Lavrov to attend Geneva talks on Ukraine political crisis today

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has decided to attend talks to resolve Ukraine’s political crisis, which will be held in Geneva today, reported on April 17 the RIA Novosti news agency, citing an anonymous in the Russian delegation. Several bilateral meetings are planned as well, the source said. Besides Lavrov, the talks will involve acting Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Deshchytsia, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Catherine Ashton. Russian diplomats previously indicated that Lavrov might not attend the negotiations, also demanding a separate representative of Ukraine’s southeastern oblasts.

The Ukrainian delegation will demand that Russia halt supporting terrorist groups of armed saboteurs that are active in eastern Ukraine. The Russian government should condemn these terrorist acts and withdraw its soldiers from Ukraine’s eastern border, Deshchytsia said. It should also remove its soldiers from Crimea and cancel all legal decisions on its annexation. The Russian Duma must renege its vote allowing Russian President Vladimir Putin to dispatch Russian soldiers on Ukrainian territory, he said.

Ongoing battles were waged between government and separatist fighters in the Donetsk Oblast on April 16. Russian saboteurs teamed up with Ukrainian separatists to capture six armed personnel carriers that were part of an anti-terrorist operation, Ukraine’s Defense Ministry confirmed. Local residents blocked the vehicles upon their arrival, enabling them to take possession. Later in the day, Ukrainian soldiers surrendered to pro-Russian forces 16 units of armored equipment, as well as locks and firing pins for their automatic weapons, which makes them ineffective.

Also in the Donetsk Oblast, about 300 Russian saboteurs and Ukrainian separatists attacked a military base in the Black Sea port city of Mariupol, reportedly throwing Molotov cocktails and firing guns, according to local media. By morning of April 17, the Internal Affairs Ministry reported it had conducted an operation to repel the attackers, causing three deaths, 13 injured and 63 arrested. None of the police or National Guard members were injured.

The saboteurs and separatists have as their main goal the maximum destabilization of Ukraine, said on April 16 Vitaliy Nayda, among the heads of the counterintelligence unit of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU). “Moreover, intercepted conversations reveal, and it’s sad to hear this, that the country that has declared itself to be brotherly has assigned the goal to its special forces of spilling blood on the streets of our cities,” he told a press briefing. “Talks have been documented that reveal that 100-200 people need to be killed, an hour-and-a-half after which Russian tanks and armed personnel carriers will arrive on Ukraine’s territory,” Nayda said. The sabotage is being led by Russian reconnaissance commander Igor Strelkov, who was involved in the Chechen war, Nayda said.

Zenon Zawada: Among the many issues on the table for today’s talks in Geneva, the most important one will be the Russian demand for the federalization of Ukraine’s southeastern oblasts. We are confident the Ukrainian side will reject even the slightest compromise on this demand, with Western backing. Therefore, we don’t see much success coming out of these talks. Meanwhile, the Russian media has already been reporting plans for ousted Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych to return to his native Donetsk Oblast on Easter Sunday.