Wikipedia Resource Information: Russia and Republican Party 4 27 2015: Bayo Cary

April 27, 2015

Commentary: Freelancer: Bayo Cary: Background Information: Wikipedia, is a collaborative effort. Police in the U.S., are deleting some of the information, as well as entire pages, that are posted to Wikipedia. The information posted to Wikipedia-may, or may not be true. If you do not engage, in a significant amount of research, and inquiry, it will be difficult, for a lay person, to judge the veracity, and relevance, of the information, and the information resources, that are posted to Wikipedia. Different countries, have different Wikipedia pages, in other languages, and, the information, in other languages, vary, from the information, which is available, on the pages,which are available, in the U.S., and in English. Information, on Wikipedia, can be corrected, however, there is no guarantee, that the changed, and corrected information, in Wikipedia, will remain correct, or relevant.

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According to (US) Wikipedia: From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

"Russian Federation" redirects here. For the Soviet republic also referred to as the "Russian Federation", see Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic. For other uses of "Russia", see Russia (disambiguation).

Coordinates: 60°N 90°E

Russian Federation Российская Федерация Rossiyskaya Federatsiya (Russian)
Flag Coat of arms
Anthem:  "Государственный гимн Российской Федерации" "Gosudarstvennyy gimn Rossiyskoy Federatsii"  (transliteration) "State Anthem of the Russian Federation" Menu 0:00
Russia proper (dark green) Crimean peninsula (disputed) (light green)a
Capital and largest city		Moscow 55°45′N 37°37′E
Official languages		Russian
Recognised languages		35 other languages co-official in various regions[citation needed]
Ethnic groups (2010[1])		81.0% Russian 3.7% Tatar 1.4% Ukrainian 1.1% Bashkir 1.0% Chuvash 0.8% Chechen 11.0% others / unspecified
Demonym		Russians
Government		Federal semi-presidential constitutional republic
-	President	Vladimir Putin
-	Prime Minister	Dmitry Medvedev
-	Chairman of the Federation Council	Valentina Matviyenko
-	Chairman of the State Duma	Sergey Naryshkin
Legislature		Federal Assembly
-	Upper house	Federation Council
-	Lower house	State Duma
Formation
-	Arrival of Rurik, considered as a foundation event by the Russian authorities[2]	862
-	Kievan Rus'	882
-	Grand Duchy of Moscow	1283
-	Tsardom of Russia	16 January 1547
-	Russian Empire	22 October 1721
-	Russian SFSR	6 November 1917
-	Soviet Union	10 December 1922
-	Russian Federation	25 December 1991
-	Adoption of the current Constitution of Russia	12 December 1993
Area
-	Total	17,098,242 (Crimea not included) km2 (1st) 6,592,800 (Crimea not included) sq mi
-	Water (%)	13[3] (including swamps)
Population
-	2015 estimate	143,975,923[4] (not including the Republic of Crimea and Sevastopol) (9th)
-	Density	8.4/km2 (217th) 21.5/sq mi
GDP (PPP)		2015 estimate
-	Total	$3.458 trillion[5] (6th)
-	Per capita	$24,067[6] (53rd)
GDP (nominal)		2015 estimate
-	Total	$1.176 trillion[5] (15th)
-	Per capita	$8,184[6] (74th)
Gini (2012)		42[7] medium · 83rd
HDI (2013)		0.778[8] high · 57th
Currency		Russian ruble (RUB)
Time zone		(UTC+2 to +12)
Date format		dd.mm.yyyy
Drives on the		right
Calling code		+7
ISO 3166 code		RU
Internet TLD		.ru .su .рф
a.	The Crimean Peninsula is recognized as territory of Ukraine by most of the international community, but is de facto administered by Russia.[9]

Russia (Russian: Россия, tr. Rossiya; IPA: [rɐˈsʲijə] ( listen)), also officially known as the Russian Federation^[10] (Russian: Российская Федерация, tr. Rossiyskaya Federatsiya; IPA: [rɐˈsʲijskəjə fʲɪdʲɪˈratsɨjə] ( listen)), is a country in northern Eurasia.^[11] It is a federal semi-presidential republic. At 17,075,400 square kilometres (6,592,800 sq mi), Russia is the largest country in the world, covering more than one-eighth of the Earth's inhabited land area. Russia is also the world's ninth most populous nation with nearly 144 million people as of 2015.^[12]

Extending across the entirety of northern Asia and much of Eastern Europe, Russia spans nine time zones and incorporates a wide range of environments and landforms. From northwest to southeast, Russia shares land borders with Norway, Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland (both with Kaliningrad Oblast), Belarus, Ukraine, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, China, Mongolia, and North Korea. It shares maritime borders with Japan by the Sea of Okhotsk and the U.S. state of Alaska across the Bering Strait.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russia

According to (US) Wikipedia: Republican Party:

LGBT issues

Groups advocating for LGBT issues inside the party include the Log Cabin Republicans, Young Conservatives For The Freedom To Marry, and College Republicans.

A November/December 2013 Public Religion Research Institute poll sponsored by the Ford Foundation found that Republicans are divided in their perceptions of their own party: 45% think the GOP is friendly toward LGBT people, while 41% think the party is unfriendly.^[72]

The 1992 GOP presidential platform was the first to oppose same-sex marriage.^[

Military service

The 1992 Republican Party platform adopted support for continuing to exclude homosexuals from the military as a matter of good order and discipline.^[73] The support for the exclusion of homosexuals from military service would remain in the Republican Party platform until the 2012 Republican Party platform, which removed that language from it.^[76]

A May 2012 United Technologies/National Journal Congressional Connection Poll found that only 41% of Republicans supported restoring the prohibition against gays serving openly in the military.^[75]

2010s opposition politics

President Barack Obama, inaugurated in January 2009 and later reelected to a second term, continued the previous policy of keeping large-scale intervention in the War in Afghanistan, with a plan of removing combat troops while Afghan forces trained to replace them until late 2014. An October 2012 Pew Research Center poll found Republicans evenly divided at 48% over the choices of keeping American military forces in Afghanistan "until the situation has stabilized" analogous to Obama's policies versus making them leave "as soon as possible". An article in the news-magazine Foreign Policy stated that this represented a move from a previous "hawkish" stance by Republicans.^[103]

The Arab Spring

The Republican Party has been largely split on the attitude the United States should take in response to the events of the Arab Spring. Republican leadership in the House and Senate supported the 2011 military intervention in Libya, though many conservative congressional Republicans, such as Michele Bachmann, voted in opposition to the intervention.^[104] Similarly, many senior Republicans, including presidential nominees John McCain and Mitt Romney as well as the Tea Party-affiliated Florida Senator Marco Rubio supported arming the Syrian rebels,^{[105][106][107]} while conservative Republicans in Congress proclaimed their opposition to this.^[108][109] Congressional Republicans, including Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, were overwhelmingly opposed to the proposed US military intervention in Syria.^[110] In both Libya and Syria, Republicans opposed to intervention have cited Islamist influence within the rebel groups^[111][112] and a lack of U.S. national security interest^[113] as the reason for their opposition.

Ukraine

Leading Republicans all supported sanctions against Russia in response to the 2014 Russian military intervention in Ukraine. No major politician of either party opposed the first rounds of American and EU sanctions in April 2014.^[114]

Policies

As a result, some in the Republican Party support unilateralism on issues of national security, believing in the ability and right of the United States to act without external support in matters of its national defense. In general, Republican thinking on defense and international relations is heavily influenced by the theories of neorealism and realism, characterizing conflicts between nations as struggles between faceless forces of international structure, as opposed to being the result of the ideas and actions of individual leaders. The realist school's influence shows in Reagan's Evil Empire stance on the Soviet Union and George W. Bush's Axis of evil.

Republicans secured gains in the 2002 and 2004 elections, with the War on Terror being one of the top issues favoring them. Since the September 11, 2001 attacks, some in the party support neoconservative policies with regard to the War on Terror, including the 2001 war in Afghanistan and the 2003 invasion of Iraq.

The doctrine of preemptive war, wars to disarm and destroy potential military foes based on speculation of future attacks rather than in defense against actual attack, has been advocated by prominent members of the Bush administration, but the war within Iraq has undercut the influence of this doctrine within the Republican Party. Rudy Giuliani, mayor of New York at the time of the September 11 terrorist attacks, and a candidate for the Republican presidential nomination in 2008, has stated his support for that policy, saying America must keep itself "on the offensive" against terrorists.

The George W. Bush administration took the position that the Geneva Conventions do not apply to unlawful combatants, saying they apply to soldiers serving in the armies of nation states and not terrorist organizations such as Al-Qaeda. The Supreme Court overruled this position in Hamdan v. Rumsfeld, which held that the Geneva Conventions were legally binding and must be followed in regards to all enemy combatants. Prominent Republicans such as John McCain, Mike Huckabee, and Ron Paul strongly oppose the use of enhanced interrogation techniques, which they view as torture.

Other international policies

Canada

Republicans support the construction of the Keystone Pipeline, which would connect the Athabasca oil sands in Canada to refineries in the United States. American and Canadian environmentalists have strongly opposed the pipeline's construction, although the Canadian government has lobbied for it.^[115]

Israel

The Republican Party's leadership supports a strong alliance with Israel, but supports efforts to secure peace in the Middle East between Israel and its Arab neighbors.^[116]

Russia

The Republican Party claims the U.S. should promote friendship not only between the United States and Russia, but also between Russia and its neighbors. The party argues that with Russia, the U.S. needs to display patience, consistency, and a principled reliance on democratic forces. It also argues that Russia must stop encouraging the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.^[117] The party stresses the common interests of the two countries, which include ending terrorism, combating nuclear proliferation, promoting bilateral trade.^[118]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Republican_Party_%28United_States%29

According to Wikipedia (US) President Putin:

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

  (Redirected from President Putin)

"Putin" redirects here. For other uses, see Putin (surname).

"VVP" redirects here. For the cycling team with abbreviation VVP, see Vrienden van het Platteland.

This name uses Eastern Slavic naming customs; the patronymic is Vladimirovich and the family name is Putin.

Vladimir Putin Владимир Путин
2nd and 4th President of Russia
Incumbent
Assumed office 7 May 2012
Prime Minister	Viktor Zubkov Dmitry Medvedev
Preceded by	Dmitry Medvedev
In office 7 May 2000 – 7 May 2008 Acting: 31 December 1999 – 7 May 2000
Prime Minister	Mikhail Kasyanov Mikhail Fradkov Viktor Zubkov
Preceded by	Boris Yeltsin
Succeeded by	Dmitry Medvedev
Prime Minister of Russia
In office 8 May 2008 – 7 May 2012
President	Dmitry Medvedev
Deputy	Igor Shuvalov
Preceded by	Viktor Zubkov
Succeeded by	Dmitry Medvedev
In office 9 August 1999 – 7 May 2000 Acting: 9 August 1999 – 16 August 1999
President	Boris Yeltsin
Deputy	Viktor Khristenko Mikhail Kasyanov
Preceded by	Sergei Stepashin
Succeeded by	Mikhail Kasyanov
Leader of United Russia
In office 1 January 2008 – 30 May 2012
Preceded by	Boris Gryzlov
Succeeded by	Dmitry Medvedev
Director of the Federal Security Service
In office 25 July 1998 – 29 March 1999
President	Boris Yeltsin
Preceded by	Nikolay Kovalyov
Succeeded by	Nikolai Patrushev
Personal details
Born	Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin 7 October 1952 (age 62) Leningrad, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union
Political party	Communist Party of the Soviet Union (1975–1991) Our Home-Russia (1995–1999) Unity (1999–2001) Independent (1991–1995; 2001–2008) United Russia (2008–present)
Other political affiliations	People's Front (2011–present)
Spouse(s)	Lyudmila Shkrebneva (1983–2014)[1]
Children	Mariya (b. 28 April 1985) Yekaterina (b. 31 August 1986)[2]
Alma mater	Leningrad State University
Religion	Russian Orthodoxy
Awards	Order of Honor
Signature
Website	Official website
Military service
Allegiance	Soviet Union
Service/branch	KGB
Years of service	1975–1991
Rank	Lieutenant colonel

Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin (/ˈpuːtɪn/; Russian: Влади́мир Влади́мирович Пу́тин; IPA: [vlɐˈdʲimʲɪr vlɐˈdʲimʲɪrəvʲɪtɕ ˈputʲɪn] ( listen), born 7 October 1952) has been the President of Russia since 7 May 2012. Putin previously served as President from 2000 to 2008, and as Prime Minister of Russia from 1999 to 2000 and again from 2008 to 2012. During his last term as Prime Minister, he was also the Chairman of United Russia, the ruling party.

For 16 years Putin was an officer in the KGB, rising to the rank of Lieutenant Colonel before he retired to enter politics in his native Saint Petersburg in 1991. He moved to Moscow in 1996 and joined President Boris Yeltsin's administration where he rose quickly, becoming Acting President on 31 December 1999 when Yeltsin unexpectedly resigned. Putin won the subsequent 2000 presidential election, despite widespread accusations of vote-rigging,^[3] and was reelected in 2004. Because of constitutionally mandated term limits, Putin was ineligible to run for a third consecutive presidential term in 2008. Dmitry Medvedev won the 2008 presidential election and appointed Putin as Prime Minister, beginning a period of so-called "tandemocracy".^[4] In September 2011, following a change in the law extending the presidential term from four years to six,^[5] Putin announced that he would seek a third, non-consecutive term as President in the 2012 presidential election, an announcement which led to large-scale protests in many Russian cities. In March 2012 he won the election, which was criticized for procedural irregularities, and is serving a six-year term.^[6][7]

Many of Putin's actions are regarded by the domestic opposition and foreign observers as undemocratic.^[8] The 2011 Democracy Index stated that Russia was in "a long process of regression [that] culminated in a move from a hybrid to an authoritarian regime" in view of Putin's candidacy and flawed parliamentary elections.^[9] In 2014, Russia was temporarily suspended from the G8 group as a result of its annexation of Crimea.^[10][11]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vladimir_Putin

According to Wikipedia (US): Ukraine:

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article is about the country. For other uses, see Ukraine (disambiguation).

Ukraine Україна
Flag Coat of arms
Anthem: Shche ne vmerla Ukraina "Ukraine has Not Yet died" Menu 0:00
Location of  Ukraine  (green) in Europe  (green & dark grey) Disputed territory (light green)
Capital and largest city		Kiev 50°27′N 30°30′E
Official languages		Ukrainian
Recognised regional languages		18 languages[1][show]
Ethnic groups (2001[2])		77.8% Ukrainians 17.3% Russians 4.9% others/unspecified
Demonym		Ukrainian
Government		Unitary semi-presidential constitutional republic
-	President	Petro Poroshenko
-	Prime Minister	Arseniy Yatsenyuk
-	Chairman of Parliament	Volodymyr Groysman
Legislature		Verkhovna Rada
Formation
-	Kievan Rus'	882
-	Kingdom of Galicia–Volhynia	1199
-	Zaporizhian Host	17 August 1649
-	Ukrainian National Republic	7 November 1917
-	West Ukrainian National Republic	1 November 1918
-	Ukrainian SSR	10 March 1919
-	Carpatho-Ukraine	8 October 1938
-	Soviet annexation of Western Ukraine	15 November 1939
-	Declaration of Ukrainian Independence	30 June 1941
-	Independence from the Soviet Union	24 August 1991a
Area
-	Total	603,500[3] km2 (46th) or 233,013 sq mi
-	Water (%)	7
Population
-	2014 estimate	44,291,413[4] (32nd)
-	2001 census	48,457,102[2]
-	Density	73.8/km2 (115th) 191/sq mi
GDP (PPP)		2014 estimate
-	Total	$373.1 billion[5]
-	Per capita	$8,240[5]
GDP (nominal)		2014 estimate
-	Total	$134.8 billion[5]
-	Per capita	$2,979[5]
Gini (2010)		25.6[6] low
HDI (2013)		0.734[7] high · 83rd
Currency		Ukrainian hryvnia (UAH)
Time zone		EET (UTC+2[8])
-	Summer (DST)	EEST (UTC+3)
Drives on the		right
Calling code		+380
ISO 3166 code		UA
Internet TLD		.ua .укр
a.	An independence referendum was held on 1 December, after which Ukrainian independence was finalized on 26 December. The current constitution was adopted on 28 June 1996.

This article contains Cyrillic text. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks or boxes, misplaced vowels or missing conjuncts instead of Cyrillic letters.

Ukraine (ⁱ/juːˈkreɪn/; Ukrainian: Україна, transliterated: Ukrayina, [ukrɑˈjinɑ]) is a country in Eastern Europe.^[9] It has an area of 603,628 km² (233,062 sq mi), making it the largest country entirely within Europe.^[10][11][12] Ukraine borders Russia to the east and northeast, Belarus to the northwest, Poland, Slovakia and Hungary to the west, Romania and Moldova to the southwest, and the Black Sea and Sea of Azov to the south and southeast, respectively.

The territory of modern Ukraine has been inhabited by humans since 32,000 BC. During the Middle Ages, the area was a key center of East Slavic culture, with the powerful state of Kievan Rus' forming the basis of Ukrainian identity. Following its fragmentation in the 13th century, the territory was contested, ruled and divided by a variety of powers, including Lithuania, Poland, the Ottoman Empire, Austro-Hungary, and Russia. A Cossack republic emerged and prospered during the 17th and 18th centuries, but Ukraine's territories remained divided until they were consolidated into a Soviet republic in the 20th century. It became independent in 1991.

Ukraine has long been a global breadbasket because of its extensive, fertile farmlands, and it remains one of the world's largest grain exporters.^[13][14] The diversified economy of Ukraine includes a large heavy industry sector, particularly in aerospace and industrial equipment.

Ukraine is a unitary republic under a semi-presidential system with separate powers: legislative, executive, and judicial branches. Its capital and largest city is Kiev. Since the dissolution of the Soviet Union, Ukraine continues to maintain the second-largest military in Europe, after that of Russia, when reserves and paramilitary personnel are taken into account.^[15] The country is home to 45.4 million people (including Crimea),^[4][16] 77.8% of whom are Ukrainians by ethnicity, and with a sizable minority of Russians (17%), as well as Romanians/Moldovans, Belarusians, Crimean Tatars, and Hungarians. Ukrainian is the official language of Ukraine; its alphabet is Cyrillic. The dominant religion in the country is Eastern Orthodoxy, which has strongly influenced Ukrainian architecture, literature and music.

Orange Revolution

Main article: Orange Revolution

Protesters at Independence Square on the first day of the Orange Revolution

In 2004, Viktor Yanukovych, then Prime Minister, was declared the winner of the presidential elections, which had been largely rigged, as the Supreme Court of Ukraine later ruled.^[118] The results caused a public outcry in support of the opposition candidate, Viktor Yushchenko, who challenged the outcome. This resulted in the peaceful Orange Revolution, bringing Viktor Yushchenko and Yulia Tymoshenko to power, while casting Viktor Yanukovych in opposition.^[119]

Activists of the Orange Revolution were funded and trained in tactics of political organisation and nonviolent resistance by Western pollsters and professional consultants who were partly funded by Western government and non-government agencies but received most of their funding from domestic sources.^{[nb 1][120]} According to The Guardian, the foreign donors included the U.S. State Department and USAID along with the National Democratic Institute for International Affairs, the International Republican Institute, the NGO Freedom House and George Soros's Open Society Institute.^[121] The National Endowment for Democracy has supported democracy-building efforts in Ukraine since 1988.^[122] Writings on nonviolent struggle by Gene Sharp contributed in forming the strategic basis of the student campaigns.^[123]

Yanukovych returned to power in 2006 as Prime Minister in the Alliance of National Unity,^[124] until snap elections in September 2007 made Tymoshenko Prime Minister again.^[125] Amid the 2008–09 Ukrainian financial crisis the Ukrainian economy plunged by 15%.^[126] Disputes with Russia briefly stopped all gas supplies to Ukraine in 2006 and again in 2009, leading to gas shortages in other countries.^[127][128] Viktor Yanukovych was elected President in 2010 with 48% of votes.^[129]

Euromaidan and 2014 revolution

Main articles: Euromaidan and 2014 Ukrainian revolution

For more details on the ongoing protests, see Timeline of the Euromaidan.

Euromaidan. State flag of Ukraine carried by a protester to the heart of developing clashes in Kiev. Events of 18 February 2014

The Euromaidan (Ukrainian: Євромайдан, literally "Eurosquare") protests started in November 2013 after the president, Viktor Yanukovych, began shying away from an association agreement that had been in the works with the European Union and instead chose to establish closer ties with the Russian Federation.^[130][131] Some Ukrainians took to the streets to show their support for closer ties with Europe.^[132] Meanwhile, in the predominantly Russian-speaking east, a large portion of the population opposed the Euromaidan protests, instead supporting the Yanukovych government.^[133] Over time, Euromaidan came to describe a wave of demonstrations and civil unrest in Ukraine,^[134] the scope of which evolved to include calls for the resignation of President Yanukovych and his government.^[135]

Violence escalated after 16 January 2014 when the government accepted new Anti-Protest Laws. Anti-government demonstrators occupied buildings in the centre of Kiev, including the Justice Ministry building, and riots left 98 dead with approximately fifteen thousand injured and 100 considered missing^{[136][137][138][139]} from 18 to 20 February.^[140][141] Owing to violent protests on 22 February 2014, Members of Parliament found the president unable to fulfill his duties^{[citation needed]} and exercised "constitutional powers"^{[citation needed]} to set an election for 25 May to select his replacement.^[142] Petro Poroshenko, running on a pro-European Union platform, won with over fifty percent of the vote, therefore not requiring a run-off election.^{[143][144][145]} Upon his election, Poroshenko announced that his immediate priorities would be to take action in the civil unrest in Eastern Ukraine and mend ties with Russian Federation.^{[143][144][145]} Poroshenko was inaugurated as president on 7 June 2014, as previously announced by his spokeswoman Irina Friz in a low-key ceremony without a celebration on Kiev's Maidan Nezalezhnosti square (the center of the Euromaidan protests^[146]) for the ceremony.^[147][148] In October 2014, Ukrainians voted to keep Poroshenko in power.^[149]

According to Wikipedia (US) Circa 2014: Ukraine and War Politics:

Main articles: War in Donbass, 2014 pro-Russian unrest in Ukraine, 2014 Crimean crisis and 2014 Russian military intervention in Ukraine

Pro-Russian protesters in Donetsk, 8 March 2014

In the wake of the collapse of the Yanukovych government and the resultant 2014 Ukrainian revolution in February 2014, a secession crisis began on Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula which has a significant number of Russophone people. Unmarked, armed Russian soldiers began being moved into Crimea on 28 February 2014.^[150] On 1 March 2014, exiled Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych requested that Russia use military forces "to establish legitimacy, peace, law and order, stability and defending the people of Ukraine".^[151] On the same day, Russian president Vladimir Putin requested and received authorization from the Russian Parliament to deploy Russian troops to Ukraine and took control of the Crimean Peninsula by the next day.^{[152][153][154][155]} In addition, NATO was perceived by most Russians as encroaching upon Russia's borders. This weighed heavily upon Moscow’s decision to take measures to secure its Black Sea port in Crimea.^[156] On 6 March 2014, the Crimean Parliament voted to "enter into the Russian Federation with the rights of a subject of the Russian Federation" and later held a referendum asking the people of these regions whether they wanted to join Russia as a federal subject, or if they wanted to restore the 1992 Crimean constitution and Crimea's status as a part of Ukraine.^[157] Though passed with an overwhelming majority, the vote was not monitored by outside parties and the results are internationally contested; it is claimed to have been enforced by armed groups which intruded and enforced voting according to their demands.^{[158][159][160]} Crimea and Sevastopol formally declared independence as the Republic of Crimea and requested that they be admitted as constituents of the Russian Federation.^[161] On 18 March 2014, Russia and Crimea signed a treaty of accession of the Republic of Crimea and Sevastopol in the Russian Federation, though the United Nations General Assembly voted in favor of a non-binding statement to oppose Russian annexation of the peninsula.^[162]

OSCE SMM monitoring the movement of heavy weaponry in eastern Ukraine

Meanwhile, unrest began in the Eastern and Southern regions of Ukraine.^[163] In several cities in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions armed men, declaring themselves as local militia, seized government buildings, police and special police stations in several cities of the regions, and held unrecognized status referendums.^[164] Talks in Geneva between the EU, Russia, Ukraine and USA yielded a Joint Diplomatic Statement referred to as the 2014 Geneva Pact^[165] in which the parties requested that all unlawful militias lay down the arms and vacate seized government buildings, and also establish a political dialogue that could lead to more autonomy for Ukraine's regions. When Petro Poroshenko won the presidential election held on 25 May 2014, he vowed to continue the military operations by the Ukrainian government forces to end the armed insurgency.^[166] More than 4,700 people have been killed in the military campaign.^[167] According to the United Nations, 730,000 Ukrainian refugees have fled to Russia since the beginning of 2014 and 117,000 have fled to other parts of Ukraine.^[168] As president-elect, Poroshenko promised to pursue the return of Crimea to Ukrainian sovereignty.^[166]

In August 2014, a bi-lateral commission of leading scholars from the United States and Russia issued the Boisto Agenda indicating a 24-step plan to resolve the crisis in Ukraine.^[169] The Boisto Agenda was organized into five imperative categories for addressing the crisis requiring stabilization identified as: (1) Elements of an Enduring, Verifiable Ceasefire; (2) Economic Relations; (3) Social and Cultural Issues; (4) Crimea; and, (5) International Status of Ukraine.^[169] In late 2014, Ukraine ratified the Ukraine–European Union Association Agreement, which Poroshenko described as Ukraine's "first but most decisive step" towards EU membership.^[170] Poroshenko also set 2020 as target for EU membership application.^[171]

In February 2015, after a summit hosted in Belarus, Poroshenko negotiated a ceasefire with the separatist troops. This included conditions such as the withdrawal of heavy weaponry from the front line and decentralisation of rebel regions by the end of 2015. It also included conditions such as the Ukrainian control of the border with Russia in 2015 and the withdrawal of all foreign troops from the Ukrainian territory. The ceasefire began at midnight on 15 February 2015. Participants in this ceasefire also agreed to attend regular meetings to ensure that the agreement is respected.^[172]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ukraine