"The Vienna document diplomats come to the nation without arms, without ammunition. We are not fighters, we are diplomats in uniform."
Pro-Moscow insurgents in Eastern Ukraine declared ( 1 ) Monday and sought to join Russia, undermining upcoming presidential elections, strengthening the ( 2 )'s hand, and putting pressure on ( 3 ) to hold talks with the separatists following a referendum on self-rule. Russia signaled it has no intention of subsuming eastern Ukraine the way it annexed ( 4 ) in March. Instead, Moscow is pushing to include eastern regions in negotiations on Ukraine's future, suggesting that Russia prefers a political rather than a military ( 5 ) to its worst standoff with the West since the ( 6 ) War.