The crisis in Ukraine following the dismissal of pro-Russian ex-president Viktor Yanukovych in the wake of pro-European protests is experiencing new worrying developments. With military clashes that risk ruining the last diplomatic efforts between Moscow on the one hand, the Europeans and the Americans on the other.
Faced with pro-Russian separatists, the Ukrainian army had decided to take the initiative, launching an offensive against their positions in Sloviansk. The fighting that had claimed several victims on both sides has suddenly added fuel to the fire in recent days. It was enough for Moscow to publish an 80-page report in its time to denounce what it calls massive violations of human rights and demand sanctions against the perpetrators. For the Russian Foreign Ministry, “the authors must be sanctioned as they should be. Otherwise, extremists on all sides will receive a dangerous signal of encouragement”
The Ukrainian authorities, who no doubt understood the message from Moscow, tried not to use force in a disproportionate way, in order to avoid giving a good pretext to the Russian authorities. But until when ? In Donetsk, the regional capital, pro-Russians were already preparing for a possible battle and mobilizing public opinion around television images of the Sloviansk clashes. This raised the tension further.
After a few days of relative de-escalation, the separatists of Donetsk and Lugansk have not given up on their project. They organized their referendum of self-determination and proclaimed their independence. Lack of immediate attachment to Russia. But the reaction of the Ukrainian authorities was not long in coming. They ordered their troops to resume the offensive. And there are already deaths in the Ukrainian army.
In any case, the situation is extremely worrying. An escalation of the clashes would risk dragging Russia directly into the conflict. Unfortunately, the positions do not seem to have advanced since on the diplomatic level. As much as the Russian President, Vladimir Putin, wants to hold out against the Americans and the European Union, he wants to seek a diplomatic solution to his advantage. While leaving room for maneuver for the needs of the cause. By inviting the international community to assume its responsibilities in relation to the situation in Ukraine, at the risk of threatening stability and peace in Europe, Moscow is thus rejecting the responsibility for what could happen on the other parties to the conflict. And puts himself in “self-defense”. Decidedly, the Ukrainian crisis has strong hints of a new cold war, and could well continue for a long time yet.
By Tcha Sakaro
