KIEV, April 22. /ITAR-TASS/. Interim President of Ukraine, appointed by the Verkhovna Rada and parliament Speaker Oleksandr Turchynov demanded from special task forces to resume the raid in the country’s east. Vekhovna Rada’s press service reported this on Tuesday.

“I demand that security services carry out effective counter-terrorist activities aimed at defending Ukrainian citizens living in the country’s east from terrorists,” Turchynov stated.

 

Accusation of nonfeasance

Ukrainian Prosecutor’s General Office has accused Interior Ministry and Security Service employees of nonfeasance. The statement published on the official website of the state institution noted that “unsanctioned seizing of administration buildings”, including that of the Interior Ministry and Security Service of Ukraine, “point to the nonfeasance of security officers”. The authority says about the failure to calm tensions in Donetsk, Luhansk, Odessa and Kharkiv regions, where the contingent of security services exceeds the number of protesters.

Earlier, Ukraine’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs notified about the suspension of the “active phase” of the special raid in eastern regions. The diplomats stated this commenting “on steps of the Ukrainian side towards implementing the Geneva accords”.

 

Geneva accords

April 18, a four-party meeting took place in Geneva with participation of top diplomats from Russia, USA, EU and the acting Ukrainian Minister of Foreign Affairs. The negotiations of Sergei Lavrov, John Kerry, Catherine Ashton and Andrii Deshchytsia were held behind closed doors. The meeting’s participants adopted a comprehensive agreement on de-escalation of the crisis in Ukraine. Its main provision became the agreement that all parties should abstain from any kind of violence, threats or provocations. In addition, the participants strongly condemned and renounced “any manifestation of extremism, racism or religious intolerance, including anti-Semitism”

The final statement says that “all illegal armed groups should be dismantled; all illegally seized buildings should be returned to legal owners, all illegally occupied streets, squares and other public places in Ukrainian cities and settlements should be cleared”. The ministers also agreed that amnesty would be guaranteed to protesters and those who would leave the buildings and other public places and lay down arms, except for those guilty of grave crimes.

The negotiations’ participants reached an accord that a special OSCE monitoring mission would play the leading role in helping Ukrainian authorities and local communities to implement de-escalation measures. The US, EU and Russia would support this mission, in particular, by providing observers.