UNITED NATIONS (AP) – Russia clashed with the United States and its Western allies on Thursday during the nearly seven-year conflict in eastern Ukraine, and the UN warned that the current fragile ceasefire threatens to be reversed if peace negotiations get stuck.
Russia convened the Security Council meeting on Friday’s sixth anniversary of the signing of the Minsk peace plan, brokered by France and Germany. It aimed to resolve the conflict between Ukraine and Russia-backed separatists that flared up in April 2014 following Russia’s annexation of Crimea and its support of the separatists in the predominantly Russian-speaking industrial east called Donbass.
Russian UN Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia accused Ukraine of not implementing the 2015 Minsk Agreement, saying: “In those six years, we still have not received an answer to two very important questions: how exactly does Ukraine intend to resolve the conflict peacefully? , and how does Kiev foresee special status for Donbass in Ukraine? “
“The answers to those questions will fully determine the prospects for a settlement, because after the start in 2014 of the use of violence by Kiev and the continued shelling of residential areas by the Ukrainian military, which continues to this day, the people of Donbass did not feel any connection with Ukraine, ”he said.
The United States and European allies France, Germany, Estonia, Ireland, Norway, Belgium and the United Kingdom blamed Russia for fueling the conflict, which killed more than 14,000 people, by providing financial and military support to the separatists .
Speaking on behalf of the Biden administration, US political coordinator Rodney Hunter said Russia has triggered the conflict in Donbass and has “ blocked meaningful progress in diplomatic negotiations while arming, training, funding and leading its proxy forces and supporting the self-appointed ‘authorities. ‘ to the ground.”
“The United States reaffirms its unwavering commitment to the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine,” he said, accusing Russia of “escalating its suppression of any dissent over its brutal occupation of Crimea.”
“We will never recognize the attempted annexation of Crimea by Russia,” Hunter said. As a result, US sanctions against Russia in response to its aggression in Eastern Ukraine and the occupation of Crimea will remain in effect unless – and until – Russia changes course.
The Minsk agreements foresee that Ukraine will regain control of its border with Russia in the separatist-occupied regions only after gaining broad self-government and holding local elections.
The accord helped to reduce the scale of hostilities, but Ukrainian forces continued to exchange artillery and gunfire.
While the July 2020 ceasefire “has largely held up,” UN political leader Rosemary DiCarlo said the number of security incidents has increased in several hotspots in recent months.
“This dangerous trend must be reversed soon,” she said.
The ceasefire was achieved by members of the tripartite contact group with representatives from Russia, Ukraine and the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe known as the OSCE. It followed a meeting in Paris in December 2019 of the leaders of Ukraine, Russia, France and Germany – the so-called Norman 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 cause for complacency” and no substitute for “meaningful progress.”
“The risk of relapse is real if the negotiations stall,” she warned.
Russia’s Nebenzia said the Minsk agreement said nothing about direct dialogue with the two separatist governments of Donetsk and Luhansk in Donbass, or about agreeing a special status for the region.
“Instead, fantasies of setting up some sort of international administration and holding elections just two years after that are in the document,” he said. “Do you really think the people of Donbass will really agree to this international form of occupation?”
In response, a statement by the seven European countries strongly condemned “the continued destabilization of certain areas in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions” and again called on Russia to “immediately stop fueling the conflict” by supporting the separatists.
German UN Ambassador Christoph Heusgen went on to tell the Security Council how Russia violated key paragraphs in the Minsk agreements – including the initial 2015 ceasefire, failure to withdraw heavy weapons and foreign forces, and blocking free access for OSCE observers to observe areas of the Russian-Ukrainian border not controlled by the Ukrainian government.
“To date, there are Russian troops in Eastern Ukraine,” said Heusgen. “They may not have the official stamp of the Russian army, but the Russians are staying there, and without Russia, Luhansk and Donetsk could not survive.”
Halit Cevik, Chief Monitor of the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission to Ukraine, saw “an opportunity for the parties to find a path to lasting de-escalation, but we also see it getting smaller.”
Cevik said the July 2020 ceasefire has led to “the longest-lasting reduction in violence” since the mission began recording ceasefire violations. But he said, “Adherence has worsened over time.”