Western partners insist on Ukraine's fulfilling all agreements on settling the conflict in Donbas at once, newly-appointed Ukrainian Ambassador to the United States Valeriy Chaly said in an interview with ZN.UA on Friday when asked whether the West truly believes that democratic elections could be held in line with the OSCE standards in the areas currently controlled by the militias.
“But we have a clear understanding that, if the military hardware is not withdrawn, if the border through which all this hardware is being shipped is not closed, and if the hostages are not freed, it is hard to imagine any elections. And when the situation reaches the deadlock, our European partners start, so to speak, stimulating Ukraine to be more active in implementing the Minsk agreements. Even if some clauses are not fulfilled by Russia,” Chaly said.
In commenting on the remark that Russia has not implemented a single clause of the Minsk agreements and asked whether the West might have found it easier to press on Ukraine rather than on Russia, Chaly replied that Ukraine is currently interacting with the OSCE mission and all of its partners radically better than Russia.
“Nobody can say today that Ukraine is not a negotiable and responsible partner. All attempts to show that it is Ukraine that is violating the Minsk agreements have failed. It’s seen from OSCE reports indicating the presence of Russian weapons and regular Russian military units on Ukrainian territory,” the ambassador said.
Chaly described the determination of specifics of local self-governance in certain districts of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions and the fulfillment of the decentralization and constitutional reform obligations as “preparatory steps” being made by Ukraine.
“But it is absolutely unacceptable for Ukraine to make all political decisions if people carrying assault rifles should attend elections in Donbas to ensure the voting process,” he said.
Ukraine has put forward its preconditions not going against the Minsk agreements, namely, the organization of elections based on Ukrainian law, in line with OSCE-ODIHR standards, and with all Ukrainian parties and media outlets admitted, the diplomat said.
Chaly insisted that the Ukrainian-Russian border must be sealed. “One of the options is first to establish control with the OSCE’s help, after which the Ukrainian border service would regain full control. But these processes should go at least simultaneously, and not like Ukraine should first fulfill everything that is required from it, and then Russia would be thinking… This is unacceptable. Therefore, our position remains clear: we, on the one hand, strictly abide by our obligations, and on the other, demand that all the other parties fulfill the Minsk agreements as strictly as we do,” Chaly said.
It was reported earlier that Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko had appointed Chaly Ukraine’s ambassador to the U.S. on Friday, having previously relieved him from his duties as a deputy presidential chief of staff.
