Decision of EU top diplomats on Ukraine regrettable - Russian envoy

BRUSSELS, January 30. /TASS/. Decisions by the European Union’s top diplomats are regrettable, Russian ambassador to the EU Vladimir Chizhov said. "By acting in such a narrow-minded way, the EU in essence is subjecting to additional tests our partnership - the partnership between Russia and the European Union, which is regrettable," Chizhov said while commenting on the meeting’s results. In his words, "besides selective assessments of these or those events, sweeping criticism of Russia is the dominating element. As if Russia, and not the Kiev authorities with the connivance of the EU, had unfolded the bloodbath in eastern Ukraine." "The call for implementation of the Minsk agreements contrasts with statements heard in the past few days from the Ukrainian capital that they are no longer content with the Minsk agreements and it’s necessary to seek another format," Chizhov said. "But while these conversations can be heard, shelling of residential districts of Donetsk, Lugansk, Gorlovka continue. And nothing is said, for example, about the situation of Gorlovka residents," he said. Chizhov said all components of the EU’s reaction to the situation in Ukraine are wrong. "[EU top diplomat Federica] Mogherini, while summing up the meeting on Thursday, selected three components in the EU’s reaction to deterioration of the situation in eastern Ukraine. Unfortunately, all three are wrong," he said. "The first one is extension until September of the sanctions packages. The second is the instruction to draft over a week an additional list to be approved at the next Council February 9. The context suggests that the talk could be about a list of personalia. And the third is the start of preparatory work on other possible actions to ensure implementation of the Minsk agreements," Chizhov said. "This is a rather vague formula with anything behind - from what, for example, Russia expects from the European Union [pressure on the Kiev authorities] to development of new packages of sanctions," he said. As regards Russia’s reaction, he said, the president and the foreign minister have already said the problem of sanctions should be addressed by the EU as "it is a problem created by it." "We have not held, are not holding and are not going to hold any talks on sanctions with the EU," the ambassador said. The top diplomats of the 28 EU member countries decided on Thursday to extend individual sanctions against Russia and eastern Ukrainian militias. Ukrainian crisis Ukraine has been in deep crisis since the end of 2013, when then-President Viktor Yanukovich suspended the signing of an association agreement with the European Union to study the deal more thoroughly. The move triggered mass riots that eventually led to a coup in February 2014. The coup that brought chaos to Ukraine prompted the Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol with a special status to refuse to recognize the legitimacy of coup-imposed authorities, hold a referendum and secede from Ukraine to reunify with Russia in mid-March 2014 after some 60 years as part of Ukraine. After that, mass protests erupted in Ukraine’s southeast, where local residents, apparently inspired by Crimea's example, did not recognize the coup-imposed authorities either, formed militias and started fighting for their rights. Russian officials and companies came under the first batch of Western sanctions, including visa bans and asset freezes, after Russia incorporated Crimea in mid-March 2014 after the February 2014 coup. Despite Moscow’s repeated statements that the Crimean referendum on secession from Ukraine was in line with the international law and the UN Charter and in conformity with the precedent set by Kosovo’s secession from Serbia in 2008, the West and Kiev have refused to recognize the legality of Crimea’s reunification with Russia. The West announced new, sectoral, restrictions against Russia in late July 2014, in particular, for what the West claimed was Moscow’s alleged involvement in protests in Ukraine’s southeast. In response, Russia imposed on August 6, 2014 a one-year ban on imports of beef, pork, poultry, fish, cheeses, fruit, vegetables and dairy products from Australia, Canada, the European Union, the United States and Norway. New punitive measures against Russia were imposed in September 2014. Russia has constantly dismissed accusations of "annexing" Crimea, because Crimea reunified with Russia voluntarily after a referendum, as well as allegations that Moscow could in any way be involved in hostilities in the southeast of Ukraine. Over 4,000 people have lost their lives and hundreds of thousands have fled Ukraine’s southeast as a result of clashes between Ukrainian troops and local militias in the Donetsk and Lugansk regions during Kiev’s military operation, conducted since mid-April 2014, to regain control over parts of the breakaway territories, which call themselves the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s republics (DPR and LPR), according to UN data. A ceasefire was agreed upon at talks between the parties to the Ukrainian conflict mediated by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) on September 5, 2014 in Belarusian capital Minsk two days after Russian President Vladimir Putin proposed his plan to settle the situation in the east of Ukraine. Numerous violations of the ceasefire, which took effect the same day, have been reported since. A memorandum was adopted on September 19, 2014 in Minsk by the Trilateral Contact Group on Ukraine comprising representatives of Ukraine, Russia and the OSCE. The document outlined the parameters for the implementation of commitments on the ceasefire in Ukraine laid down in the Minsk Protocol of September 5, 2014. The nine-point memorandum in particular envisioned a ban on the use of all armaments and withdrawal of weapons with the calibers of over 100 millimeters to a distance of 15 kilometers from the contact line from each side. The OSCE was tasked with controlling the implementation of memorandum provisions. A "day of silence" in eastern Ukraine began at 09:00 a.m. local time (0700 GMT) on December 9. It was seen as another attempt by both parties to the intra-Ukrainian conflict to put an end to hostilities. Both Kiev and the self-proclaimed republics voiced the necessity to start withdrawal of heavy armaments, swap prisoners and demilitarize the region. The situation in the region deteriorated when a passenger bus bound from Donetsk to Zlatoustovka was shelled on January 13. Twelve civilians were killed and 16 wounded. Read more