UNITED NATIONS (AP) – Russia clashed with the United States and its Western allies on Thursday over the nearly seven-year-long conflict in eastern Ukraine, and the UN has warned that the current fragile ceasefire could be reversed if peace talks get caught.
Russia convened a Security Council meeting on Friday to mark the sixth anniversary of the signing of the Minsk peace plan by France and Germany. It was aimed at resolving the conflict between Ukraine and Russia-backed separatists that flared up in April 2014 following Russia’s annexation of Crimea and its support for the separatists in the mostly Russian-speaking industrial east called Donbass.
Russia’s ambassador to Russia, Vassily Nebenzia, has accused Ukraine of failing to comply with the 2015 Minsk agreement, saying: ‘Over the past six years, we have not yet received an answer to two very important questions: How exactly Ukraine intends to resolve the conflict peacefully, and how does Kiev envisage the special status of Donbass within Ukraine? ”
‘The answers to the questions will completely determine the prospects for a settlement, as the residents of Donbass still did not feel the use of Kiev and the continued protection of residential areas by the Ukrainian army after the start in 2014. any connection with Ukraine, ”he said.
The United States and European allies France, Germany, Estonia, Ireland, Norway, Belgium and the United Kingdom have blamed Russia for fueling the conflict, which has killed more than 14,000 people through financial and military support to the to provide separatists.
U.S. political coordinator Rodney Hunter, speaking on behalf of the Biden government, said Russia had incited the conflict in Donbass and “blocked significant progress in diplomatic negotiations while arming, training and funding its proxies and supporting the self-proclaimed authorities” has. “on the ground.”
“The United States reaffirms its unwavering commitment to Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity,” he said, accusing Russia of “increasing its repression of any contradiction to its brutal occupation of Crimea.”
“We will never acknowledge Russia’s attempt to annex Crimea,” Hunter said. “As a result, US sanctions against Russia will remain in force in response to its aggression in eastern Ukraine and the occupation of Crimea, unless – and until – Russia reverses its course.”
The Minsk agreements envisage that Ukraine will only be able to regain control of its border with Russia in the apartheid-era regions after gaining broad self-government and holding local elections.
The agreement helped reduce the scale of hostilities, but Ukrainian forces continued to exchange artillery shells and gunfire.
While the ceasefire in July 2020 ‘largely held up’, Rosemary DiCarlo, UN political chief, said there had been an increase in security incidents in several hotspots over the past few months.
“This dangerous trend needs to be reversed quickly,” she said.
The ceasefire agreement was reached by members of the tripartite contact group, which includes representatives from Russia, Ukraine and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, known as the OSCE. This follows a meeting in Paris in December 2019 of the leaders of Ukraine, Russia, France and Germany – the so-called Normandy group – who expressed their support for the Minsk agreement and agreed to revive the peace process.
DiCarlo told the council that ongoing discussions in these groups are ‘no reason for complacency’ and no substitute ‘for meaningful progress’.
“The risk of relapse is real if negotiations get stuck,” she warned.
The Russian Nebenzia said the Minsk agreement says nothing about direct dialogue with the two separatist governments of Donetsk and Luhansk in Donbass, or about the agreement on any special status for the region.
“Instead, fantasies appear about setting up some kind of international administration and election only two years later,” he said. “Do you really think the people of Donbass will really agree with this international form of occupation?”
In response, a statement from the seven European countries “strongly condemned the continued destabilization of certain areas in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions” and called on Russia to “immediately stop inciting the conflict” by the to support separatists.
Germany’s UN Ambassador Christoph Heusgen went further and told the Security Council how Russia had violated key sections of the Minsk Accords – including the initial ceasefire in 2015, the failure to withdraw heavy weapons and foreign forces, and free access for OSCE monitors to observe areas blocked. of the Russian-Ukrainian border not controlled by the Ukrainian government.
“To this day, there are Russian troops in eastern Ukraine,” Heusgen said. “They may not have the official stamp of the Russian army, but the Russians remain there, and without Russia Luhansk and Donetsk could not survive.”
Halit Cevik, chief monitor of the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission in Ukraine, “saw a window of opportunity for the parties to find a way to achieve lasting de-escalation, but we are also seeing it narrow.”
Cevik said the ceasefire in July 2020 had led to ‘the longest-lasting reduction in violence’ since the mission began recording ceasefire violations. But he said: “compliance has weakened over time.”