Biden asks Russia to reduce tension, US offers $50 million to Ukraine

Aiming to show solidarity with Ukraine`s pro-Western government, US Vice President Joe Biden will on Tuesday hold talks with the country`s President and interim PM.

Zee Media Bureau/Supriya Jha Kiev: Aiming to show solidarity with Ukraine`s pro-Western government, US Vice President Joe Biden on Tuesday assured that the US will stand by their side in face of "humiliating threats" apparently from Russia. He also warned Russia today that "it`s time to stop talking and start acting" to reduce tension in Ukraine. Standing alongside acting Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk, Biden called on Moscow to encourage pro-Russia separatists in eastern Ukraine to vacate government buildings and checkpoints, accept amnesty and "address their grievances politically." "You face very tough problems, and some might say, humiliating threats," Biden said. He added that Ukraine`s elections set for May 25 could be "the most important election in Ukrainian history". Biden also stressed how it was urgent for Ukraine to be independent of Russian gas supplies saying, "Imagine where you`d stand today if you could tell Russia to keep your own gas". Biden was speaking in the Parliament, where Ukraine`s three presidential hopeful candidates, including billionaire chocolate magnate Petro Poroshenko, were present. On a lighter note, Biden wished them more luck with the elections than he himself had in US presidential elections. Biden further urged the country "to generate a united Ukraine" and promised US` support in the process. Biden also announced the United States will provide an additional USD 50 million to help Ukraine`s beleaguered government with political and economic reforms.The money includes USD 11 million to help conduct the May 25 presidential election, including voter education, administration and oversight. It also will help fund expert teams from US government agencies to help Ukraine to reduce its reliance on energy supplies from Russia. Other technical advisers will help fight corruption. The White House also announced USD 8 million in nonlethal military assistance for the Ukrainian armed forces, including bomb-disposal equipment, communications gear and vehicles. Biden said that the country had a historic chance now after former President Viktor Yanukovych has fled to Russia. "This is a second opportunity to make good on the promise of the Orange Revolution," Biden said. Biden`s visit comes in the backdrop of a shooting at a checkpoint manned by pro-Russian activists in the city of Slovyansk, which killed three. The incident resulted in both sides blaming each other, with Ukraine accusing “provocateurs from outside the country” of staging the shootout while Russia blamed Ukraine nationalists for the same.

Biden who arrived in Kiev on Monday to express the US support to Kiev`s authorities, met Ukraine`s acting PM and President - Arseniy Yatsenyuk and Oleksandr Turchynov. Meanwhile, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in a phone call with US Secretary of State lashed out at the authorities in Kiev of not doing anything to prevent the shoot-out and also accused them of violating the Geneva accord. “Steps are being taken – above all by those who seized power in Kiev – not only that do not fulfil, but that crudely violate the Geneva agreement,” Lavrov told Kerry. “The authorities are doing nothing, not even lifting a finger, to address the causes behind this deep internal crisis in Ukraine,” he added. Lavrov urged Kerry "to influence Kiev, to prevent hotheads there from provoking a bloody conflict." The Russian FM said that the Ukrainian government had not tried to disarm illegal groups occupying government buildings in atleast 10 eastern Ukraine cities. The shoot-out was a first incidence of violence after a deal was reached in Geneva on April 17 after talks among the US, Russia, Ukraine and the EU. The deal called for disarming of illegal occupants of the government buildings and in turn offered to grant them amnesty. Meanwhile, the US Department of State on Thursday, April 17, 2014, released an 11-page document that showed pictures showing Russian soldiers with Russian weapons in eastern Ukraine. The US State Department said that the pictures which proved Russian role in eastern Ukraine crisis, were taken from the Internet and social media. However, the pictures had not been verified so far.