As we write this week’s editorial, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko is on a working visit to Washington. In the late evening on March 30, he delivered the keynote address at a forum whose theme was “Ukraine’s Battle for Freedom Continues.” And now he is among the more than 50 world leaders at the fourth Nuclear Security Summit taking place March 31-April 1. (A glaring absence, we should note, is Russia.) Also on March 31, President Poroshenko was scheduled to meet at a working lunch with Vice-President Joe Biden. (RFE/RL reported that “Poroshenko had sought a meeting with Obama, but apparently was unable to arrange one because of Obama’s full schedule.”)
Mr. Poroshenko’s message in his forum address was clear. Sanctions against Russia must be continued; Russia’s actions in Ukraine must not go unpunished. “If the West lifts sanctions, the Kremlin’s wish will come true: Ukrainian blood will cost nothing. Killing Ukrainians will go without punishment,” he underscored.
Sanctions, he argued, “are the only line in the sand that the West drew after 2014. It is the only line between good and evil drawn in the context of this war. And if there is no line anymore – then what’s the difference between good and evil? Do we really want a world devoid of political boundaries? Do we want a world where one can grab other nation’s land, kill thousands – and stay unpunished?”
Bolstering Ukraine’s case against Russia, was an exclusive story headlined “Putin’s shadow government for Donbass [sic] exposed” that appeared in the German newspaper Bild on March 29. Bild said it had obtained a document “containing the true plans by Russia” for the occupied territory, noting: “The records of the ‘Inter-ministerial Commission for the Provision of Humanitarian Aid for the Affected Areas in the Southeast of the Regions of Donetsk and Luhansk, from 23rd October 2015 reveal what observers have long feared: The Russian government is steering all affairs of the ‘separatist areas’ in the east of Ukraine.”
The newspaper reports that that this commission, or “de facto government of the Russian-occupied areas in eastern Ukraine,” was established in December 2014. “Evidently, the Russian government has assumed control over all areas of state responsibility for the Ukrainian regions – and this without Ukrainian involvement, not even the separatists! …Intelligence agency sources have confirmed to Bild that it actually appears as though Moscow is completely controlling the Ukrainian region.” The occupied Donbas appears “like a satellite state of Russia,” Bild says, citing experts’ interpretation of the situation.
The story goes on to report that Moscow’s calls for implementation of the Minsk agreement are merely “a show for the West.” The truth: “Behind the curtains, a separate plan for the controlled areas in the Donbas has been put into effect since the end of 2014 (only three months after signing the peace plan [in] Minsk). …this plan aims to secure its long-term existence under complete Russian control.”
Bild concludes that “Russia is planning a permanent stabilization of the political, social and economic situation in the Donbas under its control. That will make the Donbas a puppet state of the Russian Federation, whose future is set to be decided exclusively in Moscow. This is confirmation of the failure of the Minsk Agreement, adherence to which by Russia is merely pretence.” Furthermore, Bild’s article points out, the West’s demand that Ukraine should hold democratic elections in the areas not under its control “is taken to the absurd” by this revelation. “The political figures up for elections in such vote would not be the ones in charge for the development of the area. Those that hold on to power are located in Moscow.”
As President Poroshenko told the Washington Forum, almost 10,000 people have died, more than 2,700 Ukrainian soldiers have been killed by combined Russian-militant forces and 1.75 million internally displaced persons have been forced to flee from the Russian-controlled parts of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions. “The price we have paid is striking,” he told his audience.
Lamentably, Ukraine is continuing to pay that price as it fights for its freedom, while the West looks for an easy way out, principles and justice be damned.