Ukrainian Leader Now Needs Diplomatic Win He Can Sell to Voters
By Milda Seputyte, Kateryna Choursina and Peter Laca Sep 15, 2014 11:20 AM ET
President Petro Poroshenko has signed a cease-fire in Ukraine’s east, providing breathing space to mold a resolution to five months of the conflict even as pro-Russian separatists fought with government troops today. Having stepped back from a pledge to defeat the insurgency by the Oct. 26 ballot, he now needs a diplomatic win he can sell to voters.
That puts Poroshenko in a bind. On one hand, Ukrainians want a lasting peace that enables the new administration to follow through on promises made during the protests that swept Viktor Yanukovych from power. On the other, bowing to President Vladimir Putin’s demands as bargaining starts over the status of Ukraine’s east risks alienating voters and bolstering rivals.
Poroshenko “is walking a fine line, because he can’t give too many concessions, particularly with an election in the offing,” Amanda Paul, an analyst at the European Policy Centre in Brussels, said by e-mail. That’s all the more difficult because “Putin wants to ensure he’ll walk away from this, in his eyes and that of Russian society, the winner, with Moscow having a strong foothold.”
NATO Exercises
As fighting of varying intensity tests the truce signed Sept. 5 for the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, conflict-resolution talks may take place in the Belarusian capital of Minsk this week. Separatists fought Ukrainian troops in locations including Donetsk Airport today in the worst clashes since the cease-fire was signed. As U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry meets Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Paris, the U.S. and other NATO countries began military exercises in western Ukraine.
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http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-09-14/ukraine-leader-walks-fine-line-as-peace-deal-test-voters.html