UKRAINE: Self-declared mayor of east Ukrainian city of Slaviansk says he has met with OSCE mediators, renounces Geneva agreement and reiterates there are no Russian troops in the rebel-held town

Record ID: 450869

  • Title: UKRAINE: Self-declared mayor of east Ukrainian city of Slaviansk says he has met with OSCE mediators, renounces Geneva agreement and reiterates there are no Russian troops in the rebel-held town
  • Date: 21st April 2014
  • Summary: SLAVIANSK, UKRAINE (APRIL 21, 2014) (REUTERS) SELF-DECLARED MAYOR OF EAST UKRAINIAN CITY OF SLAVIANSK VYACHESLAV PONOMARYOV ARRIVING FOR NEWS CONFERENCE PONOMARYOV SHOWING PICTURES OF PEOPLE KILLED AT THE CHECKPOINT NEAR SLAVIANSK ON SUNDAY (SOUNDBITE) (Russian) SELF-DECLARED MAYOR OF EAST UKRAINIAN CITY OF SLAVIANSK, VYACHESLAV PONOMARYOV, SAYING: "No, there isn't a single representative of Russian military or Russian state here. I want to remind you of what I had said before. I am a former member of military forces and when I appealed for help to my friends who are all retired, just like me, they all came to help, they came not only from Russia but also from Belarus, Kazakhstan and Moldova." JOURNALISTS (SOUNDBITE) (Russian) SELF-DECLARED MAYOR OF EAST UKRAINIAN CITY OF SLAVIANSK, VYACHESLAV PONOMARYOV, SAYING: "Talks, I would not say they were talks, we just met. We expressed out point of view on what's going on, we listened to their suggestions, well, we decided that we will continue working." PHOTOGRAPHER (SOUNDBITE) (Russian) SELF-DECLARED MAYOR OF EAST UKRAINIAN CITY OF SLAVIANSK, VYACHESLAV PONOMARYOV, ASKED ABOUT THE PREVIOUS MAYOR OF SLAVIANSK DETAINED BY HIS GROUP, SAYING: "She is under our protection. Representatives of OSCE have seen her; have met with her, asked her questions. There are no problems." MEDIA (SOUNDBITE) (Russian) SELF-DECLARED MAYOR OF EAST UKRAINIAN CITY OF SLAVIANSK, VYACHESLAV PONOMARYOV, SAYING: "When I said we hold prisoners of war from the Right Sector, they (OSCE representatives) asked, they wished to see them. I offered them to visit the morgue before we go and see the prisoners, the morgue where two bodies of our residents found yesterday are kept, we are in the process of establishing their identities now, the bodies, with blown up bellies and signs of torture. Well, they refused to visit the morgue but were happy to go and see the prisoners of war. We took out one female prisoner to meet them, an activist of Euromaidan, her surname, I cannot remember it but it is not Russian." MEDIA (SOUNDBITE) (Russian) SELF-DECLARED MAYOR OF EAST UKRAINIAN CITY OF SLAVIANSK, VYACHESLAV PONOMARYOV, SAYING: "Whatever has been decided in Geneva has been decided without our participation. We have nothing to do with what was said there. We are not aggressors, we are at our land and we protect the rights of our people to express their will and determine their future lives. We do not want fascist youngsters to come here and force on us there, so to say, life views because they dramatically differ from what we think." MEDIA
  • Embargoed: 6th May 2014 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Ukraine
  • Country: Ukraine
  • Topics: Conflict,Domestic Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA51DMTP1L12WHWK9KQLPKFNG6B
  • Story Text: Self-declared mayor of Slaviansk, Vyacheslav Ponomaryov told a news conference held in the rebel-held town on Monday (April 21) that he has met with the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe.
    Ponomaryov reiterated to the gathered reporters that there were no Russian troops in Slaviansk and that the meeting with the OSCE mediators did not involve any serious talks.

    "Talks, I would not say they were talks, we just met," he said. "We expressed out point of view on what's going on, we listened to their suggestions, well, we decided that we will continue working."
    Russia, Ukraine, the European Union and the United States signed off on an agreement in Geneva on Thursday (April 17) designed to lower tension in the worst confrontation between Russia and the West since the Cold War. The agreement calls for occupied buildings to be vacated under the auspices of envoys from the OSCE.
    But no sooner had the accord been signed than both sides accused the other of breaking it, while the pro-Moscow rebels disavowed the pledge to withdraw from occupied buildings.
    An OSCE mediator held his first meeting with the leader of separatists in Slaviansk, a town which rebels have turned into a heavily-fortified redoubt. Mark Etherington said he had asked the pro-Russian self-proclaimed "people's mayor" of the town, Vyacheslav Ponomaryov, whether he would comply with the Geneva agreement.
    At the news conference, Ponomaryov said he did not recognise the Geneva agreement.

    "Whatever has been decided in Geneva has been decided without our participation," he said. "We have nothing to do with what was said there. We are not aggressors, we are at our land and we protect the rights of our people to express their will and determine their future lives. We do not want fascist youngsters to come here and force on us there, so to say, life views because they dramatically differ from what we think."
    The OSCE also asked to see people who had been detained including in the town, including the previous mayor.

    "She is under our protection. Representatives of OSCE have seen her, have met with her, asked her questions," Ponomaryov said. "There are no problems."
    Russia says Right Sector members have threatened Russian speakers. Kiev and Western countries say the threat is largely invented by Russian state-run media to justify Moscow's intervention and cause alarm in Russian speaking areas.
    Moscow blames Right Sector for a deadly shooting on Easter Sunday (April 20) morning, when at least three people were killed at a checkpoint manned by armed separatists. Right Sector denies involvement, while Kiev said Russia provoked the violence.
    The OSCE mediators also asked to see detained members of the Right Sector when they met with Ponomaryov.

    "When I said we hold prisoners of war from the Right Sector, they (OSCE representatives) asked, they wished to see them," Ponomaryov said. "I offered them to visit the morgue before we go and see the prisoners, the morgue where two bodies of our residents found yesterday are kept, we are in the process of establishing their identities now, the bodies, with blown up bellies and signs of torture. Well, they refused to visit the morgue but were happy to go and see the prisoners of war. We took out one female prisoner to meet them, an activist of Euromaidan, her surname, I cannot remember it but it is not Russian."
    The Slaviansk separatists released around a dozen Ukrainian soldiers in blue uniforms on Monday, without making clear the circumstances under which they had been held. Gordik said armoured vehicles that were surrendered by a column of Ukrainian paratroops last week would stay in the town.
    A Ukrainian journalist captured by the separatists overnight was led out by her captors and permitted to speak to reporters. Imra Krat, 29, said she was being questioned but not mistreated. She was then blindfolded and led back inside. Ukrainian journalists say another reporter, freelancer Serhiy Lefter, 22, has been missing in Slaviansk since last week.
    Putin overturned decades of post-Cold War diplomacy by announcing last month that Russia has the right to intervene on the territory of its neighbours to protect Russian speakers. He then seized and annexed Ukraine's Crimea peninsula.
    Moscow has since massed tens of thousands of troops on the Ukrainian border, and Kiev and its Western allies say Russian agents are directing the uprising in the east, including the "green men" - heavily armed, masked gunmen in unmarked uniforms.
    In his latest move, likely to be seen by the West as a further threat to the post-Cold War order, Putin signed a law on Monday making it easier for Russian speakers across the former Soviet Union to obtain Russian citizenship.
    Eastern Ukraine is largely Russian speaking and many residents are deeply suspicious of the pro-European government that took power in Kiev in February when Moscow-backed President Viktor Yanukovich fled the country after mass protests.
    Separatists have declared an independent "People's Republic of Donetsk" in the east's biggest province and have named themselves to official posts in towns and cities, setting up checkpoints and flying Russian flags over government buildings.
    There is also some support for Ukrainian unity in the region, but pro-Kiev activists have had a lower profile since the separatists took up arms. One activist who helped organise a Ukrainian unity rally in Rubizhne, an eastern town, told Ukraine's Channel 5 television that separatists attacked it, forcing the rally to disperse. Local police said a policeman was hurt when unidentified people tried to disrupt the rally.
    Kiev has declared an "Easter truce", though it is far from clear it could muster any real force if it tried. The army is ill-equipped, untested and untrained for domestic operations, while the government in Kiev doubts the loyalty of the police.
    The United States and European Union have imposed visa bans and asset freezes on some Russians over the annexation of Crimea, measures explicitly designed not to have wider economic impact and which have been mocked as pointless by Moscow.
    Washington and Brussels both say they are working on tougher measures they will impose unless Russia's allies in eastern Ukraine back down, although building a consensus is tricky in Europe where many countries rely on Russian energy exports.
    The OSCE, a European security body that includes both NATO members and Russia, has so far deployed around 100 monitors and mediators in Ukraine and expects their number to rise.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2014. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
  • Usage Terms/Restrictions: None
Register