The China Mail - Russian parliament's call for east Ukraine independence sparks alarm

USD -
AED 3.67293
AFN 68.950899
ALL 86.773739
AMD 384.542351
ANG 1.789679
AOA 917.497352
ARS 1160.244899
AUD 1.553338
AWG 1.80125
AZN 1.700068
BAM 1.727288
BBD 2.019669
BDT 122.23287
BGN 1.734565
BHD 0.377014
BIF 2977.421164
BMD 1
BND 1.288468
BOB 6.911871
BRL 5.689296
BSD 1.000305
BTN 85.363279
BWP 13.444851
BYN 3.273527
BYR 19600
BZD 2.009265
CAD 1.38314
CDF 2865.0001
CHF 0.82967
CLF 0.02448
CLP 939.419915
CNY 7.204306
CNH 7.19048
COP 4125.23
CRC 508.454368
CUC 1
CUP 26.5
CVE 97.384446
CZK 22.126986
DJF 177.720166
DKK 6.61646
DOP 59.059134
DZD 132.391004
EGP 49.765203
ERN 15
ETB 136.788621
EUR 0.886973
FJD 2.262501
FKP 0.742942
GBP 0.74267
GEL 2.740358
GGP 0.742942
GHS 10.303333
GIP 0.742942
GMD 71.999934
GNF 8666.69905
GTQ 7.681947
GYD 209.590596
HKD 7.83896
HNL 26.053971
HRK 6.681503
HTG 130.78326
HUF 358.659006
IDR 16315.2
ILS 3.51315
IMP 0.742942
INR 85.462499
IQD 1310.39386
IRR 42124.999819
ISK 127.89039
JEP 0.742942
JMD 159.348933
JOD 0.708988
JPY 145.210425
KES 129.249796
KGS 87.449787
KHR 4004.327571
KMF 434.508232
KPW 899.898684
KRW 1374.449901
KWD 0.30716
KYD 0.833558
KZT 511.761823
LAK 21600.257892
LBP 89626.276766
LKR 299.58799
LRD 200.06094
LSL 17.908617
LTL 2.952741
LVL 0.604889
LYD 5.46854
MAD 9.260111
MDL 17.290275
MGA 4539.613426
MKD 54.565934
MMK 2099.848876
MNT 3575.248701
MOP 8.076714
MRU 39.589672
MUR 46.14953
MVR 15.459706
MWK 1734.50327
MXN 19.37421
MYR 4.238966
MZN 63.909979
NAD 17.908775
NGN 1587.36965
NIO 36.811171
NOK 10.18214
NPR 136.581424
NZD 1.677261
OMR 0.384506
PAB 1.000305
PEN 3.64208
PGK 4.165986
PHP 55.736023
PKR 282.958079
PLN 3.759935
PYG 7990.143694
QAR 3.646745
RON 4.493606
RSD 103.988978
RUB 78.601019
RWF 1413.904112
SAR 3.751137
SBD 8.350767
SCR 14.217249
SDG 600.502594
SEK 9.650365
SGD 1.290125
SHP 0.785843
SLE 22.720096
SLL 20969.500214
SOS 571.691006
SRD 37.159494
STD 20697.981008
SVC 8.752368
SYP 13001.725393
SZL 17.898795
THB 32.742504
TJS 9.977964
TMT 3.505
TND 2.991778
TOP 2.342103
TRY 39.111205
TTD 6.78999
TWD 29.812501
TZS 2697.000426
UAH 41.571805
UGX 3644.023263
UYU 41.580372
UZS 12890.975169
VES 94.846525
VND 26018
VUV 120.742541
WST 2.693329
XAF 579.326577
XAG 0.030005
XAU 0.000305
XCD 2.70255
XDR 0.719753
XOF 579.329135
XPF 105.3287
YER 243.849787
ZAR 17.933195
ZMK 9001.198882
ZMW 26.433091
ZWL 321.999592
  • RBGPF

    2.5600

    65.56

    +3.9%

  • CMSC

    -0.0400

    22.09

    -0.18%

  • SCS

    -0.2100

    10.29

    -2.04%

  • RELX

    -0.6100

    55.05

    -1.11%

  • RYCEF

    0.0800

    11.65

    +0.69%

  • NGG

    -2.0300

    72.67

    -2.79%

  • RIO

    -0.8500

    59.95

    -1.42%

  • AZN

    -0.5800

    70.38

    -0.82%

  • BTI

    -0.1700

    45.09

    -0.38%

  • GSK

    -0.2600

    39.18

    -0.66%

  • BP

    -0.2100

    28.94

    -0.73%

  • BCE

    -0.3200

    21.16

    -1.51%

  • CMSD

    -0.0800

    22.05

    -0.36%

  • VOD

    -0.1100

    10.39

    -1.06%

  • BCC

    -2.8100

    86.73

    -3.24%

  • JRI

    -0.0800

    12.74

    -0.63%

Russian parliament's call for east Ukraine independence sparks alarm
Russian parliament's call for east Ukraine independence sparks alarm

Russian parliament's call for east Ukraine independence sparks alarm

Possible Russian recognition of separatist "republics" independent from Kyiv is threatening to derail an already fragile peace process, as fears grow of large-scale conflict in eastern Ukraine.

Text size:

Tensions between the West and Russia over Ukraine have soared in recent months, after Moscow massed tens of thousands of troops near its neighbour's border.

Western leaders say Russia could launch an attack on Ukraine at any moment, though Moscow has denied such plans.

But an appeal by Russia's parliament to President Vladimir Putin to recognise the independence of the self-proclaimed "republics" of Donetsk and Lugansk in Ukraine's industrial east has raised alarm.

Kyiv has been battling pro-Russia separatists in its eastern regions since 2014 in a conflict that has claimed around 14,000 lives.

Fighting has largely diminished since the 2014 and 2015 Minsk accords, under which Russia and Ukraine agreed to a ceasefire and a roadmap to a political settlement.

But that process has hit a wall, with each side accusing the other of not fulfilling its end of the deal.

Ukraine's foreign ministry told AFP that a Moscow recognition of the republics would make Russia "totally responsible for destroying the Minsk accords".

France's Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian has warned that any recognition would be tantamount to "an attack without weapons, and dismantling of the unity and integrity of Ukraine".

- 'Patience has limits' -

The Minsk agreements provided for Donetsk and Lugansk to remain part of Ukraine, but for local elections to be held in the separatist regions under Ukrainian law, and for interim self-government in certain areas of them.

Foreign armed formations were to withdraw from those areas.

But Ukraine has not given the regions special status or held the polls, arguing that Russia must first end what it calls its covert military presence in the region.

It would not be the first time for Russia to recognise the independence of breakaway regions in a neighbouring country.

After a brief ground assault into southern neighbour Georgia in 2008, Russia recognised the independence of the country's South Ossetia and Abkhazia regions, and established permanent Russian military bases there.

Putin has appeared to reject parliament's demand on eastern Ukraine, saying he wanted to implement the Minsk accords "to the end".

But he has also stressed that most Russians sympathised with Russian-speaking Donbas residents, whom he claims are the victims of a Kyiv-orchestrated "genocide".

To further complicate matters, Moscow has distributed around 600,000 Russian passports to people living there.

Fyodor Lukyanov, a political analyst close to the Kremlin, said Moscow floating a possible recognition was a way for it to say: "Our patience has its limits."

"If the Minsk accords are... not implemented, we will have to use other means," Lukyanov said the Kremlin was signalling.

Germany's Chancellor Olaf Scholz this week urged Kyiv to draw up the laws necessary to fully enact the 2015 peace deal.

- Russian 'obstruction' -

Ukrainian negotiators however say Russia is itself hampering the peace process by insisting on a Moscow-brokered dialogue between Kyiv and the separatists.

Ukraine has refused to enter into such talks, arguing that Russia is an instigator of the conflict, not an impartial mediator.

"Sooner or later, Ukraine will introduce the draft laws" necessary to the peace process, said Sergiy Garmash, one of Kyiv's negotiators.

"But in view of the obstruction created by Russia's demands, it will take years to examine them."

Lukyanov, the Russian analyst, said Russia was turning up the pressure for Ukraine to carry out its promises.

But parliament urging Putin to recognise the eastern regions as independent did not necessarily equal him doing so.

Moscow cannot afford to lose such "a means of influence on the future of Ukraine and, more widely, on the issue of European security".

Ultimately, he said, Moscow's end goal is to prevent NATO's expansion eastwards.

Western diplomats have scrambled to respond to this and other demands from Russia in recent weeks, as they rush to counter what has been described as the worst threat to European security since the Cold War.

But so far, the only thing all agree on is that there have been "no results".

S.Davis--ThChM