Ukrainians protest gov't abandoning EU free trade agreement over Russian pressure

Update time. The situation has been festering along this week.

Monday, April 7
http://www.rferl.org/content/yatsenyuk-says-moscow-behind-seizures-in-eastern-ukraine/25323861.html
Acting Ukrainian President Oleksandr Turchynov gives a televised speech claiming the seizures of government buildings in three Ukrainian cities were deliberately engineered by Russia to destabilize the region.

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articl...-inner-circle-causes-mischief-in-ukraine.html
The protests are reportedly funded by former top aides of ousted President Viktor Yanukovych, who quietly met with citizens in eastern Ukraine cities at the end of March.

Andei Klyuyev and his brother Serhiy are key Yanukovych associates. Politicians and businessmen, they were among the top 50 richest Ukrainians with an estimated wealth of $227 million. Ukraine’s new leaders have issued arrest warrants for both for alleged involvement in massive corruption. Andrei Klyuyev was last seen with Yanukovych in the Crimean city of Balaclava in February after fleeing Kiev on their way to exile in Russia.

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Tuesday, April 8
http://www.newrepublic.com/article/...t-fight-breaks-out-video-news-roundup-april-8
Pro-Russian riots break out in the eastern Ukrainian cities of Donetsk, Luhansk, Kharkov, and Mykolaiv. Government buildings continue to be occupied by pro-Russian protesters in Donetsk, Luhansk, and Kharkov.

Protesters in Kharkov seemed to be unfamiliar with the city; at first they tried to occupy the opera house.

Wednesday, April 9
http://www.usnews.com/news/world/ar...s-leave-offices-seized-by-ukraine-separatists
Russian President Vladimir Putin threatens to make Ukraine pay in advance for vital supplies of natural gas.

http://www.voanews.com/content/russia-warns-ukraine-of-civil-war-in-the-southeast/1888476.html
US Secretary of State John Kerry says that Russia is behind the unrest in eastern Ukraine and that President Barack Obama was preparing tougher sanctions against Russia.

Thursday, April 10
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/11/w...russia-mobilizing-near-ukraine-nato-says.html
NATO satellite photos show as many as 40,000 Russian troops amassed near the Ukrainian border, with fighter jets and tanks.

Saturday, April 12
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-27000700
Gunmen reportedly take over government buildings in the eastern Ukrainian cities of of Slovyansk and Druzhkovka, and gunfire is exchanged in an attempt to take over buildings in Kramatorsk.

This is a link to the Russian Times: http://rt.com/news/ukraine-should-recognize-crimea-068/
Russia's Finance Minister Anton Siluanov lists four conditions Ukraine must meet if it wishes any financial relief from Russia: It must recognize Crimea’s independence, reform the country’s constitution, regulate the crisis in its eastern regions and guarantee the rights of Russian speakers in Ukraine.

Sunday, April 13
http://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/ps/2014/04/224762.htm
The US State Department releases a paper giving evidence for Russia's support of the Ukrainian unrest. The link is to the paper, not to a news story.

http://www.rferl.org/content/ukraine-slovyansk-operation-launched/25331132.html
The Ukraine government announces an "antiterrorist" operation in the eastern Ukrainian city of Slovyansk. One Ukrainian officer and an unknown number of protesters are reported dead. The pro-Russians are reportedly using civilians as human shields.

Pro-Russia separatists reportedly seize the mayor's office in the eastern Ukrainian city of Mariupol.

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/15/world/europe/russia-east-ukraine.html?hpw&rref=world
Ukrainian interim president Oleksandr V. Turchynov issues an ultimatum Sunday,

saying that separatists should vacate occupied buildings by Monday morning or face a “large-scale antiterrorist operation” that would involve the Ukrainian military. Ukraine backed away from a previous deadline of Friday after it offered, as a concession, to hold a referendum on regional autonomy and on guaranteeing the status of Russian as an official language.

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Also "Men dressed in camouflage and armed with assault rifles fired on the Police Headquarters in Kramatorsk."

http://www.journalreview.com/news/article_24d58c37-5603-530c-8f42-d6349df8eefb.html
The UN Security Council meets in an emergency session on the Ukraine crisis in which Russian ambassador Vitaly I. Churkin warns of the Ukrainian government's violent intentions towards the pro-Russian protesters.

Monday, April 14 (today)
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/15/world/europe/russia-east-ukraine.html?hpw&rref=world
Pro-Russian protesters ignore a deadline set by the Ukrainian government to vacate the government buildings in Slovyansk.

Sergei A. Taruta, the governor of the Donetsk region, said on Monday that a “special operations regime” had begun in the province, but offered no details of how the military or police were involved, Interfax, a Russian news agency, reported.

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http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-27018199
A pro-Russian mob has taken over the police station in the eastern Ukrainian city of Horlivka, smashing windows to the cheers of the crowd.

More updates on the last few days.

Sunday, April 13
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/apr/14/ukraine-crisis-un-emergency-security-council
Backing up here a bit with details of the emergency UN Security Council meeting this past Sunday.

The meeting was called by Russia, which says the Ukrainian government is employing far-right neo-Nazis to foment the unrest in the east of Ukraine.

Monday, April 14
http://www.usnews.com/news/world/ar...deadline-for-disarming-in-east-ukraine-passes
The Ukrainian government requested UN peacekeeping troops to help with the unrest in the east of Ukraine.

Since Russia has a permanent veto in the UN, it is pretty much agreed that this is never going to happen.

Tuesday, April 15
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/16/world/europe/russia-is-quick-to-bend-truth-about-ukraine.html
This article gives details of the Russian media propaganda campaign, which is painting Ukraine as some sort of Mad max fantasy world of evil Ukrainian fascists bombing innocent Russians while leaving out all mention of Russian instigation and participation in the violence it shows.

Wednesday, April 16
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/17/world/europe/ukraine-crisis.html
Ukrainian soldiers sent to the east to deal with the unrest surrender and pull back. They had been given no support to control crowds, and would not shoot on civilians swarming their vehicles. Behind the civilians are green-clad armed men.

http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/1.585741
Vladimir Putin tells Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that the escalation in Ukraine is the result of the irresponsible behavior of the government in Kiev.

Thursday, April 17
http://www.voanews.com/content/fourway-ukraine-talks-begin/1895265.html
Diplomats from Russia, the EU, the US, and Ukraine agree to a set of measures to ease tensions in Ukraine.

Senior UN human rights official Ivan Simonvic reports that his investigative his team has visited Ukraine and found no evidence of widespread attacks against ethnic Russians.

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/wor...kranian-troops-repel-attack-article-1.1759436
Jewish people in Donetsk are sent fliers signed by Denis Pushilin, head of the self-styled Donetsk People’s Republic, commanding them to register with the pro-Russian militias. The fliers are declared to be fakes.

http://www.aljazeera.com/news/europ...-troops-east-ukraine-2014417132436806530.html
Vladimir Putin insists that "there are no Russian units, special forces or instructors in the east of Ukraine."

Putin finally concedes that those soldiers in unmarked uniforms and unmarked vehicles which took Crimea last month were in fact Russian soldiers.

Friday, April 18 (today)
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/19/world/europe/ukraine-russia.html
Pro-Russian protesters refuse to lay down their arms and leave the Ukrainian government buildings they have been occupying, violating the previous day's agreement between Russia, the EU, the US, and Ukraine to try to defuse tensions. The rebels demand that the Kiev government resign first.

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-27081271
The government in Kiev is reaching out and offering concessions to the protesters including the decentralization of power and protected status for the Russian language.

Shadow Dragon said:

Ukraine's army is in a tough spot. Either they back off and let the crowds do what they want or they shoot, giving Russia video evidence that it needs to rush in to "protect ethnic Russians."

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I am impressed with how little Ukrainian-instigated violence there has been so far.

I like to think the Ukrainian government in Kiev learnt its lesson from their early move against the Russian language, a blunder that only helped Putin stoke Russian paranoia.

But I fear that Putin is willing to provoke them very far, all the while scolding them for being provoking and shouting to all the world of their perfidy.

Shadow Dragon said:

Apparently on Thursday, Putin called a section of Ukraine, New Russia: http://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/18/world/europe/russia-ukraine.html?hp

And of course completely blames the West for it happening.

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Well, that's one way of saying with a straight face that there are no Russian soldiers in Ukraine.

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-27086345

Posters and fliers have turned up in the eastern Ukrainian city of Donetsk accusing the city's Jews of supporting the government in Kiev and demanding that they register with the self-declared government and pay a tax, or leave.

Billtrumpet25 said:

Looks like US troops are going to Poland. http://news.yahoo.com/us-ground-forces-sent-poland-report-says-155733017.html

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150 troops?

I guess it's the symbolism that matters.

http://www.thedailybeast.com/cheats/2014/04/19/russian-pol-urges-journalist-rape.html
http://euronews.com/2014/04/19/russ...eaker-zhirinovsky-s-extraordinary-tirade-at-/

The deputy speaker of Russia's Duma (the lower house of parliament), Vladimir Zhirinovsky, known for his outrageous outbursts, is in hot water after threatening a journalist at a televised press conference on Friday.

After the journalist, who is pregnant, asked about Ukraine, Mr. Zhirinovsky began shouting threats at her and ordered his aide to rape her.

Mr. Zhirinovsky is being urged to resign.

There is a separate thread on the incident here.

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/21/w...asked-men-in-east-ukraine-to-russia.html?_r=0

There has been a mystery about the identity of the men in unmarked green uniforms who have played a prominent part in seizing Ukrainian government buildings in many scattered cities in Eastern Ukraine over the last two weeks.

Ukrainian officials have claimed that the men were disguised Russian soldiers and agents. Moscow has vehemently denied this.

Now photographs and descriptions from eastern Ukraine endorsed by the Obama administration on Sunday suggest that many of the green men are indeed Russian military and intelligence forces — equipped in the same fashion as Russian special operations troops involved in annexing the Crimea region in February. Some of the men photographed in Ukraine have been identified in other photos clearly taken among Russian troops in other settings.

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Apparently Russia has a long history of sending disguised soldiers into combat as a form of semi-espionage and to avoid being internationally criticized for its actions. The Russians call it "maskirovka." They used it against the Chechens 20 years ago.

[W]hen a woman sidled up to one of the masked gunmen in the [Slovyansk's] central square last week and asked where he was from, she got an answer that summed up Russia’s bedeviling and constantly shifting disguises. The gunman initially said he was “from Russia,” but when pressed, said coyly that he was “from New Russia,” a long-forgotten czarist-era term revived last week by Mr. Putin to describe a large section of eastern and southern Ukraine.

Asked by the woman what would happen if the Ukrainian Army attacked, he replied, “We have to stand for only 24 hours, to tend the fire, and after that, a one million man army will be here.”

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The Ukrainian security agency released what it claimed was an intercepted audio recording of Russian operatives in Ukraine communicating with their superior in Russia:

The superior, clearly anxious to keep Russia’s role hidden, can be heard ordering his men on the ground in Ukraine not to identify themselves and to find someone with a Ukrainian accent who can give an interview to a Russian television channel. It was very important, he added, to say on air that all the pro-Russian insurgents want is “federalization,” or constitutional changes to give eastern Ukraine more autonomy.

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Russian President Vladimir Putin denied all the charges as nonsense.

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-27100749

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov says the Ukrainian government has violated the international agreement of last week. He says the Ukrainian government has failed to reduce violence.

As proof, Mr. Lavrov pointed to an incident yesterday near Slovyansk where at least three people were shot and killed at a pro-Russian checkpoint. It is unclear what happened at the checkpoint.

Meanwhile, pro-Russian protesters have also violated the Geneva agreement as they have continued to occupy Ukrainian government buildings and refuse to leave.

In other news, Vladimir Putin is passing laws and signing decrees as if Crimea were a part of Russia. He wants to establish gambling in Crimea and he "rehabilitated" the indigenous Tatars. It sounds almost like he wants casinos on reservations.

Tortured Ukrainian politician's body found in eastern Ukrainian river, says Turchynov

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/...is-president-torture-20140422,0,7299886.story

Acting President Oleksander Turchynov has announced that the body of a Ukrainian politician, Volodymyr Rybak, a town counselor from Horlivka near Donetsk, has been fished out of a river near Slovyansk along with another body, both showing signs of torture.

http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/ukraine-crisis/ukraine-mourns-civilians-slain-gun-fight-n86746

Eastern Ukrainians held massive funerals for the three pro-Russians shot at a checkpoint under mysterious circumstances. It is still unclear who shot them, although a truck, completely incinerated except for two fresh out-of-town license plates, has been procured as evidence.

Also there are photos of pro-Russians throwing eggs at Ukrainians.