SBU says 56 people leave separatist-seized building in Luhansk; negotiations with gunmen continue (VIDEO)

By 1 a.m. on April 9, the SBU said in a statement that 51 unarmed people left the building of the Lugansk Security Service of Ukraine. At 4 a.m., another five unarmed people left the buildings.

Lawmakers went inside to talk to the armed separatists and left the building freely. “The process of negotiations is still going on,” the SBU said in an official statement on its website today.

The SBU reported on April 8 that pro-Russian separatists had taken 60 people hostage in the Luhansk headquarters and were threatening to use arms and explosives. 

Security sources, speaking to the Kyiv Post on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to give public statements, said that the civilian hostages inside the seized headquarters may be serving as human shields — willingly or unwillingly — to make an armed police raid against the separatists less likely. According to these sources, the civilians in the seized state building had been participants in recent pro-Russian rallies in Luhansk, suggesting at least some of them may have joined the separatists willingly. Some are said to be elderly “babushkas” who took part in demonstrations against Ukraine’s government in Kyiv.

The separatists are demanding an immediate referendum in the eastern industrial oblast on whether to secede from Ukraine and join the Russian Federation. 

Ukraine’s government and the West say that the unrest is being orchestrated by the Kremlin as a possible pretext for a military invasion of Ukraine’s mainland, following Russia’s military conquest of Ukraine’s Crimean peninsula last month. 

In a March 18 speech justifying the annexation, Russian President Vladimir Putin even signaled some of the tactics that have been employed in Ukraine, including the use of women and children as human shields mixed in with armed Russian-backed soldiers and insurgents, many wearing masks and no insignias to disguise their identities.

Reuters reported that protesters occupying the the building denied the charge that they had wired the building with explosives and were holding people against their will.

“There are no explosives, no hostages. We do not need hostages to get what we want,” said Anton, one of the protesters who described himself as a coordinator of the action, according to Reuters.

According to an SBU statement, an anti-terrorist group is trying to free the hostages and retake the building seized on April 6 by the militant activists. While entering, investigators found that the attackers had mined the room and taken hostages.

“That means they act as terrorists,” the SBU said on its website. “These actions are extremely dangerous as they pose threat to the lives of people in the room and to those who are outside. The Security Service of Ukraine demands that the attackers release the hostages, let them freely leave the building, and lay down their arms and to clear the administation building.”

The separatists are demanding a referendum like the one in Crimea on March 16 that led to Russian annexation. The international community, with few exceptions, does not recognize Russia’s claim to Crimea as part of its territory.

However, in recent days, separatists believed to be directed by Moscow have been calling for similar referendums to secede from Ukraine and join Russia. These demonstrations — attracting usually no more than a few hundred people — have taken place in Kharkiv, Luhansk and Donetsk, all three provincial capitals in Ukraine’s industrialized and densely populated southern regions close to Russia. 

Besides the SBU building in Luhansk, pro-Russia separatists also still control the regional government center in Donetsk, an oblast where 10 percent of Ukraine’s 45 million people live.

A video, purportedly of the Luhansk hostage-takers wearing masks and carrying weapons, has been uploaded on YouTube.

Three armed, masked men stand behind one masked man who sits and says during the 1-minute, 23-second clip: 

“I would like to appeal with the official statement from the southeastern headquarters in Luhansk and Luhansk Oblast from the SBU administration office in Luhansk. First of all, here ,in the building of SBU there are no representatives of Russian Federation nor FSB (Russian Federal Security Service) employees and Russian citizens. At this moment ,there are only citizens of Luhansk and our oblast in the building.
And we, Afganistan veterans, border guard employees, representatives of peaceful professions have only one legitimate demand: we want to conduct a referendum. This is the desire of our people. We want to be heard. I see you have cut the lights and are preparing an attack. Against who? Against military officers who just want to conduct a referendum? Welcome to hell! We will meet you with with dignity. God go with us, officers!”

The following is a link to a live stream video of ongoing Luhansk protests

http://www.ustream.tv/channel/Lugastrim

A video shows arm masked men who identify themselves as Ukrainians who are demanding a referendum on whether Luhansk Oblast should secede from Ukraine and join the Russian Federation.