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Ukraine Announces Suspension Of Cargo Traffic With Separatist-Held Areas
Ukrainian authorities have announced the suspension of all cargo traffic with areas held by Russia-backed separatists in the eastern part of the country, indicating that the government has moved to replace a blockade established by activists with official restrictions on commerce.
Security and Defense Council Secretary Oleksandr Turchynov announced the decision on March 15, shortly after President Petro Poroshenko proposed it at a session of the council.
The move comes after the government took steps this week to end a rail and road blockade established by Ukrainians opposed to any trade with the separatists, who control a portion of eastern Ukraine that includes coal mines and other industrial enterprises that have long been a crucial part of the country's economy.
Poroshenko said that only humanitarian cargoes should be permitted to cross into separatist-held areas in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, a swath of Ukraine known as the Donbas.
Turchynov's press service said cargo traffic was to be suspended by 1 p.m. Kyiv time on March 15.
Turchynov said the suspension will remain in effect until the Russia-backed separatists relinquish control over enterprises in the Donbas and comply with the much-violated 2015 Minsk agreement.
The European-brokered deal sets out steps to end the war between government forces and the separatists, which has killed more than 9,750 people in eastern Ukraine since April 2014, and restore Kyiv's control over the border with Russia -- but it appears unlikely to implemented in full any time soon.
Shortages And Outages
The makeshift blockade put Poroshenko's government in a difficult position, adding to strains on Ukraine's war-depleted economy and opening the authorities up to accusations of colluding with the Russia-backed separatists.
It hampered deliveries of coal from the Donbas to power plants elsewhere in Ukraine, contributing to electricity shortages and outages that prompted Poroshenko to declare an emergency in late February and urge all Ukrainians to try to conserve energy.
Meanwhile, the separatists responded to the activists' blockade by announcing they would take control of enterprises in the territory they hold as of March 1, further aggravating the crisis.
Turchynov was quoted as saying that the Security and Defense Council requested from the Interior Ministry, National Police, and the Security Service to implement additional measures to beef up public safety and prevent sabotage and terrorist acts, as well as attempts to disrupt social order.
Turchynov also said that the commanding staff of the Ukrainian armed forces in Donbas was ordered to carry out "necessary measures to stand against possible provocations" by the separatists.
The government took steps to end the makeshift blockade on March 13-14. Security forces detained several dozen activists who were blocking a railway line, dismantled their camp, and cordoned off the area next to a key railway hub in the Donetsk region.
'Kindling' Russian Aggression
Those moves angered opposition lawmakers, government critics, and nationalist activists who held protests in several cities.
Opposition lawmakers demanded answers from Poroshenko, the Interior Ministry, and Ukraine's security service (SBU) on March 14 over the detentions.
Poroshenko lashed out at the "blockaders" during the Security and Defense Council meeting on March 15, saying that their actions did not support Ukraine's territorial integrity but "on the contrary, made it more difficult to secure it."
"They weakened Ukraine's influence on the other side of the contact line," he said, referring to the front line between government forces and separatist fighters in the Donbas.
"They did not remove fears imposed on our compatriots by Russian propaganda but increased them....they worsened the situation faced by our people held in [separatist] captivity," he said. "They did not curb Russia's aggressiveness, but kindled it even more."
With reporting by UNIAN and Reuters
Another sign of Ukraine's tilt toward Europe?