defuse the crisis issued late on Friday. A spokeswoman for the SBU state security service said on Saturday the suspension was “linked to the implementation of the Geneva agreement and the Easter holidays”.
“The anti-terrorist operation was put on hold for the Easter time and we will be not using force against them at this moment,” Foreign Minister Andriy Deshchytsia was quoted on Saturday as saying by Britain’s BBC.
On Friday he warned the militants that “more concrete actions” could be taken next week if they failed to start surrendering to international peace monitors.
Deshchytsia met officials in Kiev on Saturday from the OSCE, a European security body that includes both NATO members and Russia. The OSCE will oversee implementation of the Geneva accord, under which Russia, Ukraine, the United States and European Union agreed to a process of disarmament and an end to occupations as part of wider program to defuse the gravest East-West crisis since the end of the Cold War.
A senior OSCE official will head to Donetsk, the biggest city of the Russian-speaking east, later on Saturday. OSCE officials said there was so far no indication from militants there that they had the “political will” to give up.
On Friday, separatist leaders said Russia’s signature on the Geneva deal was not binding on them. Moscow denies Western assertions that it is controlling the Ukrainian activists.
