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U.S. Vice President Biden Starts Visit To Ukraine

April 21, 2014
by RFE/RL

U.S. Vice President Joe Biden has arrived in Kyiv to start a visit in which he is expected to hold talks with the Ukrainian leadership.

A senior U.S. administration official said the vice president plans announce during his two-day visit a package of technical assistance to Ukraine, focused on energy and economic aid.

The official said the assistance includes technical aid to help boost efficiency in natural gas fields and extraction of unconventional energy resources.

Concerns about Ukrainian energy supplies have soared since Russia sharply increased the prices that Ukraine must pay for Russian gas. Moscow's move came as tensions surged following Russia's annexation of Ukraine's Crimea in March.

Biden is scheduled to meet with acting President Oleksandr Turchynov, Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk, and members of Ukraine's parliament on April 22.

The United States has been a strong backer of Ukraine's new authorities. Washington has warned it could impose more sanctions against Russia unless Moscow takes action to de-escalate the situation in eastern Ukraine, where pro-Russian separatists have seized public facilities in around 10 towns.

Russian Accusations

Earlier April 21, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov accused the U.S.-backed Ukrainian authorities of violating the new international agreement aimed at calming the situation in Ukraine.

Lavrov negotiated the agreement on April 17 in Geneva with counterparts from Ukraine, the United States, and European Union.

Lavrov said 'those who seized power' in Kyiv -- or the Western-backed authorities -- are unwilling, or unable, to control nationalist groups.

Russia has blamed Ukrainian nationalists for stirring up problems in eastern Ukraine, including the April 20 shooting near the town of Slovyansk in which at least three people died.

Russia accuses members of Ukraine's Right Sector ultra-nationalist group of carrying out that attack.

Authorities in Kyiv and the Right Sector have denied any connection to the violence, and have instead accused Russia of carrying out a provocation.

Lavrov also said authorities in Kyiv had failed to act to dismantle 'illegal protests' -- or pro-Western encampments -- from public squares in the Ukrainian capital -- something he said was a violation of the Geneva agreements.

In other developments, Russia's Central Bank on April 21 ordered the activities of four Ukrainian banks in Crimea to be halted.

And Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a federal law on protection of bank deposits in Crimea and Sevastopol.

Putin also appointed a new deputy commander of Russia's naval forces in the Black Sea. Putin named former Ukrainian Navy Commander Admiral Denis Berezovsky to be the new deputy commander of the Russian Black Sea Fleet.

Putin also signed a decree rehabilitating Crimean Tatars and other peoples who were the target of Stalin-era repression.

Putin's decree is seen as an attempt to win support from non-Russian minority groups on the Crimean Peninsula.

Based on reporting by Reuters and AFP

Source: http://www.rferl.org/content/us-vice-president- biden-starts-visit-to-ukraine/25357041.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.