Seems to be a purge going on in the motherland these days---18 top military officers and government officials have been "let go".

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/wo...s-9659120.html


So AP ----a result of 1) the failure of the irregulars in eastern Ukraine, 2) a result of under estimating western sanctions or 3) hardliners not being hard enough---pick one---will bet none of them would have ever negotiated.

Or none of the above and Putin desperately trying to signal the west he wants an off ramp? Since out of the 4.5 million Russians in the "New Russia" only 1.5K joined the irregulars well so much for the vaulted ethnic Russian minority in the Ukraine fighting for their not Russian "independence".