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Russian experts doubt peaceful goals of Ukraine president’s plan

ZAMYATINA Tamara 
Two compulsory conditions are needed to stop the military conflict in east Ukraine

MOSCOW, June 23. /ITAR-TASS/. The Ukrainian president's plan for peace in east Ukraine’s Donbass region last Friday resembles an ultimatum to the militia of the unrecognized Donetsk and Luhansk  People’s Republics, experts polled by ITAR-TASS say, noting that the plan lacks the key element - a format for ceasefire talks.

The Russian president rules it important that “dialogue between all warring parties would be launched on the basis of a ceasefire in Ukraine so that people living in south-eastern Ukraine certainly felt that they make an integral part of that country.” Meanwhile, Vladimir Putin said combat action has not stopped.

“The ceasefire plan promised by the Ukrainian president is already not fulfilled, though the Ukrainian army is not taking intensive offensive action,” president of the Institute of National Strategy Mikhail Remizov, also a member of the Russian governmental Military and Industrial Commission, told ITAR-TASS.

“It is not ruled out that Petro Poroshenko had taken a pause in conducting special operations in east Ukraine to redeploy current military forces and bring in additional strength. It is quite probable that Poroshenko’s so-called peace plan is a political umbrella, metaphorically speaking for ‘weapons recharge’,” the expert believes.

“In Russian political circles, Poroshenko’s peace plan is called an ultimatum to militia in Donetsk and Luhansk regions,” Remizov noted. “Declaring the settlement plan, the Ukrainian president is simultaneously negotiating with Washington and Brussels on imposing more sanctions against Russia. The leaders of the United States, Germany and France already stated at consultations that if Poroshenko’s peace plan failed, Russia would be blamed for this, and a new spiral of sanctions would be introduced. So, the Ukrainian president seems to acknowledge in advance that his plan is not attainable,” the expert added.

“Poroshenko’s deliberately unattainable quasi-plan was put forward to accuse Russia of foiling it,” Colonel General Valery Manilov, former first deputy chief of the Russian Armed Forces’ General Staff, told ITAR-TASS.

“Two compulsory conditions are needed to stop the military conflict in east Ukraine. The first condition is to pull back and withdraw government troops from Donetsk and Luhansk regions. The second is equal rights of negotiators in talks for establishing peace,” the military analyst noted.

“In fact, Ukrainian authorities are keeping in mind an alternative plan B, which envisages forcible imposition of a regime suitable for Kiev and its overseas patrons in Donetsk and Luhansk regions,” Manilov said, adding that “the West will turn a blind eye to fulfilment of plan B because American companies are cherishing plans to launch shale gas development in Donetsk and Luhansk regions to deliver it to Europe, ousting Russian gas from it (the European market).”

“Poroshenko’s so-called peace plan is speculation to obtain victory over Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics in political ways, if not in military terms. The plan lacks the main condition for attaining peace - the option of talks. East Ukraine’s militia is being forced to surrender positions as an ultimatum that is unacceptable for them,” Director of the Center of Military and Political Research at Moscow State University of International Relations (MGIMO) Alexei Podberezkin told ITAR-TASS.

“If the militia does not agree on political capitulation, Kiev will deliver a massive strike on their positions with use of assault aviation, heavy artillery and multiple fire launch systems,” the expert believes.

“A team oriented at American values came to power in Kiev with its policy firmly dependent on Washington’s dictat. US interests envisage that Ukraine should become a conflict zone with Russia. But those regions that name themselves “Novorossia” will not accept the US system of values either in economic or socio-cultural aspects. Therefore, the domestic conflict in Ukraine will continue,” the expert added.

 

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TASS may not share the opinions of its contributors