The bill reintegrating Donbas passed by Ukrainian parliament aims to reaffirm Kyiv’s line to resolve the problem through the use of force, the Russian Foreign Ministry said.
“In particular, it declares the reformatting of the so-called anti-terrorist operation into a military one and handover of control over it to the military who will subordinate all other forces. For these purposes, the president of Ukraine has approved the formation of some ‘joint operations headquarters’ allowed to plan and use the armed forces against civilian population of the country’s own territory, not necessarily in the southeast alone, without formal imposition of martial law. Essentially Poroshenko is gaining unlimited, close-to-dictatorial powers to suppress dissent and discontent. This cannot be called other than a preparation for a new war,” the ministry said in a comment release on January 18.
“The bill blatantly asserts that the Russian Federation is ‘carrying out a criminal act of aggression’ against Ukraine and is ‘temporarily occupying part of its territory’ by running Donbas through a Moscow-controlled ‘occupation-administration,'” the ministry said.
“Effectively Kyiv is trying to relieve itself of responsibility for the devastation and suffering inflicted on people by the mindless actions of the Ukrainian authorities and to shift blame onto Russia,” the ministry said.
“The result of the current Ukrainian law-making is in full contravention to the Minsk agreements which constitute a generally recognized, no-alternative basis for settling the Ukrainian conflict,” the ministry said.
“It is not about ‘reintegration.’ On the contrary, everything is being done to split Ukraine even further and alienate citizens living in Donbas. Kyiv is burying the agreements reached in Minsk and the whole available mechanism of searching for mutually acceptable solutions to the domestic Ukrainian crisis, including the ‘Normandy format,'” the ministry said.
“Surprisingly, the passage of the bill was timed to coincide with Washington’s announcement of a decision on U.S. readiness to supply lethal weapons to Ukraine,” the ministry said.
“Unfortunately, we are witnessing the creation of a situation that risks causing a dangerous escalation in Ukraine with unpredictable consequences for universal peace and security,” the ministry said.
