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Famagusta at the centre of Biden’s visit (updated)

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US Vice President Joe Biden

By Elias Hazou

US VICE PRESIDENT Joe Biden is due on the island next week, the government confirmed on Monday.

Government spokesman Nicos Christodoulides said Biden was visiting at the invitation of President Nicos Anastasiades.

The visit was confirmed by the White House, who issued a press release on Monday saying that the vice president will visit Cyprus on May 21, following a visit to Romania. Biden will be escorted by his wife, Dr Jill Biden. The US vice president is to meet with “political leaders from the Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot communities, civil society representatives, and faith leaders”, according to the press release.

Describing Biden’s upcoming visit as “extremely significant”, Christodoulides said it would be substantive, not ceremonial.

During his stay here, the US vice president is to discuss developments in the Cyprus peace talks, confidence-building measures and natural gas issues.

Christodoulides added that Biden is well-versed in the Cyprus problem and on the issue of Famagusta.

The United States has an interest in natural gas in the region, and is therefore keen on a settlement of the Cyprus issue, he added.

Noting that Nicosia was “making the most” of this US interest, the spokesman referred to Anastasiades’ statement that natural gas should be used an incentive, particularly where Turkey is concerned, for solving the island’s decades-long dispute.

Anastasiades had said energy cooperation between Cyprus and Turkey was possible provided that a political solution is reached first. Turkey has warned of repercussions should Greek Cypriots begin monetising their natural gas without sharing the wealth with Turkish Cypriots.

During his stay on the island, the US vice president is also set to meet with Turkish Cypriot leader Dervis Eroglu. Christodoulides said arrangements are being made in advance to rule out any actions during Biden’s visit to the north that might upgrade the status of the breakaway regime.

It’s understood this is the first visit to the island by a US vice president since Lyndon Johnson travelled here in 1962.

Local media are reporting that during Biden’s trip the United States is set to announce the financing of a master plan for the occupied town of Famagusta, including the fenced-off area known as Varosha.

One of the pending issues is to clarify the prospect of the return of Varosha under UN administration, as the Greek Cypriot side is proposing.

Sources told the Cyprus News Agency that experts will be allowed to enter Famagusta for inspection and to facilitate their studies on the master plan.

The United Nations has called for the return of Varosha to its lawful inhabitants but so far Ankara has refused to comply with such calls.

Reports said that during Biden’s visit an announcement should also be expected on a de-mining agreement in three areas, two in the government-controlled areas and one in the north.

Meanwhile the issue of Famagusta as well as Biden’s visit to Cyprus are expected to be discussed in Washington on Tuesday at a meeting of US Secretary of State John Kerry and his Cypriot counterpart Ioannis Kasoulides.

The agenda of those talks would feature the Cyprus question, energy, the unfolding situation in the Ukraine and other issues of mutual interest, the government spokesman said.

Washington had informed Nicosia of Biden’s trip last week. The US government was planning to announce the visit on Monday, but were beaten to the punch by the Turkish Cypriot leader.

Eroglu apparently spilled the beans to Turkish newspaper Habertürk, forcing Nicosia to acknowledge Biden’s trip ahead of time.

According to reports, the Habertürk journalist, in the north to interview the Turkish Cypriot leader, spotted US Ambassador John Koenig as the latter was departing from Eroglu’s ‘presidential’ residence. When the reporter inquired about Koenig’s visit, Eroglu proceeded to reveal that he and Koenig had talked about Biden’s planned visit to the island.

Habertürk ran its story on Sunday. On Monday, however, Eroglu’s office released a statement denying that he had disclosed, on the record, the details of Biden’s visit during the interview.

In the same interview, the hard-line Eroglu was quoted as saying that the best solution in Cyprus would be the creation of two separate states. Eroglu also conveyed the impression that he was not happy with Biden’s visit, adding that the Americans were primarily concerned with the interests of the Greek Cypriots.

Asked to comment on Eroglu’s remarks, the government spokesman said UN resolutions spell out what form a solution should take – a bi-zonal, bi-communal federation.

It has been three months since the latest round of peace talks got underway. Commentators say lack of progress in the Cyprus negotiations has elicited more active US involvement, with Washington eager to facilitate a peace deal in at least one troubled region of the Middle East.

 

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Ukraine rebels seek to join Russia

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Denis Pushilin

By Matt Robinson and Alessandra Prentice

Pro-Moscow rebel leaders in eastern Ukraine called on Monday for their region to become part of Russia after declaring victory in a weekend referendum on self-rule.

The separatist region of Donetsk appealed to Moscow to consider its absorption into Russia, a move that would echo the annexation of Ukraine’s Crimean peninsula after a similar referendum earlier this year.

The call is likely to anger the government in Kiev and Western nations that accuse Russia of stirring up unrest in the east following the overthrow of a pro-Moscow president in February by protesters demanding closer links with Europe.

“The people of Donetsk have always been part of the Russian world. For us, the history of Russia is our history,” said Denis Pushilin, a leading member of the self-declared “Donetsk People’s Republic”.

“Based on the will of the people and on the restoration of a historic justice, we ask the Russian Federation to consider the absorption of the Donetsk People’s Republic into the Russian Federation,” he told a news conference.

Moscow denies any ambitions to absorb the mainly Russian-speaking east into the Russian Federation. However, it has massed troops on the Ukrainian border, and Kiev fears they may be sent in.

Ukrainian President Oleksander Turchinov accused Russia of working to overthrow legitimate state power in Ukraine.

He said the Kremlin was trying to disrupt a presidential election later this month, which is taking centre stage in a confrontation pitting Moscow and the separatists against the government in Kiev and its Western backers.

RIA news agency quoted a rebel leader as saying the eastern Luhansk region would boycott the May 25 election. What he called the “Republic of Luhansk” may hold a further referendum on union with Russia, as Ukraine’s Crimea region did under Russian military occupation before its annexation by Moscow in March.

Ukraine’s election is intended to secure democratic continuity and legitimacy after pro-Moscow president Viktor Yanukovich fled the country in February, and Western governments have threatened more sanctions in the vital areas of energy, financial services and engineering if Moscow disrupts the vote.

Moscow said it respected the outcome of Sunday’s referendums, in which separatists claimed 80 per cent support in the industrial Donetsk region, while RIA, a Russian state news agency, reported 96.2 per cent backing in Luhansk region.

The results should be implemented peacefully, Russia said, without saying what further action it might take.

Eastern Ukraine has been plagued by turmoil as Kiev has tried to regain control, and authorities said 49 people have been killed in violence in the region of Donetsk since March 13.

The European Union declared the referendums illegal and increased pressure on Russia on Monday by taking a first step towards extending sanctions to companies, as well as people, linked to Crimea’s annexation.

However, revealing cracks in the West’s united front, diplomatic sources said France would press ahead with a 1.2 billion-euro contract to sell helicopter carrier ships to Russia because cancelling the deal would do more damage to Paris than to Moscow.

REPUBLIC OF LUHANSK

The rebels have given differing accounts of their plans. However, one spokesman said these did not include taking part in electing a replacement for Turchinov, who has been acting president since pro-EU protesters forced Yanukovich from office.

“As of today, we are now the Republic of Luhansk, which believes it to be inappropriate and perhaps even stupid to hold a presidential election,” RIA cited the spokesman as saying.

Some rebels have publicly supported pressing for annexation by Russia.

“This land was never Ukraine … We speak Russian,” said Vyacheslav Ponomaryov, rebel mayor of the separatist stronghold of Slaviansk, who threatened to kick out the Ukrainian army.

Asked about the possibility of holding a second referendum, on union with Russia, he said: “There has been no decision, but this referendum showed we are prepared … We can put on an election or referendum at short notice at barely any cost.”

Ukrainian Interior Minister Arsen Avakov said rebels had made a new attempt overnight to seize a television tower on the edge of Slaviansk, heartland of a rebellion that has reduced relations between Russia and the West to their lowest point since the fall of the Berlin Wall.

“The information war that they are waging against us in the Donbass (east) is more dangerous than a bullet. We must answer back … The enemy fears this more than special forces,” he wrote on Facebook.

But there was some hint of compromise in the port city of Mariupol, scene of fierce fighting between Ukrainian forces and rebels over the last week.

Turchinov said local police had begun patrols with a volunteer militia set up by a company, Metinvest, mostly owned by Ukraine’s wealthiest businessman, Rinat Akhmetov.

 RUSSIA RESPECTS “WILL OF THE PEOPLE”

Turchinov dismissed the separatist vote as a farce.

“These processes are inspired by the leadership of the Russian Federation and are destructive to the Donetsk and Luhansk regions’ economies, threaten the lives and welfare of citizens and have the aim of destabilising the situation in Ukraine, disrupting presidential elections and overthrowing Ukrainian authorities,” he said in a statement.

The referendum opened a new phase of uncertainty in a country historically divided between a Russian-speaking east and a more westward-looking west. One man was killed in a confrontation on Sunday between a National Guard unit and a crowd of pro-Russian activists.

Russian President Vladimir Putin, who is in the Black Sea resort of Sochi, did not comment personally, but the Kremlin released a statement on the referendum.

“We condemn the use of force, including of heavy weapons against civilians … In Moscow, we respect the will of the people of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions and are counting on practical implementation of the outcome of the referendum in a civilised manner, without any repeat of violence and through dialogue,” it said.

European Union foreign ministers added two Crimean companies and 13 people to the bloc’s sanctions list, EU diplomats said. These are in addition to 48 Russians and Ukrainians who have already been targeted with EU asset freezes and visa bans.

But the EU remains far behind the United States in the severity of the sanctions it has imposed on Russia. Some European governments fear tough trade sanctions on Russia could undermine their own economies, just recovering from the financial crisis, and provoke Russian retaliation.

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Sex exploitation charges against Larnaca businessman

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news briefs (rect)

A 57-YEAR-OLD well-known Larnaca businessman and his 35-year-old suspected accomplice will be charged with the harassment and sexual exploitation of a minor, according to the Cyprus News Agency (CNA) on Monday.

Both men are expected to appear on Tuesday before the Larnaca District Court. CNA reported that police had concluded their investigation and were ready to file charges against the two men.

The report said that the men will be ordered to appear before the criminal court.

The pair were arrested after a 15-year-old girl claimed she had been raped and beaten by the second suspect, 35. A 14-year-old girl went to police five days later and also claimed that she had sexual relations with the two men.

The businessman was being held on suspicion of conspiring to commit a felony, solicitation and corrupting a minor.

The 35-year-old faced serious charges: sex-trafficking, kidnap, rape, causing actual bodily harm, solicitation and theft.

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UN first as woman appointed UNFICYP commander

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Major General Kristin Lund

THE United Nation’s first ever female commander of a UN peacekeeping force is to be appointed in Cyprus.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Monday announced the appointment of Major General Kristin Lund of Norway, as the force commander of the United Nations Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus (UNFICYP).

Major General Lund will replace the outgoing force commander, Major General Chao Liu of China on August 13.

According to a press release, the secretary-general paid tribute to Major General Liu´s service with UNFICYP, “where his dedication, professionalism and leadership greatly contributed to the United Nations efforts in Cyprus”.

Born in 1958, Major General Lund has had a long military career, with over 34 years of military command and staff experience at national and international levels. As brigadier general, she served as deputy commander of the Norwegian army forces command from 2007 to 2009.

In 2009, she was the first female army officer to be promoted to the rank of Major General and was appointed chief of staff of the Norwegian Home Guard.

Her previous experience with the United Nations includes service with the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) and the United Nations Protection Force (UNPROFOR).

Major General Lund has extensive experience in multinational operations, including deployment to Saudi Arabia during Operation Desert Storm in 1991 and NATO’s International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) Headquarters in Afghanistan.

Major General Lund graduated from the Norwegian Defence Command and Staff College, the Norwegian Defence University College, and the US Army War College where she obtained a Master of Strategic Studies.

 

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After 40 years, Turkey to pay 90 million euros (Update three)

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European court of human rights demand compensationf from Trukey for the relatives of the Missing

By Constantinos Psillides

THE EUROPEAN Court of Human Rights (ECHR) ruled on Monday that Turkey should pay €90 million in compensation to the relatives of the missing persons and the enclaved Greek Cypriot residents of the Karpasia peninsula due to violations arising from the Turkish invasion in 1974.

This decision marks the largest sum ever awarded by the ECHR in a case regarding Cypriot refugees and the 1974 invasion.

The ECHR requested that the amount be distributed by the Cypriot government to the individual victims under the supervision of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe. The foreign minister of each member states sits on the committee and one of its tasks is to ensure that ECHR decisions are properly implemented.

According to the ruling, €30 million euros are to be distributed to the relatives of missing persons and €60 million to the families of the enclaved.

Turkey is required to comply within 18 months. For every day that passes after the 18 month mark, a penalty will be added.

In its ruling, the ECHR said the passage of time did not absolve Turkey from its responsibility. While the sum was only announced today, the original ECHR judgement was delivered 13 years ago, on 10 May 2001.

The government welcomed the ruling, said government spokesman Nicos Christodoulides in a press release.

Regarding the compensation awarded to relatives of missing persons, Christodoulides stressed that the government is pleased “but will not put an end to efforts aimed at exhuming and identifying the remains of every single missing person so their relatives can bury them”.

Regarding the compensation awarded to the enclaved, Christodoulides said that despite the fact that what they have been through cannot be measured in monetary terms, “the Cyprus government is pleased with the fact the court condemned once more the Turkish policy of violations and its attempt at altering demographics in the occupied areas.”

“The government expects the immediate compliance by Turkey through the adoption of the necessary measures to stop the illegal exploitation and sale of Greek Cypriot properties in the occupied areas and to pay the damages that have been adjudicated by the court,” the written statement reads.

Although the court’s decision is final, Turkey’s Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu responded by saying that it was not binding, according to the Cyprus News Agency.

“This trial came back in the news after ten years. Definitely, when it comes to international law this decision is not binding. On the justice side, besides the fact that this decision is flawed, it comes at a very bad time since the Cyprus problem negotiations are on going,” he said. “A procedure has begun, initiated by Turkey, so from a psychological point of view it will not do the negotiations any good. This decision is not consistent with the atmosphere and climate that was spurred by the Cyprus negotiations so far.”

However, Riza Turmen, a former judge of the ECHR and now an opposition lawmaker in Turkey’s parliament, disagreed with Davutoglu saying that Ankara would be legally required to comply with the ruling.

“It’s extremely clear from Article 46 of the European Convention on Human Rights, which says all signatories are committed to comply with final decisions,” Turmen told Reuters news agency.

Hugh Pope, an analyst at the International Crisis Group, said that the latest talks have progressed slowly, due in large part to a lack of trust between Greek Cypriots and Turks.

“This remains an extremely expensive unresolved problem,” Pope said, citing costs for Turkey that include military spending and financial assistance to the enclaved.

“The compensation is a drop in the ocean compared with the shiploads of costs that not solving the Cyprus solution has incurred for Turkey … since the 1960s,” he told Reuters.

In its original 2001 ruling the court had found numerous violations by Turkey, arising out of the military operations it had conducted in northern Cyprus in July and August 1974, the continuing division of Cyprus and the activities of the ‘Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus’.

When Titina Loizidou, a refugee from Kyrenia, was also awarded compensation for her loss of property ($1 mil in 1998) Turkey again initially refused to comply with the court’s terms saying it would jeopardise attempts to settle similar claims. Turkey finally came to an understanding with the court, agreeing that it would pay Loizidou the money but under the condition that the case was not considered a precedent.

Monday’s ruling prompted swift reaction from political parties, although not everyone was pleased.

DISY MEP candidate Eleni Theocharous, speaking on behalf of her party, said that the ruling was a “landmark decision”. Theocharous added that it was proof that Cyprus could achieve its goals if it actively participated in all EU bodies. “The decision of course doesn’t put an end to Turkish occupation and partition but provides us with powerful legal and political weapons to keep fighting on a European level,” she said.

AKEL said that the party ws pleased with the decision, “which proves that the battles won are the ones fought”.

DIKO spokeswoman Christiana Erotokritou told the press that the ruling vindicates the relatives of missing persons, the refugees and those whose human rights were violated but “nothing can delete four decades of pain and injustice”.

EDEK said that the party was pleased Turkey had been fined by the court but clarified that “no monetary fine can make up for the consequences of the Turkish crime”.

“The ruling of course is not enough when it comes to compensate those who suffered. It cannot sooth the pain of the relatives or restore the decency of the enclaved, who were tyrannically oppressed by the occupying forces,” said EDEK.

The Citizen’s Alliance described the ECHR ruling as a “pyrrhic victory”, arguing that on the hand Turkey is being punished “for crimes committed against the Cyprus Republic” but on the other hand the party considers damages awarded as “a provocation and a mockery”. The Alliance accused the ECHR of using political criteria and not legal ones.

All parties said that they will study the ruling further.

The attorney general’s office also issued a released on the ruling, saying that it will be evaluated by the legal services and its advisors to decide on further action.

 

 

 

The ECHR ruling against Turkey

Reaching a decision was a long and arduous journey. Following the 2001 decision, on August 31, 2007 the Cypriot government informed the court that they intended to submit a request to the Grand Chamber for it to resume consideration of the question of just satisfaction. On March 11, 2010 the Cypriot government submitted to the court their claims for just satisfaction concerning the missing persons.

On November 25, 2011 the government sent the court a document concerning the procedure before the Committee of Ministers for execution of the 2001 judgement, requesting the court take certain steps in order to facilitate the execution of that judgement. In response to some further questions and an invitation from the court to submit a final version of their claims, the Cypriot government on June 18, 2012 submitted their claims under Article 41 concerning the missing persons, and raised claims in respect to the violations committed against the enclaved Greek Cypriot residents of the Karpasia peninsula.

 

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Salmon health warning

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news briefs (rect)

Health authorities on Tuesday issued a warning to consumers after detecting high levels of the Listeria monocytogenes bacterium in a particular smoked salmon product.
The authorities said they have found Listeria monocytogenes in samples of 5 Oceans Smoked Salmon Trout Pieces, 100 grams, country of origin: Cyprus, consume by date: May 29, 2014.
Listeria can cause food poisoning.
The health services have already asked the company to remove the product from the shelves but consumers who may have already purchased it should return it to the source.

 

 

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€4m cash boost for Cyprus Airways staff

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ÊÕÐÑÉÁÊÅÓ ÁÅÑÏÃÑÁÌÌÅÓ - ÍÅÏ ÁÅÑÏÐËÁÍÏ

By Elias Hazou
THE government has pledged a €4m cash boost for the provident funds of Cyprus Airways (CY) staff that have been made redundant.
During a meeting at the Presidential Palace on Tuesday with leaders of the SEK trade union, President Nikos Anastasiades promised the money would be transferred to the provident funds by next month.
SEK boss Nicos Moiseos broke the news to the media coming out of the meeting.
Moiseos said they and the President also discussed a series of other issues, such as measures to tackle unemployment in general, provident funds’ lack of funding, the protection of primary residences from forfeitures and the minimum guaranteed income.
The ailing national carrier has already laid off about 350 staff as it seeks to downsize in the hopes of staying afloat. A restructuring plan, agreed with unions, envisaged letting go of 490 employees in a first wave of redundancies, salary and benefits cuts for remaining staff as well as scaling down the fleet of aircraft.
As far as the airline’s provident fund was concerned, €6m was to be covered by a general finance ministry plan on provident funds, and the remaining €12m through the sale of CY property.
The government owns 70 per cent of the airline, and has been seeking – so far without success – a strategic investor who could potentially assume a majority stake in the company. CY’s chairman recently went on record saying privatisation is the only way forward for the company.
Meanwhile 48 of the airline’s pilots are suing the CY management in protest at severe – though temporary – cuts to their benefits.
The pilots union is taking legal action against the airline’s decision to reduce its contribution to the workers’ provident fund, an agreement made with other unions but not with them.
The loss-making carrier was on the brink of collapse, with the government more than once coming to its rescue. But the capital injections in turn raised red flags with the European Commission, which is currently looking into whether this constitutes state aid, prohibited under EU competition law. The Commission is expected to deliver its verdict this autumn.

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Deadly Turkey blast ‘traps hundreds’ (Updated)

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Search and rescue teams and officials are seen around a coal mine where miners are trapped near Soma, a district in Turkey's western province of Manisa

By Nick Tattersall

An explosion and fire in a coal mine in western Turkey killed at least four miners on Tuesday and may have trapped as many as 300 more, officials said.

The blast at the mine in Soma, around 120 km northeast of the Aegean coastal city of Izmir, happened during a change in shifts, leading to uncertainty over the exact number of workers still inside, labour union officials said.

“They are pumping oxygen into the mine, but the fire is still burning. They say it is an electrical fault but it could be that coal is burning as well,” Tamer Kucukgencay, chairman of the regional labour union, told Reuters by telephone.

Television footage showed dozens of fellow workers and family members gathering outside the hospital in Soma, a coal mining community in Turkey’s western province of Manisa.

Local member of parliament Muzaffer Yurttas told broadcaster CNN Turk that four people had been killed and 20 others taken to hospital, retracting his earlier statement that 20 people had been killed.

Nurettin Akcul, head of the Turkish Mineworkers’ Union, said five workers had been killed in the blast, which he said happened around 2 km below ground.

Energy Minister Taner Yildiz confirmed that a fire had been triggered by an electrical fault and that workers had been killed, but declined to say how many.

Mehmet Bahattin Atci, mayor of Soma, said 200-300 workers were still inside following the explosion. The head of the local fire service also told Turkish television that around 300 workers were still trapped.

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Copper thefts in Limassol and Nicosia

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copper

COPPER cable worth €11,000 was stolen from an open-air storage facility in Limassol, police said on Tuesday.
The cable, measuring 700 metres, was stolen from the fenced area, which hosts company warehouses, at around 3am.
The company uses the space to store cables.
Meanwhile in Nicosia, police arrested a 59-year-old man suspected of stealing copper pipes from a supermarket parking lot.
Reports said police caught the man red handed after they were tipped off at around 10.30am.
Not far from where the man was found cutting copper pipes using a saw, officers spotted his pickup truck loaded with three air compressors, copper pipes and other items worth €1,200.
It is thought that all the items are the product of theft.

 

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Seven Ukrainian soldiers killed in separatist ambush

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Armed pro-Russian protesters guard a barricade in Lugansk

Seven Ukrainian soldiers were killed and seven wounded on Tuesday when their armoured column was ambushed by pro-Russian separatists near the eastern Ukrainian town of Kramatorsk, the defence ministry and state security service said.

It was the biggest single loss of life by the Ukrainian army since soldiers were sent into the mainly Russian-speaking east of the country to break up armed separatist groups who have seized control of towns and public buildings to push their demands for autonomy.

The ministry, in a statement published on its website, said an armoured column came under fire as it approached a bridge near a village 20 km (12 miles) from Kramatorsk, one of several hot spots in the region where the army has had only limited success against the separatists.

About 30 rebels, who had taken cover among bushes along a river, attacked with grenade-launchers and automatic weapons, immediately killing two soldiers and wounding three others, it said.

“In all, as a result of the prolonged fighting, six members of the armed forces were killed. Eight soldiers were wounded, one of them seriously,” it said.

The state security service (SBU) said later that the seriously wounded soldier had died while being transported to hospital.

Before the Kramatorsk incident, Defence Minister Mikhailo Koval said a total of nine servicemen had been killed so far in the army’s “anti-terrorist” operation, which has been directed mainly against rebels in the towns of Slaviansk and Mariupol.

The dead included five pilots, Koval said, who apparently died when their helicopters were downed by separatist fire.

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Italy threatens to release refugees into EU unless help increases

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A police officer attends to children after they got off from San Giorgio vessel of Italian Navy at Sicilian harbour of Augusta

By Naomi O’Leary

Italy threatened to allow refugees to cross its borders into neighbouring countries on Tuesday unless the European Union takes charge of a sea operation to manage the flow of migrants crossing in boats from North Africa.

Interior Minister Angelino Alfano demanded more help after the Italian navy task force Mare Nostrum rescued more than 200 migrants and recovered 17 bodies when the boat carrying them sank off the Libyan coast.

“The European Union has two options: either it comes to the Mediterranean to put the EU flag on Mare Nostrum or we will let migrants with right of asylum leave for other countries,” Alfano wrote on messaging site Twitter.

The European Commissioner for Home Affairs, Cecilia Malmstrom, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

With less than two weeks before European parliamentary elections, immigration has become a hot political topic.

Italian politicians have long demanded more help from the rest of the European Union to deal with the crisis, which disproportionately affects the bloc’s southernmost countries.

They have called for a change to rules which oblige asylum seekers to remain in the country in which they first arrive.

Many migrants hope to travel onwards into northern European countries with stronger economies than Italy, which has grown little in a decade and where unemployment is near 40-year highs.

SHIPWRECK

At least 34,800 people have made the treacherous crossing from North Africa to Europe so far this year, compared to 43,000 in all of 2013.

This puts the annual total on track to surpass the 60,000 who made the trip in 2011 when the Arab Spring revolutions loosened border controls, according to the UN refugee agency UNHCR.

Hundreds of people have died after their flimsy and overcrowded boats sank on the route.

After the latest shipwreck on Monday, Italian naval and coast guard ships recovered 17 bodies including those of two small children and rescued 206 survivors after the 12-metre long wooden boat they were packed into sank some 45 miles from the Libyan coast.

The incident, which occurred outside the zone normally patrolled by Italian vessels, followed a similar disaster off the Libyan coast on Sunday in which at least 40 people drowned.

“This was the second shipwreck in a week,” Admiral Mario Culcasi, commander of the Mare Nostrumtask force set up to deal with the crisis, told Reuters. “They are a symptom perhaps of the difficulties that the smugglers are facing, above all in finding seaworthy boats,” he said.

Merchant ships saw the boat sink and began rescue operations while alerting authorities in Lampedusa, the island midway between Sicily and Tunisia where the naval task force set up to handle the migrant boat crisis is based.

The most common migrants are Eritreans fleeing hardship and army conscription and Syrians escaping a civil war that has dragged on for three years.

The UNHCR said it was not clear why the numbers of migrants crossing had increased this year compared to 2013. But Egypt has become less welcoming to Syrian refugees and European efforts to stem the tide of West African migrants via Morocco may have diverted some to Libya.

Sophisticated marketing by people smugglers and encouragement from friends and family who successfully make the crossing could also play a role, said Chris Lom, spokesman for the International Organization for Migration, warning that the numbers perishing on the journey were likely to increase.

“At this time of year, as the weather improves, you will see larger numbers of people coming across and therefore larger numbers perishing at sea with these unseaworthy boats.”

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Russia targets space station project in retaliation for US sanctions

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ISS_crew_ISS_2009

By Alissa de Carbonnel

Russia cast doubt on the long-term future of the International Space Station, a showcase of post-Cold War cooperation, as it retaliated on Tuesday against US sanctions over Ukraine.

Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin said Moscow would reject a US request to prolong the orbiting station’s use beyond 2020, and bar Washington from using Russian-made rocket engines to launch military satellites.

Moscow took the action, which also included suspending operation of GPS satellite navigation system sites on its territory from June, in response to US plans to deny export licences for high-technology items that could help the Russian military.

“We are very concerned about continuing to develop high-tech projects with such an unreliable partner as the United States, which politicises everything,” Rogozin told a news conference.

Washington wants to keep the $100 billion, 15 nation space station project in use until at least 2024, four years beyond the previous target.

While six years away, the plan to part ways on a project which was supposed to end the “space race” underlines how relations between the former Cold War rivals have deteriorated since Russia annexed Ukraine in March.

Since the end of the US Space Shuttle project, Russian Soyuz spacecraft have been the only way astronauts can get to the space station, whose crews include both Americans and Russians.

At a time when Moscow is struggling to reform its accident-plagued space programme, Rogozin said US plans to deny export licences for some high-technology items were a blow to Russian industry. “These sanctions are out of place and inappropriate,” Rogozin said. “We have enough of our own problems.”

Moscow’s response would affect NK-33 and RD-180 engines which Russia supplies to the United States, Rogozin said. “We are ready to deliver these engines but on one condition that they will not be used to launch military satellites,” he said.

RD-180 engines are used to boost Atlas 5 rockets manufactured by United Launch Alliance, a partnership of Lockheed Martin and Boeing that holds a virtual monopoly on launching US military satellites.

Rogozin said Moscow was planning “strategic changes” in its space industry after 2020 and aims to use money and “intellectual resources” that now go to the space station for a “a project with more prospects”.

He suggested Russia could use the station without the United States, saying: “The Russian segment can exist independently from the American one. The US one cannot.”

The US space agency NASA is working with companies to develop space taxis with the goal of restoring US transport to the station by 2017, but the United States currently pays Russia more than $60 million per person to fly its astronauts up.

Rogozin said Russia will suspend the operation of 11 GPS sites on its territory from June and seek talks with Washington on opening similar sites in the United States for Russia’s own satellite navigation system, Glonass.

He threatened the permanent closure of the GPS sites in Russia if that is not agreed by September.

Rogozin said the suspension of the sites would not affect everyday operations of the GPS system in Russia, where it is used by millions of Russians for navigation on their smartphones and in their cars.

The upheaval in Ukraine - where the United States says Russia is backing separatists and the Kremlin accuses Washington of helping protesters to topple a Moscow-friendly president in February, has led to the worst East-West crisis since the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union.

In addition to the high-tech sector sanctions, the United States has imposed visa bans and assets freezes on officials and lawmakers and targeted companies with links to President Vladimir Putin. The European Union has also imposed sanctions.

The Russian Foreign Ministry said earlier on Tuesday that the latest EU measures were an “exhausted, trite approach” that would only deepen discord and hamper efforts to defuse the crisis in Ukraine.

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Mixed reaction to Biden visit

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US vice-president Joe Biden’s visit to Cyprus next week has drawn mixed responses, with ruling DISY welcoming the move and detractors focusing on the Turkish Cypriot leg of the visit.
Monday’s announcement of Biden’s arrival on May 21 clarified that he will “meet with political leaders from the Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot communities, civil society representatives and religious leaders.” Reports from Washington suggested that the agenda would focus on a “master-plan” to finance the rebuilding of the occupied town of Famagusta, and that the deal – which would also feature the demining of three minefields – would be announced shortly after the visit’s conclusion.
Government spokesman Nikos Christodoulides described Biden’s upcoming visit as “extremely significant”, asserting that it indicative of the US’ increased interest in the Cyprus problem.
But local political parties were more sceptical and shifted their focus on what they saw as the visit’s potential downsides.
“The government is celebrating because the American vice-president will visit the occupied areas,” said DIKO leader Nikolas Papadopoulos, suggesting that the visit would effectively equate the Republic of Cyprus with the breakaway regime in the north.
“We must ask who will gain the most from this visit,” Papadopoulos said. “Us or the pseudo-state?”
The Citizens’ Alliance offered similar rhetoric, with its leader Yiorgos Lillikas noting that the White House press release announcing the visit made no mention to the “Republic of Cyprus.”
“The implication is that the USA wants to meet the two leaders in Cyprus, thus downgrading the Cyprus Republic,” he said.
Communist AKEL – which supported President Anastasiades in the February joint declaration that allowed the resumption of negotiations on the Cyprus problem – also welcomed Biden’s visit and called for the government to engage our “traditional allies, like the Russian Federation” more decisively.
“If we send the message that we are not capable of progress ourselves, the risk of an outside solution being imposed will increase significantly,” AKEL’s spokesman Yiorgos Loukaides said. “That is why everyone should respect the basic convergences achieved [between the two communities].”
Picking up the government’s theme, ruling DISY’s leader Averof Neophytou expressed the hope for “some announcements that would improve the climate between the two communities” and wondered whether the parties opposing the visit would like to see it cancelled.
Speaking after a Tuesday morning meeting with US ambassador John Koening, Neophytou cited Lyndon Johnson’s 1962 arrival to Cyprus as the last time a US vice-president had visited the island.

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US supportive of efforts to find a solution

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By George Psyllides
US Secretary of State John Kerry said on Tuesday his country was very supportive of efforts for a bizonal, bicommunal federation solution in Cyprus as decisions on confidence building measures can be expected soon.
He was speaking before meeting his Cypriot counterpart Ioannis Kasoulides, who said that Cyprus needs the assistance and interest of the international community as conditions on the island were appropriate to push for a settlement.
The 40-minute meeting is said to have been cordial and covered the Cyprus issue, bilateral affairs and issues concerning the region.
The top issue raised by the US side was Famagusta and confidence building measures.
Speaking after the meeting, Kasoulides said the issue of confidence building measures must remain alive and interesting.
The Cypriot diplomat said decisions might be taken this week and the next on the first small steps “but these will be the first small steps”, he said.
In his remarks before the talks, Kerry reminded he met Kasoulides again last May and the two had “been talking and working on the issue of trying to find peace for Cyprus, a reunification of the island on a bizonal, bicommunal federation policy”.
He said President Nicos Anastasiades and Kasoulides have taken the leadership in trying to bring a long sought-after resolution to the island and “we are privileged to work with them in that effort.”
“We are very supportive of this initiative. So we have a lot to talk about today, and I want to impress on everybody our respect for and gratitude for the leadership that is currently being provided by the current administration, and we look forward to continuing to work with them,” Kerry said.
Kasoulides thanked Secretary Kerry and the US administration for their assistance and interest in a solution.
“A lot of things are happening in the world, particularly in Europe with Ukraine, but also in our region, the eastern Mediterranean”, he said.

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Rise in NPLs not due to economic situation says troika

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By George Psyllides
CYPRUS’ international lenders believe the rise in non performing loans (NPLs) was not justified by the economic developments on the island and are considering bringing forward the timeframe regarding reforms to the foreclosure and insolvency framework in a bid to contain strategic defaults.
Citing Troika sources, the Cyprus News Agency said lenders believe the increase in NPLs was not justified by the macroeconomic and fiscal developments on the island.
They attribute the rise in NPLs to the current framework covering the seizure of properties pledged as collateral, and the personal and corporate insolvency, which allow borrowers to strategically opt not to service their loans.
Under the current framework a bank may need up to 20 years to seize assets pledged as collateral.
“We are considering a change in the time frames and front-loading the reforms, if this is possible,” a Troika source told CNA.
The framework reforms will enable banks to pressure borrowers to service their loans, alleviating the acute liquidity problem currently observed in the banking sector.
Cyprus received a €10 billion bailout from the Troika March last year after agreeing to close one bank and seize part of deposits over €100,000 to recapitalise another.
NPLs soared above €26 billion, as the contraction of the economy in 2013 reached 5.4 per cent of GDP compared with initial projections of an 8.7 per cent contraction.
The Troika mission is currently conducting the fourth review of the financial adjustment programme.
The delegation met lawyers and accountants on Tuesday to discuss anti-money laundering issues.
The island’s supposedly poor anti-money laundering record was used as an argument against Cyprus in the run up to the bailout.
Chairman of the Institute of Certified Public Accountants of Cyprus (ICPAC) described the way Cyprus was portrayed as exaggerated.
“It seems, and this is the information we have, that so far our results are very satisfactory, something which I think shows in the country’s general assessment,” ICPAC general manager Kyriacos Iordanou said.
“We think the attack launched last year was excessive and we want to believe nothing different happens in Cyprus than any other country in the EU.”
Meanwhile, troika officials have asked the government to abide by the set timetables for the privatisation of semi-government organisations (SGOs).
Sources told CNA that while the government has expressed concern on whether is possible to collect €1.8b from privatisations by 2018, the Troika believes the task is achievable, as besides the privatisation of the Cyprus Telecommunications Authority, the Ports Authority, the Electricity Authority, the Stock Exchange, the Pancyprian Company of Bakers and the Forestry Industries, revenues will flow in also from casinos licensing and utilisation of state property.
Meanwhile the government is considering selling the National Lottery to a strategic investor. Government sources have said that revenue from the National Lottery amounts to €20m annually.

 

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Clubs and fans urged to calm down ahead of title showdown

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The CFA’s indecisiveness, unwillingness or, perhaps, inability to tackle the problems plaguing Cyprus football is also to blame for stoking hostility between rival clubs

By Iacovos Constantinou

THE Cyprus Football Association (CFA) has issued a statement regarding Saturday’s championship decider between AEL and APOEL in Limassol.

It urged both clubs and their fans to tone down their rhetoric ahead of the game so that “we can have a game worthy of the names of the two big clubs, away from any sort of violence and for fans to drive back home safely after the game.”

However it is quite obvious that the CFA’s indecisiveness, unwillingness or, perhaps, inability to tackle the problems plaguing Cyprus football is also to blame for stoking this hostility between rival clubs.

A prime and recent example is their dilly-dallying over the ticket allocation for Saturday’s decisive game.

After two inconclusive meetings among interested parties, clubs have yet to be informed of their ticket allocation. On such a straightforward issue why is the CFA still undecided? This indecision has led to the supporters’ groups of both clubs accusing the CFA of siding with the other side, exchanging insults and making threats on social media against each other.

However one of the biggest problems the CFA has to tackle as soon as possible are the inflammatory comments made by club officials. It is inconceivable that a club president can publicly state after a game that “the referee must have been officiating at another ground” and the CFA just ignores him. Is there no provision in Cyprus football’s rule book about ‘bringing the game into disrepute?’

Chelsea manager Jose Mourinhio was fined €12.000 by the English FA for making sarcastic comments about referee Mike Dean after the Chelsea v Sunderland game. The special one sarcastically referred to his officiating as ‘fantastic’.

Almost after every game, club officials, usually of the losing team, have something rude to say about the referee but nobody seems bothered.

After the APOEL v Omonia game last week Omonia issued a statement claiming that the referee had revealed to a club official that his poor performance was because ‘‘he was wary in case they (the opposition) put the blame on him (in case they did not win)”.

Omonia also accused APOEL’s officials of entering the referee’s changing room at half-time in an effort to try and exert pressure on him.

Omonia’s statement concluded thus: “Everyone can realise where Cyprus football is heading, with referees acting in this way.”

A day or so later the referee denied the accusations saying that no APOEL official had entered his changing room and that he never made such comments about his supposedly poor performance to anyone.

There was a similar incident following the Omonia v AEL game last weekend. AEL’s press spokesman posted on his personal facebook page amongst other things the following: “The referee did everything possible so that we would not win. He followed the instruction he was given to the best of his ability…” and concluded: “We warn all, not to come to Limassol next week with such intentions.”

AEL’s president said after the same game: “We can win games against eleven or fifteen”, a direct jibe at the game’s four officials.

The icing on the cake came from Ton Caanen, the Dutch coach of relegated Aris. After the game that sent his team to the second division he told his players: “You can defeat your opponents, but you cannot beat the system”.

Had Aris defeated Doxa last week they most probably would have survived the drop and perhaps somebody else would have been making the very same statement.

In all these cases I have not heard or read any response from the CFA. Had it investigated any of these claims, and if yes will it punish the guilty parties?

Will the APOEL officials who allegedly entered the ref’s changing room be punished or will Omonia be penalised for issuing a statement based on lies relayed to the club by one of its officials?

Instead of sweeping everything under the carpet as if nothing is said, the CFA should start to take action before it is too late. How ironic that the motto on its website states that ‘through football we make friends”!

Note: The ticket allocation issue will be decided at a meeting between the CFA and club presidents tonight at 18.00 with unconfirmed reports saying that AEL will receive 5,000 and APOEL 2,500 tickets.

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AEL and APOEL agree on crunch match tickets

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AEL and APOEL agreed on Wednesday on the number of tickets for Saturday’s derby in Limassol that will decide the island’s football champion for 2014.

According to a statement posted on APOEL’s official website, home team AEL will take 5,060 tickets for the Tsirion stadium’s east stand, while the away side will receive 2,400 on the opposite stand.

The decision was taken during an afternoon meeting at the football association (CFA) between the chairmen of the two teams and CFA chief Costakis Koutsokoumnis.

The statement said the meting took place in an excellent climate and the aim is for Saturday’s game to be played without any problems.

It was also decided to use two extra officials in the fame, to oversee the goal lines.

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Biden to stay in Limassol after football risk in Nicosia

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By Angelos Anastasiou

NEXT week’s football cup final shaped decision-making in Tuesday’s kick-off meeting between Cyprus police and members of the US vice-president’s security detail, leading to a switch in the venue of Joe Biden’s stay from the Hilton in Nicosia to a Limassol hotel, according to reports.

In the meeting to devise the security plan for the American number two’s protection during his two-day stay, it was decided that Biden will be given head-of-state protection, meaning that for the duration of his 48-hour visit hundreds of police officers – led by the elite MMAD riot squad members – will be on red alert.

Biden will arrive in Cyprus on Wednesday, May 21, in an US government jet, which will carry two bulletproof limos – one for him and one for his escort.

Per head-of-state protocol, he will be accompanied by armed members of his security detail bearing identification badges. His general safety will be the remit of Cyprus police, it was established during the meeting.

Tuesday’s meeting was the first in a series to follow in order to finalise every detail of Biden’s itinerary.

But Phileleftheros reported that while the visitors were scheduled to stay at the Hilton in Nicosia, it emerged at the meeting that a Limassol hotel would be best suited to host Biden and his entourage.

That is because the final whistle at football cup final, scheduled for the evening of May 21 between Nicosia-based APOEL and Aradippou club Ermis, may well find scores of APOEL’s fans flocking to the club’s headquarters – adjacent to the Hilton – in celebration, and the gathered crowd has been deemed a potentially serious security risk.

Police spokesman Andreas Angelides neither confirmed nor denied the report, and could only offer assurances that “all necessary security measures are being taken.” But any truth to the paper’s claims would mean the implicit admission by the police of its inability to control an anticipated crowd of a few hundred football fans, or even block their gathering altogether.

Meanwhile, a separate security mission was expected to arrive from the United States yesterday, in order to finalise the schedule for Biden’s two-day visit, while Foreign Minister Ioannis Kasoulides – as part of a four-day official visit to the U.S. – had a meeting with Biden’s National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan, in which issues relating to the visit w

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Cyprus expresses sympathy to Turkey over mine disaster

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Search and rescue teams and officials are seen around a coal mine where miners are trapped near Soma, a district in Turkey's western province of Manisa

President Nicos Anastasiades and his government have expressed their sincere condolences to the Turkish government and people for the tragic event at a coal mine in Western Turkey.

In a written statement, Government Spokesman Nikos Christodoulides said that Anastasiades and the government also expressed their deep sympathy to the families of the victims.

“President of the Republic Nicos Anastasiades and the government express their sincere condolences to the Turkish government and the Turkish people for the tragic event at a coal mine in Western Turkey, during which hundreds of people lost their lives and dozens of others were injured,” Christodoulides said.

Some 240 workers have died and more than 100 remain trapped in a disaster likely to prove the deadliest of its kind in Turkish history.

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Talks open in Ukraine without rebels

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By Richard Balmforth

Ukraine’s interim leaders on Wednesday pushed a plan to allow the regions a greater say over their affairs, but the exclusion of separatists from round table talks cast doubt over whether the move could defuse the crisis.

The talks brought together politicians and civil groups in an effort to quell a pro-Russian rebellion in the industrialised Donbass region of  eastern Ukraine, which has triggered fears of a break-up of the former Soviet republic.

They came at a tense moment for Kiev. On Tuesday, seven soldiers were killed in an ambush near the city of Kramatorsk, the deadliest attack on security forces since they were sent to tackle the uprising in the east in April.

Voters in the eastern regions of Donetsk and Luhansk backed self-rule in two referendums held on Sunday despite protestations from Kiev, which sees Russia’s hand behind the rebellion and denounced the votes as illegal.

After the voting, rebel leaders in Donetsk and Luhansk called for their regions to become part of Russia although this call has not been taken up by Moscow.

When the round table talks opened in the parliament building in Kiev, the country’s main leaders sharply attacked Russia, with acting president Oleksander Turchinov accusing Moscow of launching “systematic action to destabilise eastern and southern regions of Ukraine” to produce an “explosive situation”.

And, in comments angled at the separatist rebels who were excluded from the talks, Prime Minister Arseny Yatseniuk said: “We will conduct a dialogue with all those who do not shoot and do not kill citizens.”

But Yatseniuk went on to press a decentralisation plan ceding greater powers to the regions which the Kiev authorities hope will address disaffection in eastern Ukraine and help undercut the influence of rebels seeking to break altogether with Kiev and join the Russian Federation. Such a scenario is seen by Kiev as pointing a way to resolving the crisis.

“Using mechanisms for changing the constitution, we should be able to de-centralise power and confer additional powers on regional authorities … create a real balance (between central and regional authorities),” he said.

Under the plan regions could hold back a portion of taxes for direct use in improving infrastructure and conditions for local businesses.

But the plan’s architects are keen that they do not allow discussion of  ‘federalisation’ – an idea pushed by Russia and the separatists – which they fear would lead to too-great autonomy and weaken the grip of the central government.

AKHMETOV BACKING

Ukraine’s wealthiest businessman, Rinat Akhmetov, whose vast mining and steel-producing empire stretches across the Donbass, threw his weight behind the decentralisation strategy, describing it as the “only right way” of ending the crisis.

“I strongly believe that Donbass can be happy only in a united Kiev,” he said in a statement issued by his holding company, System Capital Management.

Wednesday’s talks brought together ministers, political party leaders, candidates for the presidential election on May 25, business representatives and local government officials.

Kiev’s exclusion of the rebels - whom it describes as “terrorists” – from the talks has drawn criticism from abroad. Moscow has said there should be direct talks between separatists and Kiev.

Among those to express hope in the talks was German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who said the more representatives were present, the better. The unrest in Ukraine and Russia’s annexation of Crimea have contributed to the worst East-West crisis since the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union.

In the rebel redoubt of Slaviansk on Wednesday, Vyacheslav Ponomaryov, the self-appointed mayor, said he had heard nothing of the round table.

“The Kiev junta organised that? … Our first condition for talks with the Kiev junta is the immediate pullout of all the troops of the Ukrainian army from the territories of the Donetsk, Kharkov and Lugansk regions… As long as they are on our territory there will be no talks,” he declared.

There have been no public negotiations between separatists and the government since the crisis began in early April.

“There is no reason to expect any concrete decision (from the talks),” independent analyst Volodymyr Fesenko said.

“If there are not people in authority from the east at these talks this round-table will lose all sense.”

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