MINSK: Ukranian and rebel envoys resumed intense talks yesterday aimed at ending a pro-Russian uprising that has left the ex-Soviet republic in ruins and upset East-West ties.
A successful round of preliminary negotiations in the Belarussian capital Minsk would pave the way for a second meeting tomorrow at which a final agreement is signed.
But sharply contrasting visions of Ukraine’s place in Europe and its system of government threaten to block a solution to the eight-month war.
The industrial east’s pro-Russian militias rose up against the historic shift toward Europe that Kiev made in the wake of last winter’s ouster of an unpopular Moscow-backed president.
Separatist commanders in Lugansk and Donetsk have since declared their own republics and will settle for no less than Ukraine becoming a loose federation in which they manage most of their own affairs.
This solution is backed firmly by Russia but rejected by Ukrainian nationalists who make up an important part of President Petro Poroshenko’s government.
Ukraine has remained tightly centralised since independence and is only now considering easing its hold over the country’s regions in order to stem public resentment over the relative prosperity enjoyed in Kiev.
Such problems helped undermine two deals reached in Minsk in September that Poroshenko was forced into following a surprise rebel counteroffensive that Nato believes was backed by crack Russian forces and tanks.
Russian President Vladimir Putin flatly calls soldiers who crossed into the Ukrainian war zone volunteers who are “answering the call of the heart”.
A UN count puts the number of deaths following an initial September 5 truce deal at more than 1,300.
The overall toll since last winter from Europe’s bloodiest conflict since the 1990s is more than 4,700 and has caused friction between many of the country’s Ukrainian and Russian speakers that may take
generations to heal.
Yesterday’s meeting includes mediators from Russia and the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE).
The most important immediate issue for the rebels will be to make sure that Kiev resumes the social payments it suspended last month in fear they were being used to fund the revolt.
Russia’s Kiev ambassador Mikhail Zurabov — Moscow’s envoy at the talks who defends the insurgents’ stance — said “economic” issues were one of the four main points on the agenda.
But a Kiev-based OSCE representative who was also to attend yesterday’s meeting said the sides will discuss humanitarian aid deliveries, but steer clear of the payments debate. AFP
