WASHINGTON: US President Barack Obama yesterday condemned what he called Russian “aggression” in Ukraine as he welcomed counterpart Petro Poroshenko to the White House for the first time.
He also praised the Ukrainian leader for his “difficult” move to offer limited self-rule to parts of his war-torn country’s separatist east as part of a peace plan reached with Moscow.
Obama, seated side-by-side with Poroshenko in the Oval Office, in what officials said was a deliberate show of support aimed at Moscow, praised his visitor’s leadership — which he said had been “critical, at a very, very important time in Ukraine’s history.”
“Unfortunately, what we have also seen is Russian aggression, first in Crimea and most recently in portions of eastern Ukraine.” Obama said Russia’s moves had violated Ukraine’s sovereignty and were also designed to undermine Poroshenko’s reform efforts.
Obama praised Poroshenko for pushing legislation through Ukraine’s parliament offering self-rule to some eastern Ukrainian districts in a bid to appease separatists. He said the legislation, which was “very difficult” for Poroshenko, should give eastern Ukrainians confidence that their rights were fully respected. “Those were not easy laws that President Poroshenko passed,” Obama said. “But I think they indicated his commitment to an inclusive Ukraine,”
Poroshenko said he wanted a ceasefire between his forces and rebels to hold and to solidify into a lasting peace, and thanked Obama for his support.
“The only way we can de-escalate the situation in the eastern part of our country is the peace process,” he said.
BBC reporters ‘beaten’
Meanwhile, a team of BBC journalists was assaulted in southern Russia while researching a story about soldiers “being killed at the Ukraine border,” the company said yesterday after lodging a protest with Russian authorities. The three reporters were working in the southern city of Astrakhan when they were “assaulted by unidentified men in a coordinated attack,” BBC said in a statement.
“Our staff were badly beaten, their camera destroyed and then taken,” the statement said. BBC spokesman James Hardy added separately: “All are OK.” “The cameraman is continuing to receive treatment for concussion and other injuries,” he added in written remarks. After the assault the journalists were questioned at a police station.
AFP
