U.S. sets requirements on Russia for Donbas elections
19 May 2016
The U.S. won’t recognize local elections in Donbas if they’re not held in accordance with the Minsk accords, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs Victoria Nuland told reporters on May 18 during a visit to Moscow. She said she met with Vladyslav Surkov, an advisor to Russian President Putin, with whom she discussed in detail all aspects of the Minsk accords, including preparing for elections, improving security and providing access to monitoring missions.
Zenon Zawada: When Nuland is referring to the elections being in conformity with the Minsk accords, she is referring to a whole list of conditions, the main ones being the disarmament of native fighters, the removal of Russian military personnel and returning control of the border to the Ukrainian government. The same day, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin said another precondition for elections is the release and exchange of all hostages and illegally detained individuals.
So far, the prospects of these conditions being fulfilled are not promising, or less than 50 percent. Getting the Russians to surrender control of the border and release all hostages would be difficult enough, yet there are also complications related to the Kremlin getting the Donbas terrorists to adhere to all its commands. The terrorists have demonstrated a willingness to thwart Moscow’s will, which can be dangerous.
What’s also revealing about Nuland’s comments is widening rift between the European Union and the U.S. in their positions on resolving the war in Donbas. The Americans are far more willing to keep sanctions in place and place stringent demands on the Russians than the Europeans are willing to do. U.S. diplomacy must consider that it will gradually lose the support of the Europeans in pressuring Russia the longer this conflict drags on. Although the conventional wisdom in the West has been that the Russians are eager to remove the sanctions, their actions continue to reveal a firm commitment to resist Western pressure.
