Mediaboss Marketing

April 7, 2014: People gathered in front of a barricade at the regional administration building in Donetsk, Ukraine. (AP Photo/Andrey Basevych)

Ukraine's Interior Minister said Tuesday that pro-Russian demonstrators had been ejected from the regional administration building in the country's second-largest city, and approximately 70 of them had been arrested.

Arsen Avakov said on his Facebook page that an "anti-terrorist operation" was launched in the city of Kharkiv early Tuesday. He did not specify what forces took part. The Interfax news agency cited the head of the region, Igor Baluta, as saying it included police and soldiers.

The protesters were calling for a referendum on seceding from Ukraine. A similar demonstration took place in the city of Donetsk, with protesters also seized the administration building there and calling for a referendum.

Both cities are in Ukraine's east, where hostility is strong toward the government that took power in February after the ouster of Kremlin-friendly president Viktor Yanukovych. The Donetsk and Kharkiv regions and a third Russian-speaking city besieged by pro-Moscow activists over the weekend, Luhansk have a combined population of nearly 10 million out of Ukraine's 46 million, and account for the bulk of the country's industrial output.

Meanwhile, NATO Secretary General called on Russia to pull back troops from its border with Ukraine.

According to Reuters, Anders Fogh Rasmussen called the ongoing unrest in Ukraine "a great concern ... Any further move to eastern Ukraine would represent a serious escalation rather than de-escalation."

The Ukrainian government has accused Russia of stirring up the unrest. Moscow, which has tens of thousands of troops massed along the border, has rejected the allegation but has also sternly warned Ukraine against using force.

In Washington Monday, the U.S. said any move by Russia into eastern Ukraine would be a "very serious escalation" that could bring further sanctions. White House spokesman Jay Carney said there was strong evidence that some of the pro-Russian protesters were hired and were not local residents.

At the same time, the U.S. announced that Secretary of State John Kerry will meet with top diplomats from Russia, Ukraine and the European Union in a new push to ease tensions. The meeting, the first such four-way talks since the crisis erupted, will take place in the next 10 days, the State Department said.

Visit link:

Ukraine says gov't building recaptured from protesters

KIEV, Ukraine (AP) As top diplomats from Russia and the United States have met in Europe's capitals to decide Ukraine's fate in recent weeks, there's been a conspicuous absence: a representative from Ukraine.

Russia has refused to deal with Ukraine's new government since protests in February ousted the pro-Russian president. And while the West supports the fledgling leadership, it has left an impression that it's in charge of talks with the Kremlin.

Time and again through history, Ukraine has been caught in big power politics. Historians draw parallels between how Roosevelt, Churchill and Stalin divided Europe at Yalta after World War II trapping eastern European countries in the Soviet orbit. Now some Ukrainians fear history is repeating itself as they are shut out of negotiations and sit on the sidelines waiting for a verdict.

Ordinary Ukrainians are mostly grateful for Western efforts to mediate the crisis and more than anything are terrified by the prospect of war.

But officials have sought to stress that Ukraine's voice must be heard.

At a news conference last week, Ukrainian Deputy Foreign Minister Danylo Lubkivsky insisted that decisions regarding Ukraine's future must not be made without Kiev's input: "No real dialogue is possible without Ukraine," Lubkivsky said. That is why the announcement this week of high-level talks between the United States, the EU, Ukraine and Russia expected to take place in the next 10 days was met with hope in Kiev.

Despite angry rhetoric, the West has largely accepted the reality of Russia's takeover of Crimea. Diplomatic efforts are now focused on preventing Russia's military incursion into the Russian-speaking east and south of Ukraine, where Moscow claims it needs to protect Russian-speakers. With thousands of Russian troops amassed near the border with Ukraine, Moscow seeks to dictate conditions: It wants to turn Ukraine into a loose federation that it can control, and is pushing for Russian to become the second official state language, on par with Ukrainian.

Kiev has so far refused to cave to Moscow's demands as any step that dents Ukraine's hopes of integrating with the West will be met with fierce resistance from the Maidan, the pro-Western protest movement. More than 100 people were killed in the protesters' clashes with police.

But facing enormous military and economic pressure from Russia, there is little Ukraine can do on its own, some experts say so Kiev has to rely on Western patronage.

"During the Cold War, U.S. secretaries of state and Soviet foreign ministers routinely negotiated the outcome of crises and the fate of countries. It has been a long time since such talks have occurred, but last week a feeling of deja vu overcame me," George Freedman of Stratfor, a U.S. global intelligence think tank, wrote recently.

View post:

Ukraine Feels Nervous As Big Powers Debate Fate

DONETSK, Ukraine (AP) Ukrainian security forces on Tuesday drove pro-Russian protesters out of the regional government headquarters in Kharkiv that they had seized and arrested about 70 of them, the country's leader said.

Acting President Oleksandr Turchynov told lawmakers in parliament that security forces retook control even as the separatists used hand grenades and unspecified weapons against them. Some police were injured in the melee.

Interior Minister Arsen Avakov described the measure on his Facebook page as an "anti-terrorist operation."

Pro-Russia demonstrators, however, continued occupying the Donetsk regional administration in the nearby region and calling for a referendum on its status.

Both cities are in Ukraine's east, where hostility is strong toward the new government that took power in February after the ouster of Kremlin-friendly president Viktor Yanukovych.

The seizures of the buildings and calls for referenda were an echo of the events that led to Russia's annexation of Ukraine's Crimean peninsula last month. After Yanukovych fled to Russia, Russian troops took control of Crimea and the region soon voted to join Russia.

The West has not recognized the vote or the annexation and has retaliated with sanctions against Russia.

Even as the United States warned Russia of further sanctions if Moscow continues to seek to destabilize Ukraine, the White House announced a high-level meeting among U.S., EU, Ukrainian and Russian diplomats in the coming days to try to solve the crisis.

Russia has refused to deal with Ukraine's new government since Yanukovych's ouster and, according to NATO, still has tens of thousands of troops along its border with Ukraine, which the alliance has called a threat.

Meanwhile, a fistfight broke out in Ukraine's parliament Tuesday as tempers rose between opposing factions. Nationalist lawmakers scuffled with communists, after the Communist Party leader accused the government of cracking down on dissent.

See the original post:

Ukraine Leader: Kharkiv Protesters Driven Out

US seeks to reassure Japan amid Ukraine crisis fallout
US Defence Secretary Chuck Hagel vows America will stand by its security commitments to Tokyo, after Russia #39;s intervention in Ukraine raised concerns in a region plagued by its own territorial...

By: AFP news agency

Read this article:

US seeks to reassure Japan amid Ukraine crisis fallout - Video

Ukraine Neo-Nazis Beat Up TV CEO On Video
A Ukraine Neo-Nazi group beat up the CEO of Ukraine National TV to force his resignation. The nationalist party called Svoboda posted a video of the attack o...

By: TheLipTV

Read the original post:

Ukraine Neo-Nazis Beat Up TV CEO On Video - Video