Ukraine Crisis Updates - April 11, 2014

News | April 11, 2014

EWI offers a daily situation report on Ukraine.

Internal Security News:

  • Occupations of government buildings continue in Donetsk and Lugansk.
     
  • Seven people die in an explosion at a coal mine in Donetsk.
     
  • Prime Minster of the Republic of Crimea Sergei Aksionov states that 150 Russian bank branches will open in Crimea in spaces vacated by Ukrainian banks within the next 10 days. 
     

Diplomacy News:

  • Russia again reiterates its refusal to extradite ousted Ukrainian President Yanukovych.
     
  • Russian FM Sergei Lavrov says that Western governments should stop trying to legitimize the Ukrainian government to deescalate the crisis. “Today’s anti-Russian incitement in many countries of the European Union on the backdrop of racism and xenophobia, the increase in the number of ultra-radical groups and the connivance of neo-Nazi manifestations in Ukraine or anywhere else is obviously dangerous for European stability,” Russian FM Sergei Lavrov said during a press conference in Moscow. “If we start evaluating the situation as it really is, it will become apparent that the Ukrainian crisis is a first sign suggesting we are witnessing the rise of a polycentric world. This is a complex process. Outdated political traditions will not work here.”
     
  • Belarusian President Lukashenko states that Belarus is prepared to take in Ukrainians wishing to leave the country. 
     

Ukraine Governance News:

  • The Crimean Parliament has voted unanimously in favor of adopting the republic's new constitution.
     
  • The Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar people sees the Constitution of the Republic of Crimea as unacceptable to the Crimean Tatars, as it does not have any rule that would guarantee the preservation and development of the Crimean Tatar people as an indigenous people on the peninsula.
     
  • Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk visited Donetsk and Dnipropetrovsk. In an attempt to defuse separatist tensions in eastern Ukraine, government and business leaders told visiting Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk that the regions need more power and resources to address the needs of local residents.
     
  • The Verkhovna Rada should adopt a law on local referendums, Prime Minister Arseniy Yatseniuk said.
     
  • Ukraine's central administration is ready for dialogue with the regions and is ready to fulfill the lawful demands made by every resident of Ukraine, Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatseniuk said during a meeting with representatives of the Donetsk region.
     
  • Ukraine will begin to pay Russia for gas it consumed in March 2014 after agreement on its price, Energy and Coal Industry Minister Yuriy Prodan said.
     
  • The new version of the Ukrainian Constitution must be published before the early presidential election on May 25, Ukraine's Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk said.
     
  • Vladimir Putin on Friday called the Ukrainea's non-payment for gas consumption "completely intolerable." 
     

International Observations News:

  • The Executive Board of UNESCO on April 10 adopted, by an overwhelming majority, a resolution entitled "UNESCO Monitoring Situation in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea (Ukraine)," which was introduced by Ukraine.
     
  • OSCE Secretary General Lamberto Zannier said that the Ukrainian authorities should hold an active dialogue with the local authorities in the east of the country, and try to improve on it with the Russian Federation with the support of the international community