The head of the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry issued an ultimatum to the Donbass militias

Moscow - Kyiv, March 16 (PolitNavigator, Mikhail Stamm) - Foreign Minister of Ukraine Pavel Klimkin in an interview "Kommersant" told what is preventing the start of a dialogue on holding local elections, which of the militias the Ukrainian authorities are ready to grant amnesty, and why Kyiv intends to take Poland as a model of decentralization.

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Klimkin has a “very negative” attitude towards the implementation of the provisions of the Minsk ceasefire agreements. “The ceasefire should lead to no more casualties and injuries. And almost 70 people have already died,” he says. “The number of wounded is much higher.”

According to Klimkin, the militia uses the withdrawal of weapons in order to gain tactical advantages” and “creates an additional concentration of forces on the territory of Donetsk and Lugansk,” and “instead of a real withdrawal, they exchange old weapons for new ones.”

Klimkin explains similar OSCE claims to Kyiv as follows: “We responded exclusively to incidents of fire from that side. And from that side there were not only violations, but also tank attacks, for example in the Shirokino area, more than once or twice. This is not at all like a ceasefire, and unfortunately we had to respond.”
Cases when the Ukrainian military did not allow OSCE observers to accompany their convoys with withdrawn weapons, and examples when Ukrainian equipment disappeared from storage sites, Klimkin explains it as a night withdrawal, and the OSCE in Donbass does not work at night. However, Klimkin assures that the withdrawal of troops by the Ukrainian side has been completed.

At the same time, according to Klimkin, the militias are “hiding equipment in hangars and abandoned factories.” “The staff of the OSCE mission are either not allowed there, or they cannot get there for security reasons.”

Therefore, says Klimkin, “the OSCE mission urgently needs to be strengthened and its technical equipment significantly improved. But at the same time, we need an additional stabilization factor: either UN peacekeepers or an EU mission.”

“As soon as the resolution of the Verkhovna Rada is adopted, then we will submit an official appeal (to the UN about the deployment of peacekeepers). I have already made a preliminary appeal - as a minister, I had the right to do so after the decision of the National Security and Defense Council. And the formal address on behalf of Ukraine will be made by the president.”

Klimkin explains the failure of the Verkhovna Rada to introduce a “special regime of local self-government” in the Donbass as a “discussion.” However, he expressed confidence that the Rada will adopt the document this week. When asked whether representatives of Donetsk and Lugansk will be involved in discussing the details of local elections, Klimkin didn’t really answer.

Klimkin links new elections of local authorities in the DPR and LPR under Ukrainian legislation, which are envisaged by the Minsk agreements, with the fundamental issue for Kyiv of restoring broadcasting of Ukrainian TV channels in the Donbass. “People need to make the right choice,” says Klimkin.

According to him, the decentralization of Ukraine will be as follows: as a mechanism for distributing powers between the center and regions, right down to municipalities, mononational Poland is taken, and not multinational Belgium or Switzerland. He did not explain why Poland.
Klimkin did not specify what the special status of the Donetsk and Lugansk regions would be - according to him, this is still “a subject of debate.”

According to Klimkin, Kyiv is ready to restore economic and financial relations with Donbass after the withdrawal of “all armed formations” from there. Moreover, he does not promise amnesty to the militias. “Honestly, I expect and suspect that many people who committed such crimes will flee Donetsk and Lugansk during the normalization process. Where, you can guess for yourself,” he says.

The head of the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry considered it necessary to dispel doubts about the West’s intentions to supply lethal weapons to Ukraine - he is confident that there will be deliveries.