Remarks by Permanent Representative of the Russian Federation to the OSCE Alexander Lukashevich at the OSCE Permanent Council’s meeting on the situation in Ukraine and the need to implement the Minsk Agreements, Vienna, February 16, 2017
Mr Chairperson-in-Office,
Two years have passed since the Package of Measures for the Implementation of the Minsk Agreements, approved by a UN Security Council resolution, was signed. This considerably reduced the number of victims of the punitive operation and prevented large-scale military actions. It specified the parameters of a political settlement, which would protect the rights and interests of Donbass residents and lay out a sequence of actions to normalise the situation, ensure a return to peaceful life and bring about reconciliation within society.
We managed to step up the Contact Group’s activity by creating working subgroups, which reflect the composition of the Contact Group, to implement relevant aspects of the Minsk Agreements. In this format, it became possible to ensure a direct dialogue between the parties to the conflict, which is the main key to a peaceful settlement. This yielded results on the prisoner exchange, local truces to rebuild infrastructure, additional agreements to withdraw equipment, and disengagement areas.
We welcome the progress made at the Contact Group meeting in Minsk. The agreement to withdraw arms from the line of contact by February 20 is an important step in the right direction. The resumption of the economic subgroup’s activity is also a good sign.
Unfortunately, due to Kiev’s position, most of the Package of Measures remains unimplemented. We heard the Ukrainian version of why the Minsk Agreements have not been fulfilled – the blames lies with external forces, and Kiev owes nothing to anybody. A year ago, we quoted a representative of Kiev in the Contact Group, Advisor to the President of Ukraine Vladimir Gorbulin: “The decisions taken to date as part of the Minsk process are, by and large, the result of the pressure of critical circumstances and external factors, and therefore their binding force rests solely on the goodwill of the Ukrainian side. Ukraine’s main and only stratagem is to win time and accumulate power.” These words have been fully reaffirmed. Kiev is not going to voluntarily implement the Minsk Agreements. Instead, we see real sabotage and attempts to reinterpret the document. The work on political aspects of the Package of Measures – agreeing the modalities of the local elections, implementing a law on special status, carrying out amnesty (which will certainly be required by the Ukrainian forces), not to mention the constitutional reform -- is postponed under various pretexts.
President Petr Poroshenko’s statements that the elections can only be staged after Kiev takes control of the border are a direct violation of the Package of Measures. The same holds true for the statement on the results of yesterday's Contact Group meeting: a Kiev representative said elections will take place only after the Minsk Agreements are implemented in full. We are therefore compelled to remind them that the elections in Donbass are not an end in itself, but an intermediate stage of their implementation. There can be no question of reinstating control over the border without holding elections; the modalities of said elections “will be discussed and agreed upon with representatives of certain areas of the Donetsk and Lugansk regions in the framework of the Trilateral Contact Group" (Clause 12 of the Package of Measures), as well as a subsequent comprehensive political settlement, including the constitutional reform (Clauses 9 and 11). Kiev’s obstructive stance once again showed at the Contact Group meeting in Minsk, where it once again refused to document the so-called ‘Steinmeier Formula’ on the procedure for the special status to come into effect. In fact, that was an attempt to undo the agreements reached at the Normandy format summits in Paris and Berlin.
It seems the Ukrainian people are beginning to see reason. According to a survey of the Kiev International Institute of Sociology, 65.5 per cent of Ukrainians, even excluding Donbass residents, are confident that the fighting will continue because it benefits the Kiev government, while 38.8 per cent believe that the government is torpedoing the execution of the Minsk Agreements purposefully.
The authorities in Kiev have to maintain tensions in Donbass and arrange regular provocations to be able to blame all the internal development problems on that, and to ask for money from foreign donors and creditors. This cannot go on forever. We consider it important to jointly convince Kiev that the implementation of the Package of Measures is not a dead end for Ukraine, but its salvation, which will help preserve its sovereignty and territorial integrity. We hope that the upcoming contacts in the Normandy format will contribute to progress in this direction.
The situation on the contact line causes major concerns. After a reduction in the number of ceasefire violations at the beginning of the week the situation has deteriorated again. Indiscriminate shelling of populated areas controlled by self-defence forces continue. On February 14, a state chemical plant in the Kuibyshevsky District of Donetsk was damaged. Observers recorded the destruction of houses and civilian infrastructure in Donetsk, Donetsky, Kominternovo and Molodyozhny by artillery fire from areas where the Ukrainian security forces are deployed. The observer mission recorded an attack on Novoaleksandrovka located on the contact line from northwest – that is, from the Ukrainian army’s foothold – in yet another attempt to capture the height near Kominternovo.
The Special Monitoring Mission has highlighted the deployment of a large amount of Ukrainian military equipment in the security zone. On February 6-13, observers spotted 63 pieces of the Ukrainian army’s weaponry, including multiple launch rocket systems in Aslanovo, Dobropolye and Kulikovskoye; howitzers in Aslanovo, Bogoyavlenka, Verkhnekamenka, Voitovo, Dmitrovka, Lisichansk, Novoaidar and Privolnoye and an anti-tank cannon in Schastye, in violation of the Package of Measures and the Supplement to it. They also recorded military aviation overflights in violation of Clause 7 of the Minsk Memorandum. Apart from these weapons, the Monitoring Mission has spotted 78 armoured personnel carriers belonging to the Ukrainian army, as well as 134 more pieces of Ukrainian military equipment right behind the division lines.
The presence of substantial numbers of the Ukrainian army’s weapons and the deployment of reserves and nationalist battalions in the Donbass conflict zone show the security forces’ readiness to launch an offensive at any time. As has already been the case, Kiev may time this act to coincide with some major international event.
We urge the SMM to more actively patrol the entire contact line, to continue monitoring the redeployment of heavy weapons and to meticulously check reports about the redeployment of multiple launch rocket systems and Tochka-U tactical missiles.
The situation outside the conflict zone requires close attention as well. The draft law on the temporarily occupied territories that was submitted to Verkhovna Rada has aroused concern of international organisations but has not been noticed by the SMM observers.
Nevertheless, OSCE representatives notice such important facts as nationalists’ attacks on Russian bank offices (a recent one in Kharkov), or on an art exhibition of Maidan achievements.
The persecution of journalists in Ukraine continues, as noted by the OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media. As far as we know, the murders of Oles Buzina and Pavel Sheremet have not yet been investigated.
Radical groups keep blocking the railways along the contact line. According to our information, the humanitarian aftermath of this campaign may be even worse than the recent shelling in the Donetsk region. The government position remains unclear, as well as their attitude to the so-called volunteer battalions, which often launch provocations on the contact line. The SMM noted an incident between the Ukrainian army and a radical group in Chongar near the Russian border, which is another example of the ongoing legal mayhem.
In conclusion, we want to note that however painful the need to implement the Minsk Agreements is to the Ukrainian government, there is no reasonable alternative to it.
Thank you for your attention.
