#US A/S Victoria Nuland meets Pr @poroshenko in #Kyiv. US macro-fin assistance in agenda http://t.co/Yp9cQClNce |EMPR pic.twitter.com/S94HsINiuk
— Euromaidan PR (@EuromaidanPR) October 6, 2014
Crowd outside Donetsk separatist administration today. Many complaining about lack of electricity, water, pensions. pic.twitter.com/CW8Tkh3nM1
— Simon Kruse (@crusoes) October 6, 2014
Here are Poroshenko's latest comments, as reported by our news desk:
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has said in a meeting with a top U.S. official today that there cannot be peace in Ukraine's eastern Donbas region until control is reestablished over the border with Russia.
Poroshenko was meeting with visiting U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Victoria Nuland and the Ukrainian president stressed the need for Ukrainian border guards to be allowed to return to all areas along the Russian border.
"Without restoring Ukrainian control over the border it is impossible to achieve a peaceful settlement," Poroshenko told Nuland.
Poroshenko also warned that areas in eastern Ukraine controlled by pro-Russian separatists faced a humanitarian disaster this winter if nothing can be done to change the current situation.
Gas, electricity, and food supplies must be resumed, Poroshenko said.
(UNIAN, Interfax)
The EU's new foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini has been speaking at her first European Parliament hearing since taking the job. Here's a Twitter sprinkling of some of the things she has had to say vis-a-vis Ukraine and Russia. (BTW in case you missed it the first time around, here's a link to RFE/RL's Rikard Jozwiak's profile of the lady in question):
HRVP-designate #Mogherini prepares to address EP committee #EPHearings2014 pic.twitter.com/tFEJR6Kawq
— Michael Mann (@EUHighRepSpox) October 6, 2014
#Mogherini: I will be focusing on defence and security policy, to prevent crises and to deal with post-crisis situations #EPhearings2014
— EU External Action (@eu_eeas) October 6, 2014
#Mogherini: We need to take care of EU neighbourhood, incl extended one. Balkans, Turkey - enlargemt policy a good mechanism #EPhearings2014
— EU External Action (@eu_eeas) October 6, 2014
#Mogherini: Greater EU attention to Eastern neighbourhood important. Full support to #Ukraine, #Moldova and #Georgia #EPhearings2014
— EU External Action (@eu_eeas) October 6, 2014
#Mogherini: We need to reassess relations w #Russia, might not be a partner right now, but a strategic country and neighbour #EPhearings2014
— EU External Action (@eu_eeas) October 6, 2014
#Mogherini: We can count on key partners such as the #US. Transatlantic partnership now more strategic then ever #EPhearings2014
— EU External Action (@eu_eeas) October 6, 2014
#Mogherini: On #Ukraine: If we don't stand by their side as they seek a political solution, who else will #EPhearings2014
— Maja Kocijančič (@AshtonSpox_Maja) October 6, 2014
Ukrainian military doctor claims Russian airborne troops officer saved 90 Ukrainian POWs from execution at Ilovaysk http://t.co/YTx7zufCPQ
— Leonid Ragozin (@leonidragozin) October 6, 2014
Donetsk morgue. 35 new bodies today, including a five year old girl. I'll spare you the photos, but grim stuff. pic.twitter.com/dB4HnHFGRP
— Oliver Carroll (@olliecarroll) October 6, 2014
Mark Adomanis has been taking issue in "The Moscow Times" with all those Russia analysts who believe Putin's stance on Ukraine will turn out to be a fatal miscalculation in the long run:
All things being equal, I think that Putin probably has miscalculated, and that many of the policies implemented over the past few months are unlikely to achieve their stated goals. But there isn't absolute certainty that this is the case. It is possible that, whether we like it or not, the Russian government will accomplish its goals in Ukraine at a cost that is considered acceptable by the majority of Russian society.
The crisis in Ukraine has been going on for about six months. This is, in today's media environment, something approximating an eternity. Despite what seems like clear evidence of the involvement, and death, of Russian troops, and despite a sharp slowdown in already-low economic growth in Russia, the political damage that I and many others expected Putin to suffer is not appearing.
According to the Levada Center pollster, Putin's approval rating in September was a stratospheric 86 percent, within two points of the all-time high it reached in the fall of 2008. This might not be the most deep-rooted popularity in the entire world, but Putin is as popular now as he has ever been.
Is it possible that this will continue or, as Shevtsova and others have argued, is this guaranteed to end in tears? I want to lay out a theory that, while not the most likely outcome, seems plausible, or at least plausible enough to warrant serious consideration. It involves my favorite subject — demography — and its impact on the Russian labor market.
One of the main reasons that the sharp decrease in Russian economic growth has not caused much pain for the average Russian is because unemployment has continued to fall. Unemployment is currently below 5 percent, the lowest it has been in Russia's entire post-Soviet history. Things are as close to full employment as they are likely to get.
But how on earth could unemployment fall with such a paltry level of overall economic growth? It is mostly because Russia's active labor force is now shrinking: The older generation is starting to retire, and the younger one that is taking its place is much smaller.
What all this means is that, over the next several years, Russia will face a serious labor crunch and there is likely to be sustained upward pressure on wages even with little or no growth in total output. In such an environment, the Kremlin is unlikely to be "punished" for the worsening economic situation because, for the average Russian, it simply won't feel like the economy is performing all that badly.
Read the entire article here
RFE/RL's Rikard Jozwiak has filed this short item on Federica Mogherini's comments today at the European Parliament:
Federica Mogherini, the European Union Commissioner-designate for foreign policy said during her confirmation hearing at the European Parliament that the EU needs to pay greater attention to its eastern neighbors.
Mogherini said the EU should offer "full support to Ukraine in terms of security, institutional reform, political process" and economic and energy challenges.
She said the EU needed to support other Russian neighbors such as Moldova and Georgia and work more closely with Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Belarus.
Mogherini said that while relations with Russia are strained at the moment, Russia remains "a strategic country in the world" and the EU needs to consider its ties with Russia "in the next five years."
Mogherini said "it is going to be crucial that we are going to engage with Russia for our own security."
#Poroshenko sacks Chief of Border Service Mykola #Lytvyn. A dream come true for thousands of soldiers, volunteers http://t.co/4XJXx7utjm
— Myroslava Petsa (@myroslavapetsa) October 6, 2014