Ukrainian referendum on 11 May will take place after all

Ukrainian separatists to go ahead with the referendum on 11 May.

Separatist leaders in eastern Ukraine decided today to go ahead with Sunday's referendum on autonomy, defying a call from Russian President Vladimir Putin to postpone it.

Putin's call made yesterday to delay the vote was seen as part of an effort to step back from confrontation with the West, but he fueled tensions again today by overseeing military exercises that Russian news agencies said simulated a massive retaliatory nuclear strike in response to an enemy attack.

Putin said the exercise involving Russia's nuclear forces had been planned back in November, but it came as relations between Russia and the West have plunged to their lowest point since the Cold War.

Putin, speaking from the Defense Ministry's headquarters where he oversaw the exercise along with leaders of several ex-Soviet nations, said that the maneuvers involved the military across the entire Russian territory, including the nation's nuclear forces.

Russian news wires said that the exercises simulated dealing a massive retaliatory nuclear strike in response to an enemy attack. The description of the exercise is unusually blunt, reflecting tensions with the West running high over Ukraine.

On the ground in Ukraine, many have feared that the referendum could be a flashpoint for further violence between Ukrainian troops and the pro-Russia militants who have seized government buildings in about a dozen cities in the east.

The separatists have said the referendum was on whether to give the eastern regions more autonomy within Ukraine, but they have left open the possibility of using it to seek independence or annexation by Russia.

Still yesterday, Putin had also declared that Russia had pulled its troops away from the Ukrainian border, although NATO and Washington said they saw no signs of this!

NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen has insisted that the alliance has not noticed a Russian pullback of forces from the Ukrainian border, as Russian President Vladimir Putin has claimed.

Speaking in Warsaw today after meeting with Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, Rasmussen said "so far we haven't seen any indications that they are pulling back their troops".

Rasmussen made the statement after the Russian Foreign Ministry suggested he had "a blind eye" for not noticing the withdrawal.

Rasmussen replied: "I have very good vision".

Ukraine’s crisis and "collective security” have also been the focus of talks in Moscow today between Vladimir Putin and the presidents of Armenia, Belarus, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan.

Putin also spoke more positively about the Ukrainian interim government's plan to hold a presidential election on May 25, calling it a "step in the right direction", but reiterated Russia's long-standing contention that it should be preceded by constitutional reforms.

A poll released today showed that a strong majority of Ukrainians want their country to remain a single, unified state and this was true even in the largely Russian-speaking east where the pro-Russia insurgency has been fighting for autonomy.

Pro-Russian separatists took back the city hall in the southern port of Mariupol after it was briefly taken over by Ukrainian government forces, yesterday.

Russia's education ministry has ruled that the government's reasoning for annexing Crimea must be included in school manuals.