Today's Association Agreements are milestones in European history- people gave their lives for this closer link. pic.twitter.com/qO1N0vvQAY
— Herman Van Rompuy (@euHvR) June 27, 2014
Here are some more details on Putin's remarks concerning Ukraine's signing of an EU Association Agreement:
Russian President Vladimir Putin says Ukrainian society is "split" after being forced to choose between Europe and Russia.
His comments came shortly after Kyiv signed an agreement on closer ties with the European Union on June 27.
Putin said, "The anticonstitutional coup in Kyiv, the attempts to impose an artificial choice between Europe and Russia, have pushed [Ukrainian] society to a split, to a painful internal confrontation."
He called for a long-term cease-fire to allow for talks between Kyiv and pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine.
Putin said the ongoing violence has forced tens of thousands of Ukrainians to seek refuge, including in Russia.
Clashes have continued in the east despite a unilateral cease-fire declared by Kyiv a week ago.
Indirect talks on prolonging the cease-fire are set to take place on June 27 before the truce expires.
Putin talking about Ukraine now. Blaming it all on "imposition of an artificial choice"
— Roland Oliphant (@RolandOliphant) June 27, 2014
Deplores humanitarian crisis, attacks on journalists, calls for cessation of hostilities, moves on to other stuff.
— Roland Oliphant (@RolandOliphant) June 27, 2014
But while he talks about a split, he still calls it one country. Still talking reconciliation rather than secession.
— Roland Oliphant (@RolandOliphant) June 27, 2014
Some new information coming in regarding Ukrainian displaced persons and refugees, as reported by RFE/RL's news desk:
The UNHCR, the UN's refugee agency, says that some 16,400 people have fled their homes in eastern Ukraine in the past week in reaction to the deteriorating security situation.
The latest figures bring the number of displaced within the country to 54,000.
UNHCR spokeswoman Melissa Fleming told reporters in Geneva that the agency is "seeing a sharp rise in [internal] displacement in Ukraine."
She said another 110,000 people have left Ukraine for Russia so far this year, only 9,500 of whom have sought refugee status.
She said 700 others have gone to Poland, Belarus, the Czech Republic and Romania.
Russian President Vladimir Putin remarked on the crisis at the Kremlin on June 27, saying the violence in eastern Ukraine has forced tens of thousands of Ukrainians to seek refuge, including in Russia.
Ukraine might lose 40 bln USD after signing #AA as Russia will have to change conditions of trade -MP @Alexey_Pushkov http://t.co/1ofC9BQk0y
— Yulia Bragina (@YuliaSkyNews) June 27, 2014
Putin: “Attempts to impose... a false choice btwn Europe + Russia pushed (Ukr) society towards a schism, a painful internal confrontation”
— Tom Parfitt (@parfitt_tom) June 27, 2014
And here's another video of European Council President Herman Van Rompuy and European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso attempting to assuage Russian concerns about the signing of the association agreements:
Some interesting signature styles on display here in this video of the official siging of the EU association agreements earlier today:
Here's an update from our news desk on the Russian presidential aide who told the BBC that Poroshenko was "a Nazi:"
A spokesman for Russian President Vladimir Putin says a comment by a senior Russian official who called Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko "a Nazi" does not represent the Kremlin's official position.
Dmitri Peskov is quoted by the Interfax news agency as saying the remark by Sergei Glazyev, a senior Putin adviser, "does not reflect the official point of view" of the Russian government.
In an interview with the BBC released today, Glazyev also said Poroshenko's signing of a key accord on closer ties with the EU was as illegitimate as the Ukrainian president himself, who Glazyev argued had not been elected by people in eastern Ukraine.
Poroshenko today signed an agreement on closer economic ties with the EU.
Kyiv and the EU signed the political part of the agreement in March, after Russia's annexation of Crimea.
The pact is strongly opposed by Russia.
"The Guardian" has reissued a powerful piece from "Novaya gazeta's" Elena Kostyuchenko on the fate of one Russian man who went to fight for the separatists in eastern Ukraine:
Accounts of the conflict in eastern Ukraine differ so wildly that it is often difficult to see through the propaganda and get to the truth. Authorities in Kiev suggest that there are no angry or unhappy locals in eastern Ukraine, merely “Russian terrorists”. In Moscow, the Kremlin and foreign ministry insist that brave residents are merely standing up for their rights against Ukrainian “fascism”.
The reality, as so often, lies between these two extremes. While there are many locals fighting in Donetsk and Luhansk regions, there are also many “volunteers” who have come from Russia. How these people arrived, what motivates them, and whether they have any official Russian backing has largely remained a mystery.
But in tracking down the widow of one Russian man who died during the fighting at Donetsk airport, Elena Kostyuchenko, a correspondent for the independent news site Novaya Gazeta, sheds some light onto the murky structures organising the transfer of fighters to Ukraine. She also paints a moving portrait of loss and of the frustration of dealing with Russian officialdom apparently so keen to cover up all traces of those fighting across the border...
Read the full story here