Ukraine accused Russia’s President Vladimir Putin of orchestrating the seizure of state buildings in two eastern Ukrainian cities by pro-Russia protesters yesterday, in a further escalation of tension between Kiev and Moscow.
The protesters seized the regional government building in the industrial hub of Donetsk and security service offices in nearby Luhansk, waving Russian flags and demanding a Crimea-style referendum on joining Russia.
Interior Minister Arsen Avakov said police would restore order in both cities without recourse to violence. He accused Ukraine’s ousted president Viktor Yanu-kovych, whose political base was in Donetsk, of conspiring with Putin to fuel tensions.
“Putin and Yanukovych ordered and paid for the latest wave of separatist disorder in the east of the country. The people who have gathered are not many but they are very aggressive,” Avakov said in a statement on his Facebook page.
Putin and Yanukovych paid for the latest wave of separatist disorder
“The situation will come back under control without bloodshed. That is the order to law enforcement officers, it’s true. But the truth is that no one will peacefully tolerate the lawlessness of provocateurs,” he said.
Ukraine’s Acting President Oleksander Turchinov called an emergency meeting of security chiefs in Kiev and took personal control of the situation, the parliamentary press service said. Mainly Russian-speaking eastern Ukraine has seen a sharp rise in tensions since Yanukovych’s ouster in February and the installation of a pro-European government in Kiev.
Branding the new Kiev government illegitimate, Russia has annexed Ukraine’s Crimea region citing threats to its Russian-speaking majority, a move that has sparked the biggest standoff between Moscow and the West since the end of the Cold War.
More than 1,000 people protested in Donetsk yesterday before breaking into the regional administration building where they hung a Russian flag from a second floor balcony, a Reuters witness said. Protesters outside cheered and chanted “Russia!”.
In the Luhansk protest, Ukrainian TV said three people were injured. Police could not confirm the report.
Talking to the crowd over a loudspeaker, protest leaders in Donetsk said they wanted regional lawmakers to convene an emergency meeting to discuss a vote on joining Russia like the one in Ukraine’s Crimea region that led to its annexation.
A local Internet portal streamed footage from the seized building, showing people freely entering and exiting. Soviet-era music was being played over loud speakers outside.
The building houses the offices of regional governor Serhiy Taruta, a steel baron recently appointed by Kiev to rule a region with close economic and historic ties to Russia.
“Around 1,000 people took part (in the storming of the building), mostly young people with their faces covered,” said Ihor Dyomin, a spokesman for Donetsk local police.
“Around 100 people are now inside the building and are barricading the building,” he added.