The statement by the US Chargé d’Affaires in Ukraine clearly demonstrates the fact that not the Kiev authorities alone, but also their western “senior partners” view the Minsk agreements not as a precise and effective plan to settle the conflict in Donbass, but as an excuse for information provocations.
The statement by Mr. Taylor saying that following the resumption of the withdrawal of forces and assets on the pilot sites, the Police and the National Guard of Ukraine will be able to enter those sites, contradicts not the Framework Decision alone, but also the Package of Measures and all the agreements ever reached in Minsk. Furthermore, it runs contrary to common sense. The disengagement is precisely about withdrawing the forces and assets of the parties to a sufficient distance to prevent shelling and de-escalate the situation on the contact line in general. If the security forces of Ukraine enter the disengaged territory, the purpose of the disengagement will be simply defeated, as the tension in these areas will be maintained, except for the name of the armed formations and the uniform of their members. Moreover, the process of eliminating withdrawal violations on the Petrovskoye-Bogdanovka site has already been thwarted twice. Therefore, at the moment, it is entirely destructive and at that irrelevant to invent any unrealistic scenarios about what will happen after the disengagement is resumed. To begin with, Kiev has to take steps to ensure that this process takes place.
We urge Western countries’ representatives not to engage in media stovepiping. Instead, Western states’d better exercise their authority in a constructive way and exert the necessary influence on Kiev’s implementation of the Minsk agreements. Moreover, the consideration and coordination of all issues related to the implementation of the documents of the Minsk package should take place exclusively within the framework of the Contact Group with the participation of both parties to the conflict and mediators of its settlement. The earliest opportunity to practically demonstrate our readiness to implement the peace plan will be given to the authorities of Ukraine tomorrow – we hope to finally see a flare launched from the Ukrainian side, indicating the willingness to eliminate disengagement violations on the Petrovskoye-Bogdanovka site. Moreover, a new starting date for the resumption of the disengagement, November 9, has been agreed and confirmed today by all members to the Contact Group, including the representative of Ukraine.