| Author (Corporate) | BBC |
|---|---|
| Series Title | BBC News |
| Series Details | 16.09.14 |
| Publication Date | 16/09/2014 |
| Content Type | News |
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The pro-Russian separatists demanded during the summer of 2014 a special status for the regions of Donetsk and Lugansk that would give them political, economic and cultural autonomy. The Ukrainian parliament went some way to agreeing to this in a vote on the 16 September 2014. Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko stressed that the legislation giving the special status to parts of Donetsk and Luhansk regions for three-years would guarantee the 'sovereignty, territorial integrity and independence' of Ukraine, while paving the way for decentralisation. However, some Ukrainian lawmakers described the self-rule law as a sell-off of Ukraine in what they saw as a war against Russia. Leaders in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions were also dismissive of the move. The adopted law was a part of a 12-point peace plan, signed by Kiev officials and representatives of the self-proclaimed republics of Donetsk and Luhansk (DPR and LPR) in southeastern Ukraine during the Trilateral Contact Group meeting in Minsk, Belarus on 5 September 2014. In the meantime, Mr Poroshenko secured $53 million in assistance from the United States on the 18 September 2014 but President Barack Obama turned down his appeals for weapons to fight Russian-backed separatists. Frustrated by the United Nations’ passive response to Russian activity in Ukraine, President Bronislaw Komorowski of Poland said he intended to call on the organisation to change its rules to prevent Russia from vetoing Security Council actions on the region. Defence ministers from Poland, Lithuania and Ukraine, signed an agreement at the Presidential Palace in Warsaw on the 19 September 2014, Friday, to form a joint military force. At the same time, Russian President Vladimir Putin said the EU and the US had violated the principles of the World Trade Organisation by imposing sanctions. Pro-Russian separatists, representatives from Kiev and Moscow, and the EU security watchdog, the OSCE, met in the Belarus capital Minsk on the 20 September 2014 for another round of talks on resolving the conflict in eastern Ukraine. However, Nato's most senior military commander General Philip Breedlove said on the 20 September 2014 that the ceasefire between Ukraine and pro-Russian separatists currently existed 'in name only'. |
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| Source Link | Link to Main Source http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-29220885 |
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| Countries / Regions | Russia, Ukraine |
