Ukraine ‘won’t give up crimea’
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UKRAINE’S new president Petro Poroshenko said in his inaugural speech yesterday that his country will never give up Crimea and will not compromise on its path toward closer ties with Europe.
The 48-year-old billionaire took the oath of office before parliament, buoyed by Western support but facing an immediate crisis in relations with Russia as a separatist uprising seethes in the east of the country.
Russia annexed the Crimean peninsula in March, weeks after street protests ousted Poroshenko’s pro-Moscow predecessor.
“Citizens of Ukraine will never enjoy the beauty of peace unless we settle down our relations with Russia. Russia occupied Crimea, which was, is, and will be Ukrainian soil.”
Poroshenko said he had told this to Russian President Vladimir Putin when the two met on Friday at a World War II anniversary ceremony in France.
The new president, who earned his fortune as a confectionery entrepreneur and is known locally as the “Chocolate King,” said he intended very soon to sign the economic part of an association agreement with the European Union, as a first step toward full membership.
His voice swelling with emotion, Poroshenko stressed the need for a united Ukraine and the importance of ending the conflict that threatens to further split the country of 45 million people. He said it will not become a looser federalized state.
“There can be no trade-off about Crimea and about the European choice and about the governmental system. All other things can be negotiated. Any attempts at internal or external enslavement of Ukraine will meet with resolute resistance,” Poroshenko said.
Cheering crowds later greeted him on a walkabout in front of Kiev’s St Sophia’s Cathedral.
Since Poroshenko’s election, government forces have begun an intensified campaign against rebels in east Ukraine who want to split with Kiev and become part of Russia.
The rebels have fought back, turning parts of the east into a war zone. On Friday they shot down a Ukrainian army plane and killed a member of the interior ministry’s special forces in the separatist stronghold of Slaviansk.
Poroshenko urged pro-Moscow separatists to lay down their arms and said he would guarantee a safe corridor for them to go home.
“I don’t want war, I don’t want revenge. I want peace,” he said. “Lay down the guns and I guarantee immunity to all those who don’t have blood on their hands.”
Switching to Russian from Ukrainian to address the people of the troubled east, he said they had been duped by myths about the Kiev leadership, which had been stoked by Russian propaganda.
He said he will soon visit them with guarantees of Russian-language rights and proposals for decentralization, that will give their regions a bigger say in running their own affairs.
In the days leading up to his inauguration, Poroshenko met both United States President Barack Obama, who warmly endorsed his leadership, and Russia’s Putin.
At a brief meeting in France, where they were attending World War II commemorations, French officials said Poroshenko and Putin shook hands and agreed that detailed talks on a cease-fire would begin in a few days.
Russia denounced the overthrow of pro-Moscow President Viktor Yanukovich and accused Ukrainian authorities of worsening the crisis in the east by resorting to military force instead of dialogue.
It denies accusations by Kiev and Western governments that it is supporting the rebels.
Putin said he welcomed proposals set out by Poroshenko for ending the conflict. But he declined to say what they were and said Ukraine must halt what he called “punitive” military operations against pro-Russian separatists.
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