Berliner Boersenzeitung - Russian parliament's call for east Ukraine independence sparks alarm

EUR -
AED 4.313975
AFN 80.547545
ALL 97.434934
AMD 449.73046
ANG 2.102303
AOA 1077.171324
ARS 1492.791377
AUD 1.764031
AWG 2.116752
AZN 2.0016
BAM 1.955498
BBD 2.367734
BDT 143.357833
BGN 1.958424
BHD 0.442032
BIF 3495.35953
BMD 1.174668
BND 1.502568
BOB 8.102747
BRL 6.532923
BSD 1.172619
BTN 101.493307
BWP 15.744565
BYN 3.837607
BYR 23023.499991
BZD 2.355536
CAD 1.60865
CDF 3393.617337
CHF 0.933866
CLF 0.028651
CLP 1114.547663
CNY 8.403625
CNH 8.419418
COP 4775.561579
CRC 592.408399
CUC 1.174668
CUP 31.128712
CVE 110.247953
CZK 24.57048
DJF 208.817712
DKK 7.463496
DOP 71.148999
DZD 151.843521
EGP 57.684081
ERN 17.620026
ETB 163.190867
FJD 2.634488
FKP 0.874805
GBP 0.874465
GEL 3.18381
GGP 0.874805
GHS 12.254105
GIP 0.874805
GMD 84.57654
GNF 10176.42647
GTQ 9.000608
GYD 245.342064
HKD 9.220266
HNL 30.706252
HRK 7.537617
HTG 153.886205
HUF 396.850416
IDR 19217.339549
ILS 3.93908
IMP 0.874805
INR 101.616219
IQD 1536.162471
IRR 49468.226083
ISK 142.276286
JEP 0.874805
JMD 187.051077
JOD 0.832886
JPY 173.446879
KES 151.506573
KGS 102.553011
KHR 4697.273684
KMF 491.603168
KPW 1057.221015
KRW 1624.959912
KWD 0.358662
KYD 0.977249
KZT 639.001194
LAK 25279.09122
LBP 105069.953557
LKR 353.815291
LRD 235.113646
LSL 20.812382
LTL 3.468491
LVL 0.710546
LYD 6.330021
MAD 10.545169
MDL 19.72395
MGA 5179.199166
MKD 61.550483
MMK 2465.733848
MNT 4216.363074
MOP 9.481134
MRU 46.800763
MUR 53.342135
MVR 18.094285
MWK 2033.385588
MXN 21.777064
MYR 4.958867
MZN 75.131746
NAD 20.812382
NGN 1799.510154
NIO 43.153327
NOK 11.93722
NPR 162.388891
NZD 1.948849
OMR 0.45153
PAB 1.172619
PEN 4.153358
PGK 4.860248
PHP 67.132737
PKR 332.301418
PLN 4.249143
PYG 8783.641829
QAR 4.274539
RON 5.067641
RSD 117.131888
RUB 93.245282
RWF 1695.037905
SAR 4.407892
SBD 9.732239
SCR 16.61843
SDG 705.392672
SEK 11.192362
SGD 1.503815
SHP 0.923105
SLE 26.959075
SLL 24632.212956
SOS 670.196371
SRD 43.067458
STD 24313.263549
STN 24.496212
SVC 10.260413
SYP 15272.941179
SZL 20.804783
THB 38.024448
TJS 11.198868
TMT 4.123086
TND 3.423471
TOP 2.751195
TRY 47.634334
TTD 7.973767
TWD 34.632517
TZS 3004.935362
UAH 49.031718
UGX 4204.349902
USD 1.174668
UYU 46.972737
UZS 14837.70572
VES 141.281363
VND 30711.704452
VUV 140.295141
WST 3.217414
XAF 655.855588
XAG 0.030755
XAU 0.000352
XCD 3.1746
XCG 2.113373
XDR 0.815674
XOF 655.855588
XPF 119.331742
YER 283.036769
ZAR 20.86834
ZMK 10573.429114
ZMW 27.351771
ZWL 378.242735
  • RBGPF

    -1.1200

    73.88

    -1.52%

  • SCS

    0.0700

    10.58

    +0.66%

  • NGG

    -0.0800

    72.15

    -0.11%

  • BCC

    1.7100

    88.14

    +1.94%

  • GSK

    -0.2600

    37.97

    -0.68%

  • BCE

    -0.2300

    24.2

    -0.95%

  • RIO

    -0.7300

    63.1

    -1.16%

  • RYCEF

    -0.0400

    13.2

    -0.3%

  • CMSC

    0.0550

    22.485

    +0.24%

  • SCU

    0.0000

    12.72

    0%

  • CMSD

    0.0400

    22.89

    +0.17%

  • BTI

    -0.3700

    52.25

    -0.71%

  • RELX

    -0.9800

    52.73

    -1.86%

  • JRI

    -0.0600

    13.09

    -0.46%

  • VOD

    -0.0900

    11.43

    -0.79%

  • BP

    0.0700

    32.2

    +0.22%

  • AZN

    -1.0200

    72.66

    -1.4%

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".

(B.Hartmann--BBZ)