Ukraine's Burisma Hires Joe Biden's Son as Company Lawyer

Ukraine Energy company Burisma Holdings officially hired U.S. Vice President Joe Biden’s son Hunter Biden as a lawyer after the companyof-Interest">appointed him to the board of directors in April. The White House said there is no conflict of interest, even though the administration is working with Ukraine during its crisis with Russia.

Hunter Biden's employment means he will be working as a director and top lawyer for a Ukrainian energy company during the period when his father and others in the Obama administration attempt to influence the policies of Ukraine's new government, especially on energy issues. There's no indication that Hunter Biden, his father or Burisma are crossing any legal or ethical lines, although ethics experts appear divided over the implications of Hunter Biden's new job.

However, Nikolai Zlochevsky, one of ousted Russia-backed President Viktor Yanukovych’s allies, owns Burisma. He was a member of Parliament for the Party of Regions, which was Yanukovych’s party.

Ukraine's Burisma Hires Joe Biden's Son as Company Lawyer

Ukraine: New Ukraine president Petro Poroshenko vows to stop war- by Shaun Walker and Alec Luhn

Ukraine's new president, Petro Poroshenko, has vowed to make his first goal in office to stop the war in the east of the country.

The pro-European businessman won the presidential election with 54% of the vote, according to early results on Sunday, clearing the 50% threshold to win outright without a second round. The former prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko was trailing far behind, with about 13%.

In an impromptu victory speech after an official exit poll showed his convincing first-round win, Poroshenko praised the record turnout and reiterated the pledge that his first official trip would be to conflict-riven eastern Ukraine. He promised an amnesty to pro-Russian rebels who turned in their weapons, but said those who had killed people in the region were terrorists who deserved no quarter.

"Today we can definitely say all of Ukraine has voted, this is a national vote," Poroshenko said. "The first steps that we will take at the beginning of our presidential term should be focused on stopping the war, to put an end to this chaos and bring peace to a united Ukraine."

According to Poroshenko, his strong support at the polls confirmed three major policy directions for his presidency: the preservation of a "unified Ukraine", including stability in the east; a "European choice" for closer ties with the west; and the return of Crimea, which was annexed by Russia in March. In reality, all of these tasks will be difficult to accomplish.

Poroshenko also promised to hold parliamentary elections before the end of the year, arguing that the lack of a majority coalition has made the body unable to respond to security threats.
"When there is a parliamentarian crisis, the only solution in a democracy is early elections," he said.

Ukrainians flocked to the polling stations on Sunday in what was seen as the most important election since independence. Millions of citizens in the restive east, however, did not vote, either because of separatist sympathies, feelings of intimidation by pro-Russian militias or simply a lack of polling stations.
Many of those voting for Poroshenko said they wanted to ensure he won the poll in the first round, without a runoff.

Read more: New Ukraine president Petro Poroshenko vows to stop war | World news | theguardian.com

Ukraine: It’s Not All Russia’s Fault - by Balázs Jarábik

Ukrain political and ethnic crises

The crisis in eastern Ukraine is far from over.

On Monday, the moderate mayor of Kharkiv, the country’s second-largest city, was shot while riding his bicycle. Pro-Russian separatists have seized another government building in the region, and some are holding hostage a group of European military observers. The United States, convinced the chaos is all being driven by Moscow, slapped new sanctions on top Russian officials Monday, and the Europeans will probably go along.

To understand what’s driving this crisis, though, it’s necessary to look at the region the way its residents see it, not just the way it appears to the outside world.

The dominant Western narrative is all too familiar: It’s good guys vs. bad guys. Russian aggression against Ukraine and covert backing for separatist groups are the main sources of conflict, creating a very real danger that southeastern Ukraine may soon erupt into full-scale war or split off and join Russia.

Throw in the kidnappings of journalists, targeted killings of local politicians and residents and renewed Ukrainian military operations against the separatists, and the whole region appears to be in flames—and it’s all Moscow’s doing. As U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry put it over the weekend, the Kremlin is behind the “distraction, deception and destabilization” in eastern Ukraine.

Unfortunately, the real story is much more complicated, and it has as much to do with the murky nature of Ukrainian politics as it does with Russia’s blatant meddling. On one level, the clashes in eastern Ukraine are just the latest battle between the country’s powerful and fractious oligarchs, for whom business interests—not the fate of Ukraine—are always priority number one.

The good news is that the separatists are actually quite isolated, according to recent accounts by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe’s monitoring mission in eastern Ukraine. Even Kerry, despite his stern rhetoric, has indicated that fewer than 30 buildings have been occupied. And a recent poll conducted by the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology found that the majority of southeastern Ukraine’s residents do not favor joining Russia; 70 percent want to remain in Ukraine, and only 15 percent support secession; 60 percent do not approve of armed separatists seizing government buildings.

There is no doubt that Russia has been trying to destabilize Ukraine in the wake of the annexation of Crimea and that both sides could yet tumble into full-scale military conflict. But Russia is not the only factor shaping public opinion toward the central government in Kyiv, the Ukrainian capital.

From the outside, the Kyiv government is usually depicted as a band of selfless reformers. In fact, the differences in how it is perceived across the country are vast, with 78 percent of western Ukrainians but only 16 percent of easterners registering their approval in one recent poll.Easterners (and southerners, for that matter) see a cabinet dominated by former prime minister and current presidential candidate Yulia Timoshenko and her Fatherland political party, whose base of support is in the pro-European west of the country. Both the Party of Regions and Vitaly Klitchko’s UDAR party refused to join the government, leaving it dangerously low on eastern support.

The importance of looking beyond simplistic narratives also extends to politics at the regional level. When the Kyiv interim government appointed steel magnate and local oligarch Serhiy Taruta as governor of Donetsk, a major city close to the Russian border, he encountered strong local opposition, and the Donbas region, which includes Donetsk and Luhansk, soon became the main hotbed of separatist activity. Why? Many experts point to the influence of Ukraine’s richest businessman Rinat Akhmetov, who reportedly holds considerable sway over Donbas’s economic life, not to mention the activities of local law enforcement and municipal officials.

In Ukraine, political power almost always translates into control of property. The business elite of southeastern Ukraine is not prepared to surrender to a Kyiv government it sees as an instrument of Timoshenko (an old-school oligarch in her own right), and is likely using all means at its disposal, including the separatist card, to make its point.

The May 25 presidential election is the next big test, pitting Timoshenko against Petro Poroshenko, a prominent businessman who has held many senior posts in previous Ukrainian governments. A Timoshenko victory would spell trouble for the region’s business elite. Thus, the separatist unrest, which has put the actual viability of the elections in jeopardy, may be a hedging tactic by local oligarchs.

Ukrainian political insiders believe that Timoshenko’s control over the interim government in Kyiv has set off enough alarm bells that many oligarchs are pooling their resources and backing Poroshenko. (There is some evidence that Poroshenko and Klitchko traveled to Vienna in late March to hammer out a deal with Dmitro Firtash, a prominent Ukrainian oligarch who was recently indicted by U.S. law enforcement and is fighting extradition on racketeering charges.) After all, various Ukrainian oligarchs helped bankroll the Maidan movement, the protests that ousted President Viktor Yanukovych in February, because they were angry with the Yanukovych “family” for squeezing them out of lucrative businesses. They certainly do not want to see Timoshenko install herself as the top dog and make their lives miserable.

The unseemliness of Ukrainian politics certainly makes for strange bedfellows. In this instance, it has put some Ukrainian oligarchs on the same side as Vladimir Putin and against Timoshenko, who has long been rumored to be on good terms with the Russian president. Both the Kremlin and these oligarchs have an interest in undermining the current government in Kyiv. The Kremlin and the oligarchs may have their own distinct reasons for doing so, but both see the separatist card as a source of extra leverage.

Read more: It’s Not All Russia’s Fault - Carnegie Endowment for International Peace

While Ukraine crisis escalates many American's do not even know where Ukraine is located

The British Guardian reports today that pro-Russian activists in Ukraine's industrial centre of Donetsk have proclaimed their independence from Kiev and pledged to hold a referendum in the next month, provoking fears that Moscow could be orchestrating a second Crimea scenario in Ukraine's east.

"Seeking to create a popular, legitimate, sovereign state, I proclaim the creation of the sovereign state of the people's republic of Donetsk," said a man into a loudspeaker outside the seized regional administration building to a cheering crowd.

The protesters said they would hold a referendum no later than 11 May on the region's status, and also asked Russia to ready "peacekeeping troops", in a scenario reminiscent of the events that led to the annexation of Crimea last month.

In Kiev, the interim prime minister, Arseniy Yatsenyuk, said events in the east were being carried out according to a script written in Moscow.

But is this "storm in a cup of soup" really important to the US or to Europe for that matter? The Washington post recently reported: "On March 28-31, 2014, we asked a national sample of 2,066 Americans (fielded via Survey Sampling International Inc. (SSI), what action they wanted the U.S. to take in Ukraine, but with a twist: In addition to measuring standard demographic characteristics and general foreign policy attitudes, we also asked our survey respondents to locate Ukraine on a map as part of a larger, ongoing project to study foreign policy knowledge. 

We wanted to see where Americans think Ukraine is and to learn if this knowledge (or lack thereof) is related to their foreign policy views. 

We also found that only one out of six Americans can find Ukraine on a map, and that this lack of knowledge is related to preferences: The farther their guesses were from Ukraine’s actual location, the more they wanted the U.S.  to intervene with military force."

EU-Digest

The Netherlands - On High Security Alert: G7 leaders to meet next week at The Hague to discuss Ukraine

The United States and its G7 allies will gather next week at The Hague to consider a further response to Russia's attempt to absorb Ukraine's Crimea region, the White House said on Tuesday.

The announcement came on the day that Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a treaty making Crimea a part of Russia after the region staged a referendum on Sunday that the West has declared illegitimate.

The G7 meeting will take place on the margins of a nuclear security summit at The Hague that U.S. President Barack Obama plans to attend.

"The meeting will focus on the situation in Ukraine and further steps that the G7 may take to respond to developments and to support Ukraine," said White House National Security Council spokeswoman Caitlin Hayden.

Note Almere Digest: During the Nuclear conference and the G7 meetings next week a variety of security measures have been taken by the EU and the Dutch Government to protect citizens and visitors against possible terrorist attacks. 

These measures will include  - extensive controls of all travel and travel points ( train, air, boat) in and out of the Netherlands, a no-fly-zone above the conference areas and all other strategic areas, which will be enforced by Dutch and EU air-force squadrons and special security forces. During the days of the conferences,train,  bus and tram operations within the city of the Hague and surrounding areas will be limited.  


Read more: G7 leaders to meet next week at The Hague to discuss Ukraine | Reuters

Russia dismisses sanctions, gambles energy needs will weaken EU resolve - by Eric Reguly

Russia’s quick recognition of Crimea as an independent state is risking a second round of more damaging sanctions that could unleash a new Cold War.

On Monday night, Russian President Vladimir Putin issued a decree to declare Crimea fully independent of Ukraine. The act of defiance came a few hours after the United States and the European Union launched sanctions against about 30 individual Russians and pro-Russian Ukrainians for what was described as their role in threatening the security and the borders of Ukraine.

The sanctions, which consisted of travel bans and asset freezes, are the first retaliatory measures against Russia since Ukraine’s pro-Moscow president, Viktor Yanukovych, was ousted on Feb. 22, triggering the Russian military intervention in Crimea and Sunday’s referendum, in which Crimeans overwhelmingly approved joining Russia.

Canada joined the U.S. and the EU in imposing sanctions on 10 Russian and Ukrainian individuals.
The confrontation – increasingly reminiscent of the mutual hostility between the West and the Soviet Union – seems set to deepen.

Read more: Russia dismisses sanctions, gambles energy needs will weaken EU resolve - The Globe and Mail

The Netherlands - Ukraine: Geert Wilders' goes on rampage in Dutch Parliament during Ukraine Debate

Mr. Geert Wilders of the Nationalist - Anti-Muslim Party For Freedom (PVV) went into a verbal rampage during the Ukraine debate in the Dutch parliament and presented the following motion on behalf of his party  on the situation Ukraine

"whereas the European Commission proposes to give billions of euros of European money, including Dutch money, to Ukraine, believes that not one penny of Dutch tax money should be given to Ukraine, and requests that the government makes certain that not one penny of Dutch tax money goes to Ukraine, and proceeds to the order of the day".  (The motion was translated from Dutch into English by Don Hank)

EU-Digest

Ukraine: Obama and Putin Playing Chess With New Cold War At Stake - by RM

It's amazing to hear US Senator McCaine calling for force to solve the Ukraine crises while President Obama and President Putin are playing a complicated game of chess in trying  to solve the problem without militarily involvement.

How can President Obama and his European allies counter Putin's opening gambit of this chess game? And how can the United States and the EU roll back what Putin has pulled off so far?

The US Obama Administration and the EU can-not and must-not confront Russia militarily -- it would be suicide in today's nuclear age.

At this point it looks like actions from the West against Russia, over the long term, will come in a form where it will hurt Russia and President Putin's popularity at home the most - economics.

But not everyone agrees that this scenario is the best course of action - certainly not the Republicans in the US, or for that matter, the conservative right-wingers in Britain.

US Republican Sen. John McCain - presently one of the the least popular senators in the US of those surveyed by the Public Policy Polling, with low marks from members of his own party, independents and Democrats, is among the Republican's loudest critics of the Obama Administration foreign policy.

He directly blamed President Obama's "incompetent" foreign policy for inviting the crisis in Ukraine and  recently told a pro-Israel group that the president has repeatedly failed to demonstrate American strength in the face of adversaries.

McCain was not the only Republican to criticize the Administration's handling of the crisis.Many other GOP critics just about tripped over each others feet to attack Obama.

On Sunday March 2, Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., even went as far as to tell CNN in an interview, "we have a weak and indecisive president whom invites aggression.".

As an independent congressman remarked afterwards, "this kind of rhetoric by the Republicans can basically be qualified as that of five year old's playing with marbles and one suddenly throwing a tantrum."

To put some perspective as to the causes of what is happening in Ukraine, and why Obama and Putin are now having to negotiate and play a game of chess,  requires us to turn back the clock to when the Soviet Union (USSR) formally ceased to exist on 26 December 1991. 

From that date onward,  the United States has relentlessly pursued a strategy of encircling Russia, just as it has with other perceived enemies like China and Iran.

At the same time, the US also increased its military capability in Europe after it brought an additional 12 countries from central Europe, all of them formerly allied with Moscow, into the already existing NATO alliance. This in fact has now brought US military power and might directly on Russia’s borders.

Apart from facing the issue of encirclement President Putin probably also had a few other sleepless nights after he compared US military spending, which is 40% of the worlds total military spending,  to that of his own country, which is only 5.5% of the total global military spending.

Let's face it and be realistic, Russia is now basically between "a rock and a hard place" and  that is not a good place for them or anyone else to be in.

Obviously there are no angels on either side -  but for this issue is to be resolved everyone has to take a step back, look at the bigger picture, calm down and reach a negotiated diplomatic solution.

EU-Digest

Netherlands freezes hundreds of millions in Ukrainian assets: by Anthony Deutsch

The Netherlands has frozen hundreds of millions of euros (dollars) in Ukrainian assets, Dutch media reported Thursday night, citing the finance minister.

Finance Minister Jeroen Dijsselbloem told the ANP news agency the assets were suspect.

The Dutch media reports did not provide any details.

A Finance Ministry official could not immediately be reached for comment.

Read more: Netherlands freezes hundreds of millions in Ukrainian assets: report | Reuters

Turks, Azerbaijans and friends of Azerbaijan commemorate Armenian Khojaly genocide victims in Fort Lauderdale - by RM

The Florida Turkish Center in Fort Lauderdale on Saturday evening, March 1, 2014 commemorated the cruel Armenian genocide of innocent Azerbaijan civilians at Khojaly..

Following an introduction by Mrs Tohfa Eminova,  President of the Florida Azerbaijan Association, Mr Samir Bejanov, Political Officer of the Embassy of the Republic of Azerbaijan  in Washington DC, provided the audience with a comprehensive report illustrated with slides and a video presentation of the actual sequence of events surrounding the Khojaly genocide. 

Mrs. Tohfa Eminova - (photo MB)

On February 25-26, 1992, Armenian occupation forces together with the 366th infantry regiment of Soviet troops stationed in Khankendi committed an act of genocide against the population of the Azerbaijani town of Khojaly.

Some 613 people were killed, 487 people were injured. Some 1275 residents were taken hostages. Most of them did not return from captivity. Their fate still remains unknown.

The Khojaly genocide is considered a crime not only against Azerbaijani people, but also against humanity, since it is fully consistent with the Convention on Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, adopted on December 9, 1948.

According to this Convention, any crime against people based on their ethnicity is called genocide. And in Khojaly people were killed just because they were Azerbaijanis.

Mr. Samir Bejanov (photo MB)

Following the establishment of the Soviet rule in Armenia in late 1920, the Armenians were presented with a real opportunity to fulfill their age-old dream of creating an Armenian State on the territories of other nations. 

During the 70-years of Soviet rule, the Armenians succeeded in expanding their territory at the expense of Azerbaijan and using every possible means to expel the Azerbaijanis from their lands. 

Also during this period, the policy to expel the Azerbaijanis from their lands was implemented systematically and methodically. 

In 1920 the Armenians declared Zangezur and a number of other Azerbaijani lands to be part of the territory of the Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic. In 1923 they managed to secure the status of an autonomous province for the mountainous part of Karabakh within Azerbaijan. Consequently this created an artificial entity within the territory of Azerbaijan, while the Azerbaijani population living in the territory of Armenia at that time were not given similar rights. 

The current stage of the conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan may be regarded as having formally begun on 20 February 1988, when the Soviet of the People’s Deputies of the Nagorny Karabakh Autonomous Province adopted a decision to petition the Supreme Soviets of the Azerbaijan SSR and the Armenian SSR for the transfer of the province from the former to the latter.

 Florida Turkish American Association members (photo MB)

Before the adoption of this decision, basically at the end of 1987, the Azerbaijanis became subject of attacks in Khankendi (during the Soviet/Russian  period ) and this
resulted in a flood of Azerbaijani refugees and internally displaced persons.

On 22 February 1988 near the settlement of Askeran on the Khankendi-Aghdam highway, the Armenians opened fire on a peaceful demonstration by the Azerbaijanis protesting against the above-mentioned decision of the Soviet People’s Deputies of the Nagorny Karabakh Autonomous Province. As a consequence two Azerbaijani youths lost their lives, becoming the first victims of the conflict.

In 1991 central law-enforcement agencies of the then USSR apprehended dozens of the Armenian armed groups that operated outside Nagorny Karabakh. As a result, the Chaykend village of the Khanlar district of Azerbaijan was turned by the Armenian armed groups into a criminal hub from which they bombed and shelled surrounding villages and roads, terrorizing the local Azerbaijani population. From 1989 to 1991, in Chaykend and adjacent areas 54 people fell victim to the Armenian armed groups. In 1992 Azerbaijan regained its control over the Goranboy district.

At the end of 1991 and the beginning of 1992 the conflict turned into a military phase. Taking advantage of the political instability as a result of the dissolution of the Soviet Union and internal squabbles in Azerbaijan, Armenia initiated by giving external military assistance to combat operations in Nagorny Karabakh.

In February 1992, an unprecedented massacre was committed against the Azerbaijani population in the town of Khojaly. This bloody tragedy, which became known as the Khojaly genocide, involved the extermination or capture of thousands of Azerbaijanis as their town was razed to the ground.

During that fatal night of 25 to 26 February 1992 the Armenian armed forces, with the help of the infantry guards regiment No. 366 from the former USSR implemented the seizure of Khojaly - a small town situated in the small Nagorny Karabakh region of the Republic of Azerbaijan with a population  of 23,757, and cruelly decimated them. 

The large number of question from the audience during the question and answer period, following Mr. Bejanov's presentation, showed how much much the talk had impressed the audience. 

Given the present invasion of Russian troops into the Crimea area of Ukraine, the Fort Lauderdale Turkish Center presentation also provided  an actual insight as to Russian historical political strategies concerning their former territories. and spheres of influence    

The informative event at the Florida Turkish Center in Fort Lauderdale was concluded with Azerbaijan food and refreshments.

EU-Digest

Permission to republish report allowed

only when EU-Digest is identified as source

Ukraine: With Military Moves Seen in Ukraine, Obama Warns Russia - by D. M. Herzenhorn, M. Lander and A. Smale

Ukraine’s fragile new government accused Russia of trying to provoke a military conflict by invading the Crimea region on Friday, while in Washington President Obama issued a stern warning to the Kremlin about respecting Ukraine’s sovereignty, in an effort to preclude a full-scale military escalation.

American officials did not directly confirm a series of public statements by senior Ukrainian officials, including the acting president, Oleksandr V. Turchynov, that Russian troops were being deployed to Crimea, where Russia has a major naval base, in violation of the two countries’ agreements there.

Mr. Obama, however, cited “reports of military movements taken by the Russian Federation inside of Ukraine,” and he said, “Any violation of Ukrainian sovereignty would be deeply destabilizing.”

“There will be costs,” Mr. Obama said in a hastily arranged statement from the White House.

The pointed warning came after a day in which military analysts struggled to understand a series of unusual events in Crimea, including a mobilization of armored personnel carriers with Russian markings on the roads of the region’s capital, Simferopol, and a deployment of well-armed masked gunmen at Crimea’s two main airports. 

Note EU-Digest: This situation should be a clear indication to all the member states of the European Union that they should be making haste in coming to an agreement on a European Energy Pact in order to strengthen the arsenal of potential economic sanctions they could muster against Russia in case they are needed.

Read more: With Military Moves Seen in Ukraine, Obama Warns Russia - NYTimes.com

Ukraine pleads for U.S., U.K. help after Russian 'invasion' - by Mark Mackinon

The new Ukrainian government says it has been invaded by Russia, and has appealed for the United States and United Kingdom to protect it, as they guaranteed under a 1994 agreement.

The move came after pro-Russian gunmen seized both main airports on the Crimean Peninsula early Friday, a day after other militiamen took control of the regional parliament building. With gunmen in the building and the Russian flag flying from the roof, deputies appointed a new government and passed a motion Thursday calling for a referendum on the future as part of Ukraine.

The armed takeovers sharply escalate what had already been an extremely volatile situation in Crimea, a Russian-speaking region that has rejected the overthrow of the Moscow-backed Viktor Yanukovych and the rise to power of pro-Western forces in Kiev.

Swiss accuse Yanukovych of “aggravated money laundering.” 

Also on Friday, Swiss police raided the premises of a Geneva firm owned by Mr. Yanukovych and his son Oleksander in an investigation into “aggravated money laundering.”

In Kiev, Ukraine’s parliament adopted a resolution on Friday demanding that Russia halt steps it says are aimed against Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, and called for a UN Security Council meeting on the crisis.

The parliament also called for guarantees of the memorandum signed by Ukraine, Britain, Russia and the United States in Budapest in 1994. That agreement guaranteed Ukraine’s sovereignty and current borders in exchange for surrendering the nuclear weapons that were left after the collapse of the Soviet Union.

It wasn’t clear whether the gunmen who seized the airports were Russian soldiers or pro-Russian militiamen. They wore no insignia, but carried automatic weapons and Russian flags into the airport.

Read more: Ukraine pleads for U.S., U.K. help after Russian 'invasion' - The Globe and Mail

Ukraine peace deal brokered by EU, opens way for early election - by Natalia Zinets and Sabine Siebold

Ukraine's opposition leaders signed an EU-mediated peace deal with President Viktor Yanukovich on Friday, aiming to resolve a political crisis in which dozens have been killed and opening the way for an early presidential election this year.

Under pressure to quit from mass demonstrations in Kiev, Russian-backed Yanukovich made a series of concessions to his pro-European opponents, including a national unity government and constitutional change to reduce his powers, as well as bringing forward the poll.

"There are no steps that we should not take to restore peace in Ukraine," the president said in announcing his concessions before the deal was signed. "I announce that I am initiating early elections."

He said Ukraine would revert to a previous constitution under which parliament had greater control over the make-up of the government, including the prime minister.

German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier, one of the EU mediators, said the deal provided for a presidential election this year, although no date had been set. The vote had been due in March 2015.

A Reuters correspondent at the signing in the presidential headquarters said Yanukovich, 63, a towering former Soviet regional transport official with two convictions for assault, did not smile during a ceremony lasting several minutes.

Opposition leader Vitaly Klitschko, a retired world boxing champion, switched his nameplate to avoid sitting next to the president.

The European mediators signed as witnesses but a Russian envoy present did not sign the document.


Read more: Ukraine peace deal signed, opens way for early election | Reuters

E.U. Imposes Sanctions Despite Russian Criticism - by Stephen Castle and Steven Lee Myers

Brushing aside Russian criticism, the European Union agreed on Thursday to go ahead with sanctions that include travel bans and asset freezes imposed on those deemed responsible for the fatal escalation of violence in Ukraine.

A day after the United States announced some similar moves, foreign ministers of the 28-nation European Union said they would devise a list of those who would be subject to the European sanctions, and that the sanctions would also ban the export of equipment likely to be used for repression in Ukraine.

But the European foreign ministers also left themselves room to continue a dialogue with President Viktor F. Yanukovych’s government, emphasizing the importance of political progress in Kiev, where the foreign ministers of France, Germany and Poland have been trying to mediate.

Britain’s foreign secretary, William Hague, said that the foreign ministers had acted because of the “widespread horror” at what had happened in Ukraine but that the number of those affected by the sanctions would depend on the behavior of the Ukrainian government.

 

Read More: E.U. Imposes Sanctions Despite Russian Criticism - NYTimes.com

Ukraine crisis turning into Revolution: Police storm main Kiev 'Maidan' protest camp - by Daniel Sandford

Police are storming the main protest camp in Ukraine's capital, Kiev, which has been occupied since November.

Explosions are taking place, fireworks are being thrown and large fires have broken out in Independence Square, known locally as the Maidan.

On Tuesday at least 18 people were killed, including seven policemen, in the worst violence seen in weeks.

Opposition leaders later met President Viktor Yanukovych but failed to find a solution to the crisis.

Vitaly Klitschko, leader of the opposition Udar (Punch) party, told Ukraine's Hromadske TV that the president had given the protesters only one option, leave the Maidan and go home.

Security forces had given protesters a deadline of 18:00 local time (16:00 GMT) to leave Independence Square, the scene of a mostly peaceful protest camp since November.

The city's metro service was completely shut down, and there were reports that cars were being prevented from coming in to the capital.

Then shortly before 18:00 GMT, police announced over loudspeakers that they were about to begin "an anti-terror operation".

Late on Tuesday, the police tried to break through a barricade from the Evropeyska Square, but the attack was repelled.

In a renewed assault shortly after 04:00 local time on Wednesday (02:00 GMT), the police tried to move on the protesters' tents near the main monument on the square.

A number of tents were set ablaze, and the police reportedly again began using water cannon.

In speeches from the main stage, protest leaders urged people already on the Maidan to stand firm, and called on Ukrainians elsewhere to come to the square.

Meanwhile, there are reports of unrest breaking out elsewhere in Ukraine, including the western cities of Lviv, Ivano-Frankivsk. 

Mr Yanukovych's aide said the president was preparing to address the nation, without providing further details.

Read more: BBC News - Ukraine crisis: Police storm main Kiev 'Maidan' protest camp

US - EU Diplomacy:- Victoria Nuland gaffe: Angela Merkel calls EU insult "totally unacceptable".

Merkel : "Victoria Nuland statement unacceptable"

Germany's Angela Merkel has said a US official's apparent insult of the EU's efforts to mediate in the Ukraine crisis is "totally unacceptable".

Victoria Nuland has apologised after she referred disparagingly to the EU's role during a conversation said to be with the US ambassador to Ukraine.

A recording of the exchange was posted online, with the US hinting at Russia's involvement in bugging and leaking it.

The EU and US are involved in talks to end months of unrest in Ukraine.

In Kiev, Ms Nuland - an assistant secretary of state - said she would not make a public statement on the matter.

She described the leak as "pretty impressive tradecraft. [The] audio quality was very good".

The state department said she had apologized in private to EU officials.

Note EU-Digest:  diplomats like Ms Victoria Nuland .who can't control what they say should not be working in the Diplomatic Service of their countries. .

Read more: BBC News - Victoria Nuland gaffe: Angela Merkel condemns EU insult

US Diplomacy At Work: Top U.S. Diplomat says to Europe: "Fuck The EU"

The United States’ top diplomat for European affairs appears to have been caught on tape saying “fuck the EU” in a leaked phone call with the U.S. ambassador to Ukraine.

The Kyiv Post, an English-language newspaper in Ukraine, published the tape on Thursday. The recording’s veracity has not been independently verified.

The phone call appears to show Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs Victoria Nuland discussing the political situation in Ukraine with a man who sounds to be Ambassador Geoff Pyatt and weighing the merits of different opposition leaders.

A woman who sounds like Nuland says, “I don’t think it’s a good idea” for opposition leader Vitaly Klitschko to be given a role in the government. She appears to favor the idea of having Arseniy Yatseniuk, another opposition leader, as the new prime minister, saying he has “the economic experience, the governing experience.”

She then tells a man who sounds like Pyatt that the United Nations agreed to send someone to help “glue” the deal. “And you know, fuck the EU,” Nuland says. “Exactly,” Pyatt says.

“The EU is engaged in helping the people of Ukraine through the current political crisis. We don’t comment on alleged leaked telephone conversations,” Maja Kocijancic, a spokesperson for EU foreign policy chief Cathy Ashton, told BuzzFeed.

Note EU-Digest: as the saying goes "with friends like this who needs any enemies"

Read more: Top U.S. Diplomat For Europe: "Fuck The EU"