From Fort Russ
July 22, 2016 –
By Eduard Popov for Fort Russ
Translated by J. Arnoldski
Russia’s permanent representative to the UN, Vitaly Churkin, has appealed to the UN with an official letter in which he requests that pressure be put on Ukraine in order to prevent the resumption of full-scale hostilities in Donbass. In Churkin’s opinion, Kiev is preparing a military operation, and his letter cites data on Ukrainian security forces’ shelling of civilian residential areas in Donbass “within the last week alone.” The number of these bombardments has grown dramatically.
Churkin is known for his professionalism and poise. Obviously, only the most extreme circumstances could have compelled him take such an extraordinary step. Moreover, this is not the first appeal by such a high-ranking Russian diplomat to international and foreign institutions. The Foreign Ministry of Russia’s State Secretary Grigory Karasin already met with the ambassadors of France and Germany on this subject and Russian President Vladimir Putin held a telephone talk with the presidents of the US, France, and the German Chancellor. According to Karl Marx’s famous formula, quantity turns into quality. In our case, the number of shellings of Donbass’ cities by the UAF and neo-Nazi battalions risks turning into a new, full-scale war.
It should be admitted that Kiev’s tactics are quite effective. Shellings cause tangible losses while also exerting psychological pressure on the republics. The purpose of such frequent attacks is provoking return fire by the DPR and LPR’s armies. Then Kiev would accuse the Donbass republics (and of course Russia) of tearing up the Minsk Agreements, and call upon the international community to intervene in the conflict. By “international community,” of course, is meant NATO. At the NATO summit in Warsaw, words of support for Kiev against “Russian aggression” were heard along with promises to provide military and technological assistance. It is possible that these and other measures of support are being prepared. Most likely, this is not Ukraine’s accession to NATO, but NATO’s accession to Ukraine, i.e., an actual occupation of Ukrainian territory by the alliance. This could come about in the form of establishing permanent military bases and upgrading equipment and manpower.
My friends from the military and political circles of the DPR report that the sheer force of UAF attacks is reminiscent of the most difficult days of summer, 2014. But the republics are not afraid of fire. On the contrary, they are waiting for when Ukraine will go on a new offensive in order to then bury the Ukrainian army on Donbass land. Ukraine has already been given two chances to stop (and survive), but has not taken any of these. Churkin’s letter is perhaps one of the last warnings for Ukraine.
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