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Putin Wants To Revoke Mandate Sanctioning Use Of Force In Ukraine

June 24, 2014
by RFE/RL

Russian President Vladimir Putin has asked the Federation Council to revoke the authorization it granted for military forces to intervene in Ukraine.

Putin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the request was made to the upper house of parliament with the aim of 'normalizing the atmosphere and resolving the situation in the eastern regions of Ukraine.'

Valentina Matviyenko, the speaker of the Federation Council, quickly requested that the issue be debated on June 25 and said that the appropriate resolution would be prepared.

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko was quoted as calling Putin's request the 'first practical step' by Russia toward settling the crisis in the country's east.

Putin's announcement comes one day after EU foreign ministers, meeting in Brussels, urged the Kremlin to revoke the March 1 mandate authorizing military force, which Russia's parliament passed before Moscow annexed Crimea from Ukraine in violation of international law.

EU foreign ministers also repeated their threat of wider sanctions if Russia failed to support a peace plan put forward by Poroshenko.

Putin has given his cautious support to the plan.

Poroshenko, meanwhile, is due to meet with German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier later on June 24 in Kyiv to discuss the peace plan.

Ahead of his talks with Poroshenko, Steinmeier called this week a 'decisive' one for Ukraine, as both sides agreed to a temporary cease-fire until June 27.

Ukrainian government forces, however, accused pro-Russian separatists of firing on Ukrainian military checkpoints in several parts of the east overnight.

No casualties were reported in the violence.

Also, NATO foreign ministers are due to start a two-day meeting in Brussels on June 24 where they are expected to establish a trust fund to support Ukraine's defense capacity.

A NATO source told RFE/RL that the trust fund will focus on boosting Ukrainian defense in areas such as logistics, command and control, and cyberdefense.

No lethal aid to Ukraine has so far been discussed.

At the moment, there is also no decision on a timeline for setting up the fund or how much money will be available.

Officials also say no change is expected to an April decision suspending all practical NATO-Russia cooperation, amid speculation that a meeting of the NATO-Russia Council would be convened soon to take stock of the situation in Ukraine.

With reporting by ITAR-TASS, Interfax, AP, and Reuters

Source: http://www.rferl.org/content/russia-revoke-troops-ukraine/25433490.html

Copyright (c) 2014. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.