Ukrainian Radicals, Once Again, Sabotage Attempts At Reconciliation In Eastern Ukraine

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On March 12^th, Ukrainian nationalists barged in and broke up a presentation of the national reconciliation platform, which seeks de-escalation in Eastern Ukraine, which was presented by the adviser to the Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council, Sergei Sivokho.

This news quickly overshadowed the news of some progress between Russia and Ukraine in Minsk, which had been announced the day before. There, representatives of Zelensky and Putin agreed to create a body for a political settlement in Eastern Ukraine.

The situation is evidence that no political settlement and peace is possible in Eastern Ukraine, since the Kiev government can’t even protect its own staff from the actions of nationalists, and political actors from the era of Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko.

The videos below present how nationalists democratically and peacefully assault a government official.

On March 12^th, Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova spoke a bit about the decisions reached in the Trilateral Contact Group. She said that any agreements needed political will from Kiev, which in recent years appeared to be lacking.

“Over the past few years, Kiev has made so many statements which, to a great extent, are mutually exclusive, contradicting the logic and meaning of both the adopted documents and the obligations Kiev took on, that it is high time they acted rather than just talked. If the present Ukrainian leadership demonstrates a constructive attitude, this approach as well as this attitude will certainly find a matching response from all the other parties involved, primarily within the framework of the Contact Group in Minsk.”

Meanwhile, anti-Russian actions in Ukraine are going on with full-force.

“The Ukrainian authorities go to stupid lengths in their zealous fight against all things Russian. In late February, the notorious National Council of Television and Radio Broadcasting of Ukraine banned the retransmission of three Russian channels, citing “the protection of Ukraine’s information space from the audio, video and print propaganda of the aggressor country.” This serious wording could hint that the banned channels broadcast high-profile political or analytical programmes which can be perceived as promoting the Russian point of view, or talk shows, analytical and weekly programmes on Ukrainian agenda. Not at all, the shocking ban was imposed on Evrokino (EuroCinema), TopShop TV and Zoopark (Zoo) which are guilty of broadcasting in Russian.”

Furthermore, Zakharova underlined that the Ukrainian authorities themselves entirely disregard the provisions set out in the constitution.

“The Ukrainian authorities’ actions show open disregard for the Ukrainian Constitution, whose Article 10 guarantees the protection of the Russian language.”

The document agreed by the Trilateral Contact Group, is more of the same. The parties agreed by March 25^th to submit the final and verified by the Red Cross lists for the exchange of prisoners. And until March 18^th – proposals for the separation of forces and assets.

Also, before March 25^th, Luhansk must propose a plan for the timing of the simultaneous opening of a checkpoint in Ukraine at Shchastya and Zolote.

Finally, the parties agreed that the next meeting they would sign a document on the creation of an Advisory Council, which hasn’t been created yet, despite agreement to do so repeatedly.

It is unlikely that any of this will happen. The Kiev government only wishes to change the order of implementation of the Minsk agreements provisions.

It wants to receive control of the borders in Eastern Ukraine, deploy the Ukrainian Armed Forces around the Donetsk and Luhansk’s People’s Republics before any political settlement can even be attempted.

The purpose of this is clear: any “unwanted” elements can be purged (as they have repeatedly stated) and then a political settlement that is only beneficial to Kiev may take place. Any other outcome is unacceptable.

And even if Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky attempted another course of action, the influential and powerful old political elite, as well as the nationalists would not allow it to happen, as it has become apparent time and again.

March 14th, saw the “march of Patriots” celebrating the Volunteer battalions in Kiev.

The date was chosen not accidentally. On March 14, 2014, the first volunteer fighters left Independence Square in Kyiv for the training base in Novi Petrivtsi. The Nazi-infested volunteer battalions are still one of the main drivers of the Kiev policy in Eastern Ukraine and against Russia.

“The contribution of the first wave of volunteer fighters at the beginning of the war in eastern Ukraine can hardly be overestimated, since at that time not all professional servicemen were ready to defend their homeland. Volunteer battalions helped conduct mobilization and prepare a professional replacement for volunteer fighters.”

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