Poroshenko tells me signing trade deal w EU today is Ukraine’s 2nd most-imp event, after indep http://t.co/hdxDFDodSd pic.twitter.com/WdS7glD9ep
— Christiane Amanpour (@camanpour) June 27, 2014
Crimea joined the giant #Gazprom map as the 2014 general shareholders meeting comes to an end. pic.twitter.com/lCZzbG0IPx
— Paul Gypteau (@paulgypteau) June 27, 2014
RFE/RL's Brussels correspondent Rikard Jozwiak has some sanctions news (among other things) from the EU summit:
European Union leaders have decided not to impose sanctions on Russia during their summit in Brussels today but instead outlined what they expect from Moscow in the next 72 hours regarding the crisis in Ukraine.
Those demands, outlined in an EU statement, include an agreement on a verification mechanism, monitored by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), for the cease-fire and for the effective control of the border; the return to the Ukrainian authorities of three border checkpoints; the release of hostages including all OSCE observers; and the launch of substantial negotiations on the implementation of Ukrainian President Poroshenko's peace plan.
The EU says it will assess on June 30 whether additional measures must be taken.
EU leaders are also due to debate candidates to become the next president of the European Commission.
Luxembourg's Jean-Claude Juncker is the favorite, despite strong opposition from Britain.
As he arrived today, British Prime Minister David Cameron said he believed Juncker's candidacy was "profoundly wrong" but acknowledged his opposition was unlikely to prevent Juncker's nomination.
Poroshenko in Brussels: "We do not need sanctions for sanctions' sake. We do not want to inflict any harm on Russia. We need peace."
— Nikolaus von Twickel (@niktwick) June 27, 2014
Ukrainians and Moldovans want visa free travel to #EU to make money, Russians want it to spend money, says @DmitriTrenin @ecfr
— Janek Lasocki (@JanekLasocki) June 27, 2014
Donetsk People's Republic says the latest round of "consultations between OSCE, Ukraine, Russia and Novorossiya" has begun
— Alec Luhn (@ASLuhn) June 27, 2014
Bloomberg has been looking at how things could quickly turn nasty for Russian President Vladimir Putin despite his soaring approval ratings:
Even Vladimir Putin, in his 15th year in power, can’t convert an 86 percent approval rating into economic growth when global banks stop lending and money flows mostly one way: out.
So far, Putin has paid a small price for the most blatant land grab in Europe since World War II: a few frozen credit cards, some travel restrictions on his billionaire friends and a bit of finger-wagging by U.S. and European Union leaders. For all his vows to modernize and diversify the economy, though, Russia remains a nuclear-armed petrostate and Putin’s remedy for growth now is more, not less, government control.
“The measures the president is proposing will certainly limit competition and freeze modernization,” Alexei Kudrin, a Putin adviser who steered the country’s finances for more than a decade, said in an interview in Moscow. “They will lead to an increase in market regulation and protectionism.”
[...]
State enterprises now account for more than half of the economy, up from 30 percent when Putin came to power at the end of 1999, according to BNP Paribas SA. (BNP) As the bureaucracy swelled during that period, Russia emerged as the world’s most corrupt major economy. It ranks alongside Pakistan and Nicaragua at 127th, out of 176 nations, by Transparency International, down from 82nd in 2000.
[...]
State enterprises now account for more than half of the economy, up from 30 percent when Putin came to power at the end of 1999, according to BNP Paribas SA. (BNP) As the bureaucracy swelled during that period, Russia emerged as the world’s most corrupt major economy. It ranks alongside Pakistan and Nicaragua at 127th, out of 176 nations, by Transparency International, down from 82nd in 2000.
Read the entire article here
The Twittersphere has been abuzz with talk of an extension of the cease-fire. Our news desk has some more details:
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko says he will decide whether to extend a unilateral cease-fire in eastern Ukraine when he returns to Kyiv later from an EU summit in Brussels.
The cease-fire is due to expire today.
Media reports citing diplomatic sources said Poroshenko told EU leaders he was ready to extend the cease-fire by 72 hours, the same time period the EU has given Russia to act on Ukraine or face the prospect of sanctions.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Moscow would welcome a three-day extension of the cease-fire, but it must not simply delay an "ultimatum" for separatists to disarm.
President Vladimir Putin has called for a long-term cease-fire to allow for peace talks.
Meanwhile, the Interfax news agency says talks involving representatives of Kyiv, Moscow, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), and pro-Russian separatists on the cease-fire are under way in Donetsk.