Concrete steps needed to follow accord on defusing Ukraine crisis

BEIJING - Glimmers of hope emerged Thursday from the political unrest in Ukraine as key parties involved agreed to steps to de-escalate the rapidly deteriorating crisis.

Under an agreement reached in the four-way talks in Geneva, involving Kiev and Moscow, alongside the United States and European Union, all parties must refrain from violence and provocative acts and all illegal groups will be disarmed.

It was also agreed an amnesty will be granted to protestors not facing capital crimes, and the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe should play a leading role in assisting Ukrainian authorities and local communities in immediate implementation of the de-escalation measures.

A positive step to ease the crisis has been taken, but it is only the first step.

What is important now is to translate the agreement and words into concrete follow-up action, thus turning sparks of hope into a bright beacon.

As UN chief Ban Ki-moon said after the deal was reached, all sides need to "show their serious intention" to implement the agreement.

From a geo-political perspective, the region's balance of power was disrupted after Western countries prompted feelings of insecurity in Russia by pushing their frontier of influence closer to Moscow.

It is widely feared the situation could snowball into the worst standoff between the West and Russia since the end of the Cold War, a scenario that would not only inflict more pain on Ukraine but also undermine regional and global peace.

Immediate de-escalation is needed to prevent the flames of the Ukraine crisis devouring the whole region and burning down the entire structure of the current world order.

The only viable exit is a political solution. Therefore, sincere actions and mutual trust from all parties concerned are needed to start implementing Thursday's agreement and put the document into practice.

At this point, there is still no discussion of when existing sanctions against Russia may be removed, and the West and Russia remain far apart on the Crimea issue.

In order to avoid the failure of the implementation efforts, the West needs to show more appreciation for what Russia can do and has done to help solve the crisis, and they should make it clear they can and will work with Moscow to extricate Ukraine from the current predicament.

After all, given Russia's historical and cultural influence in the country, the Kremlin is a key piece of this messy political puzzle.