Russia heightens tension, threatens possible “bloodbath” in eastern Ukraine

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov warned on Wednesday that the possible modification of the Minsk agreements could cause a bloodbath in eastern Ukraine. The strong statements come amid the scandal sparked by Spying on the Kremlin in the Czech Republic, nation that accuses Putin’s agents of attack local companies linked to the supply of military technology to Ukraine.

In an interview with the Russian news agency Sputnik, the head of Russian diplomacy He accused the government of Ukrainian President Volodimir Zelenski of seeking to overturn the order of implementation of the agreements.

To do this, he explained that Zelensky’s idea would be “to first take control of Donbass, including the border with Russia, and only after (…) to organize elections or to grant amnesty for ex-combatants. According to Lavrov, it is “obvious that if they did that, if someone let them do it, there would be a bloodbath ”.

Hostilities have so far claimed some 13,000 lives, UN estimates

In this sense, he argued that the West was not “able or willing” to force Kiev to “comply with the Minsk agreements in strict accordance with their intended sequence”.

“Border control is the last step, which takes place once these territories have a special status enshrined in the Ukrainian Constitution, once they organize free elections recognized as such by the OSCE, etc.”, a- he explained.

So he pointed out that a full amnesty is necessary for combatants and not selective. The Minsk Accords, signed in September 2014 and February 2015, laid the foundations for a political solution to the conflict, but so far have not led to an end to the violence. Hostilities have so far claimed some 13,000 lives, according to UN estimates.

Moscow, in this sense, guarantees that wants to avoid a war in eastern Ukraine. “If it is up to us and the militias, as far as we can understand their principled approaches, then war can and should be avoided,” Lavrov said.

At the same time, he declared that Zelenski intends to “stay in power” and that for this he “is ready to pay any price”, including “supporting the neo-Nazis and the ultra-radicals who continue to declare the Donbass militias as terrorists “.

In addition, he asserted that Kiev’s responsibility to comply with the agreements now rests with the West. “Only the West can force the Ukrainian president to implement what was signed by his predecessor and by Zelensky himself in December 2019 in Paris”, He said.

In this context, Lavrov said that now “international moral and legal truth is on our side and on the side of the militia”. In addition, he pointed to the West’s “errors of reasoning” in its military exercises.

“You will remember those cries that Russia was advancing its troops towards the borders of Ukraine (…) And then, when we announced the end of the exercises, malicious exclamations began to be heard from the West that Russia was forced to back down. , that he had withdrawn (…) These countries are deluding themselves, ”Lavrov said.

For him, the objective of these countries is to take advantage of this situation to make believe that their voice and their position are “decisive” in international relations. Russian armed forces concluded their maneuvers on April 22 in the eastern Crimean Peninsula, in which more than 10,000 personnel, 1,200 military equipment and 40 Navy ships participated.

NATO countries see training of Russian forces as “act of aggression” against Ukraine. However, the Kremlin blamed the accusations and maintained that his country was moving its military forces to its own territory.

RELATIONS WITH THE UNITED KINGDOM

The Russian minister took the opportunity to accuse Britain of trying to undermine relations between Russia and the European Union. “As far as relations between Russia and Europe are concerned, I think that, as before, the British are playing an active and very serious subversive role,” he said.

He also pointed out that the British left the EU but “they try to influence as much as possible the positions taken by the members of the EU towards Moscow”, but at the same time “they send us signals proposing to establish contacts”.

(With EP information)

KEEP READING: