Ukraine - A Shaky Agreement

News Summary from April 17, 2014:

In Geneva, joint efforts of the foreign ministers from Russia, the United States, the European Union and Ukraine could bring about an agreement to mitigate the Ukrainian crisis. That agreement is including the following points, summed up by a Spanish language broadcast from Russia's state television RT:




- The disarming of illegal groups.

- The clearing of streets and places.

- An amnesty for protesters who did not commit serious crimes.

- The beginning of a dialogue where different regions participate.

- The realization of a constitutional reform.

According to Al-Jazeera, OSCE monitors should be sent to supervise the agreement.

However, there is some scepticism on the U.S. side when it comes to Russia's duty to translate the agreement into full action as U.S. President Obama made clear the same day.

Furthermore, latest news from Eastern Ukraine are showing rather increasing chaos than any smoothing of differences between the acting parties:




People's militias in Slaviansk are in control of the [local] Television tower.




Soldiers are changing sides after receiving orders to fight against the people.




"Yevgeni", a soldier of the Ukrainian army, is being quoted as follows: "I wonder why the
government in Kiev has sent us here. We spent three days in a tank, and now, we don't
know what we are exactly to do."




Confrontations in Mariúpol are leaving at least two persons dead and 16 wounded.




Ukraine forbids Russians who are between 16 and 60 years old to enter the country.




A witness says: In Donezk the [decision] to forbid Russian [citizens] to enter [the country] is being [widely] rejected.




Russia's president Putin in a live show on state TV, answering directly to the questions of Russian citizens. On the above photo he is just listening to the question of U.S. whistle blower Edward Snowden. Snowden wants to know if Russia is tapping telephone calls on a large scale like his own country does. Putin denies while referring to their common experience in the intelligence of their countries.




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