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Obama offers to lift sanctions if Russia ‘changes course’ on Ukraine

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US President Barack Obama on Wednesday slammed Russia's "aggression" in Ukraine but offered to lift sanctions against Moscow if it threw its weight behind an unravelling peace deal with Kiev.

The outstretched hand to Moscow came a day after pro-Russian guerrillas brushed off Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko's limited self-rule offer and announced plans to set up their own parliaments in self-organised November 2 polls.

The autonomy plan was at the heart of the pro-Western leader's attempts to quell a revolt that has devastated the ex-Soviet nation's economy and revived a Cold War-era mistrust between Moscow and the West.

A tough-talking Obama told a special UN General Assembly session in New York that Russia was on the wrong side of history in Ukraine. But he also stressed that a ceasefire deal agreed earlier this month offered an opening toward diplomacy and peace.

Ukrainian buffer zone
Ukrainian buffer zone
AFP Berlin, teb/kt/jj, AFP

"Russian aggression in Europe recalls the days when large nations trampled small ones in pursuit of territorial ambition," Obama told the General Assembly with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in attendance.

"We will impose a cost on Russia for aggression."

But if Moscow "changes course", he said, "we will lift our sanctions and welcome Russia's role in addressing common challenges".

Obama's remarks left Lavrov unimpressed.

"The sanctions are the United States' own business," Interfax quoted Lavrov as telling Russian reporters.

"But the things happening in Ukraine are not their business at all."

Smoke from a burning fuel dump at the Donetsk airport can be seen from a pro-Russia separatist check...
Smoke from a burning fuel dump at the Donetsk airport can be seen from a pro-Russia separatist checkpoint on September 23, 2014
John MacDougall, AFP

Poroshenko himself has issued no comment since seeing his high-stakes bid to resolve a crisis that has killed more than 3,200 people so openly challenged just days after it was unveiled.

Ukraine's parliament had last week backed his plan for rebel-held parts of the Russian-speaking east to hold local council elections December 7 that would help restore law and order but not pursue any independence claims.

But the Kremlin appeared ready to ratchet up tensions further by focusing state media on claims of the bodies of four tortured civilians being discovered in an eastern coal mine that had allegedly served as a Ukrainian military base.

The Russian foreign minister said starkly that "most likely, we are looking at war crimes that can never be justified".

Both the press office of Ukraine's eastern campaign and the National Guard -- a part-volunteer force Moscow frequently brands as "fascists" -- denied ever having control of the Donetsk industrial region mine.

And a team of monitors from the OSCE pan-European security body reported after a visit to the site Wednesday that it had seen four corpses "in the process of decomposition".

The monitors stressed that they could not "provide a forensic assessment of the sites".

- Big guns pull back -

Relatives mourn on September 22  2014 in Debaltseve behind the body of a woman killed when her build...
Relatives mourn on September 22, 2014 in Debaltseve behind the body of a woman killed when her building was damaged by rockets during overnight shelling
Anatolii Stepanov, AFP/File

Both Kiev and its Western allies fear Putin is trying to turn the east of Ukraine into a "frozen conflict" similar to those that have already given Moscow effective control over parts of the ex-Soviet nations Georgia and Moldova.

Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk -- seen by some analysts as the leader of Kiev's hawkish "war camp" -- is expected to raise these concerns when he takes his turn before the UN General Assembly later Wednesday.

Yatsenyuk will make sure "discussions continue on arms sales and more direct support to Ukraine's stand against Russia," Kiev's SP Advisor's brokerage said in a report.

The string of recent peace overtures have helped calm the deadliest fighting and allowed some of the 650,000 people driven out of their homes by the conflict start rebuilding their lives.

Both sides have also begun pulling back their biggest guns and tanks from the frontline in order to establish a 30-kilometre (19-mile) buffer zone that could be overseen by monitors from the OSCE pan-European security group.

A man covers a broken window on September 22  2014 in Debaltseve  after his building was damaged by ...
A man covers a broken window on September 22, 2014 in Debaltseve, after his building was damaged by rockets during an overnight shelling
Anatolii Stepanov, AFP/File

The Kremlin has welcomed the withdrawal as a sign of Poroshenko admitting he did not need a war fought "until there are no more Ukrainians left standing".

Eurasia Group political risk consultancy said the current peace deal "yields Moscow an acceptable level of control over Ukraine and avoids further sanctions."

"While the near term will bring some fragile calm, the fundamental clashes that underpin this entire crisis cannot stay hidden for long," it warned.

US President Barack Obama on Wednesday slammed Russia’s “aggression” in Ukraine but offered to lift sanctions against Moscow if it threw its weight behind an unravelling peace deal with Kiev.

The outstretched hand to Moscow came a day after pro-Russian guerrillas brushed off Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko’s limited self-rule offer and announced plans to set up their own parliaments in self-organised November 2 polls.

The autonomy plan was at the heart of the pro-Western leader’s attempts to quell a revolt that has devastated the ex-Soviet nation’s economy and revived a Cold War-era mistrust between Moscow and the West.

A tough-talking Obama told a special UN General Assembly session in New York that Russia was on the wrong side of history in Ukraine. But he also stressed that a ceasefire deal agreed earlier this month offered an opening toward diplomacy and peace.

Ukrainian buffer zone

Ukrainian buffer zone
AFP Berlin, teb/kt/jj, AFP

“Russian aggression in Europe recalls the days when large nations trampled small ones in pursuit of territorial ambition,” Obama told the General Assembly with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in attendance.

“We will impose a cost on Russia for aggression.”

But if Moscow “changes course”, he said, “we will lift our sanctions and welcome Russia’s role in addressing common challenges”.

Obama’s remarks left Lavrov unimpressed.

“The sanctions are the United States’ own business,” Interfax quoted Lavrov as telling Russian reporters.

“But the things happening in Ukraine are not their business at all.”

Smoke from a burning fuel dump at the Donetsk airport can be seen from a pro-Russia separatist check...

Smoke from a burning fuel dump at the Donetsk airport can be seen from a pro-Russia separatist checkpoint on September 23, 2014
John MacDougall, AFP

Poroshenko himself has issued no comment since seeing his high-stakes bid to resolve a crisis that has killed more than 3,200 people so openly challenged just days after it was unveiled.

Ukraine’s parliament had last week backed his plan for rebel-held parts of the Russian-speaking east to hold local council elections December 7 that would help restore law and order but not pursue any independence claims.

But the Kremlin appeared ready to ratchet up tensions further by focusing state media on claims of the bodies of four tortured civilians being discovered in an eastern coal mine that had allegedly served as a Ukrainian military base.

The Russian foreign minister said starkly that “most likely, we are looking at war crimes that can never be justified”.

Both the press office of Ukraine’s eastern campaign and the National Guard — a part-volunteer force Moscow frequently brands as “fascists” — denied ever having control of the Donetsk industrial region mine.

And a team of monitors from the OSCE pan-European security body reported after a visit to the site Wednesday that it had seen four corpses “in the process of decomposition”.

The monitors stressed that they could not “provide a forensic assessment of the sites”.

– Big guns pull back –

Relatives mourn on September 22  2014 in Debaltseve behind the body of a woman killed when her build...

Relatives mourn on September 22, 2014 in Debaltseve behind the body of a woman killed when her building was damaged by rockets during overnight shelling
Anatolii Stepanov, AFP/File

Both Kiev and its Western allies fear Putin is trying to turn the east of Ukraine into a “frozen conflict” similar to those that have already given Moscow effective control over parts of the ex-Soviet nations Georgia and Moldova.

Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk — seen by some analysts as the leader of Kiev’s hawkish “war camp” — is expected to raise these concerns when he takes his turn before the UN General Assembly later Wednesday.

Yatsenyuk will make sure “discussions continue on arms sales and more direct support to Ukraine’s stand against Russia,” Kiev’s SP Advisor’s brokerage said in a report.

The string of recent peace overtures have helped calm the deadliest fighting and allowed some of the 650,000 people driven out of their homes by the conflict start rebuilding their lives.

Both sides have also begun pulling back their biggest guns and tanks from the frontline in order to establish a 30-kilometre (19-mile) buffer zone that could be overseen by monitors from the OSCE pan-European security group.

A man covers a broken window on September 22  2014 in Debaltseve  after his building was damaged by ...

A man covers a broken window on September 22, 2014 in Debaltseve, after his building was damaged by rockets during an overnight shelling
Anatolii Stepanov, AFP/File

The Kremlin has welcomed the withdrawal as a sign of Poroshenko admitting he did not need a war fought “until there are no more Ukrainians left standing”.

Eurasia Group political risk consultancy said the current peace deal “yields Moscow an acceptable level of control over Ukraine and avoids further sanctions.”

“While the near term will bring some fragile calm, the fundamental clashes that underpin this entire crisis cannot stay hidden for long,” it warned.

AFP
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With 2,400 staff representing 100 different nationalities, AFP covers the world as a leading global news agency. AFP provides fast, comprehensive and verified coverage of the issues affecting our daily lives.

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