Kerry accuses Russia of inaction in helping to ease tension in eastern Ukraine

Secretary of State John Kerry on Thursday accused Russia of inaction in helping to ease the tense situation in eastern Ukraine, warning that the United States is ready to impose additional sanctions in response.

In a statement made to the press, the top American envoy alleged that Russia has refused to take "a single concrete step in the right direction" for the past seven days since the US, the European Union, Russia and Ukraine agreed in Geneva, Switzerland, to takes steps to de-escalate tension in eastern Ukraine.

• He warned that "window to change course" was closing for Russia and that the US was "ready to act" by imposing more sanctions on Moscow. 

http://www.globaltimes.cn/content/856788.shtml#.U1nf3qJql5Y
25/4/14
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• Sergei Shoigu: 11,000 servicemen involved in operation against civilians in Ukraine’s southeast. - Russia begins military exercises on Ukrainan border

• Ukraine's military clashed with pro-Kremlin rebels in two eastern towns overnight. - Kiev's actions in east Ukraine will 'have consequences': Putin

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Remarks on Ukraine

Remarks

John Kerry
Secretary of State

State Department Press Briefing Room

Washington, DC

April 24, 2014

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It has now been a week since the United States, the European Union, Russia, and Ukraine met in Geneva.  We did so after a phone call between President Putin and President Obama, in which both leaders expressed a desire to avoid further escalation in Ukraine.  We met in Geneva with a clear mission: to improve security conditions and find political solutions to the conflict threatening the sovereignty and unity of Ukraine.  And right there in Geneva, EU High Representative Ashton and I made clear that both Russia and Ukraine had to demonstrate more than good faith.  They needed to take concrete actions in order to meet their commitments.

The simple reality is you can’t resolve a crisis when only one side is willing to do what is necessary to avoid a confrontation.  Every day since we left Geneva – every day, even up to today, when Russia sent armored battalions right up the Luhansk Oblast border – the world has witnessed a tale of two countries, two countries with vastly different understandings of what it means to uphold an international agreement. 

One week later, it is clear that only one side, one country, is keeping its word.  And for anyone who wants to create gray areas out of black, or find in the fine print crude ways to justify crude actions, let’s get real – the Geneva agreement is not open to interpretation.  It is not vague.  It is not subjective.  It is not optional.  What we agreed to in Geneva is as simple as it is specific. 

We agreed that all sides would refrain from violence, intimidation, and taking provocative actions.  We agreed that illegal groups would lay down their arms and that, in exchange for amnesty, they would hand over the public buildings and spaces that they occupied.  We agreed that to implement these objectives – and this is important, to implement this – monitors from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe would have unfettered access to parts of Ukraine where they were needed most.  And we agreed that all parties would work to create that access and to provide help to the OSCE in order to do this.  We agreed that the OSCE would report from the ground whether the rights, security, and dignity of Ukrainian citizens was being protected. 

From day one, the Government of Ukraine started making good on its commitments – from day one.  From day one, Prime Minister Yatsenyuk has kept his word.  He immediately agreed to help vacate buildings.  He suspended Ukraine’s counterterrorism initiative over Easter, choosing de-escalation, despite Ukraine’s legitimate, fundamental right to defend its own territory and its own people.  From day one, the Ukrainian Government sent senior officials to work with the OSCE, in keeping with the agreement, to send them to work in regions where Russia had voiced its most urgent concerns about the security of Russian speakers and ethnic Russians.  And on day one, Prime Minister Yatsenyuk went on live television and committed his government publicly to all of the people of Ukraine that – and these are his words – committed them to undertake comprehensive constitutional reform that will strengthen the powers of the regions.  He directly addressed the concerns expressed by the Russians, and he did so on day one.

He also made a personal appeal to Russian-speaking Ukrainians, pledging to support – and again, these are his words – a special status to the Russian language and the protection of the language.  And in keeping with his Geneva commitments, Prime Minister Yatsenyuk has publicly announced amnesty legislation – once more, in his words – for all those who surrender arms, come out of the premises and will begin with the Ukrainian people to build a sovereign and independent Ukraine.  That is a promise made by the interim government to the people of Ukraine. 

And by complying with actions requested by Russia, like removing the barricades in the Maidan and cleaning up the square and ensuring that all ongoing demonstrations in Kyiv are actually government-approved and peaceful, Ukraine is thereby taking tangible, concrete steps to move beyond the division of the last months.  That is how a government defines keeping your word.  That is leadership that upholds both the spirit and the letter of a Geneva agreement..................................http://www.state.gov/secretary/remarks/2014/04/225166.htm

24/4/14