World

TOKYO — Japan on Tuesday loosened the bonds on its powerful military, proclaiming the right to go into battle in defence of allies, in a highly controversial shift in the nation’s pacifist stance.

After months of political horsetrading and browbeating of opponents, conservative Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said his Cabinet had formally endorsed a reinterpretation of rules that have banned the use of armed force except in very narrowly defined circumstances.

“I will protect Japanese people’s lives and peaceful existence. As the prime minister, I have this grave responsibility. With this determination, the Cabinet approved the basic policy for national security,” Abe told a press conference.

“There is a misunderstanding that Japan will be involved in war in an effort to defend a foreign country. But this is impossible. It will be strictly a defensive measure to defend our people.”

Abe has faced down widespread public opposition to the move, which climaxed at the weekend when a middle-aged man attempted suicide by setting himself on fire.

While the move to allow so-called “collective self-defence” needs parliamentary approval, the control of both chambers that Abe’s Liberal Democratic Party enjoys renders this a formality.

Abe had originally planned to change Article 9 of the US-imposed constitution, which was adopted after World War II and renounces “the threat or use of force as means of settling international disputes”.

But unable to muster the two-thirds majority he needed in both houses and unlikely to get an endorsement from the public in the required referendum, he changed tack, using what opponents say is sleight of hand to alter what the clause means.

Supporters say the reinterpretation is necessary because of the worsening security situation in East Asia, where an ever more confident China is pushing its territorial claims and an erratic North Korea is threatening stability.

Under the new definition, Japanese troops will be able to come to the aid of allies — primarily the US — if they come under attack from a common enemy, even if Japan is not the object of the attack.

Examples pushed by the Abe camp have included a missile attack by North Korea on US forces in Guam; they say the shift would allow Japanese troops to shoot down the missile as it passes overhead, something presently not allowed.

‘Horror of war’ 

China has warned against the move, saying it opens the door to remilitarisation of a country that is not sufficiently penitent for its actions in World War II.

Just ahead of the announcement Beijing said Tokyo was guilty of “stirring up troubles on historical issues”.

“It’s only natural for us to wonder if Japan is going to change its path of peaceful development that it has long pursued after the Second World War,” said a foreign ministry spokesman.

The Japanese administration rebuts this, saying the change will allow it to promote a notion which it has dubbed “proactive pacifism”.

But that will not entail involvement in military adventures overseas, such as in Afghanistan.

“There will be no change at all in our principle not to allow the dispatch of forces abroad,” Abe said.

“We shall never repeat the horror of war. With this reflection in mind, Japan has gone on for 70 years after the war. It will never happen that Japan again becomes a country which goes to war.”

The move has received backing from Washington, which has long encouraged Japan to take on more of a role in a very lopsided defence treaty.

But it has caused anger at home, where the pacifism on which the constitution is built is an article of faith for many Japanese.

At least half the population opposes a more aggressive military stance, according to weekend newspaper polls.

Hundreds, and sometimes thousands, of people have turned out to protest against the change at various demonstrations over recent weeks.

Sunday’s dramatic suicide bid near a busy Tokyo train station was the most extreme example of the strength of feeling.

Outside the prime minister’s office, hundreds gathered while the announcement was being made.

Housewife Chieko Hirano, aged 63, told AFP: “I have come here to stop Japan from becoming a country that can go to war.”

“Article nine is a jewel about which we can boast to the world and it should not be altered,” she said.

PARIS — Nicolas Sarkozy on Tuesday became the first former French president to be placed in custody for questioning in a criminal investigation.

The right-wing leader was detained at a police station in a Paris suburb in connection with a suspected attempt to illegally influence judicial proceedings in one of a raft of colourful corruption cases in which he is embroiled.

Sarkozy, who turned up at the station in Nanterre in a black saloon car with tinted windows, can be held for up to 48 hours before he has to be charged or released.

His detention came a day after investigators took his longtime lawyer Thierry Herzog and two magistrates into custody in connection with alleged “influence peddling” — a serious crime in France which carries a maximum penalty of ten years in prison.

Investigators suspect Sarkozy attempted to obtain inside information from one of the magistrates about confidential proceedings in an illegal election financing case  and that he was tipped off by a senior figure when judges tapped his phones.

It is the latest in a long line of legal woes for the 59-year-old since he left office following his defeat by Socialist candidate Francois Hollande in the 2012 presidential vote.

Sarkozy is widely expected to attempt a political comeback in time for the 2017 election, but those plans would be torpedoed if he is charged in this case.

He denies any wrongdoing and his allies on the right of the political spectrum denounced what they see as a witch-hunt against their man.

“Never before has a former president been subjected to such treatment, such an unleashing of hate,” said Christian Estrosi, the mayor of Nice and an MP for Sarkozy’s UMP Party.

Government spokesman Stephane Le Foll insisted the judges in the case had acted of their own accord.

“The justice system is investigating and will follow this through to the end. Nicolas Sarkozy can face justice just like anyone else,” Le Foll said.

Tip-off on phone tapping 

The case which has landed Sarkozy in detention was launched after judges looking into the alleged financing of his 2007 election campaign by former Libyan dictator Muammar Qadhafi obtained an unprecedented and controversial authorisation to tap the former president’s phones.

After four fruitless months they discovered Sarkozy had a secret phone registered under an assumed name and recordings from that device led to the opening of the influence peddling investigation.

At the root of the case are unrelated allegations that Sarkozy was helped to victory in the 2007 election with up to 50 million euros ($70 million at the time) from Qadhafi and envelopes stuffed with cash from France’s richest woman, L’Oreal heiress Liliane Bettencourt.

He dismisses the Qadhafi claims as ridiculous in light of his leading role in the dictator’s 2011 overthrow, and he was cleared last year of taking Bettencourt’s money when she was too frail to know what she was doing.

His campaign treasurer is one of 10 people awaiting trial in the Bettencourt case.

The Qadhafi investigation is ongoing, as are several other cases in which Sarkozy has been implicated.

They include a long-running probe into allegations he helped organise kickbacks from a Pakistani arms deal before becoming president.

In the last month, Sarkozy has been linked to a scandal over the funding of his campaign for re-election in 2012.

The leader of his UMP Party was forced to resign after it emerged that 10 million euros ($13.6 million) spent in support of Sarkozy had been passed off as party expenses.

Sarkozy denies any knowledge or involvement in the apparent fraud, which is now subject to another criminal probe.

French judges have in recent years shown their readiness to go after former leaders with their successful pursuit of Sarkozy’s predecessor as president, Jacques Chirac.

Chirac was convicted in 2011 on corruption charges related to his time as mayor of Paris but was excused from attending his trial because of ill health and was given a two-year suspended prison term.

PARIS (AP) — Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy was detained Tuesday and reportedly questioned by financial investigators in a corruption probe that could cloud his chances of a political comeback.

The detention — a very unusual move for such a high-level figure — dominated French news broadcasts. The investigation is the latest in a string of probes to target the former leader.

Yet Sarkozy has not been convicted of anything, remains well-known on the international stage — and may be his troubled conservative party's best chance to regain the presidency in 2017.

A judicial official said Sarkozy was detained for questioning Tuesday at the headquarters of the judicial police in the Paris suburb of Nanterre. The official, who was not authorised to be publicly named while discussing an ongoing investigation, would not elaborate.

Sarkozy could be held up to 24 hours, which could be extended for another day. His lawyer, Thierry Herzog, and a magistrate, Gilbert Azibert, were also held for questioning.

French media reports say Sarkozy is being questioned in an investigation linked to financing for his 2007 presidential campaign, notably allegations that late Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi gave Sarkozy millions of euros in illegal campaign donations.

The case centres around whether Sarkozy and his lawyer were kept informed about the investigation by a friendly magistrate, Azibert.

Sarkozy and Herzog have denied wrongdoing. Azibert's lawyer told reporters he hoped the detention would be over by the evening.

Investigators are basing suspicions at least in part on tapped phone conversations between Sarkozy and his lawyer. The tapping raised questions about the limits between investigative needs and individual privacy. Sarkozy compared the situation to actions by the secret police in the old East Germany.

Allies from Sarkozy's conservative UMP party — which has been in a leadership crisis because of questions about spending during Sarkozy's 2012 presidential campaign — jumped to the former president's defense.

"They have never imposed such treatment on a former president, with such a surge of hate," lawmaker Christian Estrosi tweeted.

Former French President Jacques Chirac was convicted in a corruption investigation in 2011 after he left office, but when he was questioned he was not held in police custody.

The Socialist government tried to stay above the fray.

"Justice officials are investigating, they should carry out the task to the end. Nicolas Sarkozy is a citizen answerable to justice like any other," government spokesman Stephane Le Foll said on i-Tele television.

Political scientist Thomas Guenole said it's too early to draw any conclusions about Sarkozy's political career based on his latest detention.

"Nicolas Sarkozy has often been pronounced politically dead over the last two years because he was implicated in political-judicial affairs ... And he has always emerged," Guenole said.

He described an "immense love" for Sarkozy amid the hard-core of his party, which views the investigations against him as politically driven.

Sarkozy was handed preliminary charges in another investigation into whether he illegally took campaign donations from France's richest woman, L'Oreal heiress Liliane Bettencourt. Those charges were later dropped.

In a separate case, relatives of French victims of a deadly 2002 bombing in Pakistan filed a complaint in Paris last year against Sarkozy and two former advisers for allegedly violating a duty to secrecy in the investigation of the case.

BANNU, Pakistan — Pakistan’s military launched a ground assault in the North Waziristan tribal area on Monday, beginning a new phase in its offensive against Taliban militants, after nearly half-a-million civilians fled the fighting.

Troops moved on Miranshah, the main town in North Waziristan, around 9:30am (0430 GMT), officials said, after two weeks of air strikes and artillery bombardment of insurgent targets.

Washington has long urged Islamabad to tackle militant sanctuaries in North Waziristan, a haven for Pakistani Taliban and Al Qaeda-linked insurgents.

Security officials in Miranshah told AFP troops moved on the town after six hours of artillery shelling.

“They are using tanks and armoured vehicles for ground movement,” a security official said on condition of anonymity.

“The forces have also taken over the civil hospital in Miranshah and have destroyed four hideouts in the artillery firing.”

Other security officials in Peshawar, the main city of northwest Pakistan, confirmed the advance.

A statement from the military’s communications wing said the assault began “after the evacuation of all civil population”, and infantry troops were carrying out house-to-house searches.

Soldiers have killed 15 militants so far in the ground attack, the military said, while three soldiers were wounded in clashes.

“Troops have recovered underground tunnels and IED preparation factories,” the statement said.

IEDs — improvised explosive devices — have been a popular and deadly weapon for militants fighting the army in Pakistan’s restive semiautonomous tribal areas on the Afghan border.

Since the operation began on June 15, 376 militants have been killed and 19 have surrendered, according to the military, while 17 soldiers have also died.

The conflict zone is off-limits to journalists at the moment, making it impossible to verify the number and identity of those killed.

On Saturday the army said a leading Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) commander was killed, while a “prominent” Al-Qaeda commander was arrested while trying to flee.

Half a million displaced

Nearly 500,000 people have fled North Waziristan because of the operation, codenamed “Zarb-e-Azb” after a sword used in battle by the Prophet Mohammad.

Tens of thousands of families have left for the town of Bannu, close to North Waziristan, while hundreds more have moved further afield to the towns of Lakki Marwat, Karak and Dera Ismail Khan since the offensive began in mid-June.

The civilian flight has created a huge humanitarian challenge for Pakistan, and there have been complaints and protests at the slow delivery of aid in Bannu.

Monday was the first day of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan in Pakistan, and many of those displaced by the fighting face spending the month in difficult conditions in camps.

Tens of thousands have also poured into Afghanistan’s eastern provinces, particularly Khost.

The mountainous border is porous and difficult to police and there are fears that the most dangerous and committed militants may have used the exodus as cover to make their own escape — undermining the effectiveness of the offensive.

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has said the operation will mark the “beginning of an era of peace and tranquility”, but the Taliban have vowed to strike back.

Sharif, elected last year vowing to bring an end to the Taliban’s insurgency through dialogue, had doggedly pursued talks with the TTP since February to little avail.

A dramatic attack on Karachi airport which killed dozens of people brought a sudden, bloody end to the peace process and sparked the military offensive.

Pakistan’s allies, particularly the United States, have long called for an operation in the mountainous tribal territory to flush out groups like the Haqqani network, which use the area to target NATO troops in neighbouring Afghanistan.

But some observers have pointed out that while North Waziristan has been a historical stronghold for militants, violent extremism now has strong footholds elsewhere in Pakistan.

PRETORIA — Oscar Pistorius, the South African sprinter on trial for murder for shooting his girlfriend, was not suffering from a mental condition at the time she was killed, a psychiatric report said on Monday.

Pistorius, who competed in the 2012 London Olympics and Paralympics, has admitted to shooting dead his model girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp, but maintains he mistook her for an intruder hiding in his toilet in an upmarket Pretoria suburb.

The trial, which began in March, took a month-long break to allow the 27-year-old to undergo tests at Pretoria’s Weskoppies Hospital after a forensic psychologist brought by the defence testified he had an anxiety disorder.

The defence has only a few more witnesses to call before the trial reaches the verdict stage.

Judge Thokozile Masipa said it was important to find out whether the condition affected his criminal responsibility.

“At the time of the alleged offences, the accused did not suffer from a mental disorder or mental defect that affected his ability to distinguish between the rightful or wrongful nature of his deeds,” Prosecutor Gerrie Nel read from a report submitted to the court.

Both Nel and defence lawyer Barry Roux accepted the findings of a panel of psychiatrists and psychologists after 30 days of evaluation.

Sound expert

During the trial, prosecutors have tried to paint a picture of a self-obsessed Pistorius who knowingly killed his law graduate girlfriend as she cowered behind a locked bathroom door. Pistorius could face a life sentence if found guilty of the shooting on Valentine’s Day last year.

Following the assessment report, Pistorius’ defence called sound expert Ivan Lin, who questioned whether neighbours 177 metres away could have heard screams coming from the toilet, or identified them as a man or woman.

“At 177 metres away, if the scream was from the toilet, it is highly unlikely that the listener can hear the screams, let alone interpret the sound source reliably,” he said

Lin’s testimony, which is yet to be cross-examined, comes after state witness and Pistorius neighbour Michelle Burger testified that she was woken in the middle of the night by “bloodcurdling screams” from a woman, followed by shots.

Pistorius competed against able-bodied sprinters on carbon-fibre prosthetics, becoming one of the most recognised names in athletics. Besides a clutch of Paralympic medals, he reached the semi-finals of the 400m at the London 2012 Olympics.

TOKYO — Pacifist Japan is pressing ahead with divisive plans to loosen restrictions on its military, a top government spokesman said Monday, despite widespread public anger and a protester’s horrific suicide bid.

Hundreds of people in the busy Tokyo district of Shinjuku watched on Sunday afternoon as a middle-aged man in a suit set himself ablaze above a footbridge, after making a speech opposing moves to let Japan’s well-equipped military fight on behalf of allies.

The dramatic suicide attempt was widely discussed on social media, with numerous videos and photographs posted by onlookers.

Many Internet users made the connection between the self-immolation and a groundswell of opposition to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s push to relax constitutional rules preventing Japan’s armed forces from going into battle.

Several thousand protesters showed up outside the premier’s Tokyo office on Monday evening, shouting slogans such as “no war” and “arrest the fascists” — as some carried posters showing Abe with a moustache similar to that of Adolph Hitler.

The conservative leader says regional tensions — including China’s increasingly assertive stance in various territorial disputes and an erratic North Korea — mean Japan must be better prepared to defend itself.

The United States, Tokyo’s chief ally, has backed Abe’s plans, but they are highly controversial at home, where voters feel deeply connected to the pacifism Japan adopted after World War II.

The government’s chief spokesman Yoshihide Suga on Monday refused to comment on the suicide attempt, but confirmed that the Cabinet would push ahead Tuesday with plans to change the interpretation of part of the pacifist constitution.

Japan’s military is currently barred from taking action, except in very narrow circumstances in which the country is attacked.

“We are in the final stage of the coordination between the ruling parties,” Suga told reporters. “Once a consensus is made between the ruling parties, we will have it approved by the Cabinet tomorrow.”

At least half the population is against a more aggressive military stance, according to the latest polls.

The liberal Mainichi newspaper said at the weekend that 58 per cent of voters are opposed, while the Nikkei business daily, in its poll published Monday, said 50 per cent of respondents were against the change.

China also warns against moves to bolster Japan’s military might, saying Tokyo is not sufficiently penitent over its actions in World War II.

It sent two ships into waters around disputed islands on Monday, a regular tactic in the long-running animosity.

Suga defended the plan, saying: “The government should protect people’s lives and property as well as the country’s safety... and if there is a defect in the current legal framework, we will address it.”

Tokyo police said Monday that nothing was known of the protester’s condition more than 24 hours after he was rushed to hospital with severe burns.

The dramatic suicide bid received scant coverage in mainstream media — which is sometimes criticised as servile. None of the national newspapers used a picture in their short reports.

Broadcaster NHK, whose chairman caused outrage earlier this year by suggesting that the state-funded body should not contradict the prime minister, did not cover the self-immolation on the day.

At least two private broadcasters did, however, using YouTube footage.

Popular protest in Japan has tended to be muted in recent decades, and protest suicides are very rare, with only a handful taking place in living memory.

In 1970, right-wing novelist Yukio Mishima disemboweled himself after a failed attempted coup, in protest against what he saw as an overly meek state.

In 1967, a 73-year-old man set himself alight in front of the prime minister’s official residence over the then-premier’s support for US bombing of North Vietnam.

JAKARTA — Muslims in much of Asia began celebrating the holy month of Ramadan Sunday, but in Indonesia even threats by hardliners to raid “sinful” bars could not stop football fans heading to nightspots to watch the World Cup.

Across the Muslim world, the faithful fast from dawn to dusk and strive to be more pious during the holy month, which ends with the Eid holiday.

Ramadan got under way in Asian countries including Indonesia, which has the world’s biggest Muslim population at around 225 million people, war-torn Afghanistan, Malaysia, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and the Philippines.

Hardliners in Indonesia have pledged to raid bars that continue to sell alcohol, which Muslims are banned from drinking under Islamic law, or stay open too late. Authorities order bars and other nightspots to close earlier during the holy month.

Radical group the Islamic Defenders’ Front would “monitor any sinful activities in entertainment places, cafés and bars during Ramadan”, said Salim Alatas, the group’s chief in the capital Jakarta.

“If law enforcement officials do nothing about immoral activities, we will do anything we can to stop them, using our own methods.”

But the threats did little to deter people in the football-crazy nation, where most practise a moderate form of Islam, from heading out to catch the latest World Cup action.

Bars that remained open in Jakarta were packed with locals and expatriates late Saturday and early Sunday.

“For me, the fasting does not really affect my enthusiasm to watch the World Cup,” said Intania Permata, a 22-year-old student, who was watching the Brazil versus Chile nail-biter at a South American bar and restaurant.

Endika Setiadi Putra, 27, said that with the World Cup now in the knockout stages, the excitement would keep drawing people to watch the matches in bars even during Islam’s holiest month.

“If it is the weekends, most people will go out [to watch the matches],” Putra told AFP.

For many other Indonesians, the start of Ramadan was a time to be with their families or take part in special prayers, with thousands heading to Jakarta’s Istiqlal Mosque, the biggest in Southeast Asia, on Saturday evening.

Fasting amid conflict 

Politics was in focus in war-torn Afghanistan, with conversation at “iftar” meals after sunset expected to focus on the disputed vote count from the country’s presidential election.

Results are due out during the holy month but Abdullah Abdullah has cried foul in the race against Ashraf Ghani, alleging massive fraud. The inauguration of the new president is scheduled for August 2, shortly after Ramadan finishes.

For half-a-million Pakistanis displaced by a military offensive in the country’s north, the prospect of fasting amid severe food shortages has sharpened anger towards the government.

Taxi driver Shakeeb Ur Rehman, 40, told AFP his house had been bulldozed by the military and his car was destroyed in a bombing.

“I’m homeless and seriously worried about fasting in this hot weather. I think religious scholars should issue a decree allowing us to be exempt,” he said.

Sri Lanka’s Muslims, who account for about 10 per cent of the country’s 20 million population of mainly Buddhists, are set observe a low-key Ramadan after a spate of recent religious attacks.

The Muslim Council of Sri Lanka, which groups nearly 50 Muslim organisations, said authorities had promised tighter security but many were still afraid of Buddhist extremist attacks after four people were killed in religious riots this month.

In the predominantly Catholic Philippines, the country’s Muslim minority was observing its first Ramadan since the signing of a peace deal between the government and the largest Islamic rebel group after decades of conflict.

Von Al Haq, military spokesman of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, said the former rebels would seek to use the holy month to try to persuade breakaway groups still fighting the government to lay down their arms.

In Malaysia, Muslims — who account for 60 per cent of the country’s 28 million people — will spend the late afternoon buying food at markets or meeting at restaurants to break the first fast together in the evening. There will also be special prayers at mosques every night during the holy month.

As in Indonesia, thoughts of the World Cup were uppermost in the minds of fans in the football-keen nation. Ridzwan Rahim, a copywriter, 37, said he looked forward to catching some of the matches when he wakes up for his pre-dawn meal during Ramadan.

“It’s good this year — we will wake up early anyways so we can watch some of the matches,” the Germany and Netherlands fan said.

Ramadan begins when the first crescent of a new moon is sighted. The holy month was also starting across the Middle East, as bloody conflicts rage in Iraq and Syria.

ISTANBUL — Turkish President Abdullah Gul said he would not seek a second term in office, further raising the likelihood that Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan would run for the top job.

“I will not present my candidacy... my term expires on August 28,” Gul told reporters ahead of a closed-door meeting with Erdogan in Istanbul, adding that he had already informed the premier of his decision before the local elections in March.

Already in his third term as prime minister — the maximum permitted under the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP)’s rules — Erdogan is widely expected to be unveiled on Tuesday as his party’s candidate for August’s presidential poll.

Gul, who assumed office in 2007, is tipped as a possible prime minister should Erdogan run in the presidential vote on August 10, the first time voters will directly elect the country’s head of state.

Asked whether he would consider the position of prime minister, Gul said: “Those are the things that we will talk about among ourselves later.”

Gul, who co-founded the AKP with Erdogan, had previously said he did not have any political plan for the future and had ruled out swapping jobs with the premier.

The presidency has until now been a largely ceremonial role but Erdogan has said he would exercise its full powers if he is elected — which could be a source of conflict between the premier and the president.

On Sunday, Turkey’s two main opposition parties formally backed Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu, former head of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, to run against Erdogan.

KIEV — The leaders of Germany and France warned Vladimir Putin on Sunday that Russia could be hit with punishing sanctions within days unless he forced Ukrainian rebels Moscow is accused of backing to suspend their deadly uprising.

The French presidency said Francois Hollande and German Chancellor Angela Merkel made their case to the Russian strongman in a call that stretched for more than two hours and included Ukraine’s embattled pro-Western leader Petro Poroshenko.

The new Ukrainian president’s office said the four agreed to speak again on Monday when a truce is set to expire at 1900 GMT with no end to 13 weeks of fighting in sight.

The Ukrainian military reported losing five more soldiers over the weekend.

The second such teleconference in four days was arranged in Brussels on Friday when Poroshenko put his name to a historic trade deal with Europe that broke Kiev’s extended bonds with Moscow.

The European Union also used the occasion to issue an unusually firm statement telling Putin that he had until Monday to put explicit pressure on the separatist gunmen or face the possibility of entire sectors of Russia’s economy being cut off from the 28-nation bloc’s 500 million consumers.

The United States has promised to move in lockstep with Europe on Russian sanctions in the Cold War-style confrontation over the future of the strategic ex-Soviet state.

The French statement said Sunday’s call stressed “the importance of new concrete steps to stabilise the security situation on the ground, the extension of the ceasefire and the implementation of the peace plan presented by the Ukrainian authorities”.

It also cited Friday’s EU punitive measures threat and said the three leaders told Putin they “hoped that results are achieved by Monday.”

Conflicting demands

The Kremlin’s account of the conversation made no mention of the European conditions and stressed the joint call on Poroshenko not to resume his eastern campaign.

It also once again urged Ukraine to accept “immediate” Russian humanitarian aid in the conflict zone. Kiev suspects Moscow of planning to use such deliveries to smuggle arms to the rebel fighters.

The conflicting demands between Moscow and Kiev are also vividly reflected on the battlefield.

Separatist leaders say they will not engage in direct negotiations with Kiev until government forces withdraw from the heavily Russified east.

And Poroshenko refuses to meet rebel commanders who have “blood on their hands”.

The Western-backed head of state has also hinted that he may again resort to force should the guerrillas fail to disarm and cede control of state buildings across a dozen cities and towns.

Kiev and its Western allies accuse Russia of both arming and funding the militias in a bid to unsettle the new Ukrainian government as revenge for the February ouster of a pro-Kremlin president who had ditched the very EU agreement Poroshenko signed on Friday.

Ukraine’s worst crisis since its 1991 independence has now claimed 450 lives.

Russia’s ‘big brother’ approach

The possibility of the United States and Europe freezing access to Russia’s banking sector has already dented the country’s outlook and raised the possibility of the economy contracting for the first time since the 2008-2009 global financial crisis.

Russia’s economy minister warned on Saturday that new sanctions could “seriously” impact growth that the International Monetary Fund believes may only reach 0.2 per cent this year.

But public statements in Moscow indicate it is busy preparing an economic counter-offensive that would put up prohibitive barriers to Ukrainian trade.

Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Saturday that Russia would treat Ukraine and the ex-Soviet states of Georgia of Moldova that signed their own EU deals on Friday “based on one criterium — how [the agreements] might hurt Russian trade”.

Russian and EU ministers have tentatively agreed to meet on July 11 to discuss how Moscow’s concerns might be best addressed.

Ukraine’s commissioner on European integration said he expected the consultations with Russia to be acrimonious and possibly fruitless.

“Our neighbour has this desire to always act as our big brother, a mentor, to always try teaching us something,” Valeriy Pyatnitskiy told Kiev’s Dzerkalo Tyzhnia weekly.

The commissioner added that Ukraine may have no choice but to appeal to the World Trade Organisation — a global free commerce club Russia only joined in 2012 — to step in as a broker of last resort.

“The WTO — there is no question about it,” Pyatnitskiy said.

DONETSK, Ukraine — As his now-former comrades hugged their goodbyes and wished each other a safe journey home, Junior Sergeant Pavel Stupka explained why he refused to renounce his oath of allegiance to Ukraine.

“It would have been a betrayal. I took an oath to the Ukrainian people,” Stupka said, pushing his beret back on his head.

“The government in Kiev may have changed but that doesn’t mean anything as I took my oath to the people.”

For around a year Stupka had been carrying out his obligatory military service at a Ukrainian interior ministry base housing a munitions plant on the outskirts of his hometown Donetsk.

But his service was unexpectedly terminated after heavily-armed pro-Moscow rebel fighters forced the unit to surrender without a fight on Friday evening.

While pro-Kremlin insurgents and government forces have agreed to a shaky ceasefire running until Monday, the rebels are tightening their grip over the remaining Ukrainian-held outposts in the country’s restive east.

In a choreographed event staged for the press on Saturday the separatist authorities gave Stupka and other servicemen a choice: Either swear allegiance to Russia or leave for good.

In a speech railing against the “fascist junta” in Kiev, a senior rebel leader had tried to cajole the troops to sign up with the separatists.

But when the time came, not one of the roughly 100 young conscripts agreed to switch sides — opting instead to head back to their families.

“If I defected to Russia I would have difficulty living with myself,” Stupka said.

 ‘Scared for their families

Nearby, rebels toting automatic weapons lounged on olive green ammunition boxes they had seized the night before. An armoured vehicle from the base was being loaded onto the back of a truck.

“The conscripts were clearly scared for their families but they don’t understand the situation and don’t know what awaits them when they get home,” said Vladimir Markovich, deputy parliament speaker of the rebel’s self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic.

In his farewell speech to the troops the base commander Colonel Oleg Ponomarenko could only offer kind words and wish them a safe trip home.

“In my 28 years of service I have never lost anyone and what is happening today is a decision to protect the lives and health of those under me,” the bespectacled officer said.

“Personally I just want to thank you for fulfilling your duty,” he added to conscripts’ applause.

Several anxious but relieved parents were waiting for the troops after the ceremony.

“Of course, I am happy that my son is coming back to me safe and well,” said one mother, who gave her name as Yelena. “We were very worried about them.”

But serious questions remained over what lay in store next for the soldiers being dismissed.

“My son finished college and then wanted to join the army to help his career but what can he do now?” said Irina, another parent.

“The rebels say they are letting [the soldiers] go officially but what authority do they have?” she asked.

“What if the government decides later to put [my son] on trial for desertion?”

As they posed for a final group photograph and discussed plans for drinking sprees and finding girls, the conscripts said they too were uncertain about the future.

“I feel a hidden joy,” one conscript told AFP after pulling on his civilian clothes.

“Happiness because we’re being allowed to go but it’s hidden because we don’t know what will happen to us next.”