Pro-Russian Militants Targeted in Eastern Ukraine

Here comes the crackdown? Maybe:

Pro-Russian militants in four key cities will be targeted as authorities seek to regain control of Ukraine’s restive east, Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Vitaliy Yarema said Wednesday.

“The active phase of the anti-terrorist operation continues,” Yarema was quoted as saying by state-run news agency Ukrinform.

Militants in the four cities — Kramatorsk, Slaviansk, Donetsk and Luhansk — have seized government buildings and show no signs of giving them up despite an international deal agreed to last week in Geneva, Switzerland.

Under the deal, illegal militia groups were to disarm and vacate occupied buildings, with an amnesty promised in return.

There’s a world of difference between foreign secretaries signing a deal in Switzerland, and what actually happens on the ground. So long as it serves Moscow’s interest for there to be unrest in Ukraine’s east, there will be unrest in Ukraine’s east.

There’s probably no need for another Crimea-style invasion. Patience and paid rabble rousers should eventually give Putin everything he wants.