Rebels take over Kiev-controlled businesses in eastern Ukraine

Independence-seeking insurgents in eastern Ukraine said Wednesday that they have taken over the Kiev-controlled businesses operating in rebel-held areas in the wake of a railway blockade of the region.

The rebels also have obligated all the enterprises operating in the insurgent-controlled territories to pay taxes to the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic and Lugansk People's Republic, said a statement published on the rebel-run DAN news agency.

Those steps were aimed at enabling the enterprises to find new sales markets for their products as the supplies to the government-controlled areas were suspended, it added.

Since late January, a group of Ukrainian activists have been blocking the movement of trains transporting coal and other raw products from the rebel-held area to the government-controlled territory in eastern Ukraine.

The Ukrainian government has repeatedly called on the activists to stop the blockade, but it had not taken concrete actions to release the railway line.

The activists threatened to blast the rails if the government uses force against them.

Currently, dozens of enterprises, which are under the jurisdiction of the Ukrainian government, work in the rebel-held areas. They include steel processing and chemical plants as well as more than 20 coal mines. Endi