Russia warns it will respond if interests attacked in UkraineRussia warns it will respond if interests attacked in Ukraine

The guardian: Russia warns it will respond if interests attacked in Ukraine
Russia accuses Ukraine and US of distorting deal in Geneva to defuse crisis as Moscow announces military exercises
Russia issued a blunt warning on Wednesday that it would respond if its interests were attacked in Ukraine, as pro-Kremlin rebels in the east of the country braced for a new military offensive by Kiev.

The threat by the Russian foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, in which he recalled the 2008 war with Georgia over breakaway South Ossetia, came as Russia accused Kiev and the US of distorting an agreement reached in Geneva last week to defuse the crisis and of ignoring what it said were provocative actions by Ukrainian nationalists.

Lavrov used an interview with the Russian state-controlled broadcaster RT to accuse the US of «running the show» in Ukraine, claiming that it was «quite telling» that Kiev had announced a new offensive in the east of the country after US Vice-President Joe Biden had visited.

«If we are attacked, we would certainly respond,» Lavrov told RT.

«If our interests, our legitimate interests, the interests of Russians have been attacked directly, like they were in South Ossetia for example, I do not see any other way but to respond in accordance with international law.»

The Russian foreign ministry said in a statement that it believed the west was serious about seeking peace in Ukraine but «the facts speak of the opposite».
Moscow also announced a seven-day naval exercise in the Caspian Sea and began military exercises in its Rostov region, bordering Ukraine. The US on Tuesday announced military exercises in Poland.

The crisis deepened on Tuesday after Biden’s departure from Kiev following a two-day visit. In a late-night phone call, the US secretary of state, John Kerry, told Lavrov, of his «deep concern over the lack of positive Russian steps to de-escalate» the crisis in eastern Ukraine, a state department official said.

The Kiev government and its western supporters accuse Moscow of using covert agents to foment unrest in eastern Ukraine. Moscow denies that, and says people in the east rose up spontaneously against a government in Kiev which, it says, is illegitimate and aligned with far-right nationalists.

Russia says Kiev’s new leaders – whom it regards as illegitimate – are to blame for the collapse of the peace accord brokered in Geneva.

Moscow maintains the accord was ruptured by ultranationalists who killed rebels in an attack on Sunday near the eastern town of Slavyansk.

The leader of the ultranationalists blamed by rebels for that attack, Dmitry Yarosh of the Right Sector militia, said on Wednesday he would suspend his presidential campaign to create an 800-man «Donbass battalion» to assist government forces to take back eastern Ukraine.

«Bandera’s army has finally crossed the Dnieper River,» Yarosh said at a press conference in the eastern city of Dnepropetrovsk, referring to the 20th-century nationalist leader Stepan Bandera, who is despised by many in the east as a Nazi collaborator.

Donbass, the historic coal-mining region centered on Donetsk in eastern Ukraine, «faces the same fate as Crimea,» he said, blaming Russian agents for the government building takeovers. Right Sector «will be a stabilising factor,» he said.

Lavrov cited Sunday’s shootout in Slavyansk as evidence that Kiev was not fulfilling the conditions of the Geneva agreement to disarm militia forces in Ukraine. Yarosh called this version of events «Kremlin propaganda.»

Ukraine relaunched military operations against pro-Kremlin separatists late on Tuesday.

Ukraine’s acting president, Oleksandr Turchynov, said he was ordering the military to restart operations after the discovery of two «brutally tortured» bodies in Slavyansk.

One of them, he said, was that of a recently kidnapped local councillor from a nearby town who belonged to his party.

The US defence department at the same time announced it was sending 600 troops to neighbouring Poland and to Baltic countries for «exercises».

Russia’s defence ministry announced on Wednesday that the navy had launched snap military exercises involving its fleet in the Caspian Sea.

The drill will last seven days and involve around 10 naval vessels and 400 crew. The Caspian Sea is bordered by Iran, Russia, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan and Azerbaijan – a region that is crisscrossed by oil and natural gas pipelines.

The latest moves underscored the severity of the crisis that has brought east-west relations to their most perilous point since the end of the cold war.

In a further slide back towards violence, which many fear could tip into civil war, a Ukrainian reconnaissance plane was hit by gunfire while flying above Slavyansk.

The Antonov An-30 propellor-driven plane received several bullet impacts, but safely made an emergency landing and none of its crew members was hurt, said the defence ministry in Kiev.The guardian: Russia warns it will respond if interests attacked in Ukraine
Russia accuses Ukraine and US of distorting deal in Geneva to defuse crisis as Moscow announces military exercises
Russia issued a blunt warning on Wednesday that it would respond if its interests were attacked in Ukraine, as pro-Kremlin rebels in the east of the country braced for a new military offensive by Kiev.

The threat by the Russian foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, in which he recalled the 2008 war with Georgia over breakaway South Ossetia, came as Russia accused Kiev and the US of distorting an agreement reached in Geneva last week to defuse the crisis and of ignoring what it said were provocative actions by Ukrainian nationalists.

Lavrov used an interview with the Russian state-controlled broadcaster RT to accuse the US of «running the show» in Ukraine, claiming that it was «quite telling» that Kiev had announced a new offensive in the east of the country after US Vice-President Joe Biden had visited.

«If we are attacked, we would certainly respond,» Lavrov told RT.

«If our interests, our legitimate interests, the interests of Russians have been attacked directly, like they were in South Ossetia for example, I do not see any other way but to respond in accordance with international law.»

The Russian foreign ministry said in a statement that it believed the west was serious about seeking peace in Ukraine but «the facts speak of the opposite».
Moscow also announced a seven-day naval exercise in the Caspian Sea and began military exercises in its Rostov region, bordering Ukraine. The US on Tuesday announced military exercises in Poland.

The crisis deepened on Tuesday after Biden’s departure from Kiev following a two-day visit. In a late-night phone call, the US secretary of state, John Kerry, told Lavrov, of his «deep concern over the lack of positive Russian steps to de-escalate» the crisis in eastern Ukraine, a state department official said.

The Kiev government and its western supporters accuse Moscow of using covert agents to foment unrest in eastern Ukraine. Moscow denies that, and says people in the east rose up spontaneously against a government in Kiev which, it says, is illegitimate and aligned with far-right nationalists.

Russia says Kiev’s new leaders – whom it regards as illegitimate – are to blame for the collapse of the peace accord brokered in Geneva.

Moscow maintains the accord was ruptured by ultranationalists who killed rebels in an attack on Sunday near the eastern town of Slavyansk.

The leader of the ultranationalists blamed by rebels for that attack, Dmitry Yarosh of the Right Sector militia, said on Wednesday he would suspend his presidential campaign to create an 800-man «Donbass battalion» to assist government forces to take back eastern Ukraine.

«Bandera’s army has finally crossed the Dnieper River,» Yarosh said at a press conference in the eastern city of Dnepropetrovsk, referring to the 20th-century nationalist leader Stepan Bandera, who is despised by many in the east as a Nazi collaborator.

Donbass, the historic coal-mining region centered on Donetsk in eastern Ukraine, «faces the same fate as Crimea,» he said, blaming Russian agents for the government building takeovers. Right Sector «will be a stabilising factor,» he said.

Lavrov cited Sunday’s shootout in Slavyansk as evidence that Kiev was not fulfilling the conditions of the Geneva agreement to disarm militia forces in Ukraine. Yarosh called this version of events «Kremlin propaganda.»

Ukraine relaunched military operations against pro-Kremlin separatists late on Tuesday.

Ukraine’s acting president, Oleksandr Turchynov, said he was ordering the military to restart operations after the discovery of two «brutally tortured» bodies in Slavyansk.

One of them, he said, was that of a recently kidnapped local councillor from a nearby town who belonged to his party.

The US defence department at the same time announced it was sending 600 troops to neighbouring Poland and to Baltic countries for «exercises».

Russia’s defence ministry announced on Wednesday that the navy had launched snap military exercises involving its fleet in the Caspian Sea.

The drill will last seven days and involve around 10 naval vessels and 400 crew. The Caspian Sea is bordered by Iran, Russia, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan and Azerbaijan – a region that is crisscrossed by oil and natural gas pipelines.

The latest moves underscored the severity of the crisis that has brought east-west relations to their most perilous point since the end of the cold war.

In a further slide back towards violence, which many fear could tip into civil war, a Ukrainian reconnaissance plane was hit by gunfire while flying above Slavyansk.

The Antonov An-30 propellor-driven plane received several bullet impacts, but safely made an emergency landing and none of its crew members was hurt, said the defence ministry in Kiev.

U.S. faces reluctant partners in sanctioning RussiaU.S. faces reluctant partners in sanctioning Russia

The Daily Star
U.S. faces reluctant partners in sanctioning Russia
By Lara Jakes
WASHINGTON: As it warns Russia to step back from Ukraine or suffer another financial hit, the U.S. is simultaneously trying to coax along a reluctant Europe, which is trying to balance its desire to punish Moscow against its fear of economic turmoil from the effects of a new, harsher round of Western trade sanctions.

Economists say the U.S. risks appearing weak without support from Europe, which is Russia’s largest trading partner and therefore has huge sway over Russia’s already shaky economy. But Europe is far from ready to issue sanctions on Moscow that would undercut its own financial stability while risking its main source of energy.

The fate of new sanctions — and how tough they might be — depends on Moscow’s next moves, and whether Russia deepens or pulls back its meddling in Ukraine.

President Barack Obama already has signed orders that would allow the U.S. to sanction key Russian industries, and European Union foreign ministers will meet Monday to decide what new penalties should be issued if Moscow continues to ignore the West’s warnings.

Assistant Secretary of State Victoria Nuland told a Senate panel this week that current U.S. and EU sanctions are «biting» and «pinching» the Russian economy, «and we’re now considering further measures.»

Nuland said Moscow has spent an estimated $25 billion to bolster the value of the ruble over the last five to six weeks since sanctions were introduced. Russia suffered more capital outflow in the first three months of 2014 than the $62.7 billon it lost for all of last year, she said.

» Russia is paying a very high price already for its actions, and that cost will go up if its pressure on Ukraine does not abate,» Nuland said.

The next round of sanctions will likely merely expand the list of high-ranking Russians whose Western assets have been frozen and are barred from traveling to the EU or U.S.

Last month, the EU sanctioned 33 individuals and the U.S. sanctioned 31. The U.S. also has barred American firms or individuals from doing business with Bank Rossiya, which has about $10 billion in assets and is owned by members of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s inner circle.

On Friday, the Treasury Department issued sanctions against seven Crimean separatists and a Crimea-based gas company for undermining the government in Kiev. Additional U.S. sanctions targeting Russia’s energy, metals and mining sectors also have been prepared in what Treasury Undersecretary David Cohen has called «a very powerful yet flexible tool that will allow us to respond quickly and meaningfully as events develop in Ukraine.»

«We recognize that these measures will have the greatest impact when harmonized with the actions of our international partners, in particular Europe and Asia, because of their extensive economic ties to Russia,» Cohen told a Senate Financial Services subcommittee this month.

The EU treads more carefully than the U.S. in sanctioning Russia. The bloc’s leverage is greater because of its close commercial and financial links with Moscow, including energy pipelines that pass directly through Ukraine.

Europe is Russia’s largest trading partner, buying up more than three-quarters of Russia’s crude oil and natural gas exports which, in turn, fund about half of the government budget. Any new sanctions by the EU must be approved by unanimous vote among its 28 member nations.

Putin has mocked the current sanctions and on Thursday warned 18 European leaders that their gas supplies were in danger. Yet apparently wary of antagonizing the EU too much, Russia has chosen to retaliate against the sanctions imposed by Washington but not by those issued in Brussels. EU officials had left little doubt that any retaliatory sanctions would prompt countermeasures.

Although the sanctions have given Russia little pause so far, Europe could find other avenues to use their trade leverage against Moscow.

Konstanty Gebert, an analyst with the European Council on Foreign Relations, said Europe could issue trade embargoes against Crimea, similar to ones targeting Israeli companies that do business in the West Bank. Or, he said, Europe could help give court access to Ukrainians who are looking to sue Russia for lost or damaged property as a result of its annexation to the Black Sea peninsula.

«The situation calls for slightly more creative thinking and looking at sanctions which instead of looking like a sledgehammer can be more modest but more aggravating,» Gebert said.

The Obama administration has sought to present a unified front with Europe against Moscow and does not want to sanction Russian trade alone. But tougher sanctions face opposition from within the U.S. as well.

Barring American firms from dealing with Russia could clear the way for global competitors to grab a larger market share — especially if Europe does not impose its own sanctions against Moscow. It could take years for U.S. businesses to regain a foothold in Russia trade once the crisis has passed and sanctions are lifted.

The Obama administration is all too aware of the financial pain that tougher sanctions would bring to the global economy and not just Russia. Still, pulling back would amount to a geopolitical admission that there is only so much the West can do to pressure Putin against deeper incursions into Ukraine — especially since few if any nations now are willing to stop Russia with a military strike.

«The notion of imposing additional sanctions on Russia is symbolically very important to the U.S.,» said economist Eswar Prasad, a professor at Cornell University, who formerly worked for the International Monetary Fund. «The reality is that a military response is not viable at this stage.»

However, «unless the European Union plays along, the reality is that anything the U.S. does will have a very limited impact,» Prasad said. «The sense that such limited actions could reveal the limited potency of U.S. actions, rather than strength, is certainly an important concern.»

Read more: http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/International/2014/Apr-12/253109-us-faces-reluctant-partners-in-sanctioning-russia.ashx#ixzz2yjg5mV32
(The Daily Star :: Lebanon News :: http://www.dailystar.com.lb) The Daily Star
U.S. faces reluctant partners in sanctioning Russia
By Lara Jakes
WASHINGTON: As it warns Russia to step back from Ukraine or suffer another financial hit, the U.S. is simultaneously trying to coax along a reluctant Europe, which is trying to balance its desire to punish Moscow against its fear of economic turmoil from the effects of a new, harsher round of Western trade sanctions.

Economists say the U.S. risks appearing weak without support from Europe, which is Russia’s largest trading partner and therefore has huge sway over Russia’s already shaky economy. But Europe is far from ready to issue sanctions on Moscow that would undercut its own financial stability while risking its main source of energy.

The fate of new sanctions — and how tough they might be — depends on Moscow’s next moves, and whether Russia deepens or pulls back its meddling in Ukraine.

President Barack Obama already has signed orders that would allow the U.S. to sanction key Russian industries, and European Union foreign ministers will meet Monday to decide what new penalties should be issued if Moscow continues to ignore the West’s warnings.

Assistant Secretary of State Victoria Nuland told a Senate panel this week that current U.S. and EU sanctions are «biting» and «pinching» the Russian economy, «and we’re now considering further measures.»

Nuland said Moscow has spent an estimated $25 billion to bolster the value of the ruble over the last five to six weeks since sanctions were introduced. Russia suffered more capital outflow in the first three months of 2014 than the $62.7 billon it lost for all of last year, she said.

» Russia is paying a very high price already for its actions, and that cost will go up if its pressure on Ukraine does not abate,» Nuland said.

The next round of sanctions will likely merely expand the list of high-ranking Russians whose Western assets have been frozen and are barred from traveling to the EU or U.S.

Last month, the EU sanctioned 33 individuals and the U.S. sanctioned 31. The U.S. also has barred American firms or individuals from doing business with Bank Rossiya, which has about $10 billion in assets and is owned by members of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s inner circle.

On Friday, the Treasury Department issued sanctions against seven Crimean separatists and a Crimea-based gas company for undermining the government in Kiev. Additional U.S. sanctions targeting Russia’s energy, metals and mining sectors also have been prepared in what Treasury Undersecretary David Cohen has called «a very powerful yet flexible tool that will allow us to respond quickly and meaningfully as events develop in Ukraine.»

«We recognize that these measures will have the greatest impact when harmonized with the actions of our international partners, in particular Europe and Asia, because of their extensive economic ties to Russia,» Cohen told a Senate Financial Services subcommittee this month.

The EU treads more carefully than the U.S. in sanctioning Russia. The bloc’s leverage is greater because of its close commercial and financial links with Moscow, including energy pipelines that pass directly through Ukraine.

Europe is Russia’s largest trading partner, buying up more than three-quarters of Russia’s crude oil and natural gas exports which, in turn, fund about half of the government budget. Any new sanctions by the EU must be approved by unanimous vote among its 28 member nations.

Putin has mocked the current sanctions and on Thursday warned 18 European leaders that their gas supplies were in danger. Yet apparently wary of antagonizing the EU too much, Russia has chosen to retaliate against the sanctions imposed by Washington but not by those issued in Brussels. EU officials had left little doubt that any retaliatory sanctions would prompt countermeasures.

Although the sanctions have given Russia little pause so far, Europe could find other avenues to use their trade leverage against Moscow.

Konstanty Gebert, an analyst with the European Council on Foreign Relations, said Europe could issue trade embargoes against Crimea, similar to ones targeting Israeli companies that do business in the West Bank. Or, he said, Europe could help give court access to Ukrainians who are looking to sue Russia for lost or damaged property as a result of its annexation to the Black Sea peninsula.

«The situation calls for slightly more creative thinking and looking at sanctions which instead of looking like a sledgehammer can be more modest but more aggravating,» Gebert said.

The Obama administration has sought to present a unified front with Europe against Moscow and does not want to sanction Russian trade alone. But tougher sanctions face opposition from within the U.S. as well.

Barring American firms from dealing with Russia could clear the way for global competitors to grab a larger market share — especially if Europe does not impose its own sanctions against Moscow. It could take years for U.S. businesses to regain a foothold in Russia trade once the crisis has passed and sanctions are lifted.

The Obama administration is all too aware of the financial pain that tougher sanctions would bring to the global economy and not just Russia. Still, pulling back would amount to a geopolitical admission that there is only so much the West can do to pressure Putin against deeper incursions into Ukraine — especially since few if any nations now are willing to stop Russia with a military strike.

«The notion of imposing additional sanctions on Russia is symbolically very important to the U.S.,» said economist Eswar Prasad, a professor at Cornell University, who formerly worked for the International Monetary Fund. «The reality is that a military response is not viable at this stage.»

However, «unless the European Union plays along, the reality is that anything the U.S. does will have a very limited impact,» Prasad said. «The sense that such limited actions could reveal the limited potency of U.S. actions, rather than strength, is certainly an important concern.»

Read more: http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/International/2014/Apr-12/253109-us-faces-reluctant-partners-in-sanctioning-russia.ashx#ixzz2yjg5mV32
(The Daily Star :: Lebanon News :: http://www.dailystar.com.lb)