Dear Editor,
The problem of settlement of the Ukrainian crisis by exclusively political, diplomatic and peaceful means raises concerns. Over the last few months the Russian Federation jointly with many partners has undertaken insistent and specific steps towards finding a solution.
A range of agreements which were reached during the Ukrainian crisis, were not completely or were only partially implemented because some of our Western partners attempted go back on them or attempted to recklessly support the line of the Ukrainian leaders to suppress the protest in the south-east by force.
The agreement of February 21, that was signed by Viktor Yanukovych, Arseniy Yatsenyuk, Vitaly Klichko, Oleh Tyahnybok and certified by the German, French and Polish foreign ministers, has not been fulfilled.
The Geneva Statement, which was signed by the Russian and Ukrainian Foreign Ministers, the US Secretary of State and the European Union High Representative on April 17, was blocked by our Western colleagues and the Ukrainians.
The OSCE “roadmap” prepared by the current OSCE President, Swiss President Didier Burkhalter, was declined in favour of the “peace plan by President Petro Poroshenko,” which in fact meant nothing but the capitulation of the militia.
The consistent refusal by the Ukrainian authorities to talk with respect to the south-east, to sit at the negotiating table or to start a dialogue on all the issues of the Ukrainian state, primarily issues of constitutional reform, are the cause of today’s violence and prevent a sustainable political settlement.
The development of events proves that for the Ukrainian authorities the “peace plan by Petro Poroshenko” is just a tool to mobilize Western support for the actions undertaken by the Ukrainian authorities using arms, aviation, artillery and other heavy weapons to achieve a military victory. People are dying, international humanitarian law is being violated – recent assessments by the Human Rights Watch are proof of this.
This is happening against the backdrop of statements by Western partners that the Ukrainian authorities have the right to use all means necessary to defend their sovereignty and territorial integrity. This is against the backdrop of the February events, when all the Western countries consistently demanded from President Viktor Yanukovych that he not use special units against protesters and demonstrators. Encouragement for the current Ukrainian authorities to use violence against their own people is an outrageous demonstration of double standards.
Ukrainian troops have on many occasions used incendiary weapons based on phosphorus as well as cluster bombs against residential areas where only civilians were present at the time, acts that are banned under international law regulating warfare. These acts led to the death of adults and children, and inflicted serious damage on communal infrastructure. The Russian Red Cross has described the situation in south-eastern Ukraine as a humanitarian catastrophe and has urged the rapid evacuation of children from the war zone.
Since the beginning of the summer Russian settlements near the border with Ukraine in Rostov-on-Don region have come under mortar attacks by Ukraine. One man was killed and two people were seriously wounded. A number of houses were destroyed and people were forced from their homes.
Russia had to relocate a temporary camp near the border for Ukrainian refugees who had fled the conflict in the south-east of the country after several mortars landed nearby.
As for the terrible tragedy which happened with the Malaysian Boeing airplane in the skies over Ukraine, Russia has done as much as it could to facilitate the investigation and is ready to take additional steps. Objective observation data about the crash area was transferred to international organisations, including the UN and OSCE.
Russia expects that our other partners, who keep saying that they have some other conclusive data, will show that to the public openly and will not make the appeal that they are confidential, secret or refer to any other reasons for not doing so. Only honest and open participation of all those who have information related to this disaster, can be normal. Anything else would be an unfair attempt to affect the investigation, and to doubt the principle of assumption of innocence.
Yours faithfully,
Denis Kopyl
Press Attache
Russian Embassy in Guyana
