BALTIMORE, Maryland May 23, 2014 - Elections that will put a new and permanent government in place in Ukraine are set to begin in just a few hours. The Washington Post, quoting Ukrainian, USA and EU sources, said unfettered voting is predicted for 200 of the total of 215 polling places across this sprawling Eastern European Nation. The other 15 are in the Eastern Ukraine cities that continue to see sporadic violence between Separatist Guerillas and Ukraine Army Units. The Separatists, which the United States and the EU say are "armed, financed and directed by Moscow," are opposed to the election and insist they are now a separate and independent nation. They call themselves the Republic of Donetsk.
While it is true that the Russians are saying all of the right things at this critical time in Ukraine's history, the United States and the EU countries are skeptical. If violence tomorrow is widespread, both the USA and the EU are ready to move forward with what they call "Sector" sanctions. To date, the sanctions imposed by the USA and by the EU have been limited to freezing assets of individual people in the Government of Russian Strong Man Vladimir Putin. Sector sanctions, on the other hand, are sanctions and penalties placed on an entire category of the Russian economy. The 'sector' expected to take the first hit is the banking sector. The Post reported that other sectors that may be sanctioned include defense, energy and mining, although it is not clear how such sanctions would be imposed. If violence disrupts the elections on Sunday and is widespread, sanctions could be imposed as soon as next week, the Post said.
A positive development, if only a tepid one, is word from Western Intelligence Sources that some Russian troops have started to pull off of positions on the Ukraine Border. Some 40.000 heavily armed and logistically supported troops had been on the Ukraine Border for over two months. Putin had promised repeatedly to pull those troops back, but his promises were never supported by action. This time, he couched his promise to the West in the form of an Order to his troops. Intelligence Sources quoted by the Washington Post some small amount of troops have actually left the front, but a larger number are apparently preparing to leave. The "Russian General Valery Gerasimov, chief of the general staff, said Friday that the troops have started to withdraw," the Washington Post reported Saturday.
At the same time troops are moving off of the border, the Post said fighting continued in at least two places in Eastern Ukraine on Friday,
The Post provided insight into the complex effort to unite the United States and the EU on sanctions against Russia. According to the newspaper, the United States does $25 billion in annual trade with the Putin regime, while the EU does considerably more, in fact, an estimated $450 billion. Despite this, the leading economic power in the EU, Germany, has gotten behind the sanctions and its business sector says it is on board also. A leading industrial group said it would follow along on the sanctions, albeit with "a heavy heart," the Post said. The nations most behind tough sanctions are former Soviet Satellite Countries such as Poland and the Baltic States of Estonia, Lituania and Latvia. Nations that are the coolest on sanctions are small countries caught in tough economic times, such as Greece. All of the Western Nations are anxious not to contaminate future cooperation with Russia by going too aggressive and negative about Ukraine. Even Putin agreed with this point and said so at a conference in Russia in recent days.
In the same article, the Post said that a wealthy Ukraine businessman, Petro Poroshenko, appears to be leading the presidential race. He is seen as someone who could resist in almost inbred corruption that has plagued Ukraine politics since it broke away from the collapsing Soviet Union. He is also said to have close and useful links to business interests in Russia.
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