Published time: February 08, 2015 15:04
The Russian Foreign Ministry says Kiev is reluctant
to hand over copies of what it claims to be documents, proving Russian
military presence in Ukraine.
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko showed the audience at the
Munich Security Conference several passports on Saturday, saying
they belonged to Russian soldiers fighting in Ukraine.
“We asked the Ukrainian side to give us copies of the
documents containing last names, because such IDs, as were shown
yesterday, could easily be bought,” said Viktor Sorokin,
director of the CIS (Commonwealth of Independent States)
department within the Russian Foreign Ministry, as cited by RIA
Novosti.
“There’s no real proof, as of today, the Ukrainian side
hasn’t been able to give us copies of these documents.”
The Ukrainian crisis and the prospect of arming Ukrainian troops
was again top of the agenda in Munich on Sunday, the last day of
the conference.
Germany has stayed firm in its opposition to military escalation.
German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said weapons
supplies to Ukraine would only aggravate the crisis. He added
European security could only be built in cooperation with Russia,
not against it.
Steinmeier, however, criticized his Russian counterpart Foreign
Minister Sergey Lavrov for his remarks, in which he accused the
US and the EU of escalating the crisis in Ukraine.
"It is Moscow's responsibility to identify common
interests," Steinmeier said. "We have seen too little of
this so far. And the speech by my colleague Lavrov yesterday made
no contribution to this."
READ MORE: Lavrov: US escalated Ukraine crisis at
every stage, blamed Russia
US Secretary of State John Kerry denied America and Europe were
split over the Ukraine crisis.
"On the fundamental goal with respect to Ukraine, we are
absolutely united ... we want a diplomatic solution," he
said.
Nevertheless, on Thursday, Kerry spoke to Ukraine’s leadership in
Kiev about the possibility of supplying arms at the same time the
German and French leaders announced snap talks with Putin and
Poroshenko to discuss a new peace plan.
“President Hollande, Chancellor Merkel seem to have a much
greater sense of responsibility about the importance of getting a
quick ceasefire and new negotiating framework or restore the
negotiating framework of the Minsk process. One doesn’t sense the
same urgency in Washington,” Martin Sieff, columnist for the
Post-Examiner newspaper, told RT.
US Senator John McCain voiced the idea of arming Ukrainian troops
on Sunday.
"In the heart of Europe, we see Russia emboldened by a
significant modernization of its military, resurrecting old
imperial ambitions and intent on conquest once again,"
McCain said in Munich.
He has called for sending "defensive weapons" to
Ukraine. The term has raised questions, though.
“I’d like to know what defensive weapons are,” political
analyst, Chris Bambery told RT. “I mean what’s the difference
between offensive and defensive weapons? We are seeing a very
confused situation, because there’s welcoming of the
ceasefire…there’s welcoming of the arrival of Francois Hollande
and Angela Merkel in both Kiev and Moscow, but we also see NATO
suddenly announce it’s going to be setting bases in eight NATO
countries bordering the former Soviet Union.”
READ MORE: 30,000 troops, 6 rapid units: NATO
increases military power in Eastern Europe
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov also noted the idea of
supplying weapons to Kiev remains quite unpopular in Europe.
“The majority, if not all European politicians, consider the
idea [of weapons supplies to Ukraine] a bad one, an idea that
might lead to further aggravating the Ukrainian crisis,” he
said on Sunday.
French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius reiterated that granting a
special legal status to breakaway territories in eastern Ukraine
could be a solution to the crisis.
In September, President Poroshenko said there would be no special
status for the Donetsk and the Lugansk regions.
There have been reports that the new text of the peace deal on
Ukraine, presented by Merkel and Hollande, contains the promise
of more autonomy for rebel-held eastern Ukraine.
READ MORE: Most fighting in Ukraine now over,
time to fight corruption and boost army – Poroshenko
The latest escalation of violence started in mid-January after
Kiev announced a mass operation against Donetsk airport, in
violation of a previous ceasefire agreement. Since then there
have been almost daily reports of civilian casualties in the
conflict. Five people died in shelling on a hospital in Donetsk
on Wednesday. The UN has warned of a looming humanitarian
catastrophe in the region.
http://rt.com/news/230375-copies-ids-russian-soldiers/
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