MOSCOW, April 29. /TASS/. The Ukraine peace process can start to really move along once a technical truce is laid down, former Austrian Foreign Minister Karin Kneissl told TASS.
"First of all, a technical truce needs to be established. Once there is a truce, an official ceasefire agreement should be made, which will have to be thoroughly negotiated. Only then, with proper monitoring and control mechanisms in place, can we start speaking about a genuine peace process. There are many hoops to jump through before we reach that point," she noted.
The diplomat emphasized that the outcome of the peace process should include "new, larger-scale agreements on security, which will need to go beyond resolving relations between Moscow, Kiev and Washington."
"It’s not just about bilateral or trilateral relations - between Moscow, Kiev and Washington - but about an in-depth transformation of the entire security system in Europe," Kneissl pointed out. "The issue is on the agenda, and Moscow has long been demanding that it be addressed. Simply negotiating a ceasefire around Ukraine won’t solve the issue, because its roots run much deeper," she added.
In this regard, the ex-Austrian foreign minister pointed out that Moscow and Washington "are currently in very dynamic talks on this track, where Ukraine is one of the subjects of discussion but by no means the only one." According to Kneissl, just like Russia, the United States "is also beginning to talk about the need for broader regional security accords, similar to those that were reached based on the Helsinki Agreements in the 1970s."
All in all, Kneissl is confident that Russian leader Vladimir Putin’s initiative to declare a ceasefire in commemoration of the 80th anniversary of the victory in the Great Patriotic War was "an important signal" on the path to resolving the conflict. However, she expressed concern that Ukraine could violate the truce. "Who is capable of controlling the ceasefire?" the ex-top diplomat wondered. "I am afraid that the same thing will happen as with the Easter truce. There were some hopes but the situation is too complicated for contradictions to be settled through a 24-hour or a 48-hour cessation of hostilities," she concluded.
On ceasefire
Putin declared a ceasefire from 12:00 a.m. Moscow time on May 8 (9:00 p.m. GMT on May 7) to 12:00 a.m. Moscow time on May 11 (9:00 p.m. GMT on May 10) in honor of the 80th anniversary of the Soviet Union’s victory over Nazi Germany in the Great Patriotic War. According to the Kremlin, "all military operations will be suspended during this time." The Russian president made the decision for humanitarian reasons.
Putin last declared a truce on Easter’s eve. It remained in effect from 6:00 p.m. Moscow time on April 19 to 12:00 a.m. on April 21. According to the Russian Defense Ministry, as many as 4,900 violations by the Ukrainian armed forces were recorded.