BALTIMORE, Maryland April 21, 2014 - On Holy Thursday a peace accord was reached at the Four-Party Summit in Geneva. It was unexpected and unplanned and apparently one of the parties at the talks - Russia - did not have the ability to speak for some of the factions it represented that it could speak for. In brief, the peace accord called for Russia to use all of its influence to have the government buildings occupied in the eastern part of Ukraine to be returned the the parties who owned the buildings, whether they be a local government or the national government of Ukraine in Kiev. In return, Ukraine agreed to grant the Eastern part of the country a much greater degree of autonomy. It was also agreed that all persons involved in the demonstrations and even the fighting be granted immunity and amnesty. Within a few hours of the peace accord being made public it was clear that those occupying buildings in nearly a dozen Eastern cities would not willingly abide by the accord. The losely associated groups in the respective cities had had the one tie between them - the Russian Military - broken by the accord. At least for the moment, the Russian Security Services and Military operatives that were nominally in charge in Eastern Ukraine pulled back in keeping with the terms of the accord. That left the actual Separatists - mainly ethnic Russians actually domaciled in Eastern Ukraine - on their own. They were pitted against the so-called ultra nationalists: mainly ethnic Ukrainians doing everything in their power to push the country toward the EU.
Early Easter morning the pot boiled. According to reports, a number of vehicles approached a manned security checkpoint on the outskirts of Slaviansk. When it came near the Separatists manning the road block, gunfire erupted. Both sides claim to have inflicted casualties and sustained them. A Reuters Photographer who was there said he saw two bodies. But both sides said that three were killed. It wasn't clear whether they meant three killed on each side or three altogether.
Meanwhile, Separatists have kidnapped a Ukrainian Journalist, Irma Krat, and a Russian Web Site showed a video of a blindfolded woman, identified as Irma Krat, being taken before a "news conference" on Monday. The blindfolded woman said that he detainers were going to review a list of her on-line posts to decide when to release her. Three other journalists are said to have been detained and questioned, then released. On Friday, separatists in Donetsk circulated fliers that ordered all Jewish folk in Donetsk to "register," pay a $50 fee, and reveal all of their assets.
The Ukrainian government in Kiev has proposed a number of steps to curb the tensions in the eastern part of the country. Besides the steps taken with regard to increased autonomy, the government announced that no operations to free buildings occupied by separatists would be undertaken over Easter weekend. But there we few signs the Government could mount any kind of sustained military action in the eastern part of the country, reports said.
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