Europe's OSCE security body headed to eastern
Ukraine on Saturday seeking the surrender of pro-
Russian separatists as the Kiev government
declared an Easter truce following a peace accord
with Moscow.
Gunmen occupying public buildings in Donetsk and
other Russian-speaking border towns refuse to
recognize an accord in Geneva on Thursday by
which Russia, Ukraine and Kiev's U.S. and EU allies
agreed that the OSCE should oversee the
disarmament of militants and the evacuation of occupied facilities and streets.
The coming days may determine whether unrest
following the overthrow of Ukraine's pro-Moscow
president can be contained. Russia, which annexed Crimea last month in the
worst East-West crisis since the Cold War, denies
running the separatists or planning to invade.
Western powers threatened more economic
sanctions if Moscow does not prevail on the
militants to surrender. Ertogrul Apakan, who heads the special mission in
Kiev of the Organisation for Security and
Cooperation in Europe, said his deputy would be in
Donetsk on Saturday and meet separatist leaders
by Sunday to see if they will comply with the
agreement.
After a meeting in the Ukrainian capital with
diplomats from the four parties to the Geneva
accord, Swiss envoy Christian Schoenenberger,
whose country is chair of the OSCE, said its monitors
had spoken to several activists: "For the time being
the political will is not there to move out," he said. "That's the task of the monitors, to create this
political will, inform the people, so eventually they
will understand that the best option for them is to
move out," he told reporters. Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andriy Deshchytsia, who
warned on Friday of "more concrete actions" to
end the stand-off if there were no movement over
the Easter weekend, said after the meeting that the
senior OSCE officials and the local authorities in the
east would "work out practical steps for the implementation of the Geneva agreement in the
course of the next day or two".
In Donetsk, separatist leaders renewed calls for a
referendum that could see Ukraine's industrial
heartland annexed by Russia.
A poll by an institute
in Kiev, however, suggested a majority does not
favor rule from Moscow, despite widespread
suspicion among Russian-speakers of the new leadership in Kiev.
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 initiatives to defuse the crisis issued
late on Friday. The SBU state security service said
the suspension was "linked to the implementation
of the Geneva agreement and the Easter holidays".
The government has explained its lack of visible
action beyond setting up security checkpoints by a
desire not to hurt civilians. That would risk
provoking the intervention Russia has threatened if
Russian blood is shed.
But lack of resources and
training also helps explain the hesitation. Ukrainian troops lost half a dozen armored vehicles to
militants last week. "An Easter truce may show goodwill - or perhaps
just Kiev's total impotence," said one of the masked
men guarding the occupied headquarters of
Donetsk's regional government.
"If it's impotence, then we've won. If they're getting
ready to provoke us, then we will hit back with
force." Several people have been killed in violence in the
past week. On Saturday, a serviceman was killed in
Donetsk in what the Defence Ministry described as
an accident.
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