Brussels, 05/09/2014 (Agence Europe) - At the time of EUROPE going to press on Friday 5 September, the Ukrainian government and heads of the pro-Russian separatist forces in Eastern Ukraine were in the process of confirming the signature of a ceasefire agreement, mid-afternoon in Minsk. This memorandum of understanding, which was concluded under the contact group (comprising representatives from Ukraine, Russia, the pro-Russian rebels and the OSCE), was due to put the implementation of strengthened EU sanctions against Russia on hold. The 28 EU member states were asked to approve this by the end of the day.
In Minsk, the pro-Russian separatists signed an agreement with Kiev for a ceasefire starting at 3.00pm GMT on Friday - but they still hope to be separate from Ukraine, said the 'prime minister' of the self-proclaimed People's Republic of Lugansk, Igor Plotnitsky. “I confirm that we are ready to respect the signed memorandum of understanding and to halt fire at 6.00pm Kiev time. But this does not mean that we have renounced being separate from Ukraine. [The ceasefire] is an obligatory measure to stop the bloodshed”, Plotnitsky stated.
Ukraine's President Petro Poroshenko confirmed that Ukraine had signed a “preliminary memorandum” for a ceasefire with the rebels, and that he had ordered the Ukrainian army to cease the hostilities in the east of the country from 3.00pm GMT on Friday. Shortly before signing the document, Ukraine's Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk had stressed that the peace plan for Eastern Ukraine should provide for the retreat of Russian troops from its territory, and he had called on the West to act as guarantors to this agreement.
The agreement concluded in Minsk was described as “good news” by the OSCE representative in Minsk, Heidi Tagliavini. “We have just signed a 12-point memorandum, the most important point of which is an immediate ceasefire today from 6.00pm, Minsk time (3.00pm GMT)”, she announced (our translation throughout).
During this time, the EU member state ambassadors were continuing their work in Brussels to approve a package of measures for the end of the day - a package aiming to complete the series of restrictive measures adopted by the EU against Russia on 31 July, concerning access to capital markets, defence, dual-use goods and sensitive technology. The main tracks being studied aimed further to restrict access to the EU's financial markets for Russian defence-sector companies and Russian oil companies, and to toughen the conditions for selling double use (civil and military) equipment and technology for oil exploitation.
Whilst several Eastern European member states (led by the Czech Republic and Slovakia) fear for their economies and have raised objections about taking the sanctions against Russia too far, the option was preferred of not implementing the new package of restrictive measures immediately and of granting Russia some respite while seeing if the ceasefire holds and the peace plan works successfully. Diplomatic sources quoted by media spoke of 72 hours' to one week's respite. (EH)