Ukraine peace talks start without pro-Russian insurgency

KIEV, Ukraine – European-backed peace talks on ending Ukraine’s crisis began with little promise Wednesday when pro-Russian insurgents – who weren’t even invited to the session – demanded that the Kiev government recognize their sovereignty.

The “road map” put forth by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe calls for national dialogue as a first step toward resolving the escalating tensions, in which the insurgents have seized government buildings in eastern Ukraine and declared independence, while government forces have mounted limited offensives to retake control of the region.

But instead of a dialogue, the day was more a case of competing monologues, with the two sides as far apart as ever.

Denis Pushilin, a leader of the insurgency in the city of Donetsk, said his faction was not invited to the government-organized roundtable in Kiev and that the “talks with Kiev authorities could only be about one thing: the recognition of the Donetsk People’s Republic.”

Acting President Oleksandr Turchynov said in his opening remarks at the Kiev talks that authorities were “ready for a dialogue,” but insisted they will not talk to the pro-Russia gunmen, which the government has denounced as “terrorists.”

“Those armed people who are trying to wage a war on their own country, those who are with arms in their hands trying to dictate their will, or rather the will of another country – we will use legal procedures against them and they will face justice,” he said.

The talks lasted 2 1/2 hours and ended inconclusively, with only a vague plan to meet again in a few days.

Ukraine’s crisis began with mass protests last winter against Russia-friendly President Viktor Yanukovych, who eventually fled to Russia in late February amid rising bloodshed, including demonstrators killed by snipers alleged to have been police.

The protests included a strong faction of Ukrainian nationalists. Predominantly Russian-speaking regions of eastern and southern Ukraine denounced the government in Kiev that took over as a junta bent on repressing them.

At the Kiev roundtable, Oleksandr Efremov, parliamentary leader of Yanukovych’s former party, urged the government to withdraw its troops from the Donetsk region and said authorities should understand that people are genuinely suspicious of the new government.

The government has said it will not stop its offensive to retake eastern cities that are under the control of the separatists.

Serhiy Taruta, appointed by Kiev as the governor of Donetsk, sought to strike a conciliatory note. Among other things, he urged the government to refrain from calling pro-Russia protesters “terrorists,” but he also called for it to dismantle the protest camp on Kiev’s Independence Square that led to Yanukovych’s departure.

That would send a message that Kiev treats protesters on both sides equally, Taruta said.

The OSCE road map aims to halt the violence and de-escalate tensions ahead of Ukraine’s May 25 presidential election. It offers an amnesty for those involved in the unrest and urges talks on decentralization and the status of the Russian language.

Ukrainian Foreign Ministry spokesman Yevhen Perebiynis lamented, however, that the OSCE plan does not specifically oblige Russia to do anything.

Russia has strongly backed the OSCE road map while the United States, which says it’s worth a try, views its prospects for success with skepticism. Sawsan Chebli, a spokeswoman for German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier, said Ukraine’s acceptance of the round-table format was a step in the right direction, whether the pro-Russia separatists were invited or not.