07/06/2014 13:23
Ukraine's Poroshenko sworn in and sets out peace plan
Petro Poroshenko has been sworn in as president of Ukraine, setting out a plan to bring peace to the conflict-torn east of the country, the BBC reported.
The 48-year-old tycoon, who won the 25 May election, offered political concessions to people in the east and said he did not want war or revenge.
But he also said he had told Russia's president that Crimea, which Moscow has annexed, would "always be Ukrainian."
Mr Poroshenko was inaugurated in the presence of dozens of foreign dignitaries - including US Vice-President Joe Biden - in parliament in the capital Kiev.
Mr Poroshenko, the owner of the Roshen chocolates group, took the oath of office and laid out a programme for ending the crisis that included an offer of early regional elections in the east and a decentralisation of power to the regional administrations.
He said: "I don't want war. I don't want revenge, despite the huge sacrifice of the Ukrainian people."
Mr Poroshenko called on separatists in the east to lay down their arms, saying he would guarantee indemnity from criminal charges to all those who did not have blood on their hands.
But he added: "Talking to gangsters and killers is not our path."
Mr Poroshenko also said there would be no discussion concerning the territorial integrity of Ukraine. "I will make unity happen," he said.
Mr Poroshenko condemned the rule of former President Viktor Yanukovych, seen by many as pro-Russian, who fled in February after a popular uprising in Kiev.
He accused Mr Yanukovych of financing terrorism in the east, saying he was "fully responsible for the situation there today."