Moscow, Kyiv exchange blame as Ukraine deal falls flat

Lavrov said that the Ukrainian government has not taken steps to clear out Kyiv’s central square, which pro-Western demonstrators have occupied for months, and that it had not granted an amnesty to arrested protesters, as required by the Geneva deal. “Instead of freeing those already arrested, particularly the ‘people’s governor of Donetsk,’ Pavel Gubarev, the authorities in Kyiv are continuing to arrest political figures from the southeast,” Lavrov said.

Accusations from Moscow come a day after Ukraine’s interim Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk said in an interview that Russia was a threat to Ukraine, the European Union and the rest of the world. “President Putin has a dream to restore the Soviet Union, and every day he goes further and further, and God knows where is the final destination,” Yatsenyuk said on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”

The Geneva deal, which also called for extensive constitutional reform that will likely grant the east greater economic, political and cultural autonomy, has done little to ease tensions on the ground in Ukraine, which is divided between its mainly Ukrainian-speaking west and largely Russian-speaking east. The deal has been held back, some analysts say, by a lack of accountability for the pro-Russian separatist movement — which Western powers and their allies in Kyiv blame squarely on Moscow. They say Moscow has engineered the unrest in eastern Ukraine as a means of dividing the former Soviet republic to hamstring its current momentum toward greater European integration.

Russia, however, says Russian that speakers in the east are under threat from an authoritarian crackdown and that the leaders in Kyiv are illegitimate, anti-democratic and unrepresentative of many citizens. Moscow denies charges that it sent Russian operatives to stoke separatism and says it has no ability to quell the rebellion.

A mediator from the European watchdog OSCE met with the separatist leader in the city of Slovyansk on Monday for two hours to discuss the Geneva accord, Reuters reported, but attempts to defuse the armed tensions have not yet gained traction.

The White House has demanded Russia use its “influence” over the separatists to force them to lay down their arms and has threatened stronger economic sanctions in addition to ones it has already imposed on Russian elites.

Lavrov dismissed those threats on Monday. “Before giving us ultimatums, demanding that we fulfill demands within two or three days with the threat of sanctions, we would urgently call on our American partners to fully accept responsibility for those who they brought to power,” he said.

Attempts to pressure Russia will fail because it is “a big independent power that knows what it wants,” he added. That view is increasingly held by analysts who feel the West is suffering from a lack of political willpower to compel Russia to back down.

As the diplomatic effort trudges on, Vice President Joe Biden landed in Kyiv on Monday, where he is expected to announce additional economic and energy-related technical assistance to Ukraine. The country is reeling from the loss of a discounted gas-price deal and bailout offer from Russia, both of which were withdrawn after the uprising.