Russian, American, Ukrainian and EU Foreign Ministers to Meet; NATO Tripling Baltic Air and Naval Patrols; Ukraine Gives Protesters 48 Hours to Quit Government Buildings in Eastern Sector

BALTIMORE, Maryland April 10, 2014 - Russia, the Ukraine, the EU and these United States will send their foreign ministers and secretaries to meet face-to-face next week, for the first time, even as NATO revealed yesterday that it is preparing for the real possibility of a large troop deployment in Eastern Europe. The deployment by NATO will doubtlessly include a large contingent of American troops. NATO's top military commander in Europe, U.S. Air Force Gen. Philip Breedlove also said NATO will soon send to sea a beefed-up naval flotilla. NATO has also revealed that it is tripling the number of fighter jets patrolling over the Baltic Sea area in direct response to Russian aggression in Ukraine, it was announced Wednesday. Any NATO troop deployment to Eastern Europe will not be to Ukraine. The only countries where NATO can deploy are countries which currently are members of the alliance.

Ukraine revealed that it will completely end the occupation of government buildings in Ukraine within 48 hours, said Arsen Avakov, the nation's interior minister. "For those who want dialogue, we propose talks and a political solution. For the minority who want conflict, they will get a forceful answer from the Ukrainian authorities," Mr. Avakov said. Protestors - who Ukrainian authorities and the United States claim are paid by Russia and assisted by undercover Russian operatives - occupied buildings in three eastern Ukraine urban centers. In Kharkiv, the second largest city in Ukraine, protesters were ejected from the building they occupied by the Ukraine military. Some 70 people were arrested. In Luhansk, protesters reinforced barricades and appeared to dig in when they were told of Avakov's statement. In Donetsk, activists remain hunkered down and are the main focus of Kiev's anger. Earlier, it was this group of pro-Russian activists who proclaimed Donetsk an independent republic and said they would hold a Crimea-style referendum within one month. The issue on the proposed ballot would be whether the people of the region want to sever all relations with Ukraine and become part of Russia.

One chip held by Russian Strong Man Vladimir Putin is the money owed by Ukraine to the Russian state-owned gas company - and monopoly - Gazprom. Ukraine has an outstanding debt equivalent to $2.2 billion. It has promised to pay the debt but is outraged over an 80% price increase announced by Moscow. For its part, Gazprom has threatened to close the pipeline which delivers the gas.

According to the blog "Naval Open Source Intelligence," four NATO fighters are usually based in the Baltics. The nation currently responsible for the patrols is the United States, and they have elected to increase the number of patrol jets to ten F-15 Fighter Jets. There is a pre-scheduled increase to 12 beginning in May, which brings the complement of jet fighters to three times what it was only weeks ago. NATO concedes that all of these increases are directly linked to Russia's invasion of Crimea and its massing of troops on the Ukraine border.