New Cold War.org, July 10, 2016
The Russian president and Russian diplomats are sounding warnings to European leaders over the actions of Europe’s bitter and angry junior partner in Kyiv. Kyiv’s army and extremist paramilitaries are staging ongoing provocations and violent attacks against the people of the rebel territories of Donetsk and Lugansk in the Donbass region. Three news articles are enclosed.
Journalists of the Donetsk International News Agency are publishing frequent and detailed reporting of Kyiv military actions in Donbass. The latest of their reports is dated July 8 and can be read here.
Putin discusses Ukrainian troops’ actions in Donbass with Merkel, Hollande
MOSCOW – Russian President Vladimir Putin, in a telephone conversation with German and French leaders Angela Merkel and Francois Hollande, has drawn attention to the provocative nature of the Ukrainian troops’ actions in southeastern Ukraine. “Vladimir Putin drew attention to the provocative nature of the actions of the Ukrainian troops in southeastern Ukraine,” the Kremlin press service reported. “In this regard, the Russian president urged his counterparts to more actively influence the Ukrainian side, including during the upcoming contacts with (Ukrainian President) Pyotr Poroshenko in Warsaw to ensure strict compliance with the Minsk agreements.”
The three leaders noted the need to intensify negotiations in various formats to ensure the full and comprehensive implementation of the Minsk accords. “(They) pointed to the viability of synchronizing efforts in the field of security and the political settlement, which includes provision of a legislative framework for a special status of Donbass on a permanent basis, Constitutional reform, amnesty and organization of local elections,” the Kremlin press service said. “They agreed to continue consultations on the Ukrainian issue at various levels.”
The leaders of the three countries also attach an important role to the effective work of the OSCE special monitoring mission in ensuring the truce in Ukraine. In a telephone conversation, the leaders of the three countries “discussed the development of the Ukraine crisis. A concern was expressed over the more frequent cases of truce breaches in Donbass lately,” the Kremlin press office said. They “emphasized the priority of the task of preventing further degradation of the situation in the conflict area and consistently implementing the accords on the pullout of heavy armaments and mutual disengagement of the sides from the contact line. In this process, an important role in ensuring the truce should be attached to the effective work of the OSCE special monitoring mission.”
The peaceful settlement in the Donbass region is based on the so-called Minsk agreements signed by the Russian, German, French and Ukrainian leaders in February 2015. They envisage not only a ceasefire, weapons withdrawal, amnesty, restoration of economic ties but also a profound Constitutional reform in Ukraine, which should lead to the decentralization of power with due account for the need to grant a special administration status to separate districts of the Donetsk and Lugansk regions on a permanent basis.
However, this plan has not been executed to date. The parties consistently violate the ceasefire in the Donbass region. The Ukrainian side has completely abandoned the provision on amnesty and is pushing ahead with the Donbass economic blockade. None of the provisions on the political agreements has been implemented. The Constitutional reform has not been carried out, the law on the region’s special status has not been enacted, the law on elections in Donbass has not been passed.
Instead, the Ukrainian side delays the elections citing the need to ensure safety and insists on the transfer of control over a section of the border with Russia, even though, according to the Minsk accords, this should be done after the elections.
Russian representative to OSCE suspects Kiev of preparing military operation in Donbass
Alexander Lukashevich claims signs of dangerous build-up of military activities of Ukrainian Armed Forces were registered in different parts of the contact line in the region
MOSCOW – Stalling implementation of the Minsk Agreements and build-up of Ukrainian Armed Forces near the contact line may mean that Kiev’s prepares for a military operation in Donbass, Russian Ambassador to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) Alexander Lukashevich said on Friday.
“Kiev does not show signs of readiness to implement the package of measures and stalls for time. That’s why they regularly stage provocations near the contact line,” Lukashevich said at the session of the OSCE Permanent Council in Vienna. “More and more statements have been made lately about ‘infeasibility’ of the Minsk package of measures, about ‘inevitability’ of returning Donbass by force,” the diplomat continued. “If the intention to carry out a military operation stands behind these actions, then it will lead to tragic consequences,” he noted.
Especially concerning are intensifying shellings of residential areas in Donbass, Lukashevich stressed. “Over the last two weeks, signs of dangerous build-up of military activities of Ukrainian Armed Forces were registered in different parts of the contact line in Donbass,” he said. “There are also reports about cleansings carried out by Ukrainian forces in settlements near the contact line – Maryinka and Schastye,” Lukashevich said.
He also noted “information about deliveries of foreign military equipment, including unmanned aerial vehicles, to Ukraine that will adjust artillery fire.”
The ambassador reminded about the raid of Ukrainian forces from Svetlodarsk toward Debaltsevo on June 29, when they used tanks and heavy artillery. “It is obvious that we see another attempt to seize more territory, to collect information about the defense line of the self-defense forces. This instance cannot be described as ‘self-shelling’ of the self-defense forces in any case,” he noted.
“Out of all settlements that came under fire, as noted in reports by the Special Monitoring Mission (SMM) of OSCE, around 80% of them are controlled by self-defense forces,” Lukashevich said adding that over 60% of weapons disappeared from Ukrainian army’s warehouses.
The Minsk accords were signed on 12 February 2015, after negotiations in the so-called “Normandy format” in the Belarusian capital Minsk, bringing together Russian President Vladimir Putin, French President Francois Hollande, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Ukrainian President Pyotr Poroshenko. The package of measures envisages ceasefire, weaponry withdrawal, prisoner exchange, local election in Donbass, constitutional reform in Ukraine and establishing working sub-groups on security, political, economy and humanitarian components of the Minsk accords.
The diplomat has also underlined the importance of international observers’ presence in the region. It is necessary to boost patrol capabilities of the SMM of the OSCE and establish its closer coordination with Donetsk and Lugansk in order to strengthen security in Donbass, Lukashevich said.
“In case with fulfilling measures on strengthening security in Donbass, a more consistent and phased approach should be used,” Lukashevich said at the session of the OSCE Permanent Council in Vienna. “This includes ceasefire, disengagement of forces, withdrawal and storage of weapons. It will require significantly boosting patrol capabilities of OSCE’s Special Monitoring Mission in the security zone. Guarantees are needed that demilitarized zones will not be captured again after the withdrawal of forces,” he added.
SMM should “develop cooperation with JCCC (Joint Center for Control and Coordination), establish closer contacts with representatives of administrations of Donetsk and Lugansk,” he continued. Such measures “will allow to ensure more freedom of movement for observers, eliminate misunderstanding and confusion,” the diplomat noted.
At the same time, steps on strengthening security should be made “simultaneously with progress at talks on political aspects of settlement that include several issues connected with the entering into forces of Ukrainian laws on special status of separate parts of Donbass, amnesty, elections, amendments to the constitution,” Lukashevich noted.
The Package of measures also envisages coordinating several issues with representatives of Donbass in the framework of the Contact Group, he reminded. “Direct dialogue between the sides is needed for this, and it cannot be substituted with any other formats,” he concluded.
The Minsk accords were signed on 12 February 2015, after negotiations in the so-called “Normandy format” in the Belarusian capital Minsk, bringing together Russian President Vladimir Putin, French President Francois Hollande, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Ukrainian President Pyotr Poroshenko. The package of measures envisages ceasefire, weaponry withdrawal, prisoner exchange, local election in Donbass, constitutional reform in Ukraine and establishing working sub-groups on security, political, economy and humanitarian components of the Minsk accords.
DPR foreign ministry blames Kiev for sabotaging Minsk deal implementation
DONETSK, July 8. /TASS/. Kiev continues to sabotage the implementation of political part of the Minsk Agreements, and there is still not progress in this sphere, foreign minister of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) Natalya Nikonorova said on Friday.
“During yesterday’s visit to Kiev, US State Secretary (John) Kerry said that (Ukrainian President Pyotr) Poroshenko has made considerable progress in the issue of election and amnesty. It is not clear where the state secretary got this information from. At the Contact Group in Minsk, Kiev’s representatives openly sabotage work on these issues,” Nikonorova said.
She noted that only Ukrainian servicemen were amnestied, and “there is no progress on elections.” The DPR foreign minister added that all steps in the peace process should be coordinated with Donetsk and Lugansk, and Kiev’s possible unilateral actions are a waste of time. “There will be no elections in Donbass if the law on election is not coordinated with DPR and LPR (self-proclaimed Lugansk People’s Republic) at the Contact Group,” she concluded.
US State Secretary John Kerry said on July 7 at the press conference after talks with Poroshenko that “Ukraine is making a good-faith effort to implement Minsk.”
Read also:
Russia concerned over redeployment of NATO-trained Ukrainian units towards Donbass, TASS, July 7, 2016
