On Friday an open session of the UN Security Council was held after about five months in regards Eastern Ukraine conflict.
Russian envoy for UN, Vitaly Churkin
Vitaly Churkin, Russian envoy invited Ukrainian Foreign Minister Pavel Klimkin to reconsider attitudes and display the political will for the sake of the implementation of the Minsk Agreeements to settle the conflict in the East of the country, the humanitarian affairs and the human rights situation as well.
Churkin claimed that Russia is willingly doing its part at the Normandy format and in the trilateral Contact Group (Russia, Ukraine, OSCE), and it is determined to take it to a successful ending. Churkin added that it’s expected that the Ukrainian leadership will at last display the political will decisive for the application of the Package of Measures of the Minsk Accords and the Security Council’s Resolution 2202.
Klimkin on the other hand accused Moscow of intervention in the conflict in Ukraine once again, trying to blame Russia for the delayed implementation of the Minsk Agreements. “The sole chance of preventing a return to full-scale war is to comply with the terms of Minsk-2,” Klimkin said. “This is the only way of ending the conflict. Ukraine is firmly committed to this. This is our bridge into the future, and we will not burn it.”
Kiev’s authorities were criticized for tightening the rules of crossing the engagement line, which had in fact resulted in a blockade of areas outside the Ukrainian authorities, also because of the reports about Ukrainian police and military kidnapping and torturing those suspected of supporting the militias and to the lack of progress in investigating the killings during mass unrest in Kiev in November 2013 – February 2014, and also in Odessa last May. The acts of sabotage against the high voltage power lines that caused massive blackouts in Crimea were also under discussion.
Written by Lisbeth Mechter