Further escalating tensions, Russia’s state-owned energy giant Gazprom said it would cut off the flow of natural gas to Ukraine on the morning of June 3 if Kiev didn’t pay a $3.5-billion debt. Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev subsequently urged Gazprom to start making the Ukrainian government – which is effectively bankrupt – prepay for gas deliveries, beginning Tuesday.
The Donetsk People’s Republic was declared Monday by Denis Pushilin, a 32-year-old businessman who is accused of having run a pyramid scheme before emerging last month as the political leader of a pro-Russian rebel movement whose gunmen seized control of government buildings around the Donetsk region.