Alwaght- The leaders of Russia (Vladimir Putin), Ukraine (Petro Poroshenko), France (Francois Hollande) and Germany (Angela Merkel) have reached a ceasefire deal after 17 hours of grueling, cut-and-thrust negotiations behind locked doors in the presidential place in Minsk, Belarus, on the Ukrainian conflict.
Putin was the first to announce the deal, saying: “We have agreed on a ceasefire from midnight 15 February.”
The ceasefire has come into force on Sunday as part of a deal that also involved the withdrawal of heavy weapons from the combat zone in the ensuing weeks, under the eyes of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE).
As it was supposed under the ceasefire agreement the withdrawal of heavy weapons should have started by yesterday midnight. However, the Ukrainian armed forces are not ready to withdraw heavy weapons, according to what is agreed in the Minsk talks, a military spokesperson Ukraine pointed out. They claim it is because the separatists violate the cease-fire. On the other hand, «Interfax» quoted one of the separatist leader saying that they would open a safe corridor for Ukrainian forces to leave the town in eastern Ukraine Dabaltsev if laid down their arms.
Moreover, back on February 9th 2015, in a joint press conference with Angela Merkel, the German chancellor, US President Barack Obama who was not invited to the Minsk negotiations said that sending "lethal defensive weapons" to Ukraine is an option. Agreements involving America directly or indirectly are meaningless. Easy to violate.
U.S. President Barack Obama was not mentioned in Minsk; but, for him to reject their deal, and to send lethal weapons to Ukraine now and so escalate the war and its massive bloodshed — which has already cost “up to 50,000” dead and millions of refugees — would be extremely embarrassing for the US: no American “boots on the ground,” just tens of thousands of Ukrainian corpses under it, in a war that Obama himself had initiated.
On February 11th 2015 summit of the Normandy Quartet on a settlement of the Ukrainian crisis took place against the background of discussions in Washington about whether the US should supply Kiev with lethal arms. A group of congressional representatives has prepared another draft on military aid to Ukraine. It requires the allocation of $1 billion to supplies of lethal arms, military vehicles and equipment till September 2017. According to the American mass media, it includes anti-armor systems and anti-missile radars. A part of the sum will be spent on training Ukrainian soldiers.
A recent article published on The Moscow Times official website, discusses the recent American attitude towards the Ukrainian conflict. The writer, Josh Cohen, says that the logic used by American leaders emphasizes on the notion of raising the costs for Putin in Ukraine. If Kiev had more advanced weaponry, so the argument goes, it would be able to inflict higher casualties on the separatists there.
The Moscow Times further adds that the West has consistently ignored the great importance of Ukraine to Russia. Russia views Ukraine just how China looks at Taiwan: as an existential issue in which certain red lines that must not be crossed.
“For Putin, the overthrow of former Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych risked opening the door for Ukraine to join NATO and the Western alliance system — something which Moscow could not and will never accept. All of Putin's moves since then have been intended to prevent this,” the report adds.
Russia’s President Vladimir Putin is primarily concerned to avoid Ukraine having a Government that wants U.S. strategic (i.e., aimed against Moscow) missiles; in other words: he wants to avoid Ukraine’s becoming a member of NATO — the anti-Russian military club of nations, which now surrounds Russia.
The Russian newspaper believes that Putin will not allow the separatists to be defeated; In fact, he is in superior strength in this conflict. Put simply, in Ukraine Putin enjoys escalation dominance at every level of the potential military escalation chain.
According to the newspaper, Putin would almost certainly respond to an increase in Kiev's military capabilities now in a worst-case scenario Russia could perhaps even invade Ukraine outright. The end result would be even greater death and destruction in the Donbass, with the possibility of a settlement even further away — the exact opposite outcome the West would have intended. Putin could choose to escalate asymmetrically, outside of Ukraine.
On Tuesday February 17th in an interview with Russian newspaper 'Zaftra' , Giulietto Chiesa said : “Who benefits from the situation are those who created it. Absolutely clear to me is that performance against Russia was organized in advance. And the artificial creation of the Ukrainian crisis has been carefully prepared by the American authorities.”
“I do not know how much Mr. Obama has participated personally in this conflict. However, it is clear that today the U.S. is not run by Mr. Obama. Neocons, the Republican Party, the Pentagon and secret services control the United States” he said.
Chiesa said that the governing elite in the US believe that the time has come where we must engage in a decisive battle with Russia. Where this war is - economic, diplomatic, sanctions. The war is not yet a nuclear one. Rather America's elite are determined to crush Russia.
The Italian journalist and politician, who worked for more than 20 years for 'La astampa' and 'UNITA' newspapers in Moscow, believes that the U.S. authorities know Putin very well. They know that he will not exacerbate the conflict. Putin just defends his country and will never attack.
He continued: Putin although experiences extremely difficult conditions, he still acts very carefully and very reasonable. But there is a limit for his patience. This limit is clearly visible in the situation with the Donbas. Putin cannot allow that the Russian minority in Ukraine to be slaughtered. This is unacceptable for Russia, its people, and Putin himself.
The Italian journalist said that this is unacceptable because the breaks all the rules of international principals. And when Putin says that we are in a situation of total chaos, and international rules do not apply, he says things correctly.
He added that while the West sought to introduce Putin as seeking animosity person, but this person have not attacked any country so far. Despite the endeavors to introduce Putin as warmongering, we are clearly seeing that this is the West who is installing advanced weapons and military equipment near the Russian borders.
Former Member of European Parliament, noted: NATO military installations will be established near the Russian border, expanding the borders of NATO. Everything is planned and carried out by the West. In a literal sense, intended by the United States and carried out under their supervision.
He continued to say that this is why the present situation cannot be corrected, unless the American rulers want it to be fixed. It depends on them.
Chiesa believes that the West and especially in Europe until now, many do not understand, do not realize what is happening, what they consciously or unconsciously have involved. In addition, do not behave as reasonable political leaders, and are like spoiled boys who would like to try everything and easily overcome the overcome the problems.
He noted: at the time where the U.S. has launched aggressive measures against Russia, European and in the first place Western European powers, did not do any attempt to restrain the American power and ill-considered actions and policies.
The former Member of European Parliament describes the situation as dangerous for European and the fellow countries, and the consequences will appear in the future.
Meanwhile, the Italian journalist said concerning the recent visit of the leaders of Germany and France's to Moscow: This was done without coordination with the U.S. administration.Merkel and Hollande attempted to resolve the crisis in Ukraine. They flied to Kiev, where they met with Poroshenko. They tried to convince Poroshenko to end the situation.
He continued: these journeys showed that some European leaders began to realize the risk of America's actions in the Ukraine as well as arming this country, and the these states felt concerned.
At the end of the interview he said: They, of course, stay tuned hostile to Russia, but it is clear that they began to speak the mind. Can the Europeans to get rid of U.S. blackmail? I do not know. But now it seems clear that some of them - which was not until recently - are already beginning to realize the danger of the situation.
