Ukraine's
president-elect, Petro Poroshenko, is set to be sworn into office amid ongoing
hostilities in the country's east. His inauguration could pave the way for
direct talks with Moscow aimed at ending the crisis.
Deutsche Welle, 7 June 2014
Russia's
ambassador to Ukraine is expected to attend Poroshenko's inauguration on
Saturday, suggesting a thaw in the tense relations between Kyiv and Moscow. The
Kremlin withdrew its ambassador from Ukraine after the ouster of former
President Viktor Yanukovych last February.
On Friday,
Poroshenko (pictured) spoke with Russian President Vladimir Putin on the
sidelines of the 70th anniversary commemoration of the Allied invasion of
Normandy.
"The
dialogue has begun and that's a good thing," Poroshenko told Ukrainian
television after meeting with Putin. The president-elect said that a Russian
diplomat would arrive in Kyiv on Sunday for bilateral talks.
Poroshenko
won last month's presidential election outright, with 54.7 percent of the vote.
A self-made billionaire, he earned his fortune in the chocolate industry.
Rapprochement?
Putin, for
his part, was positive about Poroshenko's approach to the crisis. But the
Russian president said he would wait for concrete actions from Kyiv before
making a final judgment.
"I can
only welcome Mr. Poroshenko's position that the bloodshed in eastern Ukraine
must be stopped immediately," Putin said. "I cannot say for sure how
that can be implemented in practical terms, but overall it seemed to me to be
the right approach."
"If it
continues like that, then conditions will be created for developing our
relations in other areas, including the economy," he added.
Threat of
sanctions
During
Friday's D-Day commemorations, US President Barack Obama briefly met
face-to-face with Putin for the first time since the Ukraine crisis erupted.
In an
interview with NBC Nightly News, Obama called on Putin "to recognize that
Ukraine just elected Mr. Poroshenko legitimate president" and work
"directly with Mr. Poroshenko and the government of Ukraine to try to
resolve the differences between the two countries."
Earlier in
the week, the Group of Seven (G7) nations had called on Moscow to cooperate
with Kyiv or face further sanctions. The G7 has already imposed targeted
sanctions against Russian and Ukrainian officials in response to Moscow's
annexation of Crimea last March.
Since then,
pro-Russian gunmen in the Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts have declared
independence from Ukraine and sought to become part of Russia. In response,
Kyiv launched a military operation to defeat the insurgents. More than 200
people have died in the clashes, according to the Ukrainian government.
slk/tj (AP, AFP, Reuters)
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