Kremlin says Putin will never bow to pressure over Ukraine

Russian president Vladimir Putin will never bow to western pressure to change tack on Ukraine, the Kremlin has said, as the United Nations lamented the "merciless devastation" caused by fighting between Kiev's forces and Moscow-backed militants.

US secretary of state, John Kerry, yesterday warned Moscow that any failure of the rebels and their Russian allies to implement a fragile ceasefire in eastern Ukraine would trigger “inevitable consequences that would place further strain on Russia’s economy” – a reference to tighter US and EU sanctions.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov insisted, however, that such warnings would never sway Mr Putin, who wants Kiev to negotiate a military and political settlement directly with the rebels and devolve power to regions they control.

“We have repeatedly pointed out at various levels that attempts to put pressure on Putin or change his position through duress are absolutely hopeless,” Mr Peskov said, ahead of a planned four-way telephone conversation last night between the leaders of Russia, Ukraine, Germany and France.

In Minsk, on February 12th, the quartet agreed a ceasefire pact for Ukraine which belatedly appears to be taking hold after fighting initially continued over the strategic transport junction of Debaltseve, which is now in rebel hands.

"There's been a kind of cherry-picking, a piecemeal selectivity to the application of the Minsk agreements. And as we all know, shooting, shelling has still been going on . . . so there is not yet a full ceasefire," Mr Kerry said after meeting Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov in Geneva.

“Our hope is that within the next hours, and certainly not more than days, this will be fully implemented,” the US diplomat added.

Since Debaltseve fell to the insurgents, their leaders and Russian officials have been very upbeat about the Minsk deal, insisting it is working and that the rebels are pulling back artillery from the frontline.

Mr Lavrov said “tangible progress” was being made on the ground and that “the ceasefire is being consolidated, heavy weapons are withdrawn.”

He criticised Kiev, however, saying it was “wavering” and seeking “excuses to push back or stall implementation of agreements linked to the political process”.

Mr Lavrov called on Ukraine’s government to restore social payments and banking services to rebel-held areas, and make constitutional changes that would give them more autonomy. Kiev says the rebels are mere puppets of a Russia that wants to use the regions to block Ukraine’s pivot towards the West.

Amid sharply deteriorating relations with Moscow, the West has also demanded an open and independent investigation into the murder near the Kremlin on Friday night of prominent Russian opposition leader Boris Nemtsov.

Mr Lavrov said the “heinous crime” would be solved, but called it “blasphemous” to make “politicised, unfounded and provocative interpretations” about who was responsible for the killing.

Top United Nations human rights officials said yesterday that “merciless devastation of civilian lives and infrastructure” in Ukraine had now killed more than 6,000 people. About 1.5 million have been displaced since the conflict erupted last April.

The officials called for a halt to “indiscriminate shelling and other hostilities that have created a dreadful situation for civilians” and warned that “deliberate targeting of civilian areas may constitute a war crime and if widespread and systematic, a crime against humanity”.