Prelude to War? CCCC Mission Closed By Ukrainians; Russian Peace-Keepers Abused and Forced Out
Russia has withdrawn from the military-observer mission in Donbass. Our officers have left Ukraine. Soon, they will be in Moscow. The Ceasefire Control and Coordination Center was established 3 years ago, in accordance with the Minsk Agreement.
Alexander Revunov reporting on the reasons for the withdrawal. Nekhoteyevka International Automobile Entry Point. From here, it's a bit more than 30 km to Kharkov and 5 minutes to the state border. This is the place where the Ukrainian party agreed to allowing Russian CCCC members to cross the border. All 75 of them have returned home.
The way back wasn't easy. First, they forgot to provide the Russian officers with transport. Then the Ukrainian Security Service examined the documents of the Russian military observers for so long, as if they were using a microscope.
Sergey Kostarev, Head of the Russian Mission: "One officer was held at the entry point for 5 hours. They took his international passport on spurious reasons. Then, they couldn't find the official permit for a very long time".
The officers represent various regions and military branches. In Donbass, these people worked as the members of the Ceasefire Control and Coordination Center which also monitored the border between the parties to the conflict. CCCC was established in September 2014. Its main goal is to contribute to a settlement of the conflict in south-eastern Ukraine. The Russian military was invited to work in the center by the Ukrainian military administration. Over time, it became clear that the Ukrainian party wasn't planning to apply joint efforts targeted at restoring peace in the region.
Sergey Kostarev: "They didn't let our commander monitor the work of the observers on the territory of Luhansk and Donetsk regions. They also didn't let the Russian party work on the monitoring of the situation at the border".
The legal status of our military mission in the separation zone hasn't been settled for 3 years. The officers had to go to the canteen escorted by armed soldiers. The protests were left with no reply.
Then, Pyotr Poroshenko stated that the new regulations on the residence of aliens would be brought into force on January 1, 2018. They contained demands to present a biometric passport and to undergo fingerprinting. They also presupposed the strict control on the transitions of a foreigner in Ukraine. CCCC officers must also follow these regulations, which they cannot accept.
In fact, the military observers were forced to leave the mission. Now, the CCCC makes little sense without them.
Alexander Revunov, Andrey Kutsov, Mikhail Shum, Russian-Ukrainian border.